(You are still waiting for the 2 stories!) By: Diane Benjamin Last week I posted a story about a consultant hired to help the Council evaluate David Hales: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/22/bloomington-another-consultant/ The consultant sent an email to the Council – see the addresses: Karen Schmidt is Ward 6 – she got the email twice. Missing is WARD […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is another email I received under the Freedom of Information Act while looking for something else. It was written by Alderman Jim Fruin. Normal’s elections for council members are At-Large. That means nobody on the their Council represents citizens, everybody represents the entire town. It also means the Council members don’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin I was looking for something else when I did a FOIA for emails recently. It never fails to amaze me what some elected officials will put in writing when they think it’s a secret. Emails are part of the public record because State law requires all deliberations be done openly in front […]
By: Diane Benjamin Only the audio of the meeting is available – no video. I think some of the Aldermen were absent, the roll call was hard to hear, so I’m not sure. Some might have arrived late. The paper reported a straw poll was unanimous in not taxing the video gaming machines. If all […]
By: Diane Benjamin The agenda screw-up from last Monday will be fixed Friday at a special meeting of the Bloomington City Council. They aren’t approving just one liquor license, they are approving two! Of course, approving the release of the verbatim audio and written account of the illegal Executive Session isn’t on the agenda. On […]
By: Diane Benjamin The sharing of Sales Tax with Normal was not discussed at the Council meeting Monday. Continuing talks were voted down at the meeting before – the Work Session. Two supporters, a guy from the Chamber of Commerce and another from the Economic Development Council, spoke before two citizens. You need to hear […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just so everyone is clear on which Aldermen wanted to continue talking about Sales tax sharing with Normal: Jim Fruin Diane Hauman Scott Black Amelia Buragas Five Alderman voted against continuing: Schmidt, Painter, Mwilambwe, Sage, and Lower. It’s a dead issue for now. Mayor Renner just doesn’t understand why it failed. BN […]
By: Diane Benjamin Governor Rauner ran on a platform of making Illinois business friendly. He has failed because the Democrat super-majority in Springfield doesn’t care if companies move across the border to save millions of dollars. They don’t care if Caterpillar leaves the state along with other companies who can’t compete in this high-tax high-regulation […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today’s edition has a story on the Attorney General’s ruling about the Bloomington City Council violating the Open Meetings Act: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/ill-ag-city-council-violated-open-meetings-law/article_5dfb7bef-4515-52af-96a9-e8fb37c8abb0.html See this story from June 4th: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/04/renner-is-guilty/ Of course the paper’s version contains errors. The AG ruled the “verbatim recording” must be released in addition to the closed session minutes […]
By: Diane Benjamin I heard Chris Koos and company went to DC A DAY EARLY for the One Voice trip. Why did they go a day early? To get grants for themselves? The rest of the group DIDN’T know, didn’t that destroy the unity purpose! (ONE VOICE – nope, just a bunch of voices wanting […]
By: Diane Benjamin Back on December 20, 2013, the Pantagraph thought a sitting Alderwoman filing a complaint against Tari Renner, David Hales, and the rest of the Council was a big story: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/alderman-stearns-alleges-open-meetings-act-violation/article_5b8974e2-6916-11e3-986a-001a4bcf887a.html How about reporting on what happened? Start by hammering Lisa Madigan for taking more than two years to issue a determination! The […]
Re-posted only to change how it was originally posted. By: Diane Benjamin The Attorney General finally ruled on the Open Meetings Act Violation filed in 2013 by then Alderwoman Judy Stearns! A couple of weeks I wrote about Madigan’s failure to rule and asked readers to call. https://blnnews.com/2016/05/19/madigan-too-busy/ I know at least a few of […]
By: Diane Benjamin The first 27 pages of the Detailed Budget lists Taxes and Fees: FY 2017 Budget Detail More detail is available in the budget on most of these items. FIFTY ways to tax you to death! Even if the tax isn’t direct, the business forced to pay the tax just passes the cost […]
By: Diane Benjamin I remember listening to David Hales on WJBC talking about Bloomington’s budget. He lamented everything possible had already been cut. Any more cuts wouldn’t be fat or meat – it would be bone. Well, a citizen took it on himself to get a DETAILED line item budget. Thanks Bruce Meeks. The Council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 Is Tari doing “working/business lunches” by himself now? . City Council Exp Paypal Bn Mclp $ 250.00 MCLP Graduation Celeb S.Rasmussen, Mayor & Council City Council Exp Monicals Pizza $ 140.30 French student exchange luncheon with T.Renner City Council Exp Station 220 Inc $ 47.50 […]
By: Diane Benjamin At the May 9th Council meeting Alderman Buragas went into a long speech about the Hales review process, but then voted yes to his raise anyway. Her speech seemed out-of-place unless she was going to vote against the increase. Last night she voted against the TIF feasibility study. I don’t know why […]
No – you aren’t safe. Evidently everybody can’t attend, so they changed the meeting from Committee of the Whole to Special Meeting. By: Diane Benjamin Mayor-Developer Renner just can’t stop creating his version of utopia in Bloomington. He’s the king of paying people (with your money) to create economic development. The local, state, and […]
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales got his raise last night with only Alderman Lower voting no. Lower stated Hales salary is not representative of the local economy and that other employees will expect the same raise. Considering the Hales’ review took many Executive Sessions, I imagine Lower’s comments and probably more were expressed behind closed […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s no secret that Bloomington’s Mayor and many past ones think government creates Quality of Life. Therefore, they get to decide what that means – you pay for it. YOU don’t have the freedom to create your own quality of life with your money. Government knows better than you. I seem to […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 ADMIN Rosie’s Pub $ 31.86 Business lunch T. Renner & J.Smart ADMIN Hansen Center $ 5.96 Business lunch T. Renner & A. Hays ADMIN Hansen Center $ 9.07 Business lunch T. Renner & A. Hays ADMIN Station 220 Inc $ 34.25 Business lunch T. […]
