Hey Baby, What's Your Sign?

For our faithful PRU readers, who've had the dubious privilege of attending a meeting in the City Council chamber at City Hall, you may have noticed there are signs on either side of the Council horseshoe -- No Citizens Beyond This Point.

The PRU Crew feels very strongly, we need new signs. See above.

The practical effect of the new signs may be reducing the number of Alderdunces allowed to sit at the Council horseshoe, but the voters of Park Ridge have already shown their approval for reducing their representation. What could possibly go wrong?

For those interested in watching the smaller, more efficient Council in action -- there's another City Council meeting tonight, set to begin at 7:30 pm. If you're interested, you can review the revised agenda (.pdf) and then send Ald. Allspaghetti and possibly Ald. assWsol a thank you note -- so much for Allspaghetti's continual harping on talking issues to death! The Council is reportedly set to entertain a motion to reconsider the Hoffman Homes project (.pdf) proposed for Touhy Avenue. Because as we are all learning, "no" does not mean "no."

The meeting will also include another veto (.pdf) from Mayor Schmidtzkrieg -- this time, of the Police Chiefski's salary. Approval of the proposed City Manager's contract (.pdf), is also up for discussion and a vote, and we look forward to more unsubstantiated claims by those expected to whine their way through discussion of suspending the City's Facade Improvement Program (.pdf).

B.O.H.I.C.A. humbug.

City Council 12-6-2010 Video!

For the viewing displeasure of our faithful PRU readers!

We suggest viewers pay special attention to the discussion of the vote to override the Mayor's veto of the amended and suspended Facade Improvement Program, which begins @ the 0:23:13 mark of the video. It would seem Mayor Schmidtzkrieg may have made a new frenemy!

Residents Mr. Declan Stapleton and Mr. Ed Berry, of O'Reilly's Public House fame, address the Council beginning @ 0:24:00 mark of the video. And the PRU Crew feels it's very sad how little understanding Mr. Stapleton has not only for general municipal accounting practices, but also that Mr. Stapleton has less than zero understanding of TIF district financing in general, or the Uptown Redevelopment TIF district, specifically.

And despite the PRU Crew's strong suspicions that the Council doesn't understand either municipal accounting or TIF district financing much better than Mr. Stapleton, they somehow managed to vote to sustain the Mayor's veto of the amended and suspended Facade Improvement Program -- which they plan to discuss and amend again at the December 20th Council meeting.

Under Citizens Wishing to Address the Council on Non-agenda items, we hope people will give consideration to the remarks offered by resident and local builder, Mr. Rob Lohens, begining @ 1:14:02 mark of the video. Unfortunately, while Mr. Lohens' comments on public employee salaries and pensions have much merit, his grasp of the Crook County property assessments and the property tax system is lacking.

For others who may not quite get how the whole mess currently works -- as simply as we can state the matter -- property value assessments are created for the purpose of apportioning shares of the property tax burden, within any given taxing district. You can have your property tax assessment reduced and you still may end up paying as much or more in actual property tax dollars. Why? Because until the local taxing bodies actually reduce the tax levies -- the actual total dollars they ask for from the taxpayer pool -- taxes will generally continue to remain the same or rise. Place your bets, people!

Thus concludes our PRU civics lesson for today.

The discussion of the proposed Hoffman Homes project, as recommended to the City Council by the Planning and Zoning Commission, begins @ 1:20:51 mark of the video. And we found the discussion of affordable...er...no...make that, attainable housing very entertaining.

The Aldermen voted 3-yes (Sweeney, Bach and Allegretti) to 3-no (DiPietro, Ryan and Wsol) on the matter. Mayor Schmidtzkrieg attempted to break the tie by voting "no," but the City Attorney advised him his vote was not necessary as a tie vote means the request for approval of the special use dies for lack of receiving a majority.

The project developer, Mr. Hassinger, then took the opportunity to let the Council know he would not be back with a new application. So there!

Enjoy the rest of the show!

Hump Day Post-election Hangover?

We hope our faithful PRU readers are recovering from any post-election hangovers. However, for those who believe in the hair of the dog cure, we suggest giving the City Council some of your time and attention this evening.

What passes for our local representative government will be meeting tonight at City Hall, beginning at 7:30 PM.

