By: Diane Benjamin All Illinois government salaries and pensions can be found from this link: https://www.openthebooks.com/illinois/#School%20District Every time a unit of government hires additional staff or provides lavish salaries, the pension costs go up. They know it doesn’t matter because YOU will be forced to pay by law. Your “public servants”. This one is interesting, […]
By: Diane Benjamin Remember this story? https://blnnews.com/2021/06/28/normal-underpass-over-sewers/ Instead of fixing problems – or even responding to citizens with problems – Normal plans to use storm water funds to build the underpass. Is every sewer separated from storm water in the Town of Normal? It is required to prevent backup sewage problems in heavy rains. If […]
East Washington is getting water, sewer, and road. $4.3 million, its going to be closed for quite awhile. By: Diane Benjamin 1) A citizens of Normal wants to know how many hours of staff time has been invested in the Underpass project. The Town of Normal claims they don’t keep track. At the last council […]
By: Diane Benjamin Below is an email I received as part of a FOIA from Normal. Note it is entirely redacted: I’m not sure why Normal had a copy since they aren’t listed. I noticed it was written to a City of Bloomington employee, so I FOIA’d Bloomington for this email. See if you notice […]
By: Diane Benjamin h/t a reader Not just any police officer, according to her Linked-In account: Her name is Amanda Street. Type it into Public Access and the name switches to her maiden name: https://publicaccess.mcleancountyil.gov/PubAC_Desc_Charges.aspx Charges were filed April 2, 2021. She was also charged with improper lane usage and disobeying a stop sign. This […]
By: Diane Benjamin After every Council meeting Stan Nord does a video on Facebook to explain what happened. Of course the Town hates the videos because they don’t control what he says. He mentioned the 11/5 indoor dining meeting from this story in his December 21st video: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/30/normal-you-cant-eat-inside-but-we-can/ Obviously the gang met in person and […]
By: Diane Benjamin Many of the locally elected aldermen and trustees are inflicted with the same disease. They believe everything they are told instead of looking at facts for themselves. They weren’t elected to represent government staff, they should be representing the people. There were two glaring examples during the Town of Normal meeting last […]
By: Diane Benjamin Tari Renner tested positive for COVID. He stated himself Monday night he had symptoms for 13 days. So far reports to me have him going to a local restaurant and a grocery story WITH symptoms. Don’t forget his dancing antics without a mask too. What are citizens going to tolerate? Is the […]
By: Diane Benjamin See previous story: https://blnnews.com/2020/12/02/normal-shut-down-a-local-business/ I FOIA’d the Body Cam video listed in the Police Incident Report, it didn’t take long to get a response: Evidently: Since no arrests were made (because no crime was committed), they won’t release the video. If the police show up at your business, ask for the warrant. […]
By: Diane Benjamin I received a FOIA yesterday from the Town of Normal. This isn’t the only communication you need to see, but I will start here. I didn’t redact the senders information because she deserves praise for writing it. Her thoughts represent many.
By: Diane Benjamin A reader sent this story: https://ussanews.com/News1/2020/10/11/these-are-the-us-cities-where-workers-make-the-most-relative-to-their-cost-of-living/ The story goes in numerous directions, but it starts with the fact that people who are capable of working remotely are leaving large metro areas. Why live in a shoebox in New York City when you can live for a lot less anywhere else in the […]
By: Diane Benjamin See the previous story: https://blnnews.com/2020/09/28/see-if-you-can-spot-anything-strange/ That story shows the largest purchasers of Bloomington water. I see three locations in Normal that are getting water from the City of Bloomington: Rivian, Bromenn, and Firestone. All three have been buying water from Bloomington for a LONG time, Mitsubishi before Rivian. So why does Normal […]
By: Diane Benjamin Since Chris Koos has been dictating to citizens without any input from your elected officials, didn’t you already think the Town of Normal employees were required to wear masks at work? Evidently not. Remember why the shutdown happened? It was to keep the hospitals from being overwhelmed. It was never to keep […]
By: Diane Benjamin As reported in this story – Normal will reject a bid for a bike share program tonight: https://blnnews.com/2020/07/31/normal-could-have-a-10-minute-meeting-monday/ The previous contract was a 3 year deal with Zagster. I think it is safe to assume this contract wasn’t a revenue cash cow for Zagster because they didn’t bother to bid this time. […]
The Open Meetings Act applicable section was amended effective 1/1/2013. That’s more than 7 years ago! _____________________ By: Diane Benjamin The Town of Normal under the current leadership prefers to make up their own laws. The most obvious example is their illegal public comment policy. Here’s another one: http://normal.org/DocumentCenter/View/7697/Chapter-03—Council-Meetings-and-Ordinances?bidId= What does the Open Meetings Act […]
By: Diane Benjamin One Normal Plaza is a tranquil park like setting. It is the site of the Soldiers and Sailors Home were many kids grew up. If you haven’t driven through the area, please do. Everything about this should be preserved for future generations. The Town of Normal staff have proposed zoning changes allowing […]
By: Diane Benjamin If you happened to watch the Normal Town Council meeting last night you might have shut it off before they got to Council comments. You missed proof Normal isn’t government For and By The People, it’s for and by the staff. Kathleen Lorenz went on a long diatribe condemning Stan Nord for […]
By: Diane Benjamin Watch this video, you don’t need the sound to realize what is going on: The video was filmed by Normal resident Doug Fansler. The Town of Normal must think bikers and pedestrians have no responsibility to “cross when clear”. Normal expects vehicles where the speed limit is 30 MPH to notice somebody […]
By: Diane Benjamin New Front Page on the Town of Normal website: https://www.normal.org/ See the top right hand corner. Clicking there will take you to a short survey. Hint: Stop building vanity projects with taxpayer money and NONE OF THE ABOVE are not potential answers. Koos and company are rushing to find the money to […]
