The vote was 7 to 1 with Ald. Perez voting against the lobbyist for good reason. The gentleman has an office in Springfield and will work on unannounced projects for the city with attempts to get money from the state and/or federal government. Time will tell. The volunteer director of economic development will remain.
Sean Mikos is going to be hired as a Superintendent of Public Works Civil Engineer. I will seek a job description on that because I am not familiar with that job title. He will work with Gary Bleck starting in August. The mayor and council kept referring to him as a P.E. and not as a civil engineer, turns out that means Professional Engineer. This new person certainly has his work cut out for him. I understand he is currently employed by the city of Yorkville as a Civil Engineer.
Because I write this blog and express my opinions which are often not received well even though they are true, I must say I was not treated very courteously by some of the council members on the Public Works Committee and Ald. Radtke. I hope this video survives for viewing.
77 comments:
I was there and several council members were downright rude. Fortunately Atty. Schweickert showed he has more class than all of them put together and graciously and respectfully answered your questions. I have a feeling your question was above most of their heads. Lukosus was disrespectfully shaking his head while you were speaking, not sure if you caught that Lois. He should learn he is an elected official and must learn to act respectfully to all people. Can't wait to see this video!
10:22 PM
I missed that but since he and Waldorf sit next to each other, I just caught the loud mouthing from them and I guess that is what I would expect. This is just more of that "you don't need to know, you are only a taxpayer" All the questions I asked should have been presented to the people in the audience as a matter of respect without them having to be asked. If the mayor did not accept and maybe encourage their behavior, I don't think it would happen.
Doing my own research tonight, discovered that maybe the council was not quite 100% honest in their answers to me More of the same.
The practice of government using tax dollars to lobby other governments is a lose-lose proposition for taxpayers. If the lobbying succeeds, government expands; if it fails, government wastes tax dollars.
Harl encourages the other aldermen's disrespectful behavior by not squashing it, but these are grown men, leaders of our city, and they should know how to act respectfully. It's shameful, and I am sad to say I live in Peru.
The volunteer of economic development should be unvolunteered (fired). He hasn't done a damn thing except jump into a couple of pictures. And his expense account must be exposed to show what a waste he was.
The word coming from the employees of the public works dept. is that Sean Mikos is an young engineer with absolutely no experience in a supervisory role. This is exactly the type of person who will bring nothing to a department desperately needing a real leader.
The fact that this job will be divided between some 'light" engineering and some supervisory duties ensures only one outcome.
Neither duty will be effective in any way.
I too was present at this meeting and can attest to the fact that the questions asked by Mrs. Carroll were legitimate and ones that should have been explained to the public without being asked. Why this council seems to think that citizens have no right to question their decisions is beyond me. Weren't they elected to represent the general public? Isn't the general public paying them? Why do they have to be so rude and arrogant if and when they answer questions asked of them. It's disgusting!
What a friggin' joke!! How many (more progressive) towns around here have a lobbyist? Can't wait to see my next City of Peru bill...last one was north of $350...this one should be north of $400. Gotta pay for this dude somehow. Gonna see about the same results as we see with the economic director... Nothing...zero...nada... But wait!!! there's more!! Let's drop $14 grand on IVAC. Where in the hell is all of this $$$$$ coming from?
Voters: Anon 10:22 is exactly right. The aldermen are elected to represent the people and when they do it in a disrespectful manner remember that come election time.
If it so terrible here either run for mayor or move away please.
You people with your cyber mussels. All talk
So, did they say exactly what this lobbyist is supposed to accomplish. OR, are we just tossing the money into the wind and hoping for something good to happen?
Hope and change, hope and change. I heard that before. I wonder where. Let me think.
This guy has quit a gig going three places ,2,4000 each . or more to do what he thinks is good for us ? he gets paid reguardless . can't beat that . another wast of money . for what harl does why can't he look for stuff for peru like other city mayors do ? oh sorry forgot its PERU
Maybe if we are really lucky, Hurl will get noticed by the party big wigs and they will give him some "important" job in Chicago - getting him out of Peru forever. Better yet, lets convince him to run for congress and we can send him to Washington DC!
