by: Diane Benjamin
One thing I found while reading all the emails about Paradigm concerned a retreat for Town of Normal employees held at Starved Rock. I filed another Freedom of Information Act for details and I received them yesterday. Probably the citizens never would have known if one email hadn’t made reference to it. It took place on October 23 & 24th. So, not only was there an expense for holding the retreat out of town, the employees who participated weren’t doing their jobs for two days – it took place on a Thursday and Friday.
The good news is Normal didn’t hire an expensive facilitator like Bloomington did. The 2 day event was led by City officials.
17 employees attended, all the highest paid department heads. I asked for transportation costs to get the 17 people there, but it wasn’t included in the information I received. If they all drove themselves, at 55 cents a mile, it would add around $1000 to the cost.
What was the total cost for using Starve Rock Lodge, staying overnight, and food? $3,110.42
Of course it’s not a lot of money compared to total spending. However, what does it say about the use of taxpayer money in general? Normal has the Marriott and the Carol Reitan Center. The Chateau is a beautiful place. Did they really have to spend your money out of town? So much for “buy local”.
The agenda was included in the information I received. Mentioned 3 times is “Team Building Activity”. They discussed some good things, like the budget. Also on the agenda was coping with Growing Work Demands and Job Stress. Maybe if they only did the things citizens expect of government and not things like narrowing intersections to accommodate bike lanes, the work demands and stress wouldn’t be as high. I know citizens have been calling City Hall.
The 17 probably left energized, but then they returned to reality on Monday.
They couldn’t have the same discussion locally? Is the Town spending your other tax dollars wisely? Was this a good use of your tax money? That’s for you to decide.
Mayor Koos and the Council are not included on the attendees list. Unlike Bloomington’s retreat, this one was strictly for full-time employees.
You can see the information I received here: Normal retreat FOIA
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