How effectively is Mayor Harl and this administration using your elected aldermen?The residents of this city put a stop to change in the aldermanic ward system on March 18, when they voted no to reducing the number of aldermen. If you can get beyond thinking about your ward and the relationship you have with your aldermen and think how is he/she working within this municipal government, read on. Being a part of this government has to be more than coming to a city council meeting twice a month and casting your yes or no vote on topics put before this council. We would hope that he/she is serving on one or two committees and learning about the inner workings of the city and doing this consistently, so that when he votes he understands why he is voting as he/she is.
If he arrives on meeting night and has only attended his own committee meeting for the previous month, he will be totally unaware of what topics are really important and how the vote he/she makes will be dependent upon info heard listening to a 2 minute presentation by the chairman of the committee such as Public Works and vote and hope for the best.
When Mayor Harl reduced all committeees to 2 alderman from the 3 previously held positions on a committee,I don't know what he hoped to accomplish but it certainly has changed how the aldermen learn about the city inner workings.
Following this you will see the agenda for Monday mornings Public Works Committee followed by the minutes from the last published minutes of the Public Works Committee. I think we all know that that committee is monitored by Alderman Lukosus and Waldorf but the work on that committee is run by Test and Chamlin engineering.
So then I thought about the remaining committees which are Public Safety (Ferrari & Sapienza), Public Property (Perez & Mueller), Finance (Radtke & Potthoff).
Finance meets regularly twice a month and as does Public Property but that committee has had something removed and that is the Airport which is now in Public Works .
Now we come to Public Safety (Sapienza and Ferrari), this committee has met once this year and has no minutes posted for this year. They don't meet because they have nothing to discuss. This is a total waste, to put 2 aldermen on it, one of whom is one of the longest serving on the council and the other one of the newest. Surely its topics could be incorporated into another committee, if the members are only going to meeting rarely. Why not increase Finance and Public Works to 3 members and also Public Property?
Was this done for control by the mayor? What is the reasoning? If we have 2 alderman on a committee which is not pertinent to the running of this city, why not eliminate it and add the topics to Public Property since they just had the airport removed from their venue.
The 2 extra aldermen which the people said we need must be put into positions where they have something to work on and learn.
I will add that some of the aldermen do attend meetings which they are not involved with. The last Finance mtg, Ald. Sapienza and Lukosus attended in addition to Radtke and Potthoff. But they need to be on working committees not just a name on paper. We certainly have enough problems in this city to keep all of them working more than now.
If you have not read the following 2 posts, please continue.
51 comments:
I do agree there should be three alderman on each committee. I also feel the city is running better today then in a long time and I hear many other good things are in the works.
On another subject ! Why does Peru have so many squad cars ? Most sit 16 hours a day or longer outside their house ? If we have that many then we should hire more police to keep them on the road around the clock ! ? Maybe I'm wrong but seems to be a waists of money !
The fire department is the same . Pick up at house command vehicle at house ? To much waste ! No wonder city is broke ?
Where was the mayor and 4 alderman today...not at city opening ceremonies...my 4 votes in my household will not forget.
Please please find us a new 3rd ward alderman
Anon 6:10 Why hire more police to man each squad car? What does each fully equipped car cost plus the officer driving? Why not reduce the number of police officers and the number of squad cars?
If you take a short ride in Peru you will always see at least 2 squad cars and sometimes more. Easy to know because the majority of cars on the road are squad cars and often time you will not see another car than a police car on the road. Maybe they are watching each other.
Reading the daily papers siren report I know for a fact that there is seldom a problem in Peru and all traffic problems are in the surrounding towns such as Mendota, Ottawa, LaSalle and Earlville. But yet we have all these policemen. What % of Peru's expenditures in the 2015 budget are going to the PPD?
I read on a facebook page in which the person lives on Pike Street I believe. This persons facebook page posted a video and two other picture posts of water continually coming down the street. This has continuously been going on for 24 hours. The fb poster was asking why this hasn't been fixed! The fb poster is correct!
We need more police to keep the people in line.
Somewhere in the police chain there is a weak link if we need more police. When you make a open end comment that we need more police to keep the people in line do
you mean that a police force of 26 is to small to do the job or that 26 should be enough if they are the right ones. If we need more police why was the Peru Police Dept patrolling Interstate 80?
What is the morale of the PPD or the Public Works Department or the Electric Department or the Fire Dept. I mean morale in terms that you can't buy with pizza lunches but the kind you get when you back your men and pat them on the back and tell them you think they are doing a great job.
