Tonights Peru City Council meeting has emphasized the fact that there are too many committees with too many rules that are now hampering local business development in downtown Peru. Indirectly we were also shown that we have a Building Inspector who does not have a working knowledge of how to do his job. Frank Taylor was hired as an asst. building inspector when the past inspector Wayne Kasza was hired by former Mayor Baker. He stayed on when John Micheli replaced Kasza and when Micheli was dismissed we had Frank Taylor doing the job alone with the promise of a building inspector to be hired soon. A year later and here we are with the "assistant" attempting to fill the position. There are times when you try so hard to save money that you hurt yourself in the long run and unfortunately this is what Peru has done. So before anymore screwups happen get us a qualified inspector. A better answer would be a city engineer who can do both jobs.
Most of the next story you will read in the News Trib and I won't repeat it here. There is a beauty shop in Peru by the name of Shear Wizards (former Bob's Barber Shop) and they wish to make a small addition onto the building which they own. They have been dealing with the Zoning Board, Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee and the Design and Review Committee and Building Inspector Frank Taylor and after 2 months have been unable to get the necessary paperwork done so that they can proceed. In frustration they attended the city council meeting to see if they could get things done so work could be done before bad weather sets in. By coming and I wish to thank them for doing so, they have shown us that we don't have a working relationship among the various city committees, inspectors and anybody else involved to get things done in an efficient, orderly manner to assist business development.
I suggest we disband the Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee put together about 1990. It has ruled downtown development with a earth tone paint and maroon awning fist ever since. This committee certainly has not brought business to downtown and I will suggest that their outmoded rules have actually deterred new business.
Why not a Peru Business Association formed to work in conjunction with a new building inspector.
33 comments:
Very true, Lois. Keep up the good work.
An excellent post Lois. I was both appalled and amazed at the red tape the owners of a downtown business had to try to follow to improve THEIR building. I totally agree with you that it's time to stop telling businesses what color paint they have to use and stop controlling them so much or we'll lose business instead of deveoping it.
It all starts at the top. The numerous committees were set up by YOUR MAYOR. He is the leader that places individuals on the committees and he is on the Design and Review committee that oversees Peru development. A recent potential downtown pet shop had to attend 3 different meetings for design issues. Who supervises the building inspector? Its your sit on his hands Mayor! Its not the committees that are the problem, its the lack of experienced leadership that directs the actions. When you are more concerned about who the Union contractor is and what color the building will be, it curtails action and depressses development.You can have 5 city engineers and it won't change the direction. Many notice the friction or read about the council/mayor business differences. That is a result of the pro-business approach some of the council members vs the pro-committee, pro-regulation forum of the mayor. Its a matter of choices and our current mayor as the newspaper indicates prefers the regulation, committee after committee, contractor controlled style. Its extreme.You can now begin the bandwagon of council giveaways and pointing your blog at the past administrations or say we need a middle approach.You will have to go back to leadership and we lack that at the top.
Much confusion about the purpose and duties of the committees that oversee building improvements and downtown development. There is definately a need for proper zoning and direction for property owners in residential and downtown areas. It appeared to me that there was a very serious lack of communication between the salon owners and the Building Inspector. This situation never should have been allowed to become so disfunctional. Frank Taylor could have done a much better job of representing the city of Peru in this matter. One of the more interesting side-notes to this story is that the salon owners for whatever reason went to Jack O'Beirne initially with their complaints about the situation. So what does Jack do? Instead of passing the information along to the aldermen whose ward the salon is located, or the mayor, or the planning and zoning committee members who could have addressed the complaints. "Back-peddlin Jack" does nothing and tells nobody. Instead of informing somebody with the ability to do something about the delay the property owners are experiencing, Jack tells them that the root of their problem lies with the Design and Review Committee and they must come to a council meeting and complain. Of course as always, none of what O'Beirne tells the salon owners is true or accurate in any way because the process had not even made it's way through the Building Inspectors office at that point. But that's exactly where O'Beirne should have referred those ladies back to. Only this time he should have notified the mayor and everyone else involved so they could have moved quickly to fix the delays and get the process moving. Nobody knew there was a problem except Frank and he was obviously not handling it very well. We need "professional" aldermen and we need a "professional" Building and Zoning Officer.
10:11AM
You may be surprised that I totally agree with some of what you have written. As to committees, Mayor Harl decided he would let committee members remain in their position as long as they remained interested. I disagree, we need term limits on committees also. Keep a list of interested residents and when you have a member who has served 2 terms check your list and see if there are interested people and make the change. It is shameful to see people on the same committee for 10 or 20 years as this stifles community interest in their town.
