Danville Illinois Mayor Scott Eisenhauer Forum Page

Mayor Eisenhauer monitors this forum on a regular basis. Obviously he in unable to answer every inquiry personally due to heavy administrative demands. The public is always invited to give him a call for specifics.
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Retail Incentive for Steve and Barrys in the Mall - Reply to email questions.

I think a further explanation may help in understanding why this is so important. These negotiations began two years ago when both of these stores were looking at Danville. Because it was a new program, we took extremely diligent measures in negotiating, tracking, and finalizing the details of how this program will operate in the future. I bring this up only so you note that when this process began these were new stores bringing new money into the community, but in order to encourage them to locate here they needed some rate relief on their rent. This incentive program helps provide this opportunity. You stated several times that attracting retail to this community is extremely important and we must set ourselves apart from other communities by offering them an economical advantage to locate here rather than somewhere else. I completely disagree with you that this is not a good business…this is a good business which has contributed employment and retail shopping opportunities to our citizens. Recruiting retail businesses is an extremely difficult process and especially right now…we are making the right decision in setting ourselves in a better position over others to recruit and retain business. In government you are “damned if you do and damned if you don’t”. We were heavily criticized for “doing nothing” when Goody’s and Hobby Lobby left (even though we tried and was turned down) and yet when we established an incentive program in 2006 and now try to use it we are criticized again. We are trying to change our reputation, and some of that reputation is that we have nowhere to shop…it is in our best interest that we use EVERY tool and resource available to us to recruit and retain ALL businesses including retail. Thank you for your comments and have a great day despite the rain. Scott

Mayor's Response to a letter to the Editor after declining funding a grant..

In light of Kevin Flynn’s recent letter to the editor, I wanted to take a moment to address and clarify the reasons behind my decision to turn-down Kevin’s $10,000 request to reimburse him for his joint venture with Danville Township’s ‘Driven to Succeed’ bus. Contrary to Mr. Flynn’s opinion, it is not because I am without conscience or hate all people as his letter suggests. The City was approached – not to participate in the project, but to reimburse Mr. Flynn for his personal contribution to the program. It was only after the program had been created; after it was implemented; and after it was operational that I was approached for the $10,000 in funding. There are two reasons behind my decision. First, if the City of Danville is going to partner with anyone we need to be at the table from the very beginning so our input may be given on the projects…goals and objectives…the full creation of the project from start to finish which would also meet our end goals. Secondly, as it stands today we simply do not have the money in order to contribute/reimburse. I think we can all agree there are many, many worthwhile, local organizations and projects that we could partner with; having finances to contribute is another matter entirely. Also, let it not be forgotten the city DOES fund a bus route for local citizens to take to and from C-U. While it is not used for employment alone, it is still a viable option for travel to and from employment opportunities in C-U. Should Mr. Flynn be in attendance at this evening’s meeting as I suspect he may, please keep in mind the real reasons behind the decision and the real story as to when the city was approached for $10,000 and why. It was not to be a partner, it was to reimburse Mr. Flynn’s personal contributions to the program after the fact.

Scott

(1) If at least half of the people who used to buy gas in Danville now buy their gas in other communities as a result of the 4 cent tax increase on gas sold in Danville, then how do we expect to generate about $1 Million a year for road repairs? Wouldn't it be closer to $500,000? Or is the $1 Million already taking into account the loss from people driving on down the road to find cheaper gas? And if so was there and is there still an advantage to the tax increase?

(2) Why wouldn't we have increased property taxes? Shouldn't the people who live in Danville be the ones that want better streets and a better quality of life? It seems to me that we are trying to make the people who don't live here or drive on our streets pay for city street improvements? Granted some of those people actually drive on the streets in Danville, however being a community that sits on the state line most of those potential gas purchases do not!

(3) Won't this all just result in lost revenue? Wouldn't we want to apply for grants to convert our traffic lights from incandescent to LED and use those savings toward street improvements? Wouldn't we want to modify our city buildings so that they are greener and use less energy? Wouldn't we want to strip everything that we could from buildings that we are going to demolish and recycle it to recouped some of the losses?

