This blog is maintained for the sole purpose of allowing the people of Peru and those interested in the cities of the Illinois Valley to express their views.
“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
Is this a deal for the city or is there a downside as he also serves on the La Salle County Board as an elected official and on the Peru Twp Board and I believe this was an appointed position.
40 comments:
Anonymous
said...
Article makes for some interesting reading and surely does make one wonder why so much emphasis on this particular issue.
Lois, stop stirring the pot and state exactly what you want to. Do you think that this is a deal for the city or do you think there is a downside?
I have a problem with the City of Peru being a member of IVAC at the expense of over $13,000 per year with IVAC's headquarters located in LaSalle which is not a IVAC participating city. The head of General Motors doesn't drive a Ford to work.
My questions are: How much time does he need to spend as an elected official?. I do know that other County Board members spend lots of lots of time with committee work for La Salle County. When Bob Vickery became a volunteer for the city, he had not been elected yet but when he took on 2 more positions, I did began to wonder I want you to know that this has nothing to do with Mr Vickery as a person, it has to do with being a person who wears several different hats and keeping each one of them separate from the other and I don't know if it is a deal or not. The Mayor thinks so. As a volunteer he is not responsible for being available for questions the residents may have. He is available to the Mayor and Council members. Open government, no.
I have several questions that I would like to post and see if anyone has any answers or where one could go to get answers. 1. What is the status of the old electric building? Is it going to be demolished by the afore mentioned contract or did that fall through? 2. I heard rumor that PVAS revamped some of their procedures and re-established their board. Does anyone know what, if any, changes were made and who replaced Mr. O'Beirne? 3. I would assume summer help has already been hired or that the process is well under way. How many are we hiring this year? I know we were told the numbers would be significantly lower since the pool is no longer in use. 4. Does anyone know why the bids for the street program were not opened at a council meeting but the curb bids will be opened at Monday's meeting? I thought that was the normal procedure. 5. Has anyone heard when the results of the pool grant will be announced?
It seems as though a lot of topics are brought up at meetings but finalization often doesn't materialize. Just looking for answers.
I spoke with Mr. Perez this morning and asked "why the urge to throw money at Mr. Vickrey"? Mr. Perez stated that his urge is to place a salary on an "Economic Director" (Mr. Perez used the words).. "Quote" "an Economic Director" "and just so happens the director currently appointed is Mr. Vickrey"! ( he stated) Mr. Perez stated, without a salary.. putting together a specific job description and being able to request progress reports or attend meetings, or use the proper tools like the City Web site etc. is completely up to whoever is in that volunteered position, and like in any other volunteered position a person can not be held accountable. Mr. Perez wanted to be sure to let me know that he also felt Mr. Vickrey is doing a fine job and that Vickrey is bringing in growth that we should start to hear about soon, Mr. Perez would not tell me what growth so does anyone know what he is referring too? because a donut shop is not what I would consider growth to Peru. I also asked him, his stance on the Chamber. He simply stated that he believes the chamber and a director should work together on bringing in development and jobs. I never got the impression he wanted to see Peru do away with the Chamber. One thing I forgot to ask was if he knows if Lasalle or Ottawa pays their director? and if so, how much? Before we hung up I threw in one last question. " Is it fiscally responsible to offer money when the city claims to be tight" He replied.. A good developer that knows the business like Vickrey will have that 22,000.00 back to the city with just the signature from one big business deal. I barely know Mr. Perez but I had a good feeling he was being honest in wanting to do what is right. We shall see!
3:13 Question for you! Have you asked your ward representative ( council member) any of these questions? Have you attended any meetings to ask? The city of peru does have new council members that should be civil and nice enough that you can ask. Maybe you should try that? and if it doesnt work then come on here and tell us which council member ignored you and we can call him or them out on the rug, on the blogs.
I would find it very interesting to know Mr. Perez's background in economic development and his experience with Economic Directors. At the present time it seems that he has taken someone who is very happy to donate his time to the city for a very small sum to cover his monthly expenses and he wants to pay $22,000/year to make this position personally answerable to the city council. I don't believe anyone is going to find many experienced Economic Directors such as Peru presently has for $22,000/year.
