" Wow! So, being a Mr Fix-it pays more than say.... those who put their lives on the line everyday?

Simply amazing - only in Mattoon, & I'm sure other places on the map.

Heck, maybe we all ought to go into the boiler slag business.

I wonder if we could attend live remote learning centers, while we learn this trade?

Who'd of thought making mud pies as a kid could really pay off big, one day.

Pizza is on me! "

" The city council has a long history of "rubber stamping" 3%, 4%, and 5% pay raises across the board, whether the employees deserved it or not. Mr. Hall voted correctly, the others did not at this time of cutbacks, layoffs, and economic uncertainty. "

" What a load of crap. They whine about the fire department costing them so much then give everyone else a raise. Raises to departments like those in charge of the lake. They must not see the lake ever. Just another example of the city counsel's lack of respect for the citizens and their back handedness. "

" Typical of the powers that be....give management raises but not the people actually doing the work. Which is really sad - considering at least one of them can't even show up for work on a regular basis! "

" I remember getting a pamplet from Tim Gover, promising there would be no more GOOD OLE BOY Politics in Mattoon, hey Tim, guess you're a LIAR, you just gave a raise to managment, the very people who screw up Mattoon on a regular basis, I'm a voting constituant, explain that to me. I'm waiting. Do you know what the difference between a Prositute and a Harlot is? A Prostitute sells her/himeself for political gain, A Harlot sells her/himself for money to help their family.




545 PEOPLE

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices, 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.
What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? Nancy Pelosi. She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red ..

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ .

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses. Provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess! "

" What revenue shortage? It sure seems funny that the $800,000 budget shortfall was taken care of so quickly. Now we can get back to handing out raises to the top management! Do not forget most if not all of these employees get longevity bonuses on top of these "base" rates that add an additional 10 to 15% to the totals.

I do not put it past the Council and Preston to invent a budget shortfall just to get concessions from the Unions. After all, it's only (our) money. "

" The problem with percentage raises for all is that those on the bottom get little, while those such as Wortman and Owen get a pretty decent amount, and the gap between those on the bottom and those at the top widens even more.

This is a slap in the face to all who have lost their jobs and those on SS who have been told they will not receive a COL increase this year. And we were told the city is broke by Owen, so I'm sure he'll donate his raise to the paper clip fund, and no doubt Wortman will donate his toward the boiler slag fiasco clean up costs.

Another thing I've noticed is that a certain company from Effingham seems to get a lot of local contracts. Is Wortman from Effingham? Who's in charge of opening the supposed sealed bids for the city construction type of contracts? "

" The public works director makes more then the chief of police, how very freaking sad "

" Seems to me, the PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR makes an exuberant amount of money for making things so hard for everyone.
Maybe the city fathers should start making pay raises according to the physical labor involved. WOW....some of the city workers would really make a good pay check. Then, there would be a few who have to pay the city to let them work.
According to the run down of pay; our city pays the city management sort of like our US Goverment pays thier management. Hmmmmmm
ISN'T IT A SHAME??? "

" Cause all the chief does is stand around and smoke cigs,bobbie.lol "

" Even though it does not change the totals, Wortman and Owen got their raises this last spring! It looks as if they were not willing to wait until now, like the rest of the employees, for their raise.

I'll bet Preston did not say anything to the Council about a budget shortfall when he wrote up his own contract extension. "

" .... tourism coordinator, $43,333; community development coordinator, $50,388; city clerk, $59,996; transportation manager, $63,397; information technology director, $63,653; wastewater plant superintendent, $66,206; water plant superintendent, $67,829; deputy police chief, $67,897; lake and parks superintendent, $70,921; public works superintendent, $71,634; police chief, $72,671; public works director, $82,162; and city attorney and treasurer, $85,538.

