Boone County Watchdog

Saturday, August 16, 2014

District 100 may have a referendum item on the November Ballot

This may make a minimum of seven referendums—5 for the state and two for Boone County government entities.

The following is taken from the Monday agenda of District 100; see: http://www.boarddocs.com/il/district100/Board.nsf/Public

Agenda Item Details

Meeting

Aug 18, 2014 - Regular Meeting of the Board of Education - 6:00 pm

Last Minute Referendum request from some of the Boone County Board

Is this an attempt to not vote on the recommendation from the Health and Human Service to build a new Animal Services Building on Route 76?

The $713,000 decision is scheduled for vote by the county board at the regular meeting on Wednesday, August 20. Building costs would be paid by the special $5.OO dog fee that has been collected since January 2014 and from approximately $20,000 due annually from other sources. That recommendation is shown at the bottom of this posting.

Why did Mr. Walberg and his voting majority not raise the question of a referendum in a more timely way? This proposal is just before the deadline to place a referendum? Why a referendum on this issue? No referendum for $5,000,000 on the new Administrative Building/Courthouse improvements.

There are already five state referendums on the ballot. Do the voters really want another?

From: Julaine Drake
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2014 4:06 PM
To: County Board
Cc: Michelle Courier; Ken Terrinoni
Subject: Special Meeting

Board Members,

I have received signed requests from Ron Wait, Chris Berner, Paul Larson and Denny Ellingson for a special board meeting on Monday, August 18^th at 7:00 p.m. for the purpose of voting on whether to place on the November 4^,2014 ballot the question of borrowing to construct a new Animal Services Building.

Have a good weekend and see you Monday evening.

Bob

Agenda Item Details

Meeting

Aug 18, 2014 - Boone County Board Special Meeting

Friday, August 15, 2014

Texas' Perry indicted for coercion for veto threat

By WILL WEISSERT

A grand jury indicted Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Friday for abusing the powers of his office by carrying out a threat to veto funding for state prosecutors investigating public corruption — making the possible 2016 presidential hopeful his state's first indicted governor in nearly a century.

A special prosecutor spent months calling witnesses and presenting evidence that Perry broke the law when he promised publicly to nix $7.5 million over two years for the public integrity unit, which is run by Travis County District Rosemary Lehmberg's office. Several top aides to the Republican governor appeared before grand jurors in Austin, including his deputy chief of staff, legislative director and general counsel. Perry himself wasn't called to testify

Read more by clicking on the following: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-perry-indicted-coercion-veto-threat-224901143.html

Here is the NY Times take on the issue: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/16/us/gov-rick-perry-of-texas-is-indicted-over-veto-of-funds-for-das-office.html?emc=edit_na_20140815&nlid=53444314&_r=0

Thursday, August 14, 2014

Belvidere Teachers Starting Without New Contract

By: Shannon Smith - Email Posted: Thu 4:46 PM, Aug 14, 2014 By: Shannon Smith - Email

BELVIDERE (WIFR) – Teachers are back to work in the Belvidere School District, however they’re without a new contract.

The President of the Belvidere Education Association says he doesn’t want to go on strike or protest. He says he just wants better services for kids, especially special needs students in a new contract.

Mark Luthin is the president and a biology teacher at Belvidere North High School. He says teachers are fighting for smaller class sizes, claiming it hurts the quality of learning for students. Luthin says another sticking point is for the district to attract and keep teachers in the area. He says he doesn’t want it to come to a strike, but if they did, that wouldn’t happen for another six weeks according to state law.

Superintendent Michael Houselog says the district is working with the state to make sure they’re compliant with the requirements for special needs classes. He says the board has offered teachers a raise. Houselog says he is optimistic about coming to an agreement with the BEA.

The School Board meets Monday, however they won’t be voting on a contract. Luthin says he’s agreed to mediation with the district, scheduled for September 3rd.

The above is taken from: http://www.wifr.com/news/headlines/Belvidere-Teachers-Starting-Without-New-Contract-271303481.html

Decision could boost use of popular weed killer By

MARY CLARE JALONICK 22 hours ago 0 shares

The Environmental Protection Agency is expected to rule this fall on Dow AgroSciences' application to market Enlist, a new version of the 2,4-D herbicide that's been around since the 1940s. It's partly a game of catch-up for the agriculture industry, as many farmers are dealing with weeds that have become resistant to glyphosate, an herbicide commonly used on corn and soybeans now.

If approved, the 2,4-D would be used in combination with glyphosate.

An Agriculture Department decision on the company's genetically modified seeds also is expected this fall. In the department's final environmental review released last week, the USDA recommended approval. The agency said that if both the seeds and herbicide are approved, the use of 2,4-D could increase by an estimated 200 to 600 percent by the year 2020

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

City of Belvidere wages & benefits

The following list is available for all city employees on the city’s website at: http://www.ci.belvidere.il.us/images/filecabinet/comp%20report%20fy2015.pdf

Page 2 and 9 are printed below as an illustration. Total compensation for Mayor Chamberlain is $90,506. Fire Chief Worrell appears to have the highest total compensation—$129,750.

Belvidere Amtrak station plans near completion

In answer to some questions at the Boone County Fair this article is being posted. The highlighted areas are for specific questions asked.

By Ben Stanley
Rockford Register Star
Posted Jul. 3, 2014 @ 4:00 pm

BELVIDERE — Construction of a Belvidere Amtrak station could begin before the end of 2014.

“I’m hoping to get started this year, but there are still a lot of steps to go through,” Belvidere Mayor Mike Chamberlain said.

The city will meet with engineers in the next two or three weeks to review technical aspects of the station’s design.

Stephen Ernst, executive director of the Rockford Metropolitan Agency for Planning, said that Boone County and Belvidere are “well along the way” toward finalizing construction plans.

The station and transit center would be built along existing train tracks north of City Hall between Main and State streets, according to a multi-phase downtown development proposal from 2005 posted on the City of Belvidere’s website.

Chamberlain said that the station could be completed toward the end of 2015.

According to the 2005 plan, once the station is complete, an initial phase of government, residential, commercial, retail and mixed-use development would be implemented over the next five years and would expand City Hall and the Boone County Historical Museum to create a “civic campus” around the station.

Chamberlain said the Amtrak station is the first step in connecting Belvidere to Chicago and Rockford through a commuter rail that he hopes will drive downtown development.

Ernst said that the line will begin transporting passengers in 2015 on a single train with plans to add a second train in 2016.

In four or five years, Chamberlain hopes enough trains will be added to allow residents to live in Belvidere and commute to work in Chicago or Rockford, or vice versa.

Chamberlain also said a plan is being discussed to develop a shuttle system with busses that would take Rockford commuters who don’t want to use a proposed west Rockford train station to the Belvidere one.

“I think they’ll come here instead of going to the west side of Rockford,” Chamberlain said.