I reported the Superintendent of Electric Dept for the City of Peru several times in the past 4 months for illegally using the city owned vehicle for his personal use and using it when he is not working . Back in February or so the day after Jewel announced it was closing due to slow sales I saw “ The Super” in LaSalle shopping at a supermarket while on the clock and in the city vehicle . I reported this to the City Clerks office and they told me he was allowed to use the truck as he wishes . I said this is wasting taxpayer money . She said the mayor allows his Department heads to use their vehicles as they wish . I left a voice mail for the mayor about my disgust and it was never returned . Over the next few months I watched “the Super” waste our tax dollars all day long and reported and took pictures . I spoke with several council members about the waste of our tax dollars and was told almost the same exact thing by each of them , “ the mayor said that he appoints the department heads and he is in charge of them and no council member is going to tell them what to do , so drop it and mind your own business “ . Even after I took pictures and put them on a disk of “the super” using the city truck to pull a privately owned trailer and haul stuff away with the city truck on the clock from his dads house , the mayor did nothing and said nothing .
I thought our system of government was run by the council and the mayor ? Why do we elect council members if they are constantly told they have no say in anything . Our mayor is not a King ! I expect to talk to my council members with my problems and they can help me and get things solved . Not having a voice is not the proper way to have a government . Why should we attend council meetings or ask questions when we get nothing solved or answered .
I’ve been trying to get my alley vacated for 11 years now . It was supposed to be done back in 2001 but they only vacated a small portion of it because the city attorney and building inspector didn’t read the petition right and did it illegally and now refuse to fix their mistake without someone paying the almighty dollar . The funny part is the guy that did the petition never paid any fees . But now the rest of us are suppose to pay . The building Inspector said he doesn’t know if he paid fees because and I quote “ we (peru) never kept records of fees paid until 2005 so I have no idea how much he paid if he paid anything .)” What a joke !
So Saturday the 19th of May at 8:25 am I witnessed “the super” using the city truck again loading broken sheets of drywall or plywood in the back and I called the police and filed a report for him stealing from the city . I was told by the police that he has permission to use the vehicle as he wishes and the mayor said that was okay . I said I as a taxpayer don’t agree and wish to have a report made . He said okay he will make a report . I came back a short time later and he was gone . The mayor got a call while he was in his office about what was going on . He called “the Super” and asked what he was doing and the mayor was told he was picking up rags that he was donating to the city . I don’t know how old the rags were but the must’ve been pretty old because they were shaped like plywood chunks and stiff as a board.
So at the council meeting I was going to mention this to the council in the public comment section but “the super” was absent so I didn’t discuss it without him there . And apparently they were ready for me to speak but I didn’t .
So low and behold who makes a surprise visit to my house the very next day (5/22/12) But the building inspector under direction of our beloved mayor , snooping around looking for violations . I received a business card with some chicken scratch on it that said I have 10 days to remove my illegally stacked twigs and rocks behind my fence . 1st off the twigs were stacked there by my neighbor “the super’s” dad , and 2nd the rocks are for whenever the alley is vacated for my landscaping . I was told it was” illegally stored building materials “. The building inspector never noticed the “illegally stored building Materials” kept behind the super’s dads garage or the other neighbor with the 3 foot tall grass or the stacks of building materials there .
I told the inspector that I wasn’t going to be bullied by the mayor or him . That was when he said those orders came from the mayor . What a town we live in that you get bullied and singled out because you stand up against corruption . My father was a police officer in this town for almost 30 years and wouldn’t stand for the corruption and fought it whenever he could and im the same way .
If the mayor cant stand up and discipline his department heads or control them than he does not deserve to be in that spot . These superintendents and building inspector don’t deserve city vehicle to use as they wish . Money is tight . They need to drive there own vehicle to work and then use a city vehicle . They are NOT emergency responders and DO NOT come out on call outs or to emergency scenes . This is a waste of taxpayers money and needs to be stopped . A Council members needs to bring this up for discussion and stand up to the mayor . Save our money !
Oh and a little retaliation is because I announced I will run for Mayor of Peru that Saturday. This “Change” we were promised just isn’t working . We need this stuff fixed !
72 comments:
Think of the money we could save without city vehicles for the 2 supers and building inspector. That would make a great pool fund!
