35 thoughts on “Council to meet Saturday for strategic planning (UPDATED)”

1. We are paying HOW much for this agenda? geez. this could and should be done in house.

2. The process will be well worth it….if. The ‘ifs’ are the problem. If the Council members want it to work, it will. If they follow through with the recommendations, it will be beneficial to Peoria and help the Taxpayers. I participated in the process while at Springdale; it was funded by the County. It was a struggle for everyone due to the lack of cooperation and disruption by one board member and sadly, the recommendations that came out of the arduous process were never implemented by the Authority Board.

3. Paul: This is the same organization that Mr. Urich used with County Board approval while at Peoria County ….

4. No look at falures and why they failed, Guess there is no need to learn from history. Doomed to repeat that falure in the future. Pay big bucks to listen to a 4 hour cheer! *City of Peoria’s Core Beliefs* “Its better than nothing”

5. I find it odd that they didn’t find a time that worked for everyone to go to this – it would seem the value of a strategy meeting would be that the decision makers would be together to try to build common ground on which to move forward.

   Too bad.

6. @Samer Wesley, What time do you think would have worked for everyone? I think a Saturday morning/afternoon would work for most people. You will NEVER be able to accommodate everyone. If you work days, you need night meetings. If you work 2nd shift you want day meetings, etc. I can usually find fault with a lot of things the COP does but I’m not sure how you can find fault with the scheduling of this meeting. Please enlighten me as to what you think the scheduled time should have been.

7. Hello Leslie,
   When I say everyone – I mean the council, and the city manager. That is 12 people. I am not saying that coordinating 12 schedules is easy – but the idea that those 12 people couldn’t find 5 hours in the next few weeks that they could all be there is , I would bet, untrue.

   This is not a recurring event – they could have gone without some sleep, taken a vacation, etc. They are the community leaders – and there are sacrifices that go with leadership.

   I hope that clarifies the point I was trying to make.

8. Samer Wesley, Thank you for the clarification. I obvious misunderstood your post and I agree with you. When you are elected you should realize that you have to make some sacrifices.

9. Could someone remind Chuck Weaver that he’s not on the campaign trail any longer and shouldn’t be missing meetings for coffee. This was possibly a little more important that some of those candidates’ forums he walked out of or showed up late to.

10. Chuck had another legitmate committment.

11. “Chuck had another legitmate committment.”

    Another elected post he holds in the public trust?

12. It is difficult to ever get 12 schedules to gel. That is just life.

13. D150 Observer, Maybe that’s the case for beer league softball, but when our tax dollars are paying their salary, they need to try harder. They’re able to coordinate their schedules every other Tuesday night. Do you get to skip a work day for “legitimate commitments?” Weaver is now notorious for this crap and, mark my word, it’s just going to continue through his whole term. He’s just using this as a Springfield springboard.

14. No, schedules of 12 people are difficult to coordinate for all kinds of things, not just “beer league softball”. City council meeting frequently have missing members also.

15. With the exception of George Jacob, I recall very few council meetings in the last couple years that weren’t full. I even remember one recently where Montelongo showed up via teleconference. Weaver has no good excuses to keep doing this. He asked to be put in this spot, he needs to show some responsibility.

    I’m convinced he likes to play the part of the busy businessman, so he can have excuses to sneak out when he’s put on the the spot. This is not leadership. This is only the beginning of this nonsense, I promise you.

16. A quick check of Board minutes going back to the beginning of 2010 indicates there were council members missing from meetings in Jan, 2011, Oct, 2010, Sept, 2010, July, 2010, May, 2010, April, 2010, March, 2010, & Feb, 2010. This excludes George Jacob from his injury forward.

    Let’s not indict somebody until he actually commits the crime. 🙂

17. 8 or 10 out of about 40 meetings constitutes “a few” to me. I’m not indicting him without proof. He’s already proven himself to be a dead beat councilman based on his actions during the campaign and now he’s has wasted no time setting a precident of absences.

18. methinks you are indicting somebody you don’t like before the crime. Shrugs.

19. I don’t dislike him as a person, I dislike him as a leader. He’s a really nice guy who has not shown proper leadership skills yet. Consistantly missing meetings? Taking 6 months to think over agenda items? Giving vague answers to specific questions? I’ve given him a chance and have yet to be impressed. He’s a classic politician. We’ll see what the future holds. I certainly hope he improves for the sake of Peoria.

