Trustee Barry sorr but Cops win round one

[Good Times]

I can't believe you were the ONLY one not willing to work with the citizens or police.

[A Glenwood Cop]

Plott and Nielsen were not very supportive either. Nielsen said he would rather see cops get laid off than raise the the Village Stickers. The original proposed increases would have cost each vehicle owner $2.50 per month. The fact that our jobs and your safety were not worth that to some of our elected officials ought to tell you what these people think of you. What a disgrace. I would like to say that Trustee Thomas extended an olive branch and put in quite a bit of effort to resolve this in a manner that is suitable for citizens, police officers and trustees. As for Plott, Nielsen and Barry-you were willing to let 5 cops get laid off over a ten dollar difference in the cost of a sticker. We will remember that

[Not a resident]

I attended the meeting last night and am not a citizen of Glenwood but was there because I work at HF high school and know that what happens in the communities that feed our school carries over into the high school. The thing that struck me the most was that more than half of your trustees are concerned more about their own egos than the safety of the community. I cannot believe that that many of the 90,000 residents of Glenwood cannot put $2.50 away each month for the increase in vehicles stickers to ensure the continued safety of their children and community. All they seemed to care about was appearing that they are in charge and get to make the decisions. It appeared from the look on Ms Thomas face after the role call for the increase and almost everyone said no that that was not was decided in their closed meeting. That just goes to show how devious some trustees are. I believe the citizens of Glenwood should consider how irresponsible trustees Barry and Plott and Nielsen acted when thir safety was in jeopardy.

[A Glenwood Cop]

I forgot to mention how much money EVERY Glenwood cop gave up to save those five. Many of the senior officers were in no danger of loosing their jobs yet agreed to take 2 unpaid days off each month, surrender their uniform allowance of $800 per year, surrender their weapons qualification bonus of $400 per year and be mandated to purchase their Village owned service weapons for $200. This is all to happen over the next six months. These officers each gave up approximately $5000 in total. This is about $825 per month. Part of that deal was the increase in Village Sticker fees to make up for the gap in the budget shortfall. Nielsen, Plott and Barry could not justify a citizen giving up $30 per year or $2.50 per month but had no problem asking EVERY police officer to give up over $800 per month? Even the Mayor and Trustee Thomas did work with us to reach the deal and through sometimes heated and emotional discussions, helped save the jobs of five police officers. This situation was not good for officers, elected officials or citizens but sometimes egos need to be put aside and sacrifices need to be made. The cuts are going to hurt all of the officers but we agreed to them because loosing five of our own would put the remaining officers and the citizens at risk. No elected official wants to raise costs via fees or taxes but sometimes it needs to be done. No police officer wants to give up thousands of dollars in pay but that also needed to be done. I am appreciative of those who did work with us to find a medium that was at least acceptable to all three sides of this. Those who were unwilling to bend, talk or negotiate know who they are. The voting public knows too and will be reminded. I did not hear one single citizen in the audience protest the increase in Sticker Fees proposed but heard MANY protest loosing five police officers. Do you even care what the people who elected you want? The answer here was a definitive "NO".

[A Glenwood Resident]

I was at the Board Meeting and have never once heard any of the Board Members offer to give up any portion their salaries, which I believe is several thousand dollars a year. They have the nerve to demand our cops give up $5000 over six months or lay off five of them, raise our vehicle stickers but offer nothing of their own here? They ran this town into this mess then pass the burden of fixing their mistakes on to the citizens and the cops. I would gladly pay an extra $30 annually for a vehicle sticker if it keeps my streets safe however I would like to see them offer something too, even if it was only symbolic. I will be paying close attention during the next election and will make sure all my friends and neighbors do the same. These guys do not deserve to sit on that Board after this!! I have lived here for over 30 years and have never seen this Village in such a mess. I drive through every day and shake my head in disbelief at the abandoned store fronts and empty houses. The businesses we do manage to get are all fly-by-night shops that come and go. The Walmart expansion was screwed up by these guys costing us hundreds of thousands. Culvers went to Homewood because these guys screwed up. Who knows what other decisions these yahoos have made that put us where we are. And how about the Village Administrator, whose job it is to lure businesses to Glenwood, making over $100,000 a year. Glenwood is paying for him to get his Doctorate degree at a prestigious university using our tax dollars. Does anyone else see a bunch of red flags?

[Larue]

[QUOTE who="A Glenwood Resident"I was at the Board Meeting and have never once heard any of the Board Members offer to give up any portion their salaries, which I believe is several thousand dollars a year. They have the nerve to demand our cops give up $5000 over six months or lay off five of them, raise our vehicle stickers but offer nothing of their own here? They ran this town into this mess then pass the burden of fixing their mistakes on to the citizens and the cops. I would gladly pay an extra $30 annually for a vehicle sticker if it keeps my streets safe however I would like to see them offer something too, even if it was only symbolic. I will be paying close attention during the next election and will make sure all my friends and neighbors do the same. These guys do not deserve to sit on that Board after this!! I have lived here for over 30 years and have never seen this Village in such a mess. I drive through every day and shake my head in disbelief at the abandoned store fronts and empty houses. The businesses we do manage to get are all fly-by-night shops that come and go. The Walmart expansion was screwed up by these guys costing us hundreds of thousands. Culvers went to Homewood because these guys screwed up. Who knows what other decisions these yahoos have made that put us where we are. And how about the Village Administrator, whose job it is to lure businesses to Glenwood, making over $100,000 a year. Glenwood is paying for him to get his Doctorate degree at a prestigious university using our tax dollars. Does anyone else see a bunch of red flags?[/QUOTE]I agree with you. I haven't been to any of the town meetings due to my work schedule but I will definitely attend the next meeting. I am a resident here in Glenwood and I am not happy to hear that there was even a discussion about laying off police officers. I am hearing alot of negative things about glenwood and I am starting to see alot of red flags as well..

[Barry]

Come on folks you can trust me! I will take care of you and your family. I care!