This position is answerable to the Mayor who has created the position and is responsible for it. Before $22,000 is spent for something the city already has volunteered to it for a maximum expense account of $12,00 per year it would be a good idea to learn the chain of command and utilize it at ones early stages.
If Mr. Perez is satisfied with the position as has been stated above why doesn't he leave it alone and move on to the important situations that this city is facing? His aldermen committee is Health and Recreation which has enough on the table to keep anyone busy for the next four years. How is the pool grant coming along?
The point is there are no guidelines or job description in the city of Peru for an economic director. We can call Mr. Vickery an economic director but there are no rules for this job/volunteer position. If it is a position all be it a voluntary one, there should be type of description for it. Most volunteers anywhere are not allowed a free rein but follow specific guides. I understand the point that Mr. Perez is making and it is a valid point.
Shortly after the election of Mayor Harl when he attempted to hire a city engineer, one of the alderman reminded him that we had no job description for such a position and could not hire someone for which there was no job description.
The money allowed the "economic director" was increased to 22,000 by request. More specifically asked for by Ald. Potthoff at a recent meeting and agreed to by the City Treasurer.
Lois, are you referring to the $2,000 per month expense account which the Director of Economic Activity started with and than was reduced to $12,000 per year and than almost immediately the suggestion was made to bring it back up to $22,000 per year?
The city has a human resource director why don't suggest that a job analysis or job description be made up. As with most other volunteer positions once you etch them in stone you get a lot less co-operation than previously.
You state that most volunteers anywhere are not allowed a free rein but follow specific guides. Could you compile me a list of public officials from Peru and surrounding cities that you know of who volunteer without pay or benefits but have specific guidelines and publish the list and its guidelines.
9:04PM My comment was not specifically directed to volunteers in government but in any business, education or otherwise that might utilize volunteers. Again not directed to public officials. I am not familiar with 2.000 per mo. but only with the 12,000 upgraded to 22,000 recently.
Sounds to me like Mr. Perez should head down to Sprinfield with the rest of the politicians, being his second meeting on the council, already wanting to cost taxpayers more money! When Vickery's expences are being paid for, isn't that the same as a salary or compensation? Call it what you want, the taxpayers are paying for it!
8:23 You misunderstand what Mr. Perez is saying. You should also know it would not cost taxpayers any more money because (as already stated) another alderman requested the ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT budget be increased from $12,000 to $22,000. I don't necessarily agree with giving Mr. Vickrey more money but, it would be nice to have him have to come to a meeting once in a while and give a report as to what he has accomplished and what he has in the works. Thus far, I don't think he has been at one council meeting. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
The $22,000 is not to only cover the expenses of the economic director's position but to cover ALL OF THE COSTS of economic development in the City of Peru. This is the figure which Alderman Potthoff and Treasurer Hylla spoke of and what it was intended for.
If the economy picks up I would consider $22,000 a sum which would have to be reevaluated. At the present time it is a very realistic figure for the overall development package for our city. It is a figure which gives the city something to work with but it is not a figure which is at any means elaborate or wasteful.
Congratulations Mr. Vickery on holding your expenses to a average of $250.00 per month for the first eleven months of this year. I don't think it would be bragging on your behalf to inform us on some of the projects you have been and presently are working on.
Very often companys that have intrest in Peru do not want it known to the general public since they are also looking at other towns. Vickrey shouldnt discuss possible business until it is definate. I beleive there are some that are looking at the walmart site.
If their are some looking at the Walmart site they are going to see active retail shops. If you travel across the road you might find that some looking at the former Econofoods for utilization as a store similar to Bains Farm & Fleet.
Too bad that the roads in that area were not updated and maintained by the city, if and when something goes into the former grocery store building Peru will have traffic tie ups on both sides of 251. During the holiday season and busy week-ends 251 will be jammed up.
Peru definitely needs short and long range infrastructure plans. A city engineer would be a good investment for Peru but until the city has someone willing to fight for what is needed it is not going to get one.
