These are the facts and it is up to you as to whether it is a legit issue or not.
"Faults" to the transformer were caused by James Hardie equipment dating all the way back to 2006 and 2007. The transformer was removed last summer, shipped out for repair, and returned to service last fall at a total cost of $131,000 including city labor.
Peru taxpayers paid all the cost.
The company that repaired the transformer confirmed in their report to the city that the damage was caused by the "Faults" sustained by the transformer from James Hardie factory equipment.
Ald. Lukosus admitted in the Public Services committee and noted in the minutes of January 5, 2015 that the damage was caused by James Hardie but the city was going to pay all the costs, anyway.
There appears to be no record of any kind indicating who, where or when the actual decision was made to charge Peru taxpayers the cost to repair the transformer. BUT if the issue was discussed in a Closed Session of the full council or any committee, it would not fall into any category of topics that can be legally discussed in closed session as we interpret the legal reasons.
Going to the record of the posted video a few days ago when the mayor was questioned as to why there is no record, his reply was "nobody brought it up".
That kind of sounds like, if you the resident isn't watching all the time, we can certainly do what we want and no one will be even aware that it happened.
TRANSPARENT IN PERU
#jameshardie
#taxpayerfunds
#norecords
61 comments:
You wanted as issue and I have just given you one and now lets hear you side of the Peru decision and why you feel that way.
From James Hardie perspective. Who concluded that the faults were caused by the company? That was not established. Every city has a hand in providing infrastructure improvements to local business. Why has this guy singled James Hardie out? The company pays millions in electric bills, that means local residents have lower bills as a result.
I appreciate that your city is involved and cares about the local industry and support those city officials that have the ability to understand that a job helps the economy. Look out if this election puts in those who have no idea how business works.
Lois: Even if this discussed in closed session, the decision to have the city cover the entire cost would have to be voted on in a full council meeting. No voting decisions can be made in closed session and the minutes of the discussion should be made public knowledge as a decision was made. These are FACTS.
This is what happens when you have the government running something that should be run by a private company. You can bet your behind that if Ameren ran Peru's electric department, they would pass the cost on to that customer.
Time to privatize Peru Electric. Get the politicians out of this business.
Lois I am the one who keeps asking the breakdown of cost between labor and the actual repair cost. What upsets me the most is why the city would not ask for reimbursements for both the labor and repair. Why do they pick and choose who to cater to. Unite moved because a deal could not be worked out and if it is true about the Eagles lodge,well u see where I am going with this. Are the aldermen being told what to do by other in the city or are they making these decisions on their own. Time for a city manager, not administrator.
but when they flood a taxpayers basement screw the taxpayer!
Can somebody go back in the minutes and see what happened with the Eagles? If it is the same situation as JH, why did the city make the Eagles pay but not JH? The City of Peru is notorious for being unfair and playing favorites.
I think that we are going to discover in the very near future that the Peru power grid is overtaxed due to lack of investment in that infrastructure. I've heard people talking that there are several large power users that have started collecting data around power quality. I have heard that there are voltage and frequency fluctuations occurring and this is impacting the efficiency and processes. These fluctuations are almost transparent to the residential user - but not to industrial users. The big users are all collecting data and there may be a cause for action.
1:10 All those were different items and not comparable.
to 12:31 pm, The transformer in question is located at and dedicated solely to the Hardie facility. The faults were identified as far back as 2006 and 2007. The company that repaired the transformer provided a detailed report of their analysis of why and how the transformer was damaged. Their assessment states the failure of the transformer was the result of faults to the transformer. Let me remind you that residential customers like the gentleman who has brought this situation to light pay millions in charges to the city as well. They pay their bills promptly and I am quite certain that if they ever contributed to the failure of a transformer in their neighborhood due to something "faulty" on their side of the Meter, the city would have little if any sympathy for the residential customer. Are you trying to tell us that we citizens should be "beholden" to James Hardie because they are a large power user in Peru. I hope not, because that is a rather inappropriate and "establishment" way of thinking. We are a community, remember. We do not differentiate electric power uswers by class or by designating industry as more important or commercial as more deserving than the simple residential customers of Peru. At least reasonable folks don't do that. Do you?
