Is what we saw tonight at the city council meeting the new standard for a meeting? First Ald. Ankiewicz attempted to table the awarding of the fireworks bid to Extreme Pyrotechnics. Here it is January and this should have been settled in October but the alderman as has been previously explained kept finding reasons why it should not be awarded to them. He wants the bid given to Melrose and my question is "why" does he have such a personal interest in this contract? What has he to gain when Melrose gets the contract and the other companies all lose? This looked and smelled so bad that all of his fellow aldermen voted to grant the contract to Extreme Pyrotechnics. Why would you deliberately make yourself look so foolish?
Operation Promise may not survive the Peru City Council.. I understand that Ald. Perez who is the education officer for the Peru Fire Dept. and does not belong to Liberty Fire which is an independent fund raising group does not want the OP money handled by Liberty.. I don't believe he is the only one in the department not a member of Liberty.. There has been bad blood between Liberty and some of the firemen for years and for Ald. Perez to hand over the donations to Bob Ankiewicz Jr from Liberty Fire is not a comfortable situation and some of us understand that but the city council and particularly the Finance Committee does not.. Ald. Radtke a finance committee member has already announced he will not support the city having anything to do financially with OP and I believe that Ald. Potthoff feels the same way but did not expressly say he did not want it going back to finance. Ankiewicz Jr made a presentation tonight at the meeting that Liberty would gladly handle the funds. Ald Mayszak wanted to know what was the difference of the city handling money for the Peru Pool Fund or handling some money for the Peru Fire Department. This will all be sent somewhere perhaps to the department head Chief King.
Mayor Harl announced his choice of Simon Kempworth and Steve Michelini for the positions on the Peru Recreation Board and simply said he can only appoint 2 people. Mr Michelini in my opinion has definite conflict of interest in serving on the Recreation Board but I guess he is the only one the mayor was able to persuade to put in his name so he did not have to appoint Marsha Perez.
16 comments:
To: Lois
From: Rodney Perez
This evening we heard every council member and our mayor voice up and say they support Operation Prom-ise. It's clear to those who follow City of Peru politics that theirs more to the story, and there is, however, I will not go there.
The full council and mayor agrees, this is a city supported event. If so, and our officials support it, then they must be willing either to accept the donations or fund the $9- $11,000.00 it costs to put on the production, and the community event.
I'm willing to compromise with the council and Liberty Company....Liberty Company must commit to raising the donations, and funding the full event; I will then accept the offer as long as the City Finance Committee agrees to fund whatever Liberty can not raise.
Thanks,
Rodney Perez
I can see the campaign signs now...vote for Radtke I support drunks...sherry should have a field day against him in the 2nd ward, I will not vote for people that have personal agendas and that is what Radtke has a personal agenda against Rodney. Radtke owes a apology to the teenagers of this city. Peru fire dept is the city of Peru and that's that ...liberty fire company is a fundraising entity to avoid going to city council for certain approvals...transparency anyone? Just like the scavenger contract this stinks why does everything that Harl is involved in stink like trash.
And there is no conflict of interest with Marsha Perez?
Marsha has no financial conflict, where Steve M. a business owner does. That to me is the big difference in the two individuals. Simon has proven himself as a quality school board member, and a state school board member for quite some time. He should be a valuable asset to the committee.
I do not believe conflict of interest is a relevant argument. Diversity of opinion, alternate views... That is what is needed on such an odd and powerful unelected group. You should cry out for checks and balances. Marsha Perez should have been a no brainer for Harl to support. He could have shown compromise and inclusion, not continued to entrench. His power would have remained, but the campaign talking point and pickleball firestorm could have been deflected from him.
Steve M is a horrible choice because he is too intimately connected to the administration. It is not his fault, but he would find himself deciding too often on events that would require his business services. That goes beyond conflict of interest and borders on malfeasance.
Radtke just wouldn't shut up last nite about not wanting the city to run operation prom. What is he scared he might be asked to volunteer or is the extra line item too much for him to manage. City servants are suppose to support anything to set our kids in the right direction. Its funny how he kept looking to Hurl and Putthof for a smile and a thumbs up everytime he interuppted Rodney saying he doesn't support it. I guess when you are in an election you can't lose you can be a jerk to everyone and have no conciquences.
