I watched part of the council meeting at home on channel 22 (meeting started at 6:15 p.m.), then came downtown to see it in person. So, here I am! I’ll be updating this post throughout the evening, so check back. So far, you haven’t missed much. Department heads are simply getting up and reiterating the cuts they’re recommending in this document:
(09-343) CONTINUATION of a POLICY SESSION Regarding DISCUSSION and REVIEW of the CITY’S SERVICES.
The Peoria City Council is meeting tonight, but it’s not a regularly-scheduled meeting. It’s a special policy session during which they will be discussing cuts to next year’s budget. Comcast cable channel 22 is carrying it live. WCBU (89.9 FM), which carries regularly-scheduled meetings live, is not carrying the policy session live tonight.
The 2006-2009 teachers contract with District 150 specifies that teachers’ “hours of work” are “six (6) hours and thirty (30) minutes for primary and middle schools,” and six hours thirty-five minutes for high schools. By comparison, Pekin District 108 teachers’ work day includes the six and a half hours of the school day, plus thirty minutes before and twenty minutes after those hours, or about seven and a half hours. Dunlap schools have a similar requirement.
At Monday’s District 150 board meeting, union president Bob Darling spoke to the board during the “audience presentation” portion of the meeting, and among other things he defended the hours of work by saying, “I don’t know any teacher that only works six and a half hours.” The implication is that, even though they’re not contractually required to work longer, most teachers put in much more time than the minimum. I have no doubt that his assertion is true.
Nevertheless, because of the contractual limitation on hours, the school board only has six and a half hours to work with when scheduling the day. If they want to add teacher collaboration time to the day, they can’t tack it on before or after school, nor can they require teachers to use their prep periods (use of the prep period is also restricted in the contract). The board’s only options are not to add teacher collaboration time, or to take time away from the students. The latter is exactly what they did when they established so-called “wacky Wednesdays.”
I think critics have a point when they ask what other full-time job requires only six-and-a-half-hour days (32.5 hours per week), 180 days a year. I’ve never heard of it anywhere else. Full-time jobs usually require eight hours a day (40 hours per week). If teachers worked a standard full-time shift each day (or even seven and a half hours per day) with teacher collaboration time and a prep period(s) built in, then the district wouldn’t have to take time away from the students and the collaboration time would improve instructional quality, right? And since they’re already working those extra hours anyway, why would they object to making it part of their contractual work day, especially when it will greatly benefit the students and not obligate teachers to any more time than their peers in other districts?
I haven’t read the health care bill, and I’ve only casually been following the health care debate in the newspaper and on the radio. So my and the dui weed lawyer firm thoughts on the subject are somewhat random and philosophical.
My first thought is, why is it the government’s job to “solve” the health care crisis? Why is the federal government looked to as the answer? If government gets into the health care business, is there anything they won’t get into? Unlike the bailout schemes, supporters can’t even appeal to the “hey, this is temporary” argument. No, this will be a permanent entitlement that will cost the country billions and billions of dollars. I know they can just print more fiat money, but you can only devalue the currency so much before it starts having serious consequences; I fear we’re past that point already.
Secondly, I heard President Obama on the radio defend the notion that private health insurers and viatical settlement providers could compete with the government’s health insurance. As an example, he pointed to, of all things, the way Fed Ex and UPS compete against the U. S. Postal Service. The USPS is, of course, losing billions of dollars a year, which I don’t think is the comparison Obama really wanted to make. But it was an apt analogy nonetheless, because it shows the lose-lose situation very well: If a government-run organization competes too well against private companies, then the private companies go out of business, which means fewer jobs; if it doesn’t compete well enough, it loses lots of money, which will cost the taxpayers.
I don’t know what the answer is, but when the government gets involved, often the cure is worse than the disease. The most recommended ailment for my stress is hemp oil. CBD oil has stress relieving properties that allows me to cope with things that stress me out.
This picture’s for you, buddy:
This past week, the Journal Star reported on changes being made to CityLink bus routes:
Beginning Sept. 8, Northwoods Mall will no longer be used as the unofficial – and privately owned – northern transfer station for CityLink buses.