to 12:31 pm, The transformer in question is located at and dedicated solely to the Hardie facility. The faults were identified as far back as 2006 and 2007. The company that repaired the transformer provided a detailed report of their analysis of why and how the transformer was damaged. Their assessment states the failure of the transformer was the result of faults to the transformer. Let me remind you that residential customers like the gentleman who has brought this situation to light pay millions in charges to the city as well. They pay their bills promptly and I am quite certain that if they ever contributed to the failure of a transformer in their neighborhood due to something "faulty" on their side of the Meter, the city would have little if any sympathy for the residential customer. Are you trying to tell us that we citizens should be "beholden" to James Hardie because they are a large power user in Peru. I hope not, because that is a rather inappropriate and "establishment" way of thinking. We are a community, remember. We do not differentiate electric power uswers by class or by designating industry as more important or commercial as more deserving than the simple residential customers of Peru. At least reasonable folks don't do that. Do you?
1:47 of course they are all different that is not the point. The point is how are those decisions made and by who? You must be someone from the city so u should be better able to explain, than the answer you gave.
1:10 anon aka (city official),would you please explain?
Or was the Eagles another closed session decision? I can't find any minutes pertaining to any Eagles dispute and I've gone back as far as 2011. Speaking of closed sessions, Lois do you know if there's record of the council voting to release closed session minutes? City officials are suppose to vote to release them and I haven't seen anything like that mentioned in any minutes neither. I'm told Dave Waldorf is the biggest proponent of Not releasing minutes to the public. I was told this by the mayor just over a year ago as we were all chummy at the Right Spice one Saturday night with Bob Vickery. The mayor told a couple of us that Dave Waldorf is firm about not releasing minutes and for some reason the rest follow his path.
I believe the situation is quite the opposite. I believe that Peru power is contributing to the damage to industrial equipment.
I'm willing to bet that the city is at fault.
And I believe it is James hardie that u can smell throughout the entire city....wet cardboard. Is this smell that is being emitted safe to the citizens?
James Hardi needs to PAY! And it is time that we organize that plant. We need union workers on that line NOW!
Get out the RAT boys. We'll break them or run them out of town!
Anon 4:12 PM Are you presently a employee of James Hardie or have you ever been? This is a internal situation. As for the RAT it has no business being displayed at this plant or anywhere else in Peru.
The city does not need nor want such a sick replica of what a organization believes anyone who does not join them but has found a workplace they are happy in and are making a satisfactory living appears as. All who have displaced the rodent are out of townees who have difficulty getting and holding a decent job.
There is no way a union shop can and presently is competing with a non union shop. The only union shops getting work today are bidding on big jobs, as for small or home projects no one can afford them. Everyone today wants to hire a handy man with a good reputation.
That smell you smell around Peru is the smell of economic development. We need MORE stinky factories.
Dave Waldorf is the biggest voice against releasing closed session minutes. There is no reason the closed session minutes cannot be released after what is being discussed is either approved or voted down. The only closed session minutes that should never be released are employee related issues.
Why is the james hardie issue coming up a year later? Are you really a concerned citizen or just starting rumors? If you have a fact, please state it and tell us where we can find the supporting documents to back up your claim.
January of 2015 is not a year ago
Still two signs at Harrison and 4th for potthoff
This is the perfect reason why public works meetings should not be held at 9 or 10 am...waldorf wants to bulldoze everyone so instead of facing resistance he chooses to have the meeting during the day and they are run by Chamlin and test not him.
We are going to find out that the electrical power issue in Peru is getting quite serious. It is not just the cost that made Eakas build their factory in LaSalle. Their process requires clean power. Peru power often has voltage and frequency fluctuations that can damage equipment and is generally bad for some industrial processes.
8:08..."A new Unytite plant in La Salle "
It was Unytite, not Eakas that built a second plant in LaSalle..also, they got a much better deal on the land...not power related....Please don't write without checking facts..that's why sometimes the blog is laughed at....Peru's power is clean...if it want we would have read/ heard about a lot of problems, not just JH.
12:37 - sometimes people post from memory. It's how people have conversations. Do you "fact check" before you talk to friends. Well - that is what this technology is - talking to friends.
So - as part of my fact checking, I've put a power monitor in my house. You would be surprised how often the voltage in Peru is outside of the acceptable range. I'll publish that data after I've collected about six months worth. It has absolutely no effect on any electronics I have - but it would be bad for an industrial user over an extended period of time.
And also 8:08 - the "cost" of power was one of the reasons for the new plant in LaSalle. They got a good deal all around. And clean power to boot.
