This blog is maintained for the sole purpose of allowing the people of Peru and those interested in the cities of the Illinois Valley to express their views.
“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
Monday, February 24, 2014
Ordinance 4734 Peru
42 comments:
Anonymous
said...
When was this ordinance signed, sealed and delivered?
First may I ask what do you mean by a revolt among city employees and who do you believe it will be directed towards. Remember that the wage freeze ordinance was created in 2010 and now the public works department is a union body which must presently live up to all clauses of the Local 150-city contact. If a member of the group or if the entire group does not follow the rules in the agreed upon contract they can be penalized up to and including a dismissal. All employees in Illinois are employees at will which basically means they can be left go of for anything at any time. With present economic conditions and job environment as it is in Illinois would you risk a $25.00 to $29.00 per hour city job for back pay which is not even questionable. Besides if there is resentment towards anyone the time to proceed with what one deems necessary was 2010 not 2014 and more than four individuals knew this was taking place which makes them as guilty as those those who authorized and those who accepted. Yes, you have read correctly I wrote those who accepted because they are involved and have financially benefited knowing it was wrong. The one question that will never be answered public-ally is "Would the retired judge accept the Investigative position again if he could turn the clock back to when he said YES or does he now believe that he submitted himself to a lose lose situation as most others do? As for the $75/hour , that is not a large amount of money nor is there a large enough amount of money to ever risk hanging ones lifetime reputation on a teeter totter of justice or injustice to salvage the wrongs performed by a few. This case was too simple. Those who were wrong performed the wrong doings knowing they were wrong when performing them. No one was dealing with a bunch of preschoolers.
Anon 4:11 I believe a wildcat strike is illegal in Illinois, and possibly the union would have to financially support the city for all monetary losses. The last thing Local 150 wants is for Harl to lose his mayor position in Peru, Illinois. To them he is the most important union member of the city, retired or active. The unions love a large membership but they also love to fill city positions with their own membership to gain favorable results. When looking at Peru politics you are exploring a union experiment, backing a member enough to get him elected Mayor. Whether most realize it or not it is working well for the union.
You are off base on this situation. This is a wage freeze, meaning employees get a 0% raise for the year for their current job. These employees had added responsibilities/promotion. This is a different pay level, not a raise. Think about whatever job you have; if you go from assistant manager to General Manager, you would get paid more money, even during a wage freeze. Hope this helps. The way it was done was WRONG but there was nothing wrong according to the ordinance.
If the union won't back its members that's illegal. Its a department of labor violation. The union can be fined by the state and federal government. Check their website , it states it, it is a fact . A pay freeze is just that. No raises at all. And the union not going after the city for the rest of the employees is a labor violation.
Anon 8:08 I am not interested in your interpretation of Ordinance No. 4734, only exactly what it states. Sorry, but this is not a love story I am interested only in what the ordinance states word for word, not what you think it means. Most promotions when offered are offered only as a job promotion with a pay raise if mentioned to catch up after the wage freeze is removed. If someone refuses the higher job position because of not getting a pay raise they are passed over and the position is offered to someone who will accept it under the present existing conditions. Many times a person will be given a position with added responsibility and a job title change without any pay raise for 6 months to a year as a probation period. Other times a person is offered a management position at less than he earned as a union employee with the hopes of downstream his pay will zoom upwards. Other times his new position entitles him to less pay with much more security. Still for clarification it is best to live within Ordinance No. 4734 word for word only and exactly what it states. That's why it is put in written form isn't it! A ordinance is a law isn't it and a law is etched in stone until changed.
Anon 9:50 Nowhere in union and non union, private or public services,do I know of that two wrongs make a right. Because the city made payroll mistakes with certain individuals they do not have to multiply the mistakes to make it correct for the balance of the work force. Has a grievance even been filed? There have been rumors of a job related misunderstanding taking place in Peru last week? What disciplinary action has been taken to protect the city if this is true?
