After the Peoria City Council meeting, the council went into executive session for a long time. After an hour or so, Scott Moore emerged from the room alone and went up to his office, never to be seen again. The council met another half hour or so, then the meeting broke up.
Mayor Ardis announced that Scott Moore had tendered his resignation, and there will be an announcement Wednesday morning as to who will be the interim City Manager. The mayor was asked if it was a performance issue; he replied, “It’s an issue of us accepting his resignation.” In other words, he’s not commenting on the reason for the resignation.
However, he did confirm that Moore will get six months severance pay. Per the City Manager’s contract, “If the Manager resigns following an offer to accept resignation, whether formal or informal, by the City as representative of the majority of the governing body that the Manager resign, then the Manager may declare an involuntary termination as of the date of the suggestion.” In other words, the fact that Moore is eligible for severance means that the Council asked for his resignation, which is a nice way of firing someone.
No one is saying for the record why Moore was fired, but I think it’s fair to speculate that it was poor performance. You don’t generally fire someone if you think they’re doing a wonderful job.
Moore has been City Manager for a little more than one year. His annual salary is $165,000, and he gets six months salary ($82,500) as severance pay.
The way Peoria goes through City Managers says far more about the City Council than it does about the City Manager. With the councils track record of steamrolling bad deals, why would anyone want the job of trying to herd ducks?
I think the budget should include a contract for a revolving door to be instlled in the city managers office.
My only comment is that I think being city manager for Peoria is an incredibly difficult job.
DOES peoria go through city managers at a greater rate that cities of a similar size with a similar type of council? Has anybody looked into this and done a comparison?
I still think our form of government is flawed. There needs to be an elected chief administrator. Right now, the mayor is just a figurhead and only one vote on the council. That makes the city manager a whipping boy for council members.
there goes 4 more cops off the payroll….
“My only comment is that I think being city manager for Peoria is an incredibly difficult job.”
By that do you mean dealing with the egos and greed of the power brokers???
So this has nothing to do with him applying for another job?
Points to ponder…
1) Too early to speculate on the reasons Mr. Moore resigned. It could be related to his job interview in Texas; it could be related to not having budget information for the Council to review on a timely basis;
Only the Council knows, and it will be awhile before those executive session minutes will be made public, if at all. Plus, on a resume, a resignation looks better than being fired.
2) It would be nice if a local professional would be hired at a City Manager. Then, 6 months down the road, some Negative Nellies would be calling for their head because they were ‘too chummy’ with local powers-to-be or ‘giving favortism’ to their friends.
3) Finally, in relation to the upcoming elections…these days, no matter how hard you try to do right as an elected official or adminstrator, you’re damned if you do, and you’re damned if you don’t. No wonder no one locally wants the City Manager job, or run for a local office (CJ & the others excepted). How come some of the usual hard-line critics of the council DIDN’T file to run, so that we could have more candidate choices and a primary??
“Too early to speculate on the reasons Mr. Moore resigned. ”
Dennis… he was told by the City Council: “resign or be fired”.
IMO…
THAT is the only possible explanation for paying him 6 months severance pay.
Charlie, I mean all of it. Local politics and the landmines involved there, a absolute budget disaster, District 150 in decline, a negative attitude by many about Peoria, the messy Marriott deal and the issues with that, a demanding City Council, a mediocre PJStar, etc.
I’ve noticed something about the council/Moore thing – hardly anyone is asking if maybe the city council might have been possibly more to blame here. That if possibly Moore was telling them “no” on some things and they didn’t like what they were hearing.
Not only that, it seems like this council treats people like yo-yo’s and probably kept asking for information that might have not been simple to get or took time to compile and on top of that, was harder to compile with a reduced staff.
But what is troubling the most is the arrogance of this current city council will probably prevent the truth to be told to city residents.
WE will be the ones that get the least amount of information because this group of people in in capable of assigning criticism to themselves because in their eyes, they know it all, do it all and can do no wrong.
And to prove this, look at our tone deaf mayor and his use of official letter head usage an inability to see what is wrong with that.
In the real world, one gets 1-2 weeks of severance pay for every year of service. Why is SIX MONTHS pay being given to him?
Dunlap, this was a negotiated contract, not a general company policy kind of thing. That is what was negotiated in order to land him.
