Category: Hales

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

You will never know the truth

By:  Diane Benjamin According to this Pantagraph story, the charges in the Coliseum case have been dropped against one of the 5 defendants and three others are in negotiations for a plea deal: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/arena-defendants-involved-in-talks-with-state/article_db37d3a5-218c-5fb4-8d6a-812671ec0118.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-2 Can anybody guess why comments aren’t allowed to this story? The LAST thing any level of government in McLean County wants is […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Who is more incompetent?

By:  Diane Benjamin http://wglt.org/post/charges-dismissed-former-coliseum-general-manager#stream/0 Charges were dismissed today against one of the main guys involved at the Coliseum, Bart Rogers.  He was John Butler’s main sidekick. The judge said the statute of limitations is three years, which means any theft or crimes that may have occurred prior to three years can no longer be prosecuted. […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

WGLT finally sees the light?

By:  Diane Benjamin See this recent WGLT story:  http://wglt.org/post/new-documents-link-vague-coliseum-contract-criminal-charges The former Coliseum management could get greatly reduced sentences because the documents WGLT presented prove the City didn’t care – as in David Hales didn’t care.  Hales was paid huge bucks to manage the City, he failed.  I really hope he is called as a witness to […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Government for the employees

By:  Diane Benjamin Bloomington changed the pension spiking policy for all new hires after they became liable for the increased cost – that was in 2012. The policy has not been changed for existing employees.  Why should any person be entitled to a pension they didn’t earn? Employees are getting paid months before they retire for […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Citizen Budget cuts

By:  Diane Benjamin Since Alderman Hauman’s citizen budget group hasn’t been allowed to discuss their findings at a Council meeting, I want you to see their work. (moving the library and a Welcoming Ordinance for illegals are evidently more important) The group started with the items discussed at the November retreat.  The retreat was the […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

If you leave your doors unlocked, is it legal . . .

By:  Diane Benjamin It’s David Hales fault! That is John Butler’s claim to justify the missing bucks.  I blame David Hales too, and the Council, and the Mayor who all shut their eyes and pretended nothing nefarious was happening with taxpayer money.  The joint was audited!  Except concessions never were.  Johnny Butler made sure of […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington PDF page 13:

By:  Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=15344 This statement is in a letter to Mayor Renner delivering the completed financial statements as of April 30, 2017: The letter is signed by David Hales and Patti-Lynn Silva. Director of Finance. Since Hales is gone, Patti-Lynn needs to explain why the financial statements weren’t released until December – 8 months […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Chili Cook-off: the pics!

By:  Diane Benjamin See previous stories:  https://blnnews.com/2017/12/13/how-do-they-get-any-work-done/ When I was reading the volumes of emails the City of Bloomington employees sent to each other, I noticed some referred to pictures posted on the City’s intranet.  I FOIA’d the pics. I received 31, here’s a few of them.  Keep in mind, this is a party they threw […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

City should have sued their consultants

By:  Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington paid consultants before building the white elephant.  They predicted revenues of $7,000,000 a year and net income of  $2,319,000 a year.    https://blnnews.com/2015/07/21/coliseum-the-jokes-on-you/ The City has now gifted the financial statements from almost a year ago – 4/30/2017.  The Coliseum audited statements are included:    http://www.cityblm.org/home/showdocument?id=15348 Revenue for the year was […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

More Partying emails

By:  Diane Benjamin I wonder if the City thought I wouldn’t read the massive amount of emails they sent me.  Well, I did.  I filed one more FOIA request today for the pictures they posted on the City’s Intranet.  Correction:  EAC stands for Employee Activities Committee.  If the City is short on employees, ending this […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Monday PCard and bills

By:  Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for Monday night:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15410 This one is easy Patti Lynn – no need to belong to anything!  111 felony counts could have easily been prevented!   With Tari now PCardless and David Hales gone, money saved.  The City Council still ate at your expense: Why did Public Works need pizza […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Tari: H**l of a mess

By:  Diane Benjamin One more recap from Monday’s City Council meeting: VenuWorks recapped what they wanted to bring to the BCPA, including saving an estimated $200,000 a year in operations. VenuWorks has access to an email list of 409,000 people in Central Illinois to help promote shows VenuWorks has plans for new revenue including concessions […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

One more retreat note:

By:  Diane Benjamin I reported in Part 1 that Hales blamed the past Council for approving building Fire Station #5:  https://blnnews.com/2017/11/08/49548/ Hales claims the Council needs to assert their authority instead of always taking staff recommendations. Two points to consider: Voting against a Fire Station will get you accused of not caring about Public SsafetyHales could […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Council Retreat Recap – Part 1

By:  Diane Benjamin I wasn’t able to attend the retreat last Saturday, so I FOIA’d the audio.  Of course it’s long, so far I’ve listened to part one.  A link is below.  The documents they are discussing can be found HERE  Below are comments I had while listening to the audio, it’s not a story in […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Past Due TIF Reports?

