Wow, I missed that. That is an interesting comment. You know what yould have been great. If, during the interview with the Sun, as a follow up to her comment, the reporter said, "what do you think about the City firing a bunch of employees?"

I'm guessing it would have been something like.

A. Oh, they have bad employees there, I don't.
B. The City Council made him do it, he didn't want to.
C. He had to keep all of the good workers, so he canned the schmucks.
D. My business is doing good, his is not.
E. He had a study that told him what to do.

yes you do - and in the case of Naperville today, you have a City Manager with no ethics which leads to a Sr. Management team with no ethics, and none of them have any trouble implementing what the ethics free council tells them to do. Its an embarrassment.

Yep - you would think that wouldn't you. The article also said that she ran her business in a such a way that she hoped she would never have to let anyone go - she didn't want anyone to be treated the way she had when she lost her job. Something else her husband could learn from - but clearly hasn't.

Yesterday the Naperville Sun ran an article about the city managers wife and her chain of stores doing $10MM per year in sales.

Got me to thinking that she has to be making many multiples of what he is making as the city manager.

Also got me to thinking if he is such a great manager why isn't he working for his own wife where they could leverage all of that so-called talent to make even more money and build an even bigger business for themselves.

Just food for thought...

Agreed, the failure starts at the top with the council hiring and then supporting a City Manager who at best tolerates inept management by these directors, and at worst encourages their lack of ethics and poor decision making. That's why more change was needed at the top in the last election than we actually got, but now we're stuck unless at least a few of them are willing to stand up and make the "leadership" changes that are necessary to get things back on the right track. So far, no sign of that, and that is truly a shame.

As much as I agree with the bleeding from the top, you can't ask a secretary if their boss should be fired. It's ultimately the City Council's failure. They approve all the bosses decisions. You'd think they might ask, "who will actually do the work?" But they don't. That's what happens when you have inexperienced children running the City. Except in the Mayor's case... he has experience in shaking down restaurant owners for free food and wine

The real problems, and the places the City bleeds money, are always at the top, Somehow though, the cuts always come from the bottom. Huh .... wonder why that is? Couldn't be because it is the top that makes the ridiculous decisions that keep these inept folks at the top, and punishes those who actually have to work for a living could it?

Try the math without the bail out money.

WIN, WIN.

3 million spent during what the Council said was a financial crisis. Lose Lose. BUT regardless, everyone's water bill went up 29% last night - electric will be next - say again what a great job the "old" Naperville guard is doing? The price paid for that belief is just STARTING to show up - give them a couple more years and see what they will have done to you and this town.

My point was, and continues to be, that the 57 spots will repay the city's cost of the museum buyout in less than 10 years. It's a case of amortization of the original cost from revenue from the project. The city gets back its money. The city still owns the land. The museum remains open. The city still will get the revenue from the spaces even after the original debt is repaid. Win, Win.

A concept and an idea.

The Children't Museum is not in the downtown. Simply not. Let's not use downtown pricing for our calculations. If it is, then Washington Jr. High is an urban campus... I guess Central would be too.

If the parking was what the Council was after, cut to the chase. Demolish the Museum and pave the lot. I see the need for commuter parking near the station. I still see too many open spots, but I hear that they are paid for so, ok. Maybe we don't charge enough? Whatever the case, if parking was the end goal, then why not just make a parking lot?

It's clear to me that this bail out was done to benefit political officials and their friends-nothing more.

I think you'll find that it's 57. How much do you think commercial land is going for in downtown Naperville? The Anderson family couldn't afford to leave the family business downtown any longer and moved to south. Leasing the original store and releasing other property made more sense. If the museum fails, the city will make out like bandits.

I've searched for plenty of parking at Metra. 37 parking places for a million dollars? Pricey real estate! Maybe Naperville Management can afford those prices, but the taxpayers I know can't.

Obviously spoken by one who has not searched for a parking space at the Metra station. More parking within a couple of blocks of the station--priceless! More restricted funds for the Metra station fund--priceless!

You believe everything this group tells you don't you. Kinda sad, gonna be tough when you see what really happens. If money comes in, it goes to the perks and the management team, if money is needed, it comes from the residents and the workers. Don't think for a minute that this debt will be paid off without hurting those who are not connected.

