New Contract

City council will vote on an amended contract for Chief Jeff Grubbs at the next meeting. No indication in the store as to what is in it. Usually, contracts for city officials are worked out between the hire and city manager but enough people raised questions about the contract negotiated between departed city manager Kevin Baity and Chief Grubbs that I imagine the city council wanted imput on it.

Ding Dong Baity's Gone

It appears the now shuttered Pony is happy to see the departure of city manager Kevin Baity as the above is what is showing on the marquee outside the establishment.

Press Conference On Baity Resignation

Just got back from a quickly called press conference featuring Mayor Mike Henry with a little more detail about Kevin Baity's resignation.  From what Henry said, the split is amicable and no negative material will appear in Baity's file, the city council decided it wanted to move in a "different direction", one that was not a good fit for Baity. The mayor mentioned the term "business friendly' several times so apparently that will be a focus of the city for the next year.

Assistant City Manager Gary Williams is now "acting" city manager for the foreseeable future, while the city solicits applications for the position. The city will rely on word of mouth to generate applications it appears, as the mayor said the position will not be posted online. Baity is currently on a paid leave of absence as the city negotiations the terms of separation with him. Under the current agreement, if the city terminated Baity, he would receive 6 months severance pay but, according to the mayor, this is one of the points under negotiation.

Not sure if it means anything but Mayor Henry met with Chief Grubbs just prior to the press conference, but did not see the Chief present at the conference.

City Manager Stepping Down

Kevin Baity announced today that he will step down as Carbondale City Manager effective Oct 1,  The City Council has a closed session last night. Typically council only goes into closed session to discuss issues pertaining to real estate or employment issues, so I imagine Baity's resignation/termination was the topic of discussion. IF the council terminated Baity's contract, he receives six month's pay as severance and does not have to pay back the money received to fund is master's studies at SIUC. Not sure what the contract says if he resigns

Chief Grubbs

The city sent out a press release today announcing the appointment of Jeff Grubbs as Police Chief after holding the position open for 13 months.  I see no mention in the release regarding the requirement that the chief, as with other top officials, live within the Carbondale city limits. I did catch part of the press conference though, and when Chief Grubbs was questioned about the residency requirement, he was pretty non-committal, saying only that he met the requirement and that he wanted to move on past it. I hope that doesn't mean that he and the city did something cutesy allowing him to meet the letter of the law but not its spirit as that would be a really lousy image to set. The city has turned a blind eye to other officials living outside the city limits in the past, excusing them due to their being in the process of selling their home and relocating to Carbondale, a process that conveniently took years to complete.

Carbondale City Manager Kevin Baity has announced the selection of Jeff Grubbs as the Police Chief for the City of Carbondale. “Today marks the beginning of a new chapter for the City of Carbondale and more particularly for the Carbondale Police Department. Thirteen months ago I announced Jeff Grubbs as the Interim Police Chief. This was not the first time that Jeff was called upon to serve in this capacity. In 2008 following the retirement of Chief Robert Ledbetter, Jeff served for six months in the same capacity. One might say Jeff has earned his experience as Chief during times of turmoil and uncertainty” said Kevin Baity, City Manager.

Carbondale's newest Police Chief has over 25 years of experience including 11 years at the executive command level. He is a graduate of the FBI National Academy, holds both Bachelors and Masters degrees from Southern Illinois University, has served as a Deputy Chief for over 8 years, has served as a canine handler, a special response team leader, has worked for four other southern Illinois police units, and has received numerous awards of distinction from his peers and other law enforcement agencies. 

Police Chief Jeff Grubbs was selected after the City conducted a national search this summer for the position of Police Chief. Applications where received from candidates from within the United States as well as from two foreign countries.  The candidates were evaluated based on several categories. These included experience working in an ethnically diverse community, working in a town/gown community, managing budgets and grants, having a minimum number of overall years of law enforcement experience as well as a minimum of five years of command staff experience, and having an educational background specifically pertaining to law enforcement.

Four candidates were selected from the applicant pool and offered interviews. A panel was selected consisting of Dr. Deborah McCoy from the City of Carbondale, Harvey Welch representing the Carbondale Board of Police and Fire Commissioners and Ben Newman, Public Safety Director for Southern Illinois University. At the end of the interview session, the panel made a recommendation based on their individual assessment and judgement.  “ I am pleased to say the recommendation was unanimous. The recommendation, together with my personal evaluation has led to today's announcement.”   Police Chief Jeff Grubbs will begin his appointment immediately.

