Riverside Info » About Riverside

Boatloads of Money Being Spent Monday?

(35 posts)
1 2 3 4

  1. Catherine
    Member

    http://www.riverside.il.us/vertical/Sites/%7BFF0B0056-4ACF-4890-985A-29B8374E9BEE%7D/uploads/%7B1D04CEA4-8E53-4B1B-82FE-59DABB50EFC8%7D.PDF

    Sure looks like it to me.

    1. A Resolution of the Village of Riverside, Illinois, authorizing the Village Manager to issue a purchase order to the West Central Municipal Conference for Information Technology Services in the amount of $35,721 for the IT Replacement Project

    2. A Resolution of the Village of Riverside, Illinois, authorizing the Village Manager to issue purchase orders pursuant to the Current Technologies Bid to the Current Technologies Corporation, Hewlett Packard Company and HP Direct for the IT Replacement Project totaling $69,704.04

    3. A Resolution of the Village of Riverside, Illinois, authorizing the Village Manager to issue a purchase order to CDW-G, Vernon Hills, Illinois, for IT Equipment purchases for the IT Replacement Project in the amount of $17,329.84

    6. A Resolution authorizing the Village President to execute the Local Agency Agreement for Federal Participation for Phase III Construction Engineering for the Railway / Water Tower Campus Restoration for an amount not to exceed $52,615
    7. A Resolution authorizing the Village President to execute the Local Agency Agreement for federal participation for Phase III Construction of the Railway / Water Tower Campus Restoration for an amount not to exceed $395,525

    (I don't understand this one. Are we spending $395K? I hope not after that budget cutting brawl we had over $400K.)

    A couple of other spending items that seem reasonable. This mysterious item, don't know if it is costing money:

    7. A Resolution approving amendment to Employment Agreement with Kathleen Rush

    8. A Resolution Accepting Notice from Kathleen Rush pursuant to Employment Agreement and approving severance benefits.

    I thought the village manager already got $60K in severance whilst having a unilateral right to quit if the government changed? How can that be improved? Maybe they agreed to lower it? Perhaps it reflects some understanding with the new board majority.

    But is this all a bit unseemly after an election about people objecting to the board spending philosophy?

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 09:13 #

  2. HRCollins
    Member

    Catherine - What do you think is out of the ordinary?

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 09:24 #

  3. Catherine
    Member

    For starters, the copious, extraordinary number of spending items, almost as if to thwart the will of the people as expressed in the election.

    I must go and so will return to this later.

    Maybe I am wrong, it seems extraordinary to me.

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 09:29 #

  4. mrt
    Member

    What do the following two items mean? Does 'Accepting Notice from Kathleen Rush pursuant to Employment Agreement and approving severance benefits' mean that KR has given notice to terminate employment?

    7. A Resolution approving amendment to Employment Agreement with Kathleen Rush

    8. A Resolution Accepting Notice from Kathleen Rush pursuant to Employment Agreement and approving severance benefits.

    I also had a similar question on the $395k for the water tower. Of course, I do not have the background detail behind this appropriation; thus I wd have a question on it. Are there supporting documents behind this number that are available to view online?

    Going forward: A clickable link in the context of the agenda item might be a nice way for someone to follow the provenance of the resolution to appropriate money, especially large sums.

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 12:03 #

  5. spatny
    Member

    She is leaving - need to see what the changes to her contract amount to.

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 12:51 #

  6. mrt
    Member

    anyone, In addition to an agenda of a v board meeting, there is something called a packet, that is supposed to be posted ...somewhere, correct? Does this have some of the background detail that I was interested in above? Is this available for us to look at now?

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 13:49 #

  7. Catherine
    Member

    Duh, accepting notice. She is not supposed to get severance under those circumstances as I understand it. If this is so, I hope that is not the contract amendment, because that would be an outrage, and seems like it would be a breach of the fiduciary duty of the trustees to us. Of course, I am not a lawyer.

    Look for the packet at the last possible moment, say, 4:59 pm. Or maybe they won't post it and it will be Saturday afternoon at the library. Maybe Monday afternoon.

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 13:52 #

  8. Fred
    Member

    Catherine, in your own words, give it a rest. She's leaving. There will undoubtedly be a hiatus between her departure and the new hire which should more than make up for the 60 day (not 60k) severance. If she wanted to draw the whole process out it could have lasted 90-120 days. In the end, it would have still been characterized as a resignation. I think she is displaying a good degree of class. Maybe some should follow her example.

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 14:58 #

  9. Catherine
    Member

    I am glad to hear to there is no 60K severance, because that would be absurd as I understand she is leaving of her own free will. No, the RCA majority would not give her a severance package for leaving of her own accord, albeit it is a professional courtesy to allow someone to resign, of course. Such wild and irresponsible spending was why they were voted in.

    No one gets severance unless they are asked to leave. Unless you work at AIG.

    I presume we are both dealing with second-hand information, which I abhor but your assertions oblige me to do so. Mine is that she is leaving at the end of May, but was wanted until the end of the year for the recruitment process. They have said they are looking for someone with experience in a historic town. 4 candidates cannot recruit anyone, and it takes longer than 5 weeks to find the right person. Then again, it may make no difference whatsoever.

    Again, I do not have information from any of the parties involved. Maybe you do.

    I don't think it would show any class at all to ram through this many spending projects on your way out the door, nor to accept severance if you are quitting and without the sufficient notice requested, if it was. Sorry.

    Again, I may not perceive the situation aright. I doubt you do either.

    Still, all will be well. But it does seem as if all our local taxing entities have been on a spending spree lately. Again, the public sector is still partying like it's 2007.

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 15:17 #

  10. Fred
    Member

    You are correct that you don't perceive the situation correctly. And I do have first hand knowledge of the spending approvals on next Monday night's agenda. I either went to the board meetings or watched the tapes on the public access network and actually listened. Every grant funded project performed for the last 10 years has required a pro forma resolution in which the Village agreed to the terms of the grant. The agenda items for next Monday seem to be exactly the same as we have been hearing for the past decade. The Village agrees to do the project for XXX and can then receive 80% reimbursement. So you may be right. The current Village board is trying to "ram through" approval of a project which is 80% grant funded.

    As far as an offer to the current VM to stay through the end of the year, I flat out question whether any such offer was made. I can not believe that Ms. Rush would reject such a request. Prove it.

    Posted Friday Apr 17, 2009 15:35 #

RSS feed for this topic

1 2 3 4

Reply »

You must log in to post.