By: Diane Benjamin
In case you forgot, PASER is the Pavement Rating and Assessment Project the Normal Town Council passed last October: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3770
See PDF page 35. The Council was told the total cost would be $100,000 with a grant arranged by the McLean County Regional Planning Commission for $80,000 of that. The Town would pay $20,000 to get all the roads rated. If you read the actual MOU on PDF page 37, it says paving condition rating and assessment.
We were told in May the PASER report would be presented in June. Nothing has been presented in either June or July. That is because the contracted company has been asked by the Town of Normal to recommend fixes to roads. Since the grant expired on June 30th, anything Normal asked the contractor to do after June 30th Normal has to pay for. Of course the Council didn’t authorize that, but everyone knows the majority won’t care.
See this email received by FOIA:
Note the date: March 2, 2022. Jennifer Sicks is emailing another MCRPC member to verify “Ryan” (Ryan Otto-Town of Normal) knows the $80,000 is only good until June 30th. Below is another email confirming that – note the date:
I’ve had the email FOIA for quite awhile. This email shows when the project was supposed to be done:
ARA is the contractor hired to do the work the grant covered. Obviously the work was not completed in June, probably not even July. The Council didn’t approve “pavement treatments and preservation recommendations”.
How much longer is the PASER report going to take?
Better question: How much over $20,000 did it cost?
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The incompetence of this Town management just continues unabated. Does anyone know how to do anything on time, at budget, and with transparency?
They don’t even know how to use proper materials, or, is it all planned failure to insure steady work?
The report won’t be released until after the Mayor’s road has been repaved and the report to reflect it. Pam Reece wants to ensure the report does not show the Mayor is getting preferential treatment. If it were released now the corruption would be too obvious.
Yep, covering up the mayor giving and receiving personal benefits at the taxpayer expense has been a trend. Remember when he wanted to let his neighbor rent a couple town owned office spaces for 100/mo?
Finally, an explanation that covers all the facts – Thank you!!