“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

Wednesday, October 01, 2014

Peru Finance and Safety Meeting October 1

AGENDA
FINANCE & SAFETY SERVICES MEETING
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 1, 2014
TIME: 4:00 P.M
PLACE: 1901 4TH STREET, PERU, IL
ROLL CALL: ALDERMAN POTTHOFF CHAIRMAN, ALDERMEN FERRARI, RADTKE
AND PEREZ, MAYOR HARL
I. APPROVE THE MINUTES OF THE FINANCE & SAFETY SERVICES
COMMITTEE MEETING OF SEPTEMBER 17, 2014
II. REVIEW AND APPROVE THE PROPOSED DISBURSALS
III. PRESENTATION
IV. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
V. NEW BUSINESS
Approve new fiber customer 5 year contract $275.00 per month-Bernabei/Bartley
Approve donation to Illinois Valley Animal Rescue
Discuss Building Permit Report reporting
VI. PUBLIC COMMENT
VII. CLOSED SESSION
VIII. ADJOURNMENT

72 comments:

Anonymous said...

Since the position of finance office was established thru this committee you would think they would be announcing their name at this meeting. See nothing on their agenda to indicate such however it shouldn't take that long to do a background check on anybody. Why the secrecy?

Anonymous said...

hmmmmm.... closed session.

Anonymous said...

Approved a donation to Illinois Valley Rescue. Wasn't there recently a issue with a donation so to speak for the L-P yearbook advertising? Can remember the outcome? Was it the yearbook or something else?

Anonymous said...

Who is the fiber customer? The city is Internet provider....that is illegal per fcc a city can not be ISP and sell it electric

Anonymous said...

I have never been to a council meeting. I do really appreciate this forum, it has allowed me to keep somewhat informed. I myself can't for the life of me understand all the closed sessions. I don't find transparency with the city solely because of this. Imagine the closed sessions along with all the other meetings, golf outings, lunches, dinners, parties where taxpayers are kept in the dark. Absolutely unbelievable. We need change.

Peru Town Forum said...

For the record, the PPD and the EMTs are paid by the concert promotor, Mary Noonan. The PFD volunteers are paid by the city with the money coming from the parking fees from the night of the concert. Those who choose to volunteer for that night come with gear prepared to go on a fire call if necessary.

Anonymous said...

Lois you are wrong unless it changed this year. Last year PVS billed the City and it was suppose to go to Merry (I have the emails) but it was billed to the City and Bartley said it was considered an inkind contribution. Also the fire department labor has been inkind provided by the City per the financial reports submitted to IDA/FAA. Perhaps that changed in 2014?

The money from parking MUST be utilized for airport capital development per FAA meetings (I have those emails too) if they are using it to pay FD that is against FAA requirements.

Kristy

Anonymous said...

The council meeting video from Sept 22 is still not on the city website. Why?

Anonymous said...

The newest member of Peru's city admin. has a name. Jerome Miller or maybe spelled Muller. Went to L-P High School.
Do not understand why the announcements keep emphasizing that he will assume some of the City Clerks responsibilities rather the Budget Directors. Is somebody mad at somebody or a lifelong grudge been created? Is Peru politics that dirty, dangerous and vindictive that involvement is no longer worth it unless you are on the chosen side supported by the chosen few.

Peru Town Forum said...

The blog seems to be seeing an increase of blogs that can not be posted because they are apparently coming from within one of the departments and one that is pretty self controlled and takes little advice from anyone and at times seems uncontrolled. This is unacceptable for a city government. Time for hands off to stop before one of these departments has an even larger turnover of employees than currently taking place.
This is not how a department needs to be run for the safety of this city. If this department implodes because of the egos involved here, it would be a disaster for Peru. Perhaps I am exaggerating somewhat but not by much and telling you how it looks from this side of the blog.

Anonymous said...

The new chief financial officer is Justin Miller.

Anonymous said...

Off subject: Does anyone know if you get a petition on line to run for office does it immediately become public knowledge as it does when picking one up at city hall? If not, does that seem fair and just?

