News Tribune news on Peru City Council Meeting
This article is confusing in the paragraph that mentions the combined salaries equaling $342,000. Former Supt. Gary and Bleck and former electric dept supervisor Jim Potthoff are 2 people, who is the third?
77 comments:
The way I read it was the Administrative Assistant retired and it was her salary and benefits added to Bleck and Jim Potthoff's that added up to the $342,000. It says none of these positions will be filled, so my question is was an Admin Asst really needed if the position is not being filled again?
9:30 PM
The only Administrative Asst, I was ever aware of was Ms Heiser Addis, and she is still on staff.
What about the admin asst that served Gary Bleck, not Heidi?
There has been an administrative person at electric for 20 years who just retired this week. There was also one in public works plus heidi. Bernabei and King reorganized the work of the 3 to now just 2. So what is your complaint with that decision. I am sure you have to find fault somehow. I mean really.
I'm pretty sure the Electric Dept had a secretary aka Administrative Assistant. I'd feel bad if I was her because by not filling her position, they're saying she wasn't needed.
Lois: I think they're referring to the secretary (administrative assistant) that worked at the electric department. I believe Ms. Tonelli is taking over her position plus some of the public works. Heidi will help with public works and also help Mr. King with his building inspection position.
Evidently I have not heard the other city employees refer to those 2 ladies as administrative assistants but more commonly called secretaries and of course I knew that. Heidi was always paid as the mayors administrative assistant. Thanks to those who answered me politely and to those who didn't it is what I would expect of some of our elected officials and families. And with that attitude you don't represent the city well.
Positions known as administrative assistance, AKA:'Secretary's, know the job better then the person who is in charge of a department. They sometimes tell their supervisior what to do.
Why don't we outsource electric and water billing as well as payroll? It sounds like we have a lot of people tied up in those tasks.
I keep hearing airplanes taking off from the airport in the morning and on weekends. Are they allowed to do that so early? Sometimes it is even before 7:00 AM!
How are the logistics of combining 3 positions into 2 going to work? Is Ms. Tonelli going to be splitting her time between city hall and the electric dept office?
Only on this blog would people complain about airport traffic. What some communities wouldn't give. Wow. Do you really think they should schedule flights around your sleeping schedule? Please.
11:14. Absolutely. There is no reason for flights to take off or land before 7:00 AM or at all on weekends.
Now that it is summer, we are going to start hearing the law mowers, weed whackers, and leaf blowers again! People should only be allowed to use those things Monday through Friday between 9:00 AM and 3:00PM Only! People should not be doing that sort of work at odd hours - especially on weekends and in the evening!
Um, many of us work at our jobs during the time you're proposing yard work dedicated times M-F. You must be either retired or unemployed.
I complain about many things about the airport and live near it. But I would never complain about when flights arrive or take off. I knew when I moved that airports are twenty four seven. I ask only that the follow the FAA altitude rules, no more than that.
11:14-Do you work?, or are you retired? I work full time and leave my house anywhere from 6/7 am and return home anywhere from 4/6 pm. How do you suggest I perform lawn maintenance? People that work full time jobs during the hours of 9 to 5 monday through friday need the evening and or weekend to perofrm lawn care, if we dont, then people will complain about un kept lawns. Peru has a noise ordinance, you should look it up!
Anon 12:01 Lawn mowers, weed whackers and leaf blowers used only Monday through Friday between the hours of 9 AM and # PM. Did you ever give any thought that the majority of people are earning a living at work during those hours?
12:45 I believe you meant to address that to 12:01 not 11:14. 12:01 thinks flights should only take off during daytime work hours and mowing should happen at the same time. We can only hope they were just being sarcastic. If not then welcome to crazy town.
Anyone know why phase is building new Unytite building on north 30th road by Flying J in LaSalle ?
12:01's comment is so ridiculous, it's obviously a joke, and not worthy of any comment. Certainly not even worthy of being posted.
There is a family that lives next door to me and they mow their lawn at night when it's dark. I could care less when they mow it. Next thing will be someone will complain about the timing of people cooking on their grills. However, let me say I'm very disappointed in Harls administration and with all the alderman except for maybe 2 for how the council meetings have been conducted with all the closed session and the lack if knowledge in issues where they vote yes to just go along with the majority. , how contracts are given, how people are appointed positions without the experience needed, concerts, pickleball fiasco, etc....
the pickleball thing is about noise also. Hmmmmmmmm.....
What are you insinuating 5:14?Hmmmmmmm
When are the new pickleball courts coming to Washington Park? The weather is good, so it should be happening soon???
I'm insinuating that the pickelball scandal is just as ridicules as the post I made about the grass cutting. We have a lot of "busy bodies" in Peru that like things "just the way they where" and will not under any circumstance allow any change.