By:  Diane Benjamin Yesterday I did two stories on past due Tax Increment Financing reports: https://blnnews.com/2017/11/03/is-normal-hiding-tif-data/ https://blnnews.com/2017/11/03/bloomington-plays-the-same-tif-game/ First:  It is ridiculous the citizens have to wait over 6 months after a year-end for financial information. Second:  If you look under Finance on both the Bloomington and Normal websites, there are NO links to TIF reports.  […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Irony of the Day!

By:  Diane Benjamin The below is what the City of Bloomington has in this year’s budget for Public Transportation: Bloomington has more than doubled what they give Connect Transit.  Yes, that structural deficit is the Council’s fault.  Even with more of your money, CT continues to lose between $800,000 and $900,000 every month. Tomorrow the […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Bloomington plays the same TIF game

By:  Diane Benjamin Normal has not submitted TIF reports to the Comptroller as required:  https://blnnews.com/2017/11/03/is-normal-hiding-tif-data/ Bloomington hasn’t either: warehouse.illinoiscomptroller.com Bloomington TIF Past Due The Comptroller’s  office must not know Bloomington created another TIF in October 2016 for downtown.  They will when I notify them. See the Council minutes here for when the TIF was created:   http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11542 […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Retreat! Yep, but it’s a secret

By:  Diane Benjamin Tax receipts are flat.  The City of Bloomington is facing more “structural deficits” they created.   What to do, what to do? Let’s hold a retreat Saturday at the Den where it can’t be video taped!  The citizens have no right to know we are going to raise property taxes: Packet PDF page […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Legal: Employee Investigations?

By:  Diane Benjamin I’ve written before about the City spending resources to prosecute employees when arbitration reaches a different conclusion than the one the City wants.  Remember Scott Oglesby?   https://blnnews.com/2013/05/06/the-real-story-of-scott-oglesbys-firing/ Now they are doing it again.  This time it’s a fireman, Jon Caponi, who was arrested in 2016 for domestic violence.  See the newspaper story […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

What’s a “bona fide plan holder”?

By:  Diane Benjamin Nobody checked into why David Hales left Bend Oregon after only 2 years and all the records were sealed.  See this story:  https://blnnews.com/2013/09/17/who-is-city-manager-david-hales/ Obviously nobody in Joliet did any independent research of David Hales either since the Council had no idea 5 people were charged with 111 felony counts while he was in […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Lunch with people who sue: Renner

By:  Diane Benjamin When the last Downtown Bloomington TIF ended, I hear David Bentley wasn’t happy with the money he got to rehab the CII East Building.  He sued the City in 2014. See the 2014 TIF report here:   ftp://ftp.illinoiscomptroller.com/LocGovTIF/FY2014/06402530/14TIF06402530Dwtwn_Cendistrict.pdf Since the TIF was pretty much over, expenses for legal fees were all that is […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Downtown isn’t the City Core!

By:  Diane Benjamin Downtown businesses didn’t even support the Downtown Bloomington Association.  Now the DBA employees are happy City employees complete with higher salaries, benefits and pensions! The Coliseum and the Bloomington Center for Performing Arts (BCPA) were supposed to brings hoards of people downtown. The Visitor’s Center in the McLean County History Museum was […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Where to start, where to start, where . . .

By:  Diane Benjamin Unpacking last night’s Bloomington City Council meeting will take more than one story! Let’s start with Tari Renner getting his PCard taken away.  Just hit play below to hear his comments. Tari claimed Finance Director Patti-Lynn Silva runs a great shop, there are no abuses of the PCard policy. Tari must not […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Connect Transit: September Fleece

By:  Diane Benjamin See the September report here:     https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B4zAZemF_qQuX0JzckFHNFZJV1k/view Revenue from riders doesn’t come close to pay the wages of the employees:   The total operating loss appears to not be a red flag for anybody: Government can’t come up with a way to transport people without losing $833,895 in one month? The loss […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Monday: Brick Streets

By:  Diane Benjamin Since a few people on the council think the remaining brick streets need to be saved, the Council will hear how much it will cost at the Special meeting.  This is the 10 year projection:  PDF page 76  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14866 I added the zeros the presentation conveniently leaves out. When the eventual ordinance hits […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Can the Council READ?

By:  Diane Benjamin PDF Page 10:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=12766 Last April the Council unanimously approved spending $114,999 to hire Greenplay to develop a Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Arts Master Plan. Keep in mind, the only reason for Master Plans is to bind the hands of future Councils because millions have been spent planning.  Even with this massive expense, […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

Secret Meeting Monday

By:  Diane Benjamin http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14866 Once again Monday the Council has TWO meetings scheduled instead of just one regular meeting.  Besides discussing more Master Plans meant to bind the hands of future Councils and bankrupt citizens, they will convene another secret meeting for which the minutes will NEVER be released: Why the Council would want to […]

Written by Diane Benjamin - editor

September PCard + Bills

By: Diane Benjamin Even on sick leave, Tari can hold a business meeting at a bar and use the City PCard:  http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=14856 The rest of the council still has no problem feeding themselves at your expense. Looks like the Chamber of Commerce is behind “Quality of Life” Monarch Group is Real Estate Development.  Funny how WHO […]