The revised agenda (.pdf) isn't as jammed with entertaining possibilities as usual, but there are some important topics under consideration. Supporting documents for tonight's meeting are available on the City website, here.

You Are Cordially Invited!

Good afternoon, faithful PRU readers! We think tonight's COW meeting may be one of those times it's in your best interest to get dressed, get out of the house, and go keep an eye on what your local City government may be planning to do to for you!

Beginning at 7:00 PM, in the Council Chamber at Park Ridge City Hall, the Finance and Budget, and Procedures and Regulations Committee of the Whole will be meeting.

On the City's website you will find .pdf file links to the supporting documents for tonight's meeting -- the PRU Crew is particularly interested in the following --

•Budget Policy -- worth a look.

•Spending Authority of the City Manager -- be careful what you wish for!

•City Manager's Employment Agreement (draft) -- here we go again!

•Facade Improvement Packet Info. -- more evidence Park Ridge is unfriendly to business! The PRU Crew feels the program should be suspended until somebody in local government gets their ass in gear and provides proof of the programs claims -- notably that "The City of Park Ridge (City) promotes the improvement of existing facades to make properties more attractive and increase long-term property values." The program has been in place long enough for an analysis to be done so a more informed decision can be made. While we appreciate being told what the City has so far spent on subsidies to private property owners for improvements of their private properties, we sure would like to see that hoped-for "increase in long-term property values." And maybe we missed it but, we would add the condition that any property owner receiving City Facade Improvement money is precluded from filing a property tax assessment complaint for at least two property tax assessment cycles.

•Public Information Coord. Agreement -- and here we all thought the Spokesman produced itself!

•Taste of Park Ridge Analysis (rev) -- time to reimburse the City for costs, gentlemen!

•Financial Report -- or as we are calling it, a post-mortem of last year's DOA budget.

•FB Monthly Report -- no, this is not a report on the Mayor's monthly FaceBook activity.

•Severance Payments -- looks like the Mayor and Council were for 'em before they were against 'em!

•Community Group Funding -- why the hell this was posted on the City website we have no idea. It's no more informative than an agenda line item.

•Code Clarifications - Dept. Head Appt. -- clean up on aisle 3! Which code language gets cleaned up will be very telling about the mindset of certain elected officials!

Something for everyone!

Special City Council 10-11-2010 Video!

The agenda for the special meeting --

O’HARE COMMISSION REFERENDUM INFORMATION
a. Should the City of Park Ridge disseminate information to the Park Ridge residents?
b. If so, what information should be provided to the residents?
c. How should the information be disseminated?
d. How much should the City spend to disseminate the information?

Previously provided referendum information documents --

OACReferendumInformation

Now, if our faithful PRU readers were to email a link to this post to all their fellow townsfolk, we may be able to save the City more than a mere $750.

City Council 10-4-2010 Video!

Amazing men on their flying trapeze!

The Circus Is In Town!

AP Photo/KEYSTONE/Eddy Risch at http://animal.discovery.com/

The three-ring circus we fondly refer to as our City Council will be putting on another show tonight! Come one, come all -- watch as our Alderclowns, lead by our duly elected Ringmaster Schmidt, make a freak show of the democratic process! You'll be amazed and astounded by their depth-defying leaps in logic! You'll thrill to the sounds of Alderclown amendments and motions to defer! And you'll grip the edge of your seat as you witness Ringmaster Schmidt welcome ladies, gentlemen, and children of all ages to the greatest veto show in town!

Interested and faithful PRU readers can check out the revised agenda (.pdf) for tonight's show! And for a sneak peek at Ringmaster Schmidt's act, you can read the following press release --

from: Dave Schmidt
to: presscontacts@electdaveschmidt.com
date: Thu, Sep 30, 2010 at 2:31 PM
subject: Fwd: Mayoral veto of City Manager's contract

Pursuant to the powers vested in me by the City's Ordinance, I am vetoing the City Manager's employment contract which was approved by the City Council on September 20, 2010.

There are several reasons for this action. The first reason involves the payment of approximately $8500 in deferred compensation in return for the City Manager opting out of the City's health and dental insurance plan. I have serious reservations about whether the payment complies with federal law. I have no reservations at all that the payment is inappropriate, even if technically legal.

