Serving the Polo Area Since 1857
POLO
Tri-County Press February 8, 2018 Volume 159, Number 41- $1.00
Wrestlers Advance
Statue History
Science Classes
Four Marco wrestlers have advanced to the Oregon Sectional this Friday, Saturday. B1
Read about the other man behind the Black Hawk statue. B5
The Oregon Park District teams up with NIU Lorado Taft Educators for classes. B3
City council doubles loan for new store By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com The Polo City Council more than doubled its investment last week to bring a grocery store to town. At a special meeting Feb. 1, the council canceled the $30,000 loan it approved last November to Tushar Patel, of Lanark, and replaced it with a $70,000 loan. According to the terms approved, the loan will help Patel buy and make improvements to the former Polo Super Valu, more recently Polo Food Center, building at 205 S. Division Ave. Patel is buying the property for $120,000 from the First National Bank of Amboy, which is the trustee of a land trust formed by former owner Ahmad Farraj, of Rock Falls, who had plans that did not materialize to open a grocery store there more than a year ago. The loan is in the form of a self-canceling note. Under the terms, the city will loan Patel the money
Welcome Home, Kylia Four-year-old Kylia Johnson, who lost her mother and unborn brother in a car crash Dec. 11 that also left her with extensive injuries, was treated to something special on Friday: a celebration in her honor. Left, Kylia and her father Daryl Johnson pose for photos near the firetrucks at the Polo Fire Station. Below, left: Once Upon a Dream Performances, of Rockford, celebrates Kylia’s homecoming from the hospital with cousin Audrey Sundquist, 12. The “Princess and Superhero” group donated their time to the little girl’s party. Below, right: No good princess party is complete without Spider-Man. Kylia gets a mask fitted from cousin Morgan Kreiser, 9. Photos by Alex Paschal
A construction company based in Providence, Rhode Island, will be working on the design and building of the new Ogle County Jail. At a special meeting Jan. 30, the Ogle County Board approved hiring Gilbane Building Company for the design and construction of the jail in the 100 block of South Sixth Street in Oregon, across from the judicial center. Board chairman Kim Gouker said Gilbane, which has offices in numerous locations around
Turn to A3
Board rules to keep plant’s worth the same Taxes Paid in 2017 for Byron Generating Station
By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
County hires jail construction manager By Vinde Wells vwells@oglecounty news.com
from its General Fund, with the stipulation that the grocery store opens by Dec. 1 of this year and remains in continuous operation until Dec. 31, 2023. If the store is in continuous operation through Dec. 31, 2021, the city will forgive $35,000 of the loan. The remainder will be forgiven if the business is still operating on Dec. 31, 2023. Patel is the secretary of Mahant Supermarket, Inc., which operates grocery stores in Lanark and Amboy. After 10 years without a grocery store in the city, Mayor Doug Knapp said he is very pleased. “I’m looking forward to having Tushar in town,” he said. “He’s an energetic and forthright guy. He’s going to do a good job.” Knapp also praised the Polo Economic Development Corporation for its efforts in getting Patel on board. “I can’t say enough about the role they played in this,” he said. “And the city council did their part, too.”
the world, including Chicago, will work closely with Hellmuth, Obata & Kassabaum, Inc., the firm hired in November for the architectural and engineering design of the 70,000 squarefoot facility. “The first phase is to develop a schematic design,” Gouker said. “Once we have that we can develop the actual cost of the jail.” The cost for the 180-200 bed jail has been estimated at $25 to $28 million. Gouker said he expects to have the design in 30 to 60 days. He said Gilbane and HOK have collaborated on several projects, including the DeKalb
In This Week’s Edition...
County Jail expansion, which is nearing completion. Construction on the new jail is expected to begin this fall. The county board and Oregon City Council reached an agreement in December that transferred jurisdiction over the 100 block of South Sixth Street in Oregon from the city to the county. That allowed the county board to move forward with its plans to close the block and connect the new jail to the existing judicial center across the street. Part of the agreement is that the county will pay for street improvements near the
Church News, A5 Classifieds, B6-B8 College News, A4 Entertainment, A6 Library News, A3
courthouse, judicial center, and new jail. It will pay to repave Jefferson Street from Fourth to Sixth Street, Fifth Street from Washington to Jefferson, and Sixth Street south to Madison, and replace gutters and sidewalks in those blocks. County board chairman Kim Gouker, of Byron, said the county will also pay to reroute sewer and water mains affected by the street closure. The total cost for those projects is estimated at $600,000. The street transfer still needs the approval of the Illinois Department of Transportation.
Marriage Licenses, A4 Polo Police, A2 Public Voice, B3 Property Transfers, B4 Sheriff’s Arrests, B4
The Ogle County Board of Review stood pat last week on the assessed value of Exelon’s Byron Generating Station. At a Jan. 30 hearing, BOR members agreed with Supervisor of Assessments Jim Harrison that the plant’s value should remain at $546 million, the same as last year. In an appeal filed last fall, Exelon Generation officials asked for the assessment to be “not greater than” $308.9 million. At the hearing, attorneys for the utility presented a new appraisal of the plant setting its value at $158 million. However, MR Valuations, the appraiser for the Byron School District, set the value at $647.8 million. Last year Exelon’s appraiser Duff & Phelps submitted an appraisal for $296.9 million. “I find it difficult to believe the value of this property dropped by half in one year,” Harrison said after the hearing. Exelon paid $37.6 million in real estate taxes in 2017 to 11
Social News, A4 Sports, B1, B2 State’s Attorney, B4 Zoning Permits, B4
Published every Thursday by Ogle County Newspapers, a division of Shaw Media • www.oglecountynews.com
Byron Schools............ $21.1M Ogle County............... $4.29M Rock Valley College... $2.62M Byron Forest Preserve...................... $2.43M Oregon Park District....................... $2.39M Byron Fire......................$2.38 Byron Library..........$859,465 Oregon Schools........$756,098 Rockvale Roads.......$508,163 Rockvale Twnshp.....$170,189 Byron Museum..........$95,636 Kish College..............$91,183 TOTAL ..................... $37.6M taxing bodies, which include the Byron School District, Ogle County, Rockvale Township, Oregon School District, Oregon Park District, Byron Fire District, Rock Valley College, Byron Public Library District, Byron Museum District, Byron Forest Preserve District, and Kishwaukee Community College. More than $21 million of that went to the Byron School District. Turn to B5
Deaths, B5 Edgar J. Engelkens, Patricia A. Rosenbalm, Donald D. Spangler