"Peru definitely needs short and long range infrastructure plans. A city engineer would be a good investment for Peru but until the city has someone willing to fight for what is needed it is not going to get one".
This is pretty much a city wide problem. From the closure downtown of Putnam St. for the Plaza to the poorly designed area north of Shooting Park Road causing excess traffic on Marquette Road and the subdivision north to the roads radiating from 251 with inadequate exits. There has been no long range traffic planning. I sure hope we have a city engineer on the horizon and hope the Mayor and City Council are listening.
Why? Today when Peru appears to have so much is Peru broke and everything is in such dire need of updating and repair compared to the past when Peru was the little sister city to LaSalle and had only a smitten here and a crumb there to exist on and still it was considered a role model for a city under 9,000 population.
11:08 AM I ask myself the same questions. As I grew up in Peru, it was a very nice community with a small downtown that supplied most of what we needed. There were good schools and actual neighborhoods where people knew their neighbors that they visited with and helped when needed. Yes La Salle was the bigger city with a very nice shopping district and most of this happened just because of the way the towns were laid out. It was the place to go to for shopping. I don't believe that most people were unhappy with the way it was. But there were those in government who wanted more for the city, more business, more sales tax = a bigger piece of the pie. Again a mere coincidence that Peru had an opportunity to develop adjacent land north of the city and here we are today. But as always growth usually brings more problems with it, more strain on our infrastructure and the need for more police and fire protection. It seems that we have reached the point of not enough funds to adequately do justice to all that is needed. Perhaps the government of Peru did not adequately evolve to cope with it all. More progressive cities have hired city engineers, economic directors and city managers but all that comes with a cost and the city has to believe that hiring educated professionals will help the city in the long run. There are pros and cons to all that I have said. What are you thoughts?.
I would like to know, if the person, who was in charge of the pool and lifeguards, still getting paid? And how much? What is doing to earn the money, being the pool is closed? Please set me straight. I know she was paid last year, her full salary, because nobody caught it.
The person was in charge of the swimming pool and lifeguards is the director of parks and recreation. The reduction of her responsibilities last year was caught. I know because it was brought up at a finance meeting at which I was at. I believe her salary was reduced by $3,000 after this meeting,or at least everyone was led to believe this. It went from approximately $12,500 to $9,500.
The Aldermen to speak to about this subject would be Alderman Ferrari and Alderman Perez, please let us know what they have to say on this situation. It is a interesting topic on a well paid position.
With the new aldermen committee structure I am sure that that all the aldermen are going to be pleased to hear what their constituents consider to be important.
Lois you have stated what more progressive cities have hired and I fully agree with you. Will it be Peru or one of our areas surrounding cities which will forge ahead in the future?
Peru which has been so proud of its retail sales tax revenue must realize that retail personnel are not as highly paid as Spring Valleys Wal-Mart distribution center or Oglesbys Advantage Logistics or a IVCC instructor. Thank goodness Peru at one time had Peoples Hospital which has developed into IVCH. Peru must be at the lower scale of dollar per hour wages in the area.
Yes IVCH is certainly the one business with the best paid employees in the town. Just recently talking with a friend from Ottawa, he informed me that Ottawa Regional Hospital is now a part of the OSF hospital system from Peoria. People are now wondering if the Peru and Spring Valley hospital will be able to stand on their own or will they also be taken into the OSF network in order to survive.
3:44 I just went on to the City Web Page. It looks as though Ferrari and Perez are on Public Health an Safety. Alderman Ankewicz and Mykiska are the ones to ask about park and recreation....So Good Luck!! You may still want to ask Alderman Ferrari and Perez, or any others...You may get an answer.
9:15 If you proceed to the bottom of this blog you will find a list of Peru Aldermen City Committee Members. Ferrari and Perez are on the Health and Recreation Committee and Ankiewicz and Mikyska are on the Public Buildings Committee.
Now that we have everyone in doubt including myself it would be a good idea to have a corrected statement. Do you remember Abbott and Costellos who's on first?
