The LaSalle County Board has an important vote coming up in January, and I was wondering if you could find a space on your blog to let citizens voice their opinion one way or the other on the proposed sand mine. Thank You, Jill Bernal
Friday, December 30, 2011
Thursday, December 29, 2011
News Tribune - News - Local - La Salle Rotary Park committee ready to roll
News Tribune - News - Local - La Salle Rotary Park committee ready to roll
I know this is not about Peru but it will be an area utilized by many of the Illinois Valley and even beyond and I am including this article for those who like to keep up with events in this area. For sure this is a long term project but also a dream for many come true. Again the word "volunteerism" crops up and I believe that in the future it will become even more important as the spiraling cost of everything will prevent our cities from being the best they can unless we can generate volunteers on the local level.
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Peru Pages: Things that make you go Hmmmm. – Public Works Warehouse Lease
Peru Pages: Things that make you go Hmmmm. – Public Works Warehouse Lease
Well Brian, no point in both of us writing this us and especially since I do agree with your comments. What was more disturbing is that no could give us a reason for the "why" of this arrangement and I noticed that counsel made no comment.
City Meetings Scheduled for Today 12/28
Finance Meeting 4 PM
Safety Meeting 6:30 PM
Public Buildings and Property 6:45 PM
City Council Meeting 7:30 PM
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Saturday, December 24, 2011
Merry Christmas to All Our Blog Readers
Thank you for your visits through the year or years we have been writing and thanks for commenting on the Peru Town Forum blog. I appreciate all your contributions even when you don't agree with me or Steve. Always good to hear another point of view.
Hope that the coming year will be good for you and we will all try to work together and try to make it better for the city of Peru. There is still a lack of communication to the residents and especially to those who wish to know more about how our city functions. We will also work to lessen the divide among all of our local cities in the Illinois Valley.
The idea that that is the way we have always done it is the right way is not necessarily the best way. Lets listen to suggestions and work toward being the best we can be.
I thank those city officials that have openly commented on the blog and that would be Ald. Perez and Ald. Mayszak. We have a tremendous viewer and reader audience on the web and this presents an opportunity for all city officials to tell us what they are thinking. If they do not want comments on their comments we can arrange that also.
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY AND BLESSED NEW YEAR
News Tribune - News - NCI - Skating rink opens at Echo Bluff
News Tribune - News - NCI - Skating rink opens at Echo Bluff
Just in case our ice does not freeze due to lack of cooperation of the weather, you might want to try this rink.
Friday, December 23, 2011
A time to step back, if only for a moment
If you are an observer of the political scene on any level, you will probably agree that it has become more and more apparent that there exists very little "good will" leading up to this holiday season. The current state of politics on the federal level has never been more nasty and dysfunctional. Illinois lawmakers are no better at putting idealogical differences aside in order to pull our state out of what appears to be a complete "tailspin". Locally, more specifically the municipal government of Peru continues to experience "growing pains", to put it mildly.
I don't beleive anyone in this town is more passionate than I when it comes to local politics and the highly charged atmosphere that is the direct result of having newly elected or appointed officials with differing opinions and ideas on how to lead Peru. There is no shortage of hard feelings among main players and observers alike. The only thing I know for sure is those hard feelings will continue to manifest themselves for years to come. So goes politics and such is human nature. I'm guilty of those "hard" feelings as much as anybody and I'm very much aware of the hatred directed at me and others through this blog. With that said, and in consideration of the season, Happy Holidays to friends and foes alike. Maybe there is hope that we can come together for a better purpose as better people. Take a step back and look at what we have and how far we can go. Take a step back, if only for a moment.
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
New Company Officers: 10 Things You Need to Do
New Company Officers: 10 Things You Need to Do
I think this is a good read for any fire dept. and maybe ours at this very difficult time.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Letter Read to City Council Dec. 12, 2011
To Peru City Council ,
Monday evening I was wrote up by the Peru Fire department for “failure to follow
instruction” and “insubordination” . Last Wednesday Dec. 7th during our meeting we were
handed out new SOG’s with a change pertaining to reporting to calls. Each Squad is either
to report to the scene or the station depending on the month , unless it is a CO call ,
mutual aid , a car accident , or a call on the north side of Interstate 80 . I told the
chief that I don’t carry my gear with me because of my employment and because I’m always
switching vehicles throughout the day . He told me to talk to my Captain “C” . Thursday the
8th they had an officers meeting and Capt “C” called me after it was over and told me I had
to report to the scene this month . I told him I’ve never reported to the scene since I
live 3 blocks from the station and that I don’t carry my gear with me because of my
employment and other restrictions. He said that if I didn’t want to carry my gear with me
to just not to come to calls for the month . I said whatever . He then said I could only
come to calls that were report to the station .
