Efficiency, Proven Results or Complacency? Freeport City Council Spends 40% Less Time Meeting
June 25, 2026 | Freeport, IL
When politicians campaign for office, one promise is almost universal.
Government should become more efficient.
Residents want less bureaucracy, fewer delays, responsible spending, and a government that works smarter—not simply harder. Efficiency, however, is one of those words that is easy to campaign on but much more difficult to measure.
Does government become more efficient because meetings are shorter? Or does efficiency mean producing better results for taxpayers, regardless of how many hours elected officials spend sitting around the council table?
Those are questions only the public can answer.
One thing, however, is not open to debate. The amount of time the Freeport City Council has spent conducting the public's business in official meetings has changed dramatically over the past year.
Whether that change represents improved government—or something else—is ultimately up to the people of Freeport to decide.
The Numbers
Fighting4Freeport reviewed every regular Freeport City Council meeting held between January and June of both 2025 and 2026.
The results were eye-opening.
January through June 2025
January – 8 hours 9 minutes
February – 6 hours 43 minutes
March – 4 hours 16 minutes
April – 8 hours 50 minutes
May – 3 hours 4 minutes
June – 6 hours 49 minutes
Total: 37 hours and 51 minutes
January through June 2026
January – 2 hours 35 minutes
February – 3 hours 40 minutes
March – 4 hours 25 minutes
April – 4 hours 6 minutes
May – 3 hours 16 minutes
June – 4 hours 48 minutes
Total: 22 hours and 50 minutes
That is a difference of 15 hours and 1 minute.
Or, put another way...
The Freeport City Council has spent 39.7% less time conducting official public meetings during the first six months of 2026 compared to the same period one year earlier.
The numbers themselves are not opinions. They are simply a record of how much time elected officials have spent discussing city business during meetings open to the public. What those numbers mean is where opinions begin.
Putting the Numbers Into Perspective
Statistics often become easier to understand when placed into everyday context.
The 37 hours and 51 minutes spent in official City Council meetings during the first half of 2025 is approximately equal to:
Nearly one full 40-hour work week
4.7 traditional eight-hour workdays
An average of 6 hours and 19 minutes of public meetings every month
By comparison...
The 22 hours and 50 minutes spent in official meetings during the first half of 2026 equals approximately:
Less than three eight-hour workdays
2.9 traditional workdays
An average of just 3 hours and 48 minutes of public meetings each month
In other words...
Over a six-month period, Freeport's elected officials have spent the equivalent of nearly two fewer eight-hour workdays discussing city business in public than they did during the same period last year.
That comparison should not be interpreted to mean City Council members only work while sitting in meetings.
Most elected officials spend additional time reading agendas, reviewing reports, responding to emails, speaking with residents, touring projects and preparing for meetings.
Those responsibilities are part of public service.
However, official meetings remain the single most important opportunity for taxpayers to watch their elected representatives debate policy, question expenditures, discuss priorities and cast votes affecting the future of Freeport.
They are where government operates in full public view.
Mayor Miller's Promise
When Mayor Jodi Miller began her historic third term as Freeport's first part-time and first female mayor, she spoke about creating a city government that operated more efficiently after 8 years of failing to do so.
Most residents would agree with that goal. Nobody wants government to waste time. Nobody wants unnecessary bureaucracy. Nobody wants elected officials holding lengthy meetings simply for the sake of appearing busy.
If City Hall has genuinely found ways to solve problems more efficiently while continuing to provide excellent service to residents, that deserves recognition.
But efficiency should never be confused with speed. A thirty-minute meeting is not automatically better than a three-hour meeting. Likewise, a three-hour meeting does not automatically mean government is ineffective. Efficiency must always be measured by results.
Are projects moving forward? Are departments functioning effectively? Are taxpayer dollars being managed responsibly? Are citizens receiving better service?
Those questions matter far more than the number of hours displayed on a meeting clock.
Still, time spent discussing public business remains one measurable indicator of how government conducts itself. That makes the nearly 40 percent reduction in public meeting time worthy of examination.
More Responsibility Than Ever Before
This discussion becomes even more significant when viewed alongside recent decisions that have increased the amount of taxpayer money flowing into City Hall.
During the past two years, the Miller administration and City Council approved the implementation of the 1% local sales tax, providing the city with an additional source of revenue funded largely by local consumers. The Council also chose to continue collecting a local grocery tax after the State of Illinois eliminated its statewide grocery tax, ensuring that grocery purchases within Freeport would continue generating local tax revenue. Regardless of where residents stood on those decisions politically, one fact is undeniable.
City Hall is now responsible for managing more taxpayer dollars than before.
With greater financial responsibility often comes greater public expectation. Many taxpayers might reasonably ask whether overseeing additional revenue should require more public discussion—not less.
How will those dollars be invested?
Which infrastructure projects receive priority?
How are spending decisions being evaluated?
What safeguards exist to ensure taxpayers receive value for the additional money being collected?
Those questions deserve thoughtful public conversation.
Whether that conversation requires more meeting time, better preparation before meetings, or improved efficiency is something every resident can decide for themselves.
One thing is certain. As the amount of taxpayer money entrusted to city government grows, so too does the public's expectation for transparency, accountability and careful oversight.
