This week’s Word on the Street is especially snarky, and for good reason. Open government is highly valued by most voters (but not everyone), so reporters generally get miffed when government officials deliberately try to skirt the Open Meetings Act in order to conduct the public’s business in secret:
They didn’t break any rules, but definitely skirted the intent of the Open Meetings Act. There were only three councilmen, two School Board members, two District 150 administrators and two representatives from the Library Board there. Clever.
After the meeting, it was the library board president who was the most candid, reports Karen McDonald. She wasn’t surprised by that, and neither am I. I was, however, surprised by this:
When the City Council deferred the issue, it said it would be submitting questions to the Library Board. Council members came up with the now-renowned list of 49 questions, which only made it into library officials’ hands after they went searching for them. Said the Library Board’s spokeswoman, Trisha Noack, “Actually, we got our questions from the city Web site, as they were not sent to us.”
I expect better from this council. Even if official protocol didn’t dictate that the council communicate directly to the library board, common courtesy should. Whether or not the council agrees with the library board’s recommendation, they should at least treat the board with some respect. As has been pointed out by the Journal Star and others, the library board has done everything that’s been asked of them. They’ve done their due diligence. Where is the city council’s?
Maybe the new City Council liaison should be doing his job and providing the questions to the Library Board. If its true that they got them from the city’s website, that is completely unprofessional on the City’s part. The City Council would raise hell if they were treated like that. Every week this new council (with a few limited exceptions for some members) shows their true colors – and it isn’t pretty.
Speaking of the “new city council,” if they vote the library plan that we voted for down, there really will be a “NEW CITY COUNCIL” next spring.
There is no question that this renegade city council has awakened a sleeping giant and stirred a hornets nest.
Several members and the mayor who might not even have been opposed are certain to have opponents now because of their outrageous action in Librarygate.
Wait and see, there will be several members of the current council who will be electoral casualties as a result of this, when elections are held next spring.
Flout the will of the people and the people will remember in the next election. Fortunately, we can express our will on the makeup of the city council only 10 months from now.
new city council:
Perhaps true — if outrage is actually converted to voting at election time, finding viable opponents in each city council district and the mayor who will run against the incumbents, and if the library bond vote occurs before the next election cycle.
I’ll be surprised if how the council votes on this issue ignites enough passion among voters to kick them out of office. Maybe for some council members it will be the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, but for most, I doubt it will have much of an affect on their reelection chances.
All this energy being expended on a new library site and in the meantime our school district slowly erodes…. who is going to read all the books if the city of Peoria can’t churn out kids that read…
RE Diane Vespa
I am a 100% library supporter, though I fear it may prove to be a big waste of my energy… but I do agree with you, Diane. The educational community as a whole in Peoria is eroding slowly – the libraries aren’t getting funding to expand, the school system is going downhill, Bradley students seem to be more interesting in drinking than studying… the whole thing is just going to hell in a handbasket.
But we have plenty of TIF districts! And a great big dirt pile that Cat employees are parking in that ought to be a museum.
I’ll concede this point: The way some members of the council have behaved behind the scenes has certainly not generated trust.
Billy: remember this:is there something wrong is exploring the methods in how $35 million is going to be spent by a volunteer Library board who has no more experience than you or I?
Wacko: I’m assuming the folks are the Library Board were put there because of their intelligence and experience in their respective fields. I’m NOT going to disparage them.
The issue is simply this: I want all valid options considered, especially one that might result in lower-than-otherwise tax bill. And I want my elected representatives to have a final say, which means MORE than an up or down vote.
Wacko — The library employed the use of expert consultants and copious public input in putting together their strategic plan and programming the proposed upgraded spaces. Do you or Billy or Mr. Spears or anyone else on the council have more experience than Himmel & Wilson, Farnsworth Group, and BCA? Unlike the council, the library board didn’t pull their recommendation out of a hat.
There’s nothing wrong with the council questioning the results of these studies; I just wanted you to recognize that these plans being discussed were not invented by the volunteer library board, as you seemed to imply.
Billy and c.J., you are both right; I would justwant to be sure the Experts do not have a potential conflict of interest in recommending a site. I think the critics of the council are more interested in their own interests rather than the taxpayers-hope not!
Majorities are not always right or Germany may be the ones warring in Iraq and we may still have slavery.
The wish of the majority to suppress the minority viewpoint is something to be strongly oppossed. From the outside it appears I am in the minority but maybe not.
That the CC could have handled it better is a given.
For more facts on Peoria Public Library visit http://widmer-peoria-watch.blogspot.com
Wacko may be on to something. “Volunteer Boards” are notoriously full of sh*t. Trustees?
Give me a break. You can blame them for everything that is wrong with Lakeview and their bogus museum project.
I may have to reconsider my stand on just about everything now.
You MIGHT want to reconsider this post. McDonald conceded that City Hall did in fact email the question. It turned out that the Library Board, in whose competency you place such HUGE trust, neglected to email it to their own staff. McDonald waited a full week to get a correction in print. Oops.