You don't understand. We need more police to keep the people in line. The average citizen requires watching, otherwise they get in the way of what is best for them - what is best is what the government needs to do. So, we need high ratio of police to citizens just to prevent the citizens from causing trouble.
I would like to see the video of the water running down the street. Where can it be found? Can anybody find it and post it on this forum? thanks
9:00 PM
Turn up the sound on your computer, the water does not look like it is running but he sound will tell you it is. I am referring to the last post that I put on which is the small picture of water on the street.
I know plenty of officers at PPD and can assure you they have 25 officers , not 26. Officers who live in Peru get to take their cars home if they want. If you live out of town you have to drive to work and take a fleet car.Every national study including theirs has shown that take home cars not only reduces crime but saves taxpayers tons of money because of reduced maintenance costs.Also officers who take their cars home have people in there neighborhood thrilled with the car sitting on the street near there homes. The PPD is the most professional run and best department around. I wonder if the posters now going after the police department the dispatchers and officers has been in a police car but maybe in the back seat? This is all ridiculous.
Anon 8:26 Slow but sure catching on. A good ratio of citizen - police surveillance to citizen action would be 1 on 1 ratio to prevent a troublesome society. For maximum police efficiency I would suggest 2 policemen watching each individual law enforcement officer.
Peru's major problems of citizenship are limited to approximately the same 2%-3% and those few outsiders travelling thru town. Many of the major expenses of Peru are the exhorbent amounts of money which should have been added to the city revenue and never were. This practice was carried on by some Department Heads and a few employees. Big bucks which never reached the city from day one but many know they should have.
Proof of these shenanigans keep one city official busy for weeks destroying any and all records and what remained was supposedly relocated.
Do Aldermen Ferrari or Alderwoman Mueller ever do anything but sit on the council, They never bring anything to the table, or comment on anything. This is why I voted for 2 at large, I would have had someone looking out for us in the first ward. right now I don't. Very Very Sad.
Well said 8:44. Just more sick and ridiculous comments. We have an awesome police department, very responsive fire department and emergency personnel and excellent schools. I am a critic of the mayor because I do not think he is capable of leading but I do not get all of the crazy and ugly comments on here. Offer something positive or a solution. This is just nuts.
@11:30 The most awesome thing about the PPD is its numbers. Search and Protect is Quantity over Quality in Peru. The most harassing police department Peru has ever had. Harass, Harass, Harass! If everyone used their turn signals Peru could disband their police department.
Wherever you drive the PPD have someone pulled over with their red and blues flashing but there are never any reports of arrests in the daily fish wrapper. With a high number of officers comes a huge payroll, so why have local Peru police been assigned to I-80?
Why are they on I-80. That is a good question. Well - the answer is there is generally a lot of cash and property that can be confiscated on I-80. Police departments have been conditioned to "patrol" I-80 in search of vehicles that look like they are carrying drugs (you can even see the IDNR "Conservation Cops" parked on I-80). When they find one, local law enforcement gets to keep the cash and sometimes the property. Every once in a while they get a big one. Mind you, it is not about keeping drugs off the streets - if they wanted to do that they could just repeatedly bust the local users until they no longer can afford the habit. No - they want easy cash to fund their toys to use for more "drug enforcement."
If you ask me, we should "decriminalize" most of the drugs anyway.
@8:44 AM Before expressing another's opinion, understand it's meaning. Of course maintenance costs per of a companys suto fleet will be lower if only used one shift and driven home to sit than it will if the auto is used around the clock.
A true figure is reached when you accumulate the overall expense of a fully equipped squad car being used 24 hours rather than for one shift and sitting. This figure easily done must be over the same time frame (purchase to departure from the department) and same purchase price. Remember trucking lines want to keep the rubber to the road and wheels rolling. Wonder Why?
Yes , local police get to keep 65% of their find in drug money, still I ask why would a local police department such as Peru which has enough drugs within its own boundaries not eliminate its own drug problem before it goes to I80 which is patrolled by the State Police.
Share your experience 2:13. How have you been harassed? Be specific. Did you get harassed over your turn signal? Please share your horrible experience.
I find our police department to be helpful and very reasonable. By contrast, your post is pitiful and you clearly have absolutely ZERO idea what the police department actually does. Of course, this is the place where can say anything with no credibility whatsoever.
I'll tell you what, if you ever need them and they are there in about one minute like they were for me and have been for countless others, I'll bet even you might hold back from your stupid comments. Same with the disparaging comments about the newspaper. If it is so bad drop your subscription.
Lois the comments on here get worse by the day. This is so pathetic it is beyond belief.
