Those looking for fireworks at the Carmi City Council meeting July 2nd were left stymied. Instead of addressing an anonymous letter sent prior to the June 18th meeting, Mayor Pollard instead said he was waiting until the meeting was adjourned and then would pass out a packet containing a 6 ½ page press release and 4 pages of supporting documents in response.
In closing, with my stuff, before everybody gets out of here tonight, I have a letter to address a letter that Jc put on the WRUL website so it will have all the questions that were asked. It’s taken me about 2 weeks to write it. There’s 7 pages worth of the letter and 4 pages worth of the union contract. So hopefully that…when we close the meeting, I’ll hand it out to everybody and that way they can take it when they leave.
In it, Pollard said questions are a good thing and that he’s “never not” answered them when asked. He said the problem with the May 21st meeting was Alderwoman Lacey Bradshaw already knew the answers to all of the questions she asked. He would go on to say the question Bradshaw asked about overtime “was trying to paint a picture that there is new activity going on since Bradshaw quit working for the city.” He says that picture is false. With regards to his back and forth with Bradshaw’s father and fellow council member Tracy Nelson at the subsequent meeting, he said “me asking Nelson if he was sure he wanted to discuss it in open session was more about talking freely about Bradshaw and her involvement with paying bills, overtime, and normal office activities, not anything else or trying to hide anything.” Pollard also surmises the letter was written by a disgruntled employee who he says started the lie of raises being given and office salaries being higher than employees with more tenure.
Pollard closed the presser/letter with 3 points saying he intended to not address any more accusations contained in anonymous letters by scurrilous individuals. He also warned individuals who might throw out comments about family members and where they live that that individual should take a good look around before “stirring that pot” because he says a lot of families are affected by those comments besides his own. Finally, he says there is a group searching for someone to run against him and he wants “whoever decides to run to know and realize the position takes a toll on you, your family and even your circle of friends.”
You can read the full statement below.
In regular business, council approved a change order through the Rebuild Illinois grant meant to make repairs for the antenna corral of the west water tower. The $25,500 will come out of that Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity grant.
Council also approved an invoice to pay Marshall Electric $9,960 for work performed behind the Light and Water offices installing a generator. That payment is coming out of TIF 2. Also coming out of TIF 2 funds are payments for $337.50 and $120 to Conger and Elliott for legal work attached to an easement at Rosebud and the state TIF Audit, respectively. Council also approved an invoice for $300 for SI Title Insurance Services for the Rosebud water project.
Council also approved action recommended after the audit delivered by Arlynne Davis of Botsch and Associates. Ordinance #1625 establishes a Local Government Travel Expense Control Act. The second (Ordinance #1626) repeals and replaces sections of a 125 year old ordinance that deals with who keeps track of monies belonging to the City. The 1899 ordinance is handwritten in cursive.
Officials granted Jason Cates a TIF Façade Agreement totaling $3,750 for the property at 211 North Main Cross.
Council adjourned without fanfare at 5:42pm.
Release and documents from Mayor Jeff Pollard:
Tax payer who demands better
July 2, 2024 at 7:57 pmSeems like old Jeffrey ran out of highlighter on a couple of these issues! Funny how the Mayor approves overtime. Must be a pretty hard decision to approve overtime for your wife and stepdaughter.
BeyondthePale
July 4, 2024 at 8:20 pmNepotism is why the major has set himself up for criticism. The Optics aren’t good.
Joe 2
July 3, 2024 at 11:21 amOr see this for what it is. A personal vendetta against elected officials by a disgruntle employee.
Outside the pale
July 3, 2024 at 1:24 pmLooks like nepotism is where the Mayor opened himself up for criticism. The optics aren’t good.
RJ
July 3, 2024 at 4:29 pmTimecard fraud by government employees (Federal, State or Local) is a felony offense and indicative of an office with zero standardized practices. If city employees being paid thru taxpayer funds were failing to clock out at lunch and were receiving overtime as a result, why was an investigation not conducted?
Joseph Burnett
July 3, 2024 at 4:51 pmWhat a p****. If a person cannot handle criticism at the local level, along with properly managing simple tasks such as time and attendance maintenance, then management is asleep at the wheel. What other issues could be solved by attention to detail.
Over the situation
July 3, 2024 at 8:14 pmChange is good. 2025 has to bring about better. Our town is hemorrhaging. Nothing for kids to do. This isn’t a retirement community. Nor is it a wealthy town. But it sure is ran like we are. And our electricity is over the top.
Proud American
July 7, 2024 at 11:01 amI think our little town looks Beautiful. If you people don’t like it I suggest you move!! What a shame people in Carmi have nothing better to do than bash our elected officials! I think Mayor Pollard has done a wonderful job in office. It doesn’t matter who our elected mayor or officials are some people will never be happy!! If you want to talk what about The theft that was done through the city by an ex-employee, and apparently his wife paid the bills from him stealing!! But her and her dad can be an alderman how does that work? People just don’t forget about that stuff. Why Is she an alderman along with her dad? Asking for a friend.
Home o pollard
July 9, 2024 at 9:18 pmWhat about the mayor and his daughter stealing gas from the city? Also what about the fact that his “wife”( or some may call it a beard which is what gay men use to cover up their secret lifestyle…) doesn’t even have a GED.
Bobby Sue White
July 8, 2024 at 9:14 pmStill seeing super high electric bills. Still seeing city workers constantly fixing water lines for god sakes 5 guys to fix one leak and four standing watching one man work ridiculous if your name ain’t big here you don’t stand a chance.
Enough already @
July 9, 2024 at 5:51 amI think when Pollard’s relatives have to resort to accusing people of stealing to pay their bills we have reached an entirely new low! Ridiculous!
Enough already!
July 9, 2024 at 6:06 amThis has definitely hit an all time low when Pollard’s family has to accuse another of stealing to pay their bills. If people want a change they need to get out there and find a candidate who can bring change. I think they all need to be replaced. It’s a shame that our town has come to this type of mud slinging by both sides.
Joe
July 10, 2024 at 12:46 pmIf I recall correctly, wasn’t it the Mayor’s sister in law that brought up the fact that employees live outside of city limits? On Facebook? Maybe he was talking directly to her with that one bullet point. Well everybody knows what to do come election time. It’s time for something new.
Joe
July 10, 2024 at 3:24 pmIf I recall correctly, Dee made the original comment about workers living outside of the city limits on this website on June 20th.