I'm simply at a loss and don't understand where the city of Danville is headed? And I think other people feel the same way? There is no real solid plan of action and it seems like we want to put Band-Aids on things hoping that they will fix themselves? I think you already know that you have a variety of talented people that reside in Danville and could contribute if you were to give them the chance? Maybe, you should consider an Citizens Advisory Board or Committee, that way concepts and ideas that you or city personnel might never even think of can be brought before you? Or for that matter maybe restructure one of your existing boards, creating a "Think Tank"? All I know is that we have got to break the mold and start thinking outside the box if we are going to get anywhere! We can't just keep raising taxes without coming up with ideas or ways to conserve. Pretty soon people will just give up if you don't get them involved in the process. Maybe a Youth Advisory Board? Or Youth on the Citizens Advisory Board / Committee / Team?

Thanks,

Greg Thatcher

428 Oak St.

Danville, IL 61832

The Reference Article;

Danville officials aiming to 'raise the bar' this year

By The News-Gazette

Friday, May 2, 2008 7:06 AM CDT

DANVILLE – City officials want to "raise the bar."

Mayor Scott Eisenhauer said this fiscal year's theme, "Raising the bar," is intended to put pride back into Danville.

"One of the things I think holds us back a little bit is some believe we don't deserve better and that creates a lack of pride among the members of our community," Eisenhauer said.

City officials, he said, "long had the belief that if we're going to do something, let's do it right or not do it at all."

"Not only do I think that this community deserves the best, but as the slogan suggests, we should expect the best."

City officials will take short- and long-term measures to improve business development, create destination locations and improve pride in the community through stricter and quicker enforcement of ordinances or by offering incentives for neighborhood improvements.

"Everyone in this community deserves to have the best parks, the best facilities, the best neighborhoods and the best community," he said.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mayor's Reply :

Greg….

Have we raised the bar too much…absolutely not. The people in this community deserve the best, and we need to work hard as elected officials to provide the best. Yes, sometimes that means spending a little more money, but are we worth it….yes I think we are and I think we are worth it. Far too long we have taken the attitude we don’t deserve better or that we are not worth having what other communities have…bull crap…we are worth it and we need to make it happen.

First, lets be honest about the gas tax. I hear everyday people tell me they are going to buy their gas in Tilton now, and yet Tilton has had a five cent gas tax for two years now, and since their price and ours is the same does that mean that gas stations in Tilton were just eating that cost everyday for two years or were we paying too much for two years….I have a guess. Then I found it odd that in Covington, where everyone else was going to get their gas now, the day our tax went into effect they were 31 cents higher than we were…..31 cents!!!!! How is that possible when Indiana does not have the same state gas tax as we do in Illinois….that should never happen yet it did. For a day maybe two people will be conscientious about the gas price, then in a month or so the prices will all be the same, the fluctuation in gas prices will occur daily and no one will realize we have a gas tax….certainly there will be no difference in prices. That is exactly what happened when we added the one cent gas tax, and if you look around it is already starting to happen and the tax has only been in affect 6 days. Yes there is a big advantage to the tax increase…a dedicated fund to pay for road repair and replacement that without, we would never have a chance to begin repairing the 187 miles of centerline road we have in the city. We cannot continue to push our infrastructure off hoping someday someone pays for all of it to be fixed and rebuilt…if you want to talk about what turns off potential developers, that is high on the list.

I am totally against property tax increases and feel as though property tax is the most regressive tax government has created. I beg people to fix up their properties in hopes of making our neighborhoods and city as a whole look better, and then when they do go out and paint, side their house, add a room, fix the roof, etc. the assessor comes along, jacks up their property value, and increases their tax. What incentive is there for ANYONE to fix their property when they know it will only cost them more in the end in elevated property taxes. Whether you own property, rent, or just passing through, you use the roads and therefore should help to pay for their maintenance.

