By:  Diane Benjamin

When the Pantagraph appears to do a study of anything, it usually means Bloomington is up to something and using them to gauge public opinion.  Today it was legal expenses and justifying the outrageous amount the City sends to Springfield every month while telling you not to buy on the internet – buy local.

Some facts they left out of their story:

Tari Renner was elected the first time in April of 2013, he took office May 1, 2013.

The actual 2013 number below if spending for the year ending April 30, 2013 – right before Tari took office.

The total is $846,428.24

The Budget for Legal this year :

$1,391,591.21

Under Tari Renner’s leadership, legal expenses have increased:

$545,162.97

One more thing:

The paper is doing a series about municipality’s legal expenses and the “growing” number of claims against them.

If David Hales and the Council had supervised operations at the Coliseum, I wouldn’t have filed a lawsuit against them.  I sat in a room with City lawyer George Boyle trying to reach a settlement.  He STATED the City never looked at the concession reports because they were happy with what they received from CIAM.  I hope the State Police finish their investigation soon.  I can’t wait to hear how the “City” found prosecutable offenses!

Source:  PDF page 106 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=7077 

Source: PDF page 103 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=13157