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Wednesday, January 15, 2014
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Illinois EPA to visit landfill
Student: ‘It smelled like a dump’
FOUL ODOR CAUSES DISCOMFORT Landfill workers release smell while doing routine drilling
Firefighters respond at Cortland Elementary
By ANDREA AZZO aazzo@shawmedia.com
By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com CORTLAND – Classes will return to normal today at Cortland Elementary School after foul odors from the nearby Waste Management landfill sickened teachers and students Tuesday. Firefighter/paramedics from around the area took people from the school to Kishwaukee Community Hospital, and hospital officials said more than 60 people in all were treated for low-level carbon monoxide exposure. William Zaver watched fellow students in his fourthgrade class develop sore throats after the overpowering odor moved through the school Tuesday morning. “I saw three people in my class get sick,” 10-year-old William said. “It smelled a lot like gas.” DeKalb District 428 staff noticed an odor at the elementary school just before 10 a.m., Superintendent James Briscoe said. Waste Management spokeswoman Lisa Disbrow said a contractor performing maintenance work at the landfill hit a pocket of old decomposing garbage, releasing the odor, but no methane gas, into the air. “Any future work will be performed only when favorable conditions exist or the school is not in session as we complete this construction project,” Disbrow said in a statement. “We hope to have this project completed in the next two weeks, again based upon favorable conditions.” Officials had not determined late Tuesday what chemicals caused the odor. Neither the school’s nor the landfill’s hydrogen sulfide monitors went off, and firefighters did not find carbon
See SCHOOL, page A5
Photos by Rob Winner – rwinner@shawmedia.com
A young boy on a stretcher Tuesday is taken from Cortland Elementary School in Cortland. A strong odor released from the nearby landfill got caught in the school’s ventilation system making staff and students nauseous.
8What happened A Waste Management spokesperson says crews doing routine drilling work punctured a pocket in the landfill filled with old trash, releasing gas with a heavy, sour odor that the wind carried to Cortland Elementary.
8Precautions Health officials suggest parents of Cortland Elementary School monitor their children for headaches, nausea and vomiting for about 24 hours.
8On the Web To view more photos and video from Tuesday’s incident at Cortland Elementary School, visit Daily-Chronicle. com.
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DaNee Walker leaves the school with her daughter, Paisley, 10, on Tuesday in Cortland. Emergency personnel from several fire departments responded, including Cortland, DeKalb, Sycamore, Maple Park, Elburn, Burlington, Hinckley and Genoa-Kingston.
I saw three people in my class get sick. It smelled a lot like gas.” William Zaver, Cortland Elementary School student
CORTLAND – Waste Management plans to resume construction work at its Cortland landfill when school is not in session or during favorable conditions, company spokesperson Lisa Disbrow said. The company will work with DeKalb School District 428 and DeKalb County officials to prevent a repeat of Tuesday’s incident, which caused more than 60 students and staff from Cortland Elementary School to be treated for carbon monoxide exposure. An outside contracting company was doing routine drillwork at the landfill Tuesday when crews hit a pocket in the garbage, causing a “strong odor” of old garbage to be released into the air. The wind then carried that odor to Cortland Elementary School, Disbrow said. Disbrow said she did not know the name of the construction company responsible. Prevailing winds pushed the odor to Cortland Elementary. The National Weather Service reported winds were blowing at 16 mph out of the southwest at 10:15 a.m. Tuesday from DeKalb’s Taylor Municipal Airport, which put the school downwind of the landfill. “We always try to take in to consideration the winds,” Disbrow said. “Unfortunately, that did not occur [Tuesday] morning. Winds changed direction and picked up.” Disbrow said the construction company has been working at the landfill since December and “was not paying attention to the prevailing winds” Tuesday. Part of the project, which it is hoped will be completed in two weeks, is upgrading the gas system that controls odors. Disbrow said it was not
See LANDFILL, page A5
City Council picks task force to tackle City Hall renovation By DEBBIE BEHRENDS dbehrends@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The issue of providing a tornado shelter for the residents of Southmoor Estates, a concern for city staff and the City Council, has been resolved with the help of Barb City Manor. Ellen Tyne, administrator of the retirement center at 680 Haish Blvd., said she plans to meet soon with management of the manufactured home community.
“We have an extremely solid building with a couple of areas that are great to use when there are tornado warnings,” Tyne said. “We felt we could handle having the folks from Southmoor here with us to keep them safe.” Now that the emergency shelter has been addressed, Mayor John Rey has created a task force to study options for renovating City Hall. Second Ward Alderman Bill Finucane and 5th Ward Alderman Ron Naylor are serving
on the task force with city staff. “There are several options on the table,” Naylor said. “This subcommittee will evaluate those options.” Naylor said one of the ma- John Rey j o r c o n c e r n s DeKalb i s t h e c o s t , mayor and how best to address long-range plans. According to information
provided to the council at its meeting as a Committee of the Whole on Monday, the city has $5.5 million budgeted for the renovation. Assistant City Manager Rudy Espiritu has said there are about $6 Ron Naylor million in tax 5th Ward increment fialderman nancing funds available for the project.
“We want to be sure the building will serve the residents for a long time, to be efficient, to be convenient,” Naylor said. Among the issues to be addressed are leaving council chambers, which also serves as a courtroom on Mondays, on the second floor, moving them to the first floor or moving them across Fourth Street to the annex building. “I think moving the council chambers to the first floor of this building is prefera-
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ble,” Rey said. With no specific timeline in place, Naylor said it’s important to have the new city manager in place to be part of the discussion. Newly-hired City Manager Anne Marie Gaura’s first day with the city will be Jan. 21. “I’m hopeful that, within a couple of months,we should be able to make some decisions and hire an architect,” Naylor said. “Hopefully by mid-summer, we should have something in the works.”
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