Bottom line is this; The Wage Freeze Ordinance was knowingly violated by Mayor Harl. Violation of an ordinance is at least a misdemeanor. The mayor violated the law and should therefore resign or be forced out of office by the aldermen. End of story!
Has anyone from the membership of the union even filed a grievance or is this only at a preliminary stage? There is always the possibility that it could be all talk! The union will most likely will do nothing until a formal, registered grievance is filed. At that point of time the city public works employees may realize how good they had it.
Considering Harl's ties to organized labor there will be no lawsuit or grievance filed by anybody in this matter. The unions will not allow it and the city employees themselves are not svvy enough to know how to pursue it. Stop hoping that someone is somehow going to cause the "downfall" of Harl. The chance that was,is now past and your illustrious aldermen chose 7 to 1 to let Harl walk off Death Row. Remember this, it was Potthoff who had Harl in the Cross-Hairs and he chose NOT to take the shot. That is all the proof I need that Harl and Potthoff made a deal that will reveal itself around April of 2017
What makes you think that the city employees are not savvy enough to know how to pursue a grievance or a lawsuit. They knew how to join a union or how to get SOMEONE involved to show them how to join. As for labor lawyers all they have to do is contact their preference to conduct a lawsuit if the union will not represent them in a justified and professional manner. Personally considering the circumstances I think Local 150 will be very reluctant to represent the city public works employees. Remember although claiming to not have the money Alderman Waldorf is still pushing to do all the road work he can get done. Who else would be committed to do more roadwork than the city can afford? Remember last year the majority of employees doing resurfacing of Peru streets belonged to what Local.
4:42 pm - The fact that Waldorf and the Public Worst Committee have slated more streets for repair than the city has money to complete only proves they are incapable of proper planning. If you can't plan and budget properly you aren't qualified to be an alderman on an important committee. Poor management. Poor representative.
Federal Labor Violation to pay employees back pay for work never performed. Lets see how far that will go. Strike? That will be another funny event. Residents will honk their horns and laugh as they apply for the highest paying jobs in the Illinois Valley area. Its hard to understand how any employee or elected official in PERU would need or want to compensate those already well paid jobs with additional funds that were never earned. We all must live in different times than us who went to work at Westclox or another factory and only expected a fair wage for a fair day of work. Or if you owned a small business that pays taxes and helped the community grow and after 40 years you retired and have to listen to the crap about how much more additional money these city employees should get.
It is not only the Public Worst Committee that is incapable of proper planning. It is these two council members plus three others who are incapable of of seeing the need of a comprehensive plan and budget, incapable of creating a plan and budget, and above all incapable of functioning properly without a plan and budget. Presently there are 3 council members who fulfill the requirements necessary for the council position. They are Dave Potthoff, Rod Perez and Mike Radke. These three council members do their homework and are individual, responsible decision makers. These three aldermen know the value of teamwork but also know that first you must express your individual goals to donate to the team concept. As for the balance of the council it is not working and is in need of being fixed. The restructuring of the council to 6 aldermen with 2 at large is a much needed step in that direction. It has been only a few years ago that this council was given the explanation of how Peru could get 30% more for the same amount of money in roadwork than they were and presently still are. This explanation came from the owner of the consulting engineering firm which the city has employed for nearly 70 years. Because of council members idea of only being responsible for their ward and not the entire city Peru still does not utilize the straight line method of road improvement and because of this the council still has a great amount of roadwork to accomplish without necessary funding. Yes, if you can't plan and budget properly you aren't qualified to be a alderman on a important committee. More important is if you can't plan and budget properly you aren't qualified to be a alderman.
12:18 I only see one of those qualified to plan and budget that is Rod Perez. I think his plan to give the city employees the back pay is in the budget. They can repay the $500,000 out of their city paycheck.
anon 3:12 Your drinking that same kool-aid a few others are tipping. Sometimes any amount of reasoning won't sober you up. Some of us read the newspaper and either incorrect or correctly it was reported the City was short on road projects, about $300,000. And then you turn the page of the news and another reports about the city wanting to give the city employees a bonus of about $500,000-$700,000. I agree on more quality and less quantity.