The revenue from the commuter parking spaces will recoup the cost.

Then why was the Childrens museum so underwater in the first place? Don't look to recoup anything, that wasn't what this was about and everyone who pays ANY attnetion at all to what goes on with these things knows that. This was a favor for some friends who sit on the board - which would be bad enough if the City wasn't crying financial crisis at the time. Given THAT, and the way they were tossing their own people around without an ounce of honesty or compassion (the way they do every day), it is an embarrassment that they expect/expected people to believe that this was some sort of "investment".

At $313,500 in revenue generated by the Children's Museum deal, the city will recoup its investment in less than 10 years.

Totally agree.

Smart Grid-$11m
Carillon-$6m
Children's Museum--$3m

So, $20m in taxpayer dollars to fund things a few people wanted. I bet that none of these would have passed on a referendum.

As brush season approaches, remember the days when we had two of them. Instead of that we have a museum where kids from other towns can come and play, and a bell tower that about 10 people wanted and was supposed to cost $2m not $6m. The Council got hoodwinked and bailed themselves out. Very democratic.

Long live the republic of Naperville!

Ward,

Relative to referendums, I mentioned two things, not everything.

Also, not saying anything about the operation of the electric department. I'm saying the $11m for smart grid is a waste of cash.

Quit the red herrings and stick to what people are really saying, Ward.

Ward - I work in the private sector too - I have a few friends who did, or do, work for this City, so I pay attention. YOU sound like a deaf dumb and blind councilman - who see's what you choose to see, and dismisses the rest because if you stopped to look at it, it might make your do nothing unless it's about me attitude somewhat uncomfortable.

The City did have an excellent Electric department - until recently. You trust those who lead that department with the smart grid huh? Well good for you. It won't fry your brain - but it's going to empty your wallet. The 22 million is barely the surface - the 11 million the City will choose to tell you about is the tip of the ice burg - and if you throw in the expense of the IMEA coal plant over runs these minibrains chose to invest your future in, you can't even imagine what you are going to be paying. All those years you paid less than your friends and neighbors with Com Ed will be over - you will pay more, MUCH MUCH more. See how much you love the "brain trust" then. Hope you enjoy your new and improved water bill too .... if it ever stops raining (doubtful as it seems right now) you will be able to enjoy your brown lawn while you sit inside in the dark because watering your lawn will cost you more than you've ever imagined. You might be able to turn on a light if it is after 7 of course, but don't even think of doing any laundry or running a dishwasher or turning on your big screen during peak hours - that will cost you triple what you are paying today.

But hey Ward, it's ok - you keep on believing in the fine upstanding politicians you elected. They love that! It's great for them when people blindly believe they have their best interests at heart and swallow lie after lie. Just hope your sitting down when reality bites you and you discover that not one of them has told the truth about anything in the past 5 years.

Ward,

Lived here a long time, never miss an election. Some comments. I do care about rankings, not all I care about, but I care.

I don't have a Range Rover-maintenance costs too much.
Great schools-because the parents care, and teachers are good.
Safe town-because people have money and don't need to beat and rob others.
Trash gets picked up-because we pay a private company a lot of money to pick it up.
Roads in good shape-mostly.
Plenty for young and old to do-ok.
Good jobs-ok.

So, what has the Mayor and Council done to make this a better place? NOTHING. They spend money on crap that benefits them and their pals. Watch Mayor McCheese the next four years. I want to see him work on economic development, like he promised. I want to see the Council referendum large expenditures-like the Smart Grid and Children's Museum.

No ward, I couldn't care less about how things look to others, I care very much about how things are for myself, my neighbors and my kids. It is the City Council that cares more about appearances than they do about the people. How else do you explain spending millions of dollars on a Smart Grid (more millions than you will ever know) that the majority of the residents either don't want, or don't care a thing about? Tell us about the technology of tomorrow and how much we need it for "electric cars and so on", but it was budgeted at 9 million over the next 4 years anyway, so WHY spend 11 million and much more to get it now? EGO, and nothing else. Caring about the residents would have meant taking feedback from them BEFORE committing to spending that kind of money. Caring would have taken into consideration the extra money being spent for less benefit ..... what new technologies aren't better refined a few years down the road than they are at the very start? No reason to do it now except EGO. Now there are questions about safety (it's probably fine, but disregarding those who are genuinely concerned is not the mark of someone concerned about their residents) and how much it will really increase the amount of money every resident spends for the same electric service we enjoy today.

