VanCamp is a Democrat masquerading as an independent. Watch his votes! He worked for Durbin for goodness sake.

She has my vote either way!

I still do not understand the $1000. If it is due to wear and tear on the streets, then what about any other businesses that have large trucks driving our streets. We choose not to privatize, now let people deal with that decision honestly. If the City garbage loses money because they are not able to compete without extorting $1000 from private haulers so be it. I look at this $1000 has yet another tax on me the consumer (almost like a penalty for not using government services). I also do not understand how or why the city can ask for a customer list from private haulers (not there business who I or anyone do business with). Sure would like to make all my competition pay $1000 or more to be in business and get a list of their customers.
This is the key issue in all levels of government. Won't make hard decisions, instead take easy way out then tax us for their decisions. We elected a city government to stop this nonsense, yet it is the same crap. This voter is one that is keeping track and hope others do also!

Private haulers are breaking the law we must make them legal. The way we make them legal (humm lets tax them). How about just change the law so you don't have to tax them?

Very impressed with Andy! Keep up the solid work.

There are so many things wrong here. When did government gain the right to ask private business for a list of there customers? $1000 fee for wear and tear, give me a break!

I would love to be able to create the rules my competitors had to follow.

This is a complete joke and not what I voted for in the last election.

I would like to know how many people actually use the library? Libraries are really a thing of the past. Not sure I see the need for them moving forward. How much does it cost to operated the library?

Any council member that voted against privatization needs to go! Sure seems to me that Farha will not support anything Kyle supports. He is upset that he did not get the bid for mayor and now his personal agenda is coming before duty to the people of Quincy. Keep watching his votes. I also believe a few are following his lead. Republican party needs to put other candidates up against these people next election. We the people put this council and mayor in place, but no real change is coming from it.

I hope you are right. I was in the cable business for a few years. I do not see how Adams will compete on the cost of content. The networks will bet them up.

Could have done with out the intro, but Andy did a great job.....Wish him lots luck!

Maybe we should take a page from Elk Grove.....We should at least look at the option.

Our first-year contract was $300,000, and we were providing the same level of service the consultant said would cost $1 million," Jensen said. "We continue to provide service as good as that of our municipal neighbors, but because we are private, we can operate more efficiently. We save 30 to 40 percent over what a similar municipal department would cost to operate."

The savings come mainly in personnel. The fire district has 14 full-time firefighters and 28 paid-on-call firefighters, all of whom are privately employed. None is a union member.

"We don't pay the insane salaries that our municipal neighbors pay," Jensen said. "Our benefits are more in line with traditional industry. We are non-union, which gives us a lot more flexibility in dealing with our employees. Salaries and benefits are the big savings, but we [also] have a shop where we can rebuild and refurbish fire apparatus for our own use.

"We save money in purchasing almost anything a fire department would use, just by shopping around. We're very cost-conscious. We watch every penny we spend," Jensen added.

The fire district contracts with the Bloomingdale Fire Department for dispatching, even though the latter is a government-run operation. "Bloomingdale has state-of-the-art dispatch and can do it a lot less expensively than we can," Jensen said. "So we outsource to somebody else who can do something a lot more efficiently."

Joyce Robinson, the Elk Grove Rural Fire Protection District's board chairman, has been on the board 12 years. She said her seven-member board has many fewer headaches than other fire district boards, because of the decision to contract for private services.

"We don't have to do hiring and firing. We don't have all those personnel problems," Robinson said. "Unions are a big problem in a lot of communities. Our firefighters are not union. I don't know if most residents know it's privately run. They just know when they need them they're there."