LaSalle Insider

Another comment that went unreported by our local paper at the last council meeting was in reference to our sales tax revenue.  When it was pointed out that our most recent sales tax check was $4000.00 below last years check for that same month our Mayor stated that it was, however , $22,000.00 higher than our previous check  received the month before.  He stated that this , in his mind, was an indication  of rising sales tax revenue for our city.  It’s this type of fiscal thinking that will land us in trouble in the very near future.  Let me explain.

We receive monthly checks for our sales tax revenue.  Each month our comptroller notes on our copies whether or not the amount reflects an increase  or decrease from the previous  years amount for the same month.  This is important because each month varies and that’s due to the time of year as far as sales.  December is a better retail month than say February.  More gas sales tax is received during the summer driving months. You get the idea.   That’s why we NEVER go by one month to the next to determine a trend. Generally statistics are boring so I won’t overload you but I do need to give you a few important numbers.

First, our total sales tax receipts for the calendar year of 2007 was $1,937,640.  This includes the 1/2 per cent which was passed for the parks and infrastructure back in 2005.

The total sales tax for calendar year 2008 was $1,844,955.  This was a decrease of $92,685.00 or a drop of 4%

That’s bad enough, but for the first three months of receipts for 2009 (we have a two month lag from when tax is collected and when we receive our check) we are down $36,279.00 against the same period from 2008 .  That’s an 8% drop or twice as much as the previous year.  If that trend continues (and it looks like a real possibility) we could see  a decrease of $147,596 for this calendar year!

This is what scares me about the fiscal control (or lack thereof) under our current administration.

So here is the question….are you confident that those controlling the city funds are up to the task?  Let me hear from you, better yet , let them hear from you!

If you have a problem with your cable or Internet service, do you really want to wait a month or more to get it resolved? No Way! But in LaSalle, this seems to occur time and again. People in the area have trouble getting their Comcast-related issues taken care of by contacting the local Comcast office. So instead they contact their alderman or the mayor and ask the city to help. This usually begins a lengthy process of the city trying to contact Comcast on behalf of citizens, asking a representative to attend a council meeting, and maybe a resolution results or maybe not. Not necessarily the best or fastest way for a person to have a problem with their cable or Internet resolved. So what is the answer? How can someone get their problems solved within minutes or hours?

Enter @comcastcares - an account set up on a new microblogging site called Twitter. If a person signs up on the Twitter Website and creates an account of their own using a “handle” or username, they can send messages to @comcastcares whenever they have a Comcast-related problem. Comcast also has several other Twitter accounts powered by people who are ready to help customers.

So how does this work? Well, at the last council meeting, Ald. Demes asked the city to invite a Comcast representative to the next meeting because a resident had complained about damage a Comcast contractor had done to their yard. Repeated attempts to contact Comcast had failed. So the council agreed to arrange to have a representative attend the next council meeting to discuss the matter.

How does someone use Twitter to solve a problem like this? A message (see the image showing how the message looks) was sent through Twitter to @comcastcares during the meeting. Within an hour, and before the council meeting was over, @comcastcares had answered who to contact to resolve the issue. If a city official had sent this message, they could have sent off an e-mail at this point and perhaps had the issue resolved by the next day. Here is an image of the Twitter page for @comcastcares showing his answer to the question above:

Anyone can create an account on Twitter and contact any of the Comcast Twitter accounts by simply typing in a message using the “@” symbol then the name of the Comcast account. There is a video on the main page of the Twitter Website that further explains how to use Twitter. But if you want a more in depth explanation of Twitter and how to use it, you can follow this link here:

Time to Meet the Bird (Twitter and Microblogging)

If you use Twitter for nothing else, you can at least use it to get fast, responsive, and efficient service from Comcast.

One of the more troubling things for me about last night’s council meeting was the comment made that our City is in decay and our best days are behind us.  This thought was vocalized by Alderman Diz Demes and echoed by Aldermen Boo Herndon.

I will admit that we have problems in areas of our city with abandon homes and rundown commercial buildings but …”best days are over?”

I have spent the majority of my life here and I can recall old abandon homes when I was a kid as well as environmental waste areas that should have been dealt with (we didn’t realize they were dangerous at the time).  I also remember the downtown business sections thriving with people and activity on a daily basis.  I can also  recall when the manufacturing factories were closing left and right and a bumper sticker was seen that read “Last one out of the Illinois Valley, Please turn off the lights!”

My point is that these periods come and go.  President Clinton could not have been more wrong when he declared the end of the business cycle in his presidency.  History shows us that there is a natural expansion and contraction of our economy.   This “business cycle” has and will always exist.

