By: Diane Benjamin Everything below was received by FOIA. I received another treasure trove of emails – stay tuned. Remember this note Mayor Koos sent to Bloomington and leaked to the media? This note was in the Pantagraph on July 17th. https://blnnews.com/2019/07/31/did-chris-koos-lie/ On July 26th, Stan Nord sent proof to the Mayor and the entire […]
By: Diane Benjamin Received by FOIA. I seem to remember Pam Reece saying at meetings that staff can’t investigate any issues the Council doesn’t authorize. Since the sport complex suddenly reappeared, Stan Nord sent this email to Pam: Pam responded – note she responded to the entire Council instead of who Stan copied. Is Kathleen […]
By: Diane Benjamin Update to the story on Normal paying property taxes they don’t owe: https://blnnews.com/2019/08/11/normal-like-paying-property-taxes-you-dont-owe/ Every day that Normal fails to file the PTax 300 form to change the taxable status of properties that should be exempt means more taxes. Normal will get billed next year for the number of days it was taxable […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you watched the video of last Monday’s meeting, you saw Trustees and a mayor trying to silence the new members: Stan Nord and Karyn Smith. Kathleen Lorenz even told them they should sit back and watch how things are done instead of questioning. Below is “how things are done”. It isn’t […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two candidates in Normal have been busy putting up signs by polling places. The only reason to do this is to try to catch a few extra votes from uniformed voters. I do know if the signs have been placed illegally, they are being taken down. I saw the same thing in […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you don’t like the direction Normal is taking change the people taking it there. RC Bride seems to be touting Normal’s AAA credit rating as one of the reasons he should be reelected. He doesn’t say Normal has that credit rating because they aren’t afraid to pass tax increases. If you […]
By: Diane Benjamin I might have to say this once a week until the election: Do Not Vote for 3 people even though the ballot says 3. You are handing people votes who you really don’t want on the Council. Voting for 1, maybe two, gives them a much better chance of winning since Normal […]
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 […]
The first public comment speaker was Karyn Smith (not Karen) – also a candidate for Normal Town Council. Other than her comments last night I don’t know anything else about her – yet. By: Diane Benjamin When Chris Koos began public comment he made clear he would time limit the speakers so they could get […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Normal Town Council meeting lasted more than 10 minutes last night! It actually went over an hour because of the mandatory recycling ordinance. ISU kids showed up to demand their right to recycle. Some called it a necessity, one claimed she had to drive 5-10 minutes to drop hers off and […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal has done the same thing with Enterprise Funds that Bloomington did. Segregate funds, like water, and then insist the fund pays for itself. These essential services were formally funded by taxes you already paid. You continue to pay all the old taxes, but new taxes are levied for the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Years ago I heard the developer of the Marriott felt he pulled off a legal robbery of the Town of Normal taxpayers courtesy of the hayseed Council hell-bent on a downtown hotel. The rich continued to get richer last night courtesy of the Normal Town Council. Two citizens spoke during public comment. […]
