by: Diane Benjamin
When Tom Hamilton was City Manager, everybody thought he did a great job. Now Hamilton is blamed for all the City woes. Tom Hamilton had a compliant Council, he was never questioned.
Everybody thinks David Hales is doing a great job. He has a compliant Council. Wait for the stories when he leaves. He will be blamed just like Hamilton. Meanwhile, the Council doesn’t get any blame.
The majority of the Council elected to represent you have passed the responsibility to the City Manager. When Aldermen Stearns and Lower asked for transparency, only Scott Black responded. Black’s response talked about going forward when the contract expires. There was no mention of holding CIAM responsible now.
Below is the video of the Coliseum discussion from last night’s Council meeting:
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The original contract was for 10 years. David Hales has been City Manager for over 4 years. Hales claims he inherited the contract and there is nothing to be done now. CIAM just broke the contract with a non-professional hockey team, but the City can’t break it?
Mayor Renner appeared on Cities 92.9 this morning. He called the profit CIAM makes “minimal”.
Here’s how much Bart Rogers and John Butler took out of the Coliseum in 2013:
Salaries of around $100,000 each, not including benefits 200,000
Management Fees: 146,997
CIAM commission 158,139
BMI Concessions ? Don’t know because John Butler doesn’t issue reports and concessions is not audited.
Their “minimal” profit is a half million dollars not including Butlers concessions!
The City BOUGHT the Point of Sale equipment so concessions could be internally audited. Below is a sample report the City could review for EVERY event held. These reports clearly recap the entire event and ensure the City is getting paid according to the contract. The Bloomington taxpayers paid $188,000 for the equipment that nobody at the City looks at. Click the picture to enlarge.
Another part of the report recaps the percentages paid to the City. Again, the taxpayers PAID for this system so the City could track every event. Nobody is looking at these reports – a lot of money isn’t being managed. Most of the Council handed the responsibility to David Hales who has failed to supervise your tax dollars. Eventually, he will get blamed, just like Hamilton. The real blame goes to the compliant members of the City Council who can’t be bothered. See the report below. The City has no proof they are getting their cut. It’s very easy for Butler to assign sales to the 15% category instead of 32%. Nobody is watching. Is “trust” good public policy?
Nothing will change unless the citizens demand it!
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One more question: Why is somebody in Islamabad Pakistan interested in the Coliseum? They read all 3 posts from yesterday.
| 24 Jun | 05:12:04 |  |
Islamabad, Pakistan |
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| 24 Jun | 05:09:22 | |
Islamabad, Pakistan |
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| 24 Jun | 05:06:19 | |
Islamabad, Pakistan |
There is absolutely no excuse for not having accurate commission totals on concessions or any other item sold at the facility. Anyone who has ever run a business knows that you have an accurate inventory of products backed up with sales receipts of what you’ve sold or you don’t stay in business long. Cash registers record all of this so we’re not talking about the need for a very elaborate software system to figure it out, even though both exist.
I’ve seen a lot of stupidity over the years from the Bloomington City Council but this is over the top. The Council is either mind numb, stupid or just totally checked out that they wouldn’t question any of this. It’s unbelievable to me. Further, I can’t believe CIAM wouldn’t want more accurate / transparent reporting of this. The fact that they don’t makes me question their business practices. They have set themselves up for very questionable accounting practices that I think could get them in a lot of trouble.
Where can I or anyone else go to have a business arrangement that is this loosely crafted?
Start informing the poor souls who believe in the local media!