Well folks, things must change and I can only wish that a 727 was landing every hour at the Peru airport. I can only wish that people would be sent to prison for running tickets in Peru. I can only wish that we had ten new factories open up in Peru and we had more young people than old people.
Speaking of administrative position..has anyone scene annual treasurers report on township website...the highest paid secretary in the area is township secretary....she must make at least 60 grand...seems to me this is a waste of money
I was talking to an alderman and he was furious that he found out recently that Liberty does the payroll for the city fire dept. It seems liberty votes and elects one of its members to do the payroll for fire calls . Isn't that illegal ? Why do we have an HR person to do payroll . I thought they were all city employees ? How much payroll fraud is going on in the fire dept? Seems wrong that they do their own payroll report?
8:42 what does the secretary if the township do? What 6 miles of road???? Maybe that position needs to be consolidated with another position. City of peru is doing that.
7:24 you should have a aviation need study done here. This constant belief that that boondoggle of an airport is going to somehow be the key that makes a giant employer set up here is nonsense.
The Illinois Valley is a great place for centralized warehouses for GROUND and even barge shipping, but air travel is a different beast, with major hubs essentially surrounding us. For regional travel we need to focus on RAIL and connecting this area to Chicago.
The airport, from a business standpoint, is so much fluff, and if you need a corporate jet 10 minutes away, I guess that's great, but you are NOT gonna become a people mover, or Air Freight hub. There is not enough populace within the zone of service, it overlaps with Midway, Ohare, Rockford, Moline and even Springfield and even ST Louis. Strategically, we are well situated for air travel, even if the next concert accidentally blows up the fuel storage tank.
Township secretary position is being modified. Go to a township meeting and you will hear all about it.
Most people in Peru are retired. Those that are not can afford to hire a lawn care service. Peru should institute quiet hours regarding lawn care. It will make Peru a much nicer place to live and it will create jobs which is one of the most important functions of government.
Don't confuse the Peru Township with the road district. They are different. I don't believe the "secretary" does any work for the road district.
Everyone needs to understand - I keep saying it over and over and over - The Peru Township Road district is a different government body. It has its own tax and its own elected commissioner. They just happen to be in the same building. Neither the township board of trustees nor the supervisor has any jurisdiction over the highway commissioner or the road district's employees.
That being said - we need to work to eliminate the unnecessary road district which only has about 7 miles of roads.
9:36 Are you telling us that an alderman just learned about this now? Shouldn't they make it their job to find out these things when elected? I don't know if this is true or not but if it is it's disheartening to know that an alderman was not aware of what's happening in Peru.
Big deal the Township is acting on a Secretary position, while keeping all of there own inflated salaries intact.
wouldnt the FBI investigation un cover who is in charge of the fire department payroll, and if it is legal or not? we all have heard of the financial allegations pertaining to PFD/Liberty. with what i have heard, i would not doubt if they are controlling thier own payroll.
Another payroll scam could be looming!
12:12, obviously you don't know how the pay for the township is figured. The current twp trustees can't do anything to lower their salaries at this time. They can vote to lower it for the trustees who get voted in at the next election, so you can thank the previous trustees for making their salaries so high. Acting on the secretary's salary is step 1 in a number of steps happening to reduce spending at the township. Stay tuned.......
Have they voted for new lower salaries? No...didn't think that was the top priority. Many voters may have thought that was the top agenda item while they campaigned for office, I guess they can pick on the secretary who does all the work, and leave their own salaries in place.
We need to do away with the township system in LaSalle County. There are a number of counties in Southern Illinois that have done this. They may have served a purpose in 1860, but township's are totally useless today.
Here is a question. With Jeff King being appointed by Harl as full-time fire chief does he get a check from Liberty Fire Company for each call he goes on? Not included in his $84,000 salary? Here is what is astonishing, Isn't alderman Perez a fireman? If so, he would have known because he would get his check from Liberty and not the city. We as taxpayers have a right to have answers here. Is city giving money to Liberty to make payroll to the fireman? Possibly Mr. King could provide us with information. THE CITY SEEMS TO LIKE TO KEEP TAXPAYERS GUESSING. Wonder why? Also, some are against this town forum BLOGSITE. I find it to be informative. Keep up the good work to all who participate in their community.
6:59 PM
I am pretty sure that Jeff King, Fire Chief, does not get paid per call, only paid the designated salary.
Lois, can you be possitive of that, that Mr King does not recieve any pay from Liberty? I ask how can he be appointed to a 84,ooo doller a year city job and still be involved in his business, where is his commitmnet? At 84k a year, I would be commited, where is he focusing his time? Peru or his company, we as taxpayers have and deserve the right for a full commitment form any city employee!!