Another meeting at township tonight are we getting 2 for 1 with township meeting this year?
I have criticized this city ad nauseum, but have always found the PD and emergency response to be first rate.
We have some excellent officers. There's no getting around that point.
I wish Bernabei was less of a homie, and did less butt kissing to the local elite, but that does not mean I don't respect his department or skills. I don't think many chiefs of Police could survive in Peru without being selective in which laws they enforce.
@7:45 "I don't think many Chiefs of Police could survive in Peru without being selective in which laws they enforce"
There are 3 branches of government, legislative, judicial and executive. These three different branches have separate responsibilities which all three must perform effectively for the legal system to function properly. Nowhere is it stated that any one of these branches has the responsibility of being selective in which laws they choice to enforce and to whom. Your statement reeks of admittance that certain laws are not enforced and certain people are excused while others are not.
Anon 10:29 Very good point. I hope that you don't mind if I add that nowhere is it stated that any one of these branches has the responsibility of being selective in which laws they choice to enforce and to whom. They also do not have the authority to make a choice, but are to enforce the all laws fairly and equally to all.
Recently heard this comment on television, he is bought and paid for. What is the meaning of this comment. If I remember correctly it was on the show Chicago Police.
11:16, are you serious? You don't know what that expression means?
I have it on very good authority that there is a list at the Peru Police Department of people that are never to get tickets. It's a list the mayor makes up. A couple of the police officers refused to adhere to this list and got in trouble because of it.
Sadly this list is one of the criteria used in a efficiency of managing a department. A mortal sin such as this flunks the entire department and is the reason all must become involved so not certain people are picked out as trouble makers. No one wants a Cane Mutiny or accusations of being a whistle blower but sometimes you have to do what you have to do. Politics does not belong in a police department nor should a politician be in charge of it.
When I said a Peru PD chief had to be selective I did not "reek" anything. Stated a fact. Not a pleasant fact, but a truth. All law enforcement has discretion in some instances, all prosecutor branches also choose when prosecution is applicable, and the reason there is a supreme court is because law is not black and white.
Simple minded polyanna statements do nothing. There is no absolute right and wrong, except for some bloggers on here that think anything Peru does is wrong and anything they say is right. Peru cops are a good force, and Bernabei is a decent chief. Every Peru chief has ignored gambling, drinking and driving, and certain families. It is not perfect, but I stand by the fact there are very good cops in Peru.
When the leadership changes, you might see a new enforcement protocol, but cops do not run cities, Mayors and Alderpersons do.
Just heard on the radio that another "Concert for a Cause" is being planned for July 13th. I don't remember the council voting on this issue yet. Does anyone? Don't they have to anymore? Does she have soul possession of our airport for these concerts and can have a concert at anytime without council approval? The last thing I heard mention with regards to these concerts was that Ms. Noonan wanted to add parking spaces and have all rights to the airport. Was this voted on?
9:27 AM
In the Public Works minutes from March 3, is the following and I quote
"Clerk Bartley said that he has been in contact with the Department of Aeronautics in
regards to the concerts at the airport due to an email they received from Kristy Mrowicki.
He assured them that there are no concerts scheduled as of yet"
Evidently more back room deals because this has not come before the finance committee or the city council for approval.
9:27 How can the concert promoter advertise this concert when the council has not approved it? Something smells in Peru!
For a concert event to be announced by Ms. Noonan before an agreement is discussed and formal approval to be voted on by the city council is just another clear indication that nobody is in charge of steering this sinking ship we call Peru. What an embarrassment these elected officials continue to be. They might as well just give exclusive rights to Merry Noonan. At least she has the ability to plan and execute something. Hell, give her Harl's office. He's not using it anyway.
Delay delay delay-----deny, deny, deny! Vague, vague vague!
So what group will be playing? I want to start sending emails to them informing them of the actual situation. What "charity" is going to benefit? I want to scratch them from my donation list.
It was in one of those phony news spots on WLPO - funny how their news sounds like an advertisement sometimes. Two unknown country singers, Thomas Rhett and Cole Swindell.
The "news" spot did not mention the location of this "Concert for a Profit", nor did it mention the unlucky charity who's name will be used to justify the massive government waste and massive alcohol profits to the promoter.
How long will our gullible, entertainment starved, yokels put up with this farce of a charity event?
I do know for a fact that last years concert results in no money for the cause.
There is no guarantee that each and every concert for a cause will be a home run for the designated recipient. Unlike political fund raisers such as golf outings or spaghetti dinners which are used to accumulate one's private "war chest" a concert has some expenses.