This area has weathered the storm before and will again.  It was not long ago we were commenting monthly on new housing starts  or new developments here or coming in the near future.  Many dedicated people worked hard  and took risks to make  these things happen.

I guess that’s my point.  This area, this community isn’t about physical structures that come and go but by the people who live here and are willing to spend their time, money,and sweat to make it a place they can be proud of.  We will come out of this downturn and we will be stronger for it.

This will happen in spite of what government does or doesn’t do.  Its the people that make things happen, not governmental programs or  long winded politicians.

On Monday night, in spite of the fiscal numbers presented, your LaSalle City Council approved of hiring an economic director at a salary of $45,000 along with full medical coverage which costs the city an additional $15,000.00.  Throw  in $3,000 for mileage allowance and we are up to $63,000.  We will also realize additional costs for phone, computer setup, office expenses, seminar fees , conference fees, well you get the idea.

The hope of those who supported this action  (it passed 7-2 with the Mayor supporting) is that the person hired will bring economic growth to our city while those villages that surround us flounder.

The gentleman hired (or I should say appointed) is on a one year contract to show the city that he can do what others haven’t been able to, that is grow the economy in a recession /depression.  Did I mention his name?  Its Don Aleksy, one of the three individuals we interviewed last Monday in an informal setting.  He  and his wife are  owners of their own business which sells Tupperware  and you can check him out at BusinessCoaching4U.com He does not plan to stop anything he currently does and will add this position to his  daily schedule.

Alderman Green and myself had asked to table the vote for a month in order to gather more information as to how we would pay for this new position.  The balance of the Council thought this was too long to wait on such an important campaign promise so we were outvoted and the new position was approved  and filled in a matter of minutes.

Those approving this action are as follows:

Aldermen Demes,Bacidore,Ptak,Laverie,Salazar,Herndon.

Opposed:

Alderman Green and myself.  (the two longest serving aldermen presently with the most experience in fiscal matters)

No guidelines to measure progress were set..instead the Mayor said we will judge as we go forward.  Review in one year  (I have never seen a position done away with yet).

Those of us who have paid at least the first half of our property tax bill saw the increase from the City of LaSalle’s portion of our bill.  This was due to the fact that a couple of bond payments normally paid from our general fund were passed on to the taxpayer because we didn’t have enough to pay our ongoing expenses.   The hope by some of us was that we would be able to avoid that in this fiscal year by saving enough in expenses to fund  the bond in house.  The cost about $180,000.00   NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

We need (according to our police chief ) to hire an additional three police officers to be at a level that meets our city’s population and its needs.  NOT GONNA HAPPEN!

But the GOOD NEWS….we have an Economic Director….if you need a loan for your property tax bill or want a police officer but none are available…you can always call our Economic Director…now where did I put that phone number?

As promised I did attend and compete in last Saturday’s Oak Ridge 5K run.  Altogether there were 138 runners and I was not the winner (what a surprise…not).  The first place finisher in the men’s division was Mike Miroux from Spring Valley with a time of 17:08.  That’s averaging a mile every 5:31 minutes.  Thats “picken em up and puttin em down” quickly!  Kelly Dzierzynski from Cherry was the fastest woman at 22:04 or 7:07 per mile pace.  All the results are available at www.starvedrockrunners.org for those interested.

I was just a bit back of the winners and finished  in 66th place overall with a time of 27:24 or a pace of 8:49 per mile.

The course was quite demanding in that it was run entirely on the cart paths of  Oak Ridge golf course and the terrain was hilly to say the least.  The temps were in the 70’s but I didn’t notice much of a breeze as I toured the track.

I want to thank the Starved Rock Runners Association for putting together a unique 5K and the great (as always)accommodations they offer the runners of their races.  Thanks also to the Senica family for hosting the fun event.

I hope to see more city officials take  the challenge next year , after all what politician doesn’t like a good race!

Saturday, June 13th,  Congresswoman Debby Halvorson stopped by the tourism center to talk about  and to small businesses and hear their concerns.  It was unfortunate that the turnout was not as large as expected.  The Congresswoman was  apologetic for asking us to take part of a beautiful Saturday afternoon and spend it with her but I was a bit surprised that more local businesses did not take what I thought was  an excellent opportunity to dialogue with someone from Washington D.C. who might be able to make a difference. 

I did see Ray Andres from the Uptown Grill and Sharon Wagenknecht from the Carus mansion but the others there represented Utica businesses for the most part.