The Design and Review committee should be only for businesses outside the downtown area as there was already a committee called the Peru Downtown Redevelopment Committee in place. As said previously, I would disband the Peru Downtown committee and encourage local owned businesses to form a Peru Business Association, a private organization to work with small local businesses and only in case of problems would the city intervene.
BTW, I am also in favor of a City Manager and a City Engineer who would also be a Building Inspector to run this city on a full time basis along with a part time Mayor and city council.
10:11 a.m. - As my hero Stephen Colbert would say. "Your comment is seriously lacking in Truthiness". Harl endorsed, and the full council approved "one" committee since he took office. The Design and review Committee is an excellent resource of professionals for the city. The pet shop owner has been and still is being treated fairly and professionally by the city and the Design and Review Committee. You're right about one thing, it's not the committees per se' that are the problem. But there are some individuals on some committees who are not exactly the most motivated or knowlwedgeable personalities out there. That is a problem. Your attempt to drag union vs. non-union is pure bullshit. It has never been an issue of contention with any business planning work in Peru since Harl was elected and I suspect you know it too. The Design and Review Committee would make no distinction between union or non-union contractors. That's what professionals do!
You are attempting to describe an atmosphere of pro-contractor/anti-business that simply is not the reality in Peru. You are obviously biased against organized labor and that's fine. But don't try to convince the readers of this blog that a problem exists when there really is none. "Your" views are extreme.
Extremely misleading.
Are we always defending unions? This is another example of lack of leadership. That's something professionals do, they get the job done. Like Lois said its the job of the mayor to set the direction and let some new residents get involved in the library,downtown,zoning,planning review committees. Steve your comment that the city needs proper zoning is not the subject! The subject is to create a business climate that welcomes business to our community. Lets continue to validate the lack of leadership from the mayor. Its hasn't been productive and yes we have a problem and a few of them, so don't piss on our feet and tell us it's raining.
Seems to me everybody would save a lot of time if we just codified the requirements and disbanded the Design and Review Committee. Anything a property owner wanted to do that varies from the ordinance could be handled through a variance.
I must agree with Mayor Harl on one issue. If you read the minutes of the August 24th DRC meeting, you will notice that the Mayor reminded the committee they should not be discussing interior plans.
Everybody should read the minutes of the August 19th and August 24th DRC meetings. My observation is that the committee sets policy based on opinion – not an overall plan. I don’t know the members of the DRC and do not know what qualifications they bring to the table. But, I know one person that should not be on the board. Mr. Biederstedt is the Township Assessor. As such, he has a conflict of interests between economical solutions for property owners and increasing the assessed value of the building.
First things first, I would like to see the Peru Downtown Redevelopment committee disbanded as the only time they do anything is when someone wants to put up an awning or change the color of the paint and then they come out of hiding with fist raised saying you must use this color of paint and this color awning.
And as a result this is what can happen. Read the following:
There is a building right across the street from the Peru City Hall where the owner was going to replace the upper windows above his store with new white windows or storm windows I'm not sure but, the PDR Committee said NO they have to be sand or earth tone to abide by the rules and the owner said forget it and left the old windows in place and did nothing. He chose not to participate and that ended any work to his business. Without the Gestapo like rules they have the windows would have been replaced with windows of the owners choice and it would certainly have looked better than it does now.
The prospective new bakery in town wanted to paint the building white but was told NO, it must be this sand color. Today I drove by this building and it has a maroon awning with white address numbers on it and the building would have looked very nice with white contrast on the building.
In the 20 years this committee has been in existence, there have only been a few changes in members.
As I said last night at the meeting drive through the towns that are attracting new businesses, they do not have such ridiculous rules and within reason, new business owners make their own choices of how they want their businesses to look.
Wake up Peru!
2:23 p.m. - Nobody is defending unions. But I will not allow misleading comments about "pro-union" sentiments or claims preferential treatment by city officials to go unchallenged.
Proper zoning is exactly the issue here and as I stated previously, there is no anti-business climate in Peru as you wrongly suggest. There is also plenty of leadership and direction from the mayor. Unfortunately, there is little co-operation from the aldermen and individuals like yourself who remain bitter since the election. You were certainly an insider at one time in Peru. Possibly still to a degree. But mostly just bitter that you have lost your influence. If you have useful advice for Mayor Harl, arrange a meeting. Get on board and participate in the democratic process. Peru is no longer a dictatorship you know.
When are the council meetings going to televised?
It seems to be one of those things they are putting off and maybe they are hoping it will be forgotten. Have you to talked to your alderman or even the city clerk can maybe give your information. I do think it is going to take more citizen pressure to get it done. I suggest call first your aldermen, then the Mayor and also the city clerk.
