“It doesn’t take a majority to win, just a tireless minority that will keep starting brush fires in the mind and hearts of their fellow men.”

Samuel Adams

Sunday, March 31, 2013

Working Together for a Better Peru


Anonymous said...(excerpts from a post under Perez Expenses IML

Let's develop a plan and come together as a community and get rid of Harl.

as much as I hate to say this since I was going to vote for Baker, I can not allow myself to vote for someone that sounded disorganized and out of tune. I want my children to live in a community that offers more opportunity than I had and one which they can be proud of. For those voters that are in my shoes that were going to vote for Baker, lets vote for one man
This will give us a better chance to get rid of Harl, which IS the goal.

Operation Get Harl Out Of Office!!!

Perhaps the poster will come back and explain that pro-Hart, pro-Giordano, pro-Harl sentence which I deleted at least until I get clarification. Please get back to us on what you meant. Reply has been made @ 6:25 PM




This post came in from an anonymous poster with a request that I happen to agree with and have discussed with friends and associates. Mayor Harl does not understand the residents of this city or the best way to be a Mayor for this city. The associations at city hall need to be changed because they are not good in the long run as it is currently being run by special interests and I will use the BB gun club as one small example and the results of this will be felt for a long time and all is not out yet.



Friday, March 29, 2013

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Election News and Comments

I listened to the Spring Valley mayors on WLPO news last evening and early in the debate, Mayor Cliff Banks said that the city stopped the practice of going to the IML meetings in Chicago and spending 12 to 15,000 and bringing nothing back to the city that would help them.  Instead they have put that money into new sidewalks in the downtown plus he donated 1/2 of his salary.
Does Mr. Banks have the right idea? We in Peru have no clue what is discussed because no one is talking. They could at least tell us what they had to eat at the promotional dinners.
This audio is still available is you would like to listen.

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Mayoral Debate WLPO What Do You Think?

I listened but will not try to influence anyone with my opinions. Your opinion is what makes this blog work, what do you think?

Elected Officials Cannot Use Email To Make City Decisions

In November, the Illinois attorney general ruled that emails and phone messages by public officials about public business are subject to disclosure even when they are on private cellphones or in private email or computers. Whether something is public, the opinion stated, depends on the content, not how it's communicated.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2011-12-05/news/ct-met-open-meetings-1205-20111205_1_public-officials-instant-messages-public-access-advocates

Monday, March 25, 2013

Treasurer Hylla and Ald Ferrari Expenses

Candidate Forums Lined Up Before Election « AM1220 WLPO News

Candidate Forums Lined Up Before Election « AM1220 WLPO News


REMEMBER TO LISTEN @ 6:05 pm TOMORROW TUESDAY MARCH 26.

Electric Rates for Peru Businesses

Mike Hart posted to Mike Hart for Mayor on FB.

With his approval, I am posting on the blog.

Went to a meeting on Friday March 22, held at Unityte concerning the indrustrial electric rates and the demand charges. The 8 largest users and 3 candidates, (Mayor Harl missing) talked over the stuation and presented various ideas. All involved stated it needs to be addressed so as not to lose any industry. I stated these rates being charged are similar to east coast rates. Which was verified. If you want info on your utility bill go the City of Peru website. Go to ordinances and highlight utility. Look at it closely. Everyone is complaining about high bills. Each Apri 30th there is an average (low) 6% increase in your bill. Any questions send them to me.
hartformayor@yahoo.com


In addition to the energy charges, purchase power adjustments, sales taxes, and any other charges imposed under this article V, electric service, commencing with the first billing date for each consumer after April 30th of each year, there shall be a three percent increase to the minimum monthly charge and a three percent increase to the difference between the energy charge in each rate block and the base energy charge of $0.0434 as defined in section 114-333, purchase power adjustment. This annual operations adjustment shall be applied to all residential service, commercial service, and all other non-demand metered rates, except the economic development rate schedules.

Sunday, March 24, 2013

You Asked and These are the Expenses

It takes some time to do all of the expense sheets, so I will do 2 per day until I get them done. Starting with the most questioned which are the Ald. Lukosus and Mayor Harl expenses.

Saturday, March 23, 2013

Code Enforcement Officer - CodeEnforcementJobAnnouncement.pdf

Code Enforcement Officer - CodeEnforcementJobAnnouncement.pdf

I happened to come across this doing some google searches. Since our city is contemplating setting up demolition budgets per ward, I wondered who will be making these decisions. Does anyone know if our building inspector has the qualifications they expect of the code enforcement officer in Sterling IL. I guess since we failed to hire another code enforcement officer after Boro left because the city felt that one assistant in the department was enough.

