Just over a year has passed since the dramatic fire on New Years Eve 2011. We watched the flareups and hot spots as they continually popped up and our FD needed to be there again and again, sometimes for hours. And for the last year I have heard our aldermen ask how the cleanup was going. The questions was always directed to the mayor who would then ask Frank Taylor, our building inspector. The IEPA was supposedly monitoring the site for groundwater contamination and the owner was negotiating with the insurance company.
Every time the questions came up it was the same answer, everything is moving along and Mr Taylor would tell us that the insurance company was still in negotiations. Now the truth is coming forth and there is evidently NO insurance. Have we been told that by our city government? Well no but local and nearby news papers have stated NO INSURANCE. Somehow I feel the the residents of this city have been purposely misled by those that knew better. This was to be a transparent government - anybody remember those promises? Doesn't make me feel very good about the last election and the last 4 years.
The Mayor wants to know ahead of time by having us present a 3 x 5 inch card with our intended comments so there are no surprises at the council meetings. Now we the residents of Peru are getting a bigger surprise, we have been lied to for over a year by our city about those ugly piles of debris remaining behind the new fence along Route 6. Will the demolition of the Peru Power Plant on Water Street bring us more surprises?
36 comments:
Lois, we were all lied to 4 years ago. Everyone was taken for fools. Hopefully people will remember the promises that were not kept when it comes time to vote.
Lois - This has been known for quite some time. But, it does not seem to be important to the Harl Administration. I half-jokingly asked if there was going to be a line item on the budget to fund the cleanup. But – when the music finally stops it is going to be the City’s problem. We might as well face it and start planning for it. The first part of the plan should be to start setting money aside. We don’t want a repeat of the King’s Inn fiasco. My cynical side says that this will be a topic of discussion ten years from now.
Why not let La Salle annex Westclox? Problem solved.
I have an idea ! Let's use the hotel / motel tax to fund the cleanup. Oops ! We're already using that for the King's Inn.
Looks like we'll pretend it isn't there. Out of sight - Out of mind !
Lie on your 3x5 inch card!
Public comment is public comment. It's absolutely wrong to have to write your subject matter on a index card so it can be judged. Why is this? Because maybe some people won't like subject matter? Freedom of speech! If somebody wants to stand and speak in an appropriate manner they should be able to without having to fill out a card. Next thing is that taxpayers will have to take their shoes off when entering city hall. LOL (laugh out loud). It seems that the city doesn't like how the public has become involved over the last couple of years.
Why would the city have to assume the fiscal responsibility of the clean-up of the fire site?
This property should have been cleaned up long ago but since it hasn't been, immediate attention should be directed to doing so. Wouldn't the city administration, city attorney and/or assistant building inspector and even the budget director be themselves insured and bonded in relation to their own mistakes if they allowed a plastic recycle firm to be located in the city? Required bonding would make certain that a corporation had enough finances to rectify this occurence.
Whose department does this fall under? If you are in favor of a swimming pool or any other city improvement it appears that it has just been pushed back to a later time. Maybe Peru should pass another 1/2% retail sales tax for administrative mistakes!
Oh boy, Lie on your index card. My grandfather taught me to not lie because if you do it will come back to haunt you. And his advise was right on it! I guess you could lie on card and when it's your time to comment if you are interrupted because your card states differently than what your commenting on, apologize, pull another card from your hat and explain you accidentally turned in the wrong card. Explain that card you turned in was meant to be given at the next meeting. I guess you have to play the game. I'm just kidding. I don't care for the index card idea.
I have a close friend who's a friend of Scott Harl. Scott has told her that since the 3x5 cards and video recording, it has stopped the complainers from raising issues at their meetings.
4:23 That sounds about right -- Would't want any issues brought up at the meeting.
4:23 And that is exactly what he wants.
Anon 4:23 Scott Harl is correct in stating that the few who still attend city council meetings are not submitting complaints. It would also be correct to state that no one is submitting compliments.
For Scott Harl to campaign four years ago to have a open and transparent administration and presently make this comment to a close friend is very contrary to his orginal intensions in which he ran for four years ago. Quite a change for the worse in four short years. What politics will do to some people in a short period of time. Never would have believed it!
The hole group lies to keep us in the dark ! thats why so many closed meetings . i'm sure they will lie now and say they didn't know anything . as far as i'm concern HARL can shove his 3x5 cards where the sun don't shine . who the heck does he think he is ( mayor of peru ) Then he should start acting like it ! now after almost four years !!!!
I realize this is an irrelevant question, but does anyone know what the structure southeast of the Ptak funeral home is? I'm referring to the brick building with the huge silo next to it. Just curious. Thanks!
