By: Diane Benjamin This item was pulled from the agenda by Tari Renner before Public Comment. He said he would explain later. Watch the video below – just hit PLAY. The packet for the meeting has this explanation of the change: That’s important because the Boards and Commissions post agendas and minutes and are required […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tonight the Bloomington City Council will discuss eliminating the Liquor Commission, thus transferring power to Tari. Keep in mind the Liquor Commission under Steve Stockton was Steve and FOUR citizens. Under Renner, it has been Tari and TWO citizens. The entire reason for this change is because Tari operated the Commission outside […]
By: Diane Benjamin August 2nd I wrote a story about Bloomington’s Liquor Commission: https://blnnews.com/2016/08/02/is-tari-declaring-himself-king/ Monday night Tari wants to be granted all power to enforce, permit, and control liquor in Bloomington. From the agenda: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11004 From the packet page 238: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=11003 The only “confusion regarding the authority of the local” Liquor Commission has been FOLLOWING […]
By: Diane Benjamin Sick Leave Buy Back will cost Bloomington taxpayers for decades. New employees are no longer eligible as of (I think) 2013. All other employees could be getting paid for unused sick leave when they retire. The City is too chicken to tell employees it isn’t fair for them to get a benefit […]
By: Diane Benjamin I find it hilarious that Renner’s claim to economic development victories include two businesses stolen from Normal: Dick’s Sporting Goods and a Kroger’s Superstore. Both wanted more room, more room just happen to available in Bloomington – of course tax rebates didn’t hurt. He still claims Greentop, Hy-vee, and now Ovation theaters. […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Liquor Commission under Steve Stockton had 5 members. Under Tari Renner it only has three people, including himself. Tari controls the commission with one compliant person on the board who agrees with anything Tari wants. Rumors abound that Tari is going to BE the Liquor Commission from now on, nobody else […]
By: Diane Benjamin This receipts were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act. The PCard report only stated Business Lunch – Tari Renner. Since Tari’s calendar had already been obtained by FOIA, I can tell who he ate with. (click on the receipts to enlarge) Either their shared or Jim paid […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner on WJBC this morning: https://audioboom.com/boos/4866784-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-7-27-16?t=0 Most of the conversation was national issues, but start listening at 1:45. Tari claims: (paraphrased) Both sides have gotten to the point in this country where a core of people who – if you don’t agree – you have to vilify, trash, and crash and […]
By: Diane Benjamin A citizen FOIA’d the City of Bloomington for Tari Renner’s calendar. I predict Tari won’t be putting everything on his calendar anymore. See his June calendar here: Renner calendar There are a lot of interesting items – see them for yourself. Some entries are redacted. Tari has some personal items listed, so […]
By: Diane Benjamin From Bills and Payroll for Monday night: http://www.cityblm.org/Modules/ShowDocument.aspx?documentid=10911 In June I posted receipts showing Tari Renner is feeding himself and calling it “business meal”: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/30/free-lunches-do-exist/ This month’s P-Card spending shows more Renner meals with no one else listed. Of course I’m going to file a FOIA for the receipts. More questions: Eric […]
By: Diane Benjamin The City of Bloomington continues to hide the formerly transparent tax receipts. That means they are either way above projections or dropping like a rock. There is no way of knowing since transparency died. Thank Alderman Hauman for suggesting the City Manager’s Report doesn’t need to be done. I agree printing it […]
By: Diane Benjamin Mayor Mike James of Downs has a lot in common with Bloomington’s Mayor, Tari Renner. Both had a chance to not have situations explodes, but both chose to pretend nothing happened. Mary Goveia set up a meeting with James to discuss Adkissons liquor problems, he never showed. He must have thought Mary […]
By: Diane Benjamin Renner isn’t responding to the market, he’s trying to create one. Just like he claims bike paths and buses are the future, he continues to claim Bloomington’s future is downtown. Decades of massive spending haven’t been enough. Here’s a little Renner history. Not included are the Downtown Streetscape Plan and the Downtown […]
By: Diane Benjamin Two days ago Renner was on WJBC with Scott Laughlin. I only listened to the interview to hear what Tari said about the downtown hotel that was killed the next day. (He gave no indication it was going to be killed!) Here’s the interview: https://audioboom.com/boos/4814794-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-7-13-16 Fast forward to 12:05. Scott brings up […]