Residency Requirements

In a letter to her email list, Jane Adams pointed out a change to residency requirements on the agenda for tomorrow night's city council meeting. Currently, executive city employees are required to live within the city limits, all other city employees must live within 9 miles of the city, Under the current ordinance, this means that only 10 out of all the city employees are required to live in Carbondale. From the proposed ordinace: 

Pay Grade 9 City Attorney, Public Works Director, Finance Director, Police Chief, Fire Chief,
Administrative Services Director (Human Resources), Development Services
Director (Building, Planning/Zoning, Code Enforcement)

Pay Grade 8 Accounting Manager, Maintenance & Environmental Services Manager (PW),
Information Systems Manager (IT), Water Operations Manager

Pay Grade 8 Exemptions
Deputy Police Chief (2), Police Lieutenant (4), Assistant Fire Chief (3)

The City Manager position (unclassified pay grade) and the City Clerk (pay grade 6) are also
required to reside within the City limits according to City Code.

The city has not had a Police Chief since last summer, after the firing of then Chief Jody O'Guinn. Jeff Grubbs has filled the position as Interim Police Chief since then and both Mayor Mike Henry and City Manager Kevin Baity have expresses satisfaction with his work and a desire to hire him as Police Chief. However, Grubbs lives outside the city, but within the 9 miles required. For Grubbs to accept the position, he would need to sell or otherwise dispose of his current residence and move within city limits.

Furthermore, Fire Chief John Michalesko plans to retire in the near future, meaning that the city will either need to promote from within or recruit a new chief from outside. Apparently, the requirement to live within city limits is seen as a impediment in either case.

It would appear then, that while the city works to bring in outside businesses, students and new residents, city staff do not see it as a particularly desirable location to live and that requiring higher pay grade officials to live here is an impediment to recruiting them.

Below are the four options city staff has presented and the staff recommendation. You will note that leaving things as they are is not one of the four optioned presented:

A number of options were reviewed that include:
1. Require all new employees to live within the City limits. This is not an option as the police and fire
unions’ contract allow for residency within the 9-mile boundary. This matter was the subject of a legalcase in which the unions wanted to extend the boundary to greater than 9 miles. The result was a rulingin favor of the City to retain the 9-mile boundary.

2. Create more exemptions for more classes of executive employees, similar to the 1999 and 2005 Councilactions. This only serves to further alienate the few remaining employees who are bound by the Citylimits requirement. This could also lead to a discrimination law suit brought by those remaining nonexempted employees.

3. Eliminate the City limits requirement for executive employees. In other words, all employees have thesame rights and must live within the 9-mile boundary. The argument against this is “there will be a largenumber of employees leave the City limits.” As indicated above, currently only 10 employees (3.7%) arebound by this requirement therefore there cannot be a large number of employees leave the City.

4. Eliminate all residency requirements. Due to the previous legal decision in favor of the City and the 9-mile residency boundary, this is not a viable option. Each time the police and fire union contracts are upfor renegotiation, they try to argue extending the boundary; this year the argument was from 9 miles to20 miles.

RECOMMENDATION:
After conducting a review of the history presented above and the significantly small number of employees affected by the current City limit residency requirement, it is recommended the City Council choose Option 3above and adopt an Ordinance eliminating the City limits requirement for executive employees in pay grades 8 and 9, the City Manager and the City Clerk.

City Residence Requirement

All employees of the city of Carbondale must live within 9 miles of the city center. Employees of grade 8 or 9 must live within the city limits, which includes city employees such as the city manager, department heads, and chiefs of the fire and police departments. Renting an apartment while maintaining residence elsewhere would probably not work, especially given the challenge to Mayor Henry's candidacy accusing him of doing just such a thing, though at least one city department director does just that, though said department head is close enough to retirement that no one currently wants to pursue it.

No Police Chief

Following up on the multiple choice from yesterday, nearly a year has passed since City Manager Baity fired Police Chief Jody O'Guinn for unspecified reasons. As far as I  know, the city has made no attempt to search for a replacement or even post the opening, leaving Interim Chief Jeff Grubbs in place. Since Grubbs lives outside the city limits, assuming the position officially would require a move by him to Carbondale proper.