Thought the city had nothing to do with the Liberty Fire Company. Are fireman city employees(volunteer firefighters, paid per call)? Who does pay them? The city? air Liberty Fire Company? The four full-time fire Engineers are city employees and are paid by the city and receive a pension when retired. But, the questions are being asked about the volunteer fireman(paid per call). With this being mentioned, now I question the issue that had to do with the Operation Promise Donation from the car show a while back as to it being put into the wrong account and wasn't discovered where it was until donation was questioned as to its whereabouts. Do I remember this correctly? Alderman Perez gets paid as a volunteer fireman(paid per call), who pays him? city?liberty?
3:32
wrong! the trustees can donate any part of their salaries or their $500 medical reimbursement back to the township anytime they want to from what i heard!
10:39 PM
I was told by a reliable source that Mr King is in the process of selling his company.
3:32- how much of your salary do you donate back to your employer?
Don't count on elected officials to put themselves out of a job. It is up to the citizens to do this.
No matter who is elected, Peru Township will not change. It will continue to do what it does forever.
If we want to change anything, WE the CITIZENS need to say we have had enough and do away with that particular government body. We can do this. LaSalle County would simply need to change to a Commission County. Elected officials will not do this - we need to.
Why do we need a Township? It serves no purpose. Why do we need a Road district with virtually no roads? It serves no purpose.
Lets get it on the ballot and get rid of these useless redundant governments. Don't count on anyone holding office to help - they are actually the enemy in this case and will resist any change to the way thins are currently structured.
Mr. King can do whatever he wants in his off time. If he wants to work another job, he has every right to do that, as long as it doesn't interfere with his city responsibilities.
9:03
I know one trustee does donate half his township trustee salary. You are assuming none of them donate their salary, but you are wrong! Why don't you ask the ones who ran for the election on their word that they would donate a portion of their salary, if in fact, they have done that. Don't try to make the trustees look bad when you don't have the facts.
The hr dept does not do fire man's pay. It is done by a fireman who is elected by liberty . been like that for 100+ years .
Going back to 9:36's blog. Very interresing. Which Alderman was surprised about Liberty paying fireman? I do know of fireman who are no longer on the fire department that said THEY WERE PAID ONCE A MONTH FOR FIRE CALLS THE WENT ON and that they were paid by Liberty Fire Company with a check, not from the city. So, donation money pays the fireman? Are funds funneled from the city books into Liberty's books(accounts)? Those fireman who are not members of the Liberty Fire Company who pays them? the city? Wasn't it blogged on here that Alderman Perez/firefighter is not a member of Liberty? Thought I read that? He would be a person who would know.
11:11, isn't it in Mr. King's job description as full-time fire chief to go to fire calls? Aren't fire calls a part of his full-time position/as fire chief with the city? Fire calls can be anytime 24/7. A full-time fire chiefs position is basically to serve their community 24/7. Like a doctors schedule. A yearly breakdown of fire calls would be interesting to know, as far as percentages of car accidents, carbon monoxide calls, false alarms, fires. These blogs are very interesting and can make a person really think.
Why are you asking these questions here? Why don't you call the fire chief and ask your question? Or someone who knows? Why in the world do you people spout nonsense back and forth. Call the source and get the facts. Don't tell me you won't get facts until you have tried.
If I want to know the price of eggs at the grocery store I'm calling or going to the grocery store, not asking 10 bloggers to get 10 answers. Please. This is so ridiculous.
You mean the HR department for the city? Doesnt do volunteer firemans payroll? Who is the cities HR employee?
We should have a county based public safety organization. Get rid of these small time volunteer fire departments and Barney Fife police departments.
All firemen volunteer and full time engineers are city employees. This has been stated time and time again. All paychecks go through the city clerks office.
Brilliant 1:56. Until you actually need prompt emergency assistance. Talk it down all you want, Peru does not have a "Barney Fife" Police Department. More foolishness from the peanut gallery.
I'm not saying the police and fire should only be in Ottawa and respond all over the county. I'm saying that all the municipal police and fire departments should be united and controlled by the county.
Lois, my husband was on the fire department for many many years. He alway received pay from Liberty Fire Company in the form of a check. His w-2 was from Liberty not the city. Could it be that they are considered city employees for insurance purposes? Unless within the last couple years it has been changed, the volunteer fireman were paid by Liberty.
1:34, have you ever tried to call Mr King? I have tried numerous times , left messagees only to get ignored!
I thought he worked for us tax payers!
What made you think that Mr. King worked for the taxpayers? He works for Boss Harl.
Send Mr King an email through the city web site. I have and he has answered.