By: Diane Benjamin In the continuing sage of Aldermen don’t need to attend Council meetings: Amelia Buragas was absent AGAIN last night! Since January 1st, including tonight, 8 meetings have been held. Buragas has missed two. That’s more than a 20% failure to attend rate. How long would you have a job if you were […]
By: Diane Benjamin The State of Illinois has the highest effective tax rate in the Country and is still buried in debt. Bloomington isn’t far behind. Can the Council really be irresponsible enough to pass the proposed budget? Tari Renner is up for election EARLY next year. So is Scott Black, Jim Fruin, Joni Painter, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Luckily IMRF actually cares about transparency. Yesterday I filed a request for all the Accelerated Payments charged to the City of Bloomington because they are to chicken to change the Sick Leave Buy Back policy. Instead of the precious government employees being told the golden goose got cooked, employees are told it’s […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 More consultants: http://www.ajg.com/industries/public-sector/ Real Estate Appraiser: ____________________ These groups (plus BN Advantage) get your money for Economic Development, but are completely unaccountable for how it’s spent: Downtown Bloomington Association was supposed to pay for itself years ago. Budgeted for 2017: (Because government economic […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington taxpayers have been abused by their government. Government’s job is not to run people’s lives with subsidized business, subsidized economic development, and subsidized entertainment. Taxpayers get to pay for “Quality of Life” as defined by government, it has no resemblance to what most citizens pick as “quality”. Tari Renner has […]
By: Diane Benjamin This was on the Consent Agenda for last Monday’s meeting: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9534 Many old minutes are approved at meetings like this. Alderman not on the council when the meetings took place are approving minutes YEARS after the meetings. What’s the law? 30 days or the next meeting! The Bloomington City Council is GUILTY […]
By: Diane Benjamin A long string of local golfers took the mic last night to sing the praises of the City employees managing the three Golf Course. They urged the Council to pass the ordinance stating they were dropping any investigation of privatizing or selling any of the courses. Yes, David Sage – the Budget […]
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales can’t make a decision to save his life, but firing him will not change the tax and spend trajectory Bloomington is on. Hales is doing what Tari tells him to do! Want proof? See this email Tari sent me in 2013: Tari was responding to this email from me: Put […]
By: Diane Benjamin Illinois Comptroller, Leslie Munger, posted this video on Facebook recently. I guess she assumes everybody is on Facebook, if you can’t see it and aren’t on Facebook, that’s why. It’s a devastating look at Illinois finances. Bloomington is right behind Illinois now. Buying votes with projects citizens don’t want, control development, and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Of course the Bloomington City Council passed everything Tari Renner wanted last night. It’s all going to be great. Public Comment was stacked with former officials and friends of government who proclaimed the $1,400,000 land purchase brilliant, the east side TIF brilliant, and the downtown hotel brilliant. Except for the one guy […]
By: Diane Benjamin Transparency must be dead: No Coliseum reports have been posted on-line since 4/30/15. (Meanwhile the media is instructed to report false information about real losses) City Manager Monthly Reports haven’t been posted since December 2015. Sewer rates will increase: This is from the Budget Work Session for 2017. Providing the sanitary sewer […]
By: Diane Benjamin Discussions of the City of Bloomington proposed budget is not being held in the Council Chambers. Citizens will never know what happens because video won’t be available. Unless citizens attend, details will be a secret. If anyone on the Council cares about the people paying the bills, nobody will ever know. Just […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington has a long record of making bad deals. MILLIONS were thrown away on an unused Fire Station. Probably MILLIONS more were thrown away on an unused water tower – someday I may FOIA the actual cost. The Coliseum is a disaster sold to citizens as never costing a […]
By: Diane Benjamin It’s a secret in one of their Secret Meetings (Executive Session): Funny how these meetings are so secret, the minutes can’t be released ever. Maybe the new mayor will release them.
By: Diane Benjamin Scott Black was missing last night! More proof the elected Council representing the voters is just a campaign slogan. I had to laugh during a discussion about the proposed storage facility in south Bloomington and the Zoning Board of Appeals. Nobody showed up to protest the ZBA approval, even though the meeting […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last night David Hales revealed his proposed budget with HUGE increases in spending. If the Council has a death wish they will pass it as proposed. History says the Council will tell David Hales to cut it. Hales already has the cuts lined up, citizens are being played. The Council just […]
By: Diane Benjamin Funny how the Wildwood property was redeveloped without any incentives from government. Probably the only place in Bloomington where capitalism still reigns. (From the Pantagraph story) The huge east-side TIF will get approved. It will create a slush fund for the City to use however it wants – in the TIF district. […]
By: Diane Benjamin January P-Card items: See Bills and Payroll 2/22/16 http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=242&parent=9535 ADMIN City Council Expenses Hilton Capital $ 335.60 US Conference of Mayors – Lodging ADMIN City Council Expenses American Airlines $ 336.00 US Conference of Mayors – Flight ADMIN City Council Expenses American Airlines $ 25.00 US Conference of Mayors – Luggage charge […]
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales is bemoaning taking $1.4 million from the General Fund to cover services because the fees charged aren’t high enough to cover the costs. News Flash: You weren’t fooling anybody when you hired yet another consultant to exam the City’s fees! $1,400,000 The General Fund is $94,553,780. That $1.4 mil is […]
By: Diane Benjamin It should be obvious to long-time and new readers that David Hales, Mayor Renner, and the City Council aren’t supervising the management of the Coliseum. Why remains to be determined. It’s unconscionable for the City to be negotiating a new contract with CIAM considering all the violations perpetrated by them in the […]