We do a lot of cost saving measures in this city. We consolidated four public works buildings into one facility, and one that provides free heat for 15 years totaling a savings of $750,000. We are in the process of converting all lights in the city to LED and some of that savings has been put to street repair. We do, when remodeling, look for energy saving opportunities including “green” building opportunities, but unfortunately we do not have the available cash to simply change over every one of our facilities. We cannot strip everything we can find from the buildings which are being demolished because it is not safe for anyone to be in these buildings. If you have been through any we are tearing down, there is no way to safely send anyone in to salvage, and quite frankly our insurance companies would NEVER allow it. Work comp is too high as it is, let alone start sending employees into falling down structures and ask them to start tearing things off the wall to salvage them. You have not been in the structures we are tearing down to know exactly what shape they are in and how dangerous they are to be inside.

Greg, we have a think tank everyday where we accept suggestions or ideas…its called notifying the Mayor’s office. I am ALWAYS open to new ideas, new suggestions, creative ways of doing things, and in fact, have been more than happy to use other people’s ideas for making this community better. We have a Mayor’s Youth Council, we have used the EDGE program in conjunction with DACC, we will be tapping into the public again this summer with the strategic planning process. But anytime you, your friends, your co-workers or neighbors have an idea, a suggestion, a creative way to do something different, then don’t wait for some meeting but rather call me, email me, snail mail me, text me….get me the information so we can review it and possibly run with it. We don’t need more committee meetings, what we need are people willing to forward their ideas to me so we can analyze them and put them to work for us. This administration and this council has done a lot of things differently and we are moving forward quicker than any council before us…now is the time to pass along those ideas if you want them implemented.

As always, thank you very much for your thoughts and concerns and I appreciate the time you took to forward them to me.

Scott Eisenhauer

From: Ron Candido
Sent: Wednesday, February 22, 2006 9:54 AM
To: Scott Eisenhauer
Subject: General

Scott,

One item in the budget that seems low is the projected revenue on page 78 ($300) from what I believe is the revenue from illegal burning and alarm problems and maybe lifting assistance. If we only project that expectation that is probably all we will receive. Miscellaneous line items are hard to project because you don't know from one year to the next how many alarms you will have installed, how many false alarms you can bill, etc. It is always my opinion we should be as conservative as possible with those revenue lines so we kept it very small. We don't
receive much in those anyway, so it is best to project short and hope for extra in the end.

MAYOR'S REPLY IN YELLOW
When I talked with Director Alexander last year he told me the DTEP grants were no longer available. After I went home and read my budget
again last night, I realized we do not show that grant as revenue. I will again review the DTEP program and what it means to our ticket revenues.

Here are a couple of other areas that I think should be investigated in the next year.

            -With the projected increases in electricity cost (25% or more) in 2007 and beyond, are there projects to reduce our costs? For
example, are there areas where street lights could be reduced without jeopardizing safety? You will notice that north Jackson seems to be
over lighted. Also there are several intersections where street lights are located next to business lights which are on when it is dark and
street lights aren't needed. Do we really need those outdated lights and ugly wiring on West 150? Do we a need a power management system for our
buildings? Much of this is already underway. We are currently completing an inventory of our lights with the idea of looking for areas
to reduce the number of light poles where we are "over lighting" an area. This process continues but has identified several areas already where we
can reduce the number of lights in an area. We are eliminating the Rt 150 lighting. we are currently paying for that service and have decided
to no longer pay. It is tough to use a power manager for many of our facilities because of their age. that is why we were hoping to move into
one facility. With some of the poor insulation and older light fixtures, it is hard to renovate for better power preservation in these older buildings of ours.

            -Ask our health care provider how much our premium would be reduced if we had a "no smoking" clause.

We will check.

-Can we cap our contributions for health care? Can we have a higher contribution rate for smokers?

Not sure about higher rate for smokers. we will look into that. We are considering changes in the deductible, the cap, and the long term payout which will save us some
money but make the employee pay more so they are less likely to run up expensive bills since they would be responsible for a bigger portion of it.

            -What can we do contractually in all departments to reduce overtime by using under utilized personnel? For example can Parks
people be used to patrol    parks as "park rangers" and man extra refuse trucks so pick up doesn't have to be done on overtime? We will discuss
further the park ranger idea. We constantly review our staffing to make sure that we are utilizing our manpower to the fullest extent. This process will continue as long as I am here.

            -Is overtime equalized among department employees? Are there a maximum number of hours an employee may work in a day in a non-emergency situation? For example, no more than 12 hours of a day. Some of the union contracts have language that they can only work certain hours a day, but we do not have any language in the personnel policy. That is an issue I need to spend more time on.

