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DeKalb has started to peak at right time Sports, B1
Monday, February 17, 2014
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DeKalb teacher becomes comic book artist News, A2
CORTLAND TO PAY COURT SETTLEMENT WITH WASTE MANAGEMENT MONEY
TOWN BORROWS AGAINST PAYMENT Nature’s Crossing subdivision
Cortland wastewater treatment facility
Flutist shares his culture Sycamore church holds Native American event By KATIE DAHLSTROM kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
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SYCAMORE – After never playing a Native American flute before, Bill Buchholtz found himself with seven at the age of 50. While he considered giving the wind instruments away, he chose instead to listen to his Cree and Algonquin roots. “One day, I picked it up and I just knew it,” said Buchholtz, now 62. “I think the Creator wanted me to play it.” Buchholtz shared his Native American flute talents with members of the Sycamore United Methodist Church on Sunday as he and the Rev. Dr. Michelle Oberwise Lacock educated the congregation about Native American culture. Lacock, who has Lakota ancestors, delivered a speech called “Walking Softly” that encouraged people to keep open minds and hearts about others. Dressed in traditional Lakota regalia, she showed three pictures of Native Americans, including Bucholtz, also known as Conquering Bear. Lacock, whose Native American name is Morning Star, asked church goers to make assumptions based on the photos. She then told their stories and pointed out the truth about each of
Cortland landfill
“Now people are seeing Methodism around the world. This is a beautiful time for our church.” Harlene Harden Pastor at Sycamore United Methodist
See FLUTIST, page A6
Cortland Town Hall Photos by Lawerence Synett; landfill photo provided; illustration by Julie Beaulieu
MAYOR STOKES HOPES TOWN WILL REACT POSITIVELY
By CHACOUR KOOP and KERRY LESTER
BY KATIE DAHLSTROM • kdahlstrom@shawmedia.com
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ORTLAND – The $1 million Waste Management plans to pay Cortland for not contesting its landfill expansion won’t stay in the town’s coffers for long. In fact, town leaders already have borrowed against the payment to help pay a $1.75 million legal settlement from a developer who claimed it was strong-armed into renegotiating a deal for a new sewage treatment plant to its own detriment. Town trustees in December approved taking out a $750,000 loan with 3.1 percent interest rate, which they plan to repay using the $1 million payment from Waste Management. Cortland officials expect Waste Management will pay the town in December 2015 once the landfill expands, which also will coincide with the loan payment. The remaining $1 million of the settlement has been paid straight from the town’s general fund. Cortland Mayor Russel Stokes said town leaders didn’t have any plans for the $1 million they are expecting from Waste Management. While he does not take the $1.75 million settlement lightly, the town is
fortunate it had the money at its disposal to soften the settlement’s financial blow, he said. “I would like to think the town would react positively,” Stokes said. “We were able to settle at $1.75 million and bring $1 million to the table.” Waste Management agreed to pay the town $1 million if officials pledged not to oppose the company’s plan to expand its Cortland landfill, which will increase its daily trash intake from 300 tons to 1,800 tons. Stokes said the settlement will not result in any cuts and leaves the town with budget surplus, adding he did not want Cortland residents to be concerned about operations. Although the settlement does not appear to have adverse effects on the town’s operating budget, any effects will become apparent as the town prepares its next budget in the coming month, said Nathan Gaskill, a partner with Lauterbach and Amen LLP, the accounting firm handling the town’s finances in the absence of a town treasurer.
School funding faces election year hurdle The Associated Press
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When you look at it, we’re paying $2 million, but we got $19 [million] to $20 million in improvements for free. We need the treatment plant to grow to be a town of 14,000 people, and we couldn’t have done it another way.” Bob Seyller
Former town president who said town leaders didn’t do anything wrong by implementing the special service area contract in 2006
SPRINGFIELD – A bipartisan collection of lawmakers has come together to pitch something not accomplished in years – a change in Illinois’ school funding formula that would narrow the gap between the amount spent on students in richer and poorer school districts. The caveat? It’s an election year, so chances that lawmakers will ultimately act on the plan are in doubt. The proposal, presented by Democrats and Republicans on a Senate education committee this month, would put almost all state education funding into one pot, then require districts to demonstrate need before receiving part of it. The current method factors in a district’s poverty for some types of state aid, but not others, and it treats funding for Chicago schools differently.
“We have to get the distribution formula right. What should it focus on, where should our priorities be?” State Sen. Andy Manar D-Bunker Hill
See CORTLAND, page A10 See FUNDING, page A6
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