Monthly Archives: January 2008

Peoria Public Schools, Public Building Commission

PBC bonding authority raised due to annexations

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In an earlier post, I asked how the Public Building Commission’s bonding authority went from $60 million to $72 million in a short time. Journal Star reporter Dave Haney has the answer:

The $72 million request would essentially put the PBC at the limit of its bonding authority, beyond the $60 million limit previously reported. The PBC has since retired some debt as well as gained more bonding authority through the city annexing more property – the basis by which the PBC’s bonding authority grows, allowing up to five percent of the city’s assessed value.

Another hidden cost of annexation to the taxpayer.

City of Peoria

Oliver’s contract points to technical termination

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There’s been a lot of speculation on whether Randy Oliver was fired or resigned voluntarily. Oliver and the council say he resigned voluntarily, but it has been reported that he will be receiving a severance package — something usually reserved for the terminated. I obtained a copy of Oliver’s employment contract via a Freedom of Information Act request so we can all read it and draw our own conclusions.

One would think that there are only two options: “terminated” and “voluntarily resigned.” But in fact there’s a third option (from Section 3(C) of the contract):

In the event the City Council at any time reduces the salary, compensation or other benefits of the City Manager in a greater amount than an applicable across-the-board reduction for all employees of the City, or in the event the City Council fails to comply with any other provision of this Employment Agreement, or if the Employee resigns following a suggestion by a majority of the Council, then, in that event, Employee may, at his/her option, be deemed to be “terminated” at the date of such reduction, such refusal to comply, or such resignation within the meaning and context of the herein severance pay provision then in that event Employee may at his/her option, be deemed to be terminated, as provided herein.

The third option is, in a nutshell, “as if terminated.” Since, according to the contract, the City Manager has to either be terminated or “as if terminated” in order to be eligible to get severance pay, and since everyone denies that he was terminated by the council, that leaves us with option 3, “as if terminated,” as the only viable explanation. To further substantiate this conclusion, consider this provision in the contract from Section 3(F): “If the City Manager resigns voluntarily, he will provide a sixty (60) days’ notice to the City Council.” Oliver provided only 30 days’ notice.

Something evidently happened to trigger the “as if terminated” clause (as I call it). What was it? Was it that he was not going to be getting a raise, and that could be construed as a reduction of “salary, compensation or other benefits”? Or did the council take a no-confidence vote, which would be “a suggestion by a majority of the council”?

Whatever it was, it’s worth asking why this clause is even in the contract at all. Gary Sandberg said on WCBU’s “Outside the Horseshoe” program Tuesday that he voted against this contract precisely because of the termination section, which he thought was not in the best interests of the city. According to Sandberg, Oliver wrote up this contract, and the council at the time voted for it because they were desperate for a new city manager.

On the other hand, if the council really is dissatisfied with the city manager and asks him to resign or starts taking away salary and benefits in an effort to pressure him to resign, how is that appreciably different than terminating him? And why shouldn’t he get a severance package in such a case? It could be argued that this is nothing more than protection for the city manager from getting forced out without severance.

Kellar Branch

O’Brien, Neumiller to be on Kellar committee

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From a news release I received today:

Today, Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis announced the City’s appointments to the Rail/Trail committee.

Mayor Ardis and Peoria Heights Mayor Allen agreed to a 7 member committee with a voting Chairperson. The Mayors agreed that the committee Chair will be Peoria Councilman Bill Spears. Peoria appointments are J.P. O’Brien (O’Brien Steel), Richard Neumiller (retired) and Steve Jaeger (Port Authority). They will join Peoria Heights appointees Sherryl Carter, Vern Kimberlin and Alexis Khazzam.

The goal is to consider the financial and engineering feasibility of side by side rail/trail. April 1, 2008 is the target date for the committees findings. Meetings will be open to the public.

City of Peoria

WOTS on Oliver’s severance pay

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If you’re still trying to figure out how Randy Oliver could quit voluntarily and still get a sweet severance package, well so is John Sharp in today’s Word on the Street column. It appears there’s nothing in his contract that would require the city to give him severance unless he were either directly or indirectly terminated. However, it appears to be a common practice in the industry to give severance to city managers who quit voluntarily. Go figure. Oh well, it’s only tax money, right? Who cares?