By: Diane Benjamin Diana Hauman first got a seat on the Council by being hand-picked by Tari Renner to fill a vacancy. She was then elected in 2015. Every once in a while I’m surprised by Diana, like her objections to Geoffrey Tompkins’s appointment last Monday. At other times, I just want to say: REALLY? […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Executive Session that Judy Stearns walked out of was held during a RETREAT held 11/15/2013 and 11/16/2013. Tari had been Mayor since May 1st. The retreat was held at the Den at Fox Creek – so NO video exists because the retreat room isn’t equipped for live stream. On the 15th, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Yesterday I posted the 2nd email Tari Renner sent to Judy Stearns, but I didn’t post Judy’s response. See this post: https://blnnews.com/2016/07/13/renner-emails-judy-again/ The original email exchange started here: https://blnnews.com/2016/07/13/renner-hauman-running-scared/ As a review, here is Tari’s 2nd email: Here is Judy’s response: The next Council meeting could get interesting! Maybe Tari can explain […]
Tomorrow I will print Judy’s response! By: Diane Benjamin Tari is a slow learner! See previous post: https://blnnews.com/2016/07/13/renner-hauman-running-scared/ Below is his latest email to Judy: Let me help you Tari: REDACTED 201606131459-1 Below are pages 2,3 and 4 with a lot of BLACK AREAS. That’s what has been kept from the public! There’s a […]
This story has two updates: https://blnnews.com/2016/07/13/renner-emails-judy-again/ https://blnnews.com/2016/07/14/stearns-response-to-renner-part-2/ By: Diane Benjamin After Judy Stearns reamed out most of the Council Monday night, Alderman Hauman and Mayor Renner had to attack her via email. Note: When Judy was on the Council she refused to give me emails under some belief that she shouldn’t. Now she’s free […]
By: Diane Benjamin My next lawsuit is going to be for the AUDIO of the Executive Session where the Attorney General ruled the Open Meetings Act was violated. I will demand the judge listen to the entire audio to insure the City doesn’t redact items that shouldn’t be redacted. Why? Stay with me: See the […]
By: Diane Benjamin Why are Minutes missing from Liquor Commission meetings? The LAW requires approval within 30 days or the next meeting. http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=21&parent=9530 Citizen Bruce Meeks filed a Request for Review with the Attorney General and they agreed to investigate: 42623 FI Let Meeks alleges: The 5/24/16 meeting did not have a quorum The only […]
By: Diane Benjamin Former Alderwoman Judy Stearns spoke during public comment last night. Mayor Renner broke HIS own rules and responded to her comments. Since he responded, so do she, at which time he called her out-of-order. Stearns was there to talk about the majority of the Council not representing the citizens of Bloomington. She […]
By: Diane Benjamin I remember heated discussions over Master Plans. The Council was told they were advisory only. Just because they passed, it didn’t mean the Council had to implement them. Not according to Special Meeting tonight – 6:05 pm. It’s really boring to spend money on funding pensions, repair streets, and maintain infrastructure, so […]
By: Diane Benjamin I found this story today about personal income from 2014. http://www.lanereport.com/65176/2016/07/real-personal-income-rose-by-an-average-of-2-9-in-2014/ Personal income in Bloomington went down in 2014 3.2%, but Illinois was up a very slow 1%. When did Illinois ever perform better than Bloomington? In this national survey Bloomington was second among metropolitan areas with the greatest decline: What happened […]
By: Diane Benjamin On June 26th I told you about Tari’s lunches with nobody listed as eating with him. Common sense would reveal that a business lunch should be at least 2 people. Here’s the story: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/26/mondays-spending-your-bucks/ Either City Hall is sick of his spending or the FOIA people are about to leave for a […]
By: Diane Benjamin This story expands the previous post: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/27/tari-sees-objects-ripe-for-fleece/ I have emails from Aldermen Diana Hauman and Jim Fruin, Mayor Renner, and JAMES. I believe that JAMES is James Jordan, member of the Liquor Commission. I have MANY emails written by Jim Fruin over the past few years – none of them say JAMES. […]
By: Diane Benjamin This is story #1 from the Saturday preview. I wanted to begin with the County, but since there is a Bloomington City Council meeting tonight, I’m starting here. Tari Renner is at the US Conference of Mayors in Indianapolis. I don’t know if he will be back for the meeting tonight or […]
By: Diane Benjamin The email below was received under the Freedom of Information Act. The topic of this email will be expanded in the future. If you were “James”, what would you think? Even if “fat fingers” are responsible, who hits send anyway? Doesn’t EVERY device show misspelled words?
