By: Diane Benjamin 1) Jeff Fritzen’s case against the Town of Normal and High Haven for how the special use permit was approved got tossed out of court: https://www.25newsnow.com/2024/01/04/judge-throws-out-ex-normal-town-councilmans-cannabis-dispensary-lawsuit/?outputType=amp Hilarious quote from the judge: Judge Foley wrote: “Case law is clear that a home rule municipality is not bound by its own procedures, unless in doing so the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Jeff Fritzen’s case against the Town of Normal and High Haven is still active. Fritzen claims Normal code does not allow reconsideration of a special use permit for a year after it was rejected. The Normal council had rejected High Haven’s application but with a few changes the council then approved it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Numbers 2 and 3 aren’t open yet. Jeff Fritzen’s case against the Town of Normal/High Haven continues. See below, another hearing is scheduled for 11/28. Another cannabis dispensary PDF page 104: https://www.normalil.gov/ArchiveCenter/ViewFile/Item/4787 .
By: Diane Benjamin Read WGLT’s version: https://www.wglt.org/local-news/2023-06-30/former-town-council-member-sues-normal-over-high-haven-cannabis-dispensary-permit Jeff Fritzen would get a lot more support if he hadn’t sided with the Town of Normal against the citizens who wanted representation according to Illinois law. He sided with the Town instead. If you haven’t heard, Pritzker signed the legislation making Normal the only Incorporated Town that […]
By: Diane Benjamin This email was received by FOIA. Although long, it has lots of good information you probably didn’t know – like the Town of Normal “settled” for Chick-fil-A. I wonder if this company that racks in tax dollars for Normal know? Remember, the Council pre-election voted 6-1 against High Haven. After the election […]
By: Diane Benjamin Flashback to April 15, 2019. RC McBride was voted off the Town Council and Jeff Fritzen opted to retire after serving 32 years. (Obviously the Normal voters don’t believe in term limits) Not only did Fritzen get a bike from Koos’ shop at taxpayer expense, both got proclamations for their exemplary service […]
By: Diane Benjamin Attorney Tom Devore thinks the Town of Normal will be paying at least $50,000 to the lawyers they hired to keep from complying with being an Incorporated Town. Yesterday Normal has 4 lawyers in court, only 1 was a staff attorney who said nothing the entire time. One of the other hired […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos and company must think the three candidates that filed for offices required to be elected in Incorporated Towns will just disappear if they are ignored. Koos is WRONG Without a meeting or even a notice on their website, the Electoral Board decided they won’t hear any further testimony for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Make sure you read EVERY page: 888
By: Diane Benjamin The petitions submitted for Supervisor, Clerk, and Collector have been challenged by TWO people. The challenges are identical. Were they afraid the Normal Electoral Board couldn’t read the first one so they filed two? Guess who is back challenging again? The guy who got Normal into this mess: Patrick Dullard He is […]
By: Diane Benjamin I previously reported the Town of Normal couldn’t find any communication for Chris Koos’ purchase of a bike from his shop to give to Trustee Fritzen. I also reported I filed a Request of Review with the Attorney General’s Public Access office: https://blnnews.com/2020/03/27/remember-that-bike-fritzen-got/ Fritzen’s party was held on April 23, 2019. Fritzen […]
By: Diane Benjamin Somehow retiring Normal Trustee Jeff Fritizen ended up with a big party and a bike the Town purchased from Mayor Chris Koos’s bike shop. Since inquiring minds want to know, I FOIA’d the Town of Normal for all communication about the bike. In this story I printed the Town answer: https://blnnews.com/2020/03/09/one-more-on-jeff-fritzens-bike/ They […]
By: Diane Benjamin Who decided it was a great idea to award Jeff Fritzen with not only an expensive party but a retirement bike? Anybody know? Evidently the Town of Normal doesn’t know either, they just paid Chris Koos’s bill submitted almost a year later. I FOIA’d the Town for any communication about the bike. […]
By: Diane Benjamin At last Monday’s meeting of the Normal Town Council Chris Koos tried to justify the Town buying a bike from his business to present to retiring Trustee Jeff Fritzen. The bike was in addition to the lavish party the Town threw for him. https://blnnews.com/2020/03/03/more-on-fritzens-retirement/ Koos claimed he sold the bike to the […]
By: Diane Benjamin From this story: https://blnnews.com/2020/02/28/so-is-the-town-paying-koos-to-retire/ So the Town of Normal used your tax dollars to buy a retirement present from the Mayor’s business. Of course, by the time Normal gets their mitts on your hard earned bucks, they consider it theirs. To further prove most elected officials don’t consider themselves “public servants”, the […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council meeting last night was over TWO hours long. Not because there was heavy discussion of spending, it was tribute night for departing Jeff Fritzen and RC McBride. The election is still stinging the establishment! The are worried about “the plan” and should be. The $100 a month lease […]
By: Diane Benjamin Some angry citizens of Normal appeared at Public Comment asking the Trustees to at least investigate moving the proposed fire station to a different corner. Staff had spent too much time to backtrack, they voted to proceed with “the plan” as presented anyway. Kathleen Lorenz and Scott Preston voted against it. One […]
By: Diane Benjamin On the video below, the meeting isn’t called to order until 14:10. All business was finished by 19:50, the majority of that time taken by reading bios of three individuals appointed to the Children’s Discovery Board. In Normal the names of appointees aren’t announced until the Council approves them. Transparency is for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Chris Koos had to call for a break after all the Trustee babbling, a story I am going to get to. Fritzen and Koos forgot the mic was still open: Listen for 30-45 seconds to around 2:24:52. Fritzen walks behind Koos and says something about Rich Buchanan Truth or Fiction website. Since […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal is pretending pension expenses are mandated by the State and they can’t afford them without raising Property Taxes. Somehow the Police and Fire pensions have been seriously underfunded for years. IMRF retirements have been funded above the 80% level since 2013, think Mark Peterson’s retirement, while in 2016 […]
By: Diane Benjamin Trustee Jeff Fritzen went on and on and on and on last night and finally proved he doesn’t know as much about Normal as I do. He claimed earlier in the video below that the shopping center he handed future tax revenue to is VERY important to Normal. Maybe he should visit […]
By: Diane Benjamin The government gods in Normal are upset a lowly citizen challenged them. LONG time (too long) Council member Jeff Fritzen doesn’t want people looking at the facts, he wants to explain them himself. I heard a news report saying Fritzen thinks trust in government has been broken without cause. That what every […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council made some people very happy last night – the current video game owners! The Council voted to delay approving any new video gaming licenses until at least the end of the year. Essentially government said the existing guys don’t need any competition. Therefore, the profits of current owners […]