When Mr. Hock was first hired in 2008, then-Mayor Frimark negotiated a cash payment of $7720 to Mr. Hock in return for his opting out of the insurance plan. In July 2009, one of the City's attorneys, Seyfarth Shaw, wrote a letter stating that such a payment likely violated Section 125 of the Internal Revenue Code, because it discriminated against lower-paid City employees who were not given the same option. The attorney's concern was that the payment could jeopardize the City's tax exempt status which could have adverse tax consequences for the City and its employees.

In the subsequent contract which I attempted to negotiate with Mr. Hock, Mr. Hock purported to remedy the tax issue by calling the payment "deferred compensation." Since the City Attorney who drafted the new contract apparently believed this would solve the tax problem, I agreed to the payment, but at a lower amount, approximately $3500. This Council subsequently voted to reject my recommendation, and then voted to actually increase the amount of the payment to $8500.

Upon further reflection, I am not convinced that using sleight of hand to call the payment "deferred compensation" would avoid running afoul of the IRS provision. However, I need not make that determination, because I am convinced that the payment is inappropriate since it discriminates against lower-paid City employees who have not been given the same option to receive deferred compensation in lieu of insurance coverage.

I fully understand that some will claim I am reneging on a promise made by Mayor Frimark to Mr. Hock. However, that contract provision was unfair from the outset, and it put the City's tax exempt status in jeopardy. It is my duty to make sure that error is not compounded. I can and must do what I believe is right, and approving this payment is not right.

A second and equally important reason exists for vetoing this contract. The citizens of Park Ridge have the right to a completely open and transparent government. However, the non-disparagement clause in the contract is the antithesis of transparency. The City Manager is the highest paid official in Park Ridge, earning almost nine times the combined salaries of the mayor and all seven aldermen. The taxpayers are paying his salary. He answers to them as much or more as he answers to the aldermen and me. As written, the clause would effectively prevent any elected official from explaining to the taxpayers why certain action regarding the City Manager was taken. I cannot condone such enforced secrecy against the citizens of Park Ridge.

Finally, the constructive discharge clause is also inappropriate. Mr. Hock's original contract contained no such provision, and I see no reason why it should be included now. In effect, the provision would tie the Council's hands if it decided that a salary reduction for the City Manager was necessary and/or appropriate, because it would trigger a potential severance payment which could cost the City up to $100,000 or more. It is simply unwise for such a new provision to be included in the contract.

I ask the Council to support my position and to come up with a contract which is in the taxpayers' best interests and which is fair to other City employees.

Enjoy the show!

City Council Meeting 9-20-2010 Video!

More theater of the absurd for your viewing pleasure!

Another Two-fer Tuesday!

#1 -- For our faithful PRU readers interested in a mini recap of last night's City Council meeting, we provided the following in response to a comment request --

Alright -- per our sources --

The various proclamations were well received.

Anne Lunde's history presentation was the answer for those seeking non-pharmaceutical sleep aids.

The City Attorney recommended the Council take action to approve the severance contracts or the City could be open to litigation. The Council seemed pissed off.

The City Manager's contract was approved by a vote of 4 (Bach, Allegretti, Ryan, Carey) to 3 (Wsol, Sweeney, DiPietro).

More than ever, there is no love being lost between Mayor Schmidtzkrieg and Benedict Alderman Ryan.

The Pickwick theater received a unanimous vote for landmark designation, becoming the first historic building to receive the designation under the new historic preservation ordinance.

Discussion of the Taber report about the airport was deferred.

The Mayor's veto of community group contributions received sustaining votes on all but three line items -- Center of Concern, Maine Center for Mental Health, and Meals on Wheels.

We told ya so, Schmidtzkrieg!

We're also told, under new business a certain Unfriendly Ghost attempted to make ethics ordinance amends by finally disclosing a $5million economic relationship his engineering firm has with the O'Hare Modernization Program.

The fun never ends at 505 Butler Place!



#2 -- Speaking of airport noise mitigation efforts, the Tree Preservation Task Force will be meeting again tonight at 6:00 PM to go over a revised version (.pdf) of the private property tree preservation ordinance they intend to forward to the City Council for consideration.