More? How about closing the alternate site for paying bills etc... shutting down the front desk at the police department overnight, discontinuing one brush pick up, and laying off staff that provides those services while continuing to spend money hand over fist for themselves and their friends. Bail out the Childrens Museum? Sure, it's a nice place, but it isn't a City Council's job to spend public money on projects like this, so why did they? It isn't that Pradel is on the board, or Senger, or any of their other buddies is it? You bet it is. A million dollars from the Burlington Fund for what? 37 or so parking place? Those must be some NICE spots! Does the train stop and pick u up directly from your car! That doesn't even touch on the perks for themselves that are left in place or made better. How about that crack management team who hasn't told anyone the truth in at least 5 years? For them? Bonus's and Car allowances and special premiums for insurance so that while they pretend to be paying the same 15% as the workers who make $40,000 a year when they really aren't.

The management of the City cares very much that whatever money they have stays at the top - with themselves and their friends. So much so, they lost all relationship to the truth years ago. How the City is doing financially changes (according to them) along with whatever message they want to send. Example? Last year they laid off 6 police because the City simply couldn't afford the new contract they offered the Police Union. In the face of this 7 million dollar budget crisis (funny, because only a month or two before the City Manager was saying things looked pretty good!), they simply had no choice. Ok, but that saved them about $850,000, Somehow though, once that was done, the same group found the money to completely close the rest of this gap, and at the end of this fiscal year - looky here! A surplus! Wow. What a miracle! These guys are going to give themselves some whopping bonus's for that one!

Ward, I'm glad you like it here. There are still a lot of things to like. The point is, if a private organization ran the way the City is currently running itself, it would be doomed to failure without question. The leadership is putting all those things you love here at risk - and no one is benefiting except themselves. Your water rates are about to skyrocket, your electric rates are going to be higher than you can even imagine, If a service like leaf pick up or brush pick up or drop off for your City payments, or critical response time for police, fire, and especially ambulance service are important to you - watch them. They cost money, and while they prefer to strip every penny from their workforce (and they will continue to do so) - they already pay these people much less than they would make in Aurora or Joliet or any number of similar sized cities in this area. What they take there isn't quite enough to maintain their own perks, they will continue to take from us as residents to make sure they themselves don't lose anything, and that they can continue to do for their friends and supporters.

All of this combined is what drives a City down. What service has this group of people improved in the past 5 years? Go ahead and say hey, it's the economy, it's hard to improve things now. True enough - but we have the money to to spend millions on smart grid, museum bail outs, Carillon bail outs, tax incentives for a Marriott development group, perks for the City Council, Bonus Pay and car allowances for a truly incompetent Management team, and a nice brand new Hybrid for our already well Police PENSION paid Mayor. So much more that it can't even all be documented as well.

So yes, was Naperville a wonderful place to live when we moved here? Absolutely. Is it still pretty good today? Sure. The argument is that if we continue down this path, 5 years from now, it won't be nearly as nice, and 10 years from now if we manage to reach upward toward average it will be a miracle.

I voted - and I am exceedingly concerned with the direction the City has been headed in the past several years. 10 years ago it was great, 5 years ago it was pretty good, but now? We need to turn things around - return to being a place that cares first for it's residents and kids again. Right now, City Council and City Management care much more about their ego's and their pet projects than they do about anything else. HONESTY would be mandatory in making Naperville the town we all moved here for, and there just isn't any of it coming from those who claim to lead this City.

Only a tiny portion of the damage that has been done is starting to show up at this point, but if things aren't changed, SOON, that damage is going to become more and more obvious and 5 years from now, many are going to be wondering what happened to that nice town they thought they were living in.

