Good evening, Chronicle readers. I’m back at the City Council meeting this week, and there’s a relatively short agenda this evening. The meeting is starting a little early — the Town of the City of Peoria is having a meeting from 6 to 6:15 p.m., and then the regular City Council meeting will begin. The Town meeting is pretty interesting, actually. The Town Supervisor Joe Whalen wants to lease a new office on Glen Avenue for a couple thousand dollars a month, whereas they’re currently located in City Hall for free. Upon questioning as to why City Hall can’t accommodate his needs, he couldn’t give any good reason (people have to walk up and down stairs, and other horrors). When asked if he looked at city-owned property, he says he was offered space at the bus depot, but he was concerned about security. There were other locations downtown that were not considered because Whalen felt there wasn’t adequate parking.
I can’t believe (a) Town Supervisor is an elected position, (b) this guy got elected, and (c) that he makes over $80,000 a year. Van Auken asks why it’s okay to have child care at the bus station, but security is an issue for his office? Whalen says he doesn’t run the child care center, but he does run the Town Supervisor office and he doesn’t feel safe having “his girls” down there (an apparent reference to female employees). Despite all this discussion, Irving moves to approve leasing the building on Glen, seconded by Turner. It passes unanimously.
The space they’re leasing is 1,896 square feet at 624 W. Glen Ave. (near Sheridan), for $11 per square foot. That comes out to about $1738 per month, or $20,856 per year. They’re going to pay this despite the fact that they have ample space available in the Twin Towers (Whalen doesn’t want people to have to go upstairs and is concerned about kids running around) and the bus depot (as previously stated, Whalen is concerned about safety). What a waste of money!
There are several proclamations tonight which I don’t usually cover; once the meeting starts, I’ll update this post throughout the evening. Here’s tonight’s City Council agenda:
ITEM NO. 1 CONSIDERATION OF CONSENT AGENDA ITEMS BY OMNIBUS VOTE, for the City of Peoria, with Recommendations as Outlined:
A. Communication from the City Manager and Director of Public Works Requesting Acceptance of the LOW BID and Award a CONTRACT to TERRY’S BERRIES, INC., for BUILDING DEMOLITIONS at 1322 and 1408 WEST DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. DRIVE, in the Amount of $12,480.00.
B. Communication from the City Manager and Assistant Director of Planning and Growth Management Requesting Approval of a SUBSTANTIAL AMENDMENT to the 2010 COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT BLOCK GRANT PROGRAM (CDBG) to Create a New Activity Called PUBLIC FACILITIES ENERGY EFFICIENCY and to Allocate $200,000.00 in CDBG Funds to the Activity.
C. Communication from the City Manager and Assistant Director of Planning and Growth Management with a Request to Award CDBG PUBLIC FACILITIES FUNDS to the Following Organizations: DREAM CENTER PEORIA $58,750.00; NEIGHBORHOOD HOUSE $17,773.00; FRIENDSHIP HOUSE $65,829.00; and SALVATION ARMY $57,648.00.
D. Communication from the City Manager and Acting Human Resources Director Requesting Authorization for the City Manager to Enter into a CONTRACT with CALLENDER & COMPANY for PROPERTY and CONTENTS INSURANCE at a Cost of $73,867.00.
E. Communication from the City Manager and Police Chief Requesting Approval of an INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT Between the City of Peoria and the County of Peoria for the COPS TECHNOLOGY GRANT, and Requesting Authorization for the City Manager to Execute the Document.
F. Communication from the City Manager and Assistant Director of Planning and Growth Management Requesting Approval of a RESOLUTION to ENDORSE the SUBMISSION of the GRANT APPLICATION for a CHOICE NEIGHBORHOODS INITIATIVE IMPLEMENTATION GRANT to be Submitted by the PEORIA HOUSING AUTHORITY and to Enter into a PARTNERSHIP MEMORANDUM of UNDERSTANDING as Outlined.
G. Communication from the City Manager and Corporation Counsel Requesting Adoption of an ORDINANCE Amending CHAPTER 24 of the Code of the City of Peoria Pertaining to POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS ADVISORY COMMITTEE Increasing the Number of At-Large Members from Two to Four and Increasing the Total Number of Members from Fifteen to Seventeen.
H. Communication from the City Manager and Finance Director/Comptroller Requesting Approval of the ESTIMATE OF TAXES to be LEVIED, in the Amount of $25,970,973.00, at a Rate of $1.2899, Pursuant to 35 ILCS 200/18-60.
