By: Diane Benjamin
After watching the Town of Normal for years, Doug Damery is probably still employed since ethics are immaterial in Normal.
A reader received a FOIA from Normal with some interesting things:
Skokie was smarter than Normal – they rejected the National Fitness Campaign equipment Normal fell for:
This email proves Doug Damery knew the organization he was chair of at the time would be getting kickbacks from NFT for every installation. Note the date – this is months before Normal voted to accept a “grant” from NFC.
The snip below is from a Council update Pam Reece sent to the Council on January 21st for the next meeting meeting. The vote was not on the agenda, of course no one has explained why it wasn’t:
Since the grant was supposedly canceled by NFC, Reece thinks a rescind vote isn’t needed.
See the minutes of the 1/4/22 meeting here: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4206
Below is an excerpt from those minutes. The Council didn’t vote to accept the grant, they voted to authorize participation with NFC. The vote needs to be rescinded, the only reason the Town of Normal refuses to rescind is they may want to resurrect this in the future and can claim it already passed. The entire NFC agenda item stinks, but this is Normal where stink isn’t far-fetched.
“There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.”- Miracle Max. The NFC authorization is not dead, it still has life. Pam Reece knows this, which is why it has not been rescinded.
This is another consequence of elections.
Stan Nord, Normal Council Member who is tired of being misled by an administration who acknowledges, in writing, they respect ZERO ethics beyond what they can legally get away with.
BTW…Both the Town’s legal and ethics officers claim since the kickback would have occurred after Damery vacates his position on the IPRA there is no wrongdoing or ethical conflict of interest.
I believe the larger issue is the administration has created a culture where these types of actions are defended and made acceptable.
Again, when the Mayor and majority of the council allow this culture, then this is another consequence of elections.
I agree Stan, the fact that a public employee would be in any way associated with a tax payer funded project that would benefit them privately makes one wonder what kind of people we have on in our public employment and on the city council and especially at the top as mayor. Apparently they all believe they work in the dark, where things they do won’t be noticed. Heaven forbid someone turns on the lights. Thanks Stan and Diane. At least you haven’t forgotten the term “public trust”.
Can Stan ask this question point blank to Reece/Damery? Right o their faces? I seriously cannot believe he still has a job. It’s an abomination to allow him to continue to be employed after a scandal like that.
Maybe Stan is tired of nobody else caring enough to show up at meetings