Higher Pay, Higher Expectations
The discussion surrounding efficiency does not end with taxes or meeting lengths. It also includes compensation.
In 2024, the Freeport City Council approved pay increases for the Mayor, City Council members and the City Clerk. Those salary increases officially took effect in May of 2025.
Public service is an important responsibility, and reasonable people can disagree about what elected officials should be paid.
Some believe competitive compensation encourages qualified individuals to seek office. Others believe public service should remain just that—a service.
Regardless of where someone stands on the issue, one principle should unite everyone. When taxpayers agree to pay elected officials more, it is reasonable for taxpayers to expect more in return. Higher compensation naturally brings higher expectations.
Residents have every right to ask:
Have our elected officials become more engaged?
Are they spending more time interacting with residents?
Are they more visible throughout the community?
Are they providing greater oversight of city government?
Has the additional compensation resulted in better government?
Those are not accusations.
They are the very questions taxpayers should ask of every elected official, regardless of political party or personal popularity.
Public office is unique. Unlike most professions, elected officials answer directly to the people who pay their salaries. That accountability is one of the cornerstones of representative government.
What About Work Behind the Scenes?
Supporters of the current administration may point out that much of the work performed by City Council members occurs outside official meetings. That is certainly true.
Council members often spend time reading agenda packets, reviewing contracts, answering emails, speaking with constituents, touring projects, attending community events and preparing for votes before they ever enter council chambers. Those responsibilities should not be ignored.
However, Illinois law also establishes important limits on how public business can be conducted.
The Illinois Open Meetings Act exists for one simple reason: to ensure that governmental decision-making occurs in public whenever possible.
While individual council members may meet one-on-one with residents, city staff or fellow council members, a quorum of the council cannot gather privately to deliberate public business outside properly noticed public meetings except under limited circumstances specifically authorized by law.
In practical terms, that means official City Council meetings remain the primary place where the public can watch elected officials debate policy, ask difficult questions, challenge recommendations and explain the reasoning behind their votes.
Transparency happens in public. Accountability happens in public. Trust is built in public.
If Not in Meetings...Then Where?
If official meeting time has declined by nearly 40 percent, an obvious question follows.
Where has that time gone?
Has it been reinvested back into the community? Have residents seen more elected officials walking neighborhoods? Visiting local businesses? Attending neighborhood association meetings? Meeting with civic organizations? Speaking with residents outside election season? Checking on infrastructure projects? Listening to concerns before they appear on a City Council agenda?
If the answer to those questions is yes, many residents would likely conclude that government has become more efficient.
After all, elected officials should not be judged solely by the amount of time they spend sitting behind a microphone. Government exists to serve the public—not to hold lengthy meetings.
On the other hand, if residents have not observed a corresponding increase in community engagement, then it is reasonable to ask a different question.
Has government truly become more efficient? Or has it simply become less engaged in public discussion?
Again, Fighting4Freeport is not answering that question. We are asking it.
F4F Chairman's Analysis | Joshua T. Atkinson
One of the greatest misconceptions in government is the belief that efficiency can be measured by a stopwatch.
It cannot.
A meeting that lasts six hours is not automatically productive. A meeting that ends in thirty minutes is not automatically efficient. Efficiency is measured by results.
Are streets being repaired? Are neighborhoods improving? Are businesses choosing to invest in Freeport? Are taxpayers receiving value for the money they contribute? Are city departments operating more effectively than they were one year ago?
Those are the measurements that ultimately matter.
At the same time, transparency also has value. Public discussion has value. Debate has value. Asking difficult questions before spending taxpayer money has value. Listening to different viewpoints has value.
Those things take time.
During the first six months of 2025, the Freeport City Council spent 37 hours and 51 minutes conducting official public meetings—nearly the equivalent of five traditional eight-hour workdays.
During the same period this year, that number dropped to 22 hours and 50 minutes—less than three eight-hour workdays.
That represents 15 fewer hours of public deliberation.
At the same time, City Hall now oversees additional taxpayer revenue through the 1% local sales tax and the continuation of the local grocery tax. The City Council, Mayor and City Clerk are also receiving the salary increases approved in 2024 and implemented in 2025.
None of those facts, standing alone, prove that city government is performing better or worse than it did a year ago.
But together, they raise legitimate questions that deserve public consideration.
If City Hall is collecting more taxpayer dollars...
If elected officials are earning higher salaries...
If official public meeting time has decreased by nearly 40 percent...
Then taxpayers have every right to evaluate whether they are receiving greater value for their investment.
Perhaps Mayor Miller has accomplished exactly what she promised by creating a government that works smarter and delivers results more efficiently. If that is the case, residents should recognize and applaud that achievement.
But if taxpayers believe they are seeing less public discussion, less engagement and less visibility from those elected to represent them, they also have every right to express those concerns. That is the responsibility of an informed electorate.
Fighting4Freeport has no interest in telling readers what conclusion they should reach. Our responsibility is to present verified information, provide meaningful context and encourage thoughtful public discussion.
The stopwatch has revealed something worth noticing. Now comes the more important question.
Has Freeport's city government become more efficient...or simply less visible?
Only the people of Freeport can answer that.