Tonight Alderman Perez and Alderman Mayszak protested that they didn't feel they could vote on the proposed ordinances read by Attorney Schwiekert because they did not have any of the information to study before hand. In other words this city is so inefficient, that we do NOT give our aldermen the necessary information to make informed decisions before they vote. This seems to occur frequently at Peru City Council Meetings and it is frequently brought up by one or more aldermen that they do not know anything about the proposed ordinance so how could they vote on it with information not given to them.
I SUGGEST THE CITY OF PERU ENACT AN ORDINANCE THAT THEY WILL ALWAYS GIVE THE ALDERMEN THE NECESSARY INFORMATION BEFORE THE MEETING ( at least several days) so they can make informed voting decisions.
Every alderman is not on every committee, so please show them some consideration and give them the information. This is such a no brainer that I can't believe it keeps happening meeting after meeting. It is so easy to miss one word when listening to a proposed ordinance, that we should never expect our aldermen to make decisions on the spot.
It is bad enough that the city will NOT allow any citizen to read a proposed ordinance until 5 days after it has been passed by the council but they don't even want the people representing us to know either it seems.
Thank you Aldermen Mayszak and Perez for standing your ground and standing up for common sense and actually for the people in Peru.
17 comments:
Why wouldn't they give that to them when they are given the agenda?
Peru politics is the biggest joke in the area !
One way to get copies of proposed ordinance would be to file an foia request requesting copies of all emails, ordinances, PROPOSED ordinance, and all supporting documents and communication regarding a specific topic. You could specify a date range, say for the next sixty days. That would not be an undue burden on the city and you could check in by email every couple days.
I do not believe most ordinance or proposed ordinance would be excluded under foia. One way to find out I guess. It might be more efficient for the AG to set up a satellite office here in the valley, maybe in the Old westclox building.
Was recording meetings brought up? or was it pushed under the rug? I can't make meetings but would love to watch this circus on the computer, or TV
10:45 PM
Yes Alderman Perez brought up the subject and said he had asked for it to be placed on the agenda and it was not done. He had contacted a gentleman from Connecting Point who was at the meeting. Ald. Perez said during the first public comment that he would like a little time for the individual to give a brief explanation. Now keep in mind that the city does a lot of business with Connecting Point and in fact they are currently redoing our city web site.
The answer from the Mayor to the Connecting Point representative. "you have 3 minutes"
I don't know if the individual exceeded that time allotment or not but I was stunned that Mayor Harl was what I consider rude to a local business. Of course the businesses from 38th and Venture Drive didn't fair much better.
10:45 PM
To have the meeting streamed into our computers, it would be the cost of a camera, about 2300 and an increase in our payment to them of 19.95 per year.
Comcast will be at the meeting in 2 weeks to present their options.
I mentioned making proposed ordinances available to the public and allowing public comment before the vote quite some time ago. Both the Mayor and the Attorney thought it was a bad idea. Then... in the same meeting, during public comment, it was discovered that they just passed an ordinance that made a reputable second hand store illeagal. They had to send the ordinance back to the lawyer to be corrected.
Streaming will not occur until individuals bring their phone cameras and iPods and begin posting. At the least there should be an audio podcast. It is absolutely legal and can be posted to the Internet. Sending a simple press release stating the web address where citizens can access the vlog or podcast , or posting the web address in the opinion section of the paper, would be the next step. It can be edited and condensed so the average person would only see the juicy stuff, and would increase web traffic to this blog if it posted here.
The old guard would not want this to happen and would move quickly to webcast the entire meetings. They will try to delay this until the elections are over, with studies and debate. There is no better equalizer to a large war chest of incumbents than showing them in action.
Lois-- $2,300.00 and a $19.00 increase per year? is the 2,300.00 a one time charge purchase for the equipment? If this is all then why hasn't the city done this years ago? The city Pi$$e$ away more than that in frivoulous dinner ventures to Chicago every year. I can't imagine comcast being any cheaper than this. Let's get moving!!!
Thank you to alderman perez
I guess the question would be how do you watch the feed from Comcast if you have satellite?
Lois
what if you have internet and don't have comcast ? If you have one or the other your still on the outside looking in !
Does every resident have to pay a fee to watch them perform on TV?
You have to get it on cable. Without cable its useless for most.
Their is nothing on here about closeing off the fifth street from harrisonn west . let me guess they approved it ? right ? another city gimme !
Just a couple of years ago, under the term of this administration, the city council format of a informal meeting on Wednesday in which all business was to be discussed but no vote could be taken was changed. Previously the following Monday meeting, designated as a formal meeting, after the Wednesday discussion, the subject could be voted upon. This procedure allowed five complete days for aldermen to study, discuss, make contact with constituents etc. before they legally could vote.
The now existing procedure is to no longer conduct informal meetings but rather to have every meetings formal so that voting can take place at all meetings
Since the updated arrangement of all formal meetings vs. informal-formal meetings has become a issue because not all aldermen are receiving information in their packets which they are voting upon this ordinance should be revisited. This incidentally is not the first occurrence of insufficient information being handed out to councilmen.
Presently it appears that the informal-formal procedure is much more efficient so that ALL who have the interest and willing to fulfill the responsibility of a dedicated aldermen can make informed voting decisions.
It also enables the city administration a time frame to do their homework and to discuss legalities before a vote is taken.
Without cable its a waste of time
Of course they approved it for LAGrottos. And Lukosus and Harl will be there in the front mooching whatever they can as usual. Peru is a joke. I guess LaGrottos campaign donation to Harl was cash under the table since it wasn't listed on Perupages list.
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