From statements he made during the mayoral election, Mayor Mike Henry favors keeping Grubbs on as chief. I would bet sometime before the end of the year, there is a low keyed search for a replacement chief, Grubbs moves his official residence within the city limits and gets the job.

Multiple Choice Quiz

Apparently there are several of these floating around the interwebs:

Please check the multiple choice answer that seems most accurate. There may be more than one correct answer.

 

1. What ever happened to the police officer who was filmed allegedly snoozing in a church parking lot? He told the student who was filming him that it was against the law in a video that went viral. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCLqV-Z4cyQ Recently a police officer in Chicago who was caught napping was suspended for five days.

 

            a. Interim chief Jeff Grubbs made sure that a speedy inquiry and disciplinary actions were carried out with full public disclosure

 

            b. Interim Chief Jeff Grubbs said that it was a “personnel matter” and that the Fraternal Order of Police (who endorsed him for Chief) would have to look over the matter

 

            c. nothing

 

2. Marion and Carbondale received a grant to build pool and other facilities on the same day- October 4, 2011. http://thesouthern.com/news/local/carbondale-marion-will-build-pools-with-grants/article_4ea6c9d6-ee44-11e0-be3c-001cc4c03286.html

 

In the meantime Marion has completed the “Hub”, a year round facility,  but Carbondale’s Park District is saddled with a hole in the ground that may no longer be funded. Marion’s facility had had some issues with the floors costing maybe $46K, but the center has practically sold out its membership. Carbondale planned to open its pool this May for its 4 month yearly run - a critical part of the financing will be ticket receipts. Now it will go another year without ticket sales. What happened?

 

            a. Marion’s Mayor for Life Bob Butler bulldozed the project forward undemocratically taking money from highway funds and other sources. Meanwhile Carbondale carefully raised money through bake sales and puppet shows that took longer but more deeply engaged the community.

 

            b. Marion quickly put together a plan and raised the funds. While Carbondale barely raised money from the public relying instead on other taxing units like the City of Carbondale to make their “match” with state funds. Carbondale park District has actually lost even some of those funds such as the tourism grants, raising the question if the Splash Park will ever be built.

 

            c. Nothing of importance. Nothing to see here. Kathy Renfro of the Carbondale Park District one of the Southern’s Leaders of the Year.

 

3. Why is it taking so long for City Manager Kevin Baity to advertise for the Police Chief’s job?

 

            a. Baity is extra careful with this decision since the last chief worked out so poorly.

 

            b. The choice of Mayor Henry is interim Chief Jeff Grubbs. Grubbs lives outside the city limits while city residency is required. Grubbs will get an apartment in the city of Carbondale and claim it as his home address. At that point Baity will announce that he is the Chief.

 

            c. It’s extremely hard to fill Chief of Police jobs in the wake of Ferguson, Staten island and Baltimore, especially if the goal is someone who will represent undeserved minorities.

 

4. The Downtown Advisory Committee was essentially put out of business by City Manager Kevin Baity. This in spite of 9 extremely well attended meetings with citizens and 19 people on the panel who each made presentations on various issues facing the city. Also, the all volunteer DAC cost almost no money. From the DAC has come an America’s Best Cities award, an RFP for downtown high speed free wifi, and a renewed sense that Carbondale was on the move. Why did Baity decide to ditch it without any consultation with the committee or Council?

 

            1. “Staff” knows better than citizens how to get Carbondale moving. The evidence is everywhere. 

 

            2. The DAC was getting out of hand as it came to the actual charge to the development consultants. This is the point where the real estate interests in the city come to bear and average citizens are a real hindrance.

 

            3. The DAC was a clown show that didn’t really get to the bottom of the issues plaguing the “Strip”.

Arbor District Letter

The Arbor District plans on presenting presenting the letter below at tomorrow night's city council meeting regarding the uptick in unsolved crimes in the Arbor District area. A number of residents have signed the letter already and members of the Arbor District board are seeking more. Among the concerns are the recent shooting incidents on West Cherry, the rolled car during Unofficial Halloween and, according to a post on Facebook, vandalism this weekend at the First Christian Church.