By: Diane Benjamin Evidently the Bloomington City Council is now acting like Congress. Do nothing, can’t make decisions, and they need guidance. They must not trust their own opinions. I received the following email yesterday under the Freedom of Information Act. I knew that many “secret” meetings (Executive Sessions) had been held to considering David […]
By: Diane Benjamin Scott, how many lies do you need to hear? Is it fair to your listeners to let Tari spout on the air and pretend he is telling the truth? Is WJBC city controlled media? Do facts matter? Here’s Scott’s latest interview with the illustrious mayor: https://audioboom.com/boos/4699788-tari-renner-bloomington-mayor-6-15-16 Fast forward to 13:00. Renner claims […]
By: Diane Benjamin Bloomington budgeted $2,683,206.28 this year for Economic Development. https://blnnews.com/2016/05/24/pretending-to-create-success/ Today I finally had a chance to glance at the latest copy of Illinois County Living Magazine. I only get it because I’m a Corn Belt Energy customer. The cover is “Get Your Kicks on Route 66”. Here’s a link to the story: […]
By: Diane Benjamin Just so everyone is clear on which Aldermen wanted to continue talking about Sales tax sharing with Normal: Jim Fruin Diane Hauman Scott Black Amelia Buragas Five Alderman voted against continuing: Schmidt, Painter, Mwilambwe, Sage, and Lower. It’s a dead issue for now. Mayor Renner just doesn’t understand why it failed. BN […]
By: Diane Benjamin Another example of incompetence happened at the Council meeting last night. Increasing Video Gaming fees was illegally on the agenda: Increasing fees on video gaming machines was first discussed at the April 25th meeting. It was TABLED to a Committee of the Whole meeting : Why is “Tabled” important? City Code: http://www.cityblm.org/index.aspx?page=262 […]
By: Diane Benjamin The approval of a Liquor License was left off the agenda last night. Since the recipient has a Father’s Day event planned, he can’t wait until the next meeting for approval. Therefore the Council is planning a quick meeting whenever they can get 5 aldermen together to approve it. Who dropped the […]
A special 3 minute meeting was just called for later this week. Put approval on that agenda Tari! By: Diane Benjamin The last time the City Council looked at their Secret Meeting minutes, as required by law, they refused to release the old City Manager Tom Hamilton’s performance reviews. In other words, people still […]
By: Diane Benjamin Governor Rauner ran on a platform of making Illinois business friendly. He has failed because the Democrat super-majority in Springfield doesn’t care if companies move across the border to save millions of dollars. They don’t care if Caterpillar leaves the state along with other companies who can’t compete in this high-tax high-regulation […]
By: Diane Benjamin The Pantagraph needs to explain why an alleged Open Meetings Act violation against the McLean County Health Department is so much more important than the one they also reported this week against the City of Bloomington. That story was quickly buried on their website – comments were NEVER allowed. Comments ARE allowed […]
By: Diane Benjamin Today’s edition has a story on the Attorney General’s ruling about the Bloomington City Council violating the Open Meetings Act: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/government-and-politics/ill-ag-city-council-violated-open-meetings-law/article_5dfb7bef-4515-52af-96a9-e8fb37c8abb0.html See this story from June 4th: https://blnnews.com/2016/06/04/renner-is-guilty/ Of course the paper’s version contains errors. The AG ruled the “verbatim recording” must be released in addition to the closed session minutes […]
By: Diane Benjamin When I reported on Tax Receipts missing from David Hales’ April City Manager report, (https://blnnews.com/2016/06/08/april-city-managers-report/) my first thought was Renner/Hales plan to raise taxes. It’s difficult to do if receipts show above budgeted amounts – they did in his March report. Monday night the Council is going after anybody with video gaming […]
By: Diane Benjamin See this document – page 16 – 26 2015 Audit Communication The title: RECOMMENDATIONS FOR IMPROVEMENTS CONTROL DEFICIENCIES This report is from the City of Bloomington’s auditors. Every other year I have reported on these “Control Deficiencies”, many are reported year after year after year with nothing being done to fix the […]