I believe I took my clue from the first news that came out about committee assignments. Evidently some of the wording has changed. I will research and correct the blog. Not sure what health and public safety is about. Initially I thought Ald. Perez wanted to be on parks and recreation. Maybe he will stop by and correct me.
Mr Vickery's elected position and appointed position is IN CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR THE CITY OF PERU. He should resign. Mr Perez should keep his mouth shut and quit wanting to spend our taz money for something that looks and sounds good on the surface but is a total scam for all of us.
Who elected Perez ? As per HIS election letter, he has NO EXPEERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS TO request an increase in salary for Vickery. (His suggestion is only wasteful practices)
WE NEED JOBS AND BUSINESSES TO COME TO THE VALLEY IF WE WANT OUR TAXES TO REMAIN AT LAST YEARS LEVELS.
ASTUTE! ASTUTE! ASTUTE! Director of Community Development Exp? Increase of $5,000 to $34,000? This isn't a combination of the City of Peru and LaSalle County Economic Development Board's for the next decade is it? Glad to see people scrutinizing the books with such a keen eye. My tax dollars are feeling a lot safer.
Since we have entered the deep, dark and friendly environment of taxes could anyone explain to me how grants are so misinterpreted? The city does not have the money for their purchase so the council determines to apply for a grant from the state which happens to be $14,000,000,000 in debt and raising our state income tax. People what difference does it make to you what branch of government the money comes from-city, state or federal you are the one paying taxes to create the grant. It is time for each level to pay its own way! Remember there is no free lunch in America.
Thank You Lois for your rapid response on the Peru City Aldermen Committee Members. Alderman Perez being a fireman and being on the Public Health and Safety Committee leaves me with the feeling that a clarification of what the Public Health and Safety Committees responsibilities are is justified.
As a matter of fact being newly created committees all committees should have a committee description to the taxpayers of Peru just as a job description and job analysis should be in existence for every position which involves taxpayers money.
Asking for grants for everything and I mean everything seems to fast becoming a way of life for ALL cities. You are absolutely correct in stating that ultimately we all pay for everything. BUT the feeling among cities is that if I don't apply for it, another city will step up to the plate - apply for the grant and get it. I guess now I would like to know when receiving grants became the standard for getting anything done in a city. It is like a vicious circle and no one knows how to get out of it. All of this might work if we had a country that was not in debt so deep no one can see the way out.
Lois you are absolutely correct but when every city steps up to the plate and gets a home run the game never ends and as a result we have a country so deep in debt that no one can see the way out. Now all the cities representation including our own Mayor are complaining that the state wants to take funding away from the cities. At the debt the state is in it is about time they finance their own and let the cities finance theirs. As the individual above said there is no free lunch in America. About time the cities learn that there is no free lunch in Illinois.
Did you notice that the commitee members are now only made up of two aldermen? I think they are trying to avoid an illegal meeting. Remember it is an illegal meeting when 3 alderman gather and discuss city business without public notice. Now with 2 commitee members they can have a meeting any time they want without violating the open meeting act. This administration is trying to hide something.
I was at the meeting last night and the new committee members are setting up meeting dates and announcing them to the public. I don't see any signs of them trying to hide something.
Through a discussion with the Treasuer, it was determined that in fact 34,000 is available to the Economic Director but not to worry about it because all of his expenses have to be approved by the city and if they were greatly increased they would not be allowed. He also did not feel that the director would take advantage of such a large amount of funding. It will be changed in the next budget.
I have seen lights on at night on in the former Econo Foods building and rumor has it that the building has been sold.
Who is going to decide if the pool supervisor, is still getting paid? $3000.00 is all that was deducted from her $12, 500. salary. What is doing to earn $9500.00? You mean thats all thats deducted. What does she do for the $9500? I would like to see her list of jobs.
I don't know anything about her salary but I did hear rumor that she has been hired by La Salle for the park and recreation department. Does anyone know if this is fact or fiction and if she would remain on as Peru's supervisor if this should be a fact?
40 comments:
Article makes for some interesting reading and surely does make one wonder why so much emphasis on this particular issue.
Lois, stop stirring the pot and state exactly what you want to. Do you think that this is a deal for the city or do you think there is a downside?