Free Peru! Send Hurl to Washington!
Arrogance breeds lust for power and fear of freedom; arrogance sees itself above accountability and responsibility; arrogance has no vision for anything beyond its own desires; and arrogance has no conscience regarding its own evildoings.
There is a rumor going around town that the lobbyist is being hired in order to get the state to build a public housing project in Peru. The first project is going to be about twice the size of LaSalle's with more to follow when they start moving people from Peoria and Rockford.
12:27 PM
Not true, his is being hired for what I am told is to get the Tiger grants through state from the federal government. Tiger grants are for road work.
Lois you may be incorrect since this lobbyist clients include Ameran and Illinois Housing Authority.
12:27. You are off your rocker.
10:44. He's supposed to have an "in" with the powers that be in Springfield. Harl made mention of a list of things they want the lobbyist to accomplish, but knowing the council's love of sharing information with the public, that list was not made public. My guess is they haven't made one up yet. Where did strong Dave Potthoff go? He just rolled over and is going along with spending money needlessly. I am most disappointed with him.
12:46 PM
No problem if I am wrong, let me know. I was just hoping for the best from this group of elected representatives of the people who seem to have forgotten that they are working for us and that includes you and me.
12:27, You're not fooling anybody. Knock it off. The rumor mill in this town doesn't need any help from you to get rolling in falsehoods.
What is not a rumor is this, the new City Engineer / Superintendant of Public Works has never worked for a municipality, nor has he ever been in a position to delegate authority. He was interviewed for this position by a barber and a laundromat owner. Neither of whom are qualified to hire a dog-catcher, let alone a City Engineer. LaSalle is looking to replace Sam McNeilly and they hired a head-hunter to find a truly qualified candidate. Peru elected officials (via instruction from Chamlin) did not want somebody who was qualified and independent, they wanted somebody they could manipulate and control. Waldorf, Lukosus and the rest of the council made it all happen.
While I'm sure our new
"Engin-Tendant" is a nice kid, he is going to be totally ineffective because he will immediately be dependent on Chamlin to show him the way.
The more things change the more they stay the same in this silly little town.
I've also been disappointed in Dave Potthoff. I've always looked to him as having the brains and common sense of the council. But, the last 4 plus years he's changed. Did he take a sabbatical?
This is from WLPO -
"Aldermen Dave Potthoff and Radtke say they agree with Harl’s thinking that they need to have someone representing them if they want to receive state money for infrastructure work"
Lois,
Do we really have that incompetent of city officials representing Peru? Why do we Tax Payers go to the polls to elect Represenitives and pay them big wages if city officials are allowed to hire their own?
Our State Represenitives should be in an uproar like we are! Peru Tax Payers not only pay wages for local and state officials to take care of business, now we have to pay a third party?? What's the sense of Electing Represenitives ?
This seems wrong very very wrong and I'm ticked!!
12:27 - makes sense to me. Increase the population by a couple of thousand people will increase the share of income tax. Also bring in more votes for Harl.
The biggest reason for our local Rep and Senator not being upset is: Lobbyists generously grease the palms of the crooks in Springfield. Believe me...24 Grand is just the tip of the iceberg.
What's wrong with a housing project in Peru? We need a bigger and younger population. Besides, this area is in danger of switching to Republican. Need to bring in some more good Democratic voters to be sure this does not happen.
We, the taxpayers of Peru, might well pay local officials to take care of business but the problem is they don't. You can call or talk to your representative (and with the exception of alderman Perez) you get no where. No response, no answer, nothing. What you will get is criticized, mocked, chastised because you're not one of them.
Yeah, more welfare Democrats. That would be a real contribution to the area.
It would be ashame to develop housing projects in Peru to be more acessible for state funding and grants. I doubt if Perus' lobbyist has any housing projects in his neighborhood. But that is not his concern since he does not live in or has any ties to Peru except $24,000/year.
Perus' concern with money is now a greed more than a need. It has the largest sales tax revenue in the county but still that is not enough with the huge individual salaries and city payroll. PERU DOES NOT HAVE A MONEY PROBLEM IT HAS A SPENDING PROBLEM!
