Now would be a good time for every Peru resident to take about 20 minutes and read the very lengthy minutes from the previous Public Works Committee meeting on February 3.
It appears that all of the business in Peru is being taken care of by Chamlin Engineering and co superintendents taking on the job of being Superintendents of Public Works, our current Police Chief Doug Bernabei and current Fire Chief Jeff King. I now ask who is doing the work of being police chief and fire chief? Read the minutes and let me know if we really need a replacement in the public works department to lead the department? Secondly I almost wonder who would be brave enough to even submit a resume.
Ms Noonan is evidently getting ready for a concert season with the blessings of the city once again.
Anybody seeing any red flags yet?
47 comments:
THIS JUST GOES TO SHOW THAT WE PEOPLE OF PERU DID NOT NEED A FULL-TIME FIRE CHIEF. Prior to Harls appointment to a full time chief we had one part time for around 10k a year. Now we pay 84k a years for a couple other tiny positions included. What are our alderman doing for us??? City is messed up.
What qualification does the police and fire chief have to be temporary SPW? Why didn't the city have a current employee take that position until one was hired. I heard one person is a 33 year employee with the city. True? I'm using common sense here people.
The only thing Harl had proved is that we DO NOT NEED a full time fire chief/building inspector at 84,000 a year!!! It is my understanding that he does not even communicate with job foremens after his "so called inspection". Harl should resign so we can put a "transparent mayor" in his postion. Why cant we appiont a current fire engineer (by senority) to a "chief" position. Shouldnt the chief be at the fire house anyway?
Of course this would include a raise to his/her current salary. But just say a $8,000 raise to a current salary (i believe the currnet chief made $4500 as part time) would be acceptable. We could then hire a "true" building inspector with actual experience at the former inspectors wage of $47,000, that alone could be a savings of $33,5000.
DO we also really need a SPW at a pay rate of $90,000, this is Peru, Il!! How about a pay rate of just say $60,000 (very respectable), that could be a total savings of $63,500 and the police chief could go back full tine to his job which is very important! We could honestly fill all these positions at a estimated savings of $63,500!! My numbers are just estimates, but just think about it!!
How can our mayor say he is saving money and looking out for the citizens of Peru, we all know about "overtime gate"!! He has appointed his personal friends/contributors to high salary jobs! How is this helping the citizens of Peru?
The city council needs to step up and hold people accountable! We need a "transparent Peru", and someone who can deliver it!!!!
Just my thoughts.
Anon 8:26 I wouldn't think a union employee who's vested would want, or could leave that employee position as a union member step into a non union supervision position.
Fire chief/fire Marshall position was two positions paid one wage at approx. 10k per year prior to Harls 84k appointment u believe plus a paid per call wage, plus approximately $1,900 ESDA position. If understood correctly. Yes, how is Harl saving the
City money and being frugal is my question. ? From reading everything what is really going on with Mayor Harl and Fire Chief Jeff King??????????
I did read the minutes and have to say how impressed I am with the current happenings in public works. These guys stepped up and have had the worst winter in years and it looks like to me and lots of others that everything is going very well and that might be why you and some others are so upset. I talked to a close friend of Rodneys and I was told he has the utmost confident in Bernabie and King and knows they have it under control. I also know from many sources that the police department is running extremely well with all the drug arrests and everything else they are doing and the fire department is also. I was told thy had the busiest month in history. That just proves that this system might be working. Your hurry to go out and hire all these different bosses raises a red flag. Who is it you are trying to get hired. I think we should do more with less. hopefully Rodney will give his opinion because you will probably listen to him. If you want all these hires made then I will defiantly vote no and so will my friends and family.
Didn't the "Concert for a Cause" fail to earn any money for last years cause? And, if I read the minutes right it looks like she wants exclusive rights to the airport and more parking added to the north. Why would any cause want to put in hours of work to help support her concerts with the possibility that they may not earn a dime?
Now I see that on today's Finance meeting agenda a topic to discuss the position "Budget Officer/Finance Director". Does anyone know what that's all about?
8:24. I noticed you didn't mention anything about the city needing a full-time fire chief if time has been put into the SPW, and a full time police chief. A full time police chief is absolutely necessary however. I also took the time to read it.
All of the comments above have strong points and must be included in the tools which should be utilized to solve the multiple of Peru's public service problems.
What has been tried has never worked efficiently, what is being tried is even worse and now it is time to go outside the box.
Similar to the Infrastructure Committee I would organize a think tank of unpaid volunteer interested citizens with different job experiences and backgrounds and enable them to exchange their ideas with no holds bared.
This committee could possibly not be the last committee but others may have to be created off of it to prioritize and than a final committee would be made up to draw conclusions. Done correctly the entire procedure would not be that difficult but up most importance would be the proper selection of committee members. Some people who would be highly qualified will not become involved unless they are reached out to and no signs of favoritism could be allowed.
8:24 AM, Get a clue!
Didn't the present Treasurer get bumped up to Budget Director-Treasurer to boost his pay from $6,000 to $24,000/year?
