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Serving DeKalb County since 1879 Eric Nore
PREP VOLLEYBALL PREVIEW • SPORTS, B1
New Sycamore coach looks to keep up winning tradition
Monday, August 26, 2013
KISHWAUKEE VALLEY HERITAGE SOCIETY
Early 1900s skills on display in Genoa Local, A4
Union OKs pact; D-428 to vote next
RENTAL PROPERTY UPKEEP IN DeKALB
School board to take up teachers’ new contract at Tuesday meeting By ERIC OLSON eolson@shawmedia.com
and FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The DeKalb Classroom Teachers Association ratified a contract they will present to a special meeting of District 428 School Board members scheduled for Tuesday. Members of the DeKalb Classroom Teachers Association held a meeting Sunday to ratify a contract that lists their terms and conditions, said T.J. Fontana, the teachers’ union spokesman. Fontana said he would not be able to discuss the details of the meeting until Tuesday. “We’re going to hold off on that till the board has their meeting,” Fontana said. He said there was a quorum for the vote to ratify the contract.
On Saturday, negotiators with the teachers association and District 428 had reached a tentative agreement. Union and school board negotiators were meeting with a federal mediator after earlier contract talks came to an impasse. They said in a joint release that they had a tentative agreement on a three-year contract. School board members have scheduled the special meeting for 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the District 428 Education Center, 901 S. Fourth St., DeKalb, to vote on the pact, according to the press release. The roughly 400-member teachers union had filed an intent to strike notice on Aug. 8. Last week, union leaders had said teachers would strike on Thursday if they did not reach a deal by then.
See D-428, page A8
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
Carl Leoni, the city of DeKalb’s Crime Free Housing & Inspection Coordinator, inspects the lawn at a rental property on the 400 block of Fairlane Avenue in DeKalb on Aug. 16. Leoni works with landlords to bring properties up to city code.
New task considered for crime-free housing office Mission could shift away from code enforcement By CHRIS BURROWS cburrows@shawmedia.com
Jason Akst for Shaw Media
Supporters greet U.S. Army Spc. Matt Dumdie on Saturday at the Northern Illinois University Convocation Center.
Sycamore soldier welcomed home Gathering included party, parade By JASON AKST news@daily-chronicle.com SYCAMORE – A small conspiracy was necessary to trick a U.S. Army intelligence specialist on Saturday, but the payoff was worthwhile. About 100 family members, friends and supporters gathered Saturday afternoon at Northern Illinois University’s Convocation Center for a surprise vehicular escort to a party welcoming Spc. Matt Dumdie home from Afghanistan. Motorcycles, cars and emergency vehicles from DeKalb, Sycamore, Cortland and Waterman all were part of the parade that began at the Convocation Center and ended at the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Sycamore, where a party (which Dumdie did know about) honored his
service. Dumdie had been told the family needed to pick up a cousin in Malta for the party, but instead, they entered the Convocation Center parking lot, where the escort was waiting. Applause, hugs and handshakes greeted the tall, slim soldier in jeans and a T-shirt as he exited his mother’s vehicle. Dumdie’s escort was sponsored by Warriors’ Watch Riders, a national volunteer group that honors and supports former and current military personnel. John Azoo, a retiree who lives in Sycamore, was “ride captain” for Saturday’s event. “We get so wrapped up in our daily lives and we forget what’s going on in the rest of the world,” Azoo said. WWR’s
DeKALB – Carl Leoni is trying to prove that old cops can learn new tricks. The 33-year veteran of the DeKalb Police Department now heads its Crime Free Housing Program. He has been taking classes over the last few months to learn about property code enforcement, so he can fight more than just crime. “We’re looking at grass and weeds, garbage, siding, windows, roofs,” Leoni said. “We want to make sure that buildings are sealed tight and keeping the weather out and aren’t making the rest of the neighborhood look bad.” After retiring from the police force, Leoni was hired by the city in his new role, but some landlords and City Council members are questioning whether the fledgling program should focus on more than fighting crime among the city’s estimated 9,000 rental properties. Currently, the program has the approval to hire three part-time property inspectors, hires Leoni said would be phased in over the next year. But today’s City Coun-
According to Leoni, paint that has begun to peel needs to be fixed on a rental property on the 400 block of Fairlane Avenue in DeKalb.
“We think [the Crime Free Housing Program] has had a positive effect on landlords working together, forming relationships and identifying bad behavior, and that’s been a positive for the city.” William Heinisch President of the DeKalb Area Rental Association cil meeting could change that if six of the council’s eight members vote to amend the city budget and keep code inspectors in the code inspections department. Interim City Manager Rudy Espiritu said 6th Ward
Alderman Dave Baker made a request to city staff on Tuesday for them to look into the issue. “The staff is going to seek guidance from the council on how they want us to do this, but we’ve already been
gearing up, Carl Leoni has been gearing up to set up the inspections program, hire these individuals,” Espiritu said. “That was the previous direction we got from City Council, so if they want to change that, they can change that.” Baker says changes are needed. “My feeling and I think much of the council feels that the Crime Free Housing Program is about crime-free housing, and that’s what they need to concentrate on,” he said. “That’s a very successful program and we’ve already seen that.” The Crime Free Housing Program, years in the making, launched in February, registering the city’s thousands of rental properties and landlords to create a database which now contains information on about 8,000 rental properties. As part of the process, each landlord is required to pay a fee of $50 for each building they manage, as well as $15.42 for each rental unit in a multi-family home. Leoni also tracks reports of illegal activity that tenants
See HOUSING, page A9
By the numbers Progress of the city's Crime Free Housing Program since February:
9,000
8,000
87
228
33
Estimated number of rental properties in DeKalb
Estimated number of properties registered
Percentage rate of compliance
Number of charges filed against tenants
Number of evictions
See GATHERING, page A9
Inside today’s Daily Chronicle Lottery Local news Obituaries
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National and world news Opinions Sports
Weather A4, A6-7 A11 B1-3
Advice Comics Classified
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