By: Diane Benjamin
PDF page 69: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4451
Remember when Pam Reece claimed buying these vehicles was not in the 5 year budget? Ha Ha.
Remember the Vehicle and Equipment Replacement Fund where they stockpile your money so they can pay cash?
Remember when they decided to LEASE 30 vehicles instead of paying cash? https://blnnews.com/2021/12/06/normal-truth-in-taxation-is-mia/
Remember when Normal financed a fire truck instead of paying cash? https://blnnews.com/2021/08/02/normal-bait-and-switch/
Monday night:
Reece is going to use in the Vehicle and Equipment Replacement Fund to buy them! Lease and finance what the fund was suppose to pay for so Pam can buy these with cash!
How much will they cost?
We don’t know because the cost isn’t in the documentation. This purchase is on the Omnibus Agenda where items that don’t need to discussed are placed!
Pam Reece wants a blank check, the cost is immaterial. These vehicles are luxury items, they supposedly replace two fleet vehicles but the documentation doesn’t say what two.
Meanwhile Rivian has a long line of people waiting for delivery who have given them deposits. Normal wants the prestige of driving luxury vehicles, they don’t care about the others waiting years for delivery.
Normal has a long history of not buying local. The documentation claims they are supporting a local business and proving they are EV town. All you other businesses are immaterial.
It’s not like the Town of Normal hasn’t supported Rivian since they bought the plant:
- millions in tax breaks
- paying millions to extend new water and sewer to the plant
- paying millions to rebuild and redesign College Ave
- paying millions to give Rivian its own bus route while others like ISU, Heartland and State Farm pay
- paying for years of snow and ice removal inside the plant
- giving many zoning changes and fee waivers
- giving Sakura road to Rivian
The latest fleece is what the Rivian property was appraised for since they now have to pay property taxes. After investing (according to the documentation) $500,000,000 the total assessed value is around $13,000,000.
Property taxes are based on a third of that. Paying their FAIR SHARE?
Had enough abuse now?
Too chicken to show up at Public Comment Monday night? Normal does this stuff because you don’t stand up to them.
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It’ll be interesting to see how Scott Preston votes. He claims to be a “Conservative Fighter” and promises to fight wasteful spending in Springfield. My bet is he will prove why so many Republicans consider him a RINO.
Lorenz and Smith are running for reelection, but they are Pam puppets and will vote for this along with McCarthy and Cummings. Pam probably promised to let them drive the cars for a while in return for their votes.
Nord is the only predictable NO vote.
Preston put money down on a Rivian himself.. I’m not sure if he is still driving a Porsche or has taken delivery of a Rivian.
Two things: 1.) these are pool vehicles. You could get 3-4 nice pool vehicles for the same price as one of these. 2.) The city could sell the vehicle and probably make $20-30k. Just think of the good they could do.
Everyone knows about the Rivian recall don’t ya? Close to 13,000 vehicles recalled last week because of a faulty steering mechanism. Practically all the vehicles manufactured. Nothing about it in the local news. Also had one test vehicle just stop on a California freeway without warning. Stock prices up and down like a bounce house. Super product.
yes, funny how that hasn’t made any local news. Their stock is tanking (again) too.
You’d think that Rivian might give the community a couple of these vehicles as a Thank You.
Generate some good publicity.
NAAAAAH its all about a struggling company
Nothing to see here…. move along… everything is under control… did you get your Bi-nuclear booster yet?
Electric Vehicle Company Recalls Nearly All Of Its Cars
Rivian announced a recall on Friday impacting nearly every vehicle the electric car company has delivered to customers.
The venture, which is partially owned by Amazon and Ford, received seven reports potentially related to a loose fastener connecting vehicles’ front upper-control arm and steering knuckle, which could be affecting drivers’ ability to steer. Shares of Rivian had fallen more than 10% on Monday amid the recall announcement.
“If you experience excessive noise, vibration or harshness from the front suspension, or a change in steering performance or feel, you should call immediately,” Rivian CEO R.J. Scaringe wrote in a letter to vehicle owners obtained by NBC News. The company does not expect to incur salient costs from the recall, since the fix takes a few moments, and expects to complete all repairs within the month pending customer cooperation.
https://www.dailywire.com/news/electric-vehicle-company-recalls-nearly-all-of-its-cars
Pam wants a Rivian but doesn’t believe in the company enough to use her own money to buy one. She’s abusing her position to make taxpayers pay for her toys.
I believe she gets a sizable “vehicle allowance.” Same thing U5 superintendent gets. We’re already paying for their “toys.”
All of these people are insane. They have no business running anything.
Rivian might give King Koos a free truck or SUV but not the town. No way. Those perks are reserved for the king.
Frivolous spending like this is why the roads suck here and the taxes here are so high. I can’t wait to get relocated or a transfer opportunity opens.
Exactly – that’s why most Town employees actually live Elsewhere.
Rivian has had three recalls this year to date. The las one recalled almost then entire lot of vehicles sold. So here’s Normal buying vehicles from a company that has that kind of track record? I’m not surprised!
Essentially every vehicle has recalls. Ford, for example, has several on every new vehicle. The concern is the likelihood of a failure and what’s the harm of that failure.
While I am hoping that Rivian succeeds, that doesn’t mean I have to support the decisions of the illegally-operating Town of Normal. I would be concerned that a legal challenge to the Town’s structure would result in the clear verdict that Normal continues to operate illegally and should be required to rectify its illegal operations.
I agree that most staff do not live here in town or even in Bloomington because they want the spoils of an unsustainable operation but not to share in the costs of their decisions. I would not be surprised to see Reece flee the state with an astronomical pension to a lower tax burden. She knows her gravy train will end once Koos and his minions are voted out. Don’t be surprised to see Koos try to lock up a poison-pill contract for Reece before he is out of office.
I agree with all except your first sentence – – every new Ford vehicle has several recalls. Then your ramble about failure and the harm of failure.
Local and county news is nothing but propaganda and promotion of goody two shoes folks $$) Fake world. This info should be publicized and journalist should use scrutiny like you do on this news channel
Thanks for helping us stay informed as we have few other avenues to do so locally