Princeton finds its new city manager - LaSalle News Tribune - LaSalle, IL
Great news for Princeton, a local area native to be the new City Manager. I am sure many will be watching how this develops. Peru Town Forum wishes her the best in her new job.
49 comments:
"... qualifications include managing substantial capital and general budgets, developing utility policies, improved economic development initiatives, and working with multiple collective bargaining units... "
What will Peru get? A political hack appointed by the Mayor. The Mayor who will soon be appointed as a Political Hack for Michael Madigan. Oh... as my stomach turns...
What a pleasure to see city leaders who understand and acknowledge the critical importance of hiring a qualified and competent city manager to run their city's day to day operations. Princeton officials have demonstrated an unselfish and thoughtful mindset that allows them to place the best interests of their community above their own personal political interests by hiring a city manager to fulfill a number of important roles in their city government.
In contrast, I give you Peru IL, A city with the most selfish, self-centered, politically polarizing leadership in the state who are adamently opposed to honest and ethical leadership because honest and ethical leadership would upset the business as usual motive of operation in Peru that consists of elected officials protecting the financial interests of connected companies and individuals while maintaining political power through mayoral appointments of department heads who are charged with maintaining political control of their resective departments and all employees.
The young lady hired by Princeton has an impressive resume and experience that could bring the honesty and integrity that Peru governemnt so desperately needs. The one (1) City Manager hired by Princeton could easily replace no less than six (6) of Peru's political hires and elected officials and at the same time bring honesty to the dishonest system created by Don Baker and refined by Scott Harl. Here's how it could happen after changing to Council-Manager form of government and how much salary could be saved; HR Director / a political hire @ $80,000 including benefits, GONE, don't need her with a City Manager who will handle all personnel issues including collective bargaining. Finance Direcor / a political hire @ $70,000 including benfits, GONE, don't need him with a manager who handles all budgets and other financials. Clerk & Treasurer with combined salaries @ $80,000 plus benefits, GONE or at least duties and salaries substantially reduced. City Manager handles oversight of Clerks office and Tresurer position is essentially eliminated by state statute under Council-Manager governemnt. The two phony lobbyists @ $50,00 annually, GONE, no need for phony lobbyists when you have a professional City Manager who knows how to promote and develop a community. And never forget that the city manager will hire all department heads. Once an honest manger comes on board and realizes the political crap that Harl has installed both Bernabei and King will be relieved of duty and the two-headed snake will be dead. Qualified and honest department heads will then be hired by the City Manager. It's all possible people. The existing elected officials in Peru will fight Council-Manager at every step of the way becuase they are so corrupted by their own arrogance and belief that "they" actually have the skills to run the day to day operations of Peru. A referendum is the only way Peru will ever even have a chance to rid itself of the current corrupt political system of patronage appointments and power grabs that Harl uses to dominate Peru government. Kudos to Princeton for have shown mature, responsible, and unselfish leadership to move their city forward. In Peru, our elected officials have a lot of growing up to do. Sad to say but Council-Manager will have to be shoved down the throats of Peru's narrow-minded council and power brokers. But it CAN be done. What now shall we do? What now shall we do?
@8:58 AM How is the HR director a political hire? Is she a relative or friend of somebody? She was already in place when I got involved in Peru politics.
8:58, nice essay, your ending with what shall we do is simple, quit talking about it and get out a petition and change it, or are you one of those that has all the answers but no backbone to do something about it.
The HR director was a professional brought in from a private industry. No connections, she is from downstate. Again no facts just made up garbage.
8:58, you can't get rid of everyone, they are not supermen or women, they oversee the system and run it as they seem fit, with the help of the people you think the city can get rid of.
To 10:32 am, It's obvious you have not been involved in Peru politics as long as I have. Kim Reece, HR Director was a political hire by Don Baker. Baker neede a patsy HR Director way back during the nasty collective bargaining battles of the late 80's thru the 90's. Those two battles were between Baker and the cops who wanted to organize and the electric department guys who wanted to organize. Baker needed to have a patsy HR Director on staff to do his dirty work and dirty tricks of firings, layoffs, and pressuring other employees to vote against union representation. He knew he had to insulate himself from direct intimidation and illegal tactics he used to try to keep the unions out of "his city" as he always called it. She never had any qualifications or skills then and she still doesn't as far as I can tell. I don't know what her actual connection was to get her foot in the door but there was certainly a connection involved. She did the old man's bidding against the organizing effort and her loyalty was rewarded with a full-time patronage position with no real duties while Baker was in office because he took care of all personnel issues himself. Harl kept her on because he realized she had value to insulate him from personnel issues as well. So 10:32 am, if you would like any further Peru Political History lessons, just let me know. People really need to have a better knowledge of the history of Peru's unique form of corruption to understand how that corruption has evolved over the years and how it has been adapted to its present form by people like Scott Harl and others for their own personal political advantage. You're Welcome.
