Peru City Clerk and Alderman make donations

Few people would reject a pay raise, but that was the case for the Peru City Clerk Dave Bartley.

Elected officials in Peru can’t boost or cut their pay while in office, so when city ordinance called for a raise to Bartley’s salary he couldn’t legally refuse it.  But instead of keeping the extra cash for himself, he’s donated it back to the city.  About $541 is being given to the Maud Powell Celebration and the Movies at Maud Summer Series.

The city council accepted the donations last night.  They also accepted a $1,000 donation from Alderman Rodney Perez.  During his recent campaign, Perez promised to give the money to the Peru Pool Fund.

La Salle County real estate tax bills mailed out

Have you checked your mail recently?  Real estate tax bills were mail out Wednesday in La Salle County.

You can pay by sending a check payable to the La Salle County Collector to the treasure’s office.  You could also drop it off in the drop box outside of the Etna Road Governmental Complex.  They’ll also accept credit cards.

You could also sign up to have it automatically withdrawn from your checking or savings account.

The first installment will be due Tuesday, June 7 with the second installment due Wednesday, September 7.

New Mayor Takes Charge In Marseilles

History has been made in Marseilles.

Patti Smith became the first ever woman mayor of Marseilles after being sworn in Wednesday night.  The former Illinois River Area of Chamber of Commerce director beat incumbent Jim Trager in last month’s election.

Newcomer Robert Kaminski also joined the city council Wednesday night.

Local Red Cross volunteer visits Alabama for tornado relief

The Tornado relief effort in Alabama is receiving help from a local Red Cross disaster volunteer.  Mike Helberg arrived in Alabama Monday night to work as a logistic supervisor in a warehouse.

Sarah Stasik is the executive director of the Red Cross office in Peru.  She says Helberg was likely selected to go there since he has a CDL license and a lot of experience.

Last week’s tornado outbreak was the second deadliest in U.S. history. It killed 329 people across seven states and left stretches of the South from Mississippi to Virginia in ruin. Alabama was especially hard hit.

Hispanic Expo to be held in La Salle

The Illinois Valley is home to a growing Hispanic population.  Area businesses are using an expo Thursday afternoon to reach out to them.

The Annual Hispanic Expo is from four until seven today at Casas Banquet Center next to the El Amigo Restaurant on 8^th Street in La Salle.

Gabriela Ortiz of AM 1220 WLPO’s La Voz de la Comunidad will be on hand.

Peru moving forward with streets program

Contractors are looking for work and that’s making for better bid prices for cities with projects planned.  Officials in Peru believe that’s why the bid they received for this year’s street program is more competitive than last years.

Len Trovero Construction submitted the lowest bid at $537,000.  Mayor Scott Harl says the bids they received this year were lower than last year’s in many areas.  He thinks the difference is because they were late to go out for bids last year and contractors already had jobs.  The program was bidded out earlier this year.  There ended up not being a streets project last year.

The cost of this year’s program is about $200,000 less than for which they budgeted.  Alderman Dave Waldorf says he would like to see if they could get the contractor to extend the same unit prices to another contract that would include additions streets.

They plan to approve the list of addition projects next Monday.

Blagojevich Retrial Continues Today

CHICAGO (AP) – Rod Blagojevich’s former chief of staff will be back on the stand for a third day at the impeached
governor’s political corruption retrial.

Federal prosecutors are expected to continue questioning John Harris today. He’ll then be cross-examined by the defense. Harris has told jurors how he and Blagojevich discussed ways the governor could leverage the appointment of President Barack Obama’s vacated U.S. Senate seat into campaign cash or a top job.

Harris said the cash-strapped governor was eager to leave Illinois for a high-paying, high-powered position elsewhere.