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DeKALB BASKETBALL
MOCK REFUGEE CAMP
DeKalb’s Luke Davis
Barbs use summer work as chance to learn, gel Sports, B1
Friday, July 5, 2013
For one night, teenagers will experience displacement Faith, C1
$24M library expansion ‘done deal’ Official: Grant contract for DeKalb building to be final this week By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com DeKALB – The DeKalb Public Library’s $24 million expansion and renovation plan will take an important final step toward becoming reality this week, officials say. A spokesman with the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office – which oversees the Illinois State Library – said they will have finalized the
grant contract with the DeKalb library by the end of this week. “I think it’s safe to say that this is a done deal,” said spokesman Henry Haupt. The finalization marks the end of a six-year saga, as library officials sought a way to expand their offerings beyond their cramped space in the Haish Memorial Library, an 80-year-old landmark building at 309 Oak St.
DeKalb Library Board President Clark Neher gives a toast to guests at a party thrown by him and his wife Saturday in their DeKalb home. The party celebrated the end of the fiscal year and the grant that is allowing them to move forward with a major expansion to the library.
With the contract finalized, library officials will be able to receive the $11.6 million state construction grant in installments as long as they begin construction within 140 days – or by mid-November. In order to secure the grant, the library had to muster a $12.2 million local match, most of which will come from public funds.
Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
See LIBRARY, page A7
FOURTH FESTIVITIES
DeKalb leaders mull pay increase By DAVID THOMAS dthomas@shawmedia.com
Photos by Monica Maschak – mmaschak@shawmedia.com
Fireworks dance across the sky for the Fourth of July celebration at Hopkins Park in DeKalb.
ABOVE: Gene Bellinger, with the American Legion Post 66, prepares to post the colors with a U.S. Air Force flag for the Fourth of July celebration at Hopkins Park in DeKalb. LEFT: Sami Simms, 5, of Sycamore blows bubbles while she waits for fireworks at Hopkins Park.
On the Net: View reader-submitted Fourth of July photos at Daily-Chronicle.com.
Illinois’ writing test back, but without funding By KERRY LESTER The Associated Press SPRINGFIELD – After a two-year reprieve, Illinois high school juniors will be tested on their writing skills again next spring during state standardized tests. Yet lawmakers did not allot an extra $2.5 million to pay for the exams across the state, raising hackles among critics of the legislative budget process after Democrats cel-
ebrated not having to cut education funding for the first time in four years. State education officials say they now are hunting for a way to pay for the tests, possibly by seeking an extra appropriation from lawmakers. Advocates of restoring the writing test say the move is in anticipation of major state education reforms that stress critical thinking more heavily. Educators fear that some Illinois schools dropped an
emphasis on writing skills when the yearly assessments were halted in 2011. The move reflects a “concern that writing was not being taken as seriously as it should be,” said state Sen. Dan Kotowski, a Democrat who helped negotiate the education budget. “This is determined to be something that has a strong impact on student performance in the classroom – a predictor of success.” But Republican lawmakers say
it illustrates a problem with the state’s approach to budgeting, and how Democrats seek to spend money the state doesn’t have. In keeping education funding even this year, lawmakers took advantage of a socalled “April Surprise,” a windfall of one-time tax revenues. But a DeKalb County lawmaker says the Democrats went too far in adding back programs the state can’t afford.
See TEST, page A7
DeKALB – DeKalb City Council members will consider finalizing the 2 percent pay raises for all nonunion city employees at their Monday night meeting. In addition, Mayor John Rey, and Aldermen David Jacobson and Monica O’Leary, of the 1st and 7th Wards, respectively, have asked that council members revisit the pay increase that was denied to Frieders Law LLC. The three council members voted down City Attorney Dean Frieders’ pay increase at their June 24 meeting. If the pay increase is approved by the council, the city will pay Frieders Law $17,340 a month – or $208,080 a year. Frieders’ contract was renewed at their previous meeting without the increase. For his part, Rey said in a previous interview that he regretted voting against the pay increase. “If you look at the deliverables and things Dean has brought in the city ... we’re sending the wrong message if we’re approving a contract with no increase at all,” Rey said. Police Chief Gene Lowery described his experience with Frieders as positive, noting how he has streamlined certain processes and led initiatives to update certain ordinances. “The return on investment for Dean Frieders is many times what the cost of his salary is,” Lowery said. The City Council’s last meeting saw a significant divide between aldermen who say the city is on relatively sound financial footing, and others who say it’s about to fall into fiscal disaster. In addition to lengthy debates about the pay increases for the attorney and the city staff, the council also debated the pay increase and merits of Roger Hopkins, the city’s economic development consultant. The council approved Hopkins’ contract and pay increase with a total cost of $77,112 a year. Even with the pay increase, officials said the city is saving money through the outsourced services. Rudy Espiritu, acting city manager, said the city was paying up to $450,000 a year for an in-house legal department, while a full-time economic development director would cost up to $135,000 a year. All of the pay increases were budgeted for in the city’s fiscal 2014 budget, which began Monday. With no items to consider in their Committee of the Whole, the City Council will begin Monday’s meeting at 6 p.m. at the DeKalb Municipal Building, 200 S. Fourth St.
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