I have a problem with the City of Peru being a member of IVAC at the expense of over $13,000 per year with IVAC's headquarters located in LaSalle which is not a IVAC participating city. The head of General Motors doesn't drive a Ford to work.
My questions are: How much time does he need to spend as an elected official?. I do know that other County Board members spend lots of lots of time with committee work for La Salle County. When Bob Vickery became a volunteer for the city, he had not been elected yet but when he took on 2 more positions, I did began to wonder I want you to know that this has nothing to do with Mr Vickery as a person, it has to do with being a person who wears several different hats and keeping each one of them separate from the other and I don't know if it is a deal or not. The Mayor thinks so. As a volunteer he is not responsible for being available for questions the residents may have. He is available to the Mayor and Council members. Open government, no.
I have several questions that I would like to post and see if anyone has any answers or where one could go to get answers.
1. What is the status of the old electric building? Is it going to be demolished by the afore mentioned contract or did that fall through?
2. I heard rumor that PVAS revamped some of their procedures and re-established their board. Does anyone know what, if any, changes were made and who replaced Mr. O'Beirne?
3. I would assume summer help has already been hired or that the process is well under way. How many are we hiring this year? I know we were told the numbers would be significantly lower since the pool is no longer in use.
4. Does anyone know why the bids for the street program were not opened at a council meeting but the curb bids will be opened at Monday's meeting? I thought that was the normal procedure.
5. Has anyone heard when the results of the pool grant will be announced?
It seems as though a lot of topics are brought up at meetings but finalization often doesn't materialize. Just looking for answers.
I spoke with Mr. Perez this morning and asked "why the urge to throw money at Mr. Vickrey"?
Mr. Perez stated that his urge is to place a salary on an "Economic Director" (Mr. Perez used the words).. "Quote" "an Economic Director" "and just so happens the director currently appointed is Mr. Vickrey"! ( he stated) Mr. Perez stated, without a salary.. putting together a specific job description and being able to request progress reports or attend meetings, or use the proper tools like the City Web site etc. is completely up to whoever is in that volunteered position, and like in any other volunteered position a person can not be held accountable. Mr. Perez wanted to be sure to let me know that he also felt Mr. Vickrey is doing a fine job and that Vickrey is bringing in growth that we should start to hear about soon, Mr. Perez would not tell me what growth so does anyone know what he is referring too? because a donut shop is not what I would consider growth to Peru.
I also asked him, his stance on the Chamber.
He simply stated that he believes the chamber and a director should work together on bringing in development and jobs. I never got the impression he wanted to see Peru do away with the Chamber. One thing I forgot to ask was if he knows if Lasalle or Ottawa pays their director? and if so, how much?
Before we hung up I threw in one last question.
" Is it fiscally responsible to offer money when the city claims to be tight"
He replied.. A good developer that knows the business like Vickrey will have that 22,000.00 back to the city with just the signature from one big business deal.
I barely know Mr. Perez but I had a good feeling he was being honest in wanting to do what is right.
We shall see!
3:13
Question for you!
Have you asked your ward representative ( council member) any of these questions?
Have you attended any meetings to ask?
The city of peru does have new council members that should be civil and nice enough that you can ask. Maybe you should try that? and if it doesnt work then come on here and tell us which council member ignored you and we can call him or them out on the rug, on the blogs.
I would find it very interesting to know Mr. Perez's background in economic development and his experience with Economic Directors. At the present time it seems that he has taken someone who is very happy to donate his time to the city for a very small sum to cover his monthly expenses and he wants to pay $22,000/year to make this position personally answerable to the city council. I don't believe anyone is going to find many experienced Economic Directors such as Peru presently has for $22,000/year.
This position is answerable to the Mayor who has created the position and is responsible for it. Before $22,000 is spent for something the city already has volunteered to it for a maximum expense account of $12,00 per year it would be a good idea to learn the chain of command and utilize it at ones early stages.
