Not Only Peru, It Is A Statewide Problem with People Leaving and Taking Their Money With Them

http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/editorial/statewise-it-s-illinois-birthday-hey-wait-come-back/article_50e6903a-18ca-5038-b662-ff87b96a5127.html#tncms-source=block-behavioral

Unless something dynamic happens to improve the status of the state of Illinois, the stats are not going to change.  All towns will be affected and more than likely small towns in particular. The young and educated are looking for more than we offer to them and their young families. My point is that cities need to look for ways to make their cities inviting to those very same people. After awhile this sounds like a broken record and that is because nothing is changing.

I expect other cities to release their expenditures on the recent trip to China and will they have had good economic sense in not abusing the expenditures of taxpayer money?

How Much Do You Think a Plane Ticket for Two is For A Trip to China Is?

Gathering the information.

Actual information from the city of Peru web site, disbursements.

From the disbursements on 11/15:
Harl visa fee 965.07

From 11/29:
Airfare to China $10, 704.28
Travel to/from OHare $250.00

From 12/13
Vickrey phone China $1,190.12
Hotel Beijing China $617.10

Taxpayers spend tens of thousands on Illinois municipal conference

Taxpayers spend tens of thousands on Illinois municipal conference This is one of numerous articles by the same source doing some investigation of the needless cost to taxpayers by officials going to the IML yearly. We have been writing this up since the first Harl administration and I am sure you can find comments on previous trips in our archives. This is the first I am adding and will follow with the one about Peru and La Salle.

La Salle IML trips

Peru taxpayers pick up the $3,500 tab for three officials to go to the two-day conference

Peru taxpayers pick up the $3,500 tab for three officials to go to the two-day conference



City of La Salle holds tight on IML expenses

Peru Prancer to Peru Weekend Schedule and Locations

http://www.newstrib.com/free/on-prancer-to-peru

Surprise Surprise An Expected Contribution

Most of you have probably seen this picture of what is the Scott Harl campaign contributions as required by law to be sent to the state of Illinois.

Significance is this is typical Pay to Play.  The month before that the McAnarney contract was not sent to the Peru City Council for approval or disapproval but was instead listed in disbursements as a monthly expenditure in the Administrative section. Sadly to see it looks like it was at the same time that our Lobbyist gave a $300.00 donation to the Scott Harl political campaign fund.

I never expected this from Scott Harl when he ran for Mayor of Peru and again I was one of many who supported him and now feels so much regret. Political gain has taken over what we thought was a sincere desire for this city to progress and improve. Crickets at City Hall because of politics.

More Details China Ottawa Web Times

http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/local/business CHINA TRIP

Here Is the Answer That Peru Did Not Give to its Residents.

http://www.mywebtimes.com/news/local/ottawa-streator-officials-to-pitch-region-in-china/article_fe456474-474f-58ff-ab05-97bdb9df4725.html

Peru Mall wants a 42 percent cut in taxes

Peru Mall wants a 42 percent cut in taxes



We all would like to large percentage of our property taxes cut also and with the continual increases more people will move on to states and cities where this does not happen and business is doing well.

Read Between the Lines on This Discussion

Just a few weeks ago a comment by me, that at one time Peru wanted very much to have a City Engineer to be the Public Works Director which would eliminate any differences between having both a City Engineer and Public Works Director working on some of the same projects in this small city as seems to show up in this news article. Maybe there is too big of an overlap in some areas of the job description. And along the same lines, I see that someone from Chamlin engineering still attends city council meetings and sits at the table with other Department Heads. Now that Peoria Street resurfacing is finished and the sewer project is completed. Does Public Works need more people for city maintenance and fewer being paid at the top?  Asking this not as a blog writer but simply as a resident of this city

.http://www.newstrib.com/free/peru-committee-puts-the-freeze-on-baker-lake-disc-golf/article_8e03ee24-c3d1-11e7-a8c3-f7e2a912067d.html#tncms-source=article-nav-next

My notes from the Peru City Council Meeting 10/30

First time in a long time I decided to attend a Peru city council meeting. The usual residents present and a few people who were there because their requests were being considered by the city.

They did not discuss the closed session minutes.  Ald. Potthoff said it all was about employee negotiations and no vote was taken on opening them to the public or not.

I think the City Administrator may have responded to one question. Director of Public Works said nothing. Eric Carls our City Engineer spoke about projects and everything pertaining to the Public Works of the City and it reminded me that at one time the city had hired a qualified engineer, in fact they insisted that we hire an engineer and he handled the entire Public Works Dept. for the short time he was here.  Why is Eric Carls not handling our Public Works Dept as he certainly understands all aspects of the work involved.