The PRU Crew noticed in the minutes from the last meeting (.pdf) a curious little blurb --

III. NEW BUSINESS

A. Director Zingsheim handed out a memo he received from City Forester Gliot regarding parkway trees, stating that he was distributing it solely as a courtesy for the Committee to have the information. Pat Livensparger, 413 Courtland, said that it shouldn’t be given out, as it was not the agenda. Director Zingsheim replied that although he disagreed with her about it being required on the agenda, he would collect the memo back from the Committee members. (Note: City Attorney Hill has verified that the distribution of the memo was not required to be on the agenda.)

As we understand it, the Task Force chairman invited the Public Works Director to pass out and discuss the memo before the Task Force Committee members.

In any event, we see the City Attorney has assured everyone that the courtesy offered to the Committee members was perfectly legit, despite the memo not having been listed among the supporting documents for the last meeting, nor placed on the agenda for distribution and possible discussion, and the Task Force chairman's apparent knowledge of the intended courtesy.

So the PRU Crew is wondering why the courtesy isn't being offered to the Task Force Committee at tonight's meeting?

Another Monday Call To Order!

Once again our faithful PRU readers have another chance to watch what passes for our local democracy in action! The City Council will be meeting tonight at City Hall beginning at 7:30 PM.

The most interesting item, not noted for discussion anywhere on the agenda (.pdf) nor specifically listed under the City Attorney's report, is likely to be discussion of the City Attorney's Authority of City Manager Memo (.pdf).

The memo is the result of "Park Ridge Mayor David Schmidt [having] asked for a legal opinion as to whether City Manager Jim Hock overstepped his authority by providing a laid-off city employee with a payment of $25,000 without receiving approval from the City Council." as recently reported in an article in one of the local rags. The article also notes the concern of 7th Ward Ald. Frank Wsol -- "Wsol pointed out that the City Council did not approve a contract with former Public Information Coordinator Aggie Stempniak for Stempniak to produce future copies of the city newsletter, The Spokesman. He has also sought a legal opinion on the matter."

What is most notably absent from the City Attorney's memo is any information regarding the City Manager's authority in reference to the $20,000 severance paid to our dearly departed Director of Economic Development Ms. Kim Uhlig -- presumably because neither Mayor Schmidtzkrieg, Ald. Wsol, nor anybody else asked about that.

All of the above and the absence of specific agenda placement, for discussion of the City Attorney's memo, should make the debate surrounding the City Manager's Employment Agreement (.pdf) all the more entertaining!

City Council Meeting 9-7-2010 Video!

More detailed indexing to come --

Hump Day PRU Briefs!

#1 -- Calling All Grubbers!

For those of you who like to treat yourselves to some good grub, you can do so and help out a good cause!

Despite notions to the contrary, one of our local service agencies has begun another fundraising effort --

Restaurant Rewards Center of Concern

Eat hearty!



#2 -- Thank You, Sir! May We Have Another!

In case our faithful PRU readers missed it at the August 23rd COW meeting, our Aldermopes discussed the possibility of what government officials amusingly like to call Modifications to the ordinance governing business license fees. For those of you new to government-speak, modifications to fees usually translates to mean increases in fees.

In keeping with what has become a tradition with the current crop of Aldermopes, action on the item was deferred in deference to getting feedback from the business community.

According to a press release on the City's spanky new website, "The Procedures and Regulations Committee of the Whole will discuss the proposed increase again at their September 27, 2010 meeting."

The PRU Crew is gong to go out on a limb and speculate that the feedback from the business community will be something along the lines of, "The economy stinks! We're generating less sales! We're generating less in sales tax! So now you want to hit us with higher fees!?!? Thank you, sir! May we have another!?!?"

The PRU Crew could go either way on this issue -- except -- we find some of the spending decisions, voted on by a majority of our Aldermopes so far, negates their ability to reasonably persuade anyone of the absolute necessity for these increases.

And while the last page of the memo provides a nice comparison of Park Ridge fees to those in some fo the surrounding communities, we feel our Aldermopes should keep in mind the size of the Park Ridge market in which these businesses operate.



#3 -- Wanna Buy A House?

According to information contained on the Crook County Treasurer's website, today is the last day to pay delinquent 2008 tax bills or the property will be included in the Treasurer's upcoming 2008 Annual Tax Sale.

The purpose of the tax sale is to garner the unpaid taxes and return the properties to the participating tax roles.

