News and Investigations BGA: Stop Currie’s Fast-Moving FOIA Bill

News and Investigations BGA: Stop Currie’s Fast-Moving FOIA Bill



For your information

**IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR** | Village of North Riverside

**IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE MAYOR** | Village of North Riverside

How many cities of a similar size will find themselves in a situation like this?

Pensions case study: North Riverside

Pensions case study: North Riverside

Interesting article and makes one think about how many small cities will be able to continue to fund all their required pension plans. This is about how they are turning over their Fire Dept. in North Riverside to a private concern which already runs their ambulance service.

Population 6,672

Grand Army of the Republic Monument

Grand Army of the Republic Monument


I stand in awe at this fantastic figure and for the long time, it has been in our community but little attention paid to it.

Peru to unveil Venture Drive traffic solution - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL

Peru to unveil Venture Drive traffic solution - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL

I think most of the bloggers will be reading between the lines as I have done with this news posting.

Thanksgiving Week is Here

Peru Fire Department New Promotions

To: All Fire Department Personnel Date: 11/19/14
From: Chief King
Subject: Promotion’s

I am pleased to announce the following promotions. Please help welcome them to their new positions and work with them to help them all succeed.  This was publicly posted on the Fire Dept. FB page for the public to see.

Chief Jeff King C-1 
Deputy Chief Jim Duncan C-2 
Asst. Chief Jeff Camenisch 305
Asst. Chief Todd Haegele 306
Captain Jake Urbanc 307
Captain Nick Biagioni 308
Lt. Ryan Rynkewicz 309
Lt. Earl Hocking 310
Lt. Bill Krolak 334
Lt. Rob Ankiewicz 335
PIO Dennis Lemmer 331
Public Ed Rod Perez 346

I notice some missing names on this list. I may not post all of your comments, so be straight forward with them and avoid derogatory name calling.

ACCEPTING NO MORE COMMENTS ON PERU FIRE DEPARTMENT

CONDOLENCES TO THE RUSS REED FRIENDS AND FAMILY IN THEIR LOSS OF A WELL LOVED FORMER PERU FIRE CHIEF.

Committee Meeting of the Whole Peru versus Other Municipalities

I just read the last posted minutes from the Peru Committee of a Whole Meeting, took me about one minute.

Again I searched for information on how the mayor of Peru abuses the system. I usually go to You Tube to see how other municipalities are dealing or using with problems or development.

This is from the city of Geneva population about 21,000. Before you watch this video make sure you read the last download of our CMW.






This is a great conversation about economic development, incentives and a very good economic director. Something our aldermen should be reviewing and really listening and learning from. Kind of like an line class just for them.

Read the current disbursements online and ask your questions?

Charges for the ICSC Chicago Deals keep coming in and now we see that our Economic Director (Volunteer) had a partner on his trip to Chicago and we paid for the cost in the amount of $1,219.20. On this months expenditures we paid the $5,500 to MCS and an additional $95.00 for embroidery done by Locker Room on shirts the city paid for from Bergners which I believe were $59..
Not sure what the EC was doing at the IMEA but there was a phone chg and expenses for $259.51 in the October disbursements.

Did he go along with Mayor Harl ($211.35) and Ald. Jim Lukosus ($148.40) who also went to the monthly IMEA mtg? Now I am all for educational expenses but they should be dispensed to all aldermen to improve the knowledge they have about the city committee they have been appointed to. Oh, forgot for a moment we only have 2 committees for aldermen to be appointed to.  It used to be 4 committees and the appointed aldermen had to do their work or at least try to be up to date on what that committee should be doing. Now I notice with only 2 committees that is no longer true and it sometimes it is no more than signing an attendance sheet and sitting thru the meeting. We sometimes critique the aldermen for not having discussions at council meetings but in reality their legs have been cut off at the knees, because they are now required than to do exactly that.and nothing more.  The committee chairman of Finance is very capable of handling that meeting by himself and the remaining committee of Public Service is pre programed by Mayor Harl who sits in attendance at both meetings as the "hall monitor" The Mayor and the Treasurer do not speak unless necessary and that is pretty much true of the City Clerk and the Mayor also.

Can you only imagine what that type of work environment must be like at City Hall?

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Column: A grand tradition - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL

Column: A grand tradition - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL

It is a liberating feeling to sign your name to what you think and believe.  I also understand that many people are not in a position to do so. Sometimes I think that is the only way Peru will change is when people have the courage pro and con to sign their names.  It is not only the critics of this administration but also the opponents of this blog who will not sign their name and that also says something about the city we live in. Take a minute and read this op ed by a N.T. reporter about the thought.