Why would Peru need two budget directors or are they adding another title to the Budget Director-Treasurer to increase his pay again? A reminder to all is that you have the best opportunity to express your opinion in less than 1 month, March 18,2014.
8:24 Rodney also supported the hiring of a fulltime chief/building inspector/safety officer/co-Super. And now you mention your concerns about spending money to hire essential positions in the City. Which opinion will Rodney be giving next? The one on hiring a full-time fire chif or the one on saving money?
8:24 do you vote for city hirees?
What's the Full Time Fire Chief going to do with all his spare time once the city hires a new supt? Proof that the city never needed a FT Chief.
I respect all those who blog, however, 8:24 did you have a rough night last night that could be possibly be affecting your thought process. Re-read this title and blogs pertaining to it. It's a no brainer. I agree with the blogger who said "get a clue."
Saw under legals in the newspaper regarding the new cvs. Under building and zoning, etc.. Who from the city is actually going to oversee this project? Who will be signing off all the codes and the inspection process? I believe it was in yesterday's or the day before newspaper.
10:58 That highly qualified committee was called the infrastructure citizens committee. Many were mostly qualified through the alliance with Mayor Scott Harl. For some reason that committee disbanded very quickly. You would have to ask someone involved to find out why they disbanded or what they were doing.
To 10:58 AM, What you suggest is exactly what pro-active elected officials in other cities have been doing for many years.
You are obviously not aware that in Peru our elected officials are extremely insecure about their inabilities and lack of knowledge being exposed by the type of committee you describe. They will never allow citizen participation to interfere in their little clique. Common sense input and volunteerism is neither appreciated or tolerated by the majority of Peru aldermen and mayor. The fact that our so-called "city leaders" refuse to even consider utilizing its residents for such a committee is all the more reason to Vote "Yes" to help remove them from office asap and get some people in there as aldermen who have the courage and foresite to establish the type of committee you describe.
11:18, I'm not the blogger in which you are referring to in your blog. What I would like to say is that I disagree with Mr. Perez's agreeing to a full time fire chief, etc... I'm having my doubts with him also. I read on a blog a while back when a blogger questioned what Liberty Fire Company does with its donations that they receive, and I believe Mr. Perez made a blog saying he doesn't know because he's not a member of Liberty. What a vague answer due to the fact he's a volunteer fireman. Wouldn't a fireman know? Even if they are not a member? My trust instincts are definitely swaying. Never once have I ever seen it publicly published what Liberty does with donations! That's not transparency either. Sad but true.
3:22 PM
Your logic is flawed. Just because someone is a member of the Peru Fire department does not mean they would know what goes on in Liberty which is a 5013C and not a part of the Peru Fire Department. One is a city department just like the police department and Liberty is a not for profit fund raising department and the 2 share little, except that some people belong to both and some belong to only the Fire Department.
I do believe you know all that I have written but just trying to stir the pot. You can on your own find out the funding of Liberty as all 5013C's have to file with the state.
DO IT AND SATISFY YOUR Curiosity on your own.
Anon 8:26 Many contracts have a clause written in them that a union member may accept a temporary position in management which has been created by unforeseen circumstances, death, sickness, vacations, leave of absence etc and than resume his position when the position is permanently filled. Normally the person filling this position is titled as Acting Foreman or Hourly Foreman and paid a predetermined amount which should be cited in the contract.
Dear 1:27, hopefully not our current building inspector, humor has it that he had to hire friends of his to build a shed!!! Really, and we trust him with communitee expansion? I wonder if he knows the difference between gutter apron and drip edge-yes there is a difference!, but does he know it?
A shed? Where? When?
Oh how perplexing deceitfulness is.
8:31 The main question is... Why would a promoter continue to have charity or fund raiser concerts that are repeatedly unable to make enough money for donation targets that are very small fractions of the gross and concessions? They are needing sponsors to come in and help, or separate campaigns, just to come close to honoring the small "commitments" that are used to market the concerts and promote goodwill.
They continue to be publically claimed to be losses, and have debts to the city forgiven- even when manned with free labor by the charity. So why expand them? What is really going on? Where is all the money going?
And more importantly, why doesn't anyone seem to care?
The city is never gonna hire a new super of pubic works . King and bernie are gonna get a $50,000 a year raise each to run that dept too. Then they're gonna take on the electric dept. Mark my words, it will happen.
8:22 PM
At that point I think we would start seeing lawsuits against the city for abuse of power and failure to use our tax dollars for the benefit of the citizens. Others think things like that may be in the works but I do believe that would be total incompetence.
8:22 your blog is way to funny! Has either one ever dug a ditch in their lives? Shouldn't one have done that in order to be a SPW? How about running heavy equipment or drove a big plow truck with a plow on it and have plowed? Shouldn't some of these questions and many other questions have been asked and answered before a temporary appointed SPW was announced. How could a person teach swimming lessons when they can't swim themselves? This goes for the appointment of the building inspector/code enforcer position also on qualifications such as electrical, plumbing, etc... Anybody can pretend to be knowledgeable, but what's the real truth? My opinion. Salary usually is based on experience and education level.
9:24
in peru everything is based on GREED and sucking up.
to 9:24 PM - In response to your last sentence. NOT IN PERU!