The PRU Crew hasn't done anything close to a comprehensive review of properties in Park Ridge at risk of having their taxes sold due to non-payment. But we know of one in particular. Wanna buy a house? It looks like a nice house --

And according to other information on the Crook County Treasurer's website, the 1st installment taxes for 2009 haven't been paid either.

We sense a trend occurring for Property Index Number (PIN): 09-27-414-018-0000.

Allegretti? Allegretti? Allegretti? ***Addendum

Once again last night, our very special City Council held another special meeting. And once again last night, an Alderdunce was absent -- specifically, the 4th ward's Ald. Allspaghetti.

In spite of Ald. Allspaghetti's absence, the assembled Alderdunces moooooved the political football, known as contributions to community groups, forward. The 2nd ward's Lord of the Manor, Ald. DiPietro, motioned to divide the question and vote on each contribution separately. The vote totals were mixed, but everything passed, with only the 7th ward's Ald. AssWsol voting "no" across the board -- we're looking forward to the video.

However, if Mayor Schmidtzkrieg was paying attention -- or took off his shoes in order to use his toes for counting -- he may have noted the potential and likely votes available to sustain what will be his coming veto of these budget items. It will be interesting to see what response Mayor Schmidtzkrieg will choose to last night's Council vote.

As the PRU Crew suggested some time back, if Mayor Schmidtzkrieg had used a discerning red pen veto, instead of swinging a total budget veto axe, some of what the Mayor's budget goals are, and veto intentions were, could have and probably would have received sustaining votes. And if the Mayor had taken a decisive position on cuts we suggested and then had taken an equally decisive position on cuts to reach the balanced budget he was seeking, he would have forced the Council to act on his terms and his recommendations and we believe he would have drawn some modest victories as well as populist support.

And the long and unnecessarily drawn out saga of contributions to community groups would not be the pitiful political folly it has become. You would have to have had your head thoroughly up your ass not to hear exactly what each of the Alderdunces were willing to do on this issue.

It will be interesting to see if all of the special Alderdunces can manage to show up for the next meeting where consideration of the Mayor's veto will be voted on.

What are the odds...

Well if this year's history is any teacher, there's a slightly better than 50/50 chance all the Alderdunces will show up for that meeting. As we mentioned in our post yesterday, attendance by all the Alderdunces at regular City Council meetings reaches only 54%.

Only 4 of our 7 Alderdunces appear to have attendance records of 100% for the 13 regular City Council meetings held so far this year -- they are, Ald. Sweeney, DiPietro, Allegretti, and Wsol.

By our count, Ald. Bach has missed only 1 regular City Council meeting for a 92% attendance record -- Ald. Carey has missed 2 regular City Council meeting for an 84% attendance record -- Ald. Ryan has missed 4 regular City Council meetings for an attendance record of 69%. Old hookie habits die hard, eh Bobby?

To date, there have been 11 COW meetings held with only 50% of those meetings having a full complement of Alderdunces in attendance. The individual attendance records are --

Ald. Sweeney -- has missed 0 COW meetings -- 100% COW attendance

Ald. DiPietro -- has missed 1 COW meeting -- 90% COW attendance

Ald. Bach -- has missed 1 COW meeting -- 90% COW attendance

Ald. Allegretti -- has missed 2 COW meetings -- 81% COW attendance

Ald. Ryan -- has missed 1 COW meeting -- 90% COW attendance

Ald. Carey -- has missed 3 COW meetings -- 72% COW attendance

Ald. Wsol -- has missed 0 COW meetings -- 100% COW attendance

Why should people care about attendance at COW meetings? Because COW meetings are presumably where the nitty gritty discussion and debate on issues takes place before an item goes before the City Council for, presumably, final consideration.

In addition to regular City Council meetings and COW meetings, so far this year there have been no less than 18 Special City Council meetings and Workshops. On the City's spanky new website there are 4 sets of minutes and-or videos missing -- the 1/25/10 Flood Control Task Force workshop, and the 3/6/10, 3/13/10, and 3/20/10 Budget Workshop. For our purposes, we've assumed full attendance at all of those meetings, but we're fairly certain there were absences.

