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Serving Bureau County Since 1847
Thursday, May 23, 2013
A $1,500 fine a day By Lyle Ganther lganther@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — The Princeton City Council voted Monday night to force Vissering Construction Co. of Streator to finish the water treatment plant by June 4 or face a fine of up to $1,500 a day, retroactive to May 4. Commissioners voted to give the general contractor a 30-day time extension with no penalty, even though the required date for the plant to be finished was May 4. City manager Jeff Clawson told commissioners city officials have been working with the general contractor on its inability to complete the plant by the required due date of May 4 of this year. “He wanted to discuss all lost time and come up with a complicated formula to determine how much additional time they should be granted,” Clawson wrote in a memo sent to Mayor Keith Cain and the four commissioners. “I suggested that we would give them a blanket additional 30 days to get to substantial completion without documentation or wasting time debating their request,” said Clawson. The general contractor has agreed to accept a 30-day time extension with no penalty for that period of time, said Clawson. In turn, the city will not allow any future discussions for time extension in reference to anything that happened prior to May 4. Commissioner Joel Quiram said the city entered into a good-faith contract with Vissering to complete the project by May 4 of this year. The city needs to abide by the contract and charge them $1,500 a day, he added. Clawson said the $1,500 a day fine would motivate the firm, or funds would be withheld from the city’s payment of the project.
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PES cuts staff/building Tough times demanding tough decisions By Terri Simon tsimon@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — It was a grim Princeton Elementary School Board and a solemn Superintendent Tim Smith who made the tough decisions Monday night — decisions that many school boards across the state are making, thanks to empty promises and
diminished funding from the state of Illinois, a declining equalized assessed valuation and a host of other reasons that directly and indirectly affect school funding. The news was no surprise. The PES Board has consistently discussed the financial state of the district, as well as the unknown future of the state’s input into the budget, pension reform, health care issues and more. While
Smith said the state of Illinois does not owe PES any money at this time, he was quick to remind those in attendance (board members and administrators) the number of dollars the state contributes has diminished greatly. “We are paid off (from the state); that’s the good news,” Smith said. “But It’s still less than we received in the past. In fact, the state has diminished every line in the state’s budget.”
See PES Page 4
BCR photo/Goldie Currie
After the storm ... Bill Provance of Dover stands in front of his home where a piece of metal roofing from the Ultra Foam business, located across the street, blew through his garage and landed upon his truck parked in the driveway. The damage was caused during the wicked thunderstorm that swooped into the county late Monday night, bringing with it powerful winds that blew down trees and caused power outages in some areas and damage to homes and businesses in and around Bureau County
BV’s cuts have teachers concerned By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
MANLIUS – In the last few months, the Bureau Valley School Board has looked for ways to cut next year’s budget in order to lighten the district’s financial burden, but their choices of where to make cuts have teachers concerned about the longterm effects on the education system and employees in the district. Ann Lusher, president of the Bureau Valley Education Association (BVEA), read a letter to the board at Monday
night’s board meeting on behalf of the BVEA to highlight how the cuts will affect student education and make Bureau Valley a less attractive working place for teachers and staff. “We as a staff acknowledge that sacrifices are necessary, but as teachers, we strongly feel that the quality of the education of our students should not be sacrificed,” she read. In April, Superintendent Dennis Thompson announced next year’s budget would see about $475,219 in cuts. The cuts included phasing out the German
language program, reducing industrial arts and home economics, releasing a tech support employee and a physical education employee, retiring two teachers and changing the staff insurance coverage. According to the letter Lusher read aloud, the changes will reduce the ability to address the social and emotion needs of students and affect teachers’ capacity to meet the goals of the new Common Core standards because of increased class sizes.
See BV Page 4
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