Along with the salaries in Peru there is a tremendous amount of waste, not doing things correct the first time plus non competitive bidding for favorite sons contracts created by knowing when and whom to spend their money on.
Do not be puzzled by the arrogance,ignorance and reluctance of some of those elected towards citizens asking them questions. Are you sure if you made the decisions they have you would truthfully want to answer? The recent council meeting was a example of their bully tatics to
intimidate a concerned citizen with outstanding questions which had not been discussed previously.
Sadly it is not the people who participate in the blog that are their strongest ally it is those who do not participate in their government until directly affected by that governments decisions. By than it is normally too late.
How long will Peru have the dual cost of the retiring SPW and the newly hired civil engineer? He is a civil eng isn't he?
I have only heard him as being labeled a professional engineer which is a day or two of testing beyond a engineers specific field.
There should be no need of Mr. Bleck being retained when he has been replaced. When the replacement has been made it becomes the Mayors responsibility as the person in charge to make introductions and the engineer should already know what the responsibilities of the job consist of from his interview. Those that he has questions should be answered once again by the Mayor. Why does this administration insist on paying twice, three times or four such as a Director of Economic Development, the MRC Corporation for a web site, Illinois Area Chamber of Commerce and now a lobbyist in Springfield for the same thing? Notice that I have not included Frank Mautino or Sue Resin or the Mayor himself who should be fulfilling this responsibility also. THAT 7 times that Peru is paying for the same thing.
Most small town Mayors do their own city promotions as the Mayor of Oglesby did in accomplishing getting a grocery store to his town. How many trips on his own time did he make to the grocery stores headquarters to get a yes.
2:50. I agree and I bet Potthoff would now vote for the sales tax increase for the infrastructure and he was the most vocal against it. It's a pity.
10:04 Pothoff was the last person that would have been sucked in by this administration in my opinion. And it is a pity. Another voice of the people gone!
I cringe every time Radtke opens his mouth to pat himself on the back. What a phoney. We miss Sherry!
Who can we have run against potthoff in two years?
A PE or Professional Engineer is somebody that is licensed as an engineer in his specified area. To get the PE designation, one must graduate from an accredited school, complete written examinations, accumulate a specified amount of field experience, and complete the PE exam. PE's are regulated and licensed by the state.
You can get the PE designation for any engineering discipline, but it is most often a requirement for Civil, Construction, and Mechanical Engineers. This is because they need to certify their work and often have a personal liability.
If there is a planned transition - such as is the case with the new engineer and the SPW, it is best to have a turn over period. Especially when the replacement is not internal. It would be foolish to drop somebody in without the benefit of the incumbent. Unfortunately, it is less common to have this luxury in the private sector because most changes are not voluntary or planned in advance.
Anon 11:48 Turnover period! Orientation! You state all the criteria that this Professional Engineer has had to achieve and than you give reasons why he is to be introduced to the job by Gary Bleck. You have to be kidding me. What a path to failure you are supporting. Let the new man come in with his own ideas instead of showing him how inadequate the SPW has been. You are paying him a starting salary of $87,000 for what he knows not what Gary Bleck doesn't know, give the young man a chance. Everyone is hoping that he will be on the job at least 5 - 8's and more if it takes that to get the job done.
11:48. How about Steve Weberski or Justin Loger? I think it's time for Potthoff to go because he has become another Harl yes man.
Both are extremely exceptional candidates. Personal preference would be that Steve is elected in the next election followed by Justin in the election following. By than Steve Weberski would be my nomination for Mayor next term. In a two man race he will beat the incumbent because he is more qualified in all aspects of managing a city and following thru with his goals.
To anon who wrote about the firing of a city employee, I cannot post because of legalities. In my opinion it is true because lots of people know and are talking. I don't think the city every announces terminations probably again because of legalities.
1:32 - Most of the job is not engineering. Lets see - I would suppose that they need to discuss each of the employees. Go over the procedures for ordering equipment and supplies. The budget. Equipment and equipment status - we own a lot of vehicles that the new boss will be accountable for. There are hundreds of things that this guy is going to be responsible for that are not related to engineering. Rather they are related to management. It would be one thing if they where promoting from within. But they are not.