Government workers should not be allowed to organize.
I see according to our Public Services meeting's agenda that they will approve hiring the "selected candidate" for the apprentice lineman position. What lineman left us and why can't we ever reveal replacement names until they are already on the payroll for several weeks? What is so mysterious about these new hirees? Are they all a friend of a friend, or a relative of a worker? Has Mr. Vickrey side kick been hired yet? And how about the part=time city clerk office worker?
12:51. You know, if we had a City Manager, the council would have nothing to do with hiring and firing of a position like this.
This is like having a meeting of the Board of Directors to hire an entry level position.
We need to change the form of government to Council-Manager and hire a competent manger to take care of the day to day operation of the city. Aldermen and Mayor should not be selecting the employees.
8:58 AND 11:13
Mr. Conspiracy,
You have now attempted to link the HR manager in your web of conspiracy of Peru current and past leadership? Wasn't it just a few short months ago that you were screaming for professionals to handle Peru? And we got a professional engineer, a CPA, and yes Peru has a professional HR Director. Not sure what you mean by political hacks? That term doesn't apply to the recent professional positions. And if we read between the line that so called Management-Council was defeated in the last referendum. Next on the agenda is the task force recommendation. Rumors call this extensive study by well respected leaders of our community to indicate that the Manager-Council form of government not needed. Do we really need another high priced administrator?
I guess were only 17 months away from the next election. Maybe it's time for the next smear campaign for new officials? Can't wait for the next conspiracy.
4:97 PM
The council manager form of government was never put to a referendum in Peru. The only thing voted upon was the aldermen at large and went down but I also think lots of people have had second thoughts on that one but I hope we leave it go for now.
The council manager will probably be on the next Presidential election ballot.
Princeton only has a new City Manager because the new Mayor told the old one to resign. I understand they have a new electric supervisor for the same reason. If Peru hires a city manager he will do whatever the city council tells him to, because if he doesn't the city council will send him packing. Just like Princeton did.
6:17 PM
That is not the common happening if what you say in Princeton is true. Streator and Sterling both have effective City Managers working well for the city. Many others that I don't know about are also.The city of Chatham is looking for a city manager/administrator, we can watch them also. As a arule City Managers are more effective than mayors simply because they have the knowledge and education that most mayors don't.
I would require a majority vote of the council AND a legitimate reason to fire a City Manager. The position is defined quite well in the Illinois Municipal Code, which is written to protect the Manager from political influence.
There is a storm a brewing in the upper levels of the LaSalle County Democrats... Big news from Springfield soon... heard the local DEMS will be bowing to Chicago Power.... some promises will be made, some broken, and some arms twisted.
Waiting for the spin machine. Funny how it never published anything about the up and coming new opposition party challenger for the beer seller's seat.
Time to get a gourmet burger and bowl of chili while watching the sand trucks roll by on our Industrial River Front. Ahhhh... nothing like the smell of crony money early in the morning.
To 4:07 PM, No, we do not need another high-priced administrator. That's the point. Let's consolidate the existing high-priced administrator salaries into a City Manager. Geez. I do not read any "conspiracy" into the comments from 8:58 or 11:13. So I don't get "your" point. Those comments contain detailed explanations of events from Peru's past. I have lived in Peru for a long time and I remember those labor battles and how personal it was with Don Baker. I remember the hiring of the HR person and I recall wondering then and I still wonder today why a city of 10,000 needs an HR Director? If you have knowledge of these past hires and events why don't you share them? 8:58 AM described $280,000 in elected and appointed salaries that could be saved by consolidating their duties in a City Manager and that amount does not include reducing the excessive salaries of the Police Chief and Fire Chief,(approaching $200,000 including benefits)by replacing them and lowering those two salaries to what they should be. Why would anybody oppose having a City Manager in Peru?
7:50 A.M.
You are right and because Rauner rightfully froze the giving out of grants from this nearly bankrupt state that cannot afford to fulfill the grant was the right thing to do.
And the right thing for our city to have done was called "giving back to the community". The Friends of the Peru Pool have some money and Peru should have stepped up or perhaps I should say Manned up and contributed enough to build the Splash Pad for the kids but no they instead put the money of which their seems to be plenty into more and more salaries.
Our city has not grown and in fact has less people now and we have more high powered and overpaid executives some of whom are not handling their expected jobs that well in spite of the pats on the back by the council and mayor but that is for another posting.
With the exception of public safety, the city should not have more than ten employees or so.
Public Works / Water / Wastewater - should be contracted out. Have three guys (one engineer) to manage the contracts and interface with the 24/7 on-call contracted service.
Parks and Recreation - one guy to manage the parks. All maintenance contracted out.
Electric Department - Sell it to Ameren.