Definitely a different atmosphere at this meeting, a definite lack of cohesiveness is the only way I can say it felt. New bldg inspector was not present.  This was the first time I ever heard anyone on the council or even the mayor talk about bringing investment into somewhere in the Illinois Valley, it did not matter if it was in Peru or any other town.

Retail sales tax is down but motel tax is up so it seems to balance it out. Maybe this is the reason.

COLUMN: A mandate for openness

COLUMN: A mandate for openness

Published Agenda for the Peru Public Works on Oct. 25, 2017

This is the agenda from the Peru web site for the meeting to be held last Monday.  As you can see there is nothing special to be discussed.  This is transparency Peru Style.           

This is actually what was discussed as written in the News Tribune of La Salle.  As you can see there was a great deal to be discussed that related to the residents of the city.  They consistently do this with no honest agenda being put forward by any of the City of Peru Committees. Transparency Peru Style.

Actual Meeting of Peru Public Works

Peru to Hire a Community Service Officer

Yes Peru We Do Still Have a Lobbyist in Springfield

I believe this would have been the third year the Mayor would have brought to the City Council a request to continue to retain a Lobbyist for Peru at the cost of $24,000 per year. To be truthful I never thought it necessary but continue to follow the work done by obtaining the quarterly reports sent to the city by the Lobbyist. If you are interested in past comments just put the word  MrAnarney into the search bar on this blog and you will get those posts and reports from past years.

Last year there was some hesitation on the part of several of the Aldermen but they agreed to see what happens in the next year spanning July 2016 to July 2017. This year I began watching City Council minutes to see when a discussion about this hire would appear and it did not but a friend told me that is was strange that the amount of $2000 a month was appearing on the disbursements to the Lobbyist but no contract was found or any discussion about the issue was found or heard.

This was my foia to find out why we were paying an individual each month but we did not renew the contract.  Now how many people would look to the budget under Administrative Expenses for the Mayor to find the answer.  Evidently the Mayor did not wish to bring up the hire up at a City Council meeting. And we should all be asking Why. I believe I know Why but you are free to make up your own mind.

A Look Back at The City Council and Gambling Two Years Ago

05959a232293.htmlhttp://www.newstrib.com/news/local_news/peru-committee-folds-on-gambling-restrictions/article_83e64974-95ba-56fb-9197-05959a232293.html



Interesting to look back and see who thought what 2 years ago and then read the new outlook in todays News Trihune.

Harl says Peru employees are bogged down by Freedom of Information Act Requests

Harl says Peru employees are bogged down by Freedom of Information Act Requests


I have to admit I filed one today, not on a whim, but because the city has failed to provide the information I have been waiting to see in the minutes of one of their council meetings and it has never appeared.

The Mayor should be pleased that so many people are interested in Peru City Government.

Mayor Harl Would Like You to Pay for a Trip to China

Public comment criticizes City of Peru

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

Contentious City Council Meeting This Evening

 " What we've got here is failure to communicate" 

The quote is from a well known movie of the past years and seems appropriate.

If you have been recently following this blog, you will recall my concern for lack of communication between the city and its residents.

I understand the settlement of the recent lawsuit   between Peru and a resident of the city in which the city was ordered to pay a sizeable sum of money for not repairing home damage caused by the cities sewer issues.  At that time our City Atty told the home owner to sue the City, when they did not agree to pay for the repairs.  Well she did and I understand won many times the requested $12,000.

That lady attended the meeting this evening and expressed her feelings.

Additionally there are currently issues with the City Credit card being used improperly. I will not detail this issue because this is one that our Peru news reporter should cover in detail.

Peru's splash pad is heading toward home

Peru's splash pad is heading toward home


Certainly more than most people anticipated for a city the size of Peru but also adds more questions, at least from me.????????????

Lots of room for lots of little kids, middle sized kids and I bet even some bigger kids on a hot day. This leads me to the question of whether we now will need supervision or more explicitly, people hired by the city to keep everything on an even keel. Especially interesting in that now there will need to be showers open to the public which are more maintenance and definitely paid people to make sure there will be no problems there.

Will there be enough parking in the lot for all the anticipated users? And last but not least are all the nearby residents on board with this? Maybe that does not matter to the city.

Maybe all needless Mom and Dad worries which I hope is the case.  Any thoughts? Constructive ones please.

Krug: FOIA lawsuits a threat to our democracy, insult to our time

Krug: FOIA lawsuits a threat to our democracy, insult to our time

This is lengthy but definitely a good read if you are interested in the dangers that might be lurking around the corner. Foia is how we learn about what our government is up to on all levels but some officials think there are things we should not know or don't need to know. Sound familiar?