Anon 4:30 PM "I would "suppose", with this famous hard line management termnology I can tell that the city employees would fall in love with you. As for going over the procedures for ordering equipment and supplies this is the same person, SPW, that signed a $1600 disbursement that never has been publicly disclosed.
As for the equipment and equipment status there should be a ongoing list of equipment location and a maintenance history of equipment. The person should have been briefed on his responsibilities at his interview sessions. This position is in Peru not Chicago. The majority of the problem is that the last promotion was from within by favortism and smoking the peace pipe.
Thank goodness they are not promoting from within! We need fresh, unbiased ideas. I see the point of having overlapping orientation time, but I also agree that GB isn't the one who should be training. He was ineffective, too much of a friend to the guys instead of being their boss, and I think everybody, especially GB is happy he is retiring.
6:15 - you have obviously never been a manager. Also, the "interview processs" is not for the prospective employee to learn about job processes. It is to determin job qualifications.
If there is any way to prevent it - senior staff should NEVER be allowed to depart without a face to face turn over period with the person taking their job.
I to am a critic of this administration - but you need to pick something else to complain about. Having the replacement - whoever it is - start before the current SPW departs is sound managment. That is very rare occurrence in this administration - we should celebrate it.
244. Either candidate is exceptional, although I didn't see Weberski being mayor although I do see him being a very powerful alderman
The untold plan is to put the new engineer/ public works manager in position and a few months down the road, say he can't do engineering projects and manage the public works dept and promote the next senior man to manage the public works dept at another inflated salary. Thus have a whole different position and us paying out the butt.
SW already has a full time elected job as Township Clerk.
I think Weberski could win against Potthoff this time. He should go for it!
I agree 827, Steve should go for it, he would be an exceptional alderman. With a solid background like that it would be tough to overlook, especially since Potthoff has been making so many mistakes. I for one voted for Lukosus, and that turned out to be a mistake in my opinion. Loger needs to hold out for the mayor position. I went to school with his grandfather and am aware he comes from a long line of geniuses. If he applies himself he would be a tough candidate to beat.
Anon 6:53 If I've never been amanager , you wouldn't know a manager if one was starring you in the face. Your management knowledge in this situation is general and textbook not suitable for the specific situation. You fit nicely in the management pattern of this administration very costly and trying for self gain much more than promoting Peru.
By keeping GB on the job you are asking for a cover up of inefficiency and a means of carrying on the present situation rather than CHANGING it. If this was the present SPW of LaSalle, Sam, I'd agree with you 110% but this is Peru and Perus SPW. Lets do the intelligent thing and move on.
6:35 - I've been watching your argument and it lacks merit. We are not talking about years. Less than 90 days. And who knows - maybe the SPW is going to burn off unused vacation.
I think Byron said it best. "Those who will not reason, are bigots, those who cannot, are fools, and those who dare not, are slaves." Which one are you?
Did Perez actually say that we need more than 1 lobbyist and he was voting down the lobbyist because we need more than 1? Maybe the video was altered?
11:07 AM
Ald. Perez did NOT say we needed more than one lobbyist, he said we did not need any as we already have elected representatives representing us.
This Democratic lobbyist is in place to get "road money" for the Tiger 2 grants through Federal government. We should know by now that it is only roads this mayor is interested and you know what new and repaired roads bring to the city.
more fantasy from those that lurk in corners. Hiring a engineer and a lobbyist to work on the interest of Peru is responsible. there are alot of make believe city infrastructure experts but none of you have a P.E and take it that you resent anybody that does have that elusive college degree.
Anon 9:32 Are you a active member of the current city administration?The reason I ask is that the argument you have been watching that you have judged as lacking merit has shown you to be in a imaginary existence since there is no 6:35.
As for your quoting others continuously it is starting to show a complete lack of ability to think on your own.
When quoting others try to use quotes which correlate to the subject and it would be best to emphasize one quote rather than several. I do recommend that you develop a opinion of your own and learn to express it as such.