The individual Alderdunce records for attendance at Special meetings and Workshops are --

Ald. Sweeney -- has missed 0 meetings -- 100% attendance

Ald. DiPietro -- has missed 0 meetings -- 100% attendance

Ald. Bach -- has missed 0 meetings -- 100% attendance

Ald. Allegretti -- has missed 4 meetings -- 77% attendance

Ald. Ryan -- has missed 1 meeting -- 94% attendance

Ald. Carey -- has missed 5 meetings -- 72% attendance

Ald. Wsol -- has missed 2 meetings -- 88% attendance

So there you have the year-to-date attendance records for each of our 7 Alderdunces. We're sure the people of the 5th and 6th wards are simply thrilled with their smaller, more efficient representation!

*** Addendum

Mayor Schmidtzkrieg sent out the following press release --

from: Dave Schmidt
to: presscontacts@electdaveschmidt.com
date: Tue, Aug 24, 2010 at 1:15 PM
subject: Text of Mayor's comments to the aldermen given at Aug. 23 Special City Council meeting
re: community group contributions


I have personally contributed to at least seven of the organizations.
I whole-heartedly support their efforts. I encourage the aldermen, the
residents and the business community in Park Ridge to also generously support the organizations of their choosing...but with their own money.

We should not be supporting the organizations with taxpayer money.
Taxpayer money should only be used to fund essential city services
such as police, fire, water services, sewer services, roads and
tree-trimming.

Even if the money was available, which is something I have serious
doubts about, the money should be spent on those essential services.
By way of example, $190,000 would pay for reinstating brush pick-up.
It would pay the salaries of two laid off policemen who could help
patrol the streets. It would pay for almost a full block-long relief
sewer. Or it could be used to help offset the multi-million dollar
deficit we experienced last year and are facing again this year. You
should vote no on these contributions.

COW Piles of Money! Very Special!

Beginning at 7:00 p.m. tonight at City Hall there is another Committee of the Whole meeting. The agenda (.pdf) isn't very long, but the subjects listed should provide plenty of entertainment.

Under the Finance portion of the agenda, we're looking forward to the debate surrounding the Financial Condition of the City (.pdf). We hope all the corporate authorities take their time to fully vet the subject, but at this point we suspect City Manager Hock is pretty pleased with himself -- being off by only $17,415 under the projections in only one revenue category in a total City budget of more than $53,000,000.00 is not bad.

Even the highly contentious subject of State shared income tax revenue appears to be beating the predictions of some local alarmists. What remains to be seen is how long the State can put off making the promised disbursements and what municipalities can do about it if the State continues to do so.

We would strongly urge some local alarmists to learn the difference between State and local revenues and collections.

Still, these are the numbers for just the first quarter of the fiscal year and if some of the economic predictions are correct, the actions of nefarious characters in the public sector won't be the only time we suffer the aggravation of double-dipping.

The failure of the State to disburse promised funds to local governments, along with scads of other State funding recipients, is one of the reasons City government should seek to be as healthfully flush with cash on hand as is possible.

And being healthfully flush with cash on hand is one of the reasons Benedict Alderman Ryan's scheme to purchase the Scharringhausen parking lot -- referred to in City documents as the Fairview Lot (.pdf) -- makes ZERO SENSE at this time. Hell, the PRU Crew isn't sure such a scheme would ever make sense. But if you've been paying attention, then you understand the difference between fund accounting and actual cash in the bank, and how actual cash in the bank is necessary to fulfill the financial obligations of the City, despite the way in which the City accounts for its funds.

Finally, under Procedures and Regulations, the PRU Crew is really really really looking forward to seeing how the Council, with straight faces, addresses the issue of attendance levels for boards and commissions. Gentlemen of the City Council, are you aware of your own attendance levels and the fact that, collectively, only 54% of City Council meetings have been fully attended by Aldermen so far this year? And that's the best percentage of attendance! COW meetings have only been fully attended 50% of the time, and special meetings and workshops have only been fully attended 41% of the time -- and that 41% is generous since there are meeting minutes and videos missing from the City website for no less than 4 workshops, and 3 of those sets of missing minutes are for the budget workshops.

Additionally, Alderman Sweeney is the only Aldermen who does not appear to have missed a single meeting, while some of the Aldermen have records of attendance for City Council, Committee of the Whole, and Special meetings and Workshops which fail to hit the 75% attendance level they require for members of boards and commissions.

Also scheduled for tonight at 9:00 p.m. is another Special meeting of the City Council. As our faithful PRU readers may recall, due to the absence of Alderman Carey from the last City Council meeting, the Council deferred voting on contributions to community groups. Let's hope all the Aldermen show up tonight! If not for the purpose of moooooving this political football forward, then at least to improve their attendance records!