Rodney is the only alderman that has long and short term goals for the city. He is the only one who has brought up a strategic plan. The other 7 are in my opinion trying to save face and are yes men to the mayor. Why else would they have remained silent at the council meetings and not supported Rodney in at least an apology from the mayor. My problem with this payroll debacle is there is no leadership shown by the mayor. He should have made a statement immediately when this story broke in November, to show the people that he was aware of the problem and would do everything in his power to fix it. But no, he was silent.
SILENCE IS AN OMISSION OF GUILT. Or involved in the wrong doing of something. GEEZE, People learn that at an early age as kids. The less a person says, the less the truth will come out. The silent quiet ones are the worst. Mike Hart needs to run for mayor in 2017, and start fresh and clean house and clean it good. But, Mr. Hart would need to see and observe the people who are trying to suck up to him. I could mention a few on here but won't! As far as paying employees back pay. Think of savings not backing the concerts? Purchasing pallets of bottled water, no parties, no employee gift cert. at Christmas. Continue to have a pay freeze until émployees are paid up. Simple. Harl caused the debt, now taxpayers have to pay.
Big man syndrome people don't apologize. They think they do and have done no wrong. A friend of my family had a spouse that cheating continually and eventually a divorce happened. My friend was committed to the marriage. Eventually a divorce insued. To this day, many many years later the cheater has never apologized to their x(which is a friend of mine). No conscience, no integrity, no values,no compassion, some people think they are too good to apologize or admit guilt of any sorts. I agree Mayor Harl should have come up to the plate so to speak. People tend to be more forgiving of those who take responsibility. Imagine the load lifted off a persons chest also. I hope the city as a whole makes things right with the employees who weren't treated fairly with wages. Think of the taxes from the new business coming where Kmart was. CVS also will be paying more in taxes. Both these places property taxes and sales tax.
What proof does anyone have to state that the Mayor has caused any debt? A specific debt or all debts take place during a Mayors administration but it takes the council to vote upon the reason the debt is created. Very seldom am I in agreement with Mayor Scott Harl but I do not believe it is fair to blame him for the outcome of the councils vote which created Peru's debts. The amount that Peru is in debt is much larger than the "Ghost Payroll" which is utterly stupid, especially since the city has a City Attorney with 30 years to consult. I agree 100% with Alderman Potthoff that 2 wrongs do not make one right and this issue has been played out to its fullest. Union representation cannot come in and bargain in good faith that all or any public works employee is entitled to back pay on account of previous "ghost payments". If anyone is in question please call your alderman to have him address the city attorney during a city council meeting in public for his opinion. To any public works employee who has not received in pay what the contract calls for and after questioning the city has either not getting a explanation or the pay-follow your grievance procedures. If you are lacking proper pay before unionizing follow your employee handbook and city ordinances.
Anon 8:59 The first step of a union grievance is for the employee to represent himself and go to the city supervisor with his problem. If still unsatisfied with any of the city's response he should inform them he is filing a grievance and than go to his union representation and from there on he is represented by the union to the degree which they deem necessary. In this particular case the union could file a grievance if the salaried employee did a union employees work determined by either past practices or contract. At this stage I doubt if the city-union contract has any job classifications which get premium time pay for not reporting in person at a assigned work station. As for the Federal Labor Violation of getting a union person back pay from 4 years ago for work they never were assigned or never were intended to perform, since this involves foreman who were foreman at the time it would be best to not waste your time and to forget it.
