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Saturday, May 2, 2015
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Cutting Princeton’s budget Quiram wants a second look By Zita Henneberry zhenneberry@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Mayor-elect Joel Quiram has initiated the process of making cuts within the city’s current 2015-16 budget. “In my opinion, there are no greater projects to address than our infrastructure concerns and our debt level,” said Quiram. The process of re-examining the budget is underway, said Quiram. Along with Princeton City Manager Jeff Clawson, department heads are looking to identify areas where cuts can be made. Quiram explained while the budget is balanced, not nearly enough time was spent on addressing the day-to-day operating expenses of Princeton. When introducing the idea prior to the recently passed budget, Quiram
had suggested a 5 percent cut to the discretionary spending in the various departments of Princeton. “Five percent will not affect any department significantly,” Quiram said. “Some departments might be affected more than others, and there may be a department not affected at all. The final decision will be determined by our city manager and department heads.” He explained the process should be completed within the month of May. “We’d like most of what is saved to go toward paying down debt. However, we’d also like to take a yetto-be-determined percent of savings and give it to our street department for street maintenance,” Quiram said. He added the final decision on how and where the money saved from this second look at the budget will be directed is reserved for the
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Quiram eliminates position By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Earlier this week, Mayor-elect Joel Quiram eliminated the city’s tourism and economic development director positions. The part-time position was held by Joni Hunt. Hunt worked 32 hours a week — 16 hours a week in tourism, and 16 hours a week in economic development. On Friday, May 1, Quiram said the elimination was a cost-savings measure. He said tourism had always been aligned with the Princeton Chamber of Commerce until the position was created for Hunt four years ago. “There’s a lot of miscommunication when you have tourism at the city, and the Chamber located downtown,” he said. “I think going forward, tourism should be aligned with and housed at the Chamber of Commerce.” As far as the economic development director part of the position, Quiram said Princeton City Manager Jeff Clawson’s job description includes economic development. “We pay him a lot of money to do what he does for the city, and part of that is doing economic development,” he said. “I feel Jeff is very good at economic development, and it’s a duplication of services.”
Position Page 4 Year 169 No. 53 One Section - 20 Pages
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Cultivating a green thumb On Monday, April 27, Spring Valley Elementary School students in Gina Ghighi’s lifeskills class worked with supervisors from Home Depot in Peru and made garden boxes. The students planted a variety of vegetables, which they plan to watch grow and use for cooking in the classroom once they are ready to be picked. All materials for the project were donated by Home Depot. Curriculum Director Shelly Nauman was responsible for writing a letter requesting the donation of materials for the project. Pictured (left to right) are Miracle Jenkins, a seventh-grader; Kristine Shan, an eighth-grader; and Karen McManus, occupational therapist, as they plant a bell pepper plant in the garden.
BV educators discuss concerns
Special ed, computers, textbooks are among concerns By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
MANLIUS — As Bureau Valley has continued to explore future opportunities within the district, the board asked teachers to meet and discuss
concerns they would like addressed as the district moves forward. Some of those concerns were announced during the board meeting on Tuesday, April 28. BV North music teacher Dave Larkin spoke on behalf of the teachers.
Mark the Calendar The Bureau Valley School Board will meet at 6 p.m. Monday, May 11 in the administration office to further discuss goals and opportunities related to the facilities study and BVision 20/20. “We like being able to share ideas with each other and bounce off ideas, especially when there’s more than one teacher from a build-
ing. It’s a great resource because we learn a lot talking with each other,” he said.
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Delivering more than just your mail National Association of Letter Carrier’s Food Drive is May 9 By Zita Henneberry zhenneberry@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — No need to leave the house when helping to feed the hungry in the area.
Saturday, May 9, the local area mail carriers will be collecting for the Princeton Food Pantry in the 23rd annual National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive. “We cannot allow any
family in need, to be turned away because our pantry lacks supply. This is our time to help,” said National Association of Letter Carriers Food Drive coordinator Scott Maschek. As the single largest oneday food drive in the country, mail carriers collected 72.5 million pounds of food nationwide last year.
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This escalated the cumulative total to 1.3 billion pounds of food collected throughout the NALC food drive’s history. At the local level, said Maschek, there has been nearly 100,000 pounds of food collected since 1999. This year, Maschek aims to break last year’s record
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