We had a call that day that I responded to and I reported to the station because
I passed it on the way to the scene . The rule is if you pass the scene on the way to the
station you can stop at the scene or if you pass the station on the way to the scene you
can stop there .
On the 10th we had a call where I reported to the station because I passed it on
the way to the scene . When I entered the station Lt. “A” said I was suppose to go to the
scene and I told him my gear is in my locker and I passed the station so I stopped here to
man the 2nd truck . There were only 4 firefighters that responded to that call , 1 of which
was the engineer .
On the 12th we had a call where I left work to respond and passed the station so
I stopped to man the 2nd truck .
On the 12th we had another call and I was out with my mom at the store and came
back to respond with but by the time I got her home and inside the situation was under
control and the chief said he didn’t need anything additional sent to the scene . However
just before this I noticed Captain “A” driving around my block checking to see if I was
home . Both my vehicles were home because I was driving my moms car with her in it . Cpt
“A” didn’t see me coming out of the garage carrying my moms bags inside for her . How is it
that the city of Peru continues to leave this man in such a responsible position when he’s
more interested in driving out of his way to snoop around on other firefighters instead of
doing his job ? If you remember Cpt.”A” is the reason all of this got started
There is one comment beneath this and then the rest of the letter follows in 4 separate comment sections.
Thursday, December 15, 2011
Anonymous said...
Here are facts....PSI will cost the city of Peru more than $48,000. They will take a subsidy, and split the profits of patient payments over the first couple of years, and then they will take all including the subsidy. They are a low-paying, for profit service that will hire suburban medics over IL Valley medics when they have the chance. Despite the smokescreen Andy Baccidore have provided, LaSalle is paying significantly more money for a service that doesn't measure up to what they had.
Granted, the PVAS mgmt and Board do need to change. Mr. Roberson is nowhere near qualified to run an ambulance service....heck...he can't even finish his schooling to become a medic.
The BOD for PVAS is as corrupt as they were when Baker was mayor/BOD president. Any company that keeps an accountant on retainer that was proven to defraud the state...well...theat company has no integrity.
Mr. Perez is sadly mistaken to think he or King can run an ambulance. Mr. Perez having a hand in this is a true conflict of interest. A person of high integrity was step away, and appoint another alderman in his place...Perez is proving politics for the City of Peru hasn't changed.
Here's food for thought....couldn't the Peru PD run the ambulance? Why does it have to be the FD? Just curious....
Granted...$90,000 for the police chief? Really?!?! There are police chiefs in towns bigger and busier than Peru that pay their police chiefs $10,000-$15,000 less....not like PPD is that busy.
This whole thing has become a farce...PVAS does a fine job...they have very good medics/EMT's but as stated...their mgmt structure needs help.
Time to create a new BOD and get rid of Roberson.
FYI...PVAS has had significant turn-over because of Roberson!!!
News Tribune - News - Local - Peru reviewing insurance bids
News Tribune - News - Local - Peru reviewing insurance bids
City will rent storage space for "too many" city vehicles @ $600.00 per mo.
Peru will purchase valve exerciser for 48,500 for water department
Peru will spend $210,000 per ward on streets next year
Peru FD still has unresolved issues as they are unable to mediate them successfully and it sound like bully tactics don't end with grade school.
PVAS will give presentation at city hall on January 3
Monday, December 12, 2011
Water Main Breaks versus Repairing Streets
Over the weekend water main breaks kept the city workers busy with repairs. I have been told there was a very large break at Main and Pike that was initially difficult to locate beneath the streets. Last week it was a large break on Peoria Street around 11 th St.or close to that and we can't forget the one that caused the city to dig up the nice new road resurfacing on Rte 6 in front of the old Westclox building. And these are only the ones I have seen and heard about and I am sure many more occurred.
Each time a water main breaks, we put on a bandaide and wait for the next.
At the infrastructure meeting last Monday, Christ Perra spoke of cities that have actually redone their entire underground system, specifically he mentioned Carthage and Bushnell both of which are much smaller cities. The only way to repair is to dig up the street either old or newly paved so the persistent question is, What repairs should be done first?
Is is worth it to spend millions of repair dollars on our city streets knowing that beneath that nice street pavement are water mains popping like popcorn? If you were on the committee what would your advice be?
The newer areas of town do not have the breaks that are constantly happening anywhere from Shooting Park south to the Illinois River.
