Wednesday evening, November 5th at the Peoria Civic Center, Director of Public Works and Engineering Dave Ruwe and Mayor Rickey Williams, Jr will both be in attendance; as the City of Danville receives the American Public Works Association award for the Garfield Park and Aquatic Center project. Both talked about it after Tuesday (Nov 4th) evening’s Danville City Council meeting, with Ruwe crediting so many contributors from the past, such as previous city engineer Sam Cole, and others.
AUDIO: (Ruwe) Joe Claypool, Jessica Lively; I’m sure I’m forgetting some people. But, it’s definitely an accomplishment of a team of people working together to get something done. (Williams) I’m incredibly proud of our team. We’ve lost so many things in Danville; and people talk about this is gone, that is gone. Now imagine if we no longer had a municipal pool, because that is the situation that we were facing. So although it was expensive, I think it was the best move for the long term.
Compared to recent full council and committee meetings, there was much less discussion this time about the upcoming new tax levy and budget. But one thing that did come up was that with a new health insurance package passed for city employees Tuesday night; how will that affect possible additional revenue for the budget? Alderman Mike O’Kane said after the meeting he’d love to see more info on that. Alderman Doug Ahrens hinting that maybe that’s another reason to separate the levy and budget procedures. And Mayor Williams said they really won’t know much more revenue could be there until they see how many city employees renew their coverage.
AUDIO: (O’Kane) If it did change substantially; because the grease of the insurance was substantial in this budget; that was my thought. (Ahrens) The administration’s moving forward with having the budget and the tax levy together. I do not agree with that, for the reasons I stated regarding the projections that are moving forward. (Williams) There may be additional money that can be allocated to be spent on various projects in the budget. Open enrollment is when our employees can chose their insurance programs. And until that’s completed, we won’t know what that final number is.
Finally, substantial praise was expressed for City Treasurer Chris Heeren and his staff towards the end of the meeting for how they’ve gotten the office in line. But then the question was brought up; to protect future situations, should city treasurer eventually become an appointed rather than elected position? Alderman Ahrens and Mayor Williams reflected upon that afterwards.
AUDIO: (Ahrens) It’s just a position that is so critical to the city’s finances; that I think it should not be left up to whether someone may or may not know how to do financial software and things of that nature. Because there are no requirements for the election. (Williams) I need to revisit this to verify, but I believe that by referendum that the public could put together a petition to make that a non-elected position. And then it would be voted on in a future election. And then if that happens, then it would become an appointed position, like many of our others.
Mayor Williams said that in the long run, it will be “up to the druthers of the public.”
