I just sent this press release to numerous local media:
Diane Benjamin
BlnNews.com
September 2, 2016
Press Release
Bloomington City Manager
David Hales needs to step down immediately
Last week I obtained concession sale documents from the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington Il. These documents were only obtained because of a Freedom of Information lawsuit I filed Pro-se in September of 2015.
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Concession Sales were never audited during the 10 years Central Illinois Arena Management was contracted to manage the arena. Even though the Management Agreement spells out what percentage of sales was to be paid to the City of Bloomington, under City Manager David Hales the concession commissions were never verified.
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My calculations show that up to $447,318 may be due to Bloomington taxpayers. This is only for three years: 2013-2015.
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Today I am calling for the immediate resignation of David Hales due to his failure to protect taxpayer dollars. He has been City Manager for more than 7 years and never checked the CIAM commissions paid to the City.
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I am also calling for a State Police investigation of all operations concerning Central Illinois Arena Management and David Hales. Failure to secure public funds by the City of Bloomington makes them unfit to audit and investigate fraud on taxpayer’s behalf.
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Mayor Tari Renner needs to explain why an investigation never took place when former Alderwoman Judy Stearns stated the facts in 2014 and was promised an investigation would take place. The entire City Council, with the exception of Kevin Lower, are culpable as well for ignoring Stearns call.
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All documentation is included in this story: https://blnnews.com/2016/08/26/bombshell-sit-down-before-reading/
Please verify something for me where I’m a confused. As I understand your audit, it is for 2013 – 2015. You state above that there is 10 years of unaudited concessions. So, the nearly half million dollars that you uncovered in your audit is just a couple of year’s worth. Where’s the information on the rest of the 10 years? Was that prior to the Micros installation and unobtainable or are you still trying to get that information for another audit? What I’m trying to say is that it looks to me like there’s a whole lot more missing money than the $447,318 that you found. Please elaborate.
Also, in yesterday’s Pantycrap, John Butler is quoted saying, “(Benjamin) doesn’t have the records to make any type of determination or conclusion on the commissions paid to the city.” I’m confused. Why not? If that’s the case why doesn’t Butler hand them over? What information does he have that the rest of the public doesn’t have? Isn’t that what your FOIA case is about? Do you, Diane have all the information from your FOIA request and are you able to audit the remaining 10 years of CIAM’s handling of concessions?
Perhaps you’ve already covered this, but it’s very confusing and I think what you’ve uncovered is just the tip of the iceberg. The Coliseum has been loosing taxpayer money for years and we’re starting to see why.
Thanks!
My original FOIA was just for 2014. The contract says they have to keep records for three years, so a couple months ago I FOID’d 2013 and 2015 – surprised them in court with the news. I don’t know if records for all 10 years still exist or not.
Butler also said in the paper that concessions are audited. They aren’t. If I don’t have what I need it is Butler’s fault. I expected multi-page records for every event held. What I got was a summary by fiscal year. This version was much easier to come to quick conclusion. He may be able to protest some of the percentages I used, but he can never make the number zero.
So in other words, we know that CIAM screwed the city out of commission money for at least three years and what you uncovered is only part of it. The question is are we able to audit the remaining seven years.
At what point in all of this was Micros installed?
That’s why I want the State POlice investigating. I could spend a lot more time on this, but I can’t prosecute anybody. The Micros system has been then from the beginning.
I don’t expect you to do the complete audit (David Hales’ job). Your point all along has been that CIAM has not been accurately paying their commissions to the city. You’ve made your point and now somebody with some legal authority has to step in and get this mess straightened out.
This is going to have to involve the State Police because this is a major big deal. If you’re uncovering a half million dollars over just a three year period alone and the micros system has been there all along, then a complete audit of the 10 years that CIAM managed the concessions needs to be done. But, what you’re saying is that they only need to hold on to the last three years and information may no longer exist for the previous 7 years. If that’s the case who destroyed it and is there any way of recovering it. I think what we’re going to find is that CIAM could have easily screwed the city three times the amount you found. Maybe more.
The City has found more than just this, and the records may still exist. Remember the story I did of Bart Rogers driving a demo given to him by O’brien? There’s much more to that story, but it’s something I can’t document yet.
were any TV stations sent this? if not you should. WEEK loves stuff like this.. LOL
YES! Let them know you want it covered! It’s a huge story, especially government involvement in things they aren’t capable of managing.
Just messaged them on FB saying this needs to be conveyed to the public.
🙂