The Weekly Post
Thursday September 14, 2017 Vol. 5, No. 28 Hot news tip? Want to advertise? Call (309) 741-9790
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‘Here comes the sun,’ solar-farm developer says By BILL KNIGHT
BRIMFIELD – A solar-energy developer hopes to start building small-scale solar farms in Central Illinois, and a meeting with Cypress Creek Renewables senior developer Scott Novack and Farm Bureau lawyer Garrett Thalgott Wednesday (Sept. 6) drew about 100 interested area property owners. Cypress Creek Renewables, which operates facilities generating 900 megawatts in eight states and is developing solar farms in another seven states, wants to generate 200 For The Weekly Post
Farmington school board sets goals
megawatts of electricity in Illinois by 2019 on acreage that’s relatively flat and close to existing substations or transmission lines, Novack said. The growth of such developments has been helped not only by more efficient solar systems and the decreasing costs of materials, but by government incentives, especially in Illinois. Solar-energy companies already employ more workers than any other energy industry – including coal, oil and natural gas, combined – according to the U.S. Department of Energy's second annual “U.S. En-
ergy and Employment Report” released this year. According to the report, solar – both small-scale/community and large-scale/utility solar farms and plants – employed almost 374,000 workers last year, a 12-month increase of 25 percent. Those 374,000 workers represent 43 percent of the entire labor force in the Department of Energy’s Electric Power Generation sector. The fossil-fuels sector has about half that (22 percent – 187,117 workers) throughout coal, oil and natural-gas Continued on Page 2
A crowd of about 100 interested property owners attended a meeting to hear about the potential for solar farms in Central Illinois. Photo by Bill Knight.
FALL FESTIVAL PARADE
Dollar General likely coming to Brimfield
By BILL KNIGHT
By TERRY TOWERY
FARMINGTON – Setting goals and planning for improvements were discussed at the Board of Education meeting Monday, when District goals were unanimously approved and Superintendent Zac Chatterton shared his goals as well. Also addressed outside the meeting itself were a budget for next year and a recent incident with two pupils being placed on the wrong bus accidentally. The Board OK’d the District’s formal goals for 2017-18: having no less than half students who take the PARCC (Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers) test this year meet or exceed English Language Arts and Math standards; by this calendar year achieving 5,000 downloads from District 265’s web application; by next May considering an analytics page to monitor use of the web site and social media; and having each District building develop
BRIMFIELD – A Dollar General store may be open for business in the village as soon as early 2018, the Brimfield Village Board heard Monday. The company is looking at a threeacre parcel of land at the corner of U.S. Route 150 and North Maher Road on which to build a 9,100 square-feet store with two adjacent parking lots. The store would be accessed on Maher Road, the board was told. There would be no access on Route 150. Village President Dan Fishel said Dollar General would need to secure the proper zoning variances from the village, and would also need approval by the Peoria County Board. Once those requirements are met – and it likely won’t take long if all goes well, Fishel said – the store would be opened within 90 days of groundbreaking. Also at Monday’s meeting, the board welcomed a new member. Rod For The Weekly Post
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Youngsters enjoyed collecting candy at the annual Fall Festival parade in downtown Elmwood last Saturday. Photo by Jeff Lampe.
Elmwood councils OKs ‘new’ budget By BILL KNIGHT
ELMWOOD – The bottom line for the City’s budget is that it passed Sept. 8, and the total appropriations of $2.9 million was about the same as a “final” draft crafted by Treasurer Dean Warner, Alderman Bob Paige and Council members. However, the ordinance authorizing expenFor The Weekly Post
ditures based on projected revenues that was presented by City Attorney Bob Potts at the Council’s public hearing and meeting that evening featured several provisions and line items never previously discussed. Officials expressed surprise at the changes at the lengthy public hearing, which ran nearly an hour in a process that can often take less than 10 minutes. Continued on Page 15
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