“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

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

About Mike Hart Mayoral Candidate


I am a candidate for mayor of Peru. Concerned about the lack of leadership and the wayward spending of taxpayers money.
Biography
Retired from the Illinois Department of Transportation after 35 years with the position of Engineering Technician V. Which included bituminous plant calibrations, approval of bituminous asphalt mix designs, job startups and final quanties for pay. Also retired from the US Army Reserve having attained the rank of E-8. I was the 1SGT at 4/75thFA in Peru and then to 370th RR Co., Joliet, from there to the 303rd Ammo Ord Group in Springfield where I retired in 1997 as a MSG.
Education information
Secondary School:

Streator Township High School '66
Midstate College "69

Work Info
Employer: State of Illinois
Position: Engineering Technician
Length of time: January 1970 to December 2005
Location: Ottawa, IL

18 comments:

Peru Town Forum said...

I reposted this information from Mike Harts for Mayor FB page. I will make no comment or answer no questions because I don't have the answers. You will get it as it becomes available through Mike. By the way the is the most information given out by any other candidate running for mayor.
As far as I know you don't need to be born in Peru to be elected to any office or to be appointed head of any department and many are not. That actually can be the best thing for the city, to not be looking at the city in the same old way for years and years.

Peru Town Forum said...

I will post your comments on who you will vote for and why but keep me out of the mix or it won't be posted.

Anonymous said...

I wonder how many alderman have an engineering degree? Does Harl? We pay big bucks for engineering services in Peru. Hopefully Hart will get elected and he will see through all the unnecessary spending. Has my vote. Thanks for the information.

Anonymous said...

Heaven Forbid Michael's background as engineer is just like that of Harl as a construction engineer. We Do Not need another type of engineer, What we need is Mayor Baker with a Business degree to get the city out of this terrific financial mess (continued worthless spending from MY pocket)and leadership doldrums we are in.
We Lost our Illinois Valley leadership position in just 4 short years, Thanks to Mayor Scott Harl.
Come on Mayor Baker, you got my vote and as well as many more behind me. We nee Progress Back, We need Leadership Back, We need sound Fiscal Sanity Back, We Need to RECIND High Taxes imposed by Harl. We need A City Government led by Baker to be again For/By the People.
The city MUST come first not like Harl wants to be first for his buddies and himself.
Amen, Hurry April 9

Anonymous said...

Hart is not a engineer, lets not pretend we are getting another engineer.

Peru Town Forum said...

10:42 AM

Engineer has almost become a generic term as there are so many different types of engineers and it seems like other professions have coopted that term and used it.

Scott Harl was an operating engineer.

Mike Hart was an Engineering Technician with IDOT.

Occupations were not even close in description.

Anonymous said...

And neither have the qualifications of a civil engineer or the college background required to make qualified judgements on any aspect of infrastructure within a municipality. Lets be honest.

Peru Town Forum said...

3:34 PM

Mr Hart has the most experience of all regarding some infrastructure plus a graduation from Midstate College. Remember he was one of the people chosen to be on the Harl infrastructure committee. Actually one does not need any type of degree to run a city you just need to be able to provide leadership and have common sense.

Anonymous said...

3:52 Lois: And put the right people in the right positions to run your city efficiently.

Anonymous said...

Did Don Baker attend Bradley as his Facbook page indicates or does he have a business degree as someone's comment above states? Degree or not he has been and still is agressive.

Peru Town Forum said...

10:57 PM

It will never be the same as before, aldermen (2) have died, some have been defeated at the ballot box and more may be in April and his city clerk, Judy Heuser is gone. The room has changed. I'm not sure we can endure the same city atty much longer and the cost of Chamlin has not decreased. A new ball game with new players and that is not an easy adjustment at his age. These are just the facts and I am sure others can add to that.

Peru Town Forum said...

10:57 PM

If had graduated I am sure his supporters would have put that info on FB, I think he attended for a period of time.

Anonymous said...

Support for Hart and NOT Harl. What made the change ?
Those of you who had supported Scott Harl in the last election are now saying the same words about Hart and are supporting Hart.
What Hypocrates you all are !

If we stuck with Baker the city would be much better off today. I am certain we would still have a swimming pool, we would have had more business and industry come to Peru, I also am very certain that our local sales tax would not have risen to 7.5% as well as other increases of cost the city is experiencing today. (Not only do we NOT have a swimming pool but we had to pay others for the removal . Watch the over run on this project just like other projects like powerhouse demolition.
Mayor Harl & Hart have no understanding about accountability and open fair bidding for expenses.

Remember Mayor Harl likes to play the money game by making sure expenditures at any one time is kept under $5000 so the council or people have to vote on it.
_People Remember all of these things April 9, 2013.
Harl or Hart the only difference is one letter!

Peru Town Forum said...

11:52 AM

As a supporter of former Mayor Don Baker, I am sure you believe everything you have written. But in my opinon, it does not pay to return to what was because it all honesty it can NEVER be, we all have to move forward and look forward to bringing new ideas and new names into our city. We have new residents, new voters and have lost many in the last 4 years. Mayor Harl was not the right man for the job as he seems to have turned his back on those who believed in him. Promises made were only campaign promises and they were not fulfilled.
I am supporting Mike Hart because I do believe he can do the job and improve the city because he is a very intelligent educated person who sees Peru as it is right now, he is conservative in his approach and will not spend money in a hasty or unnecessary manner. He has no ties to the past and can bring in new blood which this city is in dire need of or we will not see any improvements. One of the reasons Mayor Harl has found himself "stuck", is that he has kept too many people in positions from the past administration of Don Baker. True stymied by the council of today which hopefully will not be the council of tomorrow, we will move forward under strong leadership.

Peru Town Forum said...

The reason we no longer have a swimming pool is because it was not take care of under the Baker administration. Don Baker knew the condition of the pool in the past years and believe he even mentioned it to the council.

While we were spending big money on the down town redevelopment which did not really work, the pool was decaying before our eyes. Harl closed the pool but because of the decay and lack of improvement and repair to it and I do believe the condition was bad enough that it was necessary. Some early oversight of the swimming pool perhaps even a new pool instead of a new downtown would have be much wiser path to have taken in the late 1990's..

Anonymous said...

mr.hart knows his own music and won't dance to the others tune. he knows how state/fed contracts work, he grew up in politics and knows the ropes on how things need to be, he's not just another smo. i do believe he was the one to point out to the city when they were going to make full payment on the storm system project that according to contract we didn't owe full payment to the contractor. mike is nobodys puppet he will do what is in best intrest for the people, not whats in it for me

Anonymous said...

The downtown was a topic which was started in the late 1980's not the late 1990's and why would someone when they know that both the swimming pool and the downtown were in dire need make it a choice of one over the other.
The problem is not that there wasn't enough money to do both. The problem has been the amount of waste in Peru in the past, present and future if the same knuckleheads are allowed to stay in office.

Peru Town Forum said...

10:01 PM

I have one of the original booklets and I believe that was the early 1990's and after that I was not watching what they did because it was like a bulldozer effect. Waste has never been eliminated in the city. We don't know how to say NO, do we?