Scott County Times
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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 28, 2019
WINCHESTER, IL 62694
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VOLUME NO. 152 NUMBER 35
Winchester views proposed pool specs The Pike Press office will be closed Monday, Sept. 2 in observance of Labor Day. Deadline for news and ads for next week’s edition is 5 p.m. Friday, Aug. 30. Marketplace classifieds and public notice deadline is Friday at noon.
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Times NEWS Meet the Glasgow Burgoo contestants. See page A2 Winchester UMC celebrates 185 years as Lighthouse as Hope. See page A3
Winchester UMC holds brunch. See page A7
SPORTS Hettinger and Frost lead Cougars. See page A3
WEEKEND WEATHER
bathhouse.� By CARMEN ENSINGER Hillis said he met with the Illinois Scott County Times Department of Public Health the preWinchester City Coun-cil convened vious day and there is a four-week a special board meeting Thursday, review time on them issuing the perAug. 22 to look over the proposed mits. specifications for the new bath and The problem is contractors working filter house. on swimming pools have to be preEarlier this year, the city was award- qualified by the state. ed a $670,000 grant “We might let this from the USDA for for bids and get sevthe OSLAD(Open “I don’t think we eral bids, but not all of Spaces Lands, Acthem are pre-qualified quisition and Dev- should start any to do work on a pool,� elopment) program of the demo work Hillis said. “So after to make improvewe get their comments ments to the munic- until we have an back, then we have to ipal pool including approved bid in our figure out the lowest a new bath house responsible bidder and and filter house, hand. The demo then turn their name plus a new liner for them and then won’t take long and into the pool. they will give you “The sooner we I would hate to tear your permit for conget your final struction. You can do approval on the things down and demo work or dig, but plans the sooner we then the bids come you can’t do any concan get the permit struction work until and bidding process in much higher you have that permit started,� Greg Hillis than what we in your hand.� with Benton and The plan is to subAssociates said. expected and it not mit the specifications “You have already to IDPH the same time be possible.� received 25 perthey go out for bidcent of the money ding. from the Illinois “We are not going Rex McIntire Department of Nato wait for their commayor. tural Resources.� ments back before we Plans are to have let the bidding because the pool ready for operation at the start we don’t want to lose that four-week of next pool season in May. However, window,� Hillis said. “It has to be pubif the weather does not cooperate, the licly advertised but we have already opening day might be pushed back been contacted by some companies tell a bit or, worst case scenario, the city us they will be bidding on it.� might miss next pool season altoThe plans include using the curgether. rent basement of the filter house and “Our plan is to be ready for next sea- building a concrete floor over it. The son,� Hillis said. “If we have a good, bathhouse is a bit longer than the curgentle winter, it is very possible. If we rent bathhouse and an area for storage do not, we may have to discuss what has been included. There will also be a to do. The beauty is we are not digging family restroom/changing room added for a new pool. The deepest we will in addition to the traditional men’s and have to dig is for the footings on the women’s shower and changing rooms.
Carmen Ensinger/Scott County Times
Greg Hillis points to various areas of the new proposed bathhouse on blueprints presented to the Winchester City Council at a special meeting Aug. 22. The city received a $670,000 grant to redo the bathhouse and filter house at the pool as well as install a new liner in the pool. Demo work is expected to begin soon after bids are received for the new construction.
