Fascinating meeting tonight. We saw the Board in action, with distinct personalities showing. We got a sense of how much consultants get, and where our money goes.
CITIZEN KANE McKENNA
We saw how much money McKenna recvd for the housing impact study, the study to displace private property ($10,000). We saw how much money McKenna recvd for his time at the two workshops, where he said he recommended to retain Eminent Domain as a TIF feature. An acquantance of mine, who saw a workshop on TV, said he was not at all impressed with him or his presentation, and afterwards, had more questions than he ever had, and was now anti tif. Maybe Mckenna did earn his money, after all.
11,658 REASONS
$45,000 for McKenna to finish the TIF.
Do I hear a second?
Dramatic pause.
nothing.
Ms Gustafson - We should pay them what they have done and allocate more monies, if appropriate, when we take up the TIF again. She had already asked earlier in the meeting when they would take up the TIF, and it was said by the president that it would be taken up after the election in later April. She let out an expression of delight - that she was not going to have to vote on it.
Mr Scanlon - we should pay McKenna for what we asked them to do as long as we were satisfied with their work
Ms Grace - I can't recall her comment
Mr Scully - we said there would be a pause in the TIF, and we should respect that pause. He also said that he would like to see an accounting of what the consultants were paid and what they did (is Mr Scully running for election?).
Mr Shields - this is micromanaging at its worst. We are not giving the Village Manager any discretion. Who will she talk to ?
[At this point, to my friend standing next to me, I showed my hand, and whispered, 'talk to the hand']
Mr Shields - we should at least give her $15,000 for a cushion.
Mr Smith - we should pay them $11,658, and 75 cents.
RATIONALITY RULES
What is that song, 11,658 reasons... to ... McKenna.
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OR SO I THOUGHT...
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Then after some people left the meeting and after they talked about the towing ordinance, and after they talked about whether stop signs should be removed on Delaplaine to save the Village $400,000 - btw, most if not all of the board was for safety on this issue. Guess who came down on the revenue side and not on the safety side? Mr Shields.
[ At this, I had an immediate impression in my mind of the presidential candidate Martin Sheen played in the movie The Dead Zone holding the baby in front of him to protect himself from the sniper - Martin Sheen's candidacy went down rather abruptly. ]
So after the Stop sign deliberation, in closing remarks, Mr Shields said, almost petulantly, that when he said there would be a pause in the TIF, he did not think it would be for this long. He said further that the workshops did nothing. They did not change any minds that were not already made up.
[this is false: in my limited experience, I know of at least 4 people who were true fence post sitters who are very anti-tif after the workshops; the more they learned about the TIF, the more they did not like it, they told me]
Then he asked for the TIF to be deliberated on at the next meeting, the COW.
Mr Wiaduck - yes, we will bring it up at the COW.
If you were following this entry, you will notice that this contradicts what Mr Wiaduck told Ms Gustafson earlier.
At the COW, no one can hear your public comment, since no public comment is allowed.
How ...convenient !
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TO THE COW! rode the 300 !
Posted Tuesday Mar 20, 2007 01:17
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