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
Click on this link to get more information about this group. Seems very vague. I wonder which town holds the check book in their hands? If this is an annual event does each town take a turn hosting it and picking up the tab? Wonder how much money is in the checking account.
Please listen to Mayor Harl. Nobody is getting the tab picked up. All of those out of towners pay their own way. And the intowners are responsible for their own dinner. The City will pick up the tab for the few State or Federal Elected officials. He also stated that all other cities pick up the tab for their Mayors, Commisioners.
According the NT, the bill will be picked up for all the Peru aldermen also. Ald. Mayszak has indicated she wishes to pay her own bill and I do expect to hear the same from Ald. Perez.
The dinner is one price and all guests, mayors and everyone that attends pays their own bar bill. That is how the Mayor Association meetings operate. Mayor Harl stated that he wants other city officials to attend because its in Peru. How many attend and who attends? If they have to pay for their bar bill or for the girlfriend, I doubt many will attend. Do the City employees on the invite list get to clock in for overtime?
Lois,"Yes"... If Marsha and I attend we will pay for our own meal. I will say...I have attended two other dinners over the past year and find this sort of networking very beneficial, hearing what other municipalities are doing, and sharing ideas is very proactive and healthy for productive leadership. I commend Alderman Mayszak for making a 25.00 donation towards the pool fund to justify the meal, in my opinion that should have been sufficient through the tax payer's eyes, for the fact this is not just a dinner it is a networking, and educational tool used to our advantage. However, Alderman Mayszak went above that due to other views and concerns, So "Kudos to her"!!
With that said.. My view on this was simple; Over the past year when Peru Officials attended we paid our own tab. As an elected official my choice is to continue that practice. If I was an employee i would expect different. but I need to answer to the people. We are slowly moving forward with a bright positive fiscal future ahead, Which gives us more of a reason to watch the nickles and dimes because we all know how Murphy works.
We have a bright positive fiscal future ahead. Thats funny! We are slowly moving ahead. Very slowly! No disrespect to alderman Perez, he is doing a good job. I found those comments funny and got a good laugh
Lois, The 2nd Ward is in the process of scheduling another ward meeting for the end of March. As always we will open this up in hopes of our fellow aldermen and other city leaders join us to make it a welcoming invitation for citizens from all wards to come in to ask questions. and hear just how the "Fiscal Future" :-) looks.
Budget Director- Gary Hylla would gladly attend this meeting to go over our next fiscal year budget and answer any questions.
Details of our ward meeting will be announced at next Wednesday's Council Meeting.
Networking could also be making a politician a better and bigger crook. Why don't politicians do more research on their own instead of expecting every thing to be spoon fed to them. Nowhere else can someone enter the management of a multimillion dollar corporation without-working their way up besides politics. This and many other unresolved issues truly show the urgent need for a city manager.
The more I read about the CITY OF PERU and its politics the more I understand why the group which sponsored the sled pull with dogs choose Peru as its desired site.
Ald. Rod, I am glad that you do place comments on the blog. I find your reasoning and validation on the Mayor's dinner insighful. Its OK for the city to pick up employees and employee spouses dinner cost? As if the salary and wages are not enough, we now pay them for eating dinner. Please let Lois advise you prior to any more random thoughts. We are sure you will fip on the issue 3 or 4 times like most other issues!
I would like to run for city council in the 3rd ward. Would I be able to have City Hall to have a rally or just a open forum to answer questions from residents? And whatever happened to residents going to City meetings to voice concerns. Your ward meetings amount to nothing but self promotion. Mayor Harl always welcomes comments or suggestions. I went to one of those ward meetings and we got "I du don't know". Don't waste the city electricity with the stage act.
I also went to one of the second ward Saturday get togethers and it was great, everyone was considerate and pleasant and answered our questions or said they would get the answers. In fact we all stayed afterward to discuss more of the topics. We all wished that all aldermen would establish forums for their constituents. On the other side of the coin, I do not find the Mayor very receptive to citizen comments at all and seems to like reminding them they only have 3 minutes if they get any time at all.
