The Niles Public Library won the Illinois Policy Institute Sunshine Award for the second year in a row, according to an announcement at the Feb. 18 Board of Trustees meeting.
The award was created by the Chicago-based Illinois Policy Institute as a way to encourage municipal organizations throughout the state to be more transparent. That includes libraries, school districts, park districts and municipal, township and county governments.
Award candidates are evaluated based on 10 categories. This includes how easily the public can contact officials, how much information the candidate puts out about its public meetings, as well as information on the candidate’s budgets, expenditures, audits, contracts, employee compensation, tax rates and lobbying. In order to earn an award, a candidate must score at least 80 percent.
According to the Sunshine Awards’ website, only seven municipal organizations ever scored 100 percent. That included two organizations in northern Cook County – the Village of Skokie and the City of Evanston municipal governments.
The Niles Public Library earned its first Sunshine Award in 2014, scoring 85.3 percent. This year, the library scored even higher, earning 90.4 percent.
In a statement written on the award, Kristina Rasmussen, the Illinois Policy Institute’s Executive Vice President, urged the library to keep striving to earn a higher score.
“Earning the Institute’s Sunshine Award for government transparency for two years in a row is an important accomplishment that shows how local government bodies can embrace responsible and transparent operations,” she said. “We encourage the Niles Public Library to continue their efforts for government transparency and lead the way in Illinois.”
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During the board meeting, Board President Morgan Dubiel asked Trustee Chris Ball what the library could do to increase its score.
“We need to show five years of contracts [online],” he said. “The way we disclose salaries – we don’t have as much details as you’d like.”
In a statement to the press issued after the meeting, Dubiel said that the library was glad to get the award.
“This kind of transparency is critical for trust and we’re thrilled to be a leader; the first and only library in Illinois to win,” he said. “We work hard to do it right at the Niles Library and this proves it.”
Igor Studenkov is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.