By:  Diane Benjamin

Buried in the Consent Agenda for last Monday’s Council meeting was the approval of Minutes from a meeting held October 22, 2012.

See the minutes here:  10/22/2012 Minutes  The meeting was a Work Session concerning pension funding and the tax levy.  The discussion was not profound, why the Minutes weren’t previously approved and posted on the City website is still a mystery.

Alderman Hauman refused to vote on the minutes – claiming she wasn’t on the Council at the time.  She wasn’t, but neither was Painter, Black, Buragas, or Lower.  They did not recuse themselves.  Watch the video, start at 24:18.  She didn’t use her mic to pull “A” from the consent agenda, so it’s hard to hear.  Then jump to 24:50 where the actual vote is taken.

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Hauman’s actions don’t mesh with her conduct at the Council meeting on September 14, 2015.  This is the session where the Wire Transfers from the past 3 years+ were approved after staff failed to included them on the regular Bills and Payroll report.  Alderman Hauman did not recuse herself from this vote – even though she wasn’t on the Council then either.

David Hales went into a long diatribe stating all of them were budgeted items and approval was a mere formality.  Alderman Black reinforced that notion before the vote.  Either Hales budgeted the $1.2 Million+ in accelerated payments to IMRF and kept it a secret, or the truth is immaterial again.  Correspondence with IMRF shows the City didn’t know the bills were coming.  Watch the video starting at 41:19.  If you want to see why Alderman Lower voted no, go back a little farther.

The payments to IMRF made by Wire transfer were not normal business expenses.  Some were made while the current Council was seated, most weren’t.  Hauman voted anyway.   The Hauman “recuse herself” don’t “recuse herself” is remarkable for the lack of consistency.  Add her other erratic behavior of walking out on a speaker and reading her manifesto on public comment (http://blnnews.com/2015/10/13/hauman-unfit-for-office/), I question her decision-making skills.  She claims concerned citizens voicing their opinions will keep people and businesses from moving here.  Ever increasing taxes and dysfunctional government on almost every level is immaterial to her.

Since Renner knew she would walk out on a speaker, and it looked like he knew she wanted to make a statement Monday, is he behind all the shenanigans?  We will be watching!

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