By: Diane Benjamin
The Normal Council meeting last night edged close to boring. Trustee comments at the end were more interesting than most of the meeting.
Both Karyn Smith and Stan Nord brought up the empty seat for Normal on the Connect Transit Board. No response from Koos.
The American Legion will be installing a new plaque commemorating veterans. If you remember, Stan brought up previously how City Hall moved and left their last plaque at the old location. The American Legion decided to leave that one in place and create a new one for Uptown.
Stan also mention the Connect Transit RFP for huge electric buses. He wants them to wait to purchase any buses until the Working Group reports. No comment.
Stan also brought up the full parking garage on Saturday morning, of course nobody put up a sign the lot was full. People looking for parking were forced to drive the entire garage in order to find out no parking existed. Koos claimed it was full because of move in weekend. Reece claimed parking was available in other places. Evidently people are suppose to drive around until they find a space. Koos claimed parents were parked there for move-in weekend and it wouldn’t be a problem in the future. When Trail East is given 250 parking spots it will cause problems.
Stan also brought up sub-leasing the floor at 1 Uptown Circle, he was ignored as usual. Even though outside interests have been expressed, Koos refuses to discuss it. See Stan at 43:10
This means: The Town is only interested in saving money during the budget process. Responding to changing conditions and opportunities to not fleece taxpayers is only allowed once a year.
At 34:26 Karyn Smith reported on the Working Group progress. She also wanted Connect’s RFP to be on hold until the Working Group report.
39:45 – Kevin McCarthy comes close to claiming the Uptown development is for ISU so they can attract and maintain students. He goes on to talk about saving pennies with the annual budget. He claims debt service is only 6% of the budget. That means the interest costs is spread out over many years – costing you more in the long run. If the financial statements from March are ever issued we will be able to see real numbers.
At 10:10 Stan Nord asked why the language for approving bills was changed. Pam Reece explained the Council is just getting a list of the checks cut in the last 2 weeks. Koos then compared it to receiving a report from Connect Transit.
Stan asked if Council is expected to assume the procurement policy was followed. See the policy here: http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/12829/2017-Purchasing-Policy-Manual-x?bidId=
Koos was offended at his question. I will ask the obvious then:
The policy contains these two sections. There is an expense in this story for an Appreciation Reception for $3342.00. According to the policy three bids should have been obtained. Was it? Doubtful since Koos does this every year at the Marriott. Since the charge is on a purchasing card, without a FOIA we will never know the details.
At the last meeting this was listed as an expense: PDF page 11 http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3377
Procurement policy followed?
It appears buying votes with your money is an exception to the policy.
I could list many more of these. I wonder where these are in the budget?
If you have never looked at Normal’s budget, see it at this link: http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/14883/2019-2024
Expenses start on PDF page 80. It doesn’t contain a lot of detail.
“Evidently people are suppose to drive around until they find a space.”
What am I missing here? Isn’t that how it is supposed to work?
You drive around looking for parking? Most people quit going downtown because of the parking years ago. It’s much more fun to park by where you are going.
Mike, entering a parking garage that is not marked as full causes the driver to go all way to the top floor of the garage and turn around. If the garage had a sign placed in front of the exit, no one would enter. Parking is a problem in Normal
I wonder if they had to pay to get out?
If as the Mayor said, the full parking decks were caused by parents bringing their kids to ISU, then why wasn’t the Town proactive in preventing the inconvenience? Stationing a couple of people at the entrance and maybe the exit could have allowed knowledge to be communicated to prospective users that the lots were full. It is only one weekend and the traffic patterns are changed so Normal has full knowledge of the move in date. It would not even have to be full time employees unless the unions complained and the unions could provide voluntary workers or students. If the University can have volunteers assist in the move, why not the town?
Good point
Don’t shop UPTOWN! PERIOD! And normal SURE did show THIER priorities last eve when they went with ASPHALT instead of CONCRETE on Cottage for the repair/resurface, as concrete cost 3X more, but NEVER MIND we spent HOW MUCH ON UPTOWN? KOOS is a horrible mayor, and the older “sitting” council members SHOULD be ashamed! BOYCOTT UPTOWN!
I don’t bother going to downtown Normal to spend money. I shop where parking is convenient. Koos & council (not Stan & Karyn), are a disgraceful bunch.