In an agreement with CityLink and the mall’s ownership, Simon Properties, the bus service will reduce the number of routes to the mall from six to two. That reduces the number of buses that pick up and drop off at the mall’s main entrance by J.C. Penney from 250 to 50 a day.
This news has elicited some strong negative reaction to Northwoods. For example, PeoriaIllinoisan has found evidence that Simon has done similar things at other properties they own, in one case even admitting on tape, “We want to reduce the negative, um, aspects of the Center — one of them is the young, black customer.”
I was initially put off by Simon/Northwoods’ decision myself. However, as more details have emerged, I’ve changed my mind.
First of all, Northwoods is not eliminating bus service to their front door — there will still be 50 buses a day going to Northwoods. So it’s not like they’re trying to keep public transit riders out of their facility, or kick all the buses to the perimeter of the property. All they’re saying is that they “[don’t] want to be the de facto north Peoria transfer station any longer.”
And that brings me to my second point: It’s not Northwoods’ responsibility to provide a transfer station for CityLink. Whatever you may think about Simon Property Group, their past actions, or their perhaps secret motivations, the fact is that it is unreasonable to expect a private business to provide their facilities as a “de facto” transfer station. They get no subsidy to provide those services, and yet those services cost money. Many riders are simply using their property to change buses, not shop at Northwoods. Bus drivers are using their property to rest and use the bathroom (what they call “recovery time”), not shop at Northwoods. All that additional traffic puts wear and tear on their parking lot, which they have to maintain on their own dime, unlike downtown businesses who get their parking subsidized by the City of Peoria.
It is CityLink’s responsibility to provide a transfer station where one is needed, at their own expense. It appears that’s just what they’re going to do, as the end of the newspaper report states, “The transit district is looking for land and money to build a transfer station in the mall’s vicinity.” Isn’t the site of the old Denny’s at Sterling and I-74 for sale?
One of my readers has informed me that a phone survey is being conducted, and the questions are most intriguing. Here’s part of the e-mail describing the questions he was asked:
Some paraphrased questions I recall-
Do you approve or disapprove of the following people
Ken Hinton
Jim Ardis
Paul VallasDo you approve or disapprove of a take over of the district by the city
Do you approve or disapprove of a take over of the district by the state
Do you approve or disapprove of raising taxes to support a charter school coming into the district
Biggest issue for the district- crime, scores, money
A question on the teachers union- they are doing the best they can, they are in it just for them
Do you approve of the direction the city is heading
Do you approve of the direction the district is heading
What is your opinion of Dunlap 323
I would love to see the results of this survey. But even more than that, I would love to know who is conducting it. Anyone want to ‘fess up?
Even if you don’t know who’s conducting it, what do you think of the questions? How would you answer them?
UPDATE: I’ve gotten confirmation from District 150 and the City of Peoria that they are not conducting this survey. The Heartland Partnership has indicated that they’re aware of the survey, but they can’t get me any more details until Monday. I’ll pass along any new information I receive.
The Journal Star has discovered more financial anomalies at District 150:
More than $24,000 was paid last year to several teachers at nearly a dozen District 150 schools for extracurricular activities that were approved but went beyond what those individual schools were allotted to spend.
The worst offender: Washington Middle School, where an estimated $8,370 was spent beyond what is allowed through contractual obligations at middle schools. That is one of the findings of a Journal Star analysis of a list received through the Freedom of Information Act containing the more than $1.32 million spent in the 2008-09 school year on extracurricular activities.
“It’s not a situation where teachers were getting paid for doing nothing,” Mary Davis, an academic officer for the district, said of the errors at many District 150 schools. Rather, there is “no checks and balance system,” Davis said.
And there you have it, right from the District 150 administration: There is no checks and balance system. Mary Davis should be familiar with that problem. She’s being sued by a former principal for misappropriation of school activity funds. Whether she is ultimately convicted of these charges or not, the fact remains that there is insufficient checks and balances of the student activity funds.
Unfortunately, this is a pervasive problem at District 150. Year after year, District 150’s annual audit has included this criticism, as reported earlier this year by the Journal Star:
The internal financial review controls at District 150 are at the very least inadequate, resulting in errors, unsubstantiated account balances and generally leaves the district without an accurate day-to-day report of its cash flow, according to a letter from the district’s auditors.