Dear Mayor Monty and Mr. Baity,

We write as residents of the Arbor District concerned about the recent upsurge of dangerous and
criminal activity that has occurred particularly on and around West Cherry Street, between Ash
and Forest Avenues in the past two months. Two separate shootings last week, along with the
overturned car incident in October, a Rottweiler that has attacked walkers, cars driving at
dangerously high speeds, and a noticeable upswing in large house parties have created a sense of
lawlessness in this neighborhood.

While we have been told that policing in the neighborhood has been stepped up, we don’t see it.
A resident reports being openly dismissed by police when complaints have been called in; and
police responses to those complaints have become perfunctory and yield no results. The
explanation frequently given by city officials that ticketing nuisance offenses doesn’t work
because the recipients simply ignore them seems to say more about the impotence of city
enforcement than it does about the intractability of the problem.

In the recent past, complaints about obnoxious parties would be responded to with officers
entering the house and assessing the situation. We gather that this is no longer standard
procedure. While the violence that we are witnessing may not have a direct relationship to
nuisance issues such as large and loud parties, trash in yards and on the street, underage
drinking, and off-leash dogs, it is all creating an environment of intimidation and chaos. Please be
clear that what we are describing is not a matter of “college kids having a good time.”

Aggression, disrespect, and a sense of impunity are the overriding characteristics.
Right now, a lot of folks – students, children, and long-time residents alike – feel increasingly
unsafe in their own neighborhood. We urge more regular police patrols of this street and the
Arbor District as a whole, and a more serious response to nuisance complaints. In the long-term
we implore the City to enact and enforce policies that meaningfully hold individuals (and where
applicable, landlords) responsible for criminal and nuisance behaviors that occur on their
property.

Chief O'Guinn Dismissed

Just got this email from the city manager's office.  Wow!

Effective Monday, August 18 at 9:00 a.m., I am dismissing Jody O'Guinn as Chief of Police for the City of Carbondale. Chief O'Guinn has served the City since June 2009. As of now, no timeline has been established for finding his successor.”

"I am naming Deputy Chief Jeff Grubbs to serve as Interim Police Chief. I have full faith and confidence in Deputy Chief Grubbs' ability to lead the Carbondale Police Department,” Baity states. “I want to stress that my decision to dismiss Chief O'Guinn is a confidential matter and has nothing to do with the unsolved cases or recent litigation filed against the City and the Chief. Any assumptions/allegations to this effect are completely unfounded."

Toxic Algae in Piles Fork Creek

Received a press release from Kevin Baity's office this evening:

The City of Carbondale is issuing a skin contact and toxicity alert for the water in Evergreen Reservoir and in Piles Fork Creek. At approximately 11am today, staff was alerted that the water in Piles Fork Creek was turning a bluish color in isolated areas. Investigations found the area of initial concern to be between Evergreen Reservoir on Pleasant Hill Road and South Wall Street near Grand Avenue.

Samples were immediately gathered and laboratory testing is currently being completed. Initial results indicate natural forming toxic algae may be present. Additional samples are being taken, prepared and testing will be completed next week by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.

The public is advised and warned to keep yourself, your children and your pets out of Evergreen Reservoir and Piles Fork Creek and to avoid all contact with the water. The absence of the bluish color does not mean the water is clean as the algae is slow moving and may have already moved through the area or dissipated causing the water to return to a clear state. The algae deplete the oxygen level in the water thereby causing fish and other water living animals and organisms to die.

Human exposure to the water may result in skin rashes. Animals swimming in or drinking the water may become sick with potentially fatal consequences.

The drinking water supply for the City of Carbondale and its satellite water districts is safe and not affected as the supply comes from Cedar Lake and not Evergreen Reservoir.

Additional information will be passed along as laboratory testing is completed.

City Council Meeting

Last night's City Council meeting got rolling fairly late last night.  I didn't turn on the television to watch until after 8 and the public hearings regarding establishment of the two new TIF districts were still going on.

Given that I had been told during earlier in the day that there was no opposition to establishing either TIF district (incidentally, it rather surprised me to hear both Mayor Fritzler and City Manager Kevin Baity refer to the two TIF districts as established rather than proposed in their State of the City speeches.  Neither has been approved by council yet, hence tonight's hearings), the number of people who rose to speak against TIF district #3, encompassing the old school complex, the National Guard Armory and the stretch of Oakland between the two, surprised me. Almost all were concerned with business encroaching into what is currently an area zoned for residential use.  Baity pointed out the area would have to be rezoned in order for a purchaser to make any business use of the properties.