Clerks Office - Replace the elected clerk and budget director with a city manager and staff. Five people. Outsource payroll. Outsource the water and garbage billing.
7:50
You really believe that the so called Administrator or City Manager position will handle the job of a CPA, City engineer, Supt of Public Works, Supt of Electric, Human resources, Bld. inspector, full-time fire chief, economic development officer? The Mayor and city council were unanimous in the fact that Peru did not need the salary of a City Manager. Why have all the tasks consolidated with one position? The City of Dixon recently moved away from the commission form with the recent loss of $54 million in the hands of one City administrator.
10:23, wow, you have all the answers without any knowledge of what it takes to run a city. Hope you didn't waste all your money on education.
the task force spoke and made it clear based on the group now there is no need to go out and hire a administrator. They said we already have one and it is working better then ever.
11:50 AM
Your condensed version of the report is not correct so I suggest you read it in its entirety.
They also said that they need a better plan than the one we don't have which of course Peru never has a plan. Any thinking person would realize your comment is politically motivated. I attended all the meetings except 2 closed sessions and listened to discussions by chief one and chief two and there were lots of holes in both of their answers.
And on days like this when I hear about a police officer shot in northern Illinois I think about the fact that we now have a part time police chief and part time fire chief when we need full people working those departments to provide safety for the residents of Peru.
As Peru continues its downward slide. imo
7:50 The conspiracy point was made as your blogs suggest everyone and everyone is corrupt. Your point about the unions and perceived that Mayor Baker blocked unions? We all understand that you are union all the way from the short blog about the HR manager. My question is the same question that many of us have. Are unions helpful from a governmental point of view? Do they help keep our tax rates? Do they provide a return for taxpayers? Maybe the former Mayor saw something in the shadows that the union way may not be the best way in running a city. Just a thought...... Why do we make claims about dishonesty whenever someone is opposed to the union of government workers?
10:46 You do realize, don't you, that we already have 2 individuals who are supposedly doing the majority of the jobs you mentioned (i.e. supt of public works, supt of electric department, ASM, PSM, fire chief, police chief, ESDA directors, building inspector, township rep, code enforcement office, etc.)? However, do you also realize that a true city administrator or a true city manager would come with the proper credentials to fill such a high paid and important position (i.e. proper college degree, experience, knowledge, etc,)? While those who are currently running the city appear to be doing a good job are they really qualified to continue to do so and what will happen if and when they decide to move on?
11:20, as long as you have people that understand how a contract works and the correct contractors, any city can use the private sector to do everything with the possible exception of public safety. There is no reason on earth for Peru to own a power plant and distribution system. Sell it. Pipes and water, get a competent engineer to oversee the contractors. No need for a city employee to hold a shovel - contract that out. Chances are, if all the labor is contracted, there will be no need for collective bargaining, since there will be no union. IMRF costs will be much lower also.
I'm confident - 10 to 15 competent people could manage the city. With the exception of Police, Fire, and Ambulance. Those are much harder to outsource and would probably cost more to do that way around here. But in time I think private security companies will be manning our police forces.
1:10
How easy it was to list a majority of jobs that have no involvement to the city. The ASM and PSM are titles, not tasks. The township rep. has nothing to do with the city. And if I recall he had the most votes in the last township election. ESDA was combined with the police department. College degrees are overrated and if you look on the Peru City council a number of those council members it is evident that many are overeducated without experience.
1:10 did you ever hear of the slogan...if it isn't broke don't fix it? Much to do about nothing.
What does the township have to do with this? That useless body should be dissolved - they do nothing but collect taxes. The township road district - which is a separate entity only loosely connected to the township - is also useless.
As a City, we can't do anything about the useless township government. But we can do something about the useless township road district. Simply annex a few acres of property and some roads and it will be gone. That little sub division on the south side of the river will have to do without the municipal taxpayers paying for their road. They can gripe and cry to the county. Down With The Road District!
3:17 What? The jobs I listed have no involvement to the city? What? They are all jobs that pertain to the running and management of the city? These 2 individuals are in charge of all that goes on in the city.
3:17 What? The jobs I listed have no involvement to the city? What? They are all jobs that pertain to the running and management of the city? These 2 individuals are in charge of all that goes on in the city.
3:43 P.M.
The Ottawa newspaper did a write up on the Ottawa and Sreator townships, and how much was spent on assistance. Todays paper and it is online.
Lois, put the township salary and how much they give away in assistance and compare to Ottawa, LaSalle and Streator. Since we name names in the City of Peru, put a salary to the name. And how they are connected.
I have a feeling that those township positions are the ultimate reward for political insiders. Let's discuss the close links with those in charge at the city.
Township's only offer assistance for people that don't qualify for other government assistance - an extremely limited demographic, if they are actually needy.