Don't back down Tom!
We need someone to fix this!
WOW !!!
WHAT A JOKE OUR CITY GOVERNMENT IS. !!!
GET RID OF HARL !!!
Wow is an understatement!
Get rid of the whole bunch including that worthless Taylor!
Illegal building materials ? So what you can't remodel or fix up your own yard now?
Taylor doesn't have any authority, he's an overpaid little man that doesn't even know the dimensions of a 2x4 let alone know what one is used for!
Is it ok for a firefighter to plow his drive with city equip? Oh wait I forgot Perez is Riordans pal..
I agree with Tom's statement about our form of government 100%. We elect a mayor and 8 aldermen and they constantly tell us they don't have the authority or right to override a committee decision. Or, the aldermen tell you that that's a mayor decision and he won't do anything about it. Well, if our council won't do anything who will? And, he's also right when he states that if you bring something to their attention they label you a complainer. Instead of fixing what's wrong with this city they would rather close their eyes and avoid listening.
The insanity continues! A person running for Mayor to pay back those who he feels have slighted him. The fire chief told him to do his job and now he's mad. The building inspector told him to clean up his junk, and now he's mad. And the Mayor told him his claims are whinning, and now he's mad. Please lets get serious and stop this childish discussion. The only bully in this equation is the guy following around the SUPERS to the grocery store. And anybody who trashes their public safety boss and fellow brothers while fighting fires or in the line of public safety? Tom, your doing Mayor Harl a favor by running for Office. Now hes automatic! Run for City Council or maybe Town Crier.
Say it isn't so Perez and Riordan in 2013!
9:28 Ths City of Peru is crying for the Change Harl promised. We need a mayor that will hold those supervisors accountable. They need to be replaced with supervisors that care. Riordan may sound like he's a trouble maker for calling Out the corruption then Peru needs a cry baby to run this city.
Riordan for Mayor!!!
I BEEN COMPLAINING ABOUT THIS SAME ABUSE OF CITY EQUIPMENT FOR MONTHS ! THE CITY HIRED A RETIRED IDOT PERSON TO CUTE GRASS FOR THE CITY ! WHATS WRONG WITH THIS ? SOME KID COULD DO THAT ! THE WORST THING IS THIS EMPLOEE TAKES A CITY TRUCK HOME FOR LUNCH OR A CITY MOWER ! ACROUSE HE'S A FRIEND OF A CITY DEPARTMENT HEAD SO I GUESS THATS WHY . I'D POST PICTURES IF I WAS ABLE TOO . MY WIFE WON'T LET ME GO TO CITY MEETINGS BECAUSE SHE SAYS I'LL END UP IN JAIL ! SHE'S PROBLY RIGHT . SO LETS VOTE ALL THE PEOPLE OUTA OFFICE !
@9:28. You must be a Peru fireman
@9:28
It sounds like he did his job by protecting his tax dollars!
I think the fire department personalities have taken over the this blog site. Most discussions either start or end about the never ending story of our City Fire Departments. A greater percentage are those patting themselves on the back for their service. Most of the topics are centered or self centered on two firemen. Could it be possible that the two firefighters are self promoters who can't quite grow up and understand that the world that all of us live in really doesn't revolve around them.
geez i thought spring valley was messed up but peru could have its own soap opera, the main attraction could be the fire department and the side show could be the council chambers
i dont much about this riordon guy but i can say in his defense i have also sent things to the open forum on my town,ladd, about the same sort of corruption the council, not the city employees, does and it never gets printed. i think the news trib is on the payroll of certain council memebers. just like most town nobody knows about the village's careless spending, buying empty lots in town to help a friend, buying church property just because, wasting thousands on x-mas lights yearly, giving part time employees full time benefits then crying broke. and the few council members that do it think their s**t doesnt stink and the sit at torries every friday morning and talk village business illegally. ladd needs someone like this riordon guy to run for mayor and get the current mayor and his cronies out of office!!!!!
Harl duped us all!
Every town has its problems. Its people like this that try to make a difference they are all scared of.
