“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

Friday, April 04, 2014

Do We The City of Peru Really Need??

Talking to a friend to day about the possible property tax increase because the City Treasurer states we are not getting enough sales tax.

It seems like one day the city has more than enough money and the next day we don't have enough. Just a few weeks ago Ald. Waldorf read an email from Treasurer Hylla telling us not to worry funds were available for the necessary public works projects even though a few weeks before that the same alderman stated that maybe they were going to be short on some proposed projects. So it seems there seems to be uncertainty in city government, I thought maybe we should offer some suggestions to them.

I will start with this one....Mayor Harl had himself appointed to the Illinois Municipal Electric Board a few weeks ago and the council approved (just went to get the exact date on this one and the Peru city web site is unavailable) so this will be from memory. Do we the city of Peru Really need to be paying for the overnight stay of the mayor and associated gas costs when no one asked him to do this? In fact if the city is running short of cash, I suggest he make the offer himself to pay his own way. The travels are to Springfield, IL.

54 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since the council approved it they should all pitch in and pay for his gas and hotel. Or he should pay for it himself, as he is getting a salary. I look at it as part of his job. Why should the taxpayers foot the bill?

Anonymous said...

If he wants to get rid of the electric dept why did join?

Anonymous said...

What has he got lost in Springfield? He should be in Peru and take care of business.

Anonymous said...

They didn't include their private party's or their under the table bonuses or overtime pay pled by harl ! While this council n mayor are in power we will never have enough MONEY !

Anonymous said...

The bottom line is this. You can't trust anything any of these people tell you. We don't have an accurate accounting because we have a city treasurer who likes to spin the numbers to create whatever appearance he wishes to create. None of them have any credibility when they contradict each other. Hylla has the aldermen so scammed with his condescending attitude while he manipulates them.
There is nobody steering the ship folks, and nobody that we can trust to give us an accurate report. Good or Bad.

Peru Town Forum said...

WLPO has announced that the Union Rat is at the Peru Mall because some recent construction was not done by union labor.

Peru does not need this once again and it will once again cost Peru and this time with future projects. Who wants to build when the rat might be hovering over your project because you don't follow union regulations.

Anonymous said...

I wonder what happens and who gets hired when these clowns have to hire someone for their own house or property?

Anonymous said...

Pg.A4. Today's paper(weekend) ottawa releases waterfront plan. HOW ABOUT PERUS BEAUTIFUL WATERSTREET PLAN. First off the corner site by Mertels there is an abundance if garbage/metal right out in the open. Who is in charge of this? That's right folks, leader of the illinois valley!

Anonymous said...

The union was at the south entrance yesterday afternoon handing out flyers asking people to not shop at the Peru Mall.

Anonymous said...

Didn't Hylla go with fire chief Jeff king to Florida many months ago to the e-one fire truck manufacturing plant to look at the new fire truck that was being built? The truck that the city/taxpayers will be paying for. With no funds coming from the Liberty fire company fundraising organization to defry the cost from taxpayers/city. Thought I remembered reading this somewhere. Wonder who paid all the expenses for this trip? Why eould Hylla go? If this is true. Who can confirm this?

Anonymous said...

Just think a minute. The union boss is from Marseilles/Ottawa area and is trying to stop shoppers at Peru Mall. Does he want them to stay in Ottawa and spend? Something up their sleeves.
And someone asked the question of who works on union member homes...well, I know two neighbors who are union members and had nonunion people do their driveway and landscape and heating and plumbing work. That's the way it goes, just like the army. "Don't Do As I Do, Do As I say".
And when they go on strike, they do siding and roof jobs, etc. Time to put a stop to those tactics.

Anonymous said...

Concerning Peru's waterfron - whatever happened to Boss Harl's Gourmet Burger Shop that was supposed to be opened in the ESDA building? I got a crisp ten dollar bill that says Peru will be buying that building back and tearing it down. Wonder what the asbestos removal scam will cost us. Or maybe we can sell it to a scavanger for scrap value and then buy back the "raw land" for development. Oh ya, Boss Hurl is a real estate tycoon now, soon to be our township tax assessor since Doogie B lost his appraiser's license and can't run on the Democrate ticket any more. See how this all weaves together. I wish our newspaper would report on this, but they don't like to rock to boat. They would rather hype up false charities that benefit political cronies.