Anna Koval, as our hostess at the tourism center, was in attendance and had several questions for  Ms. Halvorson.  The balance of the 20 or so gathered there were made up of  mostly other public officials.  Mayor Grove was joined by Aldermen Green, Laverie,Salazar and myself.  Spring Valley was represented by their economic director, Deb Ladzinski.

Representative Halvorson informed us that she was on three committees including small businesses, veteran affairs, and I believe transportation.

It was the small businesses that she focused on Saturday , looking for feedback and requests from those in attendance, as to what their biggest concerns were.  It was a shame more didn’t attend and take advantage of having the “congresswoman’s ear” for the afternoon.

We did hear of possible tax changes regarding small businesses and the time spent on filling out and filing all the  paperwork necessary to comply with the IRS demands.

I had a chance to speak  personally with Debbie and her husband after the event and I found the two to be very involved and concerned with the district that they serve.   It helps a great deal that Debbie was a state senator for twelve years prior to taking over Jerry Weller’s seat in DC.  They are definitely a team and are results orientated.  It was refreshing to hear that just being concerned and trying for an answer were not good enough for these two.  Although Ms. Halvorson has regional directors assisting her its always nicer to talk to our DC rep face to face.

I am sure all of us in attendance came away with the same feeling that this is a person who can identify with small town America and understands the issues we face and the frustration we feel at times with our government.

Thank you Congresswoman Halvorson for taking some of your time to spend with us on such a great Saturday afternoon!

The LaSalle City Council met in executive session on Monday Night to discuss personnel and interview candidates for the economic director’s position.  I cannot disclose the actual happenings but I can tell you that if you have an interest, pro or con, on LaSalle creating the position of economic director you should attend next monday night’s meeting (June 15) at 7 PM.

As many of you may know, Mayor Grove campaigned with the idea of hiring or adding this position to LaSalle.  His thinking was that he did not  reappoint Pam Broviak as our Director of Public Works therefore he should have the ability to use her salary from the previous fiscal year towards the hiring of an economic director . 

While I am not totally against the creation of that position when the city can afford it and the business climate is in more of a growth stage, this is definitely not the time!!

We are involved with two union contract negotiations, we have not completed our appropriations for the new fiscal year and have not been presented with our current revenue projections.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this fiscal year will probably show less income than last.

But the Mayor says that the public voted for him partially based on his campaign promise of an economic director.  Is that true?  Really?

I thought no one believed anything after the words ” I will make this promise” when you saw that in a political ad.  Remember “read my lips, no new taxes!”  We can ill afford our Mayor fulfilling this promise at this time without all the information on costs being calculated.

Are you spending any money you don’t absolutely have to in this economy?

Don’t you think your government should use the same logic before we create new positions (even if it’s promised its just a trial for one year?) When’s the last time you saw the government ,on any level, lay someone off?

And ask yourself one question….if we wait a year and revisit this idea after seeing if there is an economic turnaround will we be any worse off? 

Monday, June 15th…..7PM   LaSalle  City Council Chambers… See you there!

I recently sat down with our city engineer, Mike Furlan, and discussed a pressing issue  to our Oak Ridge Drive residents as well as some who live on the “shortcut” to Utica.  The problem stems from the inordinate amount of rain we have received over actually the past two years.  This along with additional building and no adequate system in place to evacuate the rain water as it falls and we are creating the ”land of a thousand lakes” on our east end.

Prior to the last election then Mayor Art Washkowiak, Pam Broviak, Sam McNeilly and myself met with several of the land owners to experience the site first hand.
Although it was a sunny Saturday morning, water as you see in the pictures attached, was draining west down Oak Ridge Drive.  It was decided to have a company come out to set up monitoring wells to determine the source of the ground water and also to test the soil.

The company’s name is McCleary Engineering out of Tonica, Illinois.  The estimated cost is in the neighborhood of twelve thousand dollars.  We hope to determine some options as to what , if anything, can be done and at what cost.  Engineer Furlan feels its really not a city problem but one for the homeowner to deal with. By that he means that this drainage will have to be rectified on private property by use of field tiles and perforated pipe underground to direct the water in a  way  that will keep it from coming back through the sump pumps which for now seem to be running 24 hours a day!

For now we will wait for the results of the test before further action is taken.

In the meantime pray for a dry Summer!

