By: Diane Benjamin
The video and Live Stream from Normal’s Council meeting last night didn’t start until the last speaker at Public Comment was almost finished.
Here’s the problem: Speakers must sign up at least 15 minutes in advance, Koos and company know pretty much what is going to be said based on that information. Since raising taxes was on the agenda last night, is it a little too convenient there is no video? Since the goal has always been to hide as much from the public as possible with 10 minute or less meetings with the old rubber-stamp Council, it is very suspicious the public will never hear what their fellow citizens had to say.
I do know Koos’s buddy Dave Shields was the only speaker of 7 asking for his taxes to be raised!
Thank you Normal for not electing him!
The other speakers were: Craig Stimpert, Doug Fansler, Marc Tiritilli, Ron Ulmer, Karl Sila, and maybe Eric Smith. (Sorry if that name is incorrect, there is no video!)
All of the above spoke against the property tax increase, I hear Doug Fansler was on fire, Koos cut him off for going over the time limit. Of course, there is no video!
7:25 Kathleen Lorenz makes an amendment to reduce funding to 90% this year. Koos agrees to a one year decrease – later he votes against it when her motion is amended to keep taxes level.
21:15 Finance Director confirmed there is no law that only property taxes can pay pensions. Stan Nord asked the question.
24:19 Kevin McCarthy explains why he wants taxes raised. He is not interested in finding savings elsewhere to fund pensions – of course he doesn’t say that.
29:00 Chemberly Cummings is upset the public thinks they have already made up their minds to raise taxes. Later she voted AGAINST keeping the tax rate level.
(Yes Chemberly – the public knew how you would vote)
30:25 Stan Nord wants Kathleen Lorenz to amend her motion to NO tax increase. The Town only needs to cut around $96,000 in spending, he lists possible savings. Kathleen Lorenz refuses to amend her motion.
40:50 After figuring out Roberts Rules of Order, Scott Preston motioned to amend Lorenz’s motion to reflect no increase. Nord, Smith, Lorenz, and Preston voted YES – Koos, McCarthy, Cummings voted NO.
The citizens won, to bad they can’t see who represented them at Public Comment.
Thank Stan Nord for leading the Council with common sense.
After watching this heavily censored video, as in no Public Comments shown, this should be known as Mayor Koos’s interpretation of Captain Kangaroo’s Show. He just pulls out of his pocket what he wants aired.
While Koos and company not getting what they wanted in property tax world….. It may be more important that the public comments were cut video wise. One only wonders what the minutes of this meeting will reflect. This is a serious Hitler like controlling of the narrative or if you prefer Maoist, Stalinist. When the government censors what does not match the beliefs of those in power…. We have now seen 2 steps. First the illegal control of topics in public comment and now this.
I was there. It was a good meeting only marred by Kathy’s no vote. It was stupid and petty and she knew it right away. Scott stepped in to save the whole evening. Had Scott not done a ‘wait a minnet’, ptax would have increased.
I will also give Cummings props. At one point, she was lost and said so (because quite a few technical terms were being tossed about, and administrative comments were clear as mud and not helpful). The next five minutes were spent going over technical issues, but she came along and voted for keeping the levy the same as ’18.
I gurantee you if you polled each of the council members again today, each would have a different interpretation of what they voted on & for..
Coincidence? Technical difficulty? A minor oversight? Or, intentional? I’ll let the people decide. But, with the absolute disdain this mayor and other Council members have for public comment speakers that have not been hand picked by the mayor (last night we had six of them), I can’t help but be skeptical. Add to that skepticism my own personal experience. Mayor Koos doesn’t seem to understand that his efforts to control public comment make him look far worse than any collateral damage he may suffer from letting people speak.
Well said!
This technical issue illustrates why the written minutes are so critical to be an accurate representation of what transpired. (Currently, there is disagreement on the importance of written vs. video log.) If we are to be so reliant on “tech” then safeguards must be in place to ensure technical issues do not compromise the historical record.