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Thursday, April 21, 2016
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Keep it clean Princeton City Council taking a slow and steady approach to Darius Miller Park eengel@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — During the Princeton City Council meeting Monday, April 18, the council discussed how to approach the Darius Miller Park project and informed residents of the specifics of spring cleanup days. The council agreed on a number of ordinances, including expanding
and remodeling the old Walmart building. City manager Rachel Skaggs discussed the annual budget, noting the total revenues for the fiscal year were $26,400,000, with expenditures coming in at $25,900,000. Revenues were down 2.85 percent compared to last year, but the expenditures were also lower, at 4.75 percent. “We have five initiatives we’ll focus on over the
Sewer plant project is on schedule in Walnut By Nita Wyatt news@bcrnews.com
WALNUT — The sewer plant improvement project is moving along in the village of Walnut. At the Walnut Village Board meeting, held Monday, April 18, Matt Hansen, engineer from Willett Hofmann & Associates, Dixon, reported to the board the sewer improvement project started in 2015 is moving forward very well and is well within the contractually required schedule. The previously existing building on the property has now been demolished, and the first of the new equipment to be placed in the new building will be arriving within the next two weeks. The new equipment will probably be put online at the beginning of June. Hansen also presented to the board a change order for the electrical feed coming into the new building. According to the plans, the electrical lines were to run above ground, but concerns have arisen regarding the height needed for truck clearance for these lines. The cost of raising the lines and the cost of putting the lines underground is close to the same, approximately $6,600. Hansen reminded the board a contingency amount was built into the budget for the project. Even with this additional expense, the contingency will only be at about 50 percent of its total. The board agreed to this additional expenditure. In other business, Hansen stated he and another engineer from his firm, Jeff Smith, will be in attendance at the next regularly scheduled board meeting on May 2 to discuss and review the Year 170 No. 48 One Section - 24 Pages
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condition of the streets within the village. At that time, Hansen and Smith will also review the upcoming bridge project funded primarily by federal funds and prioritize possible street projects. They will also present options for funding street projects. Village Superintendent Carl Minks discussed with the board the pressing need for the purchase of a different pick-up truck for use by village employees. Minks said the 1997 Ford F-150 owned by the village has major repair issues. Currently that truck is not operable, and Minks is hesitant to have major repairs done to a vehicle of its age. Minks proposed the village purchase a 2014 Chevrolet Silverado from Piehl Chevrolet Buick Cadillac of Princeton. This 2014 vehicle is being sold for $19,000 and meets the needs of the maintenance department. Minks had looked numerous places for a truck, including Fisch Motors of Walnut. Board member Sharon Smith questioned the urgency in purchasing this additional truck. It was explained by Minks that there are three village employees in his department, and each has different duties requiring the use of a vehicle. After discussion, the purchase of the vehicle was approved by the board. Finance Committee Chairperson Ryan Rosenthal presented an overview of the new fiscal budget to take effect in May running until April 30, 2017. Rosenthal stated the finance committee had reviewed the expenses for the last several years and made adjustments accordingly. Comment on this story at www.bcrnews.com.
the city will be holding an electronics recycling event in June for Princeton residents only. They are continuing to enhance the city website to make it more user friendly, and there will be available links to volunteer for a city board position or shoot a question to Skaggs. “The fire department is starting a smoke detector program in 2017, and residents who apply for
next year concerning the budget — improving process efficiencies, establishing financial security, enhancing community engagement, implementing a capital improvement plan and improving city streets,” said Skaggs, who received accolades from her council peers for her strenuous efforts to tighten the budget she inherited. Mayor Joel Quiram said
the program will have the opportunity to receive smoke detectors for free,” Quiram said, adding the police department will focus on a community policing initiative as well to secure, reestablish and attain trust from the community members. “They are looking at hosting neighborhood road calls, where officers will sit at the end of the block so people can get to know
them personally and ask them whatever questions they want to.” Quiram also spoke of a robust revitalization plan for the streets of Princeton, where 20 streets will be improved over the next five years. This year the plan is to complete Bailey Court and Church Street from Thompson Street to the dead end.
The sinking pier of Princeton
BCR photo/Dave Cook
Work has begun to repair the pier at the three acre pond in Princeton’s Zearing Park. The original support system has failed and is causing the pier to slowly sink. According to the Princeton Park District, the work is estimated to be completed within a couple of weeks depending upon the weather.
The devastation of drugs
CPASA raises necessary awareness of the terrible results of drug use By Eric Engel eengel@bcrnews.com
Editor’s note: This is the second in a two-part series on a presentation given by CPASA at Neponset Grade School on April 13. NEPONSET — Ever heard of a “pharm party?” No, it doesn’t involve legal adults driving their tractors around the cornfield. It’s where teenagers go into their parents medicine cabinet and grab whatever pharmaceutical pills they can find. They all meet up at someone’s house, and everyone throws the pills they’ve confiscated into a community bowl. They then sit around the table … and each person grabs a handful of pills — of every medical variety and potency — and swallows them down in a haz-
ardous attempt to get high. During the “Hidden in Plain Sight” presentation at Neponset Grade School on Wednesday, April 13, members of Community Partners Against Substance Abuse showed parents questionable items to look for in their children’s bedrooms, and Princeton Police Chief Tom Root ran through an unnerving slide show of current street drugs and their vicious vice grip on America’s youth. “In the United States, about 120 people die every day from drug overdoses, most of them from prescription drugs,” Root said, noting overdoses cause more deaths than car crashes. Concerning the “pharm parties,” Root encouraged the adults to safeguard their medicine cabinets as much as possible, even locking up and storing
their pharmaceuticals out of sight and out of mind. “Obviously we’re going to have a total disaster (with the pharm parties) because the kids don’t have a clue of what’s in there,” Root said, noting anyone can drop off outdated and unused pharmaceuticals at the police station to be properly disposed. Prescription drugs equal heroin use, he continued, as four out of five heroin addicts began by misusing prescription drugs. When someone buys heroin off the street corner, they don’t know where it’s from, how it’s cut or how potent it is. He said users store their heroin in balloon bags so they can swallow it if they sense they’ll get busted … and then fish it out of the toilet to get high.
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