For years now, Naperville city officials have been patting each other on the back, and congratulating themselves regarding the financial soundness of their city-owned electric utility. They actually believed in their own rhetoric. Watch and listen as city manager Doug Krieger proudly waves a bogus five-year rate study, at residents thinking he could fool all the residents, all the time.
Naperville residents said, “No, you’ve got it all wrong”. Would city officials listen. Of course not, because they have all the answers. Last year the Electric Utility was $5 million in the black. Now less than 1 year later, city officials are $25 million in the red. If you listen to City Manager Doug Krieger, and look at the city website, everything seems great. But $25 million in the hole is an abysmal failure.
So now the rate study showing a 0%, 0%, 2%, 2%, and 2% increases over a five-year period was nothing more than smoke and mirrors on Krieger’s part. Increases will be closer to double-digit. Krieger’s answer, is that the last thing he wants to do is raise the rates. Watch and listen as Krieger starts dancing.
Does Krieger think he’s been a ‘good guardian’ of the electric utility and Naperville residents’ tax dollars. Here is what he says.
Here’s where it starts to get more interesting. Watch and listen to Naperville councilman Bob Fieseler as he directly confronts Krieger’s performance.
Finally a council member appears to have had enough (long overdue) of Krieger’s mis-information and lack of strong and competent leadership.
Krieger still doesn’t get it, and to the credit of Bob Fieseler he comes at Krieger again, and Krieger can’t handle the truth.
These exchanges between councilman Fieseler and Krieger may have been Fieseler’s most brilliant since he’s been on the council. Kudos for councilman Bob Fieseler for thinking, identifying, and saying, what residents have known for quite some time. Naperville city manager Doug Krieger doesn’t seem to have the foggiest idea what he is doing.
Watch and listen as Doug Krause wants to know “who’s going to pay for it?” The residents are going to pay for it. Krause knows it, the residents know it, but Public Utilities Director of Electric (Mark Curran) can’t give a straight answer.
Watch and listen to Curran along with Chief Procurment Officer Michael Bevis embarrass themselves with their lack of awareness.
Finally, watch and listen to Krieger and Naperville city councilman Grant Wehrli when they attempt to “Hijack resident participation” by moving a public meeting to the daytime so fewer residents are available to voice their opinion.
How despicable is that. Does anybody even know if Wehrli has a job, other than taking care of himself. So Wehrli wants to “game” the residents by making inconvenient to those who do have a job.
This is the same Grant Wehrli who wants to be elected to represent Illinois’ 41st District in Springfield. For what reason? To sit in the back of the room and do nothing. Considering what he has done to Naperville, maybe that’s not a bad idea.
What happened to “The electric utility is an asset valued at $356 million” that we heard all through the smart meter debacle?
If they can get some sucker to pay 365 million for this over budget, running in the red, mismanaged “asset”, they should sell now and let someone who can properly run an electric company step in and do it.
At least if someone else owned it, city council might jump on the residents side of the issue, and stand up and fight to stop the gouging, over spending and never ending rate hikes.
The public hearing you refer to was actually the PURPA hearing, it likely was moved to the day time to discourage participation, where they chose the day and time, but not one member of the dais attended or heard the residents. The city manager, Doug Krieger wasn’t present – it was held during working hours? I would like to know his reason for not being there. Not one of the City Council members attended and our Mayor was missing too. I eventually asked one of them, and he said they all have jobs and have to work during the day. Well then pick a day and time appropriate for the dais to attend. It doesn’t make residents who participated in the process feel represented. Nor did any of them acknowledge anyone’s participation in the process, I even bet none of them played the videos from those days. It’s nearly a year later and no one has reported back to those residents who participated what the outcome of that hearing was. How do I know?, because I stood up and spoke at that PURPA hearing. We need representatives making good decisions for us. Owning our own utility and purchasing power at cost vs with profits embedded in the overall pricing structure should ultimately be more affordable for all of us, if managed well. The big question is whether we ARE making good decisions and managing it well. With these huge proposed rate increases, one must be concerned. My only recourse is speaking up and voting for those that show a commitment to representing their citizens. Can’t wait to see this next election for the Dais, every seat is up for grabs. Wentz is the only one to get a pass on this PURPA, because he was elected after the PURPA hearings were held.
The Electric Company needs to be sold before it’s bankrupt. The Council has not performed its duties as a corporate board. They don’t have the expertise, nor the cajones to ask the necessary questions, demand resignations nor investigate who knew what and when. Krieger had to have known that the cash balances were going south, as citizens told him. Curran, who sits on the Executive Board of IMEA had to have known the rate study was wrong, and they all had to have known that the money paid for the e-portal was being wasted. If Naperville wanted to own a utility company, the Council needed to be strong supervisors of management. Instead, they didn’t do their homework nor understand the financial principles that needed to be implemented to succeed. It’s my opinion, that the IMEA contract was so poorly written, that the “smart meters” were Curran’s, Poole’s, Fieselers and Wehril’s “Hail Mary” to reduce peak demand. Sell the Electric Company, before it’s sold in bankruptcy. Let the power industry experts take over. If Council doesn’t want to keep time logs for their pay, benefits and pensions (like the rest of City employees) they are beyond credible. They should stick to bizarre deep policies like approving “Cool Cities” when the evidence is clear that global warming is a grand hoax.
What you allow shall continue…