Funny seeing other alderman out with Dave p knocking doors turning up the heat on election time...poor ethics are now the standard in our city
3:22 Pm
I have heard rumors of the rest of the aldermen beside Lukosus jumping into the fray to help Alderman Waldorf win re election even rumors of writing a letter to 3rd ward residents to tell the residents they all want Ald. Waldorf re elected so please vote for him.
The question all 3rd ward residents need to be asking themselves is "What are the remaining alderman afraid of?" Term limits, time for new faces and new ideas.
You won't get term limits, as much as I am in favor of them, to get new people in, the person running will have to work very hard meeting the people and expressing his ideas. This was proven when Radtke worked hard twice the 1st ward knocking the incumbent out and the second ward knocking a sitting alderperson out, also Perez working as hard to become an alderman. Don't align yourself with any group or other elected officials it's all about the person selling himself to the public.
There is something to be said about someone with new ideas, what are current alderman afraid of. I heard today that even the City Clerk has jumped into the mix, typical peru politics as everyone is going to jump on the new guy with new ideas!
Very disappointing to hear elected officials trying to squash new ideas.
Is Bartley concerned that he could be out of a job with a city manager in place?
3:55 and 4:42 What are you talking about? If the sitting aldermen are pushing for Waldorf, Payton, and Potthoff what are they afraid might happen or be found out if Perez and Nelson get elected? I know Lukosis has a Waldorf and Potthoff sign in his yard. Are other forms of support for these aldermen being performed and if so, what?
4:25 Radtke won because of the Radtke/Debo name.
6:17 PM
For years Peru has had non informed voters and they voted by a name they were familiar with. And then again we go back to the friends and family, neighbors and associates. I had thought we had begun to break the cycle by providing a vehicle for people to express themselves.
Everybody knew Harry Debo down at the hardware store who was pretty well liked and the name recognition is still a factor. In other words Peru does not welcome many newcomers into the inner circle. Makes one think they are watching a very old movie, with the ladies whispering into their gloves over their mouth and giving off with a bit of gossip about newcomers in town.
We have unknowlingly let some very motivated self interested people into our government. The word devious enters into mind also.
4:25, your not anywhere close to being correct, he won because he worked very hard in both wards to get elected. You evidently don't know him that well outside of the blog. The first time around Lois supported him. It's easy to make stupid comments like that, shows your intelligence.
7:59 PM
Yes Mike appeared to be an honest man and uninvolved with any politicians currently in office but he soon fell under the spell of Mayor Harl. I am beginning to think it may have something to do with the larger umbrella of the Democratic vs Republican parties. I have never associated myself with any political party and voted for people based on what they believed in and that is why I initially supported Scott Harl and then wham he showed his true colors. He would support anyone that had the big D in front of his name whether they had any integrity or not. He is nothing more than a politician and I fear mike is going down the same path.
I went to school with Mike. He's 2 years younger than me and the same age as my sister. Mike R. has always been a "all about me" kinda guy. Mr. Know it all who would stab you in the back if given the opportunity. his brother is the same way it's a power thing they need. As you see one is a cop and one is a "corrupt politician" it's the corrupt politicians who appear to be in control.it don't surprise me reading this stuff about him. Things are slowly changing in small town politics and that is due to today's technology and social media. The power of new age social media is beginning to be the difference and works in changing the old ways of political corruption and changing the way people vote. For instance the Mautino election where a no name came out of the woodwork and for the most part just about took out a "Mautino"
Social media is changing the political arena and is damaging the old ways Lois mentioned above. Today there are no more whispers in the ears, now they blurt it out into social media world as they sit at a theater or dinner table. Additional Proof of my theory is the most recent. If it wasn't for social media and today's technology Both Dave's signs would still be sitting illegally in those yards but the power of the people behind social media is what took them down.
9:06, wrong on two counts, 1 what makes him a corrupt politician, name one thing he did that was corrupt,2 the only reason the signs were changed, because someone came to the meeting and complained. I don't really think you know Mike.
9;24 Re-read 9:06's comment. Their reference to the signs was with regard to Dave Potthoff not Mike.
Is he part of the Cari Street Cabal?
@9:06 Supporting "No bid" contracts and voting to give a 3million dollar contract to a friend who takes city officials out for annual steak dinners and one who tells people mayors under the table pay raise scandal should've been left alone so the city wouldn't look bad is pure corruption in my eyes.Mike R and other city officials who meet to plan an attack on other candidates is wrong. they are representatives for the city tax payers so when they go out knocking on doors to campaign for henchmen to me is wrong (my personal opinion) My wife was home two weeks ago when Mike Radtke came to our door campaigning for Perez's opponent Payton.
