By: Diane Benjamin
At last Monday’s meeting of the Normal Town Council Chris Koos tried to justify the Town buying a bike from his business to present to retiring Trustee Jeff Fritzen. The bike was in addition to the lavish party the Town threw for him. https://blnnews.com/2020/03/03/more-on-fritzens-retirement/
Koos claimed he sold the bike to the Town at his cost. He probably did, here’s the invoice: Vitesse FOIA
Note: The Town didn’t pay Sales Tax! Since the bike wasn’t for Town use, it’s taxable.
Chris Koos fails to understand the problem. Every dime the Town of Normal spends came from somebody who worked for it. Normal doesn’t produce income, the Town uses other people’s money and acts like they are entitled to flutter it away on fancy parties for a guy who also didn’t understand the money doesn’t belong to the Town.
Elected officials have a fiduciary responsibility to taxpayers. The bike is just more proof Normal leadership does not care how many hours citizens had to toil to pay the bills – they party on and make sure you don’t get an invite. They actually call tax and fee increases being fiscally responsible.
The mayor also “forgot” to submit the bill for payment for almost a year.
Add that blunder to his attempt at leasing the Linden Street property for $100 a month and all the other below market rate leases for his buddies, and it paint a mosaic of a Town who doesn’t know who they work for.
Imagine now the party Koos is planning for himself when he leaves. Will the Town commission a life-size statue of him for the Circle? It needs to face the still empty space at 1 Uptown Circle.
Are the Trustees who attended Fritzen’s party embarrassed they participated in the fleece of taxpayers? Sadly they likely believe he deserved it. Fritzen probably thinks he did too. He served voluntarily as a Trustee. He ran for office numerous times because he wanted to.
Thinking Fritzen deserved more than an open house is why Normal has numerous bonds they only pay interest on. Even worse, they aren’t done putting you in more debt.
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“Let them eat cake” says the completely out-of-touch monarch before the French Revolution.
“I just used Town of Normal money to give a going away present of a $500 bicycle from my store to my buddy Jeff Fritzen” says a completely out-of-touch leftist authoritarian.
Yes history repeats itself occasionally.
Thankfully, we have outlawed the use of the guillotine.
About that Koos Farewell Party, I’d suggest for it to wait 45 days after he leaves office to make sure that HE is GONE!
The damage he has caused will not be gone.
I was in “uptown” the other day, to take a friend to the bank. It was the most GOD AWFUL place I have ever been to! ALL the buildings are cut & paste and look the same, except for the 5 story one that sticks out. There IS NO charm left in NORMAL that was there when I went to ISU. Even the apartment buildings are stacked together like a scene from a 1970’s sit com filmed in NY or such. I imagine “uptown” now kind of like going to the moon. Once you have been there and picked up a few rocks, you really have no reason to return.
And how MUCH did all those “fancy” street signs cost??
Are you talking about the signs that the state of Illinois declared illegal ? Or the signs that replaced them? Either way its a visual proof that the Monarch,HRS Koos wastes tax monies on the frivolous. I’m surprised you even got thru Normal. With the idiocy of the road patterns,the huge buses that no one rides and the ISU students,going thru Normal has become almost impossible at times.
Koos’s farewell party will look alot like Obama’s inaugural #1 ! The lights,the glitter,the stars and yes the throne rising up to the temple of Koos!