Anonymous said...

9:54 it would be best to take the financial responsibilities away from the clerk. That should not be his job, and I don't think he is qualified for that. It's been good of him to handle that up til now, but finances should be handled by a separate office. Too much control for one person is not good. Checks and balances - and this takes the liability away from the clerk.

Anonymous said...

11:16 From attending the meetings it looks like those people responsible for the financial part of the city have a good understanding of financial controls and are doing what you have stated.

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:16, it's not public knowledge until he turns it in. Like the past elections people get the petitions but that is as far as it goes. You will know when they get out for signatures who is interested, but until it is turned in that's when you will find out who is running.

Anonymous said...

Peru not that many years ago was $43,000,000 in debt. What has this debt been lowered to?
Did the 43 million get this large on account of the Starved Rock Hydro Plant and what is left to pay off on that huge money maker? Will the hydro plant ever start to earn enough to pay off its own debt?
As all governments Peru must become much more conservative in its employees salaries and pensions, presently the administrative end has gone wild. Heard more than once that one department heads goal is to spend more than his budget so that he will be granted a increase every year. This is supposed to be why his manpower is so large.

Peru Town Forum said...

If any of you have questions about who got paid and from what area of the city they are employed, please ask them, you will NOT get any further with the blog because I am not going spend my valuable time running around looking for the answer you want. Ask Rodney if he is the one in question because I feel you know him personally and this is strictly a vendetta for you against him. In other words start a honest dialogue and you will get your answer.

Anonymous said...

1:13 basically there are only two department heads now, correct? ASM Bernabei and PSM King, unless you're referring to the city clerk.

Anonymous said...

I would recommend lowering the Clerk's salary if duties are removed.

Peru Town Forum said...

I just cleaned my SPAM folder for the blog which had trapped a couple of good comments which should now be posted. Sorry if one of those was yours.

Anonymous said...

The City Clerk's duties concerning finance are clearly spelled out in the code of ordinances:

Sec. 2-180. Accounting; examination and audit of books and records.

Is the code going to be changed? Will the change be in accordance with the Illinois Municipal Code? Or is the Clerk going to remain on the hook as the elected official while we pay an additional salary to actually do the work?

Anonymous said...

Isn't the new CPA taking over Hylla's job? Eventually he will retire completely and this new guy will take over those responsibilities too.

Anonymous said...

how can this many people be upset with just the posting and the contents of the posting of an agenda? Get a life

Anonymous said...

Presently the treasurers position is obtained by election not appointment. The city clerk is part of the check and balance system enabled by his audit. Before all is clearly understood responsibilities of positions should not be taken away or transferred.

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed with the city strengthening their financials. This guy is a young CPA who I assume has good ideas to help with various financial tasks. The city should have a CPA and now they finally do.

Anonymous said...

On 815 Life Facebook there is a picture of someone in a peru fd fire truck holding a Dalmatian Puppy. Did the city purchase a dog? Or did donation money from taxpayers to Liberty Fire Company go towards this puppy? Should this dog be buckled up for safety purposes?

Anonymous said...

Let's just hope this young CPA has a backbone and won't be bullied by the mayor!

Anonymous said...

who is he relate to ?

Anonymous said...

The young man hired has no real experience and does not possess the qualifications the job posting called for. This is typical of the city of Peru to settle for less in the way of experience and job qualifications when hiring. I believe the young man did an internship with the city as a student within the past few years and probably worked and trained under Hyllas's supervision. Therefore, that makes the new "financial officer" or whatever the title is an "insider" from the get-go. Therefore, he is nothing more than an extension of Hylla and will bring nothing new to the city in terms of sound financial management or financial ethics. He is from Peru which will always be the first and most important qualification to get a job as far as the small time thinkers in the current administration are concerned. I doubt that anyone with an impressive and legitimate resume even applied for this job and am not the least bit suprised that this hiring was conducted just as unethically and unprofessionally as all other recent hirings in Peru. When you have city officials, elected and otherwise, who are totally satisfied to settle for "less" in everything they do you wind up with exactly that. LESS! It is so ridiculous that Peru is obviously unwilling and or unable to conduct a thorough and extensive search to fill important position. Could it be that some of the people calling the shots in Peru can maintain "Power" and others will continue to benefit when city officials are less than qualified? Sure seems like that is the case in Peru.