Important Part of Political Sign Ordinance Not Enacted

By now we all know that the much discussed sign ordinance in Peru is not being enforced. It appears that it was not that they could not but did not want to enforce this ordinance in a fair manner, so therefore duplicate signs for many candidates are all over the city in violation of the ordinance. Most of us don't care because it will be over by April 9. Just another ordinance on the books that is only enforced when the city wants to. Will they make changes to it? I am betting no.

But there is something that is not covered under the sign ordinance that should be because it concerns the behavior and attitude of elected and appointed city officials. Is there an unwritten protocol about who the officials should publicly be supporting?

Mayor Harl to his credit only has a sign for himself in his yard. But SPW who lives on 30th St. has signs for Mayor Harl, Alderman Radtke, Hocking and Ocepinski and Studer in his yard. The Twp. signs I personally have no issue with because these are people he does not actually work with at any time. True a new mayor could relieve him of his position, even though he has plans to retire this year. So even though this administration put him in as SPW, it is debatable that he should support anyone for mayor as he is working for the residents not the mayor and could possibly create conflict under a new administration.

Gary Bleck your public support of one alderman over another in your yard is inexcusable period. As SPW, you should never ever support one alderman over the other during an election regardless of your like or dislike of the current second ward alderman. We all know why you are not supporting Ald. Mayszak, it is because she is doing her job representing the residents of the second and as a committee member of the Public Property Committee and often has conflicted opinions with the mayor and you. This is wrong Gary and you should not be supporting any candidate for alderman as this creates a conflict with your position as Superintendent of Public Works. This shows a definite lack of propriety on your part.

I have also found out that there will be times when you see a Harl sign in someones yard that they did not ask for and the reason for that is that that the Union has placed them in yards of city employees, so some of those signs are meaningless because they are not backed with a vote.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

A Look Back at 2010 Debt Clock.


This debt clock was posted on March 4, 2010 with the information obtained from the city by the concerned individual. A good friend located it in the archives of this blog, March 4, 2010. A post was written on March 8, 2010 also.

A Bit of Humor Amidst all the Frustration

Illinois Attorney General - NEW SUNSHINE LAWS CREATED MORE GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY

Illinois Attorney General - NEW SUNSHINE LAWS CREATED MORE GOVERNMENT TRANSPARENCY


Since 2009, one of those new laws in Illinois, that municipalities are now having to comply with fulfilling.

New Peru Project Demolition Budget

At the City Council last night the aldermen were asked to look over their wards and find property that should be demolished as the city would like to budget each ward with x amount of dollars for that specific purpose. Not business property but personal property. This evidently could be rental properties or owner lived in homes. I know of 2 properties in Ward one that the city purchased in recent years and when sold will be sold at a loss.

If we had a building inspector doing his job, imo, none of this would be necessary on that large of a scale. Each ward has issues that is for certain but is purchasing the property and demolishing it the answer? Usually the answer is to start at the beginning and have a qualified inspector who will be working on issues like this and with persistence solve them long before we reach the demo point. What has happened to the proposed ordinance to make sure landlords are maintaining their property. Remember Boro, he got more done in one day than our current inspector does in 6 months.

Just recently the Public Property Committee looked over a list of city owner properties and most were amazed at the list and the properties owned by the city for years and years.

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

IML Convention Gone But Not Forgotten

I did a FOIA after the Illinois Municipal League Convention in Chicago in October of 2012. Those who went from Peru were Mayor Scott Harl, Treasurer Gary Hylla, SPW Gary Bleck, Ald. Dave Waldorf, Ald. Tony Ferrari, Ald. Lukosus, Ald. M. Radtke and Ald. Rodney Perez.

The participants were reimbursed for all expenses beside the registration fees which were paid by the city.

Mayor Scott Harl - 941.94
Gary Bleck - 595.96
Gary Hylla - 719.38
Ald. Perez - 362.86
Ald. Lukosus -1126.86
Ald. Ferrari - 882.12
Ald. Waldorf - 763.67
Ald. Radtke -- 675.76

This is the convention that we have never heard one word about any of what the meetings may have been about or at least a brief report of why they were at the meeting.

Monday, March 18, 2013

Bloomington City Council questions: Day 2 : Election

Bloomington City Council questions: Day 2 : Election

An interesting concept offered by the Pantagraph as a public service.

Sunday, March 17, 2013

Checks and Balances in Peru Finances

Let's start seeing ALL purchases from each department on line and require stringent controls on who buys what and where followed by oversight by all department heads and the city clerk.

Saturday, March 16, 2013

Is The Video Game Over?