Thought For The Week

How Many of You Take a Few Minutes and Look Through The City Disbursements

I just did and looked through the most recent and these are the things that caught my eye.

!.  Dir. of Community Development ICSC Chicago Deals $1.117.56 on this disbursement but wait there is so much more to come, that was just a drop in the bucket.

Of course we paid $97.95 for his Crains subscription and
he also had a charge from Christy's Kitchen for provide $50.00 for  doughnuts for the Rte 6 Committee Meeting.  Did you even know we had one? Do we know who is on it? Have you ever seen minutes of these meetings?

I have discussed this one with the city before and I believe these meetings that seem to be using taxpayer dollars should have minutes listed on the city site and the members should be listed on the city web site. The idea behind the committee may be sound but it needs a little fresh air and transparency to all of you.

Sand Concerns in Earlville But Not In Peru, Why?

Looking For A Good Sand Lawyer

Are the Earlville residents looking at the same business that Peru is? Peru has no concerns and Earlville residents seem to have many.

In A Democracy People Get The Government They Deserve

 Anonymous said...

Yes, we have heard the Long-ing for term limits. They are nothing more than an agenda pushed by election losers and their supporters. Here in Peru this very own blog administrator will cry for term limits, yet in her own ward the people were so outraged with what she calls a lack of representation, and an alderman that she claims has a "stranglehold" on his seat, that this pent up populist outrage resulted in - no one running for office! The fact is, people are satisfied with happenings in Peru. The same people keep winning because they are doing a good job. Much better than your average Illinois Valley city. My guess is come April only one new alderman will be elected. And knowing who is going to lose, it will be the most devastating election night the blog has ever seen.

The above post came in this evening and I thought it might make an interesting topic of conversation. Peru is a small city and I would hope that most people have heard a little about the events of the last 5 years when Mayor Harl was elected and how it took only 2 years for all those who supported him, to become disillusioned and started to think that Peru certainly could do better.  It seemed like everything was on a downhill slide.  There have been ups and downs but never what was expected from someone who led many to believe that an open and transparent government would now happen.

The person who wrote this post evidently doesn't like my belief in term limits. They know where I live and saw that I had signs for Rauner, Schimpf and Long.  Jerry Long asked if he could put a sign in my yard and I said yes and if Frank Mautino has asked, I would have said yes. I was in no way involved with this election but simply made sure to vote and I did.

What happens in Peru will be the decision of those who vote in the majority and who they choose to vote for or not will be their decision and yes if they do what this person indicates it won't be good for the city but the people will have made their choice. On the bright side when something important to the people is to be voted upon, the people will turn out to vote like they just did a few days ago and according to Joanne Corretto the LaSalle County Clerk,  LaSalle County had 53%  voter turnout because the people had an interest in the contests on the ballot..  The blog will continue to offer the opportunity for opinions to be blogged whether I like them or not (within reason) and the residents will make their own decisions in the Spring.

Post Election Some Democrats Won and Some Republicans Won

I think we have a new governor, Bruce Rauner, but not sure Quinn has conceded quite yet. Unfortunately we re elected Durbin.  Independent that I am I voted for some R's and a few D's.  Really pleased to hear that La Salle County had a good turnout of voters and I hope we are getting the message to vote at election time. I was really short on info on the retaining of judges and have to admit I went right by that and don't know if I missed the information or it just was not very news worthy.

After the article about the election results which I found very interesting, I came across this quote....

"I have no answers,” a mystified Raikes said this morning. “I guess people think a man that believes a family should live on a lower wage, raise medicine prices for babies, be a bully to women, make fortune on crushing companies for bankruptcy, etc., etc. is what La Salle County needs.” 

Is this the same person in charge of the rat?

Sure sets a bad tone for the unions! 

Will Illinois now be able to move forward and become a part of the United States again.?  I heard one analyst last night comment that Illinois considered a "dark blue" state, was like Argentina because we are so deep in debt while states surrounding are doing so much better economically.

Will there now be less cash being sent back to favorite cities? This could all be very interesting.

Medical Marijuana Dispensary and EOG Sand Terminal

I was so surprised to see so many people in attendance last evening at the city council meeting and great to see the concerns that brought them there expressed publicly.
Most definitely there were people opposing the medical marijuana dispensary present and they were able to get their point across to the council. Some were professional people and business people and not one person except Ken Molan expressed a desire to have this go forward in this neighborhood location. Since the city has no history of dealing with this type of business it was wise to not go forward with it.