Anonymous said...

@8:24 am - give the kid a chance! Just because he's from Peru doesn't mean it was an "inside" hire. Maybe only 2 qualified applicants applied. Maybe other people who saw the ad checked out Peru and decided they didn't want to move to a small town without an outdoor swimming pool and no family events or festivals except a 4th of July drunk fest on filthy, blighted Water Street. Just sayin'.

Peru Town Forum said...

If you are going to direct your comment to someone through the blog, you must sign your name if you want an answer. Whether Ald. Perez said that the parking fees pay the firemen or the city pays the fireman, it is said the money goes to the city from parking and I have never heard where it is going to the airport. I know it is supposed to but that does not mean it does. This is how Peru usually does business, may not be direct but instead is misdirected around the block but ends up in the same place. I have been hearing for the past 2 years that the money goes to the city. In the end there is no explanation given to any of the firemen about how they will be paid when they volunteer their services for pay. Your gripe belongs in the city clerks office and demand the way in which the volunteer firemen are paid who are technically city employees when they volunteer.

Anonymous said...

10:43 - you are being sarcastic... right?

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:22 and 8:24, what is wrong with you two, so he interned with Hylla, that doesn't mean a thing. He is smart enough to get his CPA designation, which isn't the easiest thing to do, pay him a lower salary than I thought he deserved, considering our Public Works people. Give him a chance, be happy he is local and not moving out of the community like most of you complain about. As much dislike as you have for Hylla, he did wonders for the city compared to the way things were done in the past, and he is far from being the mayors lackey ,there is no love lost there, they hardly talk outside of city business, mostly because Hylla speaks his mind, and Harl doesn't like it. Give Miller a chance!

Anonymous said...

8:24 Are you an insider? How can you be so sure about all the comments you made? How do you know that he has no experience? Did you also apply for the position and didn't get it? Are you bitter or are you stating facts? If facts, can you back them up? The young man hasn't even started and already things are heating up. If you know something keep as all informed.

Anonymous said...

This is memo from the Cable Co.
ATTENTION PERU SERVIcE CENTER CUSTOMERS
THIS SERVICE CENTER WILL BE CLOSING EFFECTIVE THURSDAY, OCTOBER 30, 2014 It then goes on to tell where you can pay or get new equiptment....
All employes are out of a job!!!!

Anonymous said...

I think the way the airport receives money is from what Merry Noonan pays for rent for the concert. It is minimal, but I think that goes directly, (or is supposed to) to the airport account as income. Parking fees are different.

Anonymous said...

Just a few bitter people drumming up conspiracy. Maybe they are running for office or applied for the job. Its ridiculous and embarrassing to see those comments.

Anonymous said...

The minutes from the last committee as a whole meeting are on the city website. The began the meeting at 6:30, went into closed session at 6:31 and came out of closed session at 7:30. What's the point of going to these meetings if the whole time is spent in closed session?

Anonymous said...

All revenues must go towards the airport. Including parking and a portion of ticket sales. The concert pays a lump sum for the police, fire services. She is not billed for the services, so she is not paying a check for the fireman or police. I would imagine that the city is paying all those costs. Please defer to Kristy, she has done a great deal of research on where, what payments are. The topic has been overkill for a long time. I am sure that Ald. Perez is doing the best he can with the information given to him.

Anonymous said...

How could anyone say this new City Financial Officer did not have the qualifications for the job? That is a lie. He is a CPA! It is a well respected title. I would rather have young blood with city roots. Not someone just looking for a pension and some bennies. I think he worked for a company in Champaign or Urbana and it was a top 5 auditing firm. Not qualified? Sounds like he is very qualified.

Anonymous said...

Glad they have miller in there. I agree that it's nice to have a young guy in there, who is a CPA, with city roots, wanting to prove himself. Kudos to the city!