The article incorrectly states that the townships take care of roads. Not true. Township Road Districts do that - and not all townships have a road district. They are separate governments only loosely connected - they usually share a building and some administrative tasks. The Township Clerk, for example, also serves as the road district clerk and assists the elected road commissioner. But, the road districts maintain their own budget and spend their own money.
The amount of aid provided by the townships is extremely low compared to the cost of administering it.
To 10:46 AM, You are twisting my comment way out of proportion and you are mistaken in your assumptions. I said a City Manager will replace #1 the HR Director, #2 the Finance Officer, #3 & #4 both Lobbyists, and also assume the oversight of #5 the Clerk's office and finally the duties of #6 the Tresurer. That's a total in salaries and benefits of about $280,000. I never said anything about a City Manager replacing an engineer or police and fire chiefs, but I did say that a City Manager would have the authority to fire those two political appointees and hire qualified chiefs at a much reduced salary. You are also incorrect in your statement regarding Dixon, IL. The person responsible for stealing money from the people of Dixon was the long time City Clerk, she was an elected official, not a City Manager or City Administrator. In fact, if Dixon had a City Manager watching over its financials the dishonest clerk would never have been able to steal all that money. Dixon had nobody in charge with the qualifications and professional ethics to prevent the theft of taxpayer funds. Just like Peru right now. I also am thrilled to inform you that the city of Dixon recently changed to Council-Manager form of government in order to get their house in order and avoid future embezzlement by elected officials. Do you understand 10:46 AM? You really should get your facts straight before you speak.
Hey 10:46 AM - You have been served! LOL!
Back to the Township. Ottawa claims that it pays the township officials too much and they gave aid to South Ottawa of $14,000 and Ottawa nearly a million. Peru township officials are still quiet on how much aid. And still quiet on who is on payroll and how much. Direct link to political insiders from Peru. Former campaign managers make the most.
8:01 How many times do you want to make false representations? Peru has one lobbyist in Springfield, Vickery serves as economic development. This position is to promote business. A city manager will likely need a HR person and a finance person, the clerk and treasurer are elected positions and won't go away. If you were to replace finance and HR, savings would be maybe $100,000 and you would pray the college grad would have the experience of a CPA and professional human resource manager. I would think not!
Good old Rita from Dixon served as finance officer, clerk, and had the oversight of one falling asleep Mayor. Yes, one person in charge of every aspect that includes economic development, finances, human resources, payables and receivables. It sounds like you prefer that method? It looks like your promoting paying more and getting less, or paying more and sleeping less.
Oh.... how the butter just flows in Peru. Can't say buttering the bread anymore, need to say buttering the popcorn.
To 12:50 PM, OMG. Blah blah blah, status quo status quo. Forget about it. You are incapable of common sense and simple reasoning. You are wasting my time.
"...the clerk and treasurer are elected positions and won't go away."
This can definitely happen when the government is changed to Council-Manager. It needs to be specified on the ballot, but it can happen and usually does.
Oh, by the way, Dixon had a commission form of government, similar to the hybrid government that has unofficially been allowed to take charge in Peru. Rita Crudwell was a hired political appointee and was utilized because the elected officials did not have the ability to manage the finances of the city. In light of the embezzlement by the political appointee - Dixon has deiced to hire change their government to the managerial form and hire a manager that as statutory power AND proper credentials.
I predict that Peru will face a similar compelling reason to change the form of government within the next few years. We already have a Mayor that, by his own admission, broke the law to reward politically connected city employees with overtime payments they did not deserve for hours they did not actually work. What else is happening within the dark recesses of Fourth and Fulton?
10:05 am, I agree with everything you say, except that I believe the embezzler from Dixon was the elected City Clerk. Pretty sure about that one.
10:50 Your point is good. After a few of the financial hawks leave Peru government I would feel good about the manager change. Right now we have a few very good experienced officials involved.
10:22, if you can accept Wikipedia as a source... "Rita A. Crundwell (born January 10, 1953) was the appointed comptroller and treasurer of Dixon, Illinois, from 1983 to 2012, and the admitted operator of what is believed to be the largest municipal fraud in American history..."
I do not believe the Commission form of Government has an elected Treasurer or City Clerk.
Peru needs someone to oversee the cleanup of the city streets,curbs with weeds 2 feet high in them. garbage cans with no lids on them ,garbage blowing down the streets, sewers and catch basins, full of trash, and weeds growing in them. I HAVE NEVER SEEN PERU LOOK SO DIRTY. HIRE A SUPT. OF STREETS,BECAUSE WHOMEVER IS IN CHARGE IS NOT DOING A VERY GOOD JOB.
3:09, they have someone. Just call Barnaby Jones and Not the King.
5:49, you won't have to call him he will see it on the blog, he can't help himself, he will then fill in everyone else.
3:55 So the blog actually does help get things done in Peru!!!!
I sure hope so. 5;49 and 3;55
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