I was right. Congrats Jeff. Now cancel rebranding and fix the roads! By: Diane Benjamin I predict Jeff Jurgens will be named City Manager. He wouldn’t be named today if the council wasn’t already on board. Jurgens is one of the good guys, at least in my dealings with him. Of course any City Manager […]
By: Diane Benjamin https://www.decaturtribune.com/2024/04/03/city-beat-tim-gleasons-return-as-city-manager-is-good-news-for-decatur Except: Gleason didn’t get the job in Arizona: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2024-03-29/tim-gleason-reflects-on-his-six-years-as-bloomington-city-manager Also from the 1st article: Is this why Gleason “was interested in returning to Decatur”?
By: Diane Benjamin Documentation for Normal Monday night: https://normal.org/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4283 Start on PDF page 40. Is Pam Reece going to take another job and relocate if Normal doesn’t give her a raise? Doubtful since her husband is a local lawyer. Since staff prepares the budget, Reece budgeted her own raise: PDF page 41 claims Reece’s salary […]
By: Diane Benjamin http://bloomingtonil.iqm2.com/Citizens/FileOpen.aspx?Type=1&ID=1134&Inline=True The 2.5% raise is on the Consent Agenda which means nobody will talk about it unless it gets pulled: Tim Gleason’s new salary isn’t reported unless you go to the ordinance to be approved: One more change: Instead of receiving the $550 a month car allowance, the City will be paying […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the budget session documentation in this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/01/28/normal-expect-property-tax-increases-to-continue/ PDF page 100 – Administration Accomplishments: (Is the new Director of Innovation and Technology the reason video of meetings has failed THREE times. The video of this budget session still has no sound for half of it. What are they hiding?) Here’s why […]
By: Diane Benjamin For a long time we have known that much of what happens at Council meetings is pre-determined. This email proves it – the council members have 3 on 1 meetings with the City Manager: Hold on before you think this is a problem! They meet three on one to keep from violating the […]
That would be David Hales – looks like Joliet is way smarter than Bloomington was! https://www.theherald-news.com/2018/10/05/future-of-joliet-city-manager-said-to-be-uncertain/a2qxw45/ City Manager David Hales’ future in Joliet may be up in the air. Sources said that the City Council has begun to consider the prospect of Hales leaving before the end of his contract and possibly before the end […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2018/08/24/please-explain-why-nikita-richards-has-a-job/ See Part 3 here: https://blnnews.com/2018/08/30/part-3-nikita-richards/ If Nikita is still employed at the City of Bloomington after obviously accessing political websites from a City computer, maybe the new City Manager can explain why. Tim Gleason? After reading the information below, he REALLY needs to explain why she is still […]
Bloomington City Council Members: At this point, I have to trust that during the search and decision process for a new City Manager, you all garnered significantly more knowledge and capability, than any single citizen has, linked to selecting the best candidate for City Manager. At this point your constituents can only hope that the future provides […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday a Meet and Greet was held for the three remaining Bloomington City Manager candidates. The paper failed to report a crowd was expected but didn’t show up. The below is from reports by two people who did attend. Citizens can vote for their choice at a link below. People who did […]
By: Diane Benjamin This item is on the agenda for the pre-council meeting Monday, it’s buried at the bottom. Delivering City services in a cost effective efficient manner? PDF page 63: http://www.cityblm.org/Home/ShowDocument?id=15810 , Wasting $20,000 to search for a City Manager! . Connect the dots: GovHR website lists Heidi Voorhees prominently: http://www.govhrusa.com/about-us.aspx OpenSecrets.org has this: https://www.opensecrets.org/donor-lookup/results?name=Heidi+Voorhees So […]
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 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal picked their assistant City Manager to replace Mark Peterson. Evidently the search firm they hired couldn’t find anybody better than Pamela Reece. They throw away $20,000 to find that out though. Is Bloomington going to throw away money too? Steve Rasmussen is right there in front of them! […]
Update: “Bob”s position isn’t clear, maybe he will be Steve’s assistant. Two interims! By: Diane Benjamin A good source tells me that Robert “Bob” Mahrt has been hired as interim City Manager for Bloomington. He was the interim City Administrator in Lincoln. He quit today with one day notice saying Bloomington needs him NOW. No word […]
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 […]
Looks like the Council vote is Tuesday: http://www.theherald-news.com/2017/09/15/joliet-council-could-vote-tuesday-on-city-manager-contract/alcxm1o/ https://patch.com/illinois/joliet/new-joliet-city-manager-could-be-bloomingtons-david-hales Should I disable comments so readers don’t ruin anything?
By: Diane Benjamin David Hales began as City Manager in January of 2009. In January of 2017 he will be vested in his pension. Yep, 8 years is all it takes. I predict he will take the money and run! The City of Bloomington was failing when he got here and it’s headed downhill now. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Hales is doing such a phenomenal job with things like great roads and public services, he get another raise Monday night. The potted plants will of course comply, putting out scare propaganda like police and firemen will be cut if the State cuts our funds, must be rewarded! Details here: http://blnnews.com/2015/04/20/leaders-verses-crybabies/ […]
By: Diane Benjamin The December City Manager’s Report is now on-line: http://www.cityblm.org//modules/showdocument.aspx?documentid=8147 The City goal: Measuring Performance – Targeting Results The report by the Police only has one chart comparing current violent crime to a 4 year average. The property crimes chart is only for a year. I’d like to see year-to-year comparisons so performance […]
by: Diane Benjamin The International City Managers Association (ICMA) sends a DAILY email. Remember, Mayor Renner used to work for this group and David Hales is a member. The story below from the email caught my attention. Why would an International group want to promote council-manager form of government? Update on ICMA’s Fund for Professional Management […]
by: Diane Benjamin Remember this email? Remember how the City of Bloomington tried to hide it from a Freedom of Information Act request? Remember how I filed a complaint with the International City Managers Association since they “claim” to have a code of ethics? They still haven’t made a determination on my complaint. Ethics in […]
Type “Hales” in the search box for TONS more information! by Diane Benjamin Don’t jump to the end – it will say where this information is from, but have fun reading until then! All quotes: In both previous evaluations, the council said Hales exceeded expectations, rating him an average of 3.9 out of 5 in […]
by Diane Benjamin Tonight the City Council will approve a huge raise for David Hales. The poor guy hasn’t received a pay raise since he was hired, his salary is only $150,000 per year. Everything is so great in Bloomington, he obviously deserves an increase! The roads are great and pensions are funded. The City […]
by Diane Benjamin In a previous post I explained that “visioning” and citizen involvement is nothing more than a ruse. The plans are already made, now the elected will manipulate you into going along. This video shows the process.