Is it any wonder that Mattoon is broke? No wonder they keep selling off city property and cutting hourly positions. They have to just to meet the payroll demands of this bunch of over paid bureaucrats. "

" I was pleased to see that Rick Hall opposed across-the-board pay raises for City workers. Of course, he will be soundly criticized for doing so. But it is the first time in recent history when a councilman took a stand. Fair? Not particularly but neither is life. The right thing to do? You bet. Pay increases should be the result of something beyond showing up and warming a chair. City workers may be shocked to know that elsewhere in Coles County even hard-working employees have gone several years without an increase but those employeers -- as opposed to City workers -- understand that things are tough. "

" I would hope that the two "newbies" on the council, and our mayor, would use more common sense in future votes that involve tax money, especially pay issues. "

" If I didn't miss one, the sum of these wages is 865,625. Isn't that very close to how much the red ink in the general fund was presented to be. This is just their wages, if their pension and benefits are anything close to how the 50k sallary firefighter was presented, total cost to taxpayers in wages and benefits, each is doubled to a total of 1,731,250. That doesn't even include additional taxpayer funded perks like travel, vehicles, organization dues, or other fringe benefits. This is just for 13 jobs, don't forget.

Does any of this action also apply to council members, and the mayor. I fail to see their compensations outlayed.

Hall spoke out, that should be commended.

No matter how the vote went, none of the others felt providing the public with reasoning for their decision was worth offering. 13 people are more important than the taxpayers footing all the bills, evidently.

If this is just the beginning for Hall, in being an advocate for taxpayers interests, is 3 plus long years of decisions from knowing for sure. Had raises gone on merit, even that would have been a contested issue.

All for one and one for all reasoning would sugest if the city is doing poorly, no on has merit to seek or get any size of raise. Pay cuts would be much more in line with the reality they have created, as a group.

Discussing the cons of decisions openly, is something this body has long been completely lax in. Four others didn't vote no. The absent can be counted, because this could have easily been tabled for later, or he could have made a point to be there, if it were important enough a decision for this body to have all possible votes and elected leaders heard on the matter.

The three yes votes, felt 13 people getting yet another raise, outweighed any cons to doing it, presented or otherwise.

Pay freezes are a reality all over the place, in all segments of society, and government. Union workers are accepting pay cuts, and benefit reductions to keep their companies solvent and ultimately their jobs. Seen some reports of folks taking pay cuts, just so co workers could keep jobs or avoid layoffs. Mattoon city government seems impervious to any of thos notions. Whats mine is mine, and more of yours needs to be mine, because of the service I am providing to the community, seems to be more prevalent in many local entities.

Many decisions shouldn't be rushed through the process. Part of the perception of outside the open public meetings act actions, is limited discussion, and rushed votes. This was a fairly big decision, and only 1 made any point to get concerns with it on the record.

This decision shows they seek to not live within their means, and continue to increase their means on the backs of taxpayers.

This raise, for these 13 folks, is about cost of the NIU study, which has yet to offer any bang for its buck. Many staffing decisions have been made, since the election. Next months meeting should have the studies results, but hedging any and all non critical bets until those results come in, was not an acceptable course of action. Even contract full renewals, should have held off for the outside look to be completed.

I don't think NIU center for governmental studies represents taxpayers well, from what I can find, but since they were retained for a specific evaluating task, those results should ultimately speak for themselves.

This vote seems to have things headed straight for yet another max levy on property taxes. Any and all tax funded jobs through the city, seem to be facing at least a 3% raise. Because 13 got one, they now must all fit the same fairness dispite failures or shortfalls standards. "

" If you would layoff all the city employees , who lean on shovels, and sit in the truck all day, we would have a surplus in the city budget. "

" tourism coordinator, $43,333

Tell me something folks, what is the job description for this position?...