Anonymous said...

To 1143 your correct the news tribune can't report certain things because the news tribune is concerned about advertising revenue if they reported facts about peru Lasalle etc there goes the ad revenue it's all about money

Anonymous said...

3:12 - the funny thing is, the NT and Miller Media are sitting on a Gold Mine and they don't even know it. I would double that ten dollar bet to say that if they started reporting, their readership and listership would quadroupal and their ad revenue would do the same. As it stands now, everyone I know has given up on the News Tribune and WLPO.

Anonymous said...

Asbestos removal. What a scam. It is the single largest WASTE OF MONEY for local governments. Unless it is an industrial sight, there is virtually NO ASBESTOS in any building. Old Hotels and commercial buildings don't contain enough asbestos to cause any health issues. Yet, local taxpayers are forced to pay MILLIONS OF DOLLARS on asbestos abaitment FOR NOTHING! It is all a SCAM! Whenever the city council starts talking about asbestos abaitment, the local citizens should get together and just burn the building down! ASBESTOS MY BEHIND!

Anonymous said...

I remember it was a month ago ( meeting before last ) when Hylla was gone on vacation , he emailed a letter to Waldorf and he read it saying how good we were sitting and how much money we had in reserve . It was very funny because they were pretty much patting themselves on the back ! And now they want to raise taxes because we're broke ? Obviously we're being lied to again ! This administration sucks!!

Anonymous said...

If they raise taxes in Peru I will start shopping out of town . This is ridiculous!

Anonymous said...

It was the meeting right before the election that Hylla said how good the city fathers were running the town . Imagine that , and now that everyone voted no and they con'ed the public , they say we need to raise taxes ! I voted "yes" . you that voted no really doomed this town !

Anonymous said...

Before Peru Public Schools abandon Washington School we need to demand they pay for ALL ASBESTOS ABAITMENT! We cannot allow any transfer of title until the building is either totally demolished or certified to be 100% ASBESTOS FREE! We cannot allow the city to buy this property from the school district. I have heard people saying this is the plan. NO! WE CANT ALLOW IT. We can buy the empty lot after the building is totally demolished, but I heard the school board wants to pass all the expenses over to the City.

Anonymous said...

DO WE REALLY NEED:
1. Gas guzzling vehicles for our bosses to use?
2. To empty park garbage cans on Saturday (O.T.)?
3. To water flowers on Sunday (O.T.)?
4. Closed sessioned "Committee as a Whole" meetings?
5. Do our bosses really need to bring city owned vehicles home?
6. To continue spending at the rate we are if money is becoming short?
7. Do we really need to continue sending so many aldermen to the IML convention when they don't ever come back and report what they've learned? And we pay their expenses.

Come on citizens of Peru. I'm sure you can come up with many more "Do we really needs".

Anonymous said...

The library and IVAR host used-book sales. Who is responsible for the book collection boxes at the Jewel property ? Did they get or need city approval to be placed there ?

Anonymous said...

Do we really need to let city employees use trucks to help their friends move? I saw one in Ottawa a few Saturdays ago being filled with furniture. Of course, since it was a diesel, it was running. You see, City employees never turn their vehicles off during the day. I wouldn't be surprised if the let them run all night. And what about the City truck patrols and convoys you see throughout the day. Groups of city trucks just randomly driving from one end of town to the other, then taking them all to Spring Valley for lunch. Yes, I saw that too. Three Peru trucks parked outside a tavern in the Valley at lunch time. But forget about time clocks and GPS. "The Boys" might get upset.

Anonymous said...

There is a movement in Springfield to change the way sales tax is distributed. Instead of distributing the municipal portion based on the location of the sale, they want to distribute the municipal portion based on population. The Chicago Dems are pushing hard for this.

Anonymous said...

10:43 If your comment is "fact" then citizens of Peru, we need to be angry and do something about this. It's our tax dollar they are wasting.

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha what about 90% of the cops in Peru having there own personal vehicles to take home . What happened to picking them up switching guys and the guy you pick up takes you home ? Ridiculous!! No wonder we're broke ! Peru leaders have no common sense !!