The sand terminal will proceed and I hope with caution and changes to the original plan. Exiting from the proposed facility as initially laid out is a bad idea and without a doubt would cause not only damage to the roads in the Industrial Park but also to Rte 251 but I believe damage to people with increased accidents.  The Council needs to study this more thoroughly on their own and not depend upon the company (EOG) for their information. A few of them laughed when I said to them to take a trip up to Chippewa Falls WI and see how it has affected that small community, talk to people, do your job. Thinking and taking only the information from EOG is a mistake.  What company is going to tell you any drawbacks associated with their business when they are trying to get the city to cooperate with them about getting this off the ground. Also do your own internet research, lots of information out there.

Mayor Harl mentioned last night that all this information regarding the sand terminal was discussed in length at the 4 hour meeting last Wednesday. To Mayor Harl I would like to say"why did you not publicly get the information out to the public, you know how to use the radio and news paper for your own benefit and why did you not use the information available to inform the residents?" Facebook is free and you have a City of Peru page. It could have been brought up at several council meetings weeks ago. Encourage your aldermen to talk to the friends and neighbors. In other words COMMUNICATE, that is part of your job as mayor of Peru.

Thankfully we had one well spoken gentleman express  concerns that many in Peru have concerning the location of the sand terminal.  Thank you George Marple, well done.

#EOG
#sandterminal
#medicalmarijuana
#marijuanadispensary
#communication

Ordinances to be Passed Tomorrow City Council Meeting

REPORT OF CITY ATTORNEY/ORDINANCES AND RESOLUTIONS
MINUTES OF A PLAN COMMISSION HEARING HELD ON OCTOBER 29, 2014 CONCERNING THE
PETITION OF EOG RESOURCES, INC. REQUESTING A SPECIAL USE FOR PROPERTY LOCATED AT
3024 E. 103RD ROAD, PERU, IL
AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A SPECIAL USE AS SOUGHT BY THE PETITION OF EOG RESOURCES,
INC. CONCERNING PROPERTY LOCATED AT 3025 E. 103RD ROAD, PERU, IL

MINUTES OF A JOINT PLAN COMMISSION AND ZONING BOARD OF APPEALS HEARING HELD ON
OCTOBER 29, 2014 CONCERNING THE PETITION OF THE HOLISTIC COMPANY, LLC d/b/a EVE’S
APOTHECARY CONCERNING PROPERTY LOCATED AT 803-809 21ST STREET, PERU, IL
AN ORDINANCE GRANTING A TEXT AMENDMENT TO THE ZONING BOARD ORDINANCE AS SOUGHT
BY THE PETITION OF THE HOLISTIC COMPANY, LLC D/B/A EVE’S APOTHECARY CONCERNING
PROPERTY LOCATED AT 803-809 21ST STREET, PERU, IL
AN ORDINANCE GRANTING SPECIAL USE FOR MEDICAL MARIJUANA DISPENSARY FOR PROPERTY
LOCATED AT 803-809 21ST STREET, PERU, IL
RESOLUTION TO ENTER INTO AN AGREEMENT WITH NCICG FOR APPLICATION, ADMINISTRATION
AND COORDINATION SERVICES IN THE AMOUNT OF $2,500 FOR AN ILLINOIS BOND FUND GRANT
ON BEHALF OF THE CITY OF PERU (WATER MAIN CONSTRUCTION)
RESOLUTION AUTHORIZING CHECK SIGNING FOR AN ILLINOIS BOND FUND GRANT PROJECT

Silica sandstorm stirs up neighbors of Utica-area mine - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL

Silica sandstorm stirs up neighbors of Utica-area mine - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL

Second Thoughts About the Way Peru Does Business

Petition of EOG Resources, Inc. requesting a special use to allow loading and hauling of sand, or
similar aggregate or minerals, including equipment, buildings, or structures of storage for
property located at 3024 E. 103rd Road, Peru, IL

Taken from the Planning Commission Agenda for Wednesday October 29, 2014.

---

I had attended the Finance and Safety Committee from 4 to 5 PM. No one including the mayor made one comment about the very important meeting which would take place in a short time. From the brief sentence shown above I am not sure anyone unless they were in the inner circle would have known about this and it is my contention  that this is the way the city government wants it to be. I can think of several people who would have made the time to come if they were aware of what was being considered.

Bob Vickery usually in attendance at the Finance meetings (but not at this one) keeps a running list of people interested in property in Peru for possible business ventures and he almost always at  least mentions the possibilities. He never mentioned this company that I am aware of and this leads me to believe that all discussions took place in the numerous closed session so the public would not be aware.

I wrote this last night and at the time I wondered "Am I the only one in this city who thinks this way?" This morning I received a comment which in turn encouraged me to place my thoughts in the public.  I will also copy that post to this heading.