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A new county administrator? Board revisits the position By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — The Bureau County Board will consider hiring another county administrator to run the day-to-day operations of the county.
At Thursday’s meeting, board member Steve Sondgeroth asked for the county administrator discussion to be put on the May board meeting agenda. A lot of board members are overloaded with work for their com-
mittees, he said. Possibly the county board would want to establish an ad hoc search committee as a start, to look at how to get the needed money in the budget and when the county would want to hire someone, Sondgeroth said. After explor-
ing the options, the board could always vote against going forward with hiring an administrator, he added. With no further discussion, the board agreed to put the county administrator discussion on next month’s agenda. If the board went for-
ward with hiring a county administrator, it would be the second time the county has had such a position. The Bureau County Board hired Austin Edmondson in December 2005, on a 19 to 6 vote, at a starting salary of $66,000 plus benefits.
Edmondson resigned from the position about 15 months later, to accept a similar position in the Decatur-area town of Forsyth. Then-Bureau County Board Chairman Marc Wilt said Edmondson
See Administrator Page 4
Recycling center woes People are abusing center in Princeton By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — The city of Princeton is still having concerns about illegal dumping of items at its recycling center on North Euclid Avenue. At this week’s meeting of the Princeton City Council, Commissioner Ray Mabry said the community enjoys having a recycling center, but some people are abusing it. In recent weeks, furniture and prescription drugs have been dropped off at the center. As he’s said before, probably 95 percent of the people are following the guidelines, but the other 5 percent are causing a problem for everyone else. Also, there are people, outside of the Princeton community, who are apparently bringing their yard waste to the adjoining brush collection site, he said. “We want to remain a green community and offer the recycling center, but it gets tough when we continue to have things dumped there that aren’t recyclable in any way, shape or form,” Mabry said. Commissioner Joel Quiram said he’s under the impression that most of the illegal dumping is done during the overnight hours. A couple years ago, he brought up the idea of setting regular open hours for the recycling center
See Recycling Page 3
BCR photo/Goldie Currie
On ‘TRAC’ with art Students from 15 area high schools met at Princeton High School Thursday afternoon for the fourth annual Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC) Art Festival. Students participated in one of 15 workshops set up within various classrooms. Workshops offered instruction on various types of two-dimensional and three-dimensional categories of art. Art pieces were judged by Dana Collins, retired professor of art at Illinois Valley Community College and freelance artist in Princeton, and Ann Crosby, potter/artist and owner of Annie’s Little Pots in Princeton. The art festival is sanctioned and sponsored by the principals of each school. This year’s host teachers were Linda Ribar and Karen Greer of PHS.
A new bridge in Spring Valley Area residents attend public meeting By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
SPRING VALLEY — Area residents were invited to a public meeting Wednesday evening at city hall to review preliminary plans and details of the upcoming $25.1 million Route 89 bridge replacement project.
The open house setting allowed residents to walk around and view maps and diagrams to get a better visual of how engineers plan to build a new bridge just east of the current structure before demolishing the old one — all while maintaining traffic over the bridge during construction. Ted Fultz, location and environment studies engineer of the Illinois Department of Transportation, was one of many representatives available to explain the three phases of the project.
He explained how his team is currently finishing up with Phase 1, which required engineers to develop a scope of the project, build a plan of how to construct the new bridge and bring public attention to the plans. With Phase 1 coming to an end, IDOT engineers are still seeking public comment from residents with concerns or suggestions about the construction process. The public comment period ends April 24.
See Bridge Page 2
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