City Council Meeting 8-16-2010 Video!

For those who hate to miss a moment of the drama!

Indexing when time allows --

Quick Hits!

For our faithful PRU readers who are interested -- At last night's City Council meeting, consideration of payments to Community Groups was again deferred -- due to the absence of the Sixth Ward's Unfriendly Ghost, Ald. Tom Carey.
The issue has been rescheduled for consideration by the City Council at a Special City Council meeting on August 23 at 9p.m.

The PRU Crew really enjoys our smaller, more efficient Council. We all owe former Mayor Howard P. Frimark, and his cut-the-council helpmates, Steve Huening, John Kerin and Amy Sullivan, our undying gratitude!



In case any public service-minded individuals in our reading audience missed it -- the Schoold District 64 Board of Education is accepting applications to fill a vacancy created by the resignation of board member, Mr. Russ Gentile.

According to a District 64 announcement, "Interested candidates should submit an application no later than Monday, August 23 at 4:30 p.m." Applications are available here (.pdf)

The PRU Crew feels those anonymous souls who dedicated such tremendous effort circulating flyers opposing the last District 64 referendum should apply!



We almost forgot! For those who keep up with the doings of the Park Ridge Park District and -- or use their website, you may be pleased with their new look and upgraded navigation!

Nicely done, PRRPD, and long overdue! Drop-down menues would have been nice, but we'll overlook their omission since you've spared us those annoying pop-ups!

The PRU Crew is also looking forward to the time the PRRPD decides on a new method of video hosting and sharing! Just a suggestion!



In case any of our faithful PRU readers should be mislead -- the "Editor's Notes" added to the most recent round of comments on the Public Watchdog have falsely been attributed to the owner of our blog. The false statement of fact does seem to rise to the level of the Public Watchdog Editor's having willfully cast our blog and the PRU owner in a false light, which is defamatory.

PRU.ADMIN did attempt to submit comments pointing out the error and requesting a correction. An email was also sent, last Friday morning, to both the Public Watchdog editor and their blog host, Mr. Dave Kaufman at dkworldwide.com. However, our PRU.ADMIN's comments were deleted, we have not received a response to the email, and neither a correction nor retraction seem to have been undertaken by either the Public Watchdog editor nor their blog hosting company, as of this writing, and despite the apparent completion of the site's upgrade.

So much for information being the currency of democracy -- maybe we were wrong to assume Jefferson's quote implied accuracy!

We're Awake! We're Awake!

The PRU Crew has been enjoying a long summer snooze. We hope our faithful readers have also made good use of their time!

We're sorry to wake people up from a dreamy slumber but once again the nightmare that passes for our City Council will be meeting at City Hall this evening.

The agenda (.pdf) looks as if it may offer some entertainment. The first item of interest is under --

Planning & Zoning Commission – Ald. Sweeney

a. First reading of an ordinance for an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, known as the Higgins Road Corridor Plan

The PRU Crew hopes people pay close attention to this plan as we believe somebody had their head in the clouds when they cobbled it together.

Other agenda items which we know some people love to hate, but which offer great opportunities for political posturing party games are under --

Finance and Budget Committee –Ald. DiPietro

b. Approval of payments to Community Groups in the amount of $190,080.
c. Approval of City Manager Hock’s Employment Agreement

The PRU Crew expects at least one or some of the Aldermen will approach item "b" in a way much like we previously suggested be taken by Mayor Schmidtzkrieg. We are fairly certain the payments to Community Groups will receive the approval of a majority of the Aldermen, but if Mayor Schmidtzkrieg isn't too busy gazing around the inside of his colon, he may want to use his fingers and toes to keep count of the votes.

As for City Manager Jim Hock -- his mission, should he choose to accept it, will be to continue to function as the City Manager of Park Ridge. The PRU Crew is wondering if a taped recording offering him the job will self-destruct five seconds after he listens to it.

We hope everyone has been having an excellent summer! We've got some catching up to do!

City Council Meeting 7-19-2010 Video!

For our faithful PRU readers who enjoy watching our smaller, more efficient Council in action!

Is anyone keeping score on how often the Council defers action? Is anyone keeping score on attendance by Aldermen at Council meetings?