“That if possibly Moore was telling them “no” on some things and they didn’t like what they were hearing. ”
That isn’t a maybe, that is an absolute fact.
I am sure it included the 10 million for the warehouse district, the museum, the hotel and civic center…
He wasn’t being a team player.
If he resigned, then he was not fired. It is an important technicality.
Only for lawyers and accountants.
If you are told you will be fired if you do not resign… you resign because you are being fired.
Technicality… geesh.
FOIA is more powerful than imagined. the AG Office, despite jabs on blogs, can help.
Billy, What form of city government do you favor?
Not being contrarian, just want to know. Peoria seems broken, so whats the fix?
O’Brien may be right: Was he not a yes man?
Dennis in Peoria,
“How come some of the usual hard-line critics of the council DIDN’T file to run, so that we could have more candidate choices and a primary??”
Dennis,
We have been through this before. These people run for political office because they believe they are qualified for the job. It is up to the voters to decide the rest. You can’t play the “if you think you can do better…” card. For god’s sake man… Stop drinking and blogging!! What will you do the next McDonald’s shorts you a cheeseburger… yell at the guy and demand you be given the right to take over as first shift bun-boy!?!
aaron,
First. You fix what you know is broken: District 150, budget, basic city amenities, crime… etc. Then you expand and grow! Try taking away needless expenditures… There. How hard was that?
New Voice,
that is too easy. Fixing 150. How do you plan on doing that. It’s a daunting task. It is tied into the decay of city neighborhoods that not only has been allowed to happen, but brought on by 30 years of expansion policy. People left older areas to build/buy new in northern areas, with them went significant involvement in home, schools, community. There was no plan on what would happen with the infill, leading to landlords buying up once owner occupied homes and then the tearing down of poor areas and Section 8 vouchers handed out like candy. The theory being (by people who are not social workers) was that if you place people from projects into neighborhoods with absolutely no education on the change in expectations that they will look around them and modify previous behavior. simple things like yardwork, basic upkeep were not instilled or taught. Also came a criminal element both from here and from Chicago cast offs. Result, for every block that one of these houses developed, the more homeowners with resources left. Most people simply do not want to put with nonsense and those who have resources leave. More of the problem people move in. Example. We had a house shot up in one of the more stable parts of our neighborhood last week. The following weekend, several families had found other places to live. They didn’t not want to subject their children to the risk. I will guarentee what type of people who will move in. Those who consider shooting at one another is a way of life or a cost of doing business. These houses have a lot of children. These children are out wandering the streets at night. School is not a priority. Teachers in the district struggle first with discipline issues with children who have not learning/work ethic. How do they teach. The remainder of the students don’t learn by default. People won’t come into the district because their children won’t be able to learn, and the cycle continues.
budget: The city relies heavily on sales tax as a primary funding source. fewer jobs, higher taxes, less disposable income, fewer tax monies brought in, raise taxes, now even less disposible income, low purchases….and so the cycle goes.
crime: see above discussion with District 150. We pay for criminals to flourish. We don’t hold dead beat dads accountable, they father a dozen children, a get a portion of the public aid check from each baby mama. Prison is simply a way of life, still doesn’t change the taxpayer funded basic needs are met. Still get food (link), housing (section 8), heat/electricity (LiHeap), medical (obama care and/or medical card) No need to reach any further on Maslow’s scale of self actualization. The basics are fine, have a great time on someone else’s dime. School, drop out early to kick it with your buddies. No accountability–no end to public money. ironically, the people who really need the public assistance (meaning not the ones who choose this way of life) are not problems. The actual public housing in my neighborhood–absolutely no problems. yard kept up, children play outside and have a great time, but are inside at approprirate hours, trash is picked up, etc. It’s the crappy landlords and the complete lack of screening, “just hand over your check” mentality that are problem after problem after problem.