Anonymous said...

Everyone sees employees and superintendents stealing from the city of Peru . Yet no one posts pictures or calls city hall or the police . File a police report . Have it logged officially what you see . Otherwise nothing will change . New employees see the old ones doing it and when threy leave the new ones continue the cycle . You can't come on here and complain after the fact . That's not going to fix your town . Report it . Photograph it . Post it on social media . Those are your tax dollars, protect them .

Anonymous said...

I tried. They just say, "we will look into it" and smile.

Anonymous said...

Why leave a diesel run? There is no sense, they start just like a gas. As far as extending engine life, that is a bunch of crap. It only adds up hours on the engine so there is a good excuse to buy a new vehicle. Just like the fire department taking a ride in winter for no reason at all with salt on the roads and then end up complaining that a new truck is needed because the old one has rust. Sit in the hospital lot and watch the kids with the toys. It is the same crap every week. If things get wore out it is because of play NOT work.

Anonymous said...

Part of the big problem is our fire department...now we are buying lunch for whole damn town...215 to stone jug barbecue and 250 to Marta ravioli...interesting that a firefighter has returned from Florida and now we are overspending...where is the infamous Liberty FD?

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:43AM 4/6/14
3 city trucks x's how many employees per truck? How long of a lunch time is a city employee allowed by union contract? Lunch on a normal construction site is 1/2 hour and the 1/2 starts from the second the job is walked of and you must be back on it within that 30 minutes. If you are working in Peru, drive to SV for lunch, order lunch and wait for it to be prepared, eat your lunch and than drive back to Peru. How many minutes would this take or an hour and how much? Most everybody takes a bite out of the sandwich once in awhile but they don't gobble up the whole thing every day!
There is a general feeling in Peru that the people in charge are the role models of this behavior and as long as the employees leave them alone they are allowed to do what they want.
5 years ago Mayor Harl made a determined and long attempt to hire a out of town city engineer and a out of town SPW. He not only had a lack of cooperation from the city council they flatly fought him tooth and nail on these attempts. Today the condition has worsened as everyone knows the council wishes to hire from within for known reasons and the mayor appears to favor the councils decision and is reluctant to hire anyone at all.

Anonymous said...

Last year Alderman Perez led a group
of volunteers who planted flowers in the city planters and cleaned up and planted flowers in the City Park. This group was never offered a Thank You from the Mayor or council or acknowledged in any manner. Nor was Alderman Perez thanked for watering the flowers all summer long
Along came nasty old winter and the city had to clean up downtown Peru. The city employees performed this work on premium time and the same Mayor was calling business' to buy lunch for the PAID city employees as a show of gratitude for a good job.
Yogi Berra once stated "It ain't over until its over". Yogi I surrender, make it over before it gets worse.

Anonymous said...

Why does a International and a Marsailles local union allow the expression of one person to continuously appear in Peru, Illinois bothering people with his pet rat and flyers?
Surely this individual must know the bad will he is creating for his own group.

Anonymous said...

This might be a little different of we had only 4 aldermen and 2 at large. Less money spent, maybe more quality instead of quantity. Get more young people involved. Now you are going to have this same council, till they die. They still will vote the way Baker tells them to. Only one stands on his own two feet, and volunteers, and they hate him for it. Its really sad, that more aldermen don't think for themselves. If we had 2 at large maybe, something more would get done. It never will with these sit on your a-- people. Thank you

Anonymous said...

Anon 12:00 I saw on Perez' Facebook that his group of volunteers that cleaned up trash in Peru were given a free lunch provided by the Dalzell FD what is up with that? Did Peru do anything for these volunteers? I'm thinking probably not. Good job to Perez and his volunteers along with the town of Dalzell.

Anonymous said...

Jewel = union = out of business

Hy-Vee = non-union = flourishing
Wal-Mart = non-union = flourishing

Nuff said!

Anonymous said...

I saw pictures of Rodney and others helping clean up Peru last Saturday. Incredibly I didn't see any other aldermen or the mayor helping. I wonder why?

Anonymous said...