Does Peru allow 19-20 year olds to drink alcohol in bars in the city. I heard that this has happened. That a department head in Peru had his child who was not of legal age in bar and allowed child to be served. Also other members of that department were present and were drinking also. And the mayor received a letter in regards to this illegal activity. Why wasn't the department head held accountable? If anybody reads this and knows this to be true. Blog. Lastly, I do believe that the Peru Fire Department (Rodney), puts alot of time into operation promise. And I bet everybody is wondering which department! Not hard to figure out! WRONG WRONG!
@9:28. Did you ever consider that as a mayor, that the mayor doesn't want to admit to making some bad decisions for fear it may hurt him in his re-election. Nothing is wrong or illegal with what Tom's actions were and are. Why would anybody bring up issues and concerns without being able
to back them up. And I do believe that what Tom has brought to the attention of to city official, council, and
Department heads has validity. Many others have backed
up the Riordans's accusations as far as how things are run in this city. Just seems that some fireman are not happy that pandora's box was opened and remember not singlely by the Riordan but many other
Fireman.
I appreciate the fact that a responsible reporter or newspaper would not publish hearsay or personal vindictive attacks on individuals. Its quite obvious that this is the case with this situation. Maybe it makes more sense to advertise your griefs in the local coffee shop or even the weekly city hall meetings. Of course you might not get the self promotion that you and your partner thrive on.
@10:03
Is everyone supposed to sit back and let the city waste our money and do what they want? If more people stood up and spoke maybe our country, state and towns wouldn't be in so bad shape
11:18 Accusations about some 18-19 year old! And department heads in illegal activity? You have got to be kidding and others backing up the self promotion team? What you have is basically a firemen that wasn't corrected enough as a child and now is upset with his boss. Maybe the country wouldn't be in such bad shape if we had a few more grownups that actually took responsibility for themselves. Chasing around kids at parties or crying fowl anytime your boss says shape up.
Peru fireman's wife says
Tom and King get along, its the few older guys that need to retire that won't let things rest. That's how they are.
Lets get the facts. Is this house that the building inspector cited for junk yours or moms? Did you actually bring this up at the city public meeting or just think about it? Did you request this alley vacation and the city has no payment record? Maybe you could provide us readers with a copy of this payment? You got bullied? And what did you get bullied about? You did say Bullied. You have disagreemnets with the Mayor. Have you actually went face to face with him to discuss or just take the role of writing on blog sites and hoping the newspaper will cover your pathetic quest for publicity. You want a city vehicle or what do you believe you are entitled to? You won't get much sympathy from us retired workers or those of us who thought working in public safety is a honor.
Ya I'm pretty sure he doesn't plow his driveway with the city truck since he owns a snow plow. Which by the way he usually plows the fire department with his personal truck.
Anon 11:58 Could not agree with you any more than if you were the Pope. I hope you don't mind my adding to your comment that Tom is a person who has tried to speak up for what he believes but this administration has reduced public comment to a form of expression that is not acknowledged or does not deserve a answer. Public comment has its own set of rules for each individual commenting depending on the viewpoint of the citizen speaking and who they happen to be in political importance.
Some get to comment at the beginning of the council meeting for their convenience. Others have to wait to comment at the end of the meeting. Some have a time limitation forced upon them others get to speak endlessly. A few that comment get a response others deer eyes in the headlights with a blank stare, and than they hear any other comments Meeting Adjourned!
Tom Reardon deserves and has the respect of a lot of Peru citizens for standing on his own two feet and doing the right thing. THE AMERICAN THING, WAY TO GO TOM.
I wish our city bosses would tell our employees to shape up and do the jobs they're supposed to be doing instead of looking the other way.
11:58 Talk about wasting money. Is this the same group that wants to make sure all public education is paid and on call? Is this the same group of 1-2 that needs to be paid to attend Christmas programs and parades? Employees using city trucks for personal errands should not be allowed. Or at least they should pay taxes.
2:02 PM
I can only speak from what little I know about this situation. Tom does NOT expect a city vehicle. I know definitely that he initially went to the mayor of Peru and got no answer.
The Peru Fire dept bldg has stood on the corner of 5th and West for a long time and as far as I know the little decorative flower bed has always been there and taken care of. I want to know why this is the first year it has been neglected until it got so bad that Ald. Mayszak personally came down and took care of it. Who took it upon themselves to keep it looking good before this year? Is the PFD responsible for keeping their property looking good.
Tell me who is responsible?
