By: Diane Benjamin Follow-up to this story: https://blnnews.com/2023/03/07/normal-buy-local-is-immaterial/ At the March 6, 2023 Council meeting the Water Director, John Burkhart, wanted to start buying parts from a company in Washington Il instead of the local supplier they have used for decades. Here’s the problem: Normal doesn’t stock a lot of parts because they claim they […]
By: Diane Benjamin The entire meeting was a little over an hour. I suggest citizens who plan to vote watch a few meetings instead of believing campaign literature. Of course no one showed up to speak at the Public Hearing on the budget. Many of the Trustees congratulated themselves on its greatness however. Spending on […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll: https://www.cityblm.org/home/showpublisheddocument/26488/637588526176300000 Wasn’t Sick Leave Buy Back abolished? Buy local? Not when Amazon can deliver office and cleaning supplies with a mouse click. This is what the City spent in one month: Even administration participated: Remember when the Coliseum was sold as it would pay for itself? https://blnnews.com/2017/01/28/coliseum-who-to-blame/ Hint: It […]
By: Diane Benjamin The only big controversy at the 7:00 meeting was this item: See PDF page 46 for details: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/3974 Stan Nord pulled this item from the Consent Agenda because this spending was not bid as required by code. In other words, Normal has been a member of the MICA pool for decades, therefore […]
By: Diane Benjamin Citizens will see the three new Council members for the first time tonight: Sheila Montney, Nick Becker, and Tom Crumpler. Bills and Payroll: Bloomington has been trying to avoid hiring consultants to find candidates, evidently whatever they are looking for hasn’t been found because they are back to paying to find employees: […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=23816 Celebrate! More pension spoking: Just a reminder of how much you pay for empty buses every month: Save these for when the reports gets posted, it will be a long time: Amelia Buragas isn’t on the Council – why is she getting a free trip from taxpayers? See PDF page 88 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington Council last night: Public comment started at 25:50. The first two speakers wanted to slow down the cannabis discussions. The 3rd speaker was in favor of hiring a consultant for historic preservation. 4th was a frequent pot user and Renner supporter. When he started to abuse aldermen who don’t want cannabis […]
By: Diane Benjamin Eric’s Too Beer Garden got sent back to the Liquor Commission. I was disappointed to see Scott Black absent sent he had sent this email: (Received by FOIA) If Eric’s was doing outdoor seating before the Council approved it, the Liquor Commission should deny their request. Otherwise the meeting was fairly boring. […]
By: Diane Benjamin For approval Monday night: http://www.normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/2919 See page 14 for what “buy local” looks like: Amazon, Amazon, Amazon, Amazon, etc etc – plus some others. Eating your money: Looks like a few more employees got free bus rides, who got the shirts? More money to non-profits, 2nd of 3 payments for the bike sharing […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bills and Payroll for 1/22/2018 http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15632 Tari finally filed an expense report – 1st one since his PCard was yanked: _________________________________________ Council and staff weren’t eating at your expense in December. I wonder what event is 1/27? There is nothing on the City Calendar. Buy local? Ha. _________________________________________ This guy is getting an […]
By: Diane Benjamin The McLean County Chamber of Commerce is the poster child for insider payoffs. They have their own Political Action Committee to aggressively get the candidates elected they want. The candidates they want elected are the big spenders, therefore the Chamber is the ENEMY of taxpayers. The 2018 Bloomington Budget shows why they […]
By: Diane Benjamin When the citizens aren’t paying attention to what their government is doing, you get the below. If you thought $100,000,000 was ridiculous for Uptown, be prepared for more folly. PDF page 59: http://www.normal.org/DocumentCenter/Home/View/7440 This statement is in the Town of Normal’s Annual Report: There is a good reason people want to work […]
By: Diane Benjamin From: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=11982 Tari Renner is right – the City is paying around 750 employees! Look through the list and note all the temporary labor purchased! Big government will never have enough employees, meanwhile service gets worse because BIG is inefficient. Local businesses need to ask why “Buy Local” doesn’t apply to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Year End for the City of Bloomington and the Coliseum was APRIL 30, 2016. More than 6 months ago! The financial statements for both are still not available. Any private sector business wouldn’t tolerate this behavior. Last year the financial statements were presented to the Council at the first meeting in […]
By: Diane Benjamin I haven’t heard the commercial, but several people have told me they almost wrecked their cars when Tari Renner’s radio ad called on the community to “Buy Local”. Maybe the City of Bloomington should participate before Tari is sent out to lecture citizens. These totals are from last year, I could have […]
By: Diane Benjamin State Farm is facing a $7.6 BILLION class action lawsuit. What effect will that have the local economy? At the end of 2015, State Farm reported a Net Worth of $82.7 Billion. http://www.mcgisweb.org/Html5Viewer/index.html?viewer=public The lawsuit is close to 10% of their total value. Keep spending Bloomington/Normal – at least towns (unlike states) […]
By: Diane Benjamin A reader made a terrific point: Did the Budget Task Force have a line item budget – like the one I’ve been posting? I suspect not since they only spoke of BIG spending items. Maybe they should meet again and prove they weren’t a joke because right now they sure look like […]