This, of course, leads to two quetsions:

1. Why is Oakland Avenue Auto Repair still operating in an area zoned for residential use?
2.  What use could any purchaser make of either the Armory or high school buildings unless they are rezoned or granted a special use exemption?  Neither is suitable for residential use as they stand.

The proposal to move appointment of the city clerk back under the city manager passed with only one vote against it.  The major concern appeared that the clerk's position was important enough that the holder of the position should come directly under council control.  However, the rest of the council did not share the same concerns.

The request for more funds for the Convention and Tourism Bureau passed without any controversy. Since I sit on the CCTB board, I will pass on making any further comments.

Next up was a revision to Carbondale's panhandling ordinance banning unlawful panhandling on an business zoned property or any public property.  Two groups spoke regarding the ordinance.   One, business owners and organizations representing them argued that aggressive panhandlers affected business, disturbed customers and made employees feel unsafe. The other, community organizers and activists, argued that the ordinance would made it harder for the homeless and others living in poverty to get money for food and shelter.  Councilman Don Monty pointed out that the ordinance had no effect upon those who stood on a corner with a sign asking for donations, it was aimed at those who asked for money multiple times after being rebuffed originally.  If memory serves, I believe this passed, after lots of discussion, six to one.

During the discussion, it gradually became apparent that there are only about a dozen or so panhandlers in Carbondale that engage in the aggressive panhandling that disturbs businesses.  A reading of the relevant ordinance indicates that aggressive panhandling of the type described during the discussion is already illegal throughout the city, so it's not apparent what effect specifying more places where one cannot unlawfully panhandle will have, since according to the current ordinance, they can't do it already.  Seems to me it would be better to enforce the current ordinance against the dozen or so abusers rather than add on to the code.

If electrical aggregation takes place as I understand it from the discussion over the ordinance and we see the savings alluded to by councilmen Chris Wissmann and Don Monty, this should prove a winning proposition for the city and its residents.  From what I understand, Carbondale, along with Marion, West Frankfort and other communities, selected Select Energy Partners  to negotiate an price for electricity with a supplier.  Once a contract is negotiated, Carbondale will have to purchase from that supplier but could choose a different plan than other communities, i.e. Marion could select a plan that draws 10% of its electricity from green sources while Carbondale could choose one that drew 25%.  Carbondale residents will have the option to opt out, on an individual basis, of the negotiated contract and remain with their current (or another) provider.  This passed unaimously.

Finally, council voted to join the Southern Illinois Municipal Planning Organization, which includes all communities from Carbondale eastward to Marion.  The organization will focus on analyzing transportation needs for the area and federal law, dating back to the 1960s, mandates that municipalities must form one once the region's population exceeds 50,000 or forgo federal transportation dollars. Since we don't want to forgo federal transportation dollars, we join, unanimously.

Since it was now 11:30, I decide to skip citizen and council comments, though I did notice council candidates Jessica Bradshaw and Carolin Harvey still in the audience with Pepper Holder approaching the microphone as I left.

City Council Meeting 2

Just finished watching the city council meeting on local access (along with others, I assume since the council chambers looked pretty bare) and it could have easily wrapped about thirty minutes earlier than what it did.  Watching council members grill members of city staff, I found myself wondering:  "More questions?  Especially about stuff that had been discussed years ago?"

As usual councilman Monty pulled out an item from the consent agenda for further consideration. This time, it was the proposal to hire a firm to analyze the proposed improvements to the city sewer system system with questions, among others,  about  why the proposal hadn't been bid out.  After discussion, it passed unanimously, as expected.

The proposal to begin developing the west side fire station also rand into quite a few questions from council, mainly about whether the building  would be build using sustainable methods and if it would use renewable energy.  Councilman Jack especially got a bit testy about this, as he said that the council had been pushing for "greener" buildings every since he had come to council and nothing had ever come of it. Proposal eventually passed and I think design staff said they would look into the possibility of incorporating renewables into the design.