Just had a call from a Peru fireman friend of mine who read Rods above post. Seems that the support from Liberty to help Rod is un-true and they will not help raise donations for promise. My question to him was, what kind of fundraising organization are they? I guess we shall find out soon.
It seems to me that there is a whole lot of things going on behind the scenes in this town. What happened to the promise of an "open and honest government" that would seek public input. I guess promises are only made at election time but never fulfilled when put into office. Be ware of this new candidates will campaigning. Do not make promises you don't intend to keep or at least try to keep. We've been fooled once - not again.
With Liberty's questionable fundraising tactics and controversy in the past why would the city want them to take over a city sponsored program to handle, raise, and spend donations ? Just not right.
@12:56 Because they don't support it and would rather have a group of incompetent, inexperienced drunks manage it. I'm sure a group that doesn't lead by example managing that program would be a slap in the face to Alderman Perez. My son bartended at one of Liberty Fire hang outs. My son was over last night and laughed while reading the paper saying these firemen are always in bars drinking then driving. Not only drinking and driving, but evidently going to fires looped up. Perhaps that is the reason the Alderman doesn't want it being moved to an organization that does the opposit of what that program does? Just food for thought.
KUDOS 9:17. Came right from the horses mouth- nice that your son was honest with you! Where is Fire Chief Jeff King is all if this. He should be coming up to the plate. Wasn't he President of Liberty Fire Company prior to fire chief? It sounds that department nerds a total over haul. Isn't the city overseeing that department? Shameful that some Liberty members don't support OP, as per above blog. WHAT THE HECK IS REALLY GOING ON HERE?
Seems to be alot of turmoil here. "Brotherhood" at it's finest. Shouldn't everybody be supporting Operation Promise and Alderman Perez to find a reasonable solution here. Unbelievable what a bartender told a blogger above and also unbelievable what a Peru Fireman said to a blogger above. Can the city see that there seems to be major issues here? Wake up Mayor Harl and all alderman. Go back to the last couple of years and read blogs pertaining to Liberty Fire Company and the Peru Fire Department and refresh your memory. Alderman Perez shouldn't be a one man band here.
It's definitely a personal vendetta against Perez because some of the other alderman are mad at him. Why is it ok for the new BB gun club donations to be handled thru the police dept, but OP can't be handled thru the fire dept, not Liberty, but the fire dept which is a dept of the city of Peru just like the police dept??? They can cry "the auditors said so", but that is BS, it's personal because its Perez' program.
If a newsgroup did a study on drinking and driving from Peru bars, they would see why citations are at lower levels. The police department wants our citizens armed with Bushmasters and able to drink and drive. Just keep them bad "drugs" out of here, from the big city.
Till we get drunks out of office, drunks will be tolerated behind the wheel.
More than the majority of the city's police department personnel are professional examples to our community. In my opinion EVERY officer should be an example. We all know the saying- Police Officers are Police Officers 24-7
It takes only one officer from a department to give the whole department a bruise. I understand that everyone needs to have a life and enjoy themselves, but when off duty police officers, especially ranked officers are posted all over social media web sights Displaying photos of themselves intoxicated in public and making sexual remarks in public is not setting a positive example to the young people and adults who have access to seeing this. They are to be role models of our community. These same officers I've witnessed leave a bar after drinking and getting behind the wheel on a regular basis. I have made a phone call to their chief and obviously nothing changed because they still do it.
How can these officers write DUI's when they're out doing the same. I would imagine these officers aren't writing DUI's. I have an idea, maybe these officers should spend more time drinking pop at bars like Too Fools and Storages along with others that are serving minors every night. This has also been reported and nothing done there neither. IL. Valley has a serious problem setting the example of doing what's right for our Valley. This current battle we're reading here and in the news with Perez and his program is a clear example of towns like Peru turning a blind eye and seeing No evil.
Anon 7:17 Well stated. I can name at least 2 Police officers from both LaSalle and Peru who act In that manner. Not good examples. Can't see why their Chiefs don't put a stop to that public behavior.
Post a Comment