Vote yes for Oglesby city manager on April 1

Yes or no, it comes down to money and leadership on Oglesby’s referendum to change forms of government.

Under the present form, we elect five individuals, give them control over a department and they can spend up to $20,000 at their own discretion, no limit on the number of times. They can hire and fire employees. If they do something wrong, it takes until the next election to remove them. No immediate repercussions for poor performance.

Under the city manager form, only the city manager can spend money and hire and fire employees. The city manager is hired and can be fired by a majority vote of three of five of the City Council. Immediate repercussions for poor performance.

An analogy, your family (citizens of Oglesby) hires five people to take care of the family business (city of Oglesby) for four years and can’t fire them. You give each a checkbook with the family’s money and allow them to spend without approval, provided each check is under $20,000. This is the commissioner form of government.

Your family elects a board of directors (four councilmen and mayor) to hire a manager to take care of the family business. The board decides if and how much the manager can spend without approval. If the manager does something wrong, a majority of three of the board can fire the manager immediately. This is the city manager form of government.

What type of person wants to be a commissioner and what type wants to be a councilman? The inherent flaw of the commissioner form is, it gives commissioners power and money without checks and balances. They can do what they want, spending your money to do it, very appealing to someone that wants to get things done their way. We hope they have good judgement and ethics. If not, we pay for their bad and self-serving decisions.

A councilman under the manager form knows they can’t spend money or hire and fire employees. It attracts civic minded candidates that are concerned with the overall good of Oglesby. They know they must cooperate and negotiate in good faith with each other to pass a budget and a plan, which are given to the manager to follow. They are responsible for monitoring the manager’s adherence to the budget and plan. If necessary, they can redirect or replace the manager. There will be disagreements, but the councilmen can’t spend your money or hire and fire employees.

Five years ago, Oglesby was ordered by the Environnmental Protection Agency to build a new water treatment plant within eight years. In that time the estimated costs have gone from $15 million to over $30 million and interest costs have followed. The $15 million increase will cost each of the 3,800 citizens of Oglesby $3,947.

At the same time, $1.5 million on an ice-skating rink was almost spent. $40,000 was spent on fees before it was stopped. See city minutes for 9/17/18, 12/3/18, 2/4/19, 1/13/20 Item 8.

The mayor has a new office he didn’t ask for, in the basement, courtesy of the commissioners. Cost appears to be between $25,000 and $50,000, can’t get a straight answer.

A city manager’s salary would be approximately $125,000. Their job is to control costs. The police were given a raise one year before it was due, cost $85,000. Will the next one be early? Three city employees have salaries over $100,000.

A 2,600-acre state recreation park is coming, an opportunity for Oglesby. The city is responsible for Walnut Street up to the overpass over 39. The interchange needs to be repaired. In 2020 the estimate was over $750,000. Do you want the current form of government responsible for spending on these million dollar projects?

Add up the past costs. Think about future costs. Can we afford not to have a city manager? The current form doesn’t encourage the wise use of your money.

Vote yes April 1.

• Jay Baxter grew up in DePue, married Colleen Kutz, a lifelong Oglesby resident, in 1983. They have two sons. He is a graduate of IVCC and University of Illinois with a master’s degree in accounting. He became a CPA in 1976. He started his practice in Oglesby in 1990.