FORRESTON VILLAGE BOARD
FORRESTON BEAT
oglecountynews.com
Forreston Journal / oglecountynews.com • Friday, December 25, 2020
2
SUBSCRIPTIONS $39 in Ogle County, and $52 outside Ogle County. Single-copy price is $1 To subscribe, make a payment or discuss your delivery, call 815-732-6166, ext. 2518 Monday-Friday or send an e-mail to subscriptions@ oglecountynews.com. You also can subscribe online by going to oglecountynews.com and clicking on Subscribe.
OFFICE 113-115 Peoria Ave. Dixon, IL 61021 (815) 732-6166 ext. 2592 Fax: (815) 284-2078
CLASSIFIED SALES 815-284-2222 OBITUARIES 815-7632-2534 ehinton@oglecountynews.com Deadline for obituaries is 2 p.m. Tuesday for Friday’s edition SEND NEWS news@oglecountynews.com General Manager Earleen Hinton 815-632-2591 ehinton@shawmedia.com Editor Jeff Helfrich 815-632-2590 jhelfrich@shawmedia.com Advertising Sales Patty Bridgeman 815-632-2555 pbridgeman@ shawmedia.com Forreston Journal, Ogle County News and oglecountynews.com are a division of Shaw Media. Ogle County Newspapers also prints the Mt. Morris Times,
Oregon Republican Reporter, and Polo’s Tri-County Press.
The FORRESTON JOURNAL (USPS No. 205-520) is published weekly by B.F. Shaw Printing Co., Shaw Media. Periodical postage paid at Forreston, Illinois. POSTMASTER Send address changes to FORRESTON JOURNAL, P.O. Box 237, Forreston, IL 61030. Phone 815-732-6166, ext. 2516. All rights reserved. Copyright 2020
Board appoints Thiel as interim chief BY JEFF HELFRICH
jhelfrich@shawmedia.com The Forreston Village Board unanimously appointed Chris Thiel as interim police chief at its Monday meeting, Village President Mark Metzger said. Police Chief Mike Boomgarden is on medical leave and may be laid up “for a while,” Metzger said. Thiel has been a part-time officer in the department for 4-5 years. “We wanted to have someone doing staffing and day-to-day stuff,” Metzger said. “I put Chris in temporarily when it happened and the board voted to keep him there.” The past few weeks have been eventful for Thiel and the department. On Dec. 20, a multi-county police chase ended with a foot chase in Forreston and the arrest of a Rockford man. On Dec. 2, two men were arrested after
a domestic violence call in Forreston, during which one of the suspects produced a weapon and was shot at by a police officer. Illinois State Police were contacted to investigate the shooting by the officer. On the evening of Nov. 29, The Depot and BP Station in the village were broken into and robbed and an undisclosed amount of money was taken. “It proves that sometimes people think small towns don’t need police, but it was good we were staffed,” Metzger said. “I guess in the grand scheme of things, the break ins and the chase weren’t residents, but we do need a police presence. We’re glad Chris has been able to take over and do an excellent job. We’ve kept him busy.”
New Trees The village recently replaced trees
lost in the Aug. 10 wind storm at Warnken Park. Forreston recently received an insurance check for $10,000 to cover some of the cost of the new trees and initial cleanup. “It won’t cover everything, but it will help us out,” Metzger said.
Lead Service Lines Forreston recently held a pre-bid construction meeting for vendors on its lead service line replacement project. Four vendors attended and 2-3 others got information online. “Lead service is a $3.5-3.7 million project,” Metzger said. “It is 100 percent through the IEPA for forgiveness. We go from houses to the street and we’ll replace it free of charge. We’ll be contacting residents. Some we may have to go into homes to do replacements.”
MT. MORRIS VILLAGE BOARD
Mt. Morris is facilitating new land deal Farm to table restaurant, deli and butcher shop planned BY JEFF HELFRICH
jhelfrich@shawmedia.com The Mt. Morris Village Board unanimously approved the facilitation of a property development deal involving the former site of the Penner building and a nearby property that are slated to become a farm to table restaurant and a deli and butcher shop at its Tuesday meeting. Since the Penner building was demolished last year, the village has been working with purchase developers at 13 S. Wesley Ave. adjacent to the property for development, Village Attorney Rob LeSage said. The village will purchase the adjacent property, which is owned by Tom Felker, for $40,000 cash. Immediately following that acquisition, the village will acquire the Penner property, after paying for half the cost of demolition, for $1. Closing is set for Dec. 31 at 11:30 a.m., LeSage said. The village will then immediately turn around and sell those properties to a developer, Wesley 1895 Property LLC, for the purchase price it just paid, a total of $40,001. Following the purchase, Wesley 1895
Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media
Maddrell Excavating, of Monroe, Wisconsin, demolished the Penner building in downtown Mt. Morris on Oct. 16, 2019. Property LLC will be developing the real estate into the restaurant and deli and butcher shop. The city will be giving the developers TIF money to assist in the transaction. “Under the TIF deal, it will be a total of $200,000 of TIF reimbursement for a project of $1.1 million,” LeSage said. “There will be significant investment by the developer. The first $110,000 will be paid out during construction on a draw down basis. They will submit bills to the village. Upon completion and opening,
the village will pay $50,000. Finally, six months into operation, the village will pay $40,000 for a TIF reimbursement total of $200,000.” LeSage said the city is involved with the transaction so the developer will have to follow terms of a redevelopment deal. Work on the properties is expected to begin after the first of the year. “I think they’re going to be moving pretty quickly and residents will see real action,” LeSage said. “Their hope is to be open by July or August.”
