Warning! Major Update Wave!
First, let me start by introducing two brand new collections for your review.
The Midlothian Tartan Tidings
The first is The Midlothian Tartan Tidings, a publication produced by members of the Village of Midlothian using the Corporate Seal on the publication. It should be immediately noted the following disclaimer is included above the postage paid marking “The Tartan Tidings is produced by the Village of Midlothian. Articles that appear within the Tartan Tidings do not necessarily express the views of the Village of Midlothian, its staff or the elected officials, but those of the various authors.”
With zero citation of authorship except for select elements, such as a letter from the President or as otherwise noted, it is important to point out the conflict with the disclaimer. It draws an outline around the various authors being the “voice” of the Village, but that it does not necessarily express the views of the Village, etc. etc. Considering that the staff of the newsletter has consisted of the Village Treasurer, the Village Public Relations Officer and the wife of the now-former Mayor Thomas J. Murawski, it is a disclaimer that is impossible to achieve.
If it is identified that the views of “various authors” is what drives the content choice and said authors are appointed members of the Village, then it seems quite impossible to severe their official Village relationship from the newsletter…especially when one of the main writers is the Village Public Relations Officer. It also remains highly questionable the right of a spouse of a Mayor or President using the Village microphone in the role of Editor-In-Chief…a role that would seem to naturally belong to the Public Relations Officer if it is an appropriate role for an internal player to be fulfilling.
It should also be noted how steady the flow of Tartan Tidings in .pdf format to the Village website has historically been…and since the Village hasn’t failed to produce these for public consumption for quite a few years, the Mysteries of Midlothian Murawski still only scratch the surface of how Midlothian adopted and accepted this type of record-keeping and public communications protocols.
Therefore, all available copies of Tartan Tidings are now available in their .pdf format by clicking here. I have also begun the process of breaking out the content into a searchable format and some of the content is making its way to other locations, such as with Community Policing related issues, health and safety alerts and other timeless notations for the record.
The Midlothian Roll Call
The second is The Midlothian Roll Call. Contained within board meeting minutes are identities of entities and individuals looking for audience from the Village Board. Whether its a contract up for approval or an individual reporting an update on a project, the Midlothian Roll Call is designed to grow into a more in-depth searchable container from its bare-bone listing of identities sorted in alphabetical order by name and by acronym (will be available soon).
This roster is a vital component in throwing the door wide open to transparency in government operations by creating the opportunity for people to verify and validate the identity using a variety of means and methods, such as the State of Illinois Secretary of State database, the Better Business Bureau, Dun & Bradstreet, as but a few on a long menu of additional intelligence research options. Government does not always have the time or the resources (let alone the willingness!) to perform proper due diligence on a business and with the current level of technology available, especially in free formats to the public (which includes government), this is a task geared for someone who likes researching issues via the Internet and pulling together the information in bias-neutral manners.
Index Editorial
How to plug into your community as a volunteer has never been a black and white, “here’s the instruction manual and just follow it step by step,” process. Each of these demonstrations are not designed to make the statement “Eureka! Here is that Final Format Answer to all that ails us,” rather they are a real tool and resource for the Midlothian community while it continues to await full transformation away from total public documentation lock-down to a system in which anyone wanting to learn about the rules governing the placement of fences and walls on private property can quickly visit the Internet, read the law for themselves and leave it to them to discern how it applies to their situation.
So if you have only heard rumblings about Midlothian’s set of current circumstances and are looking for ideas on how you can ensure your municipality is not caught in a similar set of logistical and political traps, the first place to start is to make sure that all public documentation is truthfully available to the general public. And if this means manually re-typing information as I have done with some of the materials on this site, I would make point to you that it is going to take far more than a toss of taxpayer dollars at this current deplorable state of our local government’s public document collection and if you have the will and the way, then just get it done.
The second point I would make is that the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) system in Illinois remains a weak symbol of what could, should and would be a truthful political and economic equalizer, despite the recent passage of reform. The fact that a FOIA request to see laws that should already be available being declined on the grounds of “unduly burdensome” remains a ludicrous rational to continue deterring the production of a book of laws even the local police department cannot produce a copy of and the Illinois Public Access Counselor’s Office should not have to dispatch resources to go enforce some of the basics on the books of the local municipalities themselves.
But if there is any one element that should be made clear through all of this quantity of content, it’s the fact that there still remains only negative economic rational to keeping such basic public documentation in such irresponsible lock-down formats, such as municipal code books and board meeting minutes. Boring as this position might come across to the few or even the many, the fact that this effort still represents more of a nuisance to the Village rather than celebrating the advancement of moving away from the out-dated ways and into these ever-evolving broadcasting tools.
So in summary, through using technology free to the public (WordPress), I have managed to move virtually all of the messages on the Village website into a much more user-friendly environment, complete with a privacy policy, internal searching, additional tagging and everything faster, cheaper and more logic-based than the Village of Midlothian could produce one complete copy of their laws for an in-person review let alone updating their website beyond a few tidbits and a .pdf newsletter production.
It’s been said before that these kinds of demonstrations and conversational points of matter clearly signals that I am somehow mentally unstable and worthy of interference from a variety of sources. Although these types of points of mental health argument will always become quick and sometimes sweeping matters of convenience for the rest of my life, it still seems a lot more questionable for anyone in our nation to expect our military to be successful at aiding others around the world in the process of writing, producing and enforcing sets of laws right for the culture of the society crafting the boo and that it is not crazy to expect a copy of the rule book to be produced upon demand…
especially when our nation relies on governing via the consent of the people…
When apparently the Village of Midlothian still has no fear of repercussions for what many have failed to properly document as a part of their duty to the public, let alone Sterling Codifiers, Inc., who operates in multiple states and has long client rosters in quite a few states. Perhaps Midlothian is but one of a few who received such a faulty book…?
So although I cannot testify on the condition of any other municipal’s code book, I guess I will just continue to bear witness to this continuation of delay, deny and dispute tactics that have been a hallmark of the previous two administration’s in Midlothian by continuing to contribute this type of information to the general public via the Internet…
And then leaving it to you to make the call.
I’m just one person with multiple opinions (not to be mistaken with multiple personalities as some have tried!) using the Internet as an outlet for my own desires to participate in a society larger than this Society of One each of us inescapably represent when looked upon from a biological perspective.
Plus, what is a former typist supposed to do in this economy anyway except blog about stuff? 
Today’s Index Dedicated to the Universal Legacy of the Kennedy family