Would you explain how someone burns off unused vacation time by reporting to work?
11:48 PM
Hiring an engineer would be a responsible thing to do but I don't believe that is exactly what we have done even though the gentleman does have a P.E.
Hiring a Democratic lobbyist by a Democratic union affiliated mayor is not in the best interests of this city, but looks to be an attempt to be in the best interests of our mayor.
This makes everything more political and political does not belong in local municipal government. I want my officials to remain apart from party affiliation so they can effectively work with the Republican Senator and Democratic Representative who represent us the people in Springfield. Lobbyists are politicians and in this case a Democratic politician. In fact he did run and was defeated in his bid for State Senator in 1978.
Lets get a report on who is at today's golf outing. There has to be at least one creepy crawler that is willing to give us attendance list.
Lois, 1978 loser was Democrat Alex Seith. Chuck Percy was elected as a Republican. Why such union bashing?
3:41 PM
Thank you for asking me that question because believe it or not I was just thinking about how I have changed in my thinking about unions since Scott Harl took office. Prior to that I probably never gave it 2 minutes of thought but times have changed and I now believe that all states should be right to work states. It shouldn't matter whether you belong to a union or not, if you can do the job. I don't like the union attitudes and just about everything they now stand for. Times have changed and so have I. The connection between politics and that means much of the Democratic politics and that includes our mayor have completely soured my beliefs of unions as they are no longer what they were intended to be.
I have no union connections in our extended family. A few friends
I did see some good of the unions when they helped La Salle and the building and construction of their new park but as a rule I see the rat being obnoxious to local businesses and that in the long run hurts a city.
12:01 - You have proven it my friend. You are a genuine fool. And no, I do not work for government and I'm not a contractor. Instead of jumping on every typo, why don't you take the argument for what it is and be done? When asked and answering truthfully, I believe that most people would say it is beneficial to have access to their predecessor when they start a new job - even if only to prove why the change was necessary.
As far as my quotes go - forgive me. I did not think my prose would be graded. I will put the quotation marks next time - even though I did identify it correctly within the text.
I would suggest one thing to make your life easier my friend - do not be so hateful and do not over emphasize the trivial. Save your disdain for this administration for truly important fights. Because their are going to be many. The Mayor's head has swelled, he has plenty of money, political backing, and three years before he must worry about his own election.
4:29 PM
Can you explain what you mean by political backing, that sounds very ominous to me. Municipal elections should never involve political backing from any party or any party money either. imo, that smells pretty badly of dishonesty and payoffs.
Come on Lois - he is constantly raising campaign funds. Take a look at his donors and then look up the other candidates and parties they shell out money for. Look up the campaign funds for all the other local Mayors and you will see that they do not solicit funds at anywhere near the level Mayor Harl does. Bob Eschbach of Ottawa has not collected any money since 2008 – his fund was shut down after the last election. The LaSalle County Democrats still have an active web page for him. He is non-partisan in name only.
4:29 I'd also like to know what kind of fights we can expect in the future.
Anon 12:01 Quotation, Quotation, Quotation you even have to let John Galt do your answering for you when calling someone a genuine fool. When was the last time you had a orginal thought of your own?
Don't worry about me and my life I've been in real confrontations when you were at home hiding in the closet cutting out paper dolls, and I knew how to handle those fights and am fully capable to handle those in the future. My advise to you is to get your scissors sharpened, plenty of paper and open the door to the closet. The light may do you some good. Always have wondered where you Johnny Come Latelees got all your knowledge and experience to judge others. Talk about a genuine fool!
I don't think we need an engineer. And I don't think we need any public "don't work" employees either. Outsource everything! There are plenty of example of public works departments being outsourced. There are plenty of private companies that can do the job. Outsource it all!
When Harl won the election, many remember he said 2 terms is enough for me. Well for most of us 1 term was enough but he did win a second and the thought of a third term, well the people need to see that it doesn't happen.