This all shows me this administration is desperate to keep the status quo alive. If they were out yesterday campaigning for Potthoff then that means they are working extremely hard to keep the Perez's out.
10:51, I made a comment about two subjects 9:06 made, the first being about Radtke the other referencing his statement saying the signs of Waldorf and Potthoff were changed because of the blog.
Anon 1:22 this is 9:06. Please re-read my comment again. No where did I mention the blog as being the social media site as the one that made the two Dave's move their signs. It's today's people working with social media to bring in the change such as movement of signs.
If it wasn't for social media which includes but not limited to the blog, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram which this sign fiasco reached all those sites. Because people like Sherry Mayszak and the lady who wrote the open forum and the guy who went to the council meeting ALL first heard of this through social media. That's how it spread and furiated tax payers/voters.it sure wasn't the News Tribune or Miler Media Group that caught the attention to this sign issue. It was in fact the brave people behind the blog and other social media that forced those signs down. The same sources that take down the old status quo.
"What does it matter now anyway?!"
three instances of Peru power dipping below 80 volts and two of it spiking above 130 volts this weekend.
Thank you 9:59 our official electrical monitor. You clearly know nothing about power distribution. Go monitor Ameren or any others and see what you get. Some fluctuation is normal. Stop with the conspiracies.
Normal? How so? Why is this outside of the standards listed in ANSI c84.1? Maybe you should update yourself. Those voltages are clearly outside the acceptable levels.
Hey, lets go to a council meeting and ask Lukosus to explain all about this voltage fluctuation situation some are talking about here. I'm sure the alderman with the "electric personality" will answer all our questions about the distribution system just like he explained all about the James Hardie $130,000 handout. OOOPS! I just fell on the floor laughing.
Who is supervisor of the electric department??????? They also should be the ones to explain. We pay them to oversee it. RIGHT????
The Peru Electrical Department is actually a very professional crew. If you have questions that you think are serious, why would you not just call them? Why sit on a computer and talk about it to no one? Call them and ask if you have a question.
Who's supervisor of the electric department?
I'm a reasonably intelligent person with an electronics background. I'm trying to figure out how anything on the customer's load could damage a transformer in an electrical substation. The substation is designed to shed the load in favor of keeping the grid up. If, for some reason, they started every motor in the plant up at the same time, causing a huge but momentary inrush demand for current cause the protective equipment at the substation to trip?
On the other hand, if the factory continuously demanded more current than the substation could provide reliably, either during peek hours or otherwise, would it not be the utilities responsibility to make appropriate upgrades?
Industrial facilities do have peek power agreements with their utilities. What is written in Peru's? This would spell out the requirements. It would also spell out the penalties if the peek power is exceeded.
I don't think the transformer is the real issue. I think management of the Utility is in question. Peru's electrical department probably has first class electricians. But does the Peru Power Utility have First Class engineers to design and maintain the grid and does the Peru Power Utility have the appropriate utility industry "business knowledge" necessary to manage it?
I think we are at a cross roads for Peru Power. It has been used as a cash cow to supplement the general fund. This money needs to be used to hire the appropriate professionals to manage the business as well as maintain and upgraded the electrical distribution system.
12:53 PM
Police Chief
Wrong 4:03. He oversees public works and the head of the electrical department reports to him. The police chief is not in charge of the electrical department any more than the CEO of the hospital is in charge of the ER.
So who is head of the electric department?
9:47 PM, Great question. Based on the information provided the Police Chief and the Fire Chief oversee both sides of the Public Works Departments. Based on that information it appears there is no qualified supervision over the Electric Department or the Streets or the Water and Sewer Departments. To answer your question, Nobody is in charge!
9:47 The ASM who is also the Police Chief.
6:50, your wrong the chiefs are in charge of the electric dept, the supervisor oversees the daily operation, he reports to them.
is it not time to get the two greed mongers out of the city and hire intelligent people who are qualified for the positions?
Anon 3:11 PM To hire intelligent people who are qualified for the positions you need intelligent people.
Alderman Waldorf and Alderman Lukosis who comprised the Public Works Department Committee have the responsibility for the present management structure.
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