I'll speak for myself.. Thank You very much!!
Regardless where we work or which organization we belong to there will always be times of conflict or discontent amongst individuals, which eventually passes after being discussed and worked out.
Point being.. No job, group,nor supervisor is perfect.
I'm proud to be a Peru Fire Fighter and have no doubt some individuals would like to divide us by posting criticism of our department in one sentence, then posting as if I'm the lone ranger, doing it all in the next sentence. Those bloggers know their intent by taking that approach.
Some... Have an agenda to blog as if the FD is in complete chaos. "We are no different than any other FD."
I'm proud doing what I do and will continue doing it.
Thank you!
Proud Peru Firefighter
Rodney Perez
So planting flowers makes you more responsible? Maybe he should start by cleaning up the junkyard that he lives in. He wastes city money and time. He complains about what everybody does wrong but the second somebody complains about him. All he can do is point his fingure at somebody else and tell us how he is getting picked on. He had the inspector at his door and instead of listening, he decided to degrade the inspector. You want him to run your city? He can't even follow the rules!!!
I asked who had the responsibility of keeping the corner looking decent and you degrade my comment? Excuse me I asked for an answer about the corner and you take off on a rampage about Tom, what's up? What's the connection?
If you have questions about why he did what, I suggest you go to the source and ask Tom and not vent here. Did I hit a sore spot or what? Come back with your answer to my question.
I don't know what you guys are reading but this has no mention of the fire dept. Its a citizen trying to find answers from his elected officials and getting nowhere. So you attack where he lives. Have you seen his house. Looks neat and tity to me. Always was. This is deliberate payback for speaking your mind.
Ill vote for anyone with a backbone!
Good point Lois. if the flower bed is neglected than what other items are not being taken care of. The comment that was made that we are no different than other fire departments makes you wonder about how many other fire departments is he comparing? If your so proud to be a firefighter, than clean up your corner. You probably would get your photo in the news, and more than likely that you would send it in.
Who is responsible Lois? I thought we had a volunteer fire dept to help us in the community with emergency situations. Not to plant flowers! Isn't that what we have a greenhouse and Watts for?
I heard that the flowers at the greenhouse all died from lack of the proper care and we had to purchase a few? Did we hang any baskets in the downtown this year?
Where is our leadership? It seems as though we have questions and problems in many aspects of our government but no one seems to want to listen. This many comments, this many questions is telling me we have a major leadership problem and a major lack of communication between our mayor, our aldermen, and the citizens of Peru. Why do you have to be somebody or have a connection somewhere before you can get someone to listen? 3 years later and many of us are still waiting for the "change" we were promised.
@4:17 ... alot of us agree with you!
I just hope we all vote for another "change" next year whoever it may be as long as its not Harl!
@3:08 ...
How exactly does Tom waste City time and money?
Please explain how?
East Coast Firefighter says,
It was the Riordan's that always did everything down there. And they never asked for anything in return. EVER !!!
You can try to bash them all you want but you won't ruin their spirits or the cause they fight for.
Fight strong and stay safe brothers!
Signed
Another Riordan Firefighting Family
3:08
yes please explain how and where tom wastes city time and money
Flower baskets are hanging downtown. Just noticed them tonight.
FLOWER BASKETS--ANOTHER WASTE OF MONEY! MOST PEOPLE DON'T EVEN NOTICE THEM.
Where did we buy the flower baskets from this year?
I think it is wrong to expect anyone to plant flowers in the city, except the horticulturist. Where is he. I have never seen the man plant one flower. one time I saw him standing over the summer help while they planted. I think thats the first place in the city to save money. Get rid of an useless horticultrist. He makes about $50,000 a year. When is he going to start doing something. I think the council knows he is not doing the job, any other place of employment, would fire him, at least 3 years ago. Come on council do your job.
The cso provides the flower baskets. Relax people, your tax dollars arent being wasted
Baskets look very nice, now I would like to know who has the responsibility of keeping them like that with frequent waterings.
1:56 Call your alderman if that's how you feel about someone on our payroll who we all know isn't doing his job. I'm willing to bet the answer that you'll get is that's not our job and we can't do it.
Tom roirdan for mayor? You have got to be kidding! What can he offer?!