Making flyers, for people to come and watch our Amish Brothers ride in buggys?......because I don't know of any other attractions.....(Little League Baseball maybe?..... "

" lake and parks superintendent, $70,921;


For this money could we not get this guy to mow at the lake??

community development coordinator, $50,388;

I would think this ammount should go down since there is not really a whole lot of developement going on! "

" to Just Watching, that is a very good post that i totally agree with. just yesterday i went down lakeland and looked over at the fancy smancy police building and guess what? i counted 5 uniformed cops and the chief standing out front smoking. it would sure be nice to get paid 65,000+ and do nothing but smoke. "

" Someone mentioned the NIU study that cost the taxpayers $25,000 or so, so why is the final report not been released to whose who payed for it (us) in the local paper?

I would wager it concluded the overly generous raises were NOT recommended, but I could be wrong.

Anyone? "

" This same stuff goes on in Charleston too.The city workers are for the most part overpaid.Family members getting hired,heck even our retirement aged ex sign maker I noticed today is now working for the city.The good ole' boy system lives here too. But the taxpayers are supossed to turn a blind eye when we see this going on. Just calling it like I see it !!! "

" 61938 wrote on Jul 23, 2009 7:04 PM:
" to Just Watching, that is a very good post that i totally agree with. just yesterday i went down lakeland and looked over at the fancy smancy police building and guess what? i counted 5 uniformed cops and the chief standing out front smoking. it would sure be nice to get paid 65,000+ and do nothing but smoke. "

If they have to smoke somewhere, I'd rather it not be in the cars at least. For the simple fact we would need new cars sooner. "

" At least he ( the chief) goes to work thats more then you can say for wortman "

" " to Just Watching, that is a very good post that i totally agree with. just yesterday i went down lakeland and looked over at the fancy smancy police building and guess what? i counted 5 uniformed cops and the chief standing out front smoking. it would sure be nice to get paid 65,000+ and do nothing but smoke. "

NO they get paid to write tickets to teenager for being at the car wash and other place the have to pick on the teenager they couldn't catch a true criminal "

" " Seems to me, the PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR makes an exuberant amount of money for making things so hard for everyone.
Maybe the city fathers should start making pay raises according to the physical labor involved. WOW....some of the city workers would really make a good pay check. Then, there would be a few who have to pay the city to let them work.
According to the run down of pay; our city pays the city management sort of like our US Goverment pays thier management. Hmmmmmm
ISN'T IT A SHAME??? "

they couldn't handle the work. heck some of them can't even show up for work "

" Same old same old.

Clout taint our jaded view, must have hit a nerve, when it started in on local taint and clout. It got randomly archived, of course. Unusual for their submissions to be subject to that.

Squashing, encourages readers to engage in civil conversation with their neighbors, exactly how? Evidently their disclaimer should include, as long as local toes don't get stepped on in the process.

Pay no attention to the folks behind the curtain. lHey, look over there, issues somewhere else or certain local individuals, can be painted with any brush you like, but don't run certain local laundry out on the line too.

Business as usual is alive and well, and has a distinct pungent taint of its own. "

" Minimum wage earners get their automatic raises. Why shouldn't the city workers get their automatic raises?

The economy is bad and they're hurting don't ya know?

You're just mean and uncaring people to not want them to get their automatic raises! "

" It was encouraging to see how widely it is understood that the work ethic at City Hall has vanished. Employee indifference is widespread. Unfortunately, "management" leads by example. Why should workers make any effort if their boss is never in the office and makes no pretense to hide the fact? The situation is pathetic. But don't look for it to change. "

" NeoCon Academician wrote:
" Minimum wage earners get their automatic raises. Why shouldn't the city workers get their automatic raises?
The economy is bad and they're hurting don't ya know?
You're just mean and uncaring people to not want them to get their automatic raises! "

---------------------------------------
I think you are being sarcastic, and I had a good laugh at your post, but....

Lets have the City workers live a year on minimum wage, They would have to sell their boats ,cars,motorcycles,golf clubs, and probably actually have to work !!....ouhhh how horrible that would be !!.... :) "

" I just talked to Vice President Joe(Hair Plugs)Biden, and he said the city has to spend it's way out of this mess. He said that's what Obama would recommend.

It's possible Joe's hair plugs may have been planted a tad too deep......... "