It is beginning to seem like record keeping in Peru government has not been considered a priority. Was everything done with a Wink Wink?
Interesting article by Jeff Dankert on the front page of our paper tonight about what the newly elected officials of Mayor Scott Harl and City Clerk Dave Bartley and soon appointed treasurer Gary Hylla found when they took over their duties.
I have come to the conclusion that nothing was documented in the past and I wonder if improvements have been put in place to keep this from happening in the future. Of course one of the first things that needs to be done and has not been touched in to set term limits in place.
Today I found out there are no records of any kind about the repair and maintenance of the Peru City Swimming Pool. The hired firm of Williams Aquatics asked for any past records and guess what, we have none to give you. What you see is the only thing you have to go by.
And now Peru has decided not to keep online records for any longer than a few months thus requiring any citizen looking for information to get a FOIA. I
Personally I am finding that the need to repeatedly request information in this way tends to be annoying and time consuming.
If the officials are to run the city like a business, what should their priorities be and what advise would you give to them.
14 comments:
My first question is "Why take the minutes of the meetings off the website?" To me it's like trying to hide something and, according to my alderman, it costs the city for each and every FOIA requested.
My next question is how could a city function and run efficiently if no records were kept and no one seemed to know what their employees were doing or where they were. (I even heard that at times they were doing work in adjoining towns.) (Or, doing work for other members of the council.)
My next question concerns our 8 aldermen. "What were they thinking when they voted for everything presented to them by the past administration?" They never seemed to question anything the mayor or several of his partners asked them to vote on. Today, they seem to question every minor trivial comment made.
I, along with many other Peru citizens, have many questions that we would like to see answered. Hopefully this article is just the beginning and that it leads us to an open and honest government that we can be proud of. We don't need to be the leader of the valley we just need to work together and build a strong and proud government for the city of Peru.
Surely Mr. Chamlin has got information on the pool as he's the one who stated that there are 3 floors. If he knows that much he must know who put the floors in and then someone could contact that company or individual and get the necessary information. Also, wasn't Mr. Drennan in charge of the pool for many years? Doesn't he know anything about it's maintenance and repair? Were people just let loose to do as they pleased and not accountable to anyone? This is a sad mess this new administration was handed!
Williams Aquatics will be here in Peru to start their evaluation of the swimming pool Monday morning. They will meet Gary Bleck, Ken Drennan and Dave Barley at city hall and then go up to the swimming pool. I was told from a legitimate source that they only information they found were some aerial photos of the pool as far As past information was concerned.
How sad is that? My next thought is how could any member of our council even consider opening the pool without any records? A possible safety issue was brought up and with no repair records surely they would want a professional to determine it's safety - wouldn't they? Shouldn't our aldermen be bringing this kind of information (no records) to the public's attention or at the very least questioning it at meetings? Job well done Lois - keep up the good work!
If anyone gets the chance stop by and take a look at the pool as it sits right now without any water. I think you will be surprised. I expected to see huge cracks that needed to be filled to prevent water loss, but the cracks that seem to be visible look like expansion joints that already have the caulking removed.
Does anyone know the reason why the 3 articles in Thursday's news tribune pertaining to the city of Peru were already removed from its web site last night? Some articles pertaining to neighboring cities still remain. Others have been on since March 18th.
1:28PM
Copy and paste this link for the story
http://www.newstrib.com/news/local/
Lois, thank you for the information regarding the libraries bake sale and Chocolate Fest. Everyone at the library thanks you!
Lois: Keep up the good work! The newspaper finally came out with something that should be of interest to all of the citizens of Peru. The council are the ones that should be ashamed, by accepting everything the past mayor did. They never questioned anything. What he said or Judy was OK with them.
Now they question everything, and argue over opening the pool with the Mayor.
We have no money to build a new one. This pool is way beyond it prime, like the council and past Mayor. People of Peru, time to work at getting some intelligent people to run for the council. Until this happens, everything will be voted on the same way it has been for the past 44 years. The Mayor cannot do it alone. Citizens have to care and get involved.
I wonder how long city government officials can be held accountable. The more that is revealed - the more it becomes questionable and perhaps, that illegal steps were taken. From the accountable bookkeeping(or should I say unaccountable bookkeeping), to job distribution, to improper levying of funds, etc - perhaps this was a monarchy and Peru citizens were not aware of the change - as in the promotion of Judy to comptroller from city clerk. The city still paid for an elected Treasurer position but he was responsible for doing nothing but claiming the pay. WHERE DO I GET THIS KIND OF JOB???
Oh, and I have to comment on the job the newspaper has done in reporting its investigative finds. WHAT? WHO? WHERE? WHY? Peru, where is that - they are leaders of the Illinois Valley! Not so! I do have to commend the paper for the last article regarding the state of Peru financial problems. At last some truth in reporting.
I think I just read that Mayor Baker ran a "lean" machine and kept all taxes low - IF THAT IS THE CASE THE LEAN MACHINE SHOULD HAVE MONEY STASHED IN THE BANKS AND WE WOULD NOT BE SCRATCHING TO KEEP UP A BOND RATING, SEWER IMPROVEMENTS, ROAD REPAIRS, OVER PAID WAGES ALONG WITH OUTLANDISH RETIREMENT PACKAGES, AND ON AND ON! Pay attention people, this is the tip of the tax-berg coming down on us.
Come on citizens of Peru. Wake up and start getting involved. We have left things go far too long and now we need to be heard and get involved. We need to question our aldermen and get them to listen to the things that concern us. We need to get them to give us answers and to become accountable for their decisions. This newspaper article should hopefully open up your eyes.
The aldermen won't listen. No matter what your opinion is, they don't care. They think what they want is right no matter if the whole town voted against it. They are a very stubborn group, of men. Time for some new blood on the council. Election next year, we have a chance to vote for 4 new council members. Do It.
Anon 9:36 You are right on about the aldermen. They will not listen to the citizens. We will have a chance next year to make our voices heard, but right now we must start paying attention to what is going on now. Please people start attending the city council meetings!
Lois - I just looked at our city calendar and there are several important meetings coming up that are not listed. One is Wed. @ 6:30 regarding the usage of our baseball diamonds. It is being conducted by our park and recreation aldermen. The other meeting is Wed. @ 7:15. It is in regard to an ordinance accepting the new budget. Why do you think these meetings are not being made visible to the public?
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