Friday, October 08, 2010
"We" are the answer!
Lois has posted a number of articles on this blog from local newspapers that point out the successes that arise from citizen involvement in their own local government. The common theme in all the stories is as follows. When citizens get motivated and involved things get done. It is so clear. We wonder why we have gridlock and obstructionism on our city council on the most
important issues affecting our city. We wonder why many of our elected officials seem to be completely disconnected from what our priorities should be considering current financial conditions. So when we see a story of success in another community we ask ourselves, why can't we achieve such things? The answer is we can and we must. Citizen involvement is the driving force behind the majority of successful initiatives in communities around this country and we all need to embrace it and welcome it. And when I say "we", I mean everybody from the mayor on down. I know we have volunteer organizations in town who do good work. The CSO, the Lions Club, and others. Some of those organizations provide excellent community service and others are more or less self-serving as far as I'm concerned. But when it comes time for taking up a cause and seeing it through, the people are the ones who get the job done. It's really up to us. There has been much said on this blog about the importance of attending council meetings and staying informed of the issues. That still stands. But we all need to step it up a bit. There is no shortage of issues that need to be addressed. We need input and participation in so many areas in Peru. We have no downtown business association. It will take citizens to create it. We see geat potential for business and recreation opportunities on our riverfront. It will take motivated citizens to make that happen. We want bike and walking paths in some areas of town right? Instead of calling on citizens to take up the cause through volunteerism, our elected officials only response is to throw thousands more dollars at Chamlin and the project "dies" immediately after the check clears. What the hell was that? Chamlin isn't going to bring additional recreation opportunities to Peru, we are! We have so much to overcome. Including this narrow minded pattern of behavior that we have to "engineer" our way in and out of every situation. Why is that? We obviously have many elected officials who have no idea of the potential resources and energy that exists in our community just waiting to be tapped into. One of the sessions offered at the recent IML Convention focused on how elected officials can encourage and cultivate ideas and volunteers in their communities to achieve great things. I wonder if all six of our guys attended that session. I am convinced that the majority of Peru aldermen would be horrified by the very thought of calling on us citizens for anything. Furthermore, I believe if this concept was suggested to the current city council they would see it only as a threat to their "authority" and would reject it immediately. So, I ask you all. What now are we to do?
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18 comments:
Steve: Do we know if any of our aldermen attended the IML session you mention above? As far as I understand we have not heard any kind of report from any of those who attended the convention. Is this correct?
What our aldermen did at the IML convention seems to be the best kept secret in town, almost like they took a vow of silence after they left Chicago. Don't hold your breath on any of them explaining what they learned and how we can apply it to our city.
Would also be interested in learning how much this convention cost the citizens of Peru and what we benefited from it.
"WHAT NOW ARE WE TO DO?" IS THE QUESTION, NOT WHAT IS YOUR LATEST COMPLAINT WITH THE IML CONVENTION. Please give Steves' question some thought and volunteer a answer. Immediately I think of the next alderman election. If you are dissatisfied with your present representative would you run? If you do not care to run have you selected and approached a individual who you would like as your representative and asked them to consider running? Would you donate some time and work to help this individual and yourself plus the City of Peru succeed? I am sure their are many many Ladies and Gentlemen who with encouragement and support would be interested. If you cannot think of anyone have you asked friends, neighbors, relatives or fellow workers if they would have a suggestion as to who they think would be a good candidate. CREATE! THINK! NETWORK!
There are not complaints per se about the convention but questions that should be answered by our aldermen. Yes, you are correct. One very good answer to Steve's question is new individuals on our council. Hopefully ones who will listen and work with, not against, the citizens in their wards.
Anon 7:04 and all other participants of this or any other blog. Please realize that if you have questions that should be answered by OUR aldermen you are not going to get these answers over the blog of your choice. THE blog is a fantastic tool in which to exchange information but it is only a preparation for the main event. Your greatest amount of leverage comes when Mayor Harl asks for public comment at the weekly city council meetings. This is a opportunity to ask and hopefully get a answer in front of the your peer group - the Citizens of Peru. Unfortunately only two or three citizens use this powerful pathway of enlightment. "WHAT NOW ARE WE TO DO?". RUN! CREATE! THINK! NETWORK! ATTEND CITY COUNCIL MEETINGS! PARTICIPATE IN PUBLIC COMMENT!
Elect people to the city council who have vision, confidence, are proactive and possess a positive attitude. Elect city council members who will encourage and cultivate ideas and volunteers in their communities to achieve great things. Elect people who listen and work well with others at all levels. Elect people who have good judgment and sound financial understanding.
An excellent observation and statement anon 10:23. I agree with you 100% especially "elect people who listen and work well with others at all levels". That, to me, is what we lack in our council today.
To Anon 10:23
Looks like your criteria will leave most of the people speaking on this blog out of the picture to hold city office.