I. PEORIA CIVIC CENTER OPERATING AND CAPITAL BUDGET for YEAR ENDED AUGUST 31, 2011, with Request to Receive and File.
J. REPORT of the CITY TREASURER PATRICK A. NICHTING for the MONTH of AUGUST 2010, with Request to Receive and File.
The meeting gets started at 7:02 p.m. after several proclamations. The following items were removed from the consent agenda by the council member indicated: Item D (Spain). The remaining items were approved unanimously.
- Item D — Spain says he would like items like this to come to council sooner so the Council can decide if we should continue our current coverage or if we should go out for RFP. Spain moves to approve, seconded by Irving. Irving echoes Spain’s concerns. Mayor Ardis asks why the Council was not brought in sooner on this process. HR Director King gives her justification for making the decision internally without prior council consent. Lots of back and forth. Ardis reiterates that this decision needs to be made by the council, not internally by the administration. Motion passes unanimously.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
(10-390) REPLACEMENT COMMUNICATION from the City Manager and Director of Planning and Growth Management with Recommendation from the Zoning Commission and Staff to Adopt an ORDINANCE Rezoning Property Identified as PARCEL ID #14-21-381-033 Located on KNOXVILLE AVENUE from the Present Class R1 (Single Family Residential) District to a Class R-3 (Single Family Residential) District, with REPORT BACK. (Replacement Communication Only)
Riggenbach moves to table, seconded by Turner. Passes unanimously with no discussion.
(10-399) APPOINTMENTS by Mayor Jim Ardis to the ADVISORY COMMITTEE on POLICE-COMMUNITY RELATIONS (Replacement Communication), with Request to Concur:
William Ordaz (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2013
Savino Sierra (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2012
Sharon E. Draper (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2013
Douglas Lindstrom (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2013
Erica K. Baird (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2013
Howard E. Williamson (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2013
George H. Azouri (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2012
Whitney J. Lawson (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2012
Donald R. Jackson (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2011
James Bryson (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2011
Larry D. Ivory (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2012
Rita A. Ali (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2011
Rev. Arthur Guyton (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2012
Greg Collins (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2011
Council Member Eric Turner (Voting) – Term Expires 6/30/2011
City Manager Scott Moore (Voting)
Police Chief Steven Settingsgaard (Voting)
Gulley moves to approve, seconded by Turner. No discussion. Passes unanimously.
NEW BUSINESS
Councilman Turner says the Heart of Peoria Neighborhood Association is dedicating a neighborhood park at 1507 N. Linn St. in honor of Dobie (sp?) Roberts.
Councilman Gulley says 6:00 Thursday at Harrison School citizens can come and hear about the “Choice Neighborhood Initiative” and help participate in a process to submit an application/proposal to receive up to $30 million…. Here’s some more information from HUD.
Councilman Sandberg says Oct. 23 will be the inaugural event of the Roller Derbyettes, which will include Councilman Sandberg’s daughter and Senator Koehler’s daughter.
CITIZEN REQUESTS TO ADDRESS THE COUNCIL
- Charles Williams — Concerned about Northmoor Road and University Street traffic when school lets out — he believes it’s a safety hazard and needs to be addressed. Also says we should move garbage fee to property tax bill. Also, believes we should raise taxes to make sure public safety is covered.
- Mrs. Shubert — Wants to donate 3,400 dolls to the Peoria Riverfront Museum and the museum won’t take them.
- LaVetta Ricca — Wants to talk about the Choice Grant that Gulley was talking about earlier. She encourages people to get involved and help win the grant.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
ADJOURNMENT
No executive session. We’re adjourned at 7:30 on the dot. Goodnight! Time to go to Whitey’s for pizza and to watch the Texas/Tampa Bay game.
It appears that Mr. Whalen may have wanted the move for convenience and not being downtown. He lives just off Galena Road and now only has to go up War Drive to get to his new leased office.
That is so much the typical BS let’s spend money but we will threaten to lay off police and fire. 20 grand is what half a salary for a rookie.
don’t get the lease thing. That is a waste of money.
The city is so far in debt and now he wants to take on more debt. Plus the cost of moving the offices and they will probably need new furniture and who knows what else. As for walking up and down stairs city hall has elevators and ramps outside for coming into the building. Plus there will be costs involved in getting paperwork from one department to another if they are across town from each other. This whole thing is ridiculous and a totally unneeded expense. If everyone else can work in city hall why can he and his girls? There is something else going on here. I smell a rat in the woodwork somewhere.