On 9/24/12 the city council approved a purchase of a video camera from Connecting Point in the amount of $1545.00. The camera was installed and located at the back of the council chambers on the ceiling in the back.of the room.

The first video was on Oct. 22, 2012 and rather hit or miss since then with 18 meetings and 13 videos posted. I have questioned this and have been told that they have consulted with Connecting Point. I could maybe understand some technical issues in the beginning but 3 months or so into the process, they should be resolved and with good support we should be seeing them posted within a day or two of each meeting.

.

Morris IL Fire Rescue of Worker in Grain Bin



March 15, 2013

Peru does not have grain bins but towns surrounding us do.

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Ideas to Think About

Is the BB gun club only a symptom of what is wrong with the city?

Why are there so many special interest groups that seem to be getting what they want at taxpayer expense?


Is the hydro a bigger expense than a benefit at this point?


Would our park system benefit from professional services? How do you break the cycle of "summer help" that year after does not seem to be working, should the city be in the business of giving jobs to political allies and business friends?

What do we do with out neglected parks?

Do we need continuing education for our elected officials?

Would you like to see each payment made by the city put online with a scan of the check?

Video taping of meetings has become a big disappointment, what now?

Is it possible to find people who would volunteer to help with projects to beautify the city and would the city assist in that effort? Do we need to continue to maintain the cemetery green house and to employ a part time horticulturist and what should his budget be?

Some of my pre election thoughts.Sometimes I have questions but not sure many people think one or none of them are important, what do you think?

Monday, March 11, 2013

How Long Will This Take to Be Corrected?

SECOND SIGN HAS Not BEEN REMOVED FROM THE LOCATION even though   MY PICTURE HAS BEEN TAKEN OFF THE BLOG. ( not sure it is not still in the yard but merely moved to the far side of his driveway. Either that or Ald. Ferrari has changed his mind and is now a Harl supporter.)


This is one of the sign violations that popped up this weekend and our sign inspector Frank Taylor was notified by email Sunday night so assuming he saw it when he came to work on Monday morning, this should not still be up on Tuesday.  This is only one of the violations he was notified of at Monday nights meeting.

I make note of this because of the big fuss Mr Taylor made at a meeting about a sign in Travis Nelsons yard and also about Mike Harts signs. So Frank it is up to you, and I will then take this picture down also.

What Do You Want to Know about a Candidate This Year?

I have talked to several of the candidates running for office this year including Mike Hart, Justin Loger and Sherry Mayszak and they are agreeable to answering your questions here on the blog.

Something in particular on your mind, ask and we will get the answer for you involving at least those 3 individuals. Others can be asked but not sure they are interested in giving you an answer.

I want to know if any of them would like to see the city with a new city attorney? It is my understanding that the atty does not need to be from Peru, so what do they think about hiring outside of our city? Mayor Harl promised us a new atty but did not follow through. Mayor Baker had the same atty for many years prior to that.


What kind of questions would you like to see asked during the Mayoral Debate?

City Council Met for About 30 Minutes This Evening

Evidently the city continues to have issues with the recording process and there will be no video from last week and can only hope for better results this week. I talked to someone who said the internet setup within city hall does not have a fast enough internet to correctly run the video and Connecting Point does not seem to have a "internet geek" to correct and it turns out to be a hit or miss situation.

. My belief is that when the city hall was built, the Mayor and City Council at the time 20 years ago were not able to foresee the changes that would be happening with  internet technology and evidently no one to give them good advice as to the future. Things some time seem to be moving at a mind boggling pace and we need people running this city that understand that.

Mayor Harl and Ald. Lukosus were absent and attending a convention in Washington DC.

Small talk about the BB gun range and when Ald. Mayszak questioned why we did not show the cost of  labor on the disbursements, Ald. Radtke said there is no snow and we might as well have the city labor force doing something. Does that mean that this range is a "keep busy project"? The BB gun originator is not very happy with the questions. Would the city have been able to secure volunteer help for this project? Or would we run into union problems?

Finally we were able to pass an ordinance for the July 3 Fireworks Display and the contract has been signed and it only turned out to be a 6 month effort. Should have been taken care of last fall and not have kept so many people involved and time wasted on such an event. The city surely has more important work to do.

BB Gun Donations, Expenses and Missing Costs

 

This is a listing of the donations to build the BB gun range in the basement of city hall and associated expenditures. 

 It is well known that city employees provided the labor to make it happen. To be fair we should also know how many man hours were utilized and cost per hour unless they volunteered on their own time.  Special projects are not taxpayer related costs

Friday, March 08, 2013

BB Gun Club Will It Be On The Agenda

There is supposed to be a presentation this week by Police Chief Bernabei and Greg Vaccaro on the BB gun club. Agenda is not yet posted but this was mentioned at the last council meeting.