Off topic. When is the ciy going to get that area west of Burger King cleaned up. That broken fencing,etc: is a real eyesore.
Anyone is better than Harl.
@5:27
The people that own that lot have a familiar last name so they are untouchable! Besides they are buddies with Harl and Taylor.
T0: 1:49 blogger (Firefighters wife), the two full times you referred to as not letting things go and who should retire. Those two are the two that Fire Chief King is very tight with. How long have you been a ff's wife? There is continually going to be problems with the Peru fire departments because it's chief shows favoritism and parties with a select few. Ask other honest fireman who no longer backers of king, if this is true.
The two that are King backers are and will always be backers of whoever is chief! I'm telling you that if Jerry Sandusky (or whatever his name is from Penn State) became chief in Peru, those two would be backers of that idiot! I'm not saying King is an idiot, just trying to make a point. Those two portrayed themselves to be supporters of the last several chiefs as well. They know how to work the game. When King is gone, they'll move on to the next poor soul.
9:28 AM
I think I have connected with your clue in that you are referring to our volunteer.
No Just sayin' they will back their chief no matter who he is because that is what a team member does- support their leader. If and when they have a problem with what is being done, they take it to that person, not a public forum hiding behind anonymous. It is awfully hard to solve a problem if it is never brought up to the person causing the problem. There are channels to go through if you have a grievance, be it against your boss, the fire chief, or the mayor.
Now, to those on here that are complaining about things in the department and aren't even on it EVEN THE WIVES you have NO business talking about the organization. As somebody said, wives want to defend their husbands. On a place like this, we aren't getting the whole story, especially with anonymous postings.
To those that are on the department, stop whining here grow up and DO SOMETHING IT. I understand you feel wronged and are upset but complaining here does not accomplish what you want it to. I personally know R.A., D.L., J.K., D.T., E.H., R.P., and the Riordans both past and present. Any one of these individuals will talk to you face to face to solve an issue.
Somebody earlier made a comment about needing a crybaby in office? I'm not really sure what they were going for, but I'll I thought was after reading this blog it seems like we have enough of those to deal with already. Come on bloggers, lets grow up a little bit and get back to the issues at hand!
Oh, and by the way, I am not hiding behind anonymous, I am Cassandra and I was born and raised in Peru. I can tell you about the last 29 years in emergency services in the Illinois Valley, but I won't do it on a public forum because I can only give you my side of the story and it is unlikely that anybody would get the whole picture. It is inappropriate and does nothing but create a negative appearance to any organization. Have a problem with a person, take it to the source. Don't slander another person's name because you feel slighted in some way- and this goes for both sides of this ridiculous family feud.
Case in point- we went from talking about a city supervisor and plants to the fire department. Really?
Cassandra again- I apologize for all of the typographical errors in my previous post. I was in a bit of a hurry.
Cassandra, we wives DO KNOW ALOT HOW THE FIRE DEPARTMENT IS RUN IN THE REAL WORLD AND AS TAXPAYERS WE HAVE RIGHTS TO BLOG. Of course some of us are not going to sign our name, for reasons of retaliation. I've been involved with FD probably longer than you have been alive. Without these blogs how is the taxpayers going to know issue, etc.. When everything is secret!!!!!! What if you applied to the FD to become a firefighter, and were not voted on department and your qualifications were no different than several fireman on department? That's would be an issue to blog publicly. Not hide it from community. Just one example. Anybody can put on a front to hide from reality.
@ 4:15- I apologize if it seems that I was saying you don't have a right to blog. I know fire fighters wives hear a lot about how the organization is run. However, they often don't get both sides of the story. Again, wives defend their husbands- there is nothing wrong with that. But unless and until you are actually a part of said organization, no it is not appropriate to slander its individuals or run a smear campaign because you don't have the whole story.
As for your issue mentioned above, I am sorry if you or your husband were passed over for a job that you were perfectly qualified for, but this is hardly an issue of corruption. People in all kinds of career paths are passed up for job opportunities when they are perfectly qualified. It's a matter of more than one person qualified for the same job opening. Unfortunately if 2 people apply for the same job, only one will get the job. That is not new in any profession and has happened to myself more than once, as I am sure it has happened to more than one reader here. Do we cry corruption when Walgreen's does not call us back because they found somebody else? No. All I can say is that maybe with the next opportunity, he will pass all tests and interviews from the state testing facility with flying colors and become another great addition to the fire department.