            -Vacation policy. For example, do we allow a person to have a maximum of 2 weeks off during the summer months of May, June, July and
August? Balance of vacations must be taken in "off peak" months. Do we have a maximum percentage of a department that is allowed off? For
example, only 10% of a department may be on vacation at the same time. Are there vacation groups so key people are not allowed off at the same
time (this includes management)? Are there times when mandatory vacation can be used?

The answer to all of these questions is YES. That has been established in every department. The one area which was not very well thought out is in the fire department where the Assistant Chiefs can work for each other at an overtime rate. We are addressing that in contract talks.

            -Expand areas and responsibilities for parking enforcement employee. (Expired registration and handicapped parking and areas other than downtown.) Dawne, Doug, and I have a meeting scheduled on this topic.

            -Rejuvenate rental listing program. The landlords association along with the city have a committee established to review the entire ordinance, which will then be passed on to your committee. The registration program is a key to this ordinance which is being addressed.

            -Have ad-hoc committee meet on permit costs.

            -Pursue increasing the sales tax on food from the current 1% level.

            -Can we combine secretarial duties in some areas?

Most of this was done two years ago and we had hoped by consolidating some
divisions in one building more could take place. With it spread out it Is difficult to accomplish what needs to be done. I think we are at a
minimum number now for what we are asking them to cover.

-Recycle program and establishing funding for new trucks requiring less people for pick up. More info forthcoming on this very issue.

-Does our safety committee have statistical data on injuries by cause, department, etc.? Are there reports written? Do we have a
published formal safety program and policy starting at the top of our government? Are injury reports reviewed with all personnel? Are safety
talks given on a regular basis? Do we have safety procedures? Are they reviewed on an annual basis? If reviewed with employees, do they sign
off on the review?

Again, YES to almost all of this. Our safety program is one of the greatest accomplishments in the last three years. Our injury claims and our liability claims are all down significantly because of many of the things you have suggested. The committee meets once a month to review claims and discuss preventable or non-preventable. We track monthly that statistical data, and Jeannie and I review every written report. Safety talks are provided routinely and one of the areas where we have improved is in the amount of training offered and received. Safety procedures are established by department and are reviewed constantly in staff meetings. We have implemented a
formal sign-off procedure for each employee so documentation can be placed in their file. This is the one area of the city I am most happy with and the reduction in number of claims have been wonderful.

-Establish a suggestion program for our employees where they are rewarded based upon the amount of savings.

We have done this twice since I have been here. The first time two years ago and again in October of this past year. The first time we received great suggestions
in large numbers (over 130 suggestions) while this time we received two.

I am sure you have a much larger agenda but I thought I would pass these n. I would be willing to help on any of the above. I will take you up
on that. Thanks. Ron

SUBJECT: Comment
NAME: Dustin Wright
PHONE:
EMAIL: Dustin72982Ayahoo.com
DATE: June26,2004

COMMENTS:

Dear Mayor I would like to say you have done a wonderful job as mayor so far and please keep it up and Don't give up on trying to make Danville a Great Place to live like it was 100 years ago. Mayor I would like to Know what you are doing About Getting Jobs In Danville that we the citizens need the most and what are trying to do about it . I would also like to know if you will be trying to save some of our Most historic Buildings in Downtown Danville Because it will help Danville's image to have historic buildings in town. mayor i want know if you would be considering something about our drug and gang problems in Danville around our bad spots in the city because i think Danville is becoming a little Chicago again like it was called back in the 1920's, Danville used to be a great place when i was young , what i mean is that YOU COULD LEAVE YOUR DOOR UNLOCKED or you could be able to just walk down the street without worrying something bad might happen to you. mayor what do you plane on doing to the old bridge at Elsworth park that you see heading down 150 toward oakwood because i really think you can save that bridge because it is a historic bridge of danvile and it is part of danvilles history to. thank you mayor and keep up the very good work and iam happy that you are trying to do your best for the city and for us citizens to thankyou