I have not had a chance to ask the aldermen what sessions each attended. They should have recieved a "Certificate of Completion" after each session. I have made a FOIA request for all expense reports and copies of all reciepts from every elected official who attended the IML Convention. We will report on the total cost to the taxpayers as soon as we recieve the records from the FOIA officer.
9:04 p.m. - Well said. I will have to disagree with you somewhat about ansewers to questions from OUR aldermen. My observation has been that many of our aldermen are less informed than some of the participants of this blog. And much less interested in being well informed. A great example of their lack of understanding concerning the operation of the Water and Wastewater facilities in town. They can't tell you the first thing about the cost-effectiveness or lack there of, of the $2,500,000 contract between the city and TEST, Inc. They can't tell you because there has "never" been a cost comparison done against the cost of doing the work "in-house" and also because there has "never" been a competetive bidding process to include other contractors to do the work. There is also a variety of sample analysis work the city pays TEST, Inc. a lot of money annually to perform. This work has never been scrutinized or put out for bid by any city official as it should be.
Recently, LaSalle awarded its sample analysis to PDC Labs of Peoria in a competetive bidding process that saved them many thousands of dollars per year. TEST could not compete in LaSalle. TEST is not required to compete in Peru. Jack O'Beirne is very aware of all of it and he has knowingly betrayed the citizens of Peru by allowing the farce to continue for more than twenty five years now.
Steve, if the city pay TEST $2,500,000 over 5 years, how much would it cost the City to do it themselves?
Steve..excellent comments but one concern. If Peru pays TEST $500k a year for all they do, how do you know they are NOT cost effective. Have you done any cost comparisons to show the council? I believe TEST is not union and while the union is good for many things, the cost would have to be higher just for salaries alone? Also, i do know that TEST only get paid extra for the testing of the landfill as this has been discussed before right here. All other "extras" are never charged and it is all included in the agreement with the city. When Kristy had this blog, she was adamant in her views as she worked for TEST. She explained more than once that the city pays TEST for a service and based on current economic ways, it is actually a good deal for the city. Please move on or show in print how much the city can save by using someone else for the service. Thanks again for you hard work and dedication.
7:59 p.m. - I sense you are a bit more informed about this situation than you want to admit. But that's fine because you pose some legitimate questions and I will answer them all. Union vs. non-union has no bearing in my opinion on this matter.
I have done comparisons on the staffing requirements and operational strategies for "same size" facilities around the country and there is no doubt that TEST has "padded" the number of employees beyond what is actually necessary for effective operations by at least "three" employees in my estimation. Possibly more. There are a number of ways the city could make the operations much more cost-effective, including training and utilizing existing city employees to support the water and wastewater plant operations. Or simply re-opening the contract with revised specifications to reduce the number of employees dedicated to Peru's operations. Or, simply conduct a legitimate competitive bidding process and let the chips fall where they may. Lets see if TEST can sharpen their pencils and compete with their peers in the industry. Did you know that the TEST contract provides for office staff as well as operations staff? Also, TEST performs more than just operations and landfill monitoring analysis. There are a number of industrial pre-treatment requirements for the industries in town who discharge into our wastewater system as well. TEST also does analysis for the Electric Department at the Hydro-Plant. They "nickel and dime" the city almost as effectively as Chamlin& Associates. I suspect Chris Perra views Roger Chamlin as his "mentor" in that respect. I hope I answered your questions and I can tell you without any doubt in my mind that the city pays TEST, Inc. much more than they should for every service they provide.
Therefore, it is not a good deal for the city.
Finally, just to make you aware. Lois started this blog and I will not "move on" as you suggest. In fact, there will be many more TEST facts and figures to come on this blog. We have not even begun to present to you the actual terms of the contract and how TEST has consistently abused them. All that and more to come and thank you for asking.
I would like to add to the above Anon 7:59 PM 10/9 that I agree comparisons should be made, bids should be issued on all "jobs". But, even more importantly the word has to get out to citizens of Peru and that cannot be done solely thru this blog. Requests should be and should have been done in the past by our news media. Who touches more people.....not everyone is into computers, blogs, etc. A wider expanse of news, related to Peru city government, needs to be made. The News Tribune is not so heavy in articles that they cannot expound a little more about what is being said at these council meetings. This blog and Chritie's is the grass roots level for "change" in Peru, but it needs to grow. You and I will not always agree to what is said or done but if we do not participate, we can only blame ourselves. We must continue to reach out and grow.
Lois - There appears to be another water main break in the parking lot by Aldi's and Lay's Furniture. Water is pouring down onto Shooting Park Road.
Lets get some soap and take a bath?
Anon 6:57 You've been taking a bath for the last 1/2 century if you lived in Peru. The word ANOTHER leads me to where has the city's preventive maintenance program been all these years? I hope you prefer your water cold.
Please note that this is not the original changeforperu blog. I am not affiliated with Steve and Lois' blog now or ever in the past and feel it necessary to make the clarification. Thank you.
Kristy
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