The plumbing will be easily accessible for city workers who might need to shut off the water or winterize the pool. The system used will also be more user friendly with just a single lever needed to do the backwashing rather than the sequence of steps workers now have to go through. Ventilation will be through exhaust fans – not windows. “We did look at putting in windows for ventilation, but with the height of the walls, the smallest window we could use people could still manage to look into,� Hillis said. “So, instead of windows, we are putting exhaust fans on the lights. We feel it will provide
Bluffs School District has balanced budget for next year
FRIDAY, AUG. 30
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SATURDAY, AUG. 31
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SUNDAY, SEPT. 1
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if that was detrimental to the co-op. “The way I explained it to them was this,� he said. “Let’s assume that it costs a district $200 per athlete to run a sport. Currently, Winchester charges that student $100 to cover that cost and Bluffs charges them $50. Therefore, Winchester is financing $100 for that student to play the sport and Bluffs is financing $150.� In other words, the Bluffs district is picking up a larger percentage of the cost for that student to participate in a sport. “Currently, the Bluffs tax rate is higher than what it is in Winchester so the Bluffs district has approved a higher tax rate to support those types of things so its not coming out of the parents pockets,� Blankenship said. “whereas the Winchester district has a lower tax rate but then the expectation is the parents pay a higher portion of those fees.�
By CARMEN ENSINGER Scott County Times Thanks to some additional funding from the Evidence Based Funding (EBF) formula, Bluffs School Board passed tentative budget that is balanced this year. Bluffs Superintendent Kevin Blankenship said this year’s budget is right at $2.9 million, which is about a $50,000 increase. “This $50,000 increase is part of the additional funding that we are supposed to get providing the state continues to fund education at 100 percent,� Blankenship said. “We are still categorized as a Tier 1 district which means the law that is in place covering the EBF is they want to get everyone to 90 percent adequacy. We are at 62 percent so until we get to 90 percent, we should continue to see increased funding every year until we hit that 90 percent mark.� As for where the State is coming up with this additional funding, Blankenship said the leadership in Springfield came up with an extra $360 million for education this year for the EBF from moving moniey around, taking from other funds and from the proposed progressive income tax Bluffs overall score last year went down by just under one percentage point. This score is based on the number of students in the district which met or exceeded the State standards in testing. “We were at 63 percent last year and this year we are at 62 percent,� Blankenship said. “For all practical purposes we really didn’t move but we did see a little bit of a decrease.� The formula used to determine the amount of EBF a district received is based on a complicated formula with 27 different variables taken into account. “You never like to go backwards, but it’s not like we decreased by five percent – it was a very small decrease that could be caused by numerous reasons,� Blankenship said. “It could be because of demographic shifts or by the amount of taxes we charge based on what we are getting from the State. There is just a lot of different variables.� Blankenships said this is only the second year of the EBF so it is going to take time. “It is going to take a little bit of time before we see some structural increases,� he said. “But we are on the right track because we are seeing more revenue than we ever have so we are getting there. It is just going to be a slow process to get us where we are at the 90 percent adequacy funding.� A brief discussion was also held about the
(See, DIRECTOR, A2)
(See, BUDGET, A2)
Scott County Times
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better ventilation. When you are open, the exhaust will be running.� To cut down on the overall cost of the project, the city will do the demolition of the current bath and filter houses. However, Mayor Rex McIntire said he didn’t want the city to start any demolition work until everything was in hand. “I don’t think we should start any of the demo work until we have an approved bid in our hand,� he said. “The demo won’t take long and I would hate to tear things down and then the bids come in much higher than what we expected and it not be possible.�
TOWER
Submitted photo
OF CUPS
Students in Candy Miller’s Honors Algebra II at Winchester High School had a bit of fun last week with a cup stacking activity. The winners showing off their massive tower of cups are: Aylei Eans, Emma Smith, Cole Meyer and Jocelyn Dolen.
Winchester School District hoping to hire curriculum director By CARMEN ENSINGER Scott County Times The Strategic Planning Committee (SPC) of Winchester School gave a presentation to the Board of Education this month setting forth their vision and mission statement and the short and long term goals they have established in order to fulfill those vision and mission statements. “One of the needs that was recognized by the SPC is the need for a K-12 curriculum director,� Superintendent Kevin Blankenship said. “They believe a curriculum director is needed to help staff K-12 and develop the curriculum scope and sequence of the curriculum across all grade levels. They believe this would help in areas where the district is falling short.� The SPC has been researching grant opportunities and the grant they are wanting to apply for they hope will cover a portion of that curriculum director.
“If the grant is awarded, then the district might have to match that funding,� Blankenship said. “So while the board did not commit one way or the other, they did tell them to go ahead and at least move forward with applying for the grant.� The grant has to be submitted by Oct. 1 so the SPC will have the full report ready for approval by the Sept. board meeting. Board member discussed the difference in sports fees between Bluffs and Winchester, given that the two district coop in several different sports. Currently, the sports fee at Bluffs is $50 and in Winchester it is $100 and board members wanted to know why there was such a big difference. “Basically, I told them that each district is independent of each other, even though we do co-op in several sports,� Blankenship said. “Each district can determine what their athletic fees are going to be.� Blankenship said he was asked