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Saturday, March 12, 2016
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Split vote on new county system County board votes 17-8 on tracking/accountability system By Goldie Rapp grapp@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Bureau County is getting a new $30,000 asset tracking and accountability system. On Tuesday, March 8, the county board was asked to approve the purchase, which was recommended by the county’s fees and salaries committee.
While a majority of board members voted in favor of buying the system, not all members were in favor of the purchase. The board voted 17-8 to purchase the system, with members Tom Dobrich, Jim Donarski, Deb Feeney, Paul Humpage, Mary Jane Marini, Mike Maynard, Bob McCook and Micah Robinson casting
the no votes. The system was discussed by the board in February. Bureau County EMA Director Keenan Campbell explained how the system could be used for many tasks. The system could track each county department’s assets more efficiently, which would save time and money during annual audits; the system could also be used to track employees and volunteers responding to a disaster more closely, which would be more effi-
cient when FEMA came in to reimburse the county for its damages; the system could also be used to print employee badges, which could be used for a new security system at the courthouse. Dobrich was against the purchase. He said he felt the board was moving too fast to purchase a system they should have looked into further. He mentioned while it was discussed last month that the auditor said a system like so would help the county track its
It’s that ... time again
assets better, he pointed out that the auditor had only suggested the county should implement a capitalization policy. Dobrich also pointed out while it was mentioned that EMA could receive grants to cover some of the cost of the system, there was no guarantee of this happening, especially with the current financial situation at the state level. Board member Keith Cain spoke in favor of the purchase. “To me, it moves the county from the 19th cen-
Bureau one of two counties in Illinois that will see changes news@bcrnews.com
BCR photo/Dave Cook
Cultivating the future District architects encourage response to survey to gauge popular ideas By Eric Engel eengel@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — District architects stopped in at Douglas Grade School Tuesday, March 8, to speak with community members on innovative improvements regarding the Princeton Elementary School District facilities. Year 170 No. 31 One Section - 16 Pages
© Bureau County Republican
Jay Johnson, principal at Legat Architects, said the Master Plan community engagement process has been very successful so far, and outside-the-building thinking lends itself to greater achievement within it. “Our learning environment needs to be manipulated in creative ways, more than just expanding the classrooms,” Johnson said, mentioning space is lacking in every district building, forcing faculty to stretch the usefulness of available rooms far past their original intent.
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A different look at the polls By Zachary J. Pratt
Bruce Jewelers owner Gary Bruce has quite a task before him, as he’ll need to set all the clocks in his Main Street Princeton store ahead one hour this weekend. Daylight Saving Time begins officially at 2 a.m. on Sunday, when Illinois residents along with many other states “spring forward” one hour.
tury into the 21st century. We have no way of tracking our assets in a good manner. I think it’s something we need to step forward on. We need to start moving forward on a lot of things and a lot of issues,” he said. “This is very much a plus for the county.” Maynard questioned how the board would implement the program if there was no policy put in place that would force department heads to use the program.
If your polling place looks a bit different when you go to vote this year, there is no need for concern. The technology has been updated from years past. Bureau is one of two Illinois counties making the change to new machines this year, along with Moultrie just west of Charleston. Bureau County Clerk Kami Hieronymus said the change is really just the county moving on from old technology. “It’s basically just to update what we had,” she said. “Our other stuff was getting old. It was about 11 years old, and as technology goes, that’s old.” Hieronymus said switching to the new machines, rather than sticking with those which have been used for many years, was the best choice for the county. “It was just better to upgrade,” she said. The technology might be new, but it should still be familiar to voters. “It’s still what we call an optical scan machine,” she said, noting the equipment is now being provided by a company called Unisyn. Another change has been made to the equipment for disabled individuals. “They are also providing a different touch screen to use for our ADA requirement at the polling place,” Hieronymus said. However, the setup as
a whole should not be a major difference from in years past. “Most everybody will see pretty much the same thing they’ve always seen,” Hieronymus said. Some nuances will be changed. For instance, the ballots now feature red rectangles, rather than the classic oval, which need to be marked. “The ballots have a little more color, a little more shading to them than what we’ve always had,” Hieronymus said, which she described as a usability feature, helping with visibility and ease-of-use. The machines had to go through certification at both state and federal levels before they could be used. They had made it through the national level a while back. “We’ve had other states using this system,” Hieronymus said, listing Iowa and Missouri as the states she knew of as examples. “They’ve been using it in Missouri for quite a while before us.” Illinois had to wait longer before it opened up the option to switch to this equipment. “It just went through certification at the state level last year,” she said. “So this is our first chance to use it.” Overall, the changes should not be drastic. “I guess you could say the concept is the same; the look is a little different,” Hieronymus said in summation. Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.