Basic services: These are the reasons why one pools money with the community (in the form of taxes). It is expensive to have police, fire, streets, sidewalks, street lights, garbage pick up..so we work collectively together for these things. That should be normal. However the state dictates many expenses outside of the city’s control I am guessing if we had more control locally over such items, we would be in better condition.
taxes: The issue with the natural gas tax, other than our household doesn’t need more taxes, is that there is no sunset strategy. What happens when the economy does turn around and we actually do dig ourselves out of this hole? sale’s tax income for the city will increase, but this stop gap measure will also remain. Here in lies the problem. the council will pee all over themselves to spend it on pet projects (vote bribes is what i call them). Garbage tax is a prime example. Went to fund POP and NEAT. Not garbage. Those programs are gone. Therefore there should be a surplus in those tax dollars as they should have been dedicated funds, but Alas, it goes into the general fund. It also funded other projects. There were 4 $2500 grants a few years back for neighborhoods. They had to jump through a lot of hoops to get the funds. Some were spend on beautification efforts, some on youth activities, etc. Not really essential services. I asked where that money came from. It came from the Garbage tax.
long story short, there is too much to fix properly, it is so engrained. However, unless practices change immediately, this mess will continue and will get significantly worse. There must be short and long term economic and social strategies. Unfortunately, I don’t see that happening for a bit.
Paul, long story LONG.
The firing of Moore gives the council a scapegoat for another fiscal year. I’d be curious to know Sandberg’s feelings on the matter, although I’m sure he’s not at liberty to tell anybody.
actually that is a very shortened version of the issues that were mentioned. A chunk of the problem is people read something on a blog or in the newspaper or see a 30 second story on the news and suddenly are brimming full of comments to very complex issues. I by no means am absolving anyone for their decisions. Elections are employee evaluations, but most don’t bother getting a complete view on items and shoot of platitudes. Look at some recent elections. spout off what people want to hear then have no idea how to truly resolve the issues. People gripe on both sides and it’s just not possible to have it both ways.
You don’t fix District 150… you shut it down and start over.
You put H.S. principals in charge of their schools and elementary feeders, The Principal is overseen by a PTA type board of parents and teachers.
There is no district Administration, instead a outside accounting firm like RSM McGladrey runs the accounting, and payroll functions.
New Voice: you don’t know me personally but I will tell you I drink at home less than 5 times a year.
Having said that, the reason I encourage Negative Folks to run for office is because they seem to have all the solutions to the COP’s (or Dist. 150’s) problems. Even if only 5% of those that complain about the City had picked up & filed petitions, we might have had 30 folks running instead of 10. More choices makes for a better campaign, and maybe a better Council.
I get shorted a McDonald’s cheeseburger, I simply go back and get the problem corrected. Now, if only McDonald’s business model could be somewhat used for government entities…
Mr. Wilkinson – I liked your long rant. I think you are spot on, particularly about Dist. 150. Thanks! Your are right, it is a complex problem that the City has allowed to festers for decades and now it has a real mess on its hands.
Charlie, I agree that the Payroll and accounting at Dist 150 should be run by an accounting firm instead of having their own offices. It would be interesting to see their accounting procedures. Does anyone know just how much Dist 150 pays for Teachers, clerical, etc to attend college either just for hours or a degree? Is insurance free for all dist 150 employees? If Dist 150 would not pay for college and made employees pay for insurance that would save some money.
“McDonald’s business mode”
It is the model of our society, Dennis.
Try reading George Ritzer’s: The McDonaldization of Society.
“Does anyone know just how much Dist 150 pays for Teachers, clerical, etc to attend college either just for hours or a degree?”
Wouldn’t you think there would some kind of “professional courtesy” in place for teachers to attend colleges gratis? Doesn’t it seem a little cannibalistic to charge teachers to go to school?
Paul is right on the mark and it’s exactly how I feel about all this. It’s not only the City of Peoria’s fault. It’s nationwide. People blame District 150 for this and that, spending this on that, and bitch and complain their child isn’t being educated. How, with the demographic that makes up the majority of District 150 students could anyone expect teachers to teach when children don’t want to learn, don’t show up for school, are discipline problems, and on and on. This all brought on by generations of kids raising kids with no father or multiple fathers, no accountability, no respect taught or instilled from the home front and living a life style of free housing, free utilities, free medical care, and expecting, no demanding, in many cases that society take care of them for their decisions.
I think the only way to reverse this is to cut the cord. Stop all aid. Do away with Section 8 and revamp the system. That’ll never happen and on it goes. Again Paul is correct about another aspect of this society, to many, prison is accepted. Shooting up houses and people is accepted as payback. Decent people fear this crap, and if possible leave the area. They are usually the ones with jobs that buy goods and pay property taxes. They pull their children from our schools because of the fear, not because of the skills or lack of by the teachers.
