Public comment criticizes City of Peru
So only the Financial Officer of 2 years is commenting. What aldermen who have held their seats for 15 years or more?
Relative to the first post is this link that I wanted to publish. It is dated but that is immaterial as I doubt it was changed.
https://www.iml.org/file.cfm?key=1288
30 comments:
There are two sides to every story. I would doubt that city officials will comment on fired employees in a meeting. I also think that those two who approached the city in the public forum know that officials will not comment on any story line that is false.
Its about creating a story and headlines. There will be no follow-up and facts will not be checked. Those who made the accusations know the newspaper won't follow up and know they have committed no crime, only false news!
Probably more hot air from Perez.
3:28 PM
Has someone recently been fired by the city? You are right that the city will deadend this but their problem is that someone outside may take an interest in the matter. It has become an item of interest statewide the operation of municipal governments with the surge of publicity statewide. You know this by just reading about Illinois news.
8pm
Yes, there has been a surge of interest in the operation of governments and rightfully so. I would only be interested in this story if Peru did not act accordingly by firing the employee/ discipline procedures. It appears that from the silent response from the elected that these are matters that they should not legally response to.
The old news from the streets is that those employees involved are no longer with the city and the few dollars have been returned.
9:34 AM
The employee is with the city currently. You may be thinking of the person I referred to several years ago. The charges on the card are fairly recent.
9:34 The silent response from the elected officials is a norm. It has nothing to do with right or wrong. Let's just wait and see what the outcome of this situation becomes. If, however, we have been allowing officials to use city credit cards for personal purchases then our check and balance system is not working. Those in charge should know the proper procedure and usage of the city cards and should have immediately addressed this issue.
There was no date given in the credit card charges and we have no idea if and who? That was not covered by the news.
A lawsuit is handled by the city insurance company, who insures the city on behalf of the residents. The residents or elected officials have no say on how the insurance company handles the suit. This is the same as your personal car or liability insurance. The company handles the legal issues and makes a determination to settle a suit or not. This is mostly based on the economics if the legal fees will exceed the settlement. I would imagine that there are many, many golddiggers in every area that look for opportunities to make money off of suits. In many cases residents may have issues that are very real and the only way to settle is by the legal process. In fact it is the only way of fairness. City of Chicago? How do you base a settlement on a shooting? Or even a hole in the road. Do you expect elected officials to make random determinations on what those suing want? I don't. Your elected officials are protecting the interest of the city not anyone individual.
It has broken....former Alderman had the credit card and it was caught by the internal controls. More drama from Perez. What was the point? According to he news the complete name and reimbursement was on the FOIA provided by the City. I am happy this story was followed up by the local reporter.
The lawsuit is another issue that is determined by the insurance company. I did hear that the local Alderman at the time made promises to the resident. And who was that Alderman representing the city or personal friends? We can only guess who that Alderman was? I get angry when these guys pretend to be big shots and make promises with our tax dollars.
I am glad the city has a Financial Officer available to straighten things out. Why did the Alderman have and was able to use a city credit card that was to be used by an appointed city official department head ?He should not have allowed this to happen.
Don't know why alderman had credit card. I asked the same question to a long time alderman and he laughed and said he never has had a credit card and would never approve credit purchases or credit cards for alderman. He also shared the story of a former alderman who took a two day trip to Wisconsin to review sand operations and wanted the city to reimburse him and his wife for travel, etc. He said that the committee that approves expenses laughed and denied the submittal. I won't share the name, maybe the person making the charges is mad about some former alderman making getting groceries and he was denied reimbursement? The story looks to be old. We don't know why the alderman was given the credit card? There are employees that may believe that alderman are their supervisors and that is not the case.
The article stated the alderman was given the card for approved activity but then used the card for personal business. Why blame the card holder? Shouldn't we blame Mueller? Will Perez be calling the FBI again?
I just read a tweet from Craig Sterrett on the News Trib regarding the island on May Road between Sapp Brothers and Speedway. I agree that this will hurt their business as I already avoid the intersection.
5:23 PM
Should have checked with the Administrator, Mayor or City Clerk before letting a junior alderman use the card. So the question is did he?
Lois, briefly read comments, and once again disappointed. Truthfully it seems that the problem is created by the misuse of taxpayers city funds. In any dispute of this nature it is best to follow the letter of the law which will guide those involved, including all citizens of the city, so that a fair and justifiable conclusion is reached.
How often are orientations conducted for the city officials so they understand all city and state policies? As all involved had been in their same positions as when the credit cards were issued and the questionable misuse occurred the normal band aid of "the accused individuals did not understand the entire city policy of use of credit cards".
Who has uncovered this problem? Was it uncovered by the city or a private party? Does it appear that the cities private "Executive Session" handled the entire situation with the hope the constituents would never find out? Is the Department Head on unpaid leave until a conclusion is reached or is he still actively employed?
This would be a major violation in most cities!
Not only would the government misuse of the credit card be a major violation in ALL cities but the penance would be carried out to the maximum that the court system would allow. Yes, court system, not peer group. The peer groups of Peru city government are very lenient because they themselves are in fear of being caught behind closed doors.
If there has been or has not been "a little dirty nitty gritty" carried on with the Peru city government credit cards the representatives of Peru should address the issue with "Joe the Plumber". Please do not pardon any questionable actions because Peru has a full time Human Resource Manager, a full time financial officer plus many, many interested and intelligent citizens who would volunteer to be on a independent Board of Inquiry. Considering that all meetings would be in city hall they would be rent free, city manpower is already in position and the volunteers would be unpaid volunteers.