I think the question is "should the employees who did not get a wage increase during the wage freeze, get back pay because the rules were broken for 2 employees". It's not a matter of them not working extra hours. They didn't pad their illegally pad their timesheets. So by following the rules, they got screwed. I think they're entitled to whatever the increase would have been paid in a lump sum to each employee who followed the wage freeze. What this mayor and council can't seem to understand is "fairness". Each employee should be treated as every other employee. Trust me, I know, this does not happen in the City of Peru.
Anon 7:15 If you are so concerned with the entire group to be compensated for the incorrect payment of two employees why don't you create some form of a fundraiser to obtain a financial account to pay those whom you believe were cheated. Do you believe that those paid for doing absolutely nothing should have to pay at least that sum back? To expect the taxpayers to make a effort to make 2 wrongs 1 right is not justifiable. To charge the city over half a million dollars because proper morals and ethics were not followed would be a addition to the problem rather than a correction. If employees of the public works department themselves were to push for back pay the amount would be so great that it would be profitable for the city to resort to outsourcing the responsibilities of the entire department. It is always best to not bite the hand that feeds you. Isn't it surprising that this type of business problem is always taking place in Peru. It has only been a couple of years ago that a retired electrical supervisor and than consultant making unrealistic bucks while still on the Peru city payroll and drawing a pension was highly questionable. I as a resident of Peru am getting disgusted with continuous improper bad business practices and the idea that I should pay for them when caught. Does Mayor Harl have enough in his own private war chest to make compensation for his actions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anon 7:15 why don't you start your fundraiser with the Mayor. If he had to surrender that war chest there would not be a repeat performance of a ghost payroll. Isn't it amazing that there is always money for what the politicians want but never any money in the kitty for what the citizens want. How does everyone feel about this?
10:35. Why is it ok for 2 employees to get an increase in wages during a wage freeze? It's not fair! Either give the rest of the employees the increase they didn't get, or make the "golden" two pay back what they got.
Has it ever been proven that there were only two who received extra pay during the wage freeze? All contested pay that was outside of the wage freeze should be paid back, retired and active employees. This investigation should go further to prove innocence or guilty and all political personnel should be forced to carry out their duties whether they like it or not. If anyone is than proven guilty they should lose their position whether political or city employee and be charged accordingly.
12:49 They have this thing called the American Justice system. What you think should happen is not relative. What is the new found contested pay that you feel us tax payers should pay back? Are you willing to pay back your fair share? Lets take 4500 homes and divide it by $500,000. That would be $112.00.
When will city council hold Mayor Harl in contempt of the ordinance? IMPEACHMENT IS IN ORDER. Where is the backbone and spine of which they were to represent us when elected??????
Anon 4:37 Would you reread 12:49's comment? The person is referring to the individuals who received the ghost payroll and that they should have to pay back the pay increase they received during the wage freeze. Would you explain further this thing called the American Justice System that you mention and what a great job the Mayor and members of the council have done with it. Also 4:37 when picking a fight don't lead with your chin.
7:40 Please go back and read the report. It is on the blog site. The person who received the pay was instructed to take the pay by the supervisor.
The supervisor as the report indicated was the Peru Mayor Scott Harl.
The State's Attorney reviewed the report and that is also posted on the blog site.
The Justice system is called the State's Attorney's Office. Alderman Perez has indicated that he is taking the incident to many other offices. As of yet, we have not receieved any update if he was successful or blowing hot air for the audience. I tend to think the latter.
The Justice system also protects those accussed of a crime. The City Council, residents, you, have no other authority to remove anybody from office until election time.
42 comments:
When was this ordinance signed, sealed and delivered?
I predict a revolt among employees that didn't receive the raise that the two special ones got!
They should walk out on strike. If the union won't support them, then call a wild cat strike. Either way, it will be the end of Boss Hurl.