That audit report was rumored to have been the reason Guy Cahill was fired by the school district. And that made me wonder, why is there no quote from the district’s new controller/treasurer Pam Schau? Why is an academic officer answering questions about these improprieties? And why an academic officer who is under suspicion herself?
The Journal Star is reporting that some area non-profit businesses are concerned about the possibility of the City Council imposing a 5% utility tax on water:
With the City Council weighing a possible 5 percent utility tax on water, not-for-profit organizations such as hospitals, colleges and local governments like the Peoria Park District are examining how they can absorb a cost that could impact their operations….
Chief financial officers at the city’s cash-strapped hospitals — OSF Saint Francis Medical Care Center, Methodist Medical Center and Proctor Hospital — say the proposed increase could lead to operational changes within their organizations….
St. Francis spends about $600,000 each year on water. A 5 percent utility tax would increase the expense by $30,000, Harbaugh said.
At Methodist, the hospital’s water bill ran about $300,000 last year, and the proposed increase would mean an extra $15,000 to $20,000 a year in expenses, said Cal MacKay, the hospital’s senior vice president and CFO….
Peoria Park District Director Bonnie Noble said her district is estimating a 24 percent increase in water rates for next year, or an additional $60,000 tacked onto a typical annual water bill of $250,000. She said costs for park services could go up if the water utility costs spike.
“We’d have to spread the costs,” Noble said. “You just can’t keep absorbing these kind of things and run the same kind of operation you’ve run before.”
Three entities are looked at in detail here: OSF, Methodist, and the Park District. And we have an estimated annual increase in water bills for each entity: $30,000 for OSF, $15-20,000 for Methodist, and $12,500 for the Park District. Note on the Park District’s quote that the $60,000 figure listed in the article included Illinois American Water’s rate increase, which is outside the city’s control and was not figured into the OSF or Methodist figures. So, to compare apples with apples, I took the city’s proposed 5% fee times the Park District’s annual water bill of $250,000.
Now let’s take a look at some other recent news stories about these organizations (emphasis added):
The new OSF Center for Health at Glen Park will be open to the public Sunday. The 53,000-square-foot facility is set to open its doors after 19 months of construction on the $18 million project, which includes three buildings on the campus featuring 24 primary care physicians.
–June 12, 2009
On an average day, 200 tradesmen work on the hospital’s [OSF’s] $280 million Milestone Project, designed to modernize and expand the center and Children’s Hospital….
–January 17, 2009
What’s the monthly debt service on $298 million? I think it’s safe to say that one monthly payment alone dwarfs the $30,000 annual increase in costs that could result from the city’s imposition of a water utility fee. $30,000 is a rounding error for OSF.
Methodist Medical Center will delay the final two stages of its $400 million hospital renovation project until tight conditions in the credit market begin to loosen, CEO Michael Bryant said Thursday…. Methodist will continue with the first two phases of its massive renovation plan, which carry a combined price tag of nearly $30 million and include building a parking deck and constructing a new entrance to the hospital off Hamilton Boulevard.
–November 7, 2008
The same goes for Methodist. Even a more modest principal amount of $30 million will result in monthly debt service payments that go way beyond the predicted annual increase of $15,000 to $20,000. To put this increase in perspective, a single birth can cost a patient that much money.
But here’s my favorite:
In anticipation of shrinking revenues, the Peoria Park District will cut its budget for the rest of the year by $390,000, but the public will not be overly affected. “On a $40 million budget, this is less than 1 percent,” said Jan Budzynski, the park districts’s superintendent of finance and administrative services.
March 3, 2009
So, let me get this straight: Cutting $390,000 out of the park district budget is no big deal — it’s less than one percent of the budget and “the public will not be overly affected” — but an increase of $12,500 in water fees is going to be difficult to absorb — so much so that they’ll have to raise the cost of park services? [Insert “Dueling Banjos” music here.] It probably goes without saying, but the Park District can’t have it both ways.
It sounds to me like all these protests are pretty weak. If an attempt is being made to garner opposition to the water utility fee, this isn’t the way to do it. These large organizations with their conspicuous building projects aren’t going to get a lot of sympathy from the public. In fact, hearing how little this fee would impact them monetarily, it actually makes me more favorable toward it.