Possibly the concert is at a advantage because it does not have to open its financial account of profits but who can verify the true donations to a war chest. Also in a fair debate of one over the other consideration must be taken in of legal arm twisting applied to vendors and laundering of money practiced by politicians in their donations to one another.
Each does receive equal treatment in the use of government property for accumulation of private funds.
Incidentally what is the total finances accumulated in the Mayors private war chest and has any donations been removed from it?
@1:20 I heard a radio ad for the concert and it said it will be at the Peru airport.
How much does it cost to rent the airport? I want to hold a kegger this summer and need a place.
4:42 there is of course no" guarantee", thats the pat answer made up in the fantasy minds of the promoter and everyone who goes all weak in the knees over alleged big names coming to Peru.
But if there is no guarantee, then why call it a fund raiser, a charity concert, if the charity is the "last" one paid on the balance sheet? Why doesn't the charity receive 2 bucks a ticket, off the top, and why is the event continued even as it "loses" money time and again? It is because the concession revenue is very profitable. always. And it is not audited or touched, it is all cash, all profit, and USES the free labor from groups who may or may not get their table scrap donation.
It would really on just stink a little if it were called the Pizza concerts, with a little line saying a portion of the proceeds go to charity. But it is not and has not been presented as such. It has been constantly called a charity concert, benefit concert, fund raiser... Even it's name implies to the consumer the PRIMARY reason for the concert is the CAUSE. It rides the coat tails of legit concerts like Farm Aid, and creates goodwill in an area where somebody throws a fund raiser if someone stubs their toe! Read the implication by the Mayor in his petition to the FAA. Read the misleading ordinance.
They are charity concerts whenever Miller and La Grottos is selling them, and for profit whenever someone challenges them. Can't have it both ways.
I only drink the hard stuff, like scotch and water/jack and coke/ vodka on the rocks 7;17. Can you be accommodated to me with this request? Much appreciated! If so, count me in for a ticket.
Noonan should guarantee $10,000 to the charity organization that she picks. Working those concerts is hard work. It can be hot, rainy, and you stand the whole night. I would never again agree to work a concert without a guaranteed amount for my charity.
Heck, Woodstock let people bring lawn chairs. These concerts are nothing more then a drunk fest with music. With teenagers in attendance observing. What kind of role model is this city to our youth? And yes, I occasionally enjoy alcohol beverages and I do listen to music and I have also attended numerous concerts. None at the airport however but I've been told by some of my friends who have gone and said they got a contact high. This meaning there was pot being smoked right on the grounds of the airport, and they would testify to this.
@10:02 I, as you, have never been to a airport concert so what little knowledge I have is hearsay. Knowing that it is a venue sanctioned and attended by the Mayor and city council held on federal, state and city funded property and approved by various government agencies with city police, other policing agencies and fireman physically present with no arrests made I have doubts to what your friends are claiming. I can assure you that the Chief of Police of Peru is highly educated in drug and alcohol law enforcement and that he in no way would allow this public drug usage or excess consumption and would direct his police department as such no matter who told him differently. I also do not believe that the character of the people who attend the concerts are drug users and they would only drink alcohol responsibly.
11:29 - what are you smoking?
Anon 11:29 So nice to see someone have a positive, health attitude towards the concerts. The airport could and should become a center of recreation. I've heard talk of the group that wanted to have dog sled pulls at Baker Lake will be back again to ask to stage their event at the airport.
11:29 AM
If there were NO drug used at the concert I would be surprised, very surprised.
Several years ago I asked our police chief whether there would be drug sniffing dogs at the concert at the airport and he answered NO with no explanation. If he would like to explain again to all of us, we would welcome it.
The concert is located on city property and we should be able to bring in dogs to check out what is actually happening. Is this unreasonable? Or better yet, we should require the promoter to bring some in and they would have to be verified by our PPD.
One night at the concerts or Water Street on the 4th of July and a drug sniffing dog could earn enough pension years to retire.
11:29 your comment is dripping with sarcasm! I have been to several concerts and they are a drunk fest with good music and no place to sit but on the ground. If you do take a chance on sitting, you will get stomped on. It's very similar to a Jimmy Buffet concert.
4:39 I think you are on to something, it would be the perfect place for pickleball.
My alderman role in this administration is to toot his horn to any tune the Mayor tells him to and he is doing a exceptional job of it. Time is no hindrance to the mans ability to not only excel at tooting his own horn but to be nominated for Political Bonehead of the Year.
Post a Comment