9:32 please explain more. Is this another purchase from Liberty that people's/businesses donations is used for?

Peru Town Forum said...

Yes the volunteers did one amazing job and I have never seen the areas they cleaned up look this nice. Personally I don't know most of them but if you are reading this I thank you for your time and willingness to start the cleanup of this city. This was a small group and they could only cover so much territory but maybe more people will be available next time.
Looking down at a street that is clean tell's everyone that someone cares and when you look at a litter strewn area day after day, you know no one does.

BTW if anyone in public works is reading, I was told about some blocked sewer drains in the area of 9th and Pulaski. Alderman was notified and nothing done.

Anonymous said...

Would the appointed superintendents of public works be responsible for taking care of blocked sewers? How is this working for everybody?

Peru Town Forum said...

2:22 pm

Just came from a walk as far as West St. and saw several grates just about covered with leaves and the streets sure need to have a visit by the street sweeper.

At one time the PJS used to have a section in the paper or on a TV station called "OINK OINK" where they would remind businesses orthe city when places were totally neglected. I think now there still is a place in their online paper where people can send comments on places that need something taken care of.

Good idea for the N.T.?

Anonymous said...

I think if everyone would just walk out in front of their house or business with a snow shovel and clear off the nearest catch basin themselves it would do a world of good. I have one next to my driveway and I do it all the time. It is not hard and only takes a minute or two.
Now... if you notice that it is full of stuff below the grate - that is when you should call in the city.

Anonymous said...

Whatever happened to "Floyd the Barber" and Boss Harl's efforts to repeal the first amendment for City of Peru employees?

Anonymous said...

Why is it that the worst 1/4 mile of street is the townships located in the heart of Peru? Why doesn't this patch of road on North Pulaski ever get repaired? Why does it belong to the township and not the city?

Peru Town Forum said...

Just came home from the city council meeting and we sat and listened very intently to our elected officials and tonight was one of those meetings when it is rather scary to think they are making decisions that will affect an entire city. A very strange feeling in the council chambers.

Peru Town Forum said...

A quote from Thomas Jefferson comes to mind.

When the governments fear the people you have liberty but
when the people fear the government you have tyranny.

Peru Town Forum said...

Discussions were about the new Medical marijuana law and the aldermen were looking for ways to tax if possible. In the near future their immediate concern seems to be about the establishment of an ordinance regarding public comment.

A committee meeting of the whole will be at 6:30 before the council meeting and squeezed in between the 2 will be a budget meeting.

Street sweeper will also be out and about in your neighborhood soon. Be patient.

Peru Town Forum said...

Council meetings referenced above are in 2 weeks.

Anonymous said...

Tax medicine? Typical Peru thought process. Anyway, I predict the medical marijuana program to be start very slow in Illinois because of the numerous fees associated with starting up a dispensary. First, you have to pay a $5000 nonrefundable application fee and have proof of $400000 in assets. Then you have to pay a $30000 permit fee and a $25000 annual fee. To grow the stuff you need to pay a $25000 nonrefundable application fee and prove you have $200000 in assets. Then you get to pay $100000 annual permit fee. Then local governments can pile on their own application fees. If our Aldermen see medial pot as a new golden goose, maybe they are partaking in their own medicine. :) The way Illinois set it up will make it way to expensive for anyone to buy the stuff.

Anonymous said...

A short meeting last night. Pretty soon the council will be voting to meet once a month, keeping the same pay!

Anonymous said...

Menards pipe repair status is on the agenda for the next public works meeting on the city website. I noticed a Jeff King evidently will have a update. Does Mr. King have any qualification regarding pipes, sewers. concrete, electrical, operations of equipment used, etc...? Wouldn't this be like a drivers ed teacher teaching drivers ed when they themselves don't have a license? ?????!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Lois, what is it that you fear with your local government?

Who making decision scares you?
Why?

Anonymous said...

To 11:09 am,

NO, NO, NO, NO, NO, and YES!

Anonymous said...

Everything Peru does scares me. Everything is motivated by cronyism.

Anonymous said...

How do you know the answers to 11:09's questions 2:08? Your blog seems to be affirmative by your capitalization of words and that exclamation point.