By: Diane Benjamin Since many of you contributed to get copies of the court documents before John Butler had a chance to get them sealed – I’m posting them below. I’ve got 9 PDF files, the latest information is in PDF #1. Here is what I do know, I haven’t read every page yet: Kelly […]
Listen to the interview here: http://www.wjbc.com/2017/09/26/bloomington-officials-react-to-alleged-arena-fraud/ ________________________________________________ By: Diane Benjamin Of course the Council will do nothing to David Hales for extreme S-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g of the truth this morning on WJBC. Of course Scott Laughlin didn’t know enough facts to confront him. When a podcast is created I will add it to this story. Hales wasted […]
By: Diane Benjamin The oldest story I wrote about the Coliseum is from December 2013: https://blnnews.com/2013/12/11/coliseum-bleeding-bloomington-taxpayers/ But, look at this story from February 2014: https://blnnews.com/2014/02/06/is-coliseum-management-giving-bloomington-their-share/ First lines of the story: Operations of the Coliseum are extremely complicated. Management hired by the City is operating some functions without any over-sight or accountability. The taxpayers deserve to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The saga continues tomorrow at 2:00 – Courtroom 5C. The attorneys for CIAM filed some last minute documents, probably hoping for another delay. I really appreciate the support from citizens who took time out to attend hearings. Come tomorrow if you can – it could get interesting. I’d love to see a […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve heard from reliable sources that John Butler and crew are gone from the Coliseum as of today. I also hear he was busy shredding documents. Police were present, but I have no idea why. City officials were present yesterday. What was Butler paid for the 10-year-old fully depreciated concession equipment? The […]
By: Diane Benjamin I will be filing today for a 28 day extension in submitting my Amended Motion. The reason is to discuss the case with possible attorneys. The only information I will reveal now is: they aren’t local they specialize in FOIA cases
By: Diane Benjamin I have a Status Hearing tomorrow on my court case against the City of Bloomington. This story recaps why I filed: http://blnnews.com/2015/11/02/court-update/ The Freedom of Information Act is very clear. The City of Bloomington wrongfully believes they are exempt, tomorrow I will find out if they plan to call witnesses. I already […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since McLean County only had one previous Freedom of Information case (filed by me) judges need time to familiarize themselves with the law and requirements. That’s another way of saying nothing interesting happened. The City is going to try to drag this case out as long as possible, just like the last […]
Update: Bloomington finally released the Coliseum 1st Qtr report. They lost $252,000, but we don’t know how much of this is wages to themselves. We do know CIAM took commissions of $24,378 and Management fees of $35,510. Concessions income is a secret. The Coliseum works great for John Butler, not so much for you. By: […]
By: Diane Benjamin The management agreement for the Coliseum specifies concessions will be handled directly by CIAM or an “independent contractor”. BMI Concessions is NOT independent, since John Butler owns both CIAM and BMI, I can’t find where BMI ever received approval from the City Council to operate as a separate company. From CIAM’s management […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Bloomington City Council is being told by City Manager David Hales there is no reason to fire CIAM (Central Illinois Arena Management) when their current contract expires. CIAM has first right of refusal when a new contract is constructed. Hopefully it will be so radically different from the current contract that […]
By: Diane Benjamin Last week the Bloomington City Council voted to buy new scoreboards for the Coliseum. They were deceived into thinking the purchase was put up for competitive bidding. http://blnnews.com/2015/07/16/can-we-call-this-fraud/ Nobody on the Council brought it up last Monday night when John Butler and Bart Rogers made a presentation to the Council. Does anyone […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’d love to know what this is, but last Monday I hear some Council members wanted the legislators to change the Freedom of Information Act Law so staff doesn’t have to answer them. I hear Bill Brady told them to be more transparent if they didn’t want FOIA requests, that probably died […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yes the Coliseum is owned by the City of Bloomington, but that doesn’t make it legally exempt from property taxes. Central Illinois Arena Management has exclusive management rights. BMI Concessions is NOT a party to the original agreement between the City and CIAM. Until I wrote about them, 2 other companies were […]
By: Diane Benjamin The judge is supposed to make a final ruling today, 9:00 am, in my Freedom of Information case against the City of Bloomington. She may be interested in an email I have Tari Renner wrote to a citizen blaming me for all the lawyer fees incurred by the City fighting transparency. He […]
By: Diane Benjamin The audited financial statements for the Coliseum year ended 4/30/2014 are finally posted on-line: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=7481 Below is the auditors statement of Revenues and Expenses. The numbers in RED are what CIAM (Central Illinois Arena Management) reported. See their report here: Coliseum 4/30/2014 Note that CIAM reported more revenue than the auditors. Including […]