First may I ask what do you mean by a revolt among city employees and who do you believe it will be directed towards. Remember that the wage freeze ordinance was created in 2010 and now the public works department is a union body which must presently live up to all clauses of the Local 150-city contact. If a member of the group or if the entire group does not follow the rules in the agreed upon contract they can be penalized up to and including a dismissal. All employees in Illinois are employees at will which basically means they can be left go of for anything at any time. With present economic conditions and job environment as it is in Illinois would you risk a $25.00 to $29.00 per hour city job for back pay which is not even questionable. Besides if there is resentment towards anyone the time to proceed with what one deems necessary was 2010 not 2014 and more than four individuals knew this was taking place which makes them as guilty as those those who authorized and those who accepted.
Yes, you have read correctly I wrote those who accepted because they are involved and have financially benefited knowing it was wrong.
The one question that will never be answered public-ally is "Would the retired judge accept the Investigative position again if he could turn the clock back to when he said YES or does he now believe that he submitted himself to a lose lose situation as most others do? As for the $75/hour , that is not a large amount of money nor is there a large enough amount of money to ever risk hanging ones lifetime reputation on a teeter totter of justice or injustice to salvage the wrongs performed by a few. This case was too simple. Those who were wrong performed the wrong doings knowing they were wrong when performing them. No one was dealing with a bunch of preschoolers.
Anon 4:11 I believe a wildcat strike is illegal in Illinois, and possibly the union would have to financially support the city for all monetary losses. The last thing Local 150 wants is for Harl to lose his mayor position in Peru, Illinois. To them he is the most important union member of the city, retired or active. The unions love a large membership but they also love to fill city positions with their own membership to gain favorable results. When looking at Peru politics you are exploring a union experiment, backing a member enough to get him elected Mayor. Whether most realize it or not it is working well for the union.
You are off base on this situation. This is a wage freeze, meaning employees get a 0% raise for the year for their current job. These employees had added responsibilities/promotion. This is a different pay level, not a raise. Think about whatever job you have; if you go from assistant manager to General Manager, you would get paid more money, even during a wage freeze. Hope this helps. The way it was done was WRONG but there was nothing wrong according to the ordinance.
what does "left go" mean?
If the union won't back its members that's illegal. Its a department of labor violation. The union can be fined by the state and federal government. Check their website , it states it, it is a fact . A pay freeze is just that. No raises at all. And the union not going after the city for the rest of the employees is a labor violation.
Anon 8:08 I am not interested in your interpretation of Ordinance No. 4734, only exactly what it states. Sorry, but this is not a love story I am interested only in what the ordinance states word for word, not what you think it means. Most promotions when offered are offered only as a job promotion with a pay raise if mentioned to catch up after the wage freeze is removed. If someone refuses the higher job position because of not getting a pay raise they are passed over and the position is offered to someone who will accept it under the present existing conditions. Many times a person will be given a position with added responsibility and a job title change without any pay raise for 6 months to a year as a probation period. Other times a person is offered a management position at less than he earned as a union employee with the hopes of downstream his pay will zoom upwards. Other times his new position entitles him to less pay with much more security.
Still for clarification it is best to live within Ordinance No. 4734 word for word only and exactly what it states. That's why it is put in written form isn't it! A ordinance is a law isn't it and a law is etched in stone until changed.
Anon 9:50 Nowhere in union and non union, private or public services,do I know of that two wrongs make a right. Because the city made payroll mistakes with certain individuals they do not have to multiply the mistakes to make it correct for the balance of the work force. Has a grievance even been filed? There have been rumors of a job related misunderstanding taking place in Peru last week? What disciplinary action has been taken to protect the city if this is true?
Bottom line is this; The Wage Freeze Ordinance was knowingly violated by Mayor Harl. Violation of an ordinance is at least a misdemeanor. The mayor violated the law and should therefore resign or be forced out of office by the aldermen.
End of story!
7:31 you are correct and I wonder why the union is not handling this issue for its members. After all they are the ones paying dues.
Has anyone from the membership of the union even filed a grievance or is this only at a preliminary stage?
There is always the possibility that it could be all talk!