Council then voted to change a previously created ordinance that gave the mayor the right to transfer city property valued under $1000 without permission of the council.  Majority of the council felt that all transfers of city property, even relatively small amounts of $1000, should still be approved by the council as a whole.

During citizen comments, the sole speaker lodges a complaint against the new Ross store at University Mall, complaining that it only had an exterior entrance and now interior entrance into the mall, wondering if that violated any city ordinances about fire exits.  City Manager Baity informed her that the plans had been approved by the city prior to Ross' moving into the mall and the location of the entrance did not violate any city ordinances or fire codes.

More on Stadium Grille

Spoke with Kevin Baity again this afternoon.  The city was not involved in the purchase or foreclosure of the Stadium Grille building, had no input on the asking or selling price of the building, and has no idea what the selling price is.  The city and the Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development Commission do have a combined lien on the contents of the building as the loan provided in part by the city was applied to the Grille's contents.  The amount the two organizations will settle the loan for with the new buyer  is currently under discussion and will likely be announced next Tuesday.

Price for Stadium Grille

According to a discussion with city manager Kevin Baity yesterday, the city's asking price for the Stadium Grille building was $1.5 million, though another email I received says $1.6 million.  I have no idea what the actual sale price of the building was, just that it was somewhat less then the asking price. A commenter on yesterday's post puts it at around $900,000, which, if correct, means the city took a substantial loss to unload the building.

Stadium Grille Sold

The long closed (well, two years and two months) Stadium Grille property has just sold, according to city manager Kevin Baity. Buyer is the Bandanas BBQ chain.  The chain typically repurposes already existing buildings, only adding its signature sheet metal awnings to the exterior.  No idea how much the building sold for, though asking price originally was $1.6 million.  Bandanas did pay cash for the building and equipment, though apparently not enough to repay the loan to the city the loan the original owners got from the city.

Bandana's tentatively plans to have the restaurant up and running by this Thanksgiving (2012).

July 17 City Council Meeting

Was busy with other stuff earlier in the evening so didn't tune into last night's city council meeting until the discussion on what to do about tourism.

Representatives of two organizations, ILLINOISouth and Southermost Illinois, were on hand making presentations (the Williamson County Tourism Bureau had said it was not interested in partnering with Carbondale and the proposal regarding working with the Carbondale Park District has gone by the wayside).  Should Carbondale partner with either one, the city would be an outlier in the organization, lying at the far Southern end of the region covered by ILLINOISouth and at the northern end of that covered by Southernmost Illinois.

Of the two organizations, Southernmost Illinois is the better fit, as its main office is located in Anna and the organization promotes tourism in the seven counties to the south of us, which is where Carbondale would focus if it wants to develop itself as a tourism hub.  Ed Benyas, representing the Jackson County Board, spoke to the council in favor of Southernmost Illinois, indicating that the county had opted to partner with the organization to promote Jackson County tourism. 

Southernmost Illinois also indicated, if I understood correctly, they would give Carbondale three members on the organization's board as well as open an office in Carbondale, while ILLINOISouth only indicated they would dedicate a staff member to the community, with no guarantee to open an office.  Southernmost Illinois appeared much more willing to accommodate the city, as the amount of money Carbondale would bring to the organization exceeds its total current budget.

Council's major concern, and the reason city staff proposes bringing the tourism function in-house, is the lack of control the city would have by outsourcing tourism functions and the fear that tourist activities within the city would not get appropriate attention.    Both City Manager Kevin Baity and Mayor Fritzler noted the city would lose $60,000 in state funding for this year by turning over tourism functions to another organization, however to retain the funding would require the city to re-establish the now defunct Carbondale Convention and Tourism Bureau as a city organization and assume responsibility for its debts, totaling about $34,000.  Councilwoman Corene McDaniels prefers this option as well, while Councilman Chris Wissmann appeared to lean towards joining with Southernmost Illinois.

In the end, after a short recess, the city took no action, instead deciding to study the situation and various proposals further, though it appears that either partnering with Southernmost Illinois or re-establishing a CCTB under city control are the preferred options.

