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W y, May 15, 2013 Wednesday,
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Board member objects to bonuses Cvek casts lone dissenting vote on county Finance Committee’s move By FELIX SARVER fsarver@shawmedia.com SYCAMORE – At least one DeKalb County Board member is questioning whether a decision to award bonuses to six employees was appropriate. On May 1, the County Board’s Finance Committee voted, 6-1, to award $2,500 bonuses to six employees in the county finance office, a
total of $15,000. Anthony Cvek, a Sycamore Republican from District 4, cast the lone dissenting vote and called the decision “ridiculous.” “Nowhere in the budget was there approval for bonuses, and this is a bonus,” Cvek said. Stephen Reid, a DeKalb Democrat from District 5 and chair of the Finance Committee, said the employees in the finance office worked 4 ½ months without a finance direc-
tor. The bonuses were awarded to them as a way of thanking them for doing more work as a result, he said. Gary Hanson had been the county’s finance director and deputy county administrator before he was promoted to replace Ray Bockman as county administrator Dec. 1. Hanson pointed out that the county had saved $56,000 from the position being vacant, and so it saved $41,000 even after the bonuses
were awarded. He said the finance office lacked a full-time leader in December, January and February, which are the busiest months of the year. “They were really producing, and we were saving some money in the process,” Reid said. Cvek said he understood the desire to recognize employees for extra work, but he did not agree with taking money from the county’s
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Anthony Cvek
Gary Hanson
budget reserves. He said the bonuses came at a time when local businesses are failing and people are out of work.
See COUNTY BONUSES, page A4
Vacant house in Sycamore has pot stash By JILLIAN DUCHNOWSKI jduchnowski@shawmedia.com
Photos by Monica Maschak - mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Jamie Willrett checks on some of his 3,000 cattle Tuesday in one of the barns on his Malta cattle feed lot. Last year’s drought increased the price of feed, which led farmers such as Willrett to use different substitutions for feed. How prices fluctuate this year will depend on the weather.
Spring brings plenty of rain, but conditions delay planting Willrett pets a monthold calf being raised for his children’s 4-H project, which is a livestock project where the steers are judged for quality at fairs. Only about 17 percent of corn crops have been planted so far this year.
By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – Despite the late start to planting, DeKalb-area farmers are expecting a good growing season and harvest year. Bob Johnson, who farms 2,100 acres south of DeKalb, said he had been concerned until recently that there wouldn’t be enough moisture in the soil. “Last month fixed that,” Johnson said. Since Jan. 1, DeKalb County has received 17.5 inches of precipitation from rainfall and melted snow, said Gilbert Sebenste, staff meteorologist at Northern Illinois University. “We’ve made up for all of the rainfall for the short-term and the midterm we didn’t get last year,” Sebenste said. But a colder-than-normal March and April have led to delays in planting crops across Illinois. According to the state’s weather and crops report, farmers have planted 17 percent of their corn so far.
See FARMING, page A4
SYCAMORE – Police seized more than 100 marijuana plants Tuesday growing in the basement of an unoccupied home in the 900 block of Wells Drive, Sycamore police Lt. Darrell Johnson said. Johnson said this was the biggest growing operation Sycamore police have discovered in recent history. “We’re talking all stages of the growing cycle, from small to mature,” Johnson said of Tuesday’s seizure. “Along with that, [we found] a significant amount of the equipment to operate one of these grows.” Police had not identified a suspect but were continuing their investigation, Johnson said. They were still cataloging the items seized, and did not have a final count of how many plants were found. A service company hired by the bank interested in the foreclosed home called police about 9 a.m. Tuesday after noticing something suspicious, Johnson said. Police swept the home, which is off Mount Hunger Road east of North Main Street, for possible dangers and then obtained a search warrant. Sycamore patrol officers, detectives and DeKalb County sheriff’s deputies spent about six hours removing the plants and growing equipment, Johnson said. “Other than that, the house appeared somewhat vacant,” Johnson said. Police found no weapons or signs of forced entry. Johnson did not know how long the house had been empty. The latest find came almost a month after police said they removed 17 marijuana plants from a home in the 2100 block of Highland Drive in Sycamore. In connection with that incident, Daniel Riebeling, 35, who lived in the house, was charged April 12 with possession of marijuana plants, a Class 4 felony typically punishable by up to 3 years in prison. He is next due in DeKalb County court May 21.
“We’re talking all stages of the growing cycle, from small to mature. Along with that, [we found] a significant amount of the equipment to operate one of these grows.” Lt. Darrell Johnson, Sycamore police
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