The union will most likely will do nothing until a formal, registered grievance is filed. At that point of time the city public works employees may realize how good they had it.
Considering Harl's ties to organized labor there will be no lawsuit or grievance filed by anybody in this matter. The unions will not allow it and the city employees themselves are not svvy enough to know how to pursue it.
Stop hoping that someone is somehow going to cause the "downfall" of Harl. The chance that was,is now past and your illustrious aldermen chose 7 to 1 to let Harl walk off Death Row. Remember this, it was Potthoff who had Harl in the Cross-Hairs and he chose NOT to take the shot. That is all the proof I need that Harl and Potthoff made a deal that will reveal itself around April of 2017
dont the city workers make enough already?
You cannot force someone out of office in the form of a government we have. And I don't think that there was a 7-1 vote for a firing squad, anon 1:52.
What makes you think that the city employees are not savvy enough to know how to pursue a grievance or a lawsuit. They knew how to join a union or how to get SOMEONE involved to show them how to join. As for labor lawyers all they have to do is contact their preference to conduct a lawsuit if the union will not represent them in a justified and professional manner. Personally considering the circumstances I think Local 150 will be very reluctant to represent the city public works employees. Remember although claiming to not have the money Alderman Waldorf is still pushing to do all the road work he can get done. Who else would be committed to do more roadwork than the city can afford? Remember last year the majority of employees doing resurfacing of Peru streets belonged to what Local.
4:42 pm - The fact that Waldorf and the Public Worst Committee have slated more streets for repair than the city has money to complete only proves they are incapable of proper planning. If you can't plan and budget properly you aren't qualified to be an alderman on an important committee.
Poor management. Poor representative.
150 refuses to help its members get the pay they deserve. That's the problem. Federal labor violation. Where's the feds
Federal Labor Violation to pay employees back pay for work never performed. Lets see how far that will go. Strike? That will be another funny event. Residents will honk their horns and laugh as they apply for the highest paying jobs in the Illinois Valley area. Its hard to understand how any employee or elected official in PERU would need or want to compensate those already well paid jobs with additional funds that were never earned. We all must live in different times than us who went to work at Westclox or another factory and only expected a fair wage for a fair day of work. Or if you owned a small business that pays taxes and helped the community grow and after 40 years you retired and have to listen to the crap about how much more additional money these city employees should get.
*Poor management*
*Poor representative*
It is not only the Public Worst Committee that is incapable of proper planning. It is these two council members plus three others who are incapable of of seeing the need of a comprehensive plan and budget, incapable of creating a plan and budget, and above all incapable of functioning properly without a plan and budget.
Presently there are 3 council members who fulfill the requirements necessary for the council position. They are Dave Potthoff, Rod Perez and Mike Radke. These three council members do their homework and are individual, responsible decision makers. These three aldermen know the value of teamwork but also know that first you must express your individual goals to donate to the team concept.
As for the balance of the council it is not working and is in need of being fixed. The restructuring of the council to 6 aldermen with 2 at large is a much needed step in that direction.
It has been only a few years ago that this council was given the explanation of how Peru could get 30% more for the same amount of money in roadwork than they were and presently still are. This explanation came from the owner of the consulting engineering firm which the city has employed for nearly 70 years. Because of council members idea of only being responsible for their ward and not the entire city Peru still does not utilize the straight line method of road improvement and because of this the council still has a great amount of roadwork to accomplish without necessary funding.
Yes, if you can't plan and budget properly you aren't qualified to be a alderman on a important committee. More important is if you can't plan and budget properly you aren't qualified to be a alderman.
12:18 I only see one of those qualified to plan and budget that is Rod Perez. I think his plan to give the city employees the back pay is in the budget. They can repay the $500,000 out of their city paycheck.
anon 3:12 Your drinking that same kool-aid a few others are tipping. Sometimes any amount of reasoning won't sober you up. Some of us read the newspaper and either incorrect or correctly it was reported the City was short on road projects, about $300,000. And then you turn the page of the news and another reports about the city wanting to give the city employees a bonus of about $500,000-$700,000. I agree on more quality and less quantity.