Grazio Barratini laundry.
an effective adminstration would have started legal proceedings against the property owners right away. oh, but maybe somebody in the admin might have a conflict of interest with previous ownership of this property and he may have known that no commercial underwriter would touch the contaminated building with a mile long epa testing pole!
6:40 No one complains because of what happens when you do. You are made to look like a fool and ridiculed by the aldermen while the mayor does nothing to stop it. Why would anyone in their right minds want to put themselves through that sort of humiliation. As far as the video taping of the meetings go they pick and choose what they want to put on the web site. I to cannot believe what he has turned into.
Ithink th bldg in question was the office for the Hebel Brewery &the tank was a water supply tank. The laundry is closer to the curve (Hebel's Curve)
To revisit the comment does anyone have a answer to Anon 3:27 Jan 5, 2013 question of what liability the city has to the owners of Westclox property and who was responsible to taxpayers to make sure the property owners of Westclox papers and operation were in order. Peru has a insurance consultant, a budget director, a city attorney and a assistant building inspector director. Is it one of the above?
Have all the council meetings been posted? I remember there was a problem with the Pickleball one where the neighbors were mocked and ridiculed.
There is no law that says you have to have insurance on your property. Peru has no liability and will not be required to clean up the mess. However, the owners of the property do not have any money to clean up the mess either and will simply disolve their corporation / go bankrupt. When the owners are defunct, taxes will no longer be paid. Tax scavangers will buy the property and try to sell it. They will have no luck since half of it is a burned out mess that needs to be cleaned up. After a decade or so, people will get tired of this. The City will take over. They will come up with some scheme to sell the property to a scrap company in exchange for cleaning up the mess. The scrap company will go bankrupt and abandon the property again. The City will take over again and finish the demolition. All in all, this will probably take about eleven or twelve years. Meanwhile, our city attorney will finance a new house on the fees he charges the city to write letters on this subject.
Anon 10;13 One of these positions is a subordinate of the Peru Public Works Aldermens Committee which Aldermen Lukosus is responsible for. This is a reason to elect more than someone who likes the title of alderman and believes his responsibility is simply to attend a weekly meeting.
Have the wages and benefits been published that are employees of the City of Peru and over $75,000/year? This is to be a itemized account by law.
Haven't heard anything about any Charity Concerts in the works. Any info?
Salaries for Peru were published on Oct. 26, 2012. Those over $75K are: J. Potthoff, K. Kaszynski, B. Martin, R. Rynkewicz, R. Scheri, J. Sittler, K. Drennen, B. Bleck, D. Bernabei, R.A. Pyszka (sp), D. Hocking, D. Lemmer. Total employee compensation: $6,548,964. It would be nice if they would print individual salaries instead of bunching all of them together. This report comes out once a year.
For comparison (if that matters) La Salle total compensation was: $3,925,497. Published in the NewsTribune on Oct. 25, 2012.
If you go to the city web-site and click onto the "document center" on the right hand side and then click on "total compensation report" the individual list will come up.
So you are saying that peru is almost $3ml higher than lasalle? I would like to see a department comparison. Looks like Lasalle hired qualified and fairly compensated staff over the years vs the high price untrained family members of the big Don K and Don B.?? Think I recognize Big P name in there too. Damn. Who allowed this to happen?
3:07 You know who let it happen. After 43 years in office it becomes a real family affair!
After all these years, the Baker adminstration,still called the shots when Harl took over. Remember when Harl wanted to hire a new SPW from out of town, the aldermen, (cronies from Baker) insisted they hire from within, the man with the most time, who is not capable, and just riding out his time, as he told a man I know. yes 3:07 you are right.
He may have let it happen but the present mayor had the authority to make the appropriate changes (and had promised to do so before election).
10:52 Should he have hired his campaign manager? Maybe 35 years of experience was what Mayor Harl wanted for the position. He had enough sense to hire the person most qualified. Of course the new candidate of choice will promise a position to the retired or looking for a change buddy that buys the beer for the work force.
The person most qualified? Hardly!
If I recall former mayor Baker was part owner of Westclox when it was sold to this company and I heard they paid cash because no bank would bank loan it because the IEPA wouldn't pass it.
Best thing for growth of surrounding towns is for Harl to get re-elected!!!
hello, the city of lasalle doesnt have their own electric department, that right there is going to add alot to the bottom line, great for Peru that they have their own dept as it has made a lot of money those guys that work in that department are highly trained and should be compensated as well for putting their life on the line everyday
Post a Comment