by: Diane Benjamin Last week a Bloomington resident sent a BlnNews story, Burying Bailouts in “Quality of Life” PART 2, (http://blnnews.com/2014/03/14/burying-bailouts-in-quality-of-life-part-2/) to the entire Bloomington City Council with this comment: Again, I ask that the Council not consider funding this and to read this excellent information from the BLN News. Alderman Rob Fazzini decided to answer: On […]
by: Diane Benjamin Part 1: http://blnnews.com/2014/03/14/burying-bailouts-in-quality-of-life/ Community Center How did CAAY pick the property currently rented by the Great Escape to relocate the YMCA? Once again, it helps to know who owns it now. The McLean County Recorder’s Office shows: Great Escape Property 1716 RT Dunn Dr Ste 4: Parcel 21-09-452-002 Main & Veterans LLC […]
by: Diane Benjamin Add to the title: And the Aldermen who voted to give him another contract and a big raise! Of course, you don’t know which ones did because they also voted to NOT release the minutes of Executive (Secret) meetings where they do the evaluations. Think the 7 potted plants. Same thing happened to […]
City Council Alderman take an oath when elected. What does that mean to you and I, and how does that affect anything local? It vows and affirms not only the defense of the Illinois Constitution by the Alderman, but vows and affirms by their oath to uphold it. A quick review of the applicable language […]
by: Diane Benjamin In a very recent Rasmussen poll, 80% said the country is going in the wrong direction. http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/mood_of_america/right_direction_or_wrong_track But we are NOT powerless! Politicians do one of 2 things when challenged on their decisions: 1) They modify their policies to the will of the people 2) They dig their heals in a say […]
by: Diane Benjamin Number one complaint of citizens: roads falling apart. So the City borrows $10,000,000 and plans to budget another $4,000,000. The budget comes out and the $4,000,000 is cut. The City can’t find a way to keep your car from getting damaged dodging potholes. Guess what they can find money for? Golf paths. […]
City of Bloomington: Scott Black will always vote how Mayor Renner wants. Now with the appointment of Joni Painter, who will also do whatever the Mayor wants – THEY ARE ENOUGH VOTES TO GET RID OF DAVID HALES! Mayor Transparency? How low does employee morale have to be before David Hales is held accountable? How […]
Make sure you read the Comments! A neighbor told me Mayor Renner’s pick to replace Jennifer McDade on the Bloomington City Council is a big Obama supporter. Okay, I can see somebody making a mistake in 2008, but 2012? No surprise since Tari doesn’t consider himself a non-partisan mayor. Does Ward 5 feel they will […]
by: Diane Benjamin Jennifer McDade is quitting the Bloomington City Council for “personal reasons”. Her petitions were challenged when she ran in 2013 and enough of them were ruled invalid to get her off the ballot. She spent THOUSANDS appealing the decision and won at the next level – then won the election. Now she […]
by: Diane Benjamin At last Monday night’s City Council meeting a BIG item was on the agenda. The agenda is done by City Manager David Hales and Mayor Renner, but it seems like Renner either changed his mind or Hales put the item on the agenda without Renner’s knowledge. The members of the Council have […]
by: Diane Benjamin Bloomington recently posted a lot of information on-line in the interest of transparency. Luckily I have ways of manipulating what they post so the data is usable. http://cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=36 How much do alderman earn serving on the City Council? This is from 2012. It begs the question of why Jennifer McDade spent something […]
by: Diane Benjamin Months ago Mayor Renner told me there was a waiting list for apartments in downtown Bloomington because so many people wanted to live there. Tonight the City Council will vote to abate property taxes for a citizen who wants to add 6 units downtown. I just called Redbird Apartment Management. They have […]
by: Diane Benjamin You can read the minutes of the 2 day retreat here: http://cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=6221 Start on page 105 Culture change and more taxes were hot topics at the 2 day retreat of the Bloomington City Council last November. The minutes don’t say what culture change is except the Council is supposed to “have […]
by: Diane Benjamin The Illinois Open Meetings Act isn’t very long. At times it repeats itself, which makes it even shorter. No matter how many times complaints are filed against the City of Bloomington for violating it, City staff and elected officials evidently have never read it or they make no effort to comply with […]