Being that the area has only one local newspaper what is its approach on reporting and investigation of local government? One advantage of reaching a full lifetime plus a lot of extra years is seeing history in person when all of this area took interest in Peter and Daisy Millers, owners of the present
News Tribune's investigation of illegal gambling. The news media can be a strong influence on the areas of their coverage.
The objective of Perez was political. The complete information was given to him in his request......person, money, date and time and the result. He decided that it was best to give no information and was intent on making this a city system fault and implicate everybody but the person who misused the card.
3:24 common sense in not in any handbook. Do you think that a credit card was issued to any alderman? And your blame in on the Mayor?
Please help us understand why any fault is given to anybody but the one who made the purchase?
Aldermen do not have city issued credit cards 12:45PM but as President Truman said as he pointed to the sign on his desk, THE BUCK STOPS HERE.
So the question is do problems stop at the Mayor's or the City Administrators desk? What desk should have the sign?
11:08 Unless you're an insider how would you have so much knowledge of what information was given to Mr. Perez? How do we know your statement is correct? Do you have proof? The person you claim "misused" the card - how did they get it in the first place? Were they entitled to one or did they use someone elses card? And, you say Mr. Perez's objective was political - explain please!
11:27 Am
After much consideration since your post came in this morning, I decided not to post it.. What happened in the past is well known, as is the constant animosity on the city council to some Peru residents. We all were aware of it and bringing all that up again and again does not provide any cohesiveness to the community of Peru. If it were about a current serving public servant it would be a different story.
Much of the problems usually remain behind closed doors but it will never be forever because always they find their way out. Communicating with the residents who need to be referred to a the TAXPAYERS want input and information about the running of this city and most of the time it is not happening. Many of us look at most reporting and realize it is all usually just a cover.
To title someone as a "current serving public servant" is as make believe as the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, or the Tooth Fairy.
To be a current serving public servant one would have to refuse to attend Meetings of the Whole because they are a meeting which no specific subject matter is designated before the meeting, the meeting is held behind closed doors with the understanding that no one is to reveal any personal viewpoints of the contents of the meeting. To be a public servant one would only attend open meetings for all. Presently the city council meetings are no more than a replay of what the first meetings decisions and what is to be discussed of them to the taxpayers and what is not to be discussed to the taxpayers. A much better title than "Executive Session" or "A Meeting of the Whole", would be "Monday Nights Hour for a Coward".
To knowingly give a city credit card to a person to use as credit/debit(was pin given?signature written?, plain stupid on the behave of the appointed city employee. Can't fix stupid. Can I use that card to make my car payment? Next payday i can pay the city back. Boy, wouldn't you love to see how the money donated to Liberty Fire Company has been used in the last 10 years. FOIA that and post. Lord have mercy, can't fix stupid.
11:04
Did you know a credit card will not have a pin number? According to records money donated to Liberty, which is a private organization, has been used for fire equipment. Money donated to the Peru Fire Department has been used for fire equipment. It is criminal to take money from either entity and attempt to use for anything else. To fund a members private organization for any purpose would be criminal. I think the City put a stop to that when a member attempted to transfer a donation to Operation Promise, when the donor specifically placed the donation for new fire equipment. FOIA will confirm that!
Any of you city defenders of the Peru city officials using the term "internal controls" need to realize that internal controls in any organization are only as good as the level of honesty and integrity of those people running the organization. If "internal controls" reveals corruption and abuse it is up to those in power to determine if that corruption and abuse is reported to the public or buried from view forever. Considering the low moral character of the majority of those currently in power in Peru there is little if any chance of the public being notified of rampant credit card abuse. Remember this: The fish rots from the head down. Peru has ZERO integrity from the top down.
Someone told me they spotted what they believed to be the city street sweeper out and about today of all days (Saturday). What could this huge piece of equipment possibly be doing today (pouring rain) that it couldn't do yesterday (a normal work day)? If a sewer grate was blocked surely common sense would dictate unplugging it with a shovel or gloved hands (not a huge piece of equipment). Could someone please explain and does this constitute time and a half or double time?
10:15 Some credit cards do have pin numbers, for example Target cards have pins since the breach a few years ago.
If the street sweeper is a big white machine with round twirling bushes on the bottom it was spotted early SUNDAY morning sweeping the streets. Does Peru have this much money or are they showing off?
10:26
Are you calling the Budget officer dishonest. I believe he found the issue mid august and had it resolve with in weeks.
Be careful who you are calling corrupt.
Gee maybe the street sweeper was cleaning the street from debris to prevent the sewers from getting clogged which would result in flooded streets. You really are questioning that? I was glad to see them out seeing all that fell around my house from my trees in the storms.
Something we should all remember is that recently the city built a new Public Works bldg. in which to store most of its equipment. I am not privy to the information as to what that includes and what it does not. Is the street sweeper and the vac truck stored in the new bldg.
The new PW bldg is located at the north end of the Plank Road and each piece of equipment if stored there needs to traverse almost all of the Plank Rd. to reach Peru, so the guestion is how much fuel for each trip? Am I being nit picky, well maybe but in an average weeks time how many trucks etc and how many trips. If we end up with a snow storm this winter , will the snowplows be there or some place closer to the residential streets in town?
Give me an answer you would give an average resident to reassure them that all is well.
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