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Racer has the inside USE THAT PESTO WITH GUSTO track on diabetes FOOD, A9-10
STERLING, B1
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Wednesday, July 22, 2015
SERVING DIXON AND THE SURROUNDING AREA SINCE 1851
DIXON | LEE COUNTY BOARD MEETING
It’s time for someone at the helm Board votes to begin search for county administrator; tentative hire date set for Dec. 1 BY CHRISTI WARREN cwarren@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5521 @SeaWarren
DIXON – For the first time in its history, Lee County is – officially – on the hunt for a county administrator. After quite a bit of back and forth and the request to have a roll-call vote dur-
ing Tuesday night’s Lee County Board meeting, the county was given the goahead to begin the search, with a tentative hire date set for Dec. 1. Tim Deem, who ended up voting against the idea, expressed his concerns during the discussion. “I am not against having an administrator; I do see some benefits,” he said. “I am just concerned with how we are
paying for this. … I was told we would be taking it out of capital projects. … I am just concerned that we’re going to be paying out more money than we’ll be bringing in.” Ketchum has previously said he expects the county to spend about $100,000 a year on the administrator’s salary. Three board members and three department heads were originally
appointed to the subcommittee that hashed out the details of the county administrator search, and what the job would entail. The board members were: Bob Olsen, who acted as the committee’s chair, Rick Humphrey, and Board Chairman Rick Ketchum. ADMINISTRATOR CONTINUED ON A4
DIXON
ROCK FALLS
Keeping their ears peeled for a corn boil
City wants to decommission its ordinances New form of government calls for a new set of rules BY BRENDEN WEST bwest@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5529 @BWest_SVM
David Chavira of Rock Falls, husks an ear of corn Tuesday at Poci’s Market for the Rock Falls Rotary Corn Boil. Photos by Michael Krabbenhoeft/mkrabbenhoeft@saukvalley.com
Members from Sterling’s Boy Scout Troop 305 were among those who helped husk corn Tuesday for the Rock Falls Rotary Corn Boil. The corn boil will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. today at the Rock Falls Community Building, 601 W. 10th St. The cost is $8 for adults and $4 for children under 12. There will be barbecue or hot dogs, chips, beverage and all the corn you can eat. Tickets are available at the door, and drive-through carryout service will be available. Go to rockfallsrotary.org for more information on the club.
DIXON – How should you walk your cattle through town? The city regulates that by ordinance. Which is just one of several reasons why interim City Manager David Nord and other city officials feel Dixon’s code of ordinances need a tune-up. The process is known as codifying, and according to City Attorney Robert LeSage, it hasn’t been done in Dixon since the 1970s. The need to adjust the city code is especially prudent now, considering how Dixon switched from the commission form to managerial style government in May. “If you go through our code, this code developed over the course of 100 years under the commission form of government,” LeSage said during Monday’s council meeting. “There are references all over the place to commissioners.” Finance Director Paula Meyer said the city has budgeted $25,000 in the next fiscal year to hire codifiers – people who work at firms specializing in this type of cleanup – to readjust city code. LeSage, who has been part of the process in other towns he serves, said it will probably cost half of what’s been budgeted, and said the process should be relatively painless. Mayor Li Arellano Jr. agreed there is a need to codify. Three months into the term, council members have caught several instances in which current code doesn’t fit managerial procedure. For instance, prior to May, there was no procurement policy in Dixon that allowed for more oversight of how departments make purchases. With Nord in as manager, it’s now his duty to review purchases. CITY CODES CONTINUED ON A4
ROCK FALLS
City sits on $4 million cushion Council passes appropriations ordinance, sewer and water rate increase BY PAM EGGEMEIER peggemeier@saukvalley.com 800-798-4085, ext. 5570 @pam_eggemeier
ROCK FALLS – The council unanimously passed an appropriations ordinance Tuesday that gave the city a nearly $4 million spending cushion.
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The budget that was passed April 7 came in at slightly less than $22.4 million, while the appropriations ordinance authorizes the city to spend $26,520,490. That doesn’t necessarily mean the city will spend that much during the fiscal year that began May 1, and ends April 30, 2016.
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ABBY ................... A8 COMICS ...............B6 CROSSWORD....B11
City Administrator Robbin Blackert, who does most of the budget work, said she believes it’s wise to provide some budget flexibility through the spending ordinance. “We’ve always done about a $4 million cushion since I’ve been working on the budget,” Blackert said.
While it may not be the most pressing of the codes that the Dixon City Council wants to clean up, rules governing cows crossing town is just one example of ordinances on the books that council says should either be put out to pasture, or updated.
ROCK FALLS CONTINUED ON A2
FOOD ..............A9-10 LIFESTYLE ........... A8 LOTTERY ............. A2
OBITUARIES ........ A4 OPINION .............. A6 POLICE ................ A2
Today’s weather High 81. Low 61. More on A3.
Need work? Check out your classifieds, B7.
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