Daily Archives: January 5, 2007

City Council

The Council returns Tuesday, Jan. 9

9 Comments

The first thing on Tuesday night’s agenda is (after the proclamations) is:

INITIAL SNOW DEBRIEFING by SIX SIGMA BLACK BELT LORI DAVID from CATERPILLAR, INC. to Provide an OVERVIEW, INITIAL OPPORTUNITIES, OBSERVATIONS for IMPROVEMENTS, and the APPROACH for COMPLETING THE ASSIGNMENT.

Oh, goody. Like we need a Six Sigma black belt to figure this one out. Please tell me Ms. David is doing this service pro bono and we’re not wasting any more money on this snow fiasco. If she is being paid, perhaps they can fire Mr. Haste and take her fee out of the money they would no longer be wasting on him.

Other notable items, in no particular order:

  • Website redesign. They may hire IceCentric, LLC to redesign the city’s website for up to $45,000.

    The website seriously needs to be updated, so this is good news.

  • Sign ordinance changes. Adams Outdoor Advertising wants the City to change its sign ordinance to allow electronic off-premise billboards that can change messages every six seconds.

    Because traditional billboards just aren’t garish enough.

  • Riverfront programming. The proposed intergovernmental agreement between the City and Park District to provide programming along the Riverfront has been reduced from five years to one. Furthermore, during that one year, “additional revenue sources and cost reduction opportunities [will] be identified to move the Riverfront toward being self-sustaining.”

    Who proposed this course of action? Councilmembers Van Auken and Manning, of course. I’m still disappointed that they caved on Fire Station 11 and the garbage fee, but at least they’re taking steps to reduce expenses. It’s “little” cuts like this that eventually add up to enough money to take care of the big issues.

  • TIF Bloat. The Warehouse and Eagle View proposed TIF districts seem to be expanding all over the place. The Peoria Housing Authority wants to be in the Eagle View proposed TIF because it means they “get a better rating from the Federal government for redevelopment funds.” Some unnamed council member asked that the Warehouse District proposed TIF be extended north along MacArthur Blvd. because it “might have significant future financial impact as developers are induced to develop the area and more taxes and fees are generated.”

    Heck, let’s just make the whole city a TIF! Just think of how much development and, presumably, wealth we would have then! The council should stick with the original intent of the proposed TIF districts and only expand boundaries that fit within that intent. I hedge my statement this way because there are some boundary changes that are perfectly defensible and should be adopted (for instance, there are some parcels that were obviously omitted unintentionally). But to include PHA and additional housing is unwarranted.

If nothing gets deferred, be prepared to settle in for a long meeting.

City of Peoria

Haste makes waste

17 Comments

The snow debate is back. This time the focus is on Street Department Manager David Haste. Despite his abysmal performance in the days (weeks?) following the big Dec. 1 snowstorm, Public Works Director Steve Van Winkle has seen fit to give him a whopping 4.68% merit increase, in addition to approving $5,150 in overtime pay — for a salaried employee — between Nov. 30 and Dec. 10, according to today’s Journal Star.

You really should read Elaine Hopkins entire article and see if you don’t find your blood pressure rising just a little. There’s plenty of controversy surrounding Mr. Haste:

  • “[H]e reported working 129 hours over six days, an average of 21.5 hours daily.”

    I’d like to see the guy’s time sheet to find out exactly when he slept. Are we really supposed to believe that he only slept 15 hours in six days, an average of 2 1/2 hours per day? If true, it’s no wonder the guy was making poor decisions. I’d be willing to buy one or two days with only 3 hours sleep, but 5-10 days after the event? He’s still working over 20 hours a day with no sleep? And why the heck does a salaried employee get overtime pay?

  • “Haste said he and his wife were unable to find an affordable home in the Dunlap school district, though they continue to look. So Haste adopted a rental property he bought in 2000 as his residence….”

    Haste lives in Princeville, but when he was promoted to Street Department Manager, he was required by city residency requirements to become a resident of Peoria within a year (by 2004, in his case), but he wanted his teenage kids to be able to continue attending Dunlap High School.

    So, the guy owns two properties and makes $80,000/year, but he hasn’t been able to find an affordable home in the Dunlap High attendance area of Peoria in the last three years? He’s not looking very hard.

    Furthermore, he’s not convincing anyone (except Van Winkle, apparently) that he’s really living in the rental house in Peoria. It doesn’t have a stove in it, and it’s not listed as owner-occupied on the tax rolls, although there is some evidence that he may sleep there occasionally and Van Winkle claims his residency claims have been investigated. I don’t know the exact wording of the city’s residency ordinance, but if this isn’t breaking the letter of the law (and since it’s clearly not his primary residence, I don’t see how it couldn’t be), it’s certainly breaking the spirit of it.

  • “Haste said […] he has not even taken vacation he is eligible for, [and] added, ‘It’s not easy to do this (job). It’s not fun.'”

    Sounds like instead of looking for a new house in Peoria, Haste should be looking for a new job that he would enjoy. The City Manager should help him along toward that decision.