6:59 - It sounds like you should be restricted to using the round scissors. It would be much safer for everyone if you were not allowed to use sharp objects. In this quote you show your ignorance: "When was the last time you had a original thought of your own?" Don't you know that "a" should be followed by a consonant? The sentence construction should be "When was the last time you had AN original thought..." Furthermore, you end the sentence with a phrase that is redundant. “… a original thought of your own?” is more simply stated “… an original thought?” There is no need to state the obvious “of your own” since that is implied by the thought being original. So, to correct your English, the sentence should be: “When was the last time you had an original thought?”
I bring this up because your writing style is distinct and most people can tell which comments belong to you. You also like to bully anyone with a dissenting view, even when they agree with you in the broader sense. This leads me to believe that you are somewhat insecure. I don’t really understand your hatred of historical quotes. Is this because you cannot understand the context? You seem to think that quoting a person from our history invalidates an argument. On the contrary, most educated people think the opposite. You also tend to jump all over people for simple mistakes and accuse them of “working for the man” or otherwise being for what you are against. I’ll end with a quote and let you try to figure out its source and relevance to the topic at hand. “There were only four dissentients, the three dogs and the cat, who was afterwards discovered to have voted on both sides.”
Comparative analysis of outsourcing vs. permanent hirings should be a continuous project for the public sector. Peru's answer to comparative analysis has been years of "we cut everything pretty well to the bone", and "there just not enough people".
Does anyone remember Perus' famous win win situation of offering early retirements that were not to be replaced. By now they have all been replaced and your taxes are paying for the early retirements.
Peru city officials offered a early retirement package not knowing that that window would stay open for a mandated period of time such as 2 years before they could close it.
Lois, the sure way of beating Harl is to limit his opposition to one opponent and preferably choose him/her within ample time before the election to stretch out campaign funds as much as possible. Although Harl has a huge war chest he only received 35%of the entire vote in the last race.
The assembling of a active group of interested citizens and than letting them choose who they prefer as a candidate would work well, or if a acceptable candidate would seek out this group.
I find it comical that someone continues to refer to themselves as "John Galt," when in fact, John Galt is a fictional character based from Ayn Rands book "Atlas Shrugged." What happened to signing your name, and why do so few people do it?
And what did Rand's character stand for? Sometimes you must think. We need an army of John Galt's counteract what government at all levels is doing.
6:51 AM, There are only a handful of people that actually sign their name. Why don't you take a stand and join them?
Do you think the minds at city hall are capable of putting on these grand conspiracies?
No. Like most conspiracies, they are grand only by accident. I for one believe that most people involved in our local governments (notice the plural) are not in it as way to contribute to society. On the other hand, they are in it to benefit themselves in some way besides the simple salary of an alderman or mayor.
Before Mr. Intolerant jumps on me please notice that this is my original thought and I said MOST. and not a single quote :)
John II, did you know that in the fictional "Atlas Shrugged", the union control was the main reason and result of the over-control of government. The new character of John II is a total opposite of the past blogger notations that stressed more government control, pro-union, party affiliations, etc. Has your ideals changed?
2:18 - Just how do you come to the conclusion that I am for bigger government, support unions, and have a party affiliation? Well, maybe you could surmise that I lean toward the Libertarians. My arguments above are simple: Allow the new government employee time to discuss and turn over with the old government employee.
I also made a reference to the arrogance of elected officials. This was one unreferenced quote that so upset "Mr. Intolerant." Then I made a comment about governments lobbying governments and how the taxpayer ultimately looses. I guess that was another unreferenced quote that upset "Mr. Intolerant."
So believe me Sir, I selected the nom de plume John Galt carefully. I believe that government should get out of the way of the producers and trade unionism is kin to socialism. Look at our small chunk of the country and you will see that government, in one form or another, is the largest part of the economy. That is frightening and unsustainable.
Johh, John Galt, John Galt II have you reached the end of "Atlas Shrugged" and have no more Ayn Rands quotes?
I'd like to tell you that you have been missed the last 4 days but why lie.
In leaving you, you will always be remembered as John, John Galt, John Galt II is my name and plagiarism is the game. Goodbye ----, ---- ----, ---- ---- -- or whatever your name is!
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