In citizen comments, a pair of John A. Logan students asked the city for help in re-establishing mass transit from Carbondale to John A. Logan College.  Since SIUC moved its automotive technology facilities from Carterville to the new facilities at the Southern Illinois Airport, SIUC has discontinued the Saluki Express route from the SIUC campus that many JALC students residing in Carbondale used to get to the campus.  Councilman Monty suggested Jackson County Mass Transit while Wissmann recommended looking at Williamson County RIDES program.  Lance Jack said the city should investigate some way to provide transportation for JALC students in Carbondale to the campus and the mayor asked the students to give their names to city staff with a promise to look further into the matter to see what could be done.  The city does provide over $14,000 in funding annually to keep Saluki Express buses running when school is out of session so perhaps some additional funds could be directed to re-establishing a JALC route.

Email Exchange between Fritzler and Adams

The Southern reported the recent flurry of emails betwix city manager Kevin Baity, Mayor Joel Fritzler and Councilwoman Jane Adams.  Here are the actual emails:

Joel,

I take strong exception to your intemperate note that was sent to the entire Council in clear violation of the Open Meetings Act. The issue of raising the City Manager's spending authority is before us tonight on the Council agenda.

I have no idea what you refer to, or what you intend to accomplish, by stating: "Your bullying and threatening manner has become more and more outlandish to the point of being unbecoming of a city council member." 

Your remarks are absurd.

As a council member it is my responsibility to deal directly with the City Manager on issues before us. In this case, I found serious problems with his assertions and told him so. Apparently this does not go down well with you and the city manager. But I want to know where the people's money goes.

And that's not changing.

Jane

Begin forwarded message:

From: Joel Fritzler <carbondaleforjoel@gmail.com>

Subject: Fwd: Agenda item - authorization to increase City Manager's spending limit

Date: June 26, 2012 2:15:15 PM CDT

To: Jane Adams <jane@adamscarbondale.org>, kevin baity <kbaity@ci.carbondale.il.us>

Cc: Chris Wissmann <nightlif@midwest.net>, Don Monty <dmonty@ci.carbondale.il.us>, Lee Fronabarger <pineridgeplace@frontier.com>, Corene Mc Daniel <corene4u@msn.com>, Lance Jack <councilman1970@gmail.com>

Jane,

As you may now be aware, the city manager in Lombard has a spending limit of $20,000. Your bullying and threatening manner has become more and more outlandish to the point of being unbecoming of a city council member. For example, when you didn't understand the city's health savings plan, you said, "I think that Kevin is trying to pull the wool over our eyes.". I'm at my wits end to understand why you think that everything that you don't understand is a conspiracy or a cover-up. 

Please gather the facts before you jump to conclusions. 

Joel Fritzler, Mayor

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

From: Kevin Baity <kbaity@ci.carbondale.il.us>
Date: June 25, 2012 7:24:50 PM CDT
To: Mayor Joel Fritzler <jfritzler@ci.carbondale.il.us>
Subject: Fwd: Agenda item - authorization to increase City Manager's spending limit

See below.

Kevin Baity 

City of Carbondale

iPhone 

Begin forwarded message:

From: Jane Adams <jane@adamscarbondale.org>
Date: June 25, 2012 7:18:25 PM CDT
To: Kevin Baity <kbaity@ci.carbondale.il.us>
Subject: Agenda item - authorization to increase City Manager's spending limit

Kevin,

I have spoken today with authorities in the Village of Lombard and Urbana concerning the spending limits they have established. From these discussions I found that the claims you make to support raising your spending authority are seriously in error. If you do not pull the item from the agenda I will make this a public issue.

Jane

Jane Adams

And here's a comment posted on the Southern's website regarding the exchange, which I would bet comes from former CCTB executive director Debbie Moore:

 

Debbiesliceofpie - June 27, 2012 1:19 pm

Well, maybe Fritzler does see her for what she is. It is too late to save the Carbondale Convention & Tourism Bureau from her lack of knowledge, but maybe Fritzler can save Carbondale.

Arbor District Crime Meeting

There's a meeting at St. Francis Xavier Church at 7 p.m. tonight in the lower level of Xavier Hall to discuss recent crime in the area.  Though Chief Jody O'Guinn (who will be present, along with city manager Kevin Baity) says the city has not seen an increase in crime over last year, residents of the Arbor District are concerned because of several burglaries that have taken place in the area in the past couple of months.

The Crime Report map for Carbondale doesn't appear to show an outsized number of burglaries and thefts for the Arbor District, though.