My point in posting still remains- if we are talking about issues, then let's talk about issues... not call people names because the plants died and we didn't get a job.
Cassandra
NEWS FLASH: OUR TAXPAYING MONEY IS PAYING OUR FIRE CHIEF'S SALARY. HE IS MIA AGAIN ON ANOTHER VACATION, Supposedly left
Wed 5/13 and will return Sun 5/17! A five dayer. Wow! Is this 4,5, or 6 since Jan. 1, 2012. And leaves all of us to wonder why all the issues with fire department. Is his door wide open to talk like he stated. UNBELIEVABLE. Peru needs a new fire chief that is I'm charge. Did chief king sign out on sheets saying he's gone?
Fire Chief Jeff King is coming back Sunday from his 5 day vacation. Another one! I understand at this coming Monday's council meeting the fire department is going to be recognized at meeting for last Saturday's fire. Hope newstribume is there to take picture for paper.
No kidding? Again? No wonder the Peru fire department has so many problems and issues. Good job Mayor Harl in your appointment. Is this really ok with you? Extremely mismanagement if a department.
What is so important about this fire? How many house fires have they(I) been on and never recognized by going to a city council meetingor even a letter.
They see it as good PR. Or they are going to ask for king to be full-time again. Lol
It's PR because of all the negativity and issues with the fire department. Mayor Harl probably wants picture in paper of recognition handing our plaques or certificates! And of course fire chief king planned another one of his trips around the Monday's meeting so he can be recognized and get picture maybe in paper and be back in town.
Full time chief position will never happen! Full-time fire departments chiefs have degrees(bachelors or masters) in fire science. Peru's fire chief absolutely does not have the qualifications. Firefighter I,II,III certifications is in no way close to a degree in fire science, it's classes to get each cert.
Are the fireman going to be paid by we taxpayers to attend Monday's council meeting to be recognized for the house fire? Don't they expect to be paid to attend events? And the meeting is an event.
NO ONE CAN RUN DOWN THE LAST PERU ADMINISTRATION AFTER YOU SEE THE LEADERSHIP APPOINTMENTS THAT THIS ONE HAS MADE. IT'S MORE FRIENDS AND UNION BUDDIES THAN EVER! IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOU KNOW, IT'S WHO YOU KNOW. WHAT A SHAME THE TAXPAYERS OF PERU HAVE TO PAY FOR THIS.
They were paid for the last time they came to ask for king to be a full-time chief. It was considered a training.
@10:03 No the firefighters where not paid to go to the meeting. They did it because they feel their leader works hard and deservers more than the beating that he recieves on this blog. The Peru Fire Dept. is a strong brotherhood built on a strong foundation. The people who think otherwise are wrong. You can think what you want about who I am.Truth is that you will never know. Beleive what you want but the Peru Fire Dept has and always will stand up for whats right and stick together. Happy Fathers Day to all of the firefighters who are fathers or fathers to be. Have an enjoyable and safe day!
Attend tomorrow's meeting and see what is so important about what the emergency responders did! Then stop and think about it and be happy that you have emergency responders that know their job and do it to the best of their ability.
@10:49. Look at facts over the past couple years. NO STAG. ALOT MORE FREE PICNICS (steaks.etc.) ON US TAXPAYERS. SEVERAL RESIGNATIONS OF TRUE VOLUNTEER FIREMAN WHO COULDN'T STAND WHAT THE DEPARTMENT BECAME, UNACCOUNTED MONIES IN SAFE (?), OTHER FIREMAN SIGNING IN OTHER FIREMAN FOR CALLS. SO THEY GET PAID, MANY MANY VACATIONS A YEAR FOR CHIEF (still gets paid by taxpayers) , VEHICLES FOR PERSONAL USE (to and from full-time job), BEING PAID TO STAND AT FIRE CALL WITH NECK BRACE, FIREMAN NOT SUSPENDED BY CHIEF FOR HITTING ANOTHER FIREMAN, DRINKING WITH PERSON AT BAR WHO ARE UNDERAGE, ETC... I GUESS THEY STAND UP TO WHAT THEY BELIEVE.
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