Salary is based on your political stroke, your contributor level to Harl's campaign fund, and also how many Rounds you pony up for our "On the Take" aldermen at Side Tracks after the meetings.
9:14 AM
Sometime in the last month or so the city decided that they were going to pass an ordinance regarding city workers and alderman regarding their use of Social Media. It started with the FB page that the city has on FB which is very poorly maintained in comparison to other cities around us. It had something to do with Ald. Perez wanting to post one of his winter fun days and they do not allow the comment. Actually I do believe before this the city did allow comments.
I know that Oglesby allows comments and believe La Salle does also. I know because I have left a comment or 2 or asked a question and I did receive a response.
What I am getting to is the above comment about all the social comments and gossip that takes place with some of the aldermen at a local brew place. I guess that is OK because the people who pass the ordinances don't consider their time at the brew place to be a source of possibly derogatory comments. Don't think this is new, it has been going on right in front of our faces for years, only the location changes periodically.
What's happens in a brew place stays in a brew place. This saying most of the time is untrue. Because right down the road there are other brew places talking about the phoney, fake, liars at the other place.
REMEMBER THERE ARE ALWAYS TWO SIDES TO EVERY STORY. An intelligent and opened minded individual knows this.
And remember, it depends upon which aldermen are meeting at the local tavern and which aldermen as face booking. We have 2 standards in this town - those on the "in" and those on the "out".
More trivial comments about who goes to the local pub. 11:48 what is your meaning about who's in and who's out? And what are two standards in town? If you read the blog, you will note that there is many, many negative comments about your current city officials. All but ONE. It looks to be you have 1 in and the rest out. Is that the two standards in this town that you describe? And like 10:47 said, "two sides to every story."
I am not concerned with what a politician does at a local pub because no matter what is decided to be put into a ordinance it will have to be voted upon at city hall in front of all who are interested enough to be in attendance or those who watch the council meeting video.The small numbers at meetings and the lack of citizen participation does concern me. With a increase of participation the quality of representation will increase. The referendum to reorganize the city council would lend itself to better quality of our city's representatives.
10:21 your comments are well taken. You point out that there is a lack of representation. The small number at meetings, or those interested in City matters. One item I have a hard time grasping is the referendum that you support. How does going from eight to six representatives increase city representation of the residents? 10:21 you also reference quality. Does less insure more quality?
In summary it looks to be that this referendum is about getting different representation than you currently have. I get it, but please don't sell this as quality control. If you really thought about quality control, why wouldn't you just run a referendun on replacing the Mayor and all those 8 elected?
11:54 Less representatives could provide better quality representatives. Example, 1st ward had only 2 candidates run at the last election for 2 open seats. If there was an at-large candidate, I'm pretty sure Mueller would not have won, and we might have gotten somebody up there who actually provides ideas and stands on their own two feet.
@11:54 AM Yes, this referendum hopefully will result in getting different representation than some we presently have.
In addition this referendum should be a lasting change, being it calls for 2 at large alderman and also a reduction to 6.
In answering your question on just running a referendum on replacing the mayor and all those 8 elected I do believe you are calling for a impeachment of specific individuals rather than a change in the government structure.
Presently Peru has two wards, the 1st and 3rd, which are filled with bodies rather than representation of their constituents. I believe the reduction to 1 representative per ward will eliminate these bodies and they will be replaced by qualified candidates. The 2 at large will give each ward 3 representatives who will be concerned with the wards problems and wishes.
To 11:54 AM, You are close to understanding the what the At-Large referendum offers, but you must open your mind just a bit more. The referendum offers the "opportunity" for "quality" representation based on the fact that if approved all SIX seats will be up for grabs. The "opportunity" to replace many if not all of the current aldermen is real. That is the VALUE this referendum offers.
If anyone has ideas which they believe will make a improvement in Peru please submit them.
The referendum supporting a change in the number of aldermen /ward and creating at large candidates is such a idea by a group of people who also want improvement.
The decision to implement CHANGE has to start somewhere to create improvement and this is where the decision to start was made.
If successful this CHANGE will only be a start of a transparent government, one in which the majority of YOUR council makes decisions in Peru's favor not in their own.
Could city workers be overpaid for what their job duties are. Do we have too many employees?
City of Peru is a joke. And anybody associated with Mayor Harl and don't stand their ground on what's right and what should be transparent shouldn't be trusted. And I do mean nobody. I love the word "frugal" that Harl used. Phoney Boloney. This administration should be in a history book down the road.
I bet the mayor will regret ever using that word..frugal. And don't forget I believe he used that word after the ghost payroll began.
Could someone please explain these "COMMITTEEE AS A WHOLE" closed session meetings that are now being held an hour before the regularly scheduled "council meetings". The so called "packet" that covers this meeting consists of old committee meeting agendas and minutes. Those meetings were open to the public so why is it now necessary for the mayor and aldermen to discuss them in "private"?
The committee as a whole was brought up by the mayor at the end of a meeting after public comment. This is his way of saying ok I am having these meeting, I did not say they would be open meetings.
Post a Comment