UPDATE: Mayor Renner just pulled this discussion off the agenda! Correction: An addendum changed the amount to $202,865. Total spent on studies since November is now over $300,000! by: Diane Benjamin At the January 27th City Council meeting, this will be on the agenda: Comprehensive Plan Proposed Scope of Work by Houseal Lavigne Associates for Professional […]
by: Diane Benjamin Add this name to the list of supporters for Modified Wards. Sunday, Darrell Hartweg and wife had a letter printed in the Pantagraph supporting taking away your personal representation on the Council. There seems to be pattern emerging – Citizens get FOUR votes instead of just one. Evidently, you are supposed to […]
by: Diane Benjamin From the Monday, January 13, 2014 Council minutes: http://cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=6182 Item 8D. An Ordinance Establishing the Salary for the City Manager. Motion by Alderman Sage, seconded by Alderman Mwilambwe that the Ordinance be passed. The Mayor directed the clerk to call the roll which resulted in the following: Ayes: Aldermen Mwilambwe, Schmidt, McDade, […]
by: Diane Benjamin Governor Quinn’s salary for managing a whole state is: Division Title YTD Gross CONSTITUTIONAL ELECTED STATE OFFICIALS GOVERNOR $177,411.96 Monday night the Rubber stamp 7 will okay a raise for David Hales: The base salary of the City Manager is established to be $176,439.00 effective January 12, 2014. At least he is […]
Word is out the Bloomington City Council is considering a big raise of City Manager David Hales. The Mayor thinks he should be compared to corporate CEO’s. I think he should be compared to Gov Quinn – you know the guy in charge of Illinois. Guess how much Quinn makes? http://accountability.illinois.gov/Employees/Employee/EmployeeDetails.aspx?Year=2013&Agency=0&ID=8ad855bc-8072-e311-bd9f-0019bb3ad8e6 Division Title YTD Gross […]
Make sure you see this post too: http://blnnews.com/2013/12/31/more-on-hales-getting-a-big-raise/ by: Diane Benjamin The email below was obtained under the Freedom of Information act. It concerns ongoing discussions of David Hales job performance. Mayor Renner seems to think David Hales should be compared to the CEO of a major corporation. If Bloomington was a corporation, it […]
by: Diane Benjamin If you read the City of Bloomington website, you would think they are all about transparency. The City has bigger problems a website will never fix. The City culture is non-transparency and non-adherence to laws that get in their way. The numerous complaints filed with the Attorney General’s office are evidence of […]
by: Diane Benjamin Another Christmas is over, I hope you had a great one. Mine was a phenomenal 2 days surrounded by family, friends, and an awesome Christmas Eve church service. Time to go back to business though. Mayor Renner and I used to talk occasionally both by phone and email. At times I knew […]
Update at: http://blnnews.com/2013/12/22/mayor-transparency-exposed/ by: Diane Benjamin On November 15th, Alderwoman Judy Stearns walked out of an Executive Session of the Bloomington City Council. Executive Sessions are SECRET meetings governed by laws created by the State of Illinois. These laws are meant to protect citizens by severely restricting what CAN be discussed in these SECRET meetings. […]
by: Diane Benjamin Previously I questioned if Rob Fazzini was trying to hide the truth to get signatures to put the Ward change on the March ballot: http://blnnews.com/2013/12/18/was-rob-fazzini-trying-to-cover-up-the-truth/ He managed to convince WGLT’s Charlie Schlenker of his Six Wards and Three At-large plan. Listen to an interview aired today with Alderwoman Judy Stearns: http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2013/12/07670_12-20stearnsqa_web_085852.shtml Schlenker […]
by: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph today expanded the story on the Open Meetings Act violation alleged by Alderwoman Judy Stearns. Rachel Wells included comments from Mayor Renner: http://www.pantagraph.com/stearns-requests-review-under-open-meetings-act/pdf_7b457508-6919-11e3-9910-001a4bcf887a.html The letter sent to the Attorney General by Stearns made serious allegations, if they weren’t serious the Attorney General would not have agreed to investigate. Renner called […]
See this update: http://blnnews.com/2013/12/20/mayor-formerly-transparent-renner-sinks-himself/ by: Diane Benjamin Surprise! This time I didn’t file it – Alderwoman Judy Stearns did. About a month ago the Bloomington City Council had a 2 day retreat. As part of the retreat the Council met in executive session. Executive session means in secret, the public isn’t allowed to […]