If Mr. Perez is satisfied with the position as has been stated above why doesn't he leave it alone and move on to the important situations that this city is facing? His aldermen committee is Health and Recreation which has enough on the table to keep anyone busy for the next four years. How is the pool grant coming along?
7:02PM
The point is there are no guidelines or job description in the city of Peru for an economic director. We can call Mr. Vickery an economic director but there are no rules for this job/volunteer position. If it is a position all be it a voluntary one, there should be type of description for it. Most volunteers anywhere are not allowed a free rein but follow specific guides.
I understand the point that Mr. Perez is making and it is a valid point.
Shortly after the election of Mayor Harl when he attempted to hire a city engineer, one of the alderman reminded him that we had no job description for such a position and could not hire someone for which there was no job description.
The money allowed the "economic director" was increased to 22,000 by request. More specifically asked for by Ald. Potthoff at a recent meeting and agreed to by the City Treasurer.
Lois, are you referring to the $2,000 per month expense account which the Director of Economic Activity started with and than was reduced to $12,000 per year and than almost immediately the suggestion was made to bring it back up to $22,000 per year?
The city has a human resource director why don't
suggest that a job analysis or job description be made up. As with most other volunteer positions once you etch them in stone you get a lot less co-operation than previously.
You state that most volunteers anywhere are not allowed a free rein but follow specific guides. Could you compile me a list of public officials from Peru and surrounding cities that you know of who volunteer without pay or benefits but have specific guidelines and publish the list and its guidelines.
9:04PM
My comment was not specifically directed to volunteers in government but in any business, education or otherwise that might utilize volunteers.
Again not directed to public officials.
I am not familiar with 2.000 per mo. but only with the 12,000 upgraded to 22,000 recently.
Sounds to me like Mr. Perez should head down to Sprinfield with the rest of the politicians, being his second meeting on the council, already wanting to cost taxpayers more money! When Vickery's expences are being paid for, isn't that the same as a salary or compensation? Call it what you want, the taxpayers are paying for it!
8:23 You misunderstand what Mr. Perez is saying. You should also know it would not cost taxpayers any more money because (as already stated) another alderman requested the ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT budget be increased from $12,000 to $22,000. I don't necessarily agree with giving Mr. Vickrey more money but, it would be nice to have him have to come to a meeting once in a while and give a report as to what he has accomplished and what he has in the works.
Thus far, I don't think he has been at one council meeting. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.
The $22,000 is not to only cover the expenses of the economic director's position but to cover ALL OF THE COSTS of economic development in the City of Peru. This is the figure which Alderman Potthoff and Treasurer Hylla spoke of and what it was intended for.
If the economy picks up I would consider $22,000 a sum which would have to be reevaluated. At the present time it is a very realistic figure for the overall development package for our city. It is a figure which gives the city something to work with but it is not a figure which is at any means elaborate or wasteful.
Congratulations Mr. Vickery on holding your expenses to a average of $250.00 per month for the first eleven months of this year. I don't think it would be bragging on your behalf to inform us on some of the projects you have been and presently are working on.
Very often companys that have intrest in Peru do not want it known to the general public since they are also looking at other towns. Vickrey shouldnt discuss possible business until it is definate. I beleive there are some that are looking at the walmart site.
That would be good but hoping for something with more and better jobs. We need something that will keep our young people here in town.
If their are some looking at the Walmart site they are going to see active retail shops. If you travel across the road you might find that some looking at the former Econofoods for utilization as a store similar to Bains Farm & Fleet.
Too bad that the roads in that area were not updated and maintained by the city, if and when something goes into the former grocery store building Peru will have traffic tie ups on both sides of 251. During the holiday season and busy week-ends 251 will be jammed up.
Peru definitely needs short and long range infrastructure plans. A city engineer would be a good investment for Peru but until the city has someone willing to fight for what is needed it is not going to get one.
10:15PM
"Peru definitely needs short and long range infrastructure plans. A city engineer would be a good investment for Peru but until the city has someone willing to fight for what is needed it is not going to get one".
This is pretty much a city wide problem. From the closure downtown of Putnam St. for the Plaza to the poorly designed area north of Shooting Park Road causing excess traffic on Marquette Road and the subdivision north to the roads radiating from 251 with inadequate exits. There has been no long range traffic planning.
