WEDNESDAY
Ap r il 15 , 2015 • $1 .0 0
STREAK CONTINUES
DAILY CHRONICLE
Sycamore baseball drops 4th straight, losing 4-2 to Yorkville / B1 HIGH
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County population stagnant
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Salary changes get OK Late-night DeKalb vote cuts comp time By ERIC R. OLSON eolson@shawmedia.com
housing prices that started in 2008, it made housing closer to [Chicago] more affordable.” While neighboring Kane and Kendall counties showed a population growth of 2.3 percent and 5.8 percent, respectively, Lee and Ogle counties have seen population drops of 3.6 and 2.6 percent, respectively, from 2010 to 2014. DeKalb County’s economy still is recovering from the worst economic period since the Great Depression, said Paul Borek, executive director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Corp. “Residential development is recovering faster at locations closer to the metro area where there’s a higher density of existing population and a higher density of employment,” he said. Norman Walzer, a senior research scholar
DeKALB – A group of salaried city employees will lose a costly pay perk after a late-night vote by the DeKalb City Council that prompted one alderman to walk out rather than participate. Beginning May 4, salaried employees in DeKalb will see their work week extended to 40 hours, but will lose compensatory time benefits. The plan will save the city in the long run by eliminating a costly, hard-to-track system of comp time for 33 salaried employees, and will increase productivity by setting a 40-hour week as the baseline for those employees, DeKalb City Manager Anne Marie Gaura said Tuesday. It will also enable public buildings to remain open for longer. For example, beginning May 4, City Hall, the police department and the fire department will What it means be open a half-hour earlier from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Switching all salaGaura said. ried city employees to “What we have here is a 40-hour work week a plan that is going to inand eliminating comp crease customer service time benefits will for the citizens,” Gaura said. “It’s going to de- save the city money, crease overall costs and make workers more it’s going to increase em- productive and keep ployee productivity along public buildings open longer, City Manager with it.” Council members ini- Anne Marie Gaura tially voted to give prelim- said. inary approval to the plan at their meeting Monday, but a subsequent proposal to waive a second hearing of the measure did not have enough votes to pass, with Ward 1 Ald. David Jacobson, Ward 3 Ald. Kristen Lash and Ward 7 Ald. Monica O’Leary opposed. Ald. Dave Baker was absent. In a closed session that followed the public portion of the meeting, O’Leary said other aldermen asked why she had voted against the proposal. O’Leary said she told them she thought the measure would guarantee a 2.5 percent pay increase for employees in May and a 3 percent increase in January. “The other aldermen said they won’t get an increase until they bring it back to us, the action item was only for … the 40-hour work week and then the elimination of the comp time,” O’Leary said Tuesday. “So I said, ‘OK, I’ll make a reconsideration.’ ” The motion to reconsider passed, 6-0, with Jacobson abstaining, and the approval of the change also passed 6-0, after Jacobson walked out.
See POPULATION, page A7
See DeKALB, page A8
Photos by Danielle Guerra – dguerra@shawmedia.com
A front-end loader moves earth Tuesday at a home site on East Becker Place in the Reston Ponds of Sycamore subdivision built by Shodeen in Sycamore. Shodeen Construction President Dave Patzelt said his agency hasn’t built any new housing units in the city of DeKalb for the past five years and in Sycamore the number ranged between three and four units a year for the past three years.
NIU enrollment, flat housing market, recession among factors By DARIA SOKOLOVA dsokolova@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Since Susan Castle moved to Genoa from South Elgin in June 2014, she opened the Trading Post in downtown Genoa and has been commuting to her job in Glendale Heights. “I love small-town living so much better,” said Castle, who cited lower sales tax and the quality of life as some of the major draws of living in DeKalb County. DeKalb County’s population has remained relatively flat since the Great Recession. Although unemployment has declined, housing activity and economic development have remained lackluster. The result has been stagnation. The county’s population has increased 0.3 percent from 105,160 in April 1, 2010, to 105,462 in July 1, 2014, according the most recent U.S. Census Bureau figures. In the city of DeKalb, population has declined. The city’s population slipped 0.6 percent from 44,115 in April 1, 2010 to 43,849 in July 1, 2013. Shodeen Construction President Dave Patzelt, whose company owns Reston Ponds in Sycamore, said his company hasn’t built any new housing units in the city of DeKalb for the past five years. For Sycamore, Patzelt said the number ranged between three and four units a year in the past three years. Shodeen Construction has development rights to property east of downtown DeKalb near the intersection of Pearl Street and Lincoln Highway, and to a 458-acre parcel near DeKalb High School that the city annexed in 2013 for a future subdivision. But the company doesn’t plan on building anything in 2015 and 2016, as there appears to be little demand, Patzelt said. “When you see zero in DeKalb, it’s not an exciting market to be building new homes in,” he said. In the meantime, Patzelt said other nearby counties, such as Kane and DuPage, have shown more demand for housing in the past five years.
