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Peru looking for someone to run its parks and rec program At Monday night’s meeting, the city council debated and then approved the creation of a new position — director of parks, recreation and special events — to bring more oversight and coorBy Brett Herrmann dination to the city’s community NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER events. “The recreation committee is Peru is seeking someone to run doing a wonderful job. But there its parks department.
But two aldermen say money could be better used elsewhere
is room for more,” said Mayor Scott Harl. “I’ve been asking for this for a very long time.” The new position takes a lot of the day-to-day responsibilities of the parks and recreation department out of the hands of the parks and recreation board, which will now act as an advisory board. The position oversees the
city’s splash pad/summer program director, park and diamond team leaders and special events community volunteers. Harl specified this position isn’t meant to diminish any of the hard work the park board has been responsible for over the years. He said this new position is there to expand on the city’s
services and make improvements moving forward. He said the city already has two examples of this with the finance director and city engineer positions. Alderman Tom Payton agreed that there should be more oversight for the department, and See PERU Page A3
What’s next for Illinois Cement?
City engineer: Temporary road work planned for October By Ali Braboy
NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER
NEWSTRIBUNE PHOTO/SCOTT ANDERSON
Following multiple hearings late last year along with comments from citizens regarding La Salle Cement’s desire to mine new land, what’s the status of the company’s new project? Work to build a temporary 1.4-mile asphalt bypass about a quarter-mile west of East Third Road in La Salle is on tap for October.
Work to build a temporary 1.4mile asphalt bypass about a quarter-mile west of East Third Road in La Salle is planned to start in October. The construction work follows multiple hearings late last year along with comments from unhappy citizens regarding La Salle Cement’s desire to mine new land. City engineer Brian Brown said he’d heard of the planned October work from Illinois Cement plant manager Jerry Crittenden. Illinois Cement wants to begin digging and blasting for limestone the company needs to make cement within a 1-square-mile section of Dimmick Township, west of its existing quarry on East Third Road. An update from Illinois Cement was not provided to the NewsTribune for this story after multiple attempts. However, the company’s website indictates “the new road will be built and operational before any closure of the existing road takes place. At no time will through traffic be halted on East 3rd.” There’s not much yet to report in terms of the road work, said See CEMENT Page A5
Flooding extends lock closures at Starved Rock, Marseilles By Brett Herrmann
NEWSTRIBUNE REPORTER
The Starved Rock and Marseilles locks on the Illinois River are fully closed for maintenance, but now flooding is going to extend those closures. The closures started Sept. 20 and were expected to last until Oct. 5, but Mother Nature had other plans. “Work at both locks has stopped right now because of the flooding,” said Allen Marshall, spokesman with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Rock Island District. “The Oct. 5 date to reopen is not going to happen.” The closures are due to contractors installing bulkhead re-
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cess at the top of the locks. The project is headed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and this work is a precursor to next summer’s bigger project of replacing miter gates at Starved Rock, among other maintenance projects that will close six locks along the Illinois River Waterway system. Initially, the Corps projected this year’s two-week closure for August, but flooding earlier this year pushed back the full closure to early September. Now flooding is causing delays yet again. “At this point, the project folks are looking at some alternatives,” Marshall said. The Illinois River was about two feet above flood stage at the
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DODGING WET HOLES Fierce rains have formed large ponds at farms
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The Starved Rock locks are closed for a while as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completes some repair and improvement work, but moresignificant closings and improvement projects are planned at Starved Rock and other locks on the Illinois Waterway next year.
Survey: Princeton needs better plan for school buildings By Goldie Rapp
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Starved Rock pool as of noon Monday, after waters crested Sunday afternoon. Marshall said project leaders would be keeping an eye on the river as more rain is expected throughout the week. The locks had been experiencing partial closures during daytime hours since June 1. But now extended the full closures will give the transportation industry a taste of what is yet to come. Next year Starved Rock’s lock is expected to be closed from July through October. The closures will likely force a lot of commodity transportation onto local roads and rails. One barge has the capacity of about
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PRINCETON — Despite hearing consensus from an advisory committee that a $35 million building referendum plan is dead, Princeton Elementary School Board is staying optimistic about the future and planning to move forward next month with new hopes and ideas. During Monday’s board meeting, members expressed their thoughts about the results of a recent community survey where a majority of voters conveyed their reasons for voting for or against the November 2018 ref-
erendum. Most of those who voted “no” claimed the project was just too expensive. Board President Steve Bouslog said this feedback was not a shock to him. However, with the outcome of the survey echoing closely with the results of the November 2018 referendum, where the margin of defeat was only 52% to 48%, he urged the community must find a compromise moving forward. “With the vote as close as it was, there has to be some sort of compromise we can find,” he said. “If we can’t find compromise in our community, it’s a sad state of affairs. I think it’s up to
us, board members, to lead these efforts.” Bouslog said one thing is for sure: PES can’t continue to keep and maintain its run-down buildings. “We’ve been doing that,” he said. “How do we get our buildings into the 21st century before we get to the 22nd century?” The advisory committee — made up of 10 members comprised of supporters and opponents of the referendum — got together in early September after the results of the survey had been collected to discuss concerns on both sides. Opponents cited several diffi-
cult economic factors in both the local community and the state. Changing demographics, declining enrollment, a sales tax hike for streets and Bureau County Jail, bond costs, recent plant closures in the region and agricultural forecasts made for a good argument that now just isn’t a good time to propose this project to a community that can’t afford it. But Bouslog said there will never be a perfect time, because no one wants their taxes increased. Board member Terry O’Neil said he doesn’t want to see this See PRINCETON Page A4