Another Turkey Trot Tonight!

Our City Council is set to meet again tonight at City Hall -- the agenda (.pdf) contains a number of items we hope our faithful PRU readers will be paying attention to.

Under the City Managers report, the following agenda item appears -- Adjourn to Closed Session to discuss the acquisition of property, pursuant to Chapter 5, Act 120, Section 2(c)(5) of the Illinois Compiled Statutes, which allows an exception to the required openness of the open meetings act, explaining public bodies may choose to go into closed session to discuss "(5) The purchase or lease of real property for the use of the public body, including meetings held for the purpose of discussing whether a particular parcel should be acquired."

The behind-closed-doors discussion, inspired by the request of the 5th ward's Benedict Alderman Ryan, will be about whether or not the City should purchase the property known as the Fairview parking lot. The PRU Crew knows the property as the Scharringhausen parking lot, which the owner recently placed on the market for the tidy sum of $724,000. The lucky listing agent is the infamous Owen J. Hayes, II who was officially reprimanded by the State of Illinois for his conduct in trying to sell 515 Busse Hwy. to the City of Park Ridge for use as a new police station, without disclosing his ownership interest in the property. Mr. Hayes, II was also lucky enough to hold the position of treasurer for Benedict Ald. Ryan's aldermanic campaign, a factual tidbit Benedict Ald. Ryan apparently felt he didn't need to disclose at an open meeting.

Mr. Hayes, II has an uncanny tendency to be found in the middle of many local real estate deals. The PRU Crew is beginning to think of Mr. Hayes, II as being a real lucky Pierre --

Under reports of Boards and Commissions we find two items of interest --

O’Hare Airport Commission – Ald. Bach

a. Discussion of independent telephone conversations of the Council with Steve Tauber
b. Discussion of hiring legal counsel regarding O’Hare

Can you say plausible deniability? We knew you could. And plausible deniability is the only reason we can figure the CAL law firm would be too demure for public discussion of litigation strategy but not object to private discussions with individual Aldermorons who then publicly discuss litigation strategy per the private one-on-one discussions held with the CAL law firm -- any misunderstandings, miscommunications, or misstatements by the Aldermorons can be denied by the CAL law firm.

Or maybe the CAL law firm just really really really likes to play the telephone game, a.k.a. Chinese whispers to the Brits!

Under Standing Committees, which should not be confused with understanding committees, the following appears under Procedures and Regulations --

b. Move the City Council approve a Resolution providing for and requiring the submission of a non-binding advisory public question concerning whether the City of Park Ridge shall support the efforts to stop the expansion of O’Hare Airport to appear on the ballot of the electors of such city at the Consolidated Election to be held on Tuesday, November 2, 2010

We hope the City Hall air conditioner is working, since we expect a lot of hot air will be produced during this particular discussion!

Enjoy the show!

City Council Meeting 6-7-2010 Video!

Begins with the usual opening ceremonies.

@ 0:1:00 -- Consent agenda begins

@ 0:3:49 -- Mayor's report begins

@ 0:22:44 -- "Park Ridge in 1910" presentation begins

@ 0:37:10 -- Appointments to Animal Commission -- the PRU Crew is holding out for the formation of the PARTY Animal Commission.

@ 0:38:43 -- Garden Club Proclamation

@ 0:41:55 -- City Clerk's report begins

@ 0:42:59 -- City Manager's report begins

@ 0:54:00 -- Citizens wishing to address the Council on Non-agenda items -- A resident asks the Council to consider adopting a ban on all hand-held devices while driving

@ 0:58:00 -- Reports of Boards and Commissions begins -- Ald. Bach for the PROAC

*** The next hour+ of Council discussion is a painful reminder of why we find most of our Aldermorons to be Aldermorons most of the time *** And we're beginning to think Ms. Jennifer Perry has mastered the art of playing a diplomatically doe-eyed damsel in distress very well.

@ 2:09:46 -- Public Safety report begins -- Ald. Wsol asks Chiefski about the forthcoming red light camera update

@ 2:10:05 -- New Business begins -- Ald. Wsol asks for a review of guidelines for no-bid contracts -- Ald. Sweeney announces a volunteer effort at sprucing up the Youth Campus

@ 2:13:15 -- Motion to adjourn