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Thursday, August 11, 2016
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Bureau Valley closes East Tower Board relocates students; school to start late By Terri Simon tsimon@bcrnews.com
BUDA — In an emergency meeting of the Bureau Valley School Board, held Tuesday, Aug. 9 — just a week before school was set to begin, the board made unanimous decisions to close the East Tower at the Buda campus; relocate seventh- and eighth-grade students from Buda to the high school campus in Manlius; and to delay the start of the
school year for all students until Monday, Aug. 22. The meeting was held at Bureau Valley South in Buda. William Waldorf of the Larson and Darby Group of Rockford, an architectural and engineering firm, spoke to the board and those in attendance — mostly educators — about a structural problem in the East Tower at the Buda school. The problem, which was discovered late last week, concerns the wall on the west side of the
tower, where the clay tile is broken in a number of places. Though the wall is not a weight-bearing wall, Waldorf said the entire tower, which has been repaired a number of times in the past, is not safe. “This situation needs to be repaired. I would not let my children go in this school,” he said. Waldorf continued to speak about the decay of the walls, mortar and clay tiles, once saying there is
a 24-inch place in the wall where the bricks could probably be removed by hand. He assumes the cause of the deterioration of the approximately 100-year-old building is hydrostatic pressure, which has caused the wall to bow and lean about 2 inches. The bowing of the wall is clearly visible. In speaking about repairs, Waldorf said the wall could be repaired, but it would merely be a Band-Aid — an expensive one at that, which could cost upwards of $50,000 or more. The time frame of the repairs was
another issue, since school was set to begin Aug. 17. He said it would be difficult to find anyone to accomplish the work in that short time frame, and if the district was able to secure a company to provide the repairs, they would likely bid the job on the high side and have to work around the clock, including many overtime hours, to complete the job. He reiterated the repairs would just be another “Band-Aid” in a long line of previous repairs and more expected problems in the future.
“(The East Tower) could come down at any time,” he said. Aside from the current problem, Waldorf said once the repairs began, if the board chose to go that route, it’s likely more issues would surface. While the west wall of the East Tower is the most dire situation right now, Waldorf said there are cracks in other locations, which he deemed “are signs of things to come.” “You don’t know until you get in there,” he said. “Once
Bureau Valley Page 4
Sharon Schallhorn
County board hires new administrator
LaMoille woman hired on a split vote, 15-8 By Goldie Rapp BCR photos/Amelia Bystry
On a ‘rolle’ in Manlius
stumps or the residences were in bad shape. Philhower asked McKenney to come up with some wording on what needs to be done for a property maintenance ordinance to deal with these issues to eventually take to the village attorney for him to draft a proposed ordinance. McKenney asked what the board can do about a junk yard at another property on Arch Street in Tiskilwa. Philhower said a previous board allowed that person to run a business out of his home. The property is zoned residential, not commercial. He told McKenney the board needs to put some-
PRINCETON — The Bureau County Board approved the hiring of another county administrator at its regular meeting Tuesday, Aug. 9. The candidate selected for the position is Sharon Schallhorn of LaMoille. She has lived in the area for the last seven years. Schallhorn is originally from Chicago and has lived and worked all over the U.S., including Indiana and Texas. She has also lived overseas working as a contractor with the U.S. Army. Schallhorn has a background in human resources, public administration and public speaking. She plans to start her new position around the first week of September. Following Tuesday’s meeting, ad hoc committee chair-
Tiskilwa Page 4
County board Page 4
Manlius is well known for its rolle bolle players, and there was no shortage of them last weekend during the Manlius Fun Day event. Besides Rolle Bolle for players of all ages, the event included food, entertainment, plenty of activities for children and a parade. See more photos on Page 2.
Tiskilwa discusses property maintenance Board talks about abandoned cars, unkempt properties By Lyle Ganther lganther@bcrnews.com
TISKILWA — Tiskilwa Village Board members discussed at length how to deal with unlicensed cars and unkempt properties in town at its meeting Tuesday, Aug. 9. Ed Joiner, village resident, told board members during public participation he wants something done about a Jeep that is on his neighbor’s property that he feels falls under the village’s nuisance ordinance. Tiskilwa Board President Randy Philhower told Joiner he had the village police officer talk to his neighbor. Year 170 No. 96 One Section - 20 Pages
Joiner asked Philhower why he doesn’t enforce the village’s current nuisance ordinance that he read to the board members prior to talking about the issue. “I am tired of it,” he said. “I want something done now, not in six months.” Philhower said he intends to do something about this situation. Trustee Steve McKenney started the discussion later in the meeting on establishing a property maintenance program. He said the elephant in the meeting room was demo cars at a house on Arch Street. He also displayed pictures he had taken of other properties in town that had either vehicles on them, tree
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