The clock is ticking for the current Naperville city council (61 days until the municipal election) and we saw our first glimpse that the council is gearing-up to slam decisions through a vote before they leave. Apparently most council members, including Krause and Hinterlong, have little faith in the decision-making ability of the the next sitting council.
The issue was whether or not to increase the city manager’s authority to settle claims from $25,000 to $50,000. Watch and listen as councilman Fieseler wants to table it for the next city council to decide, Krause is concerned about limiting transparency, and Chirico thinks city manager Krieger knows what he is doing:
Now watch and listen to council member Judith Brodhead, as she also wants to table it, newly appointed council member Tom Miers asks a good question, and Naperville city attorney Jill Pelka-Wilger answers his question:
The real question is why is this such an issue now, when there have only been two settlements during the last two years within the $25K to $50K range? That is one settlement per year. What does the Naperville city council know, that they don’t want residents to know? There must be something coming down the road, or a lot of ‘somethings’ for this to become an issue ‘now’, that has to be decided ‘now’. The trust level towards Naperville city officials has again reached the level of critical. What are those rascally council members up to?
Watch and listen as councilman Paul Hinterlong implies the next city council doesn’t know history, and will be slow on the uptake, and then he alludes to the white elephant in the room, when he says, “Either we believe in what our city manager (Doug Krieger) is doing, or we don’t”
Hinterlong nailed it in a way he didn’t intend. A very large number of residents and business owners don’t believe in our city manager for one simple reason; he often times doesn’t know what he’s doing and his actions confirm that suspicion.
The issue finally came to a vote, but not before councilman Bob Fieseler mentioned the obvious….the ‘C’ word….’Concealment’
Only Fieseler and Krause voted against concealment, while the others slammed the decision through. Another classic example of the Naperville city council professing transparency while conspiring otherwise in the inky shadows of city hall corridors.
Sounds like he (Krieger) wants to settle a number of claims no doubt some of his own for misbehavior of staff so no visibility is forthcoming. To keep track of this activity citizen watchdogs will again have to rely on FOIAs to get information that should be posted on OUR city’s web site! This is typical of government not holding their employees responsible and guaranteeing plausibly deniability when the dung hits the fan.
Krause is the only mayoral candidate who understands what the job of Mayor requires. The duty of Mayor is to be fully informed, to trust, but certainly verify what the City Manager is doing. The Mayor being paid to ask the tough questions and get honest answers from those spending other people’s money. This includes all contracts, settlements and agreements. It is not “micro-managing” to approve settlements, especially when it comes to employee severances or lawsuits. This is the slippery slope to cover ups and concealment of bad behavior. Why would Council Members vote to be kept in the dark and out of the process?
Reported in today’s Herald is that the city is facing $6M deficit, excluding the $8M
Electric Utility deficit (and $13M unpaid loan from the Water utility.). Batavia had its credit rating lowered because of their similar debt problems with their Electric Utility. Now why isn’t it time for Coucil to “micro-manage” Naperville finances, including $50,000.00 settlements? Any company would immediately tighten the reins of spending if facing these kinds of losses. Not Naperville. More borrowing, more spending and higher taxes! The debt spiral continues.