Anonymous said...

Here are some expenses that have been reported from the lastest IML convention. Why the huge discrepancy I don't know:
Sapienza - $616.94
Carls - $244.21
Perez - $800.06
Vickrey - $558.08
Harl - $1064.96
Hylla - $758.81
King - $79.01

Anonymous said...

Does anyone know where you can find the committee as a whole minutes from their meetings? I keep seeing them being approved but can't seem to find any actual minutes. How can you approve something that doesn't exist?

Peru Town Forum said...

I asked the clerk about that several weeks ago and he said most are still in the aldermens packet put out each month but he will talk to Connecting Point about putting them under meeting minutes. Looks like that is still in limbo.

Anonymous said...

Connecting point should be fired.

Anonymous said...

On the agenda for Monday's meeting, there is a motion to have the mayor start a petition to have Comcast keep their office open in Peru. How can a mayor change any business' mind about closing their office? Isn't that a business decision? Did he do that for K-Mart or Jewel where many more jobs were lost?

Art Giese said...

How much that Mayor Harl involved himself in the K-Mart or Jewel closures he himself only knows. I do not see how closures of the past are involved in making a effort in avoiding future closures.
Also the fact that Peru has contracts with Comcast that they didn't have with Jewel or K-Mart which gives the Mayor and the city some possible leverage with Comcast that they did not have with the other two.
It is great to see that the Mayor and City Council have taken this interest to be directly involved. I have always felt that a city's success is as greatly affected by keeping the jobs it already has as it is by creating new jobs. The combination of the two is even better as jobs, jobs, jobs are the key to success of ours and every other communities economics.
Corporations favor cities which have representatives who take a personal interest in them and are willing to create means for them to be successful. This is why it is so important for city officials to periodically visit them and ask if there is any way the city can help them. It is better to take steps to keep the door open rather to discover it unexpectedly closed.
Mayor Harl and the City Council are to be congratulated on this motion and all other steps taken in similiar directions.

Peru Town Forum said...

10:20 PM

Comcast has been to several different council meetings and they were also asked for a cost to video the council meetings. They also approached the city about the purchase of channel 13 for the cost of bringing the wiring to city hall. Of course the city said no to both. I would be very surprised if Comcast which also owns NBC is concerned about what the elected officials of Peru think of moving their office out of Peru. A little late for that as I am sure it has been in the works for some time and rumors have been in the area, this is nothing new.

Anonymous said...

This topic may be on our agenda to discuss but it is only because of a correspondence from W. Marini, mayor of Spring Valley. He stated that he received several inquiries and disappointments from individuals and wanted to send a letter to comcast and wondered if other towns would be interested in participating. This topic and letter can be found in our meeting packet.

Anonymous said...

Well Art, what do you think about about 8:38 comment? Our wonderful mayor and council would not have done anything if not for the Spring Valley mayor!

Anonymous said...

Did Peru pull out all stops in trying to keep the Comcast office open? If not, then they should handle all the component exchanges that are going to be needed in the future.

Anonymous said...

Anon 10:32, the cities can pull out all the stops they want, this is a corporate decision the same as coca cola and other businesses make. No the city shouldn't take on any responsibility for taking care of Comcast payments. Maybe the customers should start writing, emailing and phone calls to let them know how we feel, I just did this, but it takes more than one.

Anonymous said...

This is what we get for allowing regional monopolies to exist.

Anonymous said...

do the monies paid are chiefs include IMRF if so that is double dipping on pensions spring valley knows this when Bernie was the top dog and with the county board it is our law enforcement leader not leading legally spring valley says

Anonymous said...

i thought we were all about downsizing and outsourcing - if the peru office is not needed and they can save us money on our comcast bill - go ahead and close the office. oh i guess that only applies to the city!

Anonymous said...

1:21 That is because the city is paid directly and totally by us, the tax payer. Bhen a service company makes a pure profit decision, they negatively impact those they serve and employment, all so their "shareholders" can make more money while we consumers get reduced service. Since there are limited competitors, we get the shaft.

