Ottawa Mayor Finishing Last Term of Office Ending 2019

http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/local/eschbach-completing-final-term-as-ottawa-mayor/article_85cc8331-8668-51db-8bad-155fcaafeb0b.html


Found this is to be good read for those interested in reading about Municipal Success from the view of a current Mayor. Admire his philosophy about how to manage a successful city or a successful anything.  It's all about having a plan.

Peru and the New Plans for a Much Desired NEW Police Station

Is our police chief putting the cart before the horse? Or is he just not putting important information in the public venue?

When the meeting between Mayors Harl, Grove, Finley and Marini took place last week, it was the first most people knew about the desire of Police Chief/City Administrator Bernabei to consolidate the Police Departments of Spring Valley ( his former home turf), Peru, La Salle and Oglesby under one roof. And within a week the request to the City Council of Peru to approve a $70,000 design for the police building happened.  Well Almost!

City Engineer Eric Carls was set to get the wheels rolling on this at the meeting but after some discussion by the council and the residents attending the mtg, it was approved but that was all and I understand before the design is developed, the city will need the approval of all the committees of the cities involved . Lots of questions about needing a public referendum in each city for citizens to approve.

Peru Police Chief is promoting this possibility but between the 4 towns we currently have 4 Police Chiefs so what happens if approval happens since no one is going to lose their jobs, what about all the excess police chiefs, will they all retire? Or maybe none of them! Would we need a Police Chief that is not currently serving any of the cities?

This is not something that should happen quickly and it should be thoroughly researched and with the public involved at all levels. The motivation is said to be monetary savings in HUGE AMOUNTS. But the figure given was over a 60 year time frame. At that time frame, logically none of the current employees in any of the police departments will be working in that capacity and it sounds like a play on numbers to get approval. Would this require approval on the state level?

Your questions are?

Starved Country in China

http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/local/starved-rock-country-on-the-map-in-china/article_b7b1e535-933a-51b3-ba9f-1fbdebb48a13.html

Four police departments look to cooperate

Four police departments look to cooperate

A few years ago the Regional Dispatch evolved and is in place at the Peru Police Station, supposedly because the initial proposal was to place a new bldg  to be constructed on the grounds of Illinois Valley Community College but then the state ran short of funding and everything was put on hold and dispatch continues in Peru.

Is that plan gone? What happened behind the scenes ? Is this part of the original regional center in Oglesby? Where are the details? I watched the WLPO video on FB and it was interesting to watch the demeanor of all the Mayors but really got no more details than the paper version. Facial expressions as always are interesting.

Peru Mayor Harl and Economic Director Off to Vegas in May Searching for More Retail

Peru Mayor and Economic Director Off to Las Vegas

This year our Volunteer Economic Director, Robert Vickery is taking Peru Mayor Scott Harl along as a companion on his yearly trip to Las Vegas. They claim success on previous trips when Vickery traveled with D. Biederstedt.

I noted the emoji's at the bottom of the article and the angry red one seemed to be the winner.  I don't believe anyone currently sitting on a council or in any other of the many new positions created by the Mayor in the last several years are in touch with the residents of this city. None of the businesses mentioned as previous wins are anything the residents would choose to bring into the city. We don't know about Chipotle because they are not constructed yet. Hilton Hotel is also only on paper and this hotel is only one of others being built nationwide and locally one is going up in Streator also. The website for that information is an interesting read  about the many many hotels either in the planning or construction phase.

Just mention the same complaints the residents have given this past few months.
1.  Poor scheduling of the Peru Ice Skating Rink installation for the winter. Might as well forget it for this year.
2.  Downtown Peru had no Christmas spirit and/or color and inability to install the proposed decorations in other Peru locations.
3.  Spending tax dollars poorly while our population is moving downward.

These are my personal opinions as a long time resident of this city.  Yours may be different entirely and feel free to comment and share yours.