Altgeld Hall is seen near the center of the Northern Illinois University campus on Friday. NIU’s enrollment has declined by 2,698 students from 2009 to 2013. “There’s more demand in Sycamore than in DeKalb; and there’s more demand in Kane County than in DeKalb County; and there’s more demand in DuPage County than in Kane County,” he said. In 2013, there were 46 building permits issued for 67 units in DeKalb County, compared with 435 building permits that were issued for 520 units in 2007. Carl Campbell III, an economics professor at Northern Illinois University, said that before 2008, DeKalb County benefited from relatively inexpensive housing prices. “Prior to 2008, there was a lot of new housing construction in DeKalb County and that was probably caused by the fact that housing prices in the Chicago suburbs were expensive and people were moving to DeKalb for cheaper housing,” he said. “But after the decline in
4 from former lawmaker’s staff subpoenaed in U.S. probe By JACK GILLUM The Associated Press WASHINGTON – Congress said Tuesday it has been told at least four staffers who worked for former Illinois Rep. Aaron Schock have been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury as part of an ongoing probe into the congressman’s expenses. The Justice Department issued its subpoenas in recent weeks to current and former Schock staffers as it examines
expense accounts, his re-election campaign spending and his relationships with political donors. A Springfield, Illinois, grand jury began hearing testimony about the matter earlier this month. Aaron T h e H o u s e Schock clerk reported Tuesday the subpoenas were issued to Schock chief of staff Mark
Roman, Peoria district office manager Bryan Rudolph, district chief of staff Dayne LaHood and executive assistant Sarah Rogers. Schock, a Republican, resigned from Congress March 31 following months of press reports into his office and political spending, including improper mileage reimbursements and trips on his donors’ aircraft, as well as business deals with those contributors. Federal investigators who questioned likely grand jury
witnesses had previously indicated during their questioning that the probe would go beyond Schock’s office expenses. They’re interested in how his money was spent and his business relationships with his donors, according to a person familiar with the probe but who was not authorized to speak publicly. Schock’s staff did not immediately return phone calls and emails Tuesday afternoon seeking comment. Congressional staffers are
required under House rules to notify the speaker if they’ve been subpoenaed. A spokesman for Schock declined to comment. The grand jury in this case could indict Schock or not, and it also could target other possible co-conspirators. Individuals can also avoid a grand jury by pleading guilty or otherwise cooperating before they are indicted. Schock’s resignation followed revelations over six weeks about his business
FOOD
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WHERE IT’S AT
Different flavor
Arrest made
Early struggles
Mason jars, lettuce wraps creating new forms of salads / B10
Sycamore woman accused of attempting to stab her son with a drill / A3
Sycamore softball falls behind early, losing 10-1 / B1
Advice ................................ B5 Classified........................B7-9 Comics ............................... B6 Local News........................ A3 Lottery................................ A2 Nation&World...........A2, 5-8
deals and lavish spending on travel, personal mileage reimbursements and office redecorating in the style of “Downton Abbey.” Congressional ethics investigators had begun probing Schock’s conduct in the days before his announcement, but that probe was expected to shut down because of the federal investigation. A special primary election to replace Schock is scheduled for July 7, with a special general election to follow Sept. 10.
Obituaries .........................A4 Opinion...............................A9 Puzzles ............................... B5 Sports..............................B1-4 State ...........................A2, 4-5 Weather ........................... A10