Promises, Promises: 100% Local Union Labor

What did the museum group promise the local labor force before the April 2009 referendum?

Mike Everett, West Central Illinois Building & Construction Trades Council: “The Build the Block project offers our local construction workforce a tremendous opportunity. Over a 25-month construction schedule, this project will create over 250 jobs and put $1.8 million back into our community. Plus, through an unprecedented agreement, this project’s going to be built with 100% local union labor. Building the Block is more than just building a museum. It’s a chance to strengthen our economy and help our local families.”

From today’s Journal Star:

Though there is no guarantee a local firm will be awarded the construction bid for the Peoria Riverfront Museum, county officials say they will do what they can to promote the use of local resources….

County Board member and museum committee member Mike Phelan said though the total museum project likely won’t be built exclusively by local union laborers, they will build a majority of the project….

Turner Construction – the same Chicago firm that worked on the Peoria Civic Center and also is managing construction of the new terminal at Gen. Wayne A. Downing Peoria International Airport – will serve as the county’s project manager through March 2013. Turner will be paid about $1 million to oversee the estimated $36 to $40 million project.

Another broken promise to add to the list. I’m sure Mike Everett won’t mind. He told the City Council he just doesn’t want to see a big hole when he drives into Peoria from his home in Tazewell County. Well, it looks like he won’t see 100% local union labor filling that hole, either.

What I find amusing is the attempt to make it sound like this hasn’t been a problem from the beginning. The news article states without attribution:

The game changed earlier this year when Peoria County decided to oversee construction of the museum to ensure what is done with public money on a public building on public property is the public’s business.

That responsibility previously fell under the direction of the Peoria Riverfront Museum board of directors, a not-for-profit organization not subject to the Open Meetings Act. As a public entity, Peoria County is bound to accept the lowest responsible bid and that firm may or may not be local, officials acknowledge.

Au contraire: Citizens for Responsible Spending asked about the promise of local union labor before the referendum vote. Here’s the County’s official response back then:

[Q:] If all labor for construction is going to be sourced locally, does this mean no bids?
[A:] If the referendum passes and public dollars are used, the museum portion of the project would have to be bid and construction workers paid at least prevailing wages.

So there never really was a guarantee that it would be 100% local union labor unless all the bids just happened to be won by local contractors.

City getting grant for police officers

From this week’s Issues Update:

Senator Dick Durbin’s Office contacted the Peoria Police Department on Thursday, September 30, 2010, to inform them that the City of Peoria had been chosen to be one of the cities awarded funds under the 2010 COPS Hiring grant. Peoria was awarded funding for the entire request of 10 sworn officer positions, at a total cash value of $2,721,400. This grant will fund the salary and benefits of 10 officers for a period of three years, with the City being responsible for funding a fourth year. The application was for the hiring of 10 new positions, however, once the City has received and signed off on the formal documents, we will have the opportunity to request a modification to the grant wherein it will fund 10 current positions, thereby preventing layoffs. [emphasis added] It is worthy to note that Peoria received the largest allotment of all Illinois cities with the next highest being Waukegan at $2.2 million. It is also interesting to note that all applications from across the country were scored and Peoria finished with a score of 94.49 (out of a possible 100) placing Peoria at the 99.86 percentile. A meeting will be scheduled next week with Chief Settingsgaard and his staff to sort out the details.

So the City is going to take this grant and try to use it to pay for current officers instead of using it to add officers. And we may still have a net loss of three officers, according to Word on the Web’s coverage of last night’s City Council meeting:

Mayor Jim Ardis talked about the city’s operations budget. The 5 percent budget reductions would mean 13 fewer police officers, 15 fewer firefighters and two fewer employees in public works. The impact of fewer police officers, presumably, would be lessened by a federal grant.

Can we afford to keep cutting police officers?

Candidate Forum planned for Oct. 16

From a press release:

League of Women Voters Invites the Public
To Candidate Forum on Oct. 16

PEORIA – The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria will host a candidate forum for three important races, at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2010, at the Weaver Ridge Golf Club, 5100 N. Weaver Ridge Blvd.

The candidates who have agreed to attend are:

  • For the 18th District Congressional Seat: D.K. Hirner, Democrat, and Sheldon Schafer of the Green Party. (Republican incumbent Aaron Schock is unable to attend the event.)
  • For Peoria County Recorder of Deeds: Evonne Fleming, Democrat and Nancy Horton, Republican.
  • For Peoria County Board District 3: Lynn Scott Pearson, Democrat and Karrie Alms, Republican.
  • For Peoria County Board District 13: Randy Stevens, Democrat and James Fennell, Republican.

The candidates will make statements and answer questions from the audience. The event is free and open to the public.

An optional light breakfast for $7.50 will be available for purchase at 8:30 a.m.

Reservations will be appreciated, and can be made by calling 309/691-2167.