As long as I am ranting, the Garbage Fee is another subject that is basically a slap in the face to all tax paying Peorians. It was supposed to be temporary and was never used for garbage collection ever. Now comes the therm tax on natural gas. These people on the council are not being creative coming up with this tax to pay our bills. Hell, they expect a pat on the back for balancing the budget. I’ll bet they even shake hands and congratulate each other at their cocktail parties. They are idiots simply overlooking the problems of this city and frosting them with a sweet cover thinking the dumb ol public will line up like sheep, and continue to pay. We do and this is what we should all expect when we citizens do nothing.
To stay on point, the City Manager cutting out is nothing new here. In fact, the Council will pull out the old City Manager out of jobs list and pick another to fill the slot. It’s all about the money and nothing more in regards to the manager position. Our council will offer more to the next person to step in and Mr. Moore will simply add his name to the list and be hired somewhere else.
Emtronics how can you say what you just said and then support every income redistribution scheme that Obama sends down the pipe? You are impossible to follow…
OBAMA? What does Obama have to do with this? You guys can’t get him out of your heads can you?
Yes Obama? I’m talking about why District 150 fails, how Public Aid is useful but highly flawed, the Garbage Fee, and how city managers don’t seem to unpack when they get here. Where is Obama?
Paul and Dennis are correct. My quick-fix was sarcasm at its best.
The problem is there is no quick-fix, but……………
we do have several ‘quality of life’ projects on the boards!
Of course you wouldn’t get it. Big surprise there.
Aaron asked Billy what form of government he would like.. I would think a mayoral/council form of government would work. Make the mayoral position a full time position and make the mayor responsible for day to day operations of the city. Smaller cities can get by on the council/manager form of government, but I think Peoria is just too big.
“why District 150 fails”
Because in the 1960s we started two programs destined to destroy progressive education. 1) The change from a Liberal Arts curriculum to a Science and Math one. 2)Integrating the schools racially and the whites moved out of town or sent their kids to private schools, thereby reducing the financial and educational level of the schools… forcing them to dumb down the curriculum to where it is meaningless.
As the school system began to deteriorate, more people leaped in to the lifeboats, or deserted the ship leaving unable to maintain itself without extraordinary measures… which it never got. More and more power was given to groups OUTSIDE of the schools… government and the administration so that both teachers and school administrators (as opposed to school SYSTEM administrators) lost all control of the education process.
Now, the public education system is simply a 12 years sentence preparing students to go to college to finally MAYBE get an education, or enter the workforce functionally illiterate.
I prefer a strong mayor form of government. From Wikipedia:
The form of government we use already is abused. Those with access get what they want anyway. It’s abused because no one person is held responsioble for failure, except the appointed city manager, who has 11 masters to answer to. Sure, he can hire and fire employees, but how is he going to seal with a department head who’s old pals with at least one or to council members, for who he/she does favors for.
With a strong mayor form of government, voters have ONE person to hold responsible for the overall success or failure of city government. That mayor will in turn have the authority to demand the best work from city employees.
We do not have ANY of that now.
Billy may prefer the strong-mayor, but it is contrary to the will of the people of Peoria. The city manager position was created by referendum for a reason. The following link is a good example of how quickly it all unravels:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-maywood-cudahy-20101127,0,3587410,full.story
My favorite quote?
“The result is municipal improvisation, scandals and blunders that struggling cities can ill afford.”
The city manager position in and of itself was created out of (in response to…) corruption, inept elected officials, and the feeling that multi-hundred million dollar corporations shouldn’t be left as political playgrounds.
My suggestion would be for Billy to spearhead the referendum to establish a strong-mayor government.
Billy has sworn off any political activity, other than airing of grievances on his blog.
And most Peorians were not alive when this referendum passed, and actual make up of the council was determined by attorney’s sitting in a room.
And only a complete moron would look around and conclude that multi-million (actually “billion”) dollar corporations do not pull the strings.
But with a strong-mayor form of government, you may have to wait 3.5 years to make the change. At least you can get rid of a city manager if he/she proves incompetent.
“strong-mayor form of government”
any suggestions for that strong Mayor… we haven’t any condidates that meetl that description in a long time. You certainly aren’t recommending Arduous are you?