By: Diane Benjamin
The Bloomington City Council is being told by City Manager David Hales there is no reason to fire CIAM (Central Illinois Arena Management) when their current contract expires. CIAM has first right of refusal when a new contract is constructed. Hopefully it will be so radically different from the current contract that they will walk away. (Don’t hold your breath)
I’ve written before about concessions and how the City of Bloomington (taxpayers) have no way of verifying the correct commissions are being paid to the City. CIAM pretends that BMI Concessions is a private company they hired and therefore everything they do is a secret. The below is from the Secretary of State website – it shows CIAM is the manager of BMI Concessions. Of course we knew that.
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http://www.ilsos.gov/corporatellc/CorporateLlcController?command=mms&fileNbr=01656686&type=MGR |
Recently, another citizen attempted to get information of concession sales. There is nothing in the CIAM contract authorizing them to set up their own concessions company. They could have hired an independent company to run concessions. Since CIAM would receive commissions based on sales, what are the chances that CIAM would just “take their word for it” and assume the correct amount is being paid.
“Take their word for it” is exactly what CIAM is expecting us to do. Maybe a better question is:
Why does the City of Bloomington allow it?
Below is CIAM’s latest reasons for denying the information. What do you think they are hiding? I asked the Illinois Attorney General to rule on their claims many months ago. crickets . . . crickets . . . crickets. Is the City Council really this clueless?
What POSSIBLE! trade secrets can they have? oh oh, I know…how to hide money from the taxpayer!
My alderwoman claims CAIM is within contract in not releasing concessions figures. Who would write such a crappy contract?
Ask her to copy that part of the contract and send it to you!
“Is the City Council really this clueless?” Yes, and they do not care one whit what a citizen taxpayer has to say. I live in Ward 3 and my so called representative will not even acknowledge an email or a phone call.
Sheep are followers and can be easily herded. Agreed that a different contract needs to be written which protects the City. CIAM reported the restaurant is not open. Their report to the City Council did not include something as simple as revenue/event. I don’t even consider them managers and therefore failed the current contract.
Corruption. tax evasion.Deceptive practices, federal laws being broken? Please let me know by weeks end who too speak to in the IRS/FBI.
Who’s to say, maybe they have an illegal booking/gambling operation going on. Sure seems secret to me and the public what is going on. It’s not like they are competing on concession sales with other places. I doubt if Elton John says wow I’d like to come to Bloomington because they have watermelon at the concession.
Would be cool to see the FBI busting down the doors and taking records and files.
As many of you might suspect, modern day POS systems can be viewed remotely in real time, i.e. see the cash register ring ups. Therefore the new system that the city just paid for is most likely capable of that. Maybe someone could hack in, lol.
All boils down to IF HALES was doing his JOB—–Well, you get the picture. Criminals make good ‘bedfellows” But WHAT really boggles my mind (not really) is how come the HIRED city attorneys don’t get ALL OVER this? Isn’t THAT part of their job description? THINK ABOUT ALL THIS!
I think the hired city attorneys are to defend the city not to prosecute.
Where is the one that got fired – you know, the one who knows where the bodies are?
they pay the City 15% percent in catering? what is CIAM’s definition of catering? that would be a great question to ask.
But hey, I do get to see Bryan Adams.