By: Diane Benjamin
Tonight’s meeting is delayed because at 7:00 there is a tree lighting ceremony on the circle. THIS HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO THE WEATHER. The meeting is still at 7:30.
http://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3436
A few choice payments tonight:
This is the Florida guy who tells Normal how to operate:
Who else contributes and what is the money used for?
The Council will discuss how cannabis will be regulated. There won’t be any cannabis tourism in Normal:
Normal will be saving money on interest after refinancing 2 bonds:
The question that won’t be answered is why Commerce Bank is offering interest rates this low.
Nobody else wants to borrow money?
The Town will vote to implement “electronic citations” tonight:
This will make writing tickets easier. Does that mean more tickets since officers will have more time?
This item was obtained under FOIA by a reader:
This proves the Town of Normal doesn’t follow their purchasing policy. The question was asked by Stan Nord, the answer in yellow is by Pam Reece.
See “Ethics” on PDF page 4 http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/12829/2017-Purchasing-Policy-Manual-x?bidId=
See “Authority to Purchase” on PDF page 6. The mayor isn’t a department head, $4,000 went to a personal friend. He violated both ethics and authority. More proof laws and policy don’t matter to government.
Its almost like Commerce Bank is getting something in return for this kind of rate? Quid pro quo for something else?
Local governments have the ability to put the full faith and credit of the underlying tax base against their debt. Lending institutions see this as a virtual lock on ability to pay. Given that, the risk associated with these loans are extremely low. Interest rates reflect the history and ability of a borrower to pay, along with the cost of money. What I would question is why is the offered rate lower than LIBOR for the 20 year Bond Buyer? I would ask that question because that indicator is the cost of money to the bank and they’re quoting a rate that is less than it costs Commerce to borrow the money. The 20 year for bonds is at 2.59%. I would guess the answer would be they’re using their own money…
So, that confirms nobody else wants money
Not a lot of business loans being issued in the area. Who would start or grow a business in Bloomington-Normal Illinois?!
The Astronauts on the International Space Station just made this report to ground control: “We have spotted on the surface of the Earth, directly over a small city in the central part of Illinois called Bloomington-Normal what appears to be some sort of swirling phenomenon. It looks as though the entire metropolitan area is literally swirling around a large drain. We have never seen anything like it on the planet before”.
Apparently Russian cosmonauts in the last part of the 1980s observed the same phenomenon above the former Soviet Union before its demise. Speculation at the time cited socialism, corruption and bureaucratic rot as the cause but know one knows for sure what really caused the Soviet Union to swirl down the drain of history.
Please explain how they can legally draw up a resolution to not do a competitive bid? Where do they get that authority? I have never seen that in state statues but maybe I missed something. IL is a Dillon’s Law state so if the statue is available then they don’t have the authority to do so. Poor fiduciary practice to not bid this out!
They think Home Rule gives them the right to do anything.
The authority to draw up resolutions waiving formal biddnig are contained in 65 ILCS 5; The Illinois Municipal Code. Yes, Home Rule gives them the right to alter bid requirements away from what’s contained in statute, however, the law in Illinois only requires muni’s to bid public works projects.
Another mis-conception is bidding produces the lowest price. The law requires the muni select the lowest responsible, responsive bidder. Responsible refers to the ability of a contractor to deliver and responsive refers to the ability of the contractor to meet the specification of the request for bids.The question asked in purchasing isn’t who has the lowest price but who can provided the closest to what we asked for, and can they deliver that at the cost they’ve quoted.