I thought the topic was the Anti-business setiment of our current Mayor. We are back to putting Jack on TV. I believe that too many rules and regulations are the process of control that our Mayor needs to have to validate the exsistance of those that were placed on the committee. Blame the residents, city Aldermen, private developers, business or the poor ladies that want to put a shed in the back of their hair salon. It goes back to the direction of the city, that is the mayor. Maybe the city is getting tired of your blame game, Steve. Listen to Lois, she's tired of the Gestapo tatics and then level of intimidation that seem to taken over. Listen to Brian who states that most problems can be taken care of through variances. Mislead as you may, you must have a real inside trail to the Mayor thinking. Nobody else understands.
The topic was never an anti business sentiment that you believe is the thought of our Mayor but in that you are wrong. I am objecting to the control of many of the committees involved in new businesses decisions. I just received my packet that I requested from the city regarding committess and the members and how several names keep cropping up on important committees within the city. There is actually a member of the Fire and Police Commission who has been a member since 1965- Wm Vlastnik.
Roger Chamlin (11 years) and Betty Jo Hansen (19 years) have been members of the Peru Downtown Redevelopoment Commission for the indicated years.
We also have 3 members involved with the city who also sit on the township board. Doug Bernabei (new), Bob Vickery (new) and again Doug Beiderstedt.
This has nothing to do with Mayor Harl except the fact that he has retained Frank Taylor which means we don't have a professional as our building inspector which has so much to do with new business.
Your point is well taken,Lois. Who determines the committees that make these business decisions?
He supervises Taylor, does that count?
The reality of the process of appointing individuals to serve on the many committees within the scope of city government is that you just don't have many people interested in serving. Depending on the committee you may have a problem getting any interest when an opening arises. Other than the people on the Design and Review Committee I believe there has been only two or three opportunities for Harl to make new appointments since his election. One on the Library Board and one on the Downtown Redevelopement Committee is all I can recall. Maybe one other on the Police and Fire Commission.
Is somebody actually thinking that this mayor or any other mayor would or could clean house on a board or committee and attempt to replace them in mass? If so, take comfort from my grandmas favorite refrain to little Stevie. "Patience is a virtue Steven George", cause that aint gonna happen.
You don't have near enough civic minded people willing to serve on all these voluntary boards.
It's a very slow turnover. Can you try to "nudge" a long serving citizen toward the exit? Sure you can, but that's a hell of a thank you for serving the city.
Those of you who are blasting the mayor for every "action or in-action" of every city board or committee are the same people who would squeal with outrage if Harl was to force the resignation of a guy Baker appointed to a board ten years ago. Grandma would say, "Your hearts are as black as coal".
There are cities that maintain a list of people who are interested in serving on various committees, I am suggesting that the city of Peru take a step forward and do exactly that. Something like this example:
The City of Peru needs the help of a lot of dedicated volunteers to serve on boards and commissions in the City. Occasionally there are vacancies to be filled. Should you have an interest or experience with the topic of the Board or Commission and are interested in serving, please let the Mayor know of your interest and we will keep a list of nmes on file..
Lois, I must whole heartedly disagree with your call to disband the Peru Downtown Redevelopment commitee because it seems as though you are basing your opinions upon the actions of commitee in its "old" form. You were one of the people who have called for change and we are one of the few commitees who have recieved it. Of the six member commitee, four of us are new as of the last year.
Much has been made of the plight of the ladies from Shear Wizards and I agree that there have been too many hoops for them to jump through, but have to say that we are not part of the problem. They came before us and presented their case. Within ten minutes they were approved to go ahead, at which point, the building inspector informed them of the variances that they would need to get (which we have absolutely nothing to do with).
You also mention the business across the street from the city hall that would like new windows and was denied. They have since been approved by our committee. You are correct that the first time this issue came up it was denied and I felt that was an error on our part, but it has since been corrected.
If you would take a look that our commitee in its current state you would see that of the six members we have, four of us have a considerable interest in seeing our downtown become a strong comercial district.
Finally, you mention a number of times that you would like to see turnover, well the majority of of commitee is made up of new members. It is not the same people who accepted the positions in 1991 and I think that if you will look at the decisions we have made, you would find that we are not a Gestapo commitee and are not currently ruling the downtown district with an "earth tone paint and maroon awning fist".
I agree that our guidelines are awful strict and maybe you should be attacking them instead of calling for our committee to be disbanded as we have routinely accomidated reasonable requests, including ones that do not adhere to the guidelines set fourth in 1991.