Also in today’s WOTS column is a(nother) Schock endorsement from Karen McDonald.

Peoria Public Schools

Lots of money to be spent by District 150

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This is old news, but I just wanted to give everyone a chance to comment on it: District 150, it was reported last Friday in the paper, is going to spend $94 million in new buildings and renovations. Here’s how it breaks down:

Harrison Primary $21.2 M
Lincoln Middle $19.7 M
Glen Oak $27.9 M
Richwoods Attendance Area
(Kellar, Lindbergh, Northmoor, Richwoods)		 $12.0 M
New math/sci/tech academy $11.7 M
SSA bldg. renovation $1.2 M
Total $93.7 M

And where will all this money come from? According to the paper, $72 million will come from the Public Building Commission ($28 million from a previous request, $44 million in a new request), and “[t]he nearly $22 million remaining would come from the District 150’s own bonding authority and about $8.2 million in cash balances.” The paper also said that “Board President David Gorenz said the board was intent on working within its means without raising the tax rate while at the same time trying to make the greatest impact.”

Now I have some questions about all this. First of all, the paper reported on Nov. 30, 2006, that the school board would only have access to “up to $60 million” from the Public Building Commission. When and how did that get increased to $72 million? Also, according to information I got from District 150 via FOIA request, the school district can spend a little over $33.9 million in fire prevention and safety funds on these projects. So why aren’t they using all of those funds first before asking the Public Building Commission for more money?

Here’s the problem with trying to keep track of what’s going on with District 150 — the numbers change often and with no explanation. At the time we all thought $60 million was the cap for PBC funding, we were told that the tax rate would stay the same because other bonds would be paid off, so it would be a wash. Now that the number has increased to $72 million, we’re still told the tax rate won’t go up. How can that be?

Also, anyone know what STS Consultants said it would cost to replace Glen Oak School? If you guessed $7.95 million, you’re right! Cost to renovate that building: $8.36 million. Now it’s going to cost $27.9 million to build a new Glen Oak School. Wow.

General News

Oil imports pop quiz

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Can you name the top countries from which the U.S. imports crude oil? Here’s the answer from the Energy Information Administration’s website, along with the average number of barrels that were imported per day in Nov 2007 (in thousands):

  1. Canada (1,919)
  2. Saudi Arabia (1,530)
  3. Mexico (1,484)
  4. Venezuela (1,227)
  5. Nigeria (1,215)
  6. Iraq (508)
  7. Angola (408)
  8. Colombia (197)
  9. Algeria (184)
  10. Ecuador (154)
  11. Kuwait (154)
  12. Chad (107)
  13. Argentina (86)
  14. Russia (81)
  15. Brazil (78)

It’s interesting to me that Iraq only accounts for a little over 5% of our oil imports, and that over 75% of our imports don’t come from the Middle East at all.

Just a Monday morning fun fact for you.

Kellar Branch

Kellar train service back on track

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Pioneer Industrial Railroad ran an engine up the Kellar Branch line without incident today. Pioneer has been fixing up the tracks, and they proved to be in sufficiently good shape for the 10 mph test run. David Jordan has a photo essay of the run on his transportation blog.

I had to laugh as David described the train giving “a friendly toot” as it passed the Journal Star.

Meanwhile, there’s an event planned for 10 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 23, at Vonachen’s for trail supporters. Apparently, there are going to be several city, park district, and village officials taking part, along with the usual small, but organized, contingent of trail advocates, led by Morton resident George Burrier. The 18th Congressional District candidates (or their representatives) will be on hand to read statements presumably in support of the trail. Now if we can just get these folks to pour all this energy into something really important (like addressing crime and poverty issues), this would indeed be a better city.

City of Peoria

Proposals are in for Visitor’s Bureau retail shops

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Remember this story? The City would like there to be retail businesses sharing space in the Riverfront Visitor’s Center (which is housed in Peoria’s oldest commercial building), and issued a request for proposals.

