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Oak Brook passes, Oakbrook Terrace fails transparency audit
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Updated: September 10, 2012 1:18PM
OAK BROOK — In its recent online transparency audit, the Illinois Policy Institute gave Oak Brook a passing grade of D+, but Oakbrook Terrace received a solid failing grade.
Scored out of 100 points, Oak Brook received a 68.1 transparency rating, while Oakbrook Terrace received a score of 30.
The online transparency audit reviewed 22 government agencies in the York Township-area. Thirteen received passing grades. Lombard received a perfect score of 100 points, and Elmhurst Community Unit School District received the next highest score of 90.6.
“We have a lot of material available online, but it is difficult to find,” Oakbrook Terrace City Manager John Carpino said. “You have to hunt and peck to find the information you want, and it definitely needs to be improved.
“In fact, the day before they published the report, I had a meeting with the senior staff about fixing this issue and what it would cost to hire an outside contractor to help re-do our website.”
Carpino said the first cost estimate is higher than anticipated, around $20,000, and would need to be placed on next year’s budget.
“We’re looking for a temporary solution right now. Maybe we can still make it work with our current company [GovOffice], but we’re hoping to have a more solid direction to go in before the end of October,” he said.
Oak Brook Village Manager David Niemeyer said the D+ Oak Brook received is not a fair assessment.
“Maybe this was an accurate score a year ago, but now, it’s just not right,” Niemeyer said. “We were in the process of updating our website when they were conducting this evaluation, so we think our score should be much higher.”
In fact, Oak Brook has already requested the Illinois Policy Institute to re-audit its online material, something the institute does on occasion.
“We were one of the first websites to have staff salary and benefit information posted online, and this really doesn’t seem like an accurate score,” Niemeyer said.
Oak Brook’s website is run by an outside company, CivicPlus.
Niemeyer said the village hopes to know soon whether the Illinois Policy Institute will consent to the re-audit, and trustees plan to discuss the subject at their Aug. 14 meeting.
Butler District 53 also failed, with a score of 42.8. District officials did not return a call for comment Tuesday.
