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Saturday, September 21, 2013
It’s all ‘fine’ Water treatment project nearing completion By Donna Barker dbarker@bcrnews.com
PRINCETON — Princeton’s new water treatment plant is “substantially completed” and should be in full operation within the next few weeks. At this week’s Princeton City Council meeting, Commissioner Joel Quiram talked about additional financial considerations for the $21 million project, saying the Farnsworth Group engineering firm wants to bill the city an additional $169,000 for its extended services in overseeing the project, which had been scheduled to be completed last May. The Vissering Construction Co., which is building the plant, can be fined $1,500 a day for liquidating damages in missing last spring’s completion date, which would amount to about $189,000 in fines for the city, Quiram said. That money from Vissering could be used to pay Farnsworth Group, resulting in no additional cost to the taxpayers, he said. Voting in favor of the presentation — to pay Farnsworth Group with Vissering fine money — were Mayor Keith Cain and Commissioners Bob Warren and Ray Swanson. Voting against the proposal was Quiram and Commissioner Ray Mabry. On Tuesday, Princeton City Manager Jeff Clawson further commented on some of the details of the water treatment plant project. The “substantial completion” of the project means the plant is fully functioning and capable of making water, Clawson said. A punch list of items which still need to be accomplished has been created, and those are the items on which the contractor is currently working. That list should be completed in another 45 to 60 days.
See Plant Page 4 Year 167 No. 114
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The ‘cloak-and-dagger’ approach Otto: ‘This was not handled correctly’ By Goldie Currie gcurrie@bcrnews.com
DEPUE — It’s nearing a year since DePue School District’s Student Improvement Grant (SIG) was terminated by the Illinois State Board of Education, and a final explanation of why is still yet to be revealed to the district. In March, auditors from the state board determined the district misappropriated $332,904 on various items. The determination brought confusion to the district because apparently they were items that had been approved for purchase by the state board.
On Thursday, Superintendent Randy Otto confirmed after March, the auditors collected more information from the district’s previous budgets and labeled additional budgeted items as misappropriated. Otto said the list of misappropriated funds now includes about 15 to 20 budget items and adds up to about $713,000, which the state is saying the school might have to pay back. Otto said the line items range from all sorts, but in March he reported the income to junior high teachers for extended days, the cost for elementary teachers in the master’s degree program through Concordia University and the purchase of a copy machine,
which was used in the SIG team’s office were some of the items they had picked out. At Wednesday’s school board meeting, Otto reported he had recently sat down with previous Transformation Administrator Bob Libka from the district’s previous SIG team. Otto stated he was just as “dumbfounded” as the district on reasons why the state took away the grant because the supposedly misappropriated funds had been approved by the state. Also, Otto said representatives from the Illinois Association of Regional Superintendents of Schools (IARSS) were behind DePue on the situation and were also confused by the reasons why DePue lost the grant.
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BCR photo/Becky Kramer
Are you ready for some (homecoming) football? Princeton High School and all its fans — like these three young PHS supporters — are clearly ready for some football and fun. PHS, which celebrated its homecoming this past week, held special fun days throughout the week, and a homecoming parade and pep rally Thursday evening. On Friday night, the Fighting Princeton Tigers met up with the St. Bede Bruins on the gridiron. See the BCR’s Sports pages for details.
Mark man dies in Spring Valley crash Crash is still under investigation
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SPRING VALLEY — A Mark man died on Thursday, Sept. 19 shortly after his motorcycle struck a guardrail on U.S. Route 6 near the Spring Valley curves. 98213 00012 1 7 © Bureau County Republican
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Derrick S. Tate, 39, was taken to St. Margaret’s Hospital around 6:25 p.m. and died shortly after his arrival, according to a press release issued by Spring Valley Police Department. The 10/33 Ambulance, Spring Valley Fire Department along with the police department were dispatched to the scene. According to the press release, preliminary
investigation revealed Tate was westbound on U.S. Route 6 on the Spring Valley Curves near the creek bridge. He failed to negotiate a curve and went off onto the shoulder and struck a guardrail. The accident remains under investigation by the police department and the Bureau County Coroner’s Officer.
For breaking news, sports and current weather conditions, go to bcrnews.com
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