Well, the proposals are in — all three of them:

The City of Peoria and Peoria Area Convention and Visitors Bureau received three proposals for the RiverFront Visitors Center. Mr. Kurt Huber of the Peoria RiverFront Association proposed the establishment of a retail gift shop. The PRA would offer local cultural offerings and items made by the Peoria area industry. They would relocate their office to the RiverFront Visitor Center and also be a ticket outlet for RiverFront and Peoria area events. Ms. Renada Allen of The Giant Cookie would offer fresh baked homemade cookies and hand-dipped ice cream, as well as ice cream novelties and drinks year round. Ms. Lynnette Lee of World On Wheels would offer Segway rentals and tours throughout the city, regular tandem bicycles, and also operate a snack and souvenir shop. The business or businesses selected will be located in the same building with the Peoria Convention and Visitors Bureau.

If you could only pick one, which would you like to see on the riverfront?

Abortion

Sanctity of Human Life Walk and Rally

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About 200 people marched from the Peoria County Courthouse to Sacred Heart Catholic Church on Fulton Thursday night. It’s an annual event protesting the 1973 Supreme Court decision that made abortion-on-demand legal in all 50 states. The keynote speaker was Pastor Luke Robinson, an African American minister from Quinn Chapel A. M. E. Church in Frederick, Maryland.

In a sermon that decried abortion-on-demand in general, Robinson pointed out that abortions are disproportionately high among African Americans. He distributed literature that included this information:

  • “Abortion services have been deliberately and systematically targeted towards African Americans. A disproportionate number of the nation’s abortion clinics are located in minority neighborhoods.” (The Destiny o fhte Black Race, Carlisle Peterson, Planned Parenthood 1992 Service Report)
  • “35% of abortions in the United States are performed on African American women, while they represent only 12% of the female population of the country.” (US Center for Disease Control, Abortion Surveillance Report 7/30/99, US Census Bureau)
  • “The abortion rate among married African American women is 4.4 times greater than it is among married white women.” (Center for Disease Control, National Vital Statistics Reports, Vol. 47, No. 29)
  • “According to the 2000 Census, Hispanics have replaced African Americans as the largest minority group in the US. The loss of 14 million African American children through abortion has played a significant part in this population decline.” (US Census Bureau, 2000 Census)

The literature also compares the “approximate number of African American deaths since 1973” by various causes, “based on cumulative statistics provided by the U.S. Center for Disease Control National Vital Statistics Reports.” They are: Abortion (14,000,000), heart disease (2,503,789), cancer (1,824,350), accidents (409,723), violent crimes (329,313), and AIDS (227,695).

Robinson compared the fight against abortion to Nehemiah’s fight to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. There were those who opposed the rebuilding who plotted to kill the workers and stop the construction. Nehemiah 4:18ff says, “As for the builders, each wore his sword girded at his side as he built, while the trumpeter stood near me [Nehemiah]. I said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, ‘The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another. At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.'”

Robinson said this was not a racial issue, and that he believes abortion-on-demand should be stopped regardless of what color one’s skin is. The fight against abortion-on-demand is like the fight to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. But he argued that the abortion battle right now is highest in the African American community. Thus, he’s “sounding the trumpet,” and calling everyone to rally to that front at this time, while not ignoring the larger goal.

Women’s Pregnancy Center director Myfanwy Sanders gave an update on the center’s work to help women. She stressed that we should not ask a woman who’s considering abortion to carry her baby to term unless we’re willing to help and support her in that decision. She gave an example of a woman whose husband was in jail and the baby she was carrying was not her husband’s. Through the work of the Women’s Pregnancy Center, she kept the babies (she had twins), and the family ended up staying together once her husband got out of jail.

Sondra McEnroe gave an update on Central Illinois Right to Life. They’re taking a couple of buses to Washington, D. C., to attend the 35th Annual March for Life. (Incidentally, Robinson was the keynote speaker at last year’s March for Life in Washington.) She said some seats were still available, but to call her soon because the buses leave on Monday. The march is Jan. 22. Central Illinois Right to Life also has a 24-hour help line. The number is 645-8000.

Rev. A. J. Guyton of Trinity Missionary Baptist Church said the opening prayer, and Rev. Mark Henninger of Redeemer Presbyterian Church (PCA) said the closing prayer. Refreshments were served after the event. The Journal Star has pictures of the walk and rally on its website here.