3:18 Im sorry you feel that way about networking. I have buildt three successful business throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. If it wasn't for networking my business would not be where it is today. I've spent the first year networking me and my business by attending seminars, social events including political campaigns. I have met many politicians along the social networking path, while marrying one of them. Happily married to the same man for 18 years now.I have to disagree with your Networking comments for the fact it's obvious you are not in the loop of social networking. Whether it be a corporate network, or political network there are many opinions and ideas, it's up to each individual to decide what they will take away with what they hear at social events. People need to get more involved in social networking, it has many benefits. From what I'm reading hear about this Mayor gathering would be interesting. I wish I was invited to go!!! Network Network Network!!
It's sure nice to see transparency in Peru.These types of meetings should be open to the full city and not just a certain geographic area. Are citizens from alderman Tony Ferari's ward allowed to attend this meeting or does he need to be there? If me and my husband do attend with questions about our neighborhood will they be answered or will we be told to contact our own aldermen? We would also like to know if there is arguing and cut downs there like there are at council meetings? We are not very political people but do have concerns. we have tried contacting both of our aldermen back in January but had no response from neither one.It is nice reading the paper without having to be at the council meetings when arguing is going on. On the other hand we are glad to read that there are some on that board willing to make changes.We live in a great city but have to agree some of them sure seem not to have our best interest at hand. Thank You to the two aldermen in the second ward for at least trying. We hope to meet you at the meeting. please keep us updated.
Alderman Rodney Perez. Good for you on stepping up to try and make a difference in our community,I don't agree with some of the things you bring up when I read the news tribune, as I tell others it has been a long time since anyone has stood up and fought for what they believe in on that council.I read some of these negative remarks about you my advice to you is not to let it bother you.As my father use to tell me as i was growing up was If I have people bad mouthing me or talking crap behind my back for what i felt was for doing the right thing it was because it made them look bad or it was pure jealosy and that is a fact. I don't always agree with you but because you are doing something that is worth backing you up. Keep doing what you are doing Kid. I sure hope other aldermen follow your lead on paying your own meal, they can afford it.
Anon 318 As an employee of Del Monte, if our managers want us to attend meetings trainings or luncheon conventions to listen to promoters they pay us or we don't go. You may have missed the point Rodney was putting across but then again it appears obvious you are narrow minded.
I hope Rodney comes on to correct me if I'm wrong. Elected council should be attending things like this to gather info from other towns, if it's held at a rest. then they should be wise and not use tax dollars. The difference i think Rodney was making was the separation of expectations from employee to an elected official. I didn't read it as Rodney saying the city should pay for city employees and spouses to attend that dinner. Are regular employees even invited to that?
Gerald- I agree!!! As a manager I have 12 employees I manage. A good employee is always looking for ways to change things for the better. Even though I may not implement everything that employee brings up I would Never criticize no matter how crazy something sounds because they are Doing Something. Great Point!!!
I think it's important for citizens to know that our ward meetings do have an open door. Anonymous 7:19 has concerns whether or not they can attend our meetings, I can't speak for alderman Mayszak but I'm sure she feels the same as i do when it comes to transparency.
Although we wouldn't step on our fellow alderman's toes by just advertising a city wide town forum meeting.. we extend an invite to our fellow aldermen in hopes of making these meetings bigger and more transparent. I'm sure there isn't an alderman in Peru that would mind if constituents within their ward attended one of our second ward meetings. After all, we are one city.
We have had a few of these ward meetings over the past year with constituents from other wards attending, In fact.. I believe we usually get more citizens from other wards attending then from the 2nd ward.
You and your husband are more than welcome to attend and if you have a certain concern that involves just your ward, we would pass it along.
All city employees should be invited not just the chosen few. I hope Ald. Perez or Mayskak will bring this to the next meeting. Include all committees like the infrastructure and volunteer firemen.
21 comments:
Click on this link if you want to read about this dinner and see the list of invited guests.
Click on this link to get more information about this group. Seems very vague. I wonder which town holds the check book in their hands? If this is an annual event does each town take a turn hosting it and picking up the tab? Wonder how much money is in the checking account.