By: Diane Benjamin The purpose of the meeting last night was only to approve the Town’s share of funding so a grant could be obtained to fix West College. The construction includes extending the trail. No details were allowed to be discussed like how a railroad track would be crossed and still be ADA compliant. […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal has a long history of doing things for friends that us common folk would never get. Think of all the below market leases and cheap rent. One of their friends, Destihl, wanted to sell packaged liquor. They are mentioned by name in an email from Pam Reece: It gets worse – […]
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 Just because MANY units of government think they have to right to fork over your money to employees for Christmas that doesn’t mean it’s legal. This time I will steal some quotes from a story the Edgar County Watchdogs just posted: https://edgarcountywatchdogs.com-10000-Christmas-Bonus-Lists-Paid-With-Public-Funds Excerpt: As we have previously noted, Christmas Bonuses for public […]
By: Diane Benjamin The chart below is from the documents the Normal Town Council used for the Budget Session held on January 16, 2020. Normal 1-16-2020 budget session PDF page 70: Town staff already decided you have to pay more! Note: I haven’t heard anything about the Social Security rate going up, the only way […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pam Reece claims Stan Nord’s W. College property is near housing, therefore the Town has a right to tell him what he can do with it. Actually Pam, it’s across a FOUR lane interstate: The property around it isn’t developed. Does the Town want at $1.75 billion corporation coming to town or […]
By: Diane Benjamin What relationship should exist between government and media? We know WGLT employee RC McBride was on the Normal Town Council until he was defeated last April. We know WGLT employee Mike McCurdy is the chair of the Connect Transit Board and appointed by the Town of Normal. Does WGLT ever do any […]
By: Diane Benjamin More from the Workbook the Council used for their 2-day meeting. This meeting is posted on the website every year as required by the Open Meetings Act, but if citizens didn’t look for it they would never know it was open to the public. It is also always held during the week […]
By: Diane Benjamin Normal has 136 retired employees collecting a pension. The information below is from OpenTheBooks.com https://www.openthebooks.com/Pension/TownNormal At Monday’s Council meeting Karyn Smith asked the Finance Director how much employees contribute. Police and Fire contribute between 9.8 and 9.9%. Other employees contribute 4.5%. All will also receive Social Security. See the video at […]
A little of what Craig Stimpert and Ron Ulmer said at public comment is on this WHOI news report: https://hoiabc.com/news/town-of-normal-opts-to-keep-property-taxes-about-the-same-cutting-budget-instead By: Diane Benjamin Since there is no video of Public Comment from Monday’s Council meeting, there is no permanent record of what was said. Stan Nord left this comment this morning: In case the above […]
By: Diane Benjamin This WGLT article is pretty accurate in describing the contentious all day Council meeting Friday. https://www.wglt.org/Normal-Town-Council-Works-Through-Trust-Issues-Contentious-Retreat The bottom line is the elites on the Council don’t appreciate Stan Nord and Karyn Smith actually doing what they campaigned to do! (sound familiar?) Isn’t that what voters expect politicians to do? (How many actually […]
By: Diane Benjamin If Illinois had a competent Attorney General a ruling against Normal for their public comment policy would have been written many months ago. (the law requires them to rule within 90 days) We don’t, so Normal continues to stifle citizen speech only because they can. A complaint was filed with the AG […]
By: Diane Benjamin One way Normal has tried to justify problems is to state they had to decrease staff a few years ago. Is that true? Not according to what the Town sent to the Illinois Comptroller’s office: The warehouse This site was created years ago for citizens. The format is easier to understand than […]
By: Diane Benjamin Pam Reece can’t understand why Stan Nord is questioning the actions of past Councils. If Pam can’t understand why Stan was elected, she had an opportunity handed to her: Stan has raised questions about a number of issues. Some of them included Town owned properties being leased for much less than market […]
By: Diane Benjamin On September 12, 2001 we were all Americans. American flags lined neighborhoods. For one day we were a united country. It didn’t last. The citizens of Normal sponsored the Racial Equity Summit held yesterday and today: Why are some minorities wildly successful and some aren’t? Maybe they didn’t “stand idly” waiting for […]
Email received by FOIA: By: Diane Benjamin This ad was posted on September 19th in AppVault: . The Town of Normal is looking for a Communications & Community Relations Director! . The ideal candidate will be capable of translating these values into a robust communication program that supports the strategic plan of the Town of […]
By: Diane Benjamin This story should explain why Tari Renner despises Clarence Thomas. https://blnnews.com/2019/05/25/tari-renner-clarence-thomas-doesnt-act-afro-american/ Thomas is black and successful. Clarence proves being born poor and black in America does not mean you are doomed for life. The same applies to Ben Carson and many other minorities who are living the American Dream because they worked […]
By: Diane Benjamin One more thing happened at Monday’s Normal Town Council meeting that you need to see. First, some background. Both Bloomington and Normal have decided in recent years to write minutes that don’t reflect exactly what happens at meetings. If citizens want to research something that happened a year ago and don’t know […]
By: Diane Benjamin I’ve heard from numerous sources State Farm is not done downsizing their workforce. If local governments don’t tighten their belts, the flight of residents will do it for them. These numbers were complied from what Normal reported to the Comptroller’s office: Source: Normal – Warehouse Note the number of employees. Remember […]
By: Diane Benjamin See Part 1 here: https://blnnews.com/2019/09/15/part-1-why-chemberly-isnt-fit-to-serve/ This article will explain why Chemberly should not be in any elected office deciding how to spend taxpayer money. Lots of people find themselves in difficult spots, what matters is digging yourself out. The only way to do that is cut-cut-cut expenses and/or increase income. Cummings chose […]