9:28 yes I have. He's actually a nice guy and pretty responsive. I find it hard it hard to believe that if you left a rational message with a good question that you did not get a response. If your question was anything like half of the BS that is on here doing nothing but ripping this man or making some stupid accusation, then if it were most people they would not respond to you either.
I get so tired of "he works for us as taxpayers." He has a JOB to do and is paid by the taxpayers. YOU are not US. People who work for governments, police or fire departments or schools are NOT your personal servants. They are paid to do a job and as a taxpayer that is what they SHOULD be doing.
Not saying you did but if the message you left was like some of the crap some people post on here then I hope the man did not waste one minute responding to you because that would be a waste of MY tax dollars.
And 9:49 Jeff King, Doug B and the other people you trash were here long before Harl and will be here long after. At least that is what the vast majority of people hope as we have a lot of good people running things despite some of the flaws with the mayor. When you stop the personal attacks and name calling with nothing to back it up then maybe you will get somewhere.
These guys do their job every day without hardly a complaint from the masses. How many of you could do the same? Yet you will listen to a pathetic soul or two who didn't get their way. Too bad. You just keep sitting behind your computer and call people names and cry and wonder why no one listens.
Let me give you some advice. You are talking to the wrong people. Get off the blog and set up a meeting and actually go talk to someone if you have a sensible question. I will bet that some of these people some of you say horrible things about you have never actually even met personally. Stop talking to yourselves. If you actually care you will do what sensible people do is talk, be respectful and ask questions. If you are in the wacky 5 or 10 percent that is convinced everything is a conspiracy then please keep posting here so we can keep up the good entertainment.
Me too and he has answered immediately as has Mr. Bernabei.
The annual salaries of of the two chiefs are questionable. Peru is a city of 10,000 not a city of 75,000 to a 100,000 which normally would demand their pay.
Yes Peru has problems but not to the numbers that a larger city has. In bigger cities bigger buildings and multi story buildings which take greater skill to fight fires.
Present chiefs of other big cities making less than Bernabei and King would consider Peru a semi- retirement occupation. If you don't believe this how do you think that they accepted additional duties if their jobs are full time.
The Chief of Police and Fire Chief of Springfield both make about the same as our chiefs make.
@4:39 OUCH!
not true 439 but why worry about the truth.
actually it is true. Springfield publishes that salaries on line according to the law - unlike some cities around here.
Does anyone know retirement age for full time firefighters? Are they required to take a full physical and vision tests I saw one today on west and 7th go up on curb while turning and I was sure the light pole was going to be hit!
Hope it wasn't in the new fire truck!!
1:07 like very pro Harl Peru poster. They say, that is not true. They not post any information, web links, anything to show that the horrible , conspiracy complainers are lying.
A simple," that is not true, but why worry about the truth "
Is the main argument of all the good and decent Peru leaders and pro Peru crowd.
I had someone call me a liar on here just a few days ago. But they did tell me what I should do, which is what I did. Now the government IS helping me. You just need to go outside Peru to get help!
Too many spirits
11:06 your wrong, the Township has changed. The names on the new paychecks are different than the names on the old paychecks, the salaries are the same. That was the reform that they promised.
Not sure if this post will make it because it is such a positive but here goes. Been listening to the scanner since the storm hit. Trees do, power off all over town. In minutes and I mean minutes city electric called and power out was restored, city public works out and streets being cleared, ESDA, police and firemen out. Another nearby town with power out and told Ameren ETA 90 minutes. King and Bernabei out commanding the situation. Peru shines again. Like I said doubt this will male the blog.
7:01 PM
They were out and maybe had not been home from the day shift when the weather hit. Power was not out all over down. The east end blinked but that was it and north of Shooting Park Rd was also fine. There seems to be a major outage on Calhoun between 7th and 8th with the whole street blocked and lots of electric dept. vehicles. Also was a problem at Main and Pike with power out due to a pole or tree that came down.
The east and west end and most of the north fared well.
7:01, people call Ameren. Fire department toned out as SOP! Nice try with the plug you gave. Goodnight!
7:01 Peru shines again? Really?
Only in this backwater union nest do people need extreme praise every time they do their job.
Maybe Peru does a good job at shooting bad guys and handling disasters. I am more concerned with their plans for everyday development. Their inclusion of opposition, their efforts at real transparency, their handling of our tax dollars, their plans for repairing infrastructure, their cooperation with other towns (not their obsession with leading them).
Peru shines. Lets just stay positive in Podunk.
It's called "the job description" 7:01. High winds, heavy rains. A couple of trees down. A friend of mine called the power company. Your blogs makes it seem as though someone invented the light bulb. I agree with 7:16's blog, not the phony bologna 7:01's smoochy smoochy one.
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