Thursday June 11, 2015 Vol. 3, No. 16
The Weekly Post
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Former fire chief arrested
SWEET SUCCESS
By BILL KNIGHT
BRIMFIELD – Ex-Fire Chief Jamie Bennett on Sunday was arrested by the Peoria County Sheriff’s Office, charged with theft, deceptive practices and credit card fraud, and booked into the Peoria County Jail. The charges stem from allegations Bennett “might have been stealing taxpayer money for personal gain,” according to police reports. Specifically, officials with the Brimfield Community Fire Protection District (BCFPD) claim that Bennett charged Bennett thousands of dollars of fuel for his personal vehicles to the BCFPD credit card, and kept hundreds of dollars from checks intended to go to BCFPD, police said. Bennett, 39, resigned May 4 and 10 days later BCFPD trustees appointed Bob Forney as interim chief. Trustees Ralph Peters, Merle Turner and Jerry Weaver all declined to comment, but BCFPD attorney Rick Johnson said there had been concerns about Bennett’s management. Asked about suspicions that funds were mishandled, Bennett last month told The Weekly Post, “Those are news to me.” BCFPD officials provided police documents they said showed numerous fuel charges from outside the area, and they told police Bennett had not been authorized to use the fire department’s credit card for personal use. Interviews and other evidence For The Weekly Post
Ideal weather draws crowds to Strawberry Festival One day. That’s what separated Elmwood’s 27th annual Strawberry Festival from overwhelming success to enormous storm-related headaches. So it goes for spring festivals in Illinois. When the sun shines and Mother Nature cooperates, as it did Saturday, crowds come out in force. In addition to plenty of hungry festival-goers, the car show attracted 108 entrants – many of whom awoke Saturday morning, checked the weather and decided to drive to Elmwood. Had the event been Sunday, when storms whipped through the area, the antique car count would barely have broke double digits. Crowds were so good that the food tent ran out of nearly every sort of food. But from the perspective of an event organizer, it’s better to leave crowds hungry for more than to be stuck with 77 strawberry pies.
Elmwood’s junior high school project delayed By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – Elmwood District 322 plans a “gift” of a remodeled Junior High School, but it may become a Christmas present, as the Board of Education at an emergency meeting on Sunday unanimously voted to severe its contract with its construction manager and essentially start over. The $1.5 million project slated to be done before students return to school in August now won’t be finished until December. Groundbreaking for the project took place last month, but after a meeting last week with representatives of the District’s construction management company, Performance Services, Inc. of Schaumburg, Superintendent Chad Wagner and Board For The Weekly Post
“The company we hired has failed to honor the agreements that were signed in good faith and we needed to move quickly to correct that situation.” – Chad Wagner, Superintendent members Mark Davis and Val Ramirez became dissatisfied with progress. Their concerns – including an unrealistic schedule, the failure to order steel and hundreds of thousands of dollars of cost
overruns – were shared with staff and the Board, which considered a few options before voting to dismiss Performance Services and re-bid the work. Scheduled to be completed by Aug. 10, the project includes remodeling the former library, replacing temporary walls to make separate, larger classrooms, and incorporating technology upgrades. Also, an addition of 2,700 square feet will accommodate the highest projected enrollment in future years. The project also includes a new, secure entrance for the junior high and high school. “The Board, the administration, and even members of the community continuously asked if the project could be done on time and the answer from the company was always a confident and resounding yes,” Wagner said. “The reality of the situContinued on Page 2
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