20. A friend of mine mentioned this blog today. I believe it is important I explain that I attended my daughters college graduation on Saturday. I take this job seriously and I believe the Strategic Planning Process is very important. I have to thank Councilwoman Akeson for agreeing to send me her notes from the early part of the day on Saturday. My daughter will only graduate once. I am glad I was there. Out of 1600 graduates she was mentioned along with 2 others for the impact she had made on her University. I had actually thought about missing her graduation to attend the Strategic Planning session, but in hindsight it was one of the proudest days of my daughter’s life and I am glad I was there for her. I hope people understand.
    Regarding any events i missed while running for office-The only time I did not attend a forum was when I had previously scheduled coffees. I believe you will find i will work very hard at this job. As always if you have questions please feel free to call my cell 360-4779.

21. Thanks, Chuck. I appreciate your taking the time to respond. You made the right decision by attending your daughter’s graduation.

22. Chuck, I hope you refer to this blog often from now on. CJ delves deeply into many issues and presents a very careful and knowledgeable analysis. A few of those who comment add considerably to the discussion as well. Hopefully you can glean those from the rest of our generally inane comments.

23. Jon, CJ offers a lot to our community. I believe he would have done a great job on the council and I told a number of people that. I believe he seeks the truth and relies on facts to come to conclusions-something that is uncommon in politics. As far as my reviewing blogs-I try to review blogs, but can’t always stay on top of them. I encourage people to call me if they ever have questions about decisions that are coming up or have been made. I welcome your thoughts. 360-4779 for my cell or my e-mail is chuck@chuckweaver.us.

24. Thanks Chuck. Unfortunately, some people attack others when they don’t know the whole story. You made the correct decision. Thanks for all the time you put in towards public service.

25. That’s correct District 150 Observer, and others (like me) like to make character assessments based on the facts at hand. I hold my elected officials to high standards, as everyone should. It’s not an easy job, that’s why I’m not doing it.

    Lets hope Mr. Weaver’s record improves from this point on and lets hope there are fewer conflicts of interest on the council floor in the future.

26. W. Hernandez, once you know the reason Mr. Weaver was not there, I half-expected some sort of apology or retraction.

    Put yourself in his shoes…if it was your child was graduating from college, and was 1 of 2 receiving special recognition out of 1600…wouldn’t you choose that over a Strategic Planning Session?

27. It was a good excuse for missing the meeting. I hope there aren’t future excuses that are not so good. It’s not in my nature to apologize to politicians. They’re expected to defend their actions. It comes with the job.

28. Hernandez: You’re outnumbered – hang your head!!

29. Hernadez, Cut Chuck some slack for goodness sake. He explained his reason for missing the meeting. I would have choosen the same thing. I think most of us would have. Yes, we expect a lot from our elected leaders but I think expecting them to miss their children’s college graduation is a bit much. Remember this is a part-time gig not their full-time and even most employers give you time off for graduations. So far Chuck has done nothing to earn your anger.

30. I’ve made numerous critical comments about council members in the past but have never gotten this kind of backlash. What gives? I don’t think Weaver’s a bad guy, I’m just asking him to do the job he’s been elected to. I ask the same of all of them. Since he showed his presence here and bothered to comment on the issue, I commend him. It’s a lot more than Riggenbach & Turner have bothered to do.

31. W. Hernandez sez: “I’ve made numerous critical comments about council members in the past but have never gotten this kind of backlash. What gives?”

    I sez: You asked “Do you get to skip a work day for “legitimate commitments?” ”
    The man answered your question DIRECTLY and with an answer that I think would have most of us skipping a day of work.
    What gives is you making an ass out of yourself by not apologizing and continuing to harp on the subject.
    Most folks here will, when in a similar situation, recognize their mistake and apologize like an adult or, barring that, at least shut up.

32. Read my comments again. It was a good excuse.

33. “It is not in my nature to apologize to politicians”. Seriously? That may be one of the all time most ridiculous thing ever said hereand that is saying something. 🙂

34. W. Hernandez: Are you at all curious about Sandberg’s excuse for being absent? Or Van Auken’s? Or do you just have a hard-on for Weaver?

35. That’s correct, 150 Observer and I doubt any politician will shed a tear over not getting an apology from me when there are many chivalrous citizens here who will run to their defense and have a mother-blogging love fest for him. I’m not making anymore comments on this subject. It’s gotten out of hand and, more importantly, it’s lost its amusement.

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