You call for the city to have a list of interested citizens to fill committees, might I suggest you take the lead on this one. Our committee currently has 6 members and should have seven, maybe you would be interested in becoming our seventh member. I admit that I am not sure how to get someone appointed to this committee but am sure that it would not be difficult to find out.
Kris Giese
10:16AM
After I received my committee info, I did see that only 2 members are long standing and I apologize for that.
My problem is that all we hear about the committee is the information of the color regulations and frankly I have always been against that rule because it stifles most new businesses unless they might be an "office" type of situation and ten it does not matter.
If you have new policies I suggest you make them public. I would not have made a public comment on the "color scheme" if our bldg inspector had not mentioned how it has affected the prospective new bakery.
Your "color scheme" does need to be discarded in favor of free enterprise with some minor restrictions.
I do know why there are new members including yourself and it did not come from within the committee. Perhaps the Design and Review Committee should be content to focus their efforts on businesses outside the downtown business district of Peru because with both of the committees making decisions about the prospective new business, it is entirely too much regulation.
Another suggestion is to rename your committee as the redevelopment committee as originally intended is over and done with.
Give your association a fresh look and publicly state your mission and rules.
You need young members of the business community like you are, they are out there, ask them to join.
Kris Giese - who are the new members on your committee besides yourself? And, I don't understand your statement that you don't know how to get someone appointed on the committee. How did you get appointed? Wouldn't it be the same for others? And, I don't understand why a downtown business that wants to improve their building has to get permission to spend their own money. I guess I'm questioning that if the rules and regulations established years ago are too strict for today why not change them?
Kris - Thank you for weighing in with accurate first-hand information about the Downtown Re-Developement Committee. I was not aware there were so many recent appointments on board. Sounds to me like most of the individuals on your committee are sincere and dedicated citizens working to improve our downtown. I apologize for not being more informed on this issue. Please don't be discouraged and keep up the good work. Thanks for serving Peru.
BUSINESS DISTRICT DEVELOPMENT & REDEVELOPMENT COMMISSION
Roger Chamlin since 2/24/99
Betty Jo Hansen " 7/21/91
Ron Bird since 4/09/01
Kris Giese since 8/17/09
Mike Debo since 8/17/09
Eric Heagy since 8/17/09
Larry Criss since 8/17/09
I don't recall the 4 newer members being mentioned at a meeting nor do I recall there being mention of any openings on this committee. And, Kris you mention that there are 6 members but 7 are listed above??
Linda, the answer to your question is very simple. I was told of the commitee openings and volunteered. Then I was told that appointments were to be made at the next council meeting, so I attended and found out I was appointed. I am unsure if the mayor, the city council, or the committee chairperson makes those appointments.
Lois, you listed the names and tenures of each person on the committee, but you listed seven names. As I stated in my first post, we only have six. Ron Bird resigned in our second meeting, which is why I persented the idea of you joining and completing our committee. That way you would be able to see that we are not the same commitee that you saw formed in 1991. Basically, all I am saying is this is a new group of people and we want things to be different and what I don't understand is why you are calling for our disbanding now. Where has this call been for the last 19 years?
11:57AM
If the list is incorrect, it is because the city has incorrect information and I suggest you call the city clerk and inform them of the change and when it took place. I suspected as much but the list was just obtained a few days ago and should have been current, so I would say the information was not relayed to the city clerks office as a formal resignation.
I believe the commission which is what the city calls you should consist of business people who are involved with the downtown as a business not people who do not experience the problems that those people do. If and when you expand your scope (as you should), to include other business owners in others locations in Peru, you will have a larger pool of people to ask to join your commission. Businesses in the east and the west ends of town and also Peoria should be a part of your expanded scope. Make your committee relevant to the entire town.
And please change your policies as they relate to the color of their storefront. But your commission as it exists now is not a group that many businesses owners would want to be a part of. They probably breathed a sigh of relief when they found they they were not going to be judged by your rules and regulations.
Your name is also irrelevant as the Downtown is not being redeveloped as originally intended and never will be. The name is a throwback to the Baker era.
In two weeks , DO NOT VOTE FOR VICKERY.
Anon 746 Why not vote for him? He is part of the dynamic team leading our city.
I got a letter to support a Judge from the PAC. You only support those with a D after their name!
2:13 PM
I didn't get one, please explain, I don't know who you are speaking of.
ANON 2:13 You got a letter from the PAC? Please explain! I didn't get one either.
I have received information from the city clerks office that Ron Bird did resign from the Peru Downtown Redevelopment Commission 9/15/09, so there are currently 6 members.
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