Rodney is the only alderman that has long and short term goals for the city. He is the only one who has brought up a strategic plan. The other 7 are in my opinion trying to save face and are yes men to the mayor. Why else would they have remained silent at the council meetings and not supported Rodney in at least an apology from the mayor. My problem with this payroll debacle is there is no leadership shown by the mayor. He should have made a statement immediately when this story broke in November, to show the people that he was aware of the problem and would do everything in his power to fix it. But no, he was silent.
SILENCE IS AN OMISSION OF GUILT. Or involved in the wrong doing of something. GEEZE, People learn that at an early age as kids. The less a person says, the less the truth will come out. The silent quiet ones are the worst. Mike Hart needs to run for mayor in 2017, and start fresh and clean house and clean it good. But, Mr. Hart would need to see and observe the people who are trying to suck up to him. I could mention a few on here but won't! As far as paying employees back pay. Think of savings not backing the concerts? Purchasing pallets of bottled water, no parties, no employee gift cert. at Christmas. Continue to have a pay freeze until émployees are paid up. Simple. Harl caused the debt, now taxpayers have to pay.
Big man syndrome people don't apologize. They think they do and have done no wrong. A friend of my family had a spouse that cheating continually and eventually a divorce happened. My friend was committed to the marriage. Eventually a divorce insued. To this day, many many years later the cheater has never apologized to their x(which is a friend of mine). No conscience, no integrity, no values,no compassion, some people think they are too good to apologize or admit guilt of any sorts. I agree Mayor Harl should have come up to the plate so to speak. People tend to be more forgiving of those who take responsibility. Imagine the load lifted off a persons chest also. I hope the city as a whole makes things right with the employees who weren't treated fairly with wages. Think of the taxes from the new business coming where Kmart was. CVS also will be paying more in taxes. Both these places property taxes and sales tax.
So the wage freeze was for one year,right? Did the employees receive a raise when the new contract was negotiated?
What proof does anyone have to state that the Mayor has caused any debt? A specific debt or all debts take place during a Mayors administration but it takes the council to vote upon the reason the debt is created.
Very seldom am I in agreement with Mayor Scott Harl but I do not believe it is fair to blame him for the outcome of the councils vote which created Peru's debts.
The amount that Peru is in debt is much larger than the "Ghost Payroll" which is utterly stupid, especially since the city has a City Attorney with 30 years to consult. I agree 100% with Alderman Potthoff that 2 wrongs do not make one right and this issue has been played out to its fullest. Union representation cannot come in and bargain in good faith that all or any public works employee is entitled to back pay on account of previous "ghost payments". If anyone is in question please call your alderman to have him address the city attorney during a city council meeting in public for his opinion. To any public works employee who has not received in pay what the contract calls for and after questioning the city has either not getting a explanation or the pay-follow your grievance procedures. If you are lacking proper pay before unionizing follow your employee handbook and city ordinances.
Why isn't the union rep/ aka: BA (business agent) involved? That would be the first step of representation for the employees.
Anon 8:59 The first step of a union grievance is for the employee to represent himself and go to the city supervisor with his problem. If still unsatisfied with any of the city's response he should inform them he is filing a grievance and than go to his union representation and from there on he is represented by the union to the degree which they deem necessary. In this particular case the union could file a grievance if the salaried employee did a union employees work determined by either past practices or contract. At this stage I doubt if the city-union contract has any job classifications which get premium time pay for not reporting in person at a assigned work station.
As for the Federal Labor Violation of getting a union person back pay from 4 years ago for work they never were assigned or never were intended to perform, since this involves foreman who were foreman at the time it would be best to not waste your time and to forget it.
440 oh my. This is priceless! What are these short-term plans...giving more wages to city employees?