Only in goverment would this happen. free and clear place to work,phone,mail on and on. no valid reason to move but approve it anyway. Makes you wonder what leverage was used.
“There were other locations downtown that were not considered because Whalen felt there wasn’t adequate parking.”
I wonder if one of those locations was the vacant storefronts next to the Township Assessor’s office on Adams underneath the Jefferson parking deck… or is having an office in a parking deck not close enough to adequate parking?
Or the vacant storefront across the street from the Township Assessor’s office in Tech Plaza. Once again, bottom level of a parking garage is not apparently close enough to adequate parking.
Downtown Peoria has too much parking as is. In the 32 blocks or so that make up downtown, bounded by Kumpf/Bob Michel Bridge, Perry, Fayette/I-74 and the River, we have over a dozen parking structures: Associated Bank, Commerce Bank, Twin Towers/Becker Building, CAT Admin, County Courthouse, Pere Marquette, PNC Bank, One Technology Plaza, Illinois Mutual, Chase Bank, First Bank, Niagara Deck, Jefferson Deck, Holiday Inn, 401 Water — and let’s not forget the museum parking deck under construction. And that doesn’t even include all the surface lots: Civic Center, bus station, church lots at Main/Perry, next to the Madison, CAT visitor’s lot at Adams/Main, CAT lot at Washington/Hamilton, behind the CAT admin annex, Riverfront Village, etc.
Oh, right, and all the on-street parking as well.
And that doesn’t even include the hospitals either.
I don’t know who can say there isn’t adequate parking downtown with a straight face.
And how is it that any sane person in this area can ever think it would be wise to give more money to the city of Peoria city council? Be it taxes, contract concessions or other forms of revenue.
Hell, if I were a vagrant with a tin cup begging for money, I’d be sure to check my cup after any of these people walked by.
But one thing that is very troubling is where the hell is the rest of the local media in this story? I can’t count the number of times CJ has found junk like this and because none of the other local media picks it up, these camera loving shills keep pulling this crap over and over again and the drops do add up.
This group of people is the biggest lump of hypocrites ever assembled in one place.
well, it does sound pretty absurd on the face. I would like to hear Whalen’s side of the story.
Maybe someone should find out who owns the buildling that Whalen is leasing his new office from? Might be conflict of interest? But I could be wrong.
I don’t know why he is moving his office so far away, when most of the people who need those services office are usually close to downtown. But again, I could be wrong.
Did Sandberg vote for this move?
Sounds like he did. CJ said it was unanimous and Sandberg was in attendance.
peoriafan:
I think that I have just going to have to agree with you on this issue! 🙂 The earth just might stop turning! 😉
Thanks Bob. I have to believe if Gary voted for it and nobody else objected than their must be more to the story than what I see.
I don’t mean to hi-jack this thread but speaking of buildings…yesterday I drove to Marcone Appliance on Townline Road. In the far distance is the new library with construction well underway. I say far distance as it really is and I thought no child is going to ride a bike that far to that library. I wonder if there is even going to be a bicycle path let alone a sidewalk! What a stupid location!
Most progressive Cities are placing services such as Whalen administers in location of easy access to clientele…close to transportation, near other services they may be accessing, etc. This would clearly favor a downtown location and one at the bus terminal is perfect. City Hall is great also in terms of access to downtown location.
But it’s pure politics in this case. That guy with his “my girls” comments is a huge liability to the City (actually the Township since he’s a township employee). That’s as big a problem in this case as the leasing of unneeded office space.
I’d love to see C.J. and his group get behind an “Abolish Township Government” effort for the City.
Bravo to you C.J. for taking a position that likely didn’t win you any friends on the current City Council but shows that you speak what you believe and not what is politically popular.
Speaking of wasting money. The County Board will probably OK $1.6 million for dead records storage in the basement of the new $55 million nursing home. Two people will need to be sent out from the Court House for each retrieval. Why two people? Think about it.
Adminstrations recommendation and this board has a “herd” instinct.
Just two more months for me……….
District 150 Observer: Sandberg did not vote for it. He was late to the meeting and arrived after they had already voted on it.
Merle,
You call them “dead records.”
I would call them a perfect exhibit for the new museum…….
Thanks CJ
Foreclosures Rise; Repossessions Exceed 100,000 for First Time
What is this guys’ actual job description ? How many people work in the office ? What is total cost of running this so-called “Town of the City of Peoria ” ?
IS IT REALLY NEEDED ?