According to a breaking news story in the Wichita Eagle newspaper, a finalist for the Peoria City Manager position is Wichita’s Assistant City Manager, Scott Moore.
[Wichita] Vice Mayor Jim Skelton said today that Moore has indicated he will likely leave Wichita for the job.
. . . Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis and Councilman Gary V. Sandberg would not confirm they are negotiating with Moore. But they confirmed that he is a finalist.
They said the Peoria City Council will negotiate with the finalist and vote on a contract, most likely at their next council meeting Aug. 25.
Moore got strong endorsements from Ardis and Sandberg.
“Scott, in particular, has a very strong background and experience working in a big city like Wichita, which is helpful,” Ardis said.
Moore’s experience with tight budgets, such as the one he and other officials faced this year, is attractive, Ardis said.
. . . “We feel that Scott’s experience in that realm will be very good for us,” Ardis said.
Sandberg visited Wichita several weeks ago and was impressed with the city.
He said his questions are about why Moore and other Wichita officials didn’t more closely vet a Renaissance Square developer who had several lawsuits for nonpayment of bills and bounced checks.
Moore was interim city manager at the time, though Director of Urban Development Allen Bell accepted the blame for not relaying background information to council members.
Moore was also the Interim City Manager of Wichita while the city searched for a new City Manager. According to an October 2008 Kansas television news story, “[Wichita] city policy doesn’t allow the interim city manager to also apply for the [city manager] job.” According to the story, Mayor Carl Brewer said Moore “was given the option of taking the interim job or applying like everyone else.” Since then, Moore was a finalist for the city manager position in Corpus Christi, Texas, but (ironically) lost to Corpus Christi’s Interim City Manager Angel Escobar. Before the job went to Escobar, and Moore was still a finalist, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times published a glowing profile of him:
Former Wichita Mayor Carlos Mayans said Moore faced some political turmoil in the city.
“Scott always handled that with a quiet demeanor,” he said. “He’s not a confrontational person; he’s about getting the job done. The world of the big-city managers is a world of egos many times. I don’t believe you will see that in Scott.”
He worked to entice businesses to Wichita and redevelop its downtown, planned repairs to the city’s failing infastructure and oversaw expansion at the city’s airport and rail system.
Hmmm… Expansion of the rail system…. Sounds promising! The Caller-Times also added a little more info on why Moore took the Interim City Manager position with Wichita: “Wichita city officials already told him he wasn’t qualified to hold the post full-time, the standard rejection he had heard before.”
Here’s a quick bio on Scott Moore from a City of Wichita press release when Moore was appointed Interim City Manager:
Moore was the top administrator for the City of Ellsworth [Kansas] from June 1997 to June 2005 when he became Wichita’s Assistant City Manager of Operations….
Moore is a native of Bastrop, Texas. He attended college at Southwest Texas State (known now as Texas State), where he earned a business administration degree in 1994. He played wide receiver for the Division I Bobcats. In May 1999, Moore earned a masters degree in public administration from Wichita State University while serving as the top administrator for Ellsworth. Moore’s achievements in Ellsworth include uncovering a high-profile embezzlement case, negotiating an $800,000 legal agreement with the Kansas Department of Transportation and securing future financial commitments to assist the city-owned visitor center.
His honors include being named Ellsworth’s Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year in 2003. In 1999, Gov. Bill Graves presented him with a certificate of recognition for becoming Kansas’ first African-American city administrator. He also coached middle school basketball in Ellsworth. In 2007, the Wichita Business Journal selected him as member of its coveted “40 Under 40” honorees. Moore currently sits on the board of the Boy’s & Girl’s Club of South Central, Kansas….
Before Ellsworth, Moore worked four years as a budget analyst for the City of Austin, Texas, which is near his hometown. He is married to Tammy, a native Lyons; they have two daughters.
And here’s his resume from the same site (copied to the Peoria Chronicle’s archives).
If hired, Moore would replace Peoria’s Interim City Manager Henry Holling, who was appointed in January 2008 within a couple of weeks after former City Manager Randy Oliver’s departure. Oliver is now the City Manager of Surprise, Arizona. The City Council started a search for a new City Manager last year, but then suspended the search until after the latest municipal election.