Believe it or don't .... laugh or don't. Doesn't matter one bit. But look beyond the press releases and see what your leadership actually is doing, and who is really benefiting before you decide everything is wonderful and anyone who thinks differently is wrong.

Ward ... if you don't know what the problems are, it is most likely you who hasn't been paying attention and probably didn't vote. Yes we all moved here - for me that was 16 years ago. Think nothing has changed since then? It's City Management that's the problem. If you think it's just a handful of people who are concerned about the direction of the City and that nothing is really any different - why the rating #2 on best places to live in 2008 and #56 in 2010? Behind Bolingbrook if you remember.

Thinks need to change to RETURN to the kind of City most of us moved here for - we don't complain because we don't care, we complain because we do.

Of course everything changes in 2015 when the composition of the council changes Then the dominance of "old" Naperville should diminish..

I would hope those two would step up - but the views they ran on aren't going to be anything new or different. Connections there are more of the same - but if they are willing to work toward honest government, then they have a chance.

I'm giving McElroy and Chirico their first year to learn the job and study the current situation. Year two I expect both of them to start plowing some serious ground and show what they have in terms of leadership. If they fail to do that then all of us better spend year three encouraging the right people to start thinking about running for mayor and city council in year four.

This year we also have to actively encourage the right people to run for city council next year. In two short years we will have another shot at replacing 4 more incumbent city council members. Frankly, there isn't one among them that is worth keeping another term so we really do have a fantastic opportunity to give MeElroy and Chirico some serious help in terms of clearing out all of the dead wood. With a majority of six new city council members the new council members would have the votes and the leverage to start the long overdue reorganization of city hall.

None of this bodes well for any of the business-as-usual bureaucrats at city hall. I'm predicting a slew of early retirements and job changes coming about in the next 2-3 years. Any middle managers and anyone with the word "Assistant" in their job title would be well advised to start updating their resume and to start putting away a little extra each payday... just in case...

That's why the entire management team needs to be turned over, Krieger is horrendous, but he doesn't achieve horrendous alone. He works for a City Council that is dead set on keeping business as usual for themselves and their "friends"- even if it comes at the expense of the residents and the workforce. Those who work for him are only too happy to provide whatever answers are expected, with no regard for the truth, just to save themselves - again with no regard for what that means for those who live in the community or work for them. The culture of dishonesty and self promotion is so ingrained that people don't even seem to see it anymore, and it get's worse by the day. There is NO ONE in the City who dares to tell the truth - they tell the City Manager what he says he wants to hear, and he tells the Council what they have told him they expect to hear. Most do this for one reason, and that is to keep their jobs - understandable to a degree, but at what point is it that a persons integrity is sold and they no longer care what happens to those who need to depend on them to do the right thing?

The exit of DF almost certainly will help, as he was without a doubt the lead bully. It just isn't enough. The culture is too ingrained - those who benefit from it are willing to do anything to keep what they have, and toss aside anyone who might be a threat to that. They don't care to let even the law stop them - as is evidenced by the money spent in the legal department to defend grossly unethical management actions.

Until change happens from the top down (Council and Sr. Management) nothing is going to change. You can cut staff, and reorganize to your hearts content, but so long as the culture remains the same, the results will never change. The lack of ethics from the over 100,000 a year club (includes everyone director level and above) won't allow the lower half of the organization to thrive .... which might not seem to matter to many, but the vast majority of the services provided to residents are provided by these people. If this group is continually lied to and beaten down, so goes the City and it's reputation. A very few prosper, but the good of those who the municipality is supposed to serve is neglected. What number do you think a City like that ends up as in future "best place to live" polls? Number two in 08 won't even cut the top 100 by 2012, and it only goes down from there.

1) I'm not defending Krieger, by any means. However, the City was screwed up when Burchard was in charge. "There is no such thing as morale." It just never got better.

2) I agree about the department heads, some making six figures, or close to it. There's just a lot of things there that need to be fixed.

If you saw the Mayor's comments on the budget from one of the candidate forums, you know disucssion of any analysis ain't coming from him.

Despite DF's pompus attitude he did ask budget questions, so did Big Bad Jim. Now they're both gone. Who steps up?