This past Friday, Sharon Wagenknecht invited us over for lunch and a tour. If you aren’t familiar with Sharon you should change that. She is the executive director of the Hegeler Carus Mansion. Mayor Grove, Fire Chief Andy Bacidore,Aldermen Lavieri and Herndon,  Cindy Arbisi,Joanne Milby ,Ginny Kochanowski, Brian Maddox ,Mike Furlan and myself were treated to a wonderful lunch in the dining room of the mansion. Although the lunch was excellent what followed was even better.
Our tour guide, Tricia Kelly, doubles as the guide for our canal boat and she is totally into the subject matter, if you know what I mean. The mansion is not totally restored but that isn’t important. What is is the story of Edward Hegeler and Frederick Matthiessen. These gentlemen not only changed our little corner of the world they impacted history.
I am not going to tell the story but I am going to tell you if you haven’t been to the mansion and taken the tour you are missing out on a grand time and a story that will make you come away saying “I didn’t know that!”
Go to www.hegelercarus.org and get more info and make your plans for a visit…..
Who knows.. you might even get lunch!

DREAMWAVE Wrestling: The Barber Taking Appointments in LaSalle!

5/20/09

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Jay Repsel Presents DREAMWAVE Wrestling: Immortality June 6th, 2009

LASALLE – Lightning can strike twice. Following their standing room only debut on April 4th, DREAMWAVE Wrestling silenced any naysayers by performing in front of another sellout standing room only crowd on May 2nd. DREAMWAVE will sell out the LaSalle Knights of Columbus again on June 6th for “immortality” featuring the finals of the DREAMWAVE Championship Cup and WWE Legend Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake. Doors open at 6:30 with a bell time of 7:00PM.

“This has been a dream come true,” said DREAMWAVE owner Jay Repsel. “People told me LaSalle was a dead town and it was impossible to draw people here. Well, I have to say the people and families of the area that make up the 1,000 plus who have attended our shows have proven them very wrong and we plan on doing our best to keep this going for a very long time.”

The card for “Immortality” is highlighted by the Finals of the Championship Cup between “Silent Intensity” Austin Roberts and Derek St. Holmes to decide the first DREAMWAVE Champion, the debut of Japanese Superstar Metal Master and “The Barber” Brutus Beefcake vs. “Legendary” Dan Lawrence.

DREAMWAVE is not resting on their success heading into the heat of the Midwest summer, according to Repsel. “We know level of interest in DREAMWAVE has continued to grow. Once we set the bar by bringing in a WWE Hall of Famer like Jimmy Snuka to LaSalle, we knew we need to continue to try and surpass it. The Championship Cup has also been a long journey over the last couple of months but the finals should be fantastic. Roberts’ popularity has risen to incredible levels in LaSalle and St. Holmes response has been quite the opposite. I think it is really clear who the fans want to see as the first champion but we will see. “The Barber” is also one of the most well known of all the WWE Legends and I think the fans are really excited to see some struttin’ and cuttin’ at the Knights of Columbus.”

With the excitement building, you don’t want to miss DREAMWAVE Wrestling: “Immortality” June 6th!

For additional information or tickets, please go to www.dreamwavewrestling.com . Any questions or comments can be sent by e-mail to dreamwavewrestling@gmail.com .

About DREAMWAVE Wrestling

DREAMWAVE Wrestling is the Midwest’s premier independent professional wrestling organization and offers the most economical entertainment value in the Illinois Valley. The company is owned and operated by DREAMWAVE Entertainment, LLC. and headquartered in Oglesby Illinois. For more information, please visit www.dreamwavewrestling.com or send questions or comments to dreamwavewrestling@gmail.com.

DREAMWAVE Wrestling is a trademark used exclusively by DREAMWAVE Entertainment, LLC. in the United States and other jurisdictions.

The city council met last night at our usual 7 PM start time. There are not a lot of highlights to share with you. We did hear from Congresswoman Deb Halvorson’s aide, Samantha Warren. She was there to inform us of the latest happenings in Congress but had to admit her computer’s hard drive crashed over the weekend and she could not be as thorough as she had hoped. It was mostly a hello moment and if you have any questions I will write them down and get back to you. I’m sure its all new for Samantha and it will get better as time goes on.
Sharon Wagenknecht invited all of the city officials to lunch on Friday which will include a tour of the mansion. I am looking forward to that and expect it to be very informative.
We agreed to allow Mayor Grove to participate in the retirement plan of the Illinois Municipal League, we increased the cost of the fine for vehicles which have to be towed or impounded by the city,and passed an ordinance which is tied to the planned new waste treatment facility currently being designed and overseen by (CMT) Crawford, Murphy & Tilly.
The most interesting things to come out of the first two formal meetings for Mayor Grove are those things not discussed. The council is waiting to hear his plans for an economic director, administrative assistant, and the ongoing negotiations with our two contracts up for renewal (Police and ASFCME).
I look forward to the floor discussions and trust that the debate will be lively. Until then don’t forget the fishing rodeo on Saturday June 6th and the upcoming race at Oak Ridge on June 13th….