by: Diane Benjamin’ On November 14th Alderman Rob Fazzini did an interview with WGLT. This interview was early in his process of gathering petitions to put a referendum on the March primary ballot. Here is a link to the interview: http://wglt.org/wireready/news/2013/11/06959_fazzini_qa_web_040842.shtml What the Renner, Fazzini, Fruin and Black team hasn’t been making clear is this: […]
by: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council is once again considering what David Hales should be paid as City Manager. Here is some information they should consider: Decatur is bigger than Bloomington – around 81,000 residents. Their City budget is only $130 million as opposed to Bloomington’s which is at least $169 million. They […]
by: Diane Benjamin In July of 2012, I filed an Open Meetings Act violation against the Bloomington City Council concerning a road trip 4 Council members and Mayor Stockton took to Peoria. The Pantagraph and 2 other citizens filed the same thing I did. The Public Access Office that handles these complaints is overwhelmed with […]
by: Diane Benjamin On the agenda for Monday’s Bloomington City Council meeting: Mayor Renner told me a few months ago that Bloomington taxpayers got stuck with the sewer and streets bill from this subdivision under an agreement negotiated by former City Manager Tom Hamilton. Evidently it amounted to millions and millions of dollars. The developer is […]
by: Diane Benjamin There is another secret meeting of the Bloomington City Council Monday night. Pending litigation is on the agenda again. I wonder if a spin-mister has been hired yet? Wonder how they will spin it? 2 secret meetings – it must be good.
by: Diane Benjamin Last Monday the Bloomington City Council held another executive session. An Addendum to the stated purpose of the meeting, evaluating David Hales, appeared on the City website: The code session listed is the section of the Open Meetings Act Law that permits them to discuss the item in a closed session: (11) […]
by: Diane Benjamin Obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, paid to Farnsworth Group: 5/1/12 – 4/30/13 $126,292 5-1-13 – to present $79,081 add the contract approved 11/25/13 of $74,670 for another study and the total so far this year is $153,751 Last night the City Council approved yet another study (not to Farnsworth) […]
by: Diane Benjamin At the November 25th City Council Meeting, the rubber stamp 7 approved a contract with Farnsworth Group to complete a Downtown Street Lighting master plan. I obtained the contract under the Freedom of Information Act. Remember, this is just a study, no actual work. Here’s what taxpayers are getting: Here is how […]
On the Agenda for Monday’s City Council meeting: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=6055 C. Downtown Bloomington Strategy (That the Downtown Bloomington Strategy be accepted and the Resolution adopted.) (30 minutes) D. Downtown Hotel Feasibility Study. (Recommend that the Agreement with HVS for a hotel feasibility study in the amount of $30,000 be approved, and the Mayor and City Clerk […]
by: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Alderman Rob Fazzini sends a Ward report every month to people on his email list. It’s a work of art in that he tracks every possible thing he does for the month and then calculates that he works for way below minimum wage. Rob, are citizens suppose to kneel before you […]
The annual required payment wasn’t ever enough to adequately fund pensions. Obviously making even the required payment wasn’t a priority. Most of the City Council voted YES on budgets knowing pensions weren’t funded. Now they want to raise gas and/or utility taxes because they couldn’t find cuts in the $169,000,000 budget for […]
At last nights Bloomington City Council meeting the financial statements for the year ended 4/30/2013 were presented. City staff and the Auditor were there to answer questions. Only 1 person elected to the Council had questions for the Auditors – Alderwoman Judy Stearns. She asked questions CITIZENS want answered. Start watching the video at […]
by: Diane Benjamin Normal doesn’t want a ward system because ISU students would make their own ward and therefore have representation on the Council. Bloomington elections, especially the last one, were won because of IWU students. They worked to elect Mayor Renner and Alderman Scott Black. Both felt it was great to use the students. […]
by: Diane Benjamin Do the citizens of Bloomington understand the Fazzini plan will allow the Mayor and 3 Alderman to be elected At-Large? What keeps them from running 4 candidates all from one neighborhood? Absolutely nothing. Very transparent Rob! Very bad for the citizens. ISU Political Science Professor Andrew Matthews discussed this on Cities 92.9 […]