Now you can write them, or you can protest by cancelling some services and letting them know why you are doing it. Whenever they push though a rate increase or end a promotion rate I cancel one or more of my services, or reduce them. I suffer for a few month just a little, but they always offer a better program to get me back.

If everyone did this and let them know it was due to their greed decision, it might get noticed.

Anonymous said...

I believe 6:48 that money paid to IMRF is taken out of employees bi- weekly checks.

Anonymous said...

6:48 you make no sense. An employee contributing to the IMRF pension system is not double dipping. He did not retire from Spring Valley. Also, please learn how to write a coherent sentence.

Anonymous said...

If any of you are wondering if the recent phony increases in salary for the "Super-Chiefs" means higher pension contributions from us taxpayers and a considerably increased pension benefit for the "Dynamic Duo", the answer is HELL YES! DUH!

Anonymous said...

The city also contributes to IMRF for each employee to the tune of 18%.

Anonymous said...

NOT TRUE:HE DOES NOT GET ANY PENSION FOR THE NEW POSITION. IT IS NOT AN IMRF POSITION AND IS NOT COUNTED TOWARDSTHE POLICE PENSION.THIS HAS BEEN VERIFIED. SO FIND SOMETHING ELSE TO CRAB ABOUT OR KEEP SPEWING OUT FALSEHOODS TO ADVANCE YOUR CAUSE.

Anonymous said...

9:50 your off base and this needs to be in fact verified if the position is paid by IMRF or Police and Fire.

Anonymous said...

Anon 8:42, that percentage changes every year, if markets are good that rate will drop, if bad it stay the same or increase. This rate jumped up during the economic mess we got in during the end of the Bush term and into Obama's terms. Again if the markets are good and the ratio of members to retiree's gets better so will the percentage the city will pay.

Anonymous said...

Answer to it all is a full time city manager with expertise in outsourcing.

Anonymous said...

Regarding IMRF, the recent pay raises that super-chiefs received: can they choose to put that whole amount into their retirement so no taxes are paid on it? Also, the raise given, does that pertain for services rendered for previous work, or for future work? I don't think the article in paper was clear reporting it? So, by reading the paper, it seems as if it will be future work. Aren't they temp positions? So, how can a set amount of a raise be given if it's temp.?

Anonymous said...

8:24 I think we can safely assume that although these positions started out as temporary they are now permanent.

Anonymous said...

Are all the comments previously submitted about these multiple appointments when the city has been paying each position as a full time position and at times a full time position with a assistant for how many decades the taxpayers have been getting screwed by those in charge of the city. Certainly appears so. If these two individuals are presently doing such a outstanding job to be given a financial reward they deserve a huge thanks for jobs well done what was previously several jobs. Are other cities aware of Peru's success in this endeavor and thinking of doing the same?

Anonymous said...

9:44 Other cities probably have competent individuals running their departments and they probably don't get paid as handsomely as we here in Peru did.

Anonymous said...

@9:44, Perus success, are you kidding me? Other city's probably have experience people running their departments. Peru seems to be like a school secretary. She actually does all the work, and doesn't get the credit. Meaning in peru, other qualified people people are actually doing the job, but only the titled person gets recognition. My thoughts.

Anonymous said...

10:19 & 2:51
the most intelligent, true statements I have read on this blog in awhile!

Anonymous said...

Look how well LaSalle is doing with their professional supt. . It seems the Supt and the engineer are working well together because they both understand the problems. Peru should have hired a Headhunter service and found a qualified person along with our engineer, I would bet we would be seeing some real improvements in all phases of the Public Works, same goes for Electrical position. A Cop & a fireman is not the answer.

Anonymous said...

@6:44. exactly. I have done some research. Supervisors of department in all other areas of the country have expertise in that field. Check it out, I did. Certifications and education and work experience is a requirement when applying for supervisory positions and absolutely should be if one is appointed also. Did Mayor Scott Harl follow this standard operating procedure when making his appointment? Does Bernabei and King have any of this? Who is supervising them?