Judy-would rather quote Shakespear
Kenn-proved to be a dope, my bad
Douggie-um, no
Rant-Maybe, but needs a lesson in civility
Paul-sheesh, no
McElroy-?
Chirico-?
Fielseler-nah, he's too smart for us

The City has hired other positions that have been left vacant due to retirements etc. They have not expanded staff anywhere, but a portion of the staff that has left has been replaced - I don't think any of those positions had previously been fired during the two staff reductions though.

If the police are needed or not, I have no idea - one thing we do all need to remember though is that even if the City cut 100 more positions tomorrow, that money won't be flowing back to any of us - we might bail out another Carillon Tower, or another Childrens Museum - we might go over budget on more projects like the oh so popular smart grid - and most likely your City Manager and his followers would get fantastic bonus's - but that money would not flow back into the tax payers hands. Its funny how three police officers can get so much coverage and make everyone so angry at the spending, but the millions that are spent questionably at best, seem to get a pass.

This City needs to see some REAL budget numbers - not the ones they bend to suit their interests of the day. If that were to happen, intelligent choices could be made about what is really NEEDED, and what is fluff.

Good post. Cops like to make it about hating cops. It's easier for them. Then, they don't have to think and can just dismiss you. It has nothing to do with that. The Police Chief always wants more cops. It's easier than doing any actual analysis. So, when we were down three cops, did crime shoot through the roof. Not that I heard.

Police are necessary. How many of them, and in what positions is open for discussion-sort of-not really. It's handled by a Police Chief with a vested interest, and an inept Mayor who is a former cop, Council and staff-of which the Ast. Mgr. is an ex-cop. The deck seems a little stacked. They are in the security businesss. They can put numbers on what they do.

Just curious, has the City hired anyone else, in any other department back since the blood lettings? Or is it all about the cops, as usual. Sun, can you find out?

T.B.,

Just about everything that has ever been posted on Potluck is someone's personal opinion. No surprises there and is kind of the purpose of why Potluck exists... since case no one clued you in and you weren't able to figure it out on your own...

Having too many "management level" police officers is hardly nonsense. It costs taxpayers dearly. The organizational structure of the police department is old school and hasn't evolved. It is irresponsible to have all of these redundant levels of bureaucratic management in government when the private sector has proven they are not needed and only serve to lower productivity and accountability.

The police chief is responsible for the department organization. He has had decades to reform it and make it leaner. Instead he paved the way for his own department to become needlessly bloated mostly because the more people he manages the more he thought he deserved to be paid. Step one is to replace the police chief because he clearly does not know how to be fiscally responsible and he does not embrace contemporary management principles.

Clearly there are more than a few parts of the system that are screwed up and need to be reformed. But I'd be happy if we started by replacing the current chief of police because he is clearly out of touch.

Love cops, hate cops, tolerate cops... that isn't the point and isn't relevant. What is relevant if for the police department, the police officers, and the police union to respect the citizens who fully pay for their existence and appreciate that there isn't a blank check laying on the table for everything and anything the police wish for.

Wish I could disagree with some of this, but most of it is true. The blame as always lies with the current management team - they play games trying to make themselves look good when in reality they are good at nothing except covering themselves and hiding their mistakes.

Replace the City Manager and the Department Directors across the board (includes Dial of course) - bring in ethical experienced managers - cut the BIG bonus's these folks give themselves, cut the car allowances they think are their birthright - have them pay the same percentage of their salaries to health insurance etc. as they expect the lowest paid employee's to contribute. Once that's done, morale all over the City will go up, productivity all over the City will go up, and costs all over the City will go down. So long as the leaders are lying to themselves and each other as well as the residents and staff, nothing is going to change.

This little move by Krieger is a desperate effort to save himself. He has messed up everything he has touched in the City, and there isn't a City employee anywhere who believes a word he says. The "re-org" is a joke, the 2% raises are even funnier given the benefits they plan to strip before the end of May, and Krieger hasn't made an accurate prediction on the budget since he became City Manager. One day everything is sunny, the next we are in multi million dollar crisis.

Anyone who falls for what he's selling this time either hasn't been paying attention, or probably already owns several acres of swampland as their retirement investment plan.