Please listen to Mayor Harl. Nobody is getting the tab picked up. All of those out of towners pay their own way. And the intowners are responsible for their own dinner. The City will pick up the tab for the few State or Federal Elected officials. He also stated that all other cities pick up the tab for their Mayors, Commisioners.
11:20 AM
According the NT, the bill will be picked up for all the Peru aldermen also. Ald. Mayszak has indicated she wishes to pay her own bill and I do expect to hear the same from Ald. Perez.
The dinner is one price and all guests, mayors and everyone that attends pays their own bar bill. That is how the Mayor Association meetings operate. Mayor Harl stated that he wants other city officials to attend because its in Peru. How many attend and who attends? If they have to pay for their bar bill or for the girlfriend, I doubt many will attend. Do the City employees on the invite list get to clock in for overtime?
Lois,"Yes"... If Marsha and I attend we will pay for our own meal.
I will say...I have attended two other dinners over the past year and find this sort of networking very beneficial, hearing what other municipalities are doing, and sharing ideas is very proactive and healthy for productive leadership.
I commend Alderman Mayszak for making a 25.00 donation towards the pool fund to justify the meal, in my opinion that should have been sufficient through the tax payer's eyes, for the fact this is not just a dinner it is a networking, and educational tool used to our advantage.
However, Alderman Mayszak went above that due to other views and concerns, So "Kudos to her"!!
With that said.. My view on this was simple; Over the past year when Peru Officials attended we paid our own tab. As an elected official my choice is to continue that practice. If I was an employee i would expect different.
but I need to answer to the people.
We are slowly moving forward with a bright positive fiscal future ahead, Which gives us more of a reason to watch the nickles and dimes because we all know how Murphy works.
Thank You,
Rodney Perez
We have a bright positive fiscal future ahead. Thats funny! We are slowly moving ahead. Very slowly! No disrespect to alderman Perez, he is doing a good job. I found those comments funny and got a good laugh
Lois, The 2nd Ward is in the process of scheduling another ward meeting for the end of March. As always we will open this up in hopes of our fellow aldermen and other city leaders join us to make it a welcoming invitation for citizens from all wards to come in to ask questions. and hear just how the "Fiscal Future" :-) looks.
Budget Director- Gary Hylla would gladly attend this meeting to go over our next fiscal year budget and answer any questions.
Details of our ward meeting will be announced at next Wednesday's Council Meeting.
Thank you,
"Bright Fiscal Future Perez"
Networking could also be making a politician a better and bigger crook. Why don't politicians do more research on their own instead of expecting every thing to be spoon fed to them. Nowhere else can someone enter the management of a multimillion dollar corporation without-working their way up besides politics. This and many other unresolved issues truly show the urgent need for a city manager.
The more I read about the CITY
OF PERU and its politics the more I understand why the group which sponsored the sled pull with dogs choose Peru as its desired site.
Ald. Rod, I am glad that you do place comments on the blog. I find your reasoning and validation on the Mayor's dinner insighful. Its OK for the city to pick up employees and employee spouses dinner cost? As if the salary and wages are not enough, we now pay them for eating dinner. Please let Lois advise you prior to any more random thoughts. We are sure you will fip on the issue 3 or 4 times like most other issues!
I would like to run for city council in the 3rd ward. Would I be able to have City Hall to have a rally or just a open forum to answer questions from residents? And whatever happened to residents going to City meetings to voice concerns. Your ward meetings amount to nothing but self promotion. Mayor Harl always welcomes comments or suggestions. I went to one of those ward meetings and we got "I du don't know". Don't waste the city electricity with the stage act.
4:27 PM
I also went to one of the second ward Saturday get togethers and it was great, everyone was considerate and pleasant and answered our questions or said they would get the answers. In fact we all stayed afterward to discuss more of the topics. We all wished that all aldermen would establish forums for their constituents.
On the other side of the coin, I do not find the Mayor very receptive to citizen comments at all and seems to like reminding them they only have 3 minutes if they get any time at all.