The city will be installing pressure reducing valves in about 5 different locations in town. Our SPW recently talked to the LaSalle SPW where they have already installed these devices and feel it helps in reducing the number of breaks. No one seems to have an answer to the whole problem, because the infrastructure which we can't see is so very old and will need to be replaced someday. The big question is, Can we afford to? or Can we afford not to?
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Friday, December 09, 2011
CANTON MA Emergency Services
Canton Emergency FD
Both the title and the above are links to click upon.
While doing some internet research this morning, I came across the town of Canton MA, population 21,561 or about the size of LaSalle Peru combined. Initially I found they had a private ambulance service and I read the information on their web site and I thought, this is impressive and this private company seems to have all their ducks in a row. Then I wondered do they also have a FD emergency service a further search showed that they do.
Sure this is a city a little larger than Peru but it showed that 2 separate emergency services can operate within the same city. The private ambulance service probably has less employees than PVAS but they are handling more routine calls, the kind most frequently handled in our city. Read through both sites and thought about the constant bickering about PVAS while other cities are thinking outside the box and coming up with other solutions. True I don't know the financials with each department but I am saying we need to quit protecting a private company that keeps elected city officials on its Board of Directors as mandated in their bylaws and as someone recently said, to get our heads out of the sand.
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Tuesday, December 06, 2011
Paramedic Service of Illinois Mtg Tonight
Meeting held in the community room of Peru city hall. Lots of people in attendance including many PVAS employees, Peru Firemen, Aldermen Ankiewicz,Radtke, Lukosus, Perez, Mayszak, Ferrari, Mayor Harl and some former officials as Donald Baker, Donald Piano, Joe Witczak and Jack O"Beirne.
A professional presentation was made to give all details of how a company such as PSI runs a fire based ambulance service. They take care of all details of employment, basically they are a staffing Service that does the training, hiring and all other employee related services that are required.
The city is responsible for all the equipment needed. There was definite resentment noted by former officials who wish no changes made to the status quo.
Most of us know that management at PVAS is lacking and although the employees continue to function adequately, there is a need for improvement in all areas of the business. I do not know at the present time whether the 48,000 per year that the city gives to the service will continue to be enough. We were told that PVAS will hold a public meeting similar to PSI where they will give a presentation and field questions as did PSI this evening. Many questions about the board of directors at PVAS have existed for many years and I do believe that Ankiewicz, O'Beirne and Piano are presently on the Board. One almost gets the feeling, they regard this as their own personal possession.
Monday, December 05, 2011
Is It Too Much To Ask?
I attended both the Infrastructure Committee mtg and the City Council Meeting.
The first committee meeting was informative and mainly discussed the underground infrastructure problems. They will look into pressure reducing vales to hopefully reduce the number of water main breaks. Chris Perra although not a member did much of the talking and there was also a member of the Peru Water Dept. who has had first hand knowledge of the problems.
The second meeting the Peru City Council was a display of the issues and problems before the city. It remains a divided council 4-4 with the Mayor breaking the tie. As many of you know I believe in letting people voice their complaints and problems because I hope we still live in a Free and Open Society. Tonight the Mayor knew he had many in opposition to his 3 million loan proposal in the audience and there were those who wanted to speak before the council vote took place. Mayor Harl would not allow any comment before the vote was taken even though Ald. Waldorf asked him to. The Mayor knew he had the vote on his side and yet he chose to defy those who opposed him by only allowing them to speak at the end of the meeting and the proposal had been voted upon. The Mayor gained nothing by this attitude but simply increased the division among people and the aldermen on the council. If you believe that what you are doing is the right thing to do, then don't worry about what a few people who don't like you or your policies say. It looks like Pay Back Time.
Does Anyone Know of a Garden Club in the Illinois Valley
I believe I have read where there were Garden Clubs in the La Salle Peru area in years past and does anyone know if any such club exists here in Peru at the present time? Anyone with information, please write to us.
Saturday, December 03, 2011
Friday, December 02, 2011
Surprising Events from the City Council Mtg.
Along with the big noise coming out of the council meeting regarding the road program anticipated for next year, there were a few little extra surprises.
Now that the city has purchased an expensive vehicle for the Fire Dept. Asst. Chief, our Superintendent of Public Works has decided that he would like a new truck with a snowplow too and his old truck would be given to the cemetery workers. To be discussed further.
Also early in the Harl administration, the new mayor said he would like to reduce the number of council meetings per month. For some reason or other, it did not happen and many unnecessary meetings each month continued to take place. Now the Mayor has suggested that they meet twice a month but that the aldermen will continue to be paid for 4 meetings. It seems that several of the aldermen actually need the meeting money and since they do not get paid for committee meetings, this would help them out.
Anyone know what other cities do regarding reimbursement for public service members serving on a city council?
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