By: Diane Benjamin
When government schedules ‘off” night meetings, most people never know about them until it’s too late to attend. These two you need to know about in advance.
The first meeting is December 2nd. This is a joint meeting of the Bloomington and Normal Councils to discuss a sports complex. It will take place before the Normal Council meeting, according to Tim Gleason – probably at 5:30. It will be held in the Normal Council chambers. Bloomington doesn’t want to fund it, so I have no idea why they are meeting. Maybe Normal will raise taxes to go it alone, even though the consultant stated it will NEVER break even, https://blnnews.com/2019/09/09/sports-complex/
Neither Town has this meeting posted on their website yet.
The second meeting is the one Normal wants to announce late before you have time to mark your calendar:
December 5th
This meeting is the result of the contentious 2-day meeting the Normal council held with Lyle Sumek.
Stan Nord and Karyn Smith think the citizens are being ignored. This is evidenced by the petitions gathered against destroying the mural and the fire station in BlackStone Trails.
Lyle plans to be at this meeting. This Summit is for Citizens, Koos and the Council will not be leading it. They are supposedly just going to listen. You need to attend, the Town hasn’t figured out yet why Stan and Karyn were elected.
I bet the underpass comes up!
The Summit is being held here so adequate space is available.
From Stan’s Facebook page:
PURPOSE:
To get more community involvement in decisions that affect your community and your pocketbook.
TOPICS:
Normal’s vision, mission, goals, and spending priorities.
HOSTED & FACILITATED BY:
Hosted by the Town of Normal. Facilitated by Lyle Sumek Associates, Inc.
WHAT YOU WILL DO:
You will be asked to discuss and prioritize various “WANT” and “NEED” initiatives and help to define a future vision for the community.
WHY YOU SHOULD ATTEND:
a) It is your money being spent. You should have input in how it is spent.
b) It is your community. You should have input in the direction it goes.
c) The time to speak up and be involved is before a decision has been made. Waiting until after the decision has been made is too late. Get involved!
TO PARTICIPATE:
You should live, work, go to school, own property or a business in Normal, or just care about the future of Normal.
We would like a wide diversity of participants. Spread the word!
GROUND RULES:
The ground rules for the Summit are very simple:
a) Everyone who attends is offered an opportunity to participate. No observers.
b) Everyone’s ideas will be recorded as part of the public record.
c) The mayor and council members are there to listen: “big ears, small mouths.”
d) City staff will record all ideas.
e) Summit participants will be randomly divided into discussion teams.
f) Husbands and wives will be on different discussion teams.
g) Discussion teams will consist of no more than six participants.
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC:
The Summit is an open public meeting. We welcome everyone, so spread the word!
It should be an enjoyable time for all involved!
QUESTIONS/COMMENTS:
Let me know if you have any questions or comments.
*While I am on the Council, I am not communicating on behalf of the Normal Town Council, nor am I representing any view other than my own. I am communicating as a citizen of Normal who is trying to increase public inclusion, involvement, and transparency within local government.
Yep the common citizen ought to go cause King Koos will stack the deck the best he can. THat’s how these things work.
It is a war – Koos lost round one at the last election. Citizens only win if they show up.
Let’s not kid ourselves, Koos is going to pack these meeting with his supporters, including those in on the sports complex, underpass, and Uptown fantasy. I suspect he and his allies colluded with Lyle to pack the place full or supporters to gaslight those that dare to question the Town’s reckless spending. This is a political crossroads and a potential last stand for Koos and his supporters. They are on the run politically and are increasingly desperate to hang onto power. He will try to control these events, the message, and the increasingly irrelevant local media. However, I predict these events will backfire on Koos and his supporters. Let’s hope so.
It is also Sumek’s chance to see the writing on the wall and attempt to keep his job. I know it is hard for citizens to show up, this time they need to look them in the eyes and demand change. They can be the difference between a tax increase for the underpass or common sense.
This is your chance (sane people of the Town of Normal) to stop these criminals once and for all. Fuhrer Koos and his brown shirts will be there in force; which is why the outraged taxpayers of Normal need to be there to tell him and his posse, “We have had enough of your insanity!”
Hmm, facilitated by Lyle Sumek (hired by the Town), discussion groups of six to a table…sounds an awful like the Delphi method. The one “plant” at each table is tasked with convincing the other five to agree with what the facilitator was hired to push and then afterward declare a consensus in favor of it. Don’t fall for it, the sweet talk will cost you $$$$!