I sure hope we have a city engineer on the horizon and hope the Mayor and City Council are listening.
Why? Today when Peru appears to have so much is Peru broke and everything is in such dire need of updating and repair compared to the past when Peru was the little sister city to LaSalle and had only a smitten here and a crumb there to exist on and still it was considered a role model for a city under 9,000 population.
11:08 AM
I ask myself the same questions. As I grew up in Peru, it was a very nice community with a small downtown that supplied most of what we needed. There were good schools and actual neighborhoods where people knew their neighbors that they visited with and helped when needed.
Yes La Salle was the bigger city with a very nice shopping district and most of this happened just because of the way the towns were laid out. It was the place to go to for shopping.
I don't believe that most people were unhappy with the way it was. But there were those in government who wanted more for the city, more business, more sales tax = a bigger piece of the pie. Again a mere coincidence that Peru had an opportunity to develop adjacent land north of the city and here we are today. But as always growth usually brings more problems with it, more strain on our infrastructure and the need for more police and fire protection.
It seems that we have reached the point of not enough funds to adequately do justice to all that is needed.
Perhaps the government of Peru did not adequately evolve to cope with it all. More progressive cities have hired city engineers, economic directors and city managers but all that comes with a cost and the city has to believe that hiring educated professionals will help the city in the long run.
There are pros and cons to all that I have said. What are you thoughts?.
I would like to know, if the person, who was in charge of the pool and lifeguards, still getting paid? And how much? What is doing to earn the money, being the pool is closed? Please set me straight. I know she was paid last year, her full salary, because nobody caught it.
The person was in charge of the swimming pool and lifeguards is the director of parks and recreation. The reduction of her responsibilities last year was caught. I know because it was brought up at a finance meeting at which I was at. I believe her salary was reduced by $3,000 after this meeting,or at least everyone was led to believe this. It went from approximately $12,500 to $9,500.
The Aldermen to speak to about this subject would be Alderman Ferrari and Alderman Perez, please let us know what they have to say on this situation. It is a interesting topic on a well paid position.
With the new aldermen committee structure I am sure that that all the aldermen are going to be pleased to hear what their constituents consider to be important.
Lois you have stated what more progressive cities have hired and I fully agree with you. Will it be Peru or one of our areas surrounding cities which will forge ahead in the future?
Peru which has been so proud of its retail sales tax revenue must realize that retail personnel are not as highly paid as Spring Valleys Wal-Mart distribution center or Oglesbys Advantage Logistics or a IVCC instructor. Thank goodness Peru at one time had Peoples Hospital which has developed into IVCH. Peru must be at the lower scale of dollar per hour wages in the area.
Yes IVCH is certainly the one business with the best paid employees in the town. Just recently talking with a friend from Ottawa, he informed me that Ottawa Regional Hospital is now a part of the OSF hospital system from Peoria. People are now wondering if the Peru and Spring Valley hospital will be able to stand on their own or will they also be taken into the OSF network in order to survive.
3:44
I just went on to the City Web Page. It looks as though Ferrari and Perez are on Public Health an Safety. Alderman Ankewicz and Mykiska are the ones to ask about park and recreation....So Good Luck!! You may still want to ask Alderman Ferrari and Perez, or any others...You may get an answer.
9:15
If you proceed to the bottom of this blog you will find a list of Peru Aldermen City Committee Members. Ferrari and Perez are on the Health and Recreation Committee and Ankiewicz and Mikyska are on the Public Buildings Committee.
Now that we have everyone in doubt including myself it would be a good idea to have a corrected statement. Do you remember Abbott and Costellos who's on first?
Lois: Why has the line item "DIR OF COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT EXP" on the new 2012 Operating Budget been increased from $5,000 to $34,000?
I believe I took my clue from the first news that came out about committee assignments. Evidently some of the wording has changed. I will research and correct the blog. Not sure what health and public safety is about. Initially I thought Ald. Perez wanted to be on parks and recreation. Maybe he will stop by and correct me.