I think the question is "should the employees who did not get a wage increase during the wage freeze, get back pay because the rules were broken for 2 employees". It's not a matter of them not working extra hours. They didn't pad their illegally pad their timesheets. So by following the rules, they got screwed. I think they're entitled to whatever the increase would have been paid in a lump sum to each employee who followed the wage freeze. What this mayor and council can't seem to understand is "fairness". Each employee should be treated as every other employee. Trust me, I know, this does not happen in the City of Peru.
Anon 7:15 If you are so concerned with the entire group to be compensated for the incorrect payment of two employees why don't you create some form of a fundraiser to obtain a financial account to pay those whom you believe were cheated.
Do you believe that those paid for doing absolutely nothing should have to pay at least that sum back?
To expect the taxpayers to make a effort to make 2 wrongs 1 right is not justifiable. To charge the city over half a million dollars because proper morals and ethics were not followed would be a addition to the problem rather than a correction.
If employees of the public works department themselves were to push for back pay the amount would be so great that it would be profitable for the city to resort to outsourcing the responsibilities of the entire department. It is always best to not bite the hand that feeds you.
Isn't it surprising that this type of business problem is always taking place in Peru. It has only been a couple of years ago that a retired electrical supervisor and than consultant making unrealistic bucks while still on the Peru city payroll and drawing a pension was highly questionable. I as a resident of Peru am getting disgusted with continuous improper bad business practices and the idea that I should pay for them when caught. Does Mayor Harl have enough in his own private war chest to make compensation for his actions!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Anon 7:15 why don't you start your fundraiser with the Mayor. If he had to surrender that war chest there would not be a repeat performance of a ghost payroll.
Isn't it amazing that there is always money for what the politicians want but never any money in the kitty for what the citizens want. How does everyone feel about this?
10:35. Why is it ok for 2 employees to get an increase in wages during a wage freeze? It's not fair! Either give the rest of the employees the increase they didn't get, or make the "golden" two pay back what they got.
10:35 anon. I agree, 7:15 please get serious. Nobody has the thoughts(maybe 1) that employees are being taken advantage of.
Has it ever been proven that there were only two who received extra pay during the wage freeze? All contested pay that was outside of the wage freeze should be paid back, retired and active employees. This investigation should go further to prove innocence or guilty and all political personnel should be forced to carry out their duties whether they like it or not. If anyone is than proven guilty they should lose their position whether political or city employee and be charged accordingly.
12:49 They have this thing called the American Justice system. What you think should happen is not relative. What is the new found contested pay that you feel us tax payers should pay back? Are you willing to pay back your fair share? Lets take 4500 homes and divide it by $500,000. That would be $112.00.
When will city council hold Mayor Harl in contempt of the ordinance? IMPEACHMENT IS IN ORDER. Where is the backbone and spine of which they were to represent us when elected??????
Anon 4:37 Would you reread 12:49's comment? The person is referring to the individuals who received the ghost payroll and that they should have to pay back the pay increase they received during the wage freeze.
Would you explain further this thing called the American Justice System that you mention and what a great job the Mayor and members of the council have done with it.
Also 4:37 when picking a fight don't lead with your chin.
7:40 Please go back and read the report. It is on the blog site. The person who received the pay was instructed to take the pay by the supervisor.
The supervisor as the report indicated was the Peru Mayor Scott Harl.
The State's Attorney reviewed the report and that is also posted on the blog site.
The Justice system is called the State's Attorney's Office. Alderman Perez has indicated that he is taking the incident to many other offices. As of yet, we have not receieved any update if he was successful or blowing hot air for the audience. I tend to think the latter.
The Justice system also protects those accussed of a crime. The City Council, residents, you, have no other authority to remove anybody from office until election time.
to 9:21 what a conclusion you make is just BS.
Ask Pres. Nixon
At first when one or a group of honest people who demand fairness don't succeed try another avenue.
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