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September 17, 201 5 • $1 .0 0 *
DAILY CHRONICLE
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County’s budget plan discussed Board members ask questions about fiscal 2016 spending proposal next year’s budget. Salaries for the county’s 530 full-time employees and othDeKALB – Protecting jobs er head counts represent 78 and salaries were among percent – or $22.9 million – of the main concerns DeKalb the $29.3 million general fund County Board members ex- they are paid from. The counpressed Wednesday at a ques- ty’s total proposed budget for tion-and-answer session about fiscal 2016, which begins Jan.
By RHONDA GILLESPIE
rgillespie@shawmedia.com
1, is $90 million. “Salaries are a major concern. We’re a major employer,” said board member Ruth Anne Tobias, D-6th District. “It’s really important for us to be aware that this is a great place to work, and we want to keep it that way if we can.”
She was especially concerned about the budget line that called for moving two deputy sheriff positions from home monitoring in the department’s patrol division to the corrections division. The shift would save the county $2,000 per position, according to the budget. Tobias
thought the move would mean a loss of income for the deputies. “I didn’t want that to happen to someone currently serving,” she said. But the change and savings will come by attrition, officials said. The county’s nonunion
employees are budgeted to get a 1 percent raise. Board member Robert Brown, D-6th District, wanted to know what percentage of the county’s workforce those nonunion employees represented.
See COUNTY BOARD, page A4
GOP debate driven more by the issues than Trump
DeKALB PUBLIC LIBRARY’S RENEWAL
By JULIE PACE and STEVE PEOPLES The Associated Press
Photos by Monica Synett – msynett@shawmedia.com
Officials tour the DeKalb Public Library’s $25.3 million expansion project Wednesday.
$25.3M expansion moving ahead Key fundraising campaign in need of boost By BRITTANY KEEPERMAN bkeeperman@shawmedia.com DeKALB – A multimillion dollar project to transform the DeKalb Public Library into a learning center for the digital era is making progress, but a key fundraising effort to pay for the upgrade is short of its goal. Library officials are prepared to show DeKalb residents just how useful libraries can be as the expansion project continues. The new building is expected to open in January, Dee Coover, director of the library, said. “This is a very complex and detailed project, with many layers,” Coover said. “We are redefining what libraries can do.” The library broke ground on the $25.3 million expansion project – which will more than triple the size by increasing space from 19,000 square feet to 65,000 square feet – in July 2014. The project paves the way for new programming, access to technology with a collaboration room, 3D printers and gaming systems, and increased lobby space, children’s areas and meeting spaces will be available for public use. The project was funded in part by an $11.6 million grant from the
A worker uses a lift to install a fixture Wednesday in the future lobby of the DeKalb Public Library. Illinois State Library under the Public Library Construction Grant Act Program as well as tax-increment financing funds from the city of DeKalb, loans, bonds and fundraising. The library is $900,000 short of its total fundraising goal, however. Fundraisers, such as selling concessions at Northern Illinois University football games, will help. On Oct. 3, the library also will take part in a downtown architectural
tour, said Edith Craig, communications manager of the library. “We’re confident we will reach our goal,” she said. The historic Haish Memorial Library building, which was built in 1930 with a $150,000 donation from barbed-wire baron Jacob Haish, will undergo a renovation after the completion of the 46,000-squarefoot addition in December. A 35- to 40-person crew from Pepper Construction is working on the project,
which should be finished in July. The target completion for the expansion is Dec. 4, and during December and January, staff will focus on moving the collection over to the new building while Haish is renovated. More books, DVDs and CDs to expand the collection aren’t in the budget yet, but if fundraising goals are met or exceeded, new resources will be added, Craig said. The expansion will allow the library to serve many more patrons in new ways, which is always a goal, Coover said. The new library will be in full compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The building will have two elevators – the existing one has none – and the entrance to the new lobby will have a wheelchair ramp. The lobby itself will offer more room than the current lobby in the Haish building, will house the magazines, newspapers and help desk, and include reading spaces and a fireless fireplace. “It is just gorgeous,” said Graham Harwood, principal director of the project. “There will be a beautiful terrazzo floor and wood ceilings. It will just take you into the next century.”
See EXPANSION, page A4
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Late goal powers Kaneland soccer past DeKalb / B1
A historic marker for the DeKalb corn winged-ear logo was dedicated / A3
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SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – Amid the backand-forth bickering over Donald Trump, the Republican presidential contest took a substantive and serious turn in Wednesday’s prime-time debate, with candidates wrangling over immigration, gay marriage and foreign affairs. The policy shift quieted Trump, the brash billionaire who has roiled the GOP field, for Voice your long stretches during the debate that stretched past opinion three hours, and it apWhich peared to come as a relief to other candidates who have Republican struggled to break through. presidential Carly Fiorina, the only candidate woman in the GOP field, stood out in was one of the main bene- last night’s factors, launching an GOP debate? emotional plea for defund- Vote online at ing Planned Parenthood, Daily-Chronitouting her experience in cle.com. business and taking aim at Trump for derogatory comments he made about her appearance. Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who came into the debate facing questions about whether he had the grit to take on Trump, also engaged directly with the real estate mogul while still trying to fulfill his promise to run a joyful campaign. In one exchange that typified the broader battle within the Republican Party, Bush and Trump clashed over the influence of big-money donors who have helped the former governor raise more than $100 million. Trump, who is largely financing his own campaign, said of campaign contributors: “I understand the game, I’ve been on the other side my entire life and they have a lot of control over our politicians.” At another point, Bush pressed Trump to apologize for comments he has made about Bush’s Mexican-born wife. Trump refused and called Bush “weak on immigration.”
See GOP DEBATE, page A2
AP photo
Republican presidential candidate, businessman Donald Trump, speaks during the CNN Republican presidential debate Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Simi Valley, Calif.
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