Were the hours of work done by city employees included in the figures given by Hylla?. Maybe we will find out.

Thursday, March 07, 2013

The Structure of this Blog will Be Different

I recently received a communication from the News Tribune that I was in violation of the copyright laws because I had several times used their articles verbatim. Even though I would include my source The News Tribune and the reporter usually Jeff Dankert. They say it is also a violation to cut something from my private print edition and scan into this blog. They asked that I remove anything that fits into that description. I have gone through removed the scanned copies and the articles that were from the paper. Eventually I will remove all back links also.

I will continue to watch activity in the city and write my own opinions of what is taking place and will still accept your opinions. We have paid for and received the News Tribune for over 50 years in our home but that is now coming to an end and I will Not renew our subscription which is up in a couple of weeks. Several others I know well have also made the same decision. So feel free to inform us of anything printed that you would like to see brought to our attention. I thought that as long as I was giving them credit on the blog for what I used, it would not be a problem but I guess I was wrong. I will still use other news sources with backlinks to their papers.

Since the News Tribune stated that someone had brought it to their attention I do believe that this is politically motivated especially since it is happening one month before our municipal election on April 9. This is getting to be a very nasty election campaign and some of this is coming from incumbents and associates, some of whom have connections.

Wednesday, March 06, 2013

Peru alderman wants action for problem property « AM1220 WLPO News

Peru alderman wants action for problem property « AM1220 WLPO News

Zoning Violations within Peru City

Most of us are aware of the property on third street between Grant and Putnam and how for many many years it has looked like a junk yard with junk, scrap and vehicles that did not run and were not licensed. The city has literally been allowing a junk yard to exist within the city with never a word said to the owner about being a good neighbor and cleaning it up.  Yes there are very nice residences located right across the street but that did not matter because evidently the city does not care if the neighbors were disgusted with what they were faced with everytime they walked out of their front door. In fact there is a historic church just down the block.

Finally in December Ald. Perez brought this up to the council and Frank Taylor, our pretend building and zoning inspector who evidently is assisted by a mayor who is protecting him said that the owner had been sent a letter informing him he needed to clean up the grounds. All this is in the minutes of the meeting and has been previously discussed on the blog. He was given until March 5 to get things in order and that was over 60 days. Most people are not given that length of time.  Again it sounds like who you are in the city of Peru.

Tonight Ald. Perez again brought up the problem since March 5 was on Tuesday of this week. Frank Taylor said he had decided to give him another 35 days because he had cut the weeds and moved some metal around. Ald. Perez countered that saying he has the pictures to prove that nothing was hauled away and the property remains the same. Ald. Mayszak said residents are not treated in the same way and Alderman Perez agreed. There is no consistency in the city....it depends upon who you are. Be sure to watch for this video when it is posted. Ald. Perez than asked the mayor who in his usual strong manner, said whatever the Building and Zoning Inspector decides is fine with him.
This Mickey Mouse leadership in Peru is an embarrassment to the residents of this city.

Is a Political Billboard Sign Really a Sign

The huge political sign put up by the Baker Sign Committee is located at 36th and Peoria.  We all know that billboards are bigger than the 4 x 4 limit established by Peru ordinance for political signage. Is there an exception for billboards? I have read the ordinance and I don't believe so.
Will Frank Taylor, Don Bakers neighbor now tell him to take it down or sent him a letter asking him to remove it?

Tuesday, March 05, 2013

Gorging public tax dollars - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL

Gorging public tax dollars - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL



This is the N.T. Article all about Peru Township and the cost of maintaining it. Outrageous  waste of taxpayer dollars and we have all been guilty of closing our eyes to the display of arrogance by those elected to the township with benefits that most of only dream about.

This is dated 6/18/2012 and was reposted on one of the social sites.

Minutes and Tapes of Closed Sessions Regarding Addison Avenue Project Made Public - Elmhurst, IL Patch

Minutes and Tapes of Closed Sessions Regarding Addison Avenue Project Made Public - Elmhurst, IL Patch

Monday, March 04, 2013

Answers from the city

I asked some questions of the city clerks office today.

The city has no record of any previous contract with any pyrotechnic company on file for July 3 or 4 fireworks.  Question: So why was the contract of Extreme Pyro sent back to the Rec Board by Ald. Ankiewicz as evidently they have no knowledge of fireworks contracts? And that was evident on the video.

Regarding the Peru Fire Department: The city will be purchasing and paying for a new fire engine. The city has a truck fund and money in it will be used to equip the new fire engine and the money in the fund is under city control.

Liberty handles all of their own money.