3:18 Im sorry you feel that way about networking. I have buildt three successful business throughout Illinois and Wisconsin. If it wasn't for networking my business would not be where it is today. I've spent the first year networking me and my business by attending seminars, social events including political campaigns. I have met many politicians along the social networking path, while marrying one of them. Happily married to the same man for 18 years now.I have to disagree with your Networking comments for the fact it's obvious you are not in the loop of social networking. Whether it be a corporate network, or political network there are many opinions and ideas, it's up to each individual to decide what they will take away with what they hear at social events. People need to get more involved in social networking, it has many benefits. From what I'm reading hear about this Mayor gathering would be interesting. I wish I was invited to go!!! Network Network Network!!
It's sure nice to see transparency in Peru.These types of meetings should be open to the full city and not just a certain geographic area. Are citizens from alderman Tony Ferari's ward allowed to attend this meeting or does he need to be there?
If me and my husband do attend with questions about our neighborhood will they be answered or will we be told to contact our own aldermen?
We would also like to know if there is arguing and cut downs there like there are at council meetings? We are not very political people but do have concerns. we have tried contacting both of our aldermen back in January but had no response from neither one.It is nice reading the paper without having to be at the council meetings when arguing is going on. On the other hand we are glad to read that there are some on that board willing to make changes.We live in a great city but have to agree some of them sure seem not to have our best interest at hand. Thank You to the two aldermen in the second ward for at least trying. We hope to meet you at the meeting. please keep us updated.
Alderman Rodney Perez. Good for you on stepping up to try and make a difference in our community,I don't agree with some of the things you bring up when I read the news tribune, as I tell others it has been a long time since anyone has stood up and fought for what they believe in on that council.I read some of these negative remarks about you my advice to you is not to let it bother you.As my father use to tell me as i was growing up was If I have people bad mouthing me or talking crap behind my back for what i felt was for doing the right thing it was because it made them look bad or it was pure jealosy and that is a fact.
I don't always agree with you but because you are doing something that is worth backing you up. Keep doing what you are doing Kid.
I sure hope other aldermen follow your lead on paying your own meal, they can afford it.
Gerald
Anon 318
As an employee of Del Monte, if our managers want us to attend meetings trainings or luncheon conventions to listen to promoters they pay us or we don't go.
You may have missed the point Rodney was putting across but then again it appears obvious you are narrow minded.
I hope Rodney comes on to correct me if I'm wrong.
Elected council should be attending things like this to gather info from other towns, if it's held at a rest. then they should be wise and not use tax dollars.
The difference i think Rodney was making was the separation of expectations from employee to an elected official. I didn't read it as Rodney saying the city should pay for city employees and spouses to attend that dinner. Are regular employees even invited to that?
Gerald- I agree!!! As a manager I have 12 employees I manage. A good employee is always looking for ways to change things for the better. Even though I may not implement everything that employee brings up I would Never criticize no matter how crazy something sounds because they are Doing Something.
Great Point!!!
Lois,
I think it's important for citizens to know that our ward meetings do have an open door. Anonymous 7:19 has concerns whether or not they can attend our meetings, I can't speak for alderman Mayszak but I'm sure she feels the same as i do when it comes to transparency.
Although we wouldn't step on our fellow alderman's toes by just advertising a city wide town forum meeting.. we extend an invite to our fellow aldermen in hopes of making these meetings bigger and more transparent. I'm sure there isn't an alderman in Peru that would mind if constituents within their ward attended one of our second ward meetings. After all, we are one city.
We have had a few of these ward meetings over the past year with constituents from other wards attending, In fact.. I believe we usually get more citizens from other wards attending then from the 2nd ward.
You and your husband are more than welcome to attend and if you have a certain concern that involves just your ward, we would pass it along.
Thank You!
Rodney Perez
815-245-7566
Alderman Perez: My husband and I thank you and Alderwoman Mayszak for your response and invite. We will be watching for a date and time.
Sincerely
Mrs. L
All city employees should be invited not just the chosen few. I hope Ald. Perez or Mayskak will bring this to the next meeting. Include all committees like the infrastructure and volunteer firemen.
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