Mr Vickery's elected position and appointed position is IN CONFLICT OF INTEREST FOR THE CITY OF PERU. He should resign. Mr Perez should keep his mouth shut and quit wanting to spend our taz money for something that looks and sounds good on the surface but is a total scam for all of us.
Who elected Perez ? As per HIS election letter, he has NO EXPEERIENCE AND QUALIFICATIONS TO request an increase in salary for Vickery. (His suggestion is only wasteful practices)
WE NEED JOBS AND BUSINESSES TO COME TO THE VALLEY IF WE WANT OUR TAXES TO REMAIN AT LAST YEARS LEVELS.
We need jobs that will pay more than the minimum wage.
Does anyone know who is the Director of Community Development as listed in the 10:47 post?
ASTUTE! ASTUTE! ASTUTE! Director of Community Development Exp? Increase of $5,000 to $34,000? This isn't a combination of the City of Peru and LaSalle County Economic Development Board's for the next decade is it? Glad to see people scrutinizing the books with such a keen eye. My tax dollars are feeling a lot safer.
Since we have entered the deep, dark and friendly environment of taxes could anyone explain to me how grants are so misinterpreted? The city does not have the money for their purchase so the council determines to apply for a grant from the state which happens to be $14,000,000,000 in debt and raising our state income tax. People what difference does it make to you what branch of government the money comes from-city, state or federal you are the one paying taxes to create the grant. It is time for each level to pay its own way! Remember there is no free lunch in America.
Thank You Lois for your rapid response on the Peru City Aldermen Committee Members. Alderman Perez being a fireman and being on the Public Health and Safety Committee leaves me with the feeling that a clarification of what the Public Health and Safety Committees responsibilities are is justified.
As a matter of fact being newly created committees all committees should have a committee description to the taxpayers of Peru just as a job description and job analysis should be in existence for every position which involves taxpayers money.
4:17PM
Asking for grants for everything and I mean everything seems to fast becoming a way of life for ALL cities. You are absolutely correct in stating that ultimately we all pay for everything. BUT the feeling among cities is that if I don't apply for it, another city will step up to the plate - apply for the grant and get it. I guess now I would like to know when receiving grants became the standard for getting anything done in a city. It is like a vicious circle and no one knows how to get out of it.
All of this might work if we had a country that was not in debt so deep no one can see the way out.
Lois you are absolutely correct but when every city steps up to the plate and gets a home run the game never ends and as a result we have a country so deep in debt that no one can see the way out. Now all the cities representation including our own Mayor are complaining that the state wants to take funding away from the cities. At the debt the state is in it is about time they finance their own and let the cities finance theirs. As the individual above said there is no free lunch in America. About time the cities learn that there is no free lunch in Illinois.
Did you notice that the commitee members are now only made up of two aldermen? I think they are trying to avoid an illegal meeting. Remember it is an illegal meeting when 3 alderman gather and discuss city business without public notice. Now with 2 commitee members they can have a meeting any time they want without violating the open meeting act. This administration is trying to hide something.
I was at the meeting last night and the new committee members are setting up meeting dates and announcing them to the public. I don't see any signs of them trying to hide something.
Through a discussion with the Treasuer, it was determined that in fact 34,000 is available to the Economic Director but not to worry about it because all of his expenses have to be approved by the city and if they were greatly increased they would not be allowed. He also did not feel that the director would take advantage of such a large amount of funding. It will be changed in the next budget.
I have seen lights on at night on in the former Econo Foods building and rumor has it that the building has been sold.
I still wonder why though it was deemed necessary to increase his budget by $29,000 if we can be assured he will not spend it.
Who is going to decide if the pool supervisor, is still getting paid? $3000.00 is all that was deducted from her $12, 500. salary. What is doing to earn $9500.00? You mean thats all thats deducted. What does she do for the $9500? I would like to see her list of jobs.
I don't know anything about her salary but I did hear rumor that she has been hired by La Salle for the park and recreation department. Does anyone know if this is fact or fiction and if she would remain on as Peru's supervisor if this should be a fact?
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