SUBJECT: General Inquiry
NAME: Citizen Of Danville
DATE: 3/14/2004

COMMENTS: Hello,

I would like to know why you do not do something about the financial
problems that the city has, other than threatening to take away the
most crucial things, in order to raise fees, taxes, etc.??? You asked
that the city employees submit things to you to help, and
apparently, you are not reading them. This is not a problem that could
not be forseen, and I do not understand why the person responsible for
mismanaging our money is still there. Even the state of IL. stated
that there was mismanagement. There are several ways to handle this
situation, other than demanding that people spend even more to live
here. More positions could be combined, less waste on unnecessary
things, encouraging more small businesses, instead of putting all our
eggs in one basket. Stop giving all the sales tax breaks to get
businesses to move here.

You need to listen to what your employees have to say, instead of
listening to only the department heads.

It will be interesting to see what your next steps will be. Is it
going to be business as usual??

Thank you,
A very concerned person

Reply From Mayor Eisenhauer: Barb.....

Thank you very much for your input. It is interesting why you would think
that we have not listened to our employees. We have listened a great deal
to them, and are re-organizing based on many of their suggestions. There
were some small cost saving measures which we will be implementing, and some
restructuring that we will be doing in hopes of saving more money. But that
will not generate enough money to relieve us of the financial crisis that we
are in. As for who's fault it is.... there are many people at fault if you
want to know the truth, and there is ABSOLUTELY no reason to start pointing
fingers and placing blame. The state does it because a Democrat replaced a
Republican and they wish to demean the other party (it would be the same if
a republican replaced a democrat....that is how state politics works). I
don't play that game. I have a problem and I am trying to find ways to
resolve it......wasting time pointing fingers doesn't get the job done. I
can learn from it to make sure it doesn't happen again, but I will not waste
time voicing it. I do appreciate your comments and concerns and thank you
for your input.

Scott Eisenhauer

SUBJECT: General Inquiry from an Alderman regarding the progress of Code Enforcement Activities

DATE: June 25, 2003

Reply From Mayor Eisenhauer: I believe this Q& A to be of importance to the pubic and am posting same on the forum.

Specific reply-update following is from The Administration, by John Heckler. Head of Development Services

You are quite right on requesting information on the activities of Development Services. Over the course of the next year I am confident you will be pleased at the information you will be receiving. Mayor Eisenhauer and I discussed this from the beginning of his administration. I apologize if my answer on Tuesday night left you with another impression.

At the August Public Services Committee meeting it is my hope that you will able to receive information on code enforcement activities and Neighborhood Revitalization activities that Development Services and Public Works Department are working on.

A power point presentation, a scrape book, pictures and yes cold , hard facts on this activities will be provided. This will be ongoing as we report to the Council, media and citizens how-committed the Mayor, Alderman and staff are in making a difference in cleaning up our city. Like any major project we need time to develop a process that not only cranks out information but meaningful information.

An example: On Wednesday morning I requested an Activity Report from our data base on Code Enforcement/ Property Maintenance. The results are as follows from 5/1/03 to 6/24/03:

Environment Violations

Complaints Logged (initial inspection) 619

Letters Sent 616

Follow-up Inspections 167

Complaints Resolved 461

External Inspections 13 Letters Sent 3 Follow-up Inspections 5

Impressive? Maybe ... but not to you or me because to make the reporting effective the numbers need to broken down.

How many inspections do all inspectors make during a week? How many inspectors will work the full week or are out on vacation/time off. What is nature of the complaints? The department will work on breaking it down so ALL concerned know what the heck we are doing.

We owe it to the elected officials and our citizens, that serve both as our boss and clients, to get that information out.

Goals and Objectives will be formed to lay out a plan for 2004. A quarterly report will be provided to the City Council.

Do you have to wait to 2004 to find out what we are doing? No. The August Public Services Committee meeting will begin report of some of the information you need to do your job as an elected official and my job as Director of the Department.

During the remainder of the year I will get information to you as we explore what works best in developing an effective process of reporting information. As we rebuild and reinvent our department we will provide an excellent reporting system that we all can benefit from.

Thank you for your dedication and interest as an elected official. As Public Works Director Dog Ahrens is fond of saying: "We are all on the same team".

John Heckler