Please Sign Your Name If You Expect Me To Be Considerate of Your Disappointment

So people with no name are expecting me  to take their comments seriously when they are telling me how disappointed they are  that we allow politicians to be criticized about what they do and don't do.  Our elected officials in Peru do not show they have any respect for many of the people living in Peru but some expect us to take it all in stride and to continue to think highly of them.
 So if you write in with more of the same I will not put on the blog without your name attached.

I fail to understand the gist of your comment.  You write in anon with a request to not allow people in Peru to criticize their officials because they do it an anonymous manner and you do the same .

When elected officials are using tax dollars with excess employees to make decisions affecting all or most of the residents and yet they do not act in a respectful manner when a resident or more than one is affected in some manner, they are ignored. I have seen this and heard more of this. Do you really believe all these comments written to be posted if there was not a great deal of disappointment about many decisions that have been made and continue to be made.I am also aware of numerous  things going on that people will ultimately become aware of in which the city will be forced to answer for.

The lack of respect to the residents has reached a pretty high level and most are just giving it back to them.

In case you were not aware of it, I worked to elect Mayor Harl in 2009 and expected him to be a peoples mayor and he is not. Time after time I have seen just the opposite.

Does Peru Really Care?

Here it is a beautiful Monday on a warm and sunny Fall day and what is that sound I keep hearing especially when I open my windows.  Not the birds singing or splashing in the bird bath and kids coming home from school, not even a car with a noisy muffler, it is the "beep beep of a large construction truck backing up on 6th St. The trucker think that makes a difference in how I feel about the "crap" they are dumping into almost my back yard.

Peru has been blessed with 3 plots of wooded ravines and at one time former Mayor Baker published a pamphlet that had pictures of the one on 7th St. between Monks and Chambers.  He pictured walking trails and horseback riding paths and generally a very lovely and peaceful park. Well we know that never happened but the thought was at least there. People move to the country to get out of town to be near wooded areas and the city has it right in its midst. This is the kind of place that should be preserved for future generations but how well is Peru doing its preservation.

Not very well, it appears since I keep hearing the "beep beep".  What is being dumped, is it anything beside concrete slabs and dirt.  Is it clean fill, clean soil? I don't know and the city doesn't know and evidently does not care.  All that matters is that it is on private property and that is the only qualifier.  Do the truckers go through the city approval process  and agree to be legally responsible if anything happens to the sanitary sewers? Or some other environmental problem? I talked to the Dept. of Public Works, the PPD and the City Clerk. Do my aldermen know, if they are aware of their ward, yes they do.

Peru officials, do you care?  Remember you are allowing this in a residential area? Does that matter?  Should this area be rezoned to industrial to accomodate the heavy truck traffic on these streets? Are the dumpers telling other associates "I know where you can get rid of this load and it won't cost you a dime"?

City Council Meeting Sept. 5, 2017

Posting a title early because I believe there might be some comments coming up.  Just watching a video on FB of a resident expressing his concerns to a silent Mayor and City Council. Also heard that there might have been a closed session Meeting of the Whole prior to the regular Council Mtg. No update from the N.T. this evening.



_________________________________________________________________________
Ancel Glink Question of the Month

Municipal Q&A - September 2017:

Question: Can a unit of local government pass a policy limiting public comment to residents only?

Answer: According to a recent PAC opinion, public bodies may not restrict public comment to residents only, as Section 2.06(g) of the Open Meetings Act provides that "any person" shall be permitted an opportunity to address public officials under the rules established by the public body 

Do You Really Think I Write All That Appears on the Blog

I am a life long Peru resident and have many friends, acquaintances and relatives living here. We have great residents.  I don't criticize people but oft times do criticize government for what they say and do. Everyone should do a bit more of it.

 I have no clue why people keep writing in saying I make all the comments here that criticize the city, don't you understand the way in which a blog is administered? Some of you constantly complain and criticize comments made by others also.  I like to think that most of you have good intentions.

Do you ever criticize the Gov. of Illinois?
Do you ever criticize our local Senator or Representative?
Do you ever criticize our state legislature?
Do you ever criticize our Senators in Washington.
Do you ever criticize Congress?

Evidently there are people in Peru who believe the elected officials in Peru should never ever be criticized.  If you believe that then you are not a very good citizen of this community.

They don't need constant pats on the back and handshakes, they get their fair share of that. They deserve to know what people think of how the government is working or not. The taxpayers are funding this government very well on all levels

I am sure that there are those who will throw this back at me who don't realize that criticism at times is justified and criticism and suggestions made to the government make a better city, state and federal government.