Front March 19

Work to begin on Kinkaid Lake Page 7 Eggemeyer guilty Page 3 Randolph court Serving The Area With Local News Since 1980 Page 8 Red Bud election Page 21 © Copyright 2015, County Journal www.countyjournalnews.com Volume 36 Number 12 28 Pages Your Local News Leader Thursday, March 19, 2015 75¢ Sparta schools will bid district custodial services Despite comments against it, tiations are finished. the Sparta school board is mov- Kenny Kempfer of Evans- ing ahead to get bids that could ville, a school board candi- turn over the schools’ janito- Union date, asked, “If they are go- rial duties to a private coming to hire the same people pany. at the same pay rate and with Superintendent Larry Beattie people don’t the same benefits, where do said, in an effort to save an the savings come from?” estimated $132,000, the board like the idea “I have the same question,” is interested in bidding out said board President Terry custodial services. Waldron. The district has 12 custodi- whether the union part of any Board member Kevin ans, all members of Sparta Ser- deal is factual. Holliday said the company vice Employees union, an arm Beattie then formally recom- would save some money on of the Illinois Education Asso- mended that the board let bids materials. ciation. Their current one-year for custodial services and ne- “There will have to be cuts contract expires June 30. gotiate with the union. somewhere,” said Kempfer. “The board is looking for sav- “The union could also Waldron said private com- Jail administrator Jason Juenger shows Chester Herald ings anywhere,” said Beattie. present a proposal,” said panies do not have to pay into Tribune editor Pete Spitler how the new digital machine “We did a case study to look at Beattie. IMRF, the state retirement works. Spitler is getting his fingerprints taken through a savings through private con- Comments then came from system. scanner, which shows up immediately on the screen. trol of custodial services.” those in attendance. “We won’t know (all of the Beattie said the study was Debi Klausing of Sparta, a answers) until we get the conducted by GCA Services of Marissa teacher and teacher bids,” said Holliday. Downers Grove at no cost to union official, said she At the end of the open ses- the district. thought that the local employ- sion, the board voted to seek According to Beattie, any ees would not stay on very bids, with board members contract would have to follow long if privatization came Ann Albers and Waldron vot- state statutes, pay employees about. ing against the motion. at their current rate of pay, the “I don’t believe these employ- Beattie said bids will be due opportunity for all 12 employees will be protected,” she said. April 7. They will be opened ees to join the contracted com- Beattie said the district April 9 and discussed at the pany, a similar benefit pack- would get a say in the num- April board meeting. age for workers and the right ber of employees hired. Action on the matter is for the workers to stay with a Klausing asked the board to planned for May. union. wait on the bid process until Some in the room questioned after the new contract nego- Continued on Page 5____ No conflict if Holliday wins school and Tilden board races Often, in small town govern- legal conflict. member of directors or board ment, the same people or fam- According to the Illinois at- of school inspectors (school ily get involved. torney general’s office, Illinois board).” Is it lawful for one person to statutes do indeed address the Tilden has fewer than 2,500 hold positions on two different issue. residents, so Holliday can public boards? That depends. “In a city, village or incorpo- hold both offices at the same Kevin Holliday is running rated town with fewer than time, according to the statute. for the Sparta school board 2,500 inhabitants, an alder- The Illinois State Board of and the Tilden Town Board in man of the city or a member Education said there has the April 7 election. of the board of trustees of a been no attorney general’s If he wins both, and he has village or incorporated town, ruling on the matter. competition in both races, can during the term of office for However, the statute ap- he serve on both? Yes, because which he or she is elected, pears to clear up any misun- Tilden is so small, there is no may also hold the office of derstanding. Chester concerts coming to end Sheriff Shannon Wolff shows the old way fingerprints were After the Chester Concert anywhere from $3,000 to Stallman said when the as- obtained with the ink-on-paper method. Association hosts the Cornet $5,000 for each performance. sociation began some 30 Chop Suey Jazz Band later this He sees a possible amphithe- years ago, Chester had 300 month, it will end its pro- ater at the swimming pool in members, and a lot more grams. Cole Memorial Park as a dif- help. Fingerprints: now a Times have changed, accord- ferent situation. “Me and four board mem- ing to association President “There would be more local bers have done the work for Don Stallman. talent there,” said Stallman. 10 years,” said Stallman. “We whole new process “The only people still inter- “It would not be as costly.” are getting older, and we ested are in the older genera- The association has about can’t get anyone else to do tion,” said Stallman. “Younger 150 members now, including anything.” at the sheriff’s office people are not interested. 60 or 70 from Perryville. The final performance will There are so many other Chester and Perryville have be held at Juergens Gym at Modern, digital technology things for them to do. They an agreement that members of the high school at 7 p.m. has come to the digit (as in don’t seem to have time.” one concert association get the Tuesday, March 31. finger) business. The association survived on benefits of the other. The St. Louis band is named The Randolph County Identification membership fees and corpo- “To be feasible, we need 200 after an old Louis Armstrong Sheriff’s Department now rate donations, while the cost to 250 members,” said Stall- song. They play a wide vari- has an iTouch Biometrics can now be of entertainment has gone up man. “We get very little local ety of jazz, swing, blues and machine to process finger- for the handful of concerts support. We have tried to big production numbers. prints and other arrestee in- almost held each year. reach out to other communi- For ticket information, call formation through what is “The cost of the entertain- ties, but that didn’t help.” Stallman at 826-5061. Tick- called the Live Scan program. instantaneous ment has made it no longer They also brought in excep- ets will be available at the The machine is owned by feasible,” said Stallman. tionally strong musicians, but door or in advance at $15 for the Illinois State Police, but He said the musicians cost that didn’t help, either. adults and $5 for children. some have been placed in The information on the many sheriff’s offices and iTouch is instantly sent to the larger police departments Illinois Bureau of Identifica- throughout the state. tion in Joliet, a division of the Menard inmate attacks guards It scans a person’s fingers state police. By Travis Lott treated and released from the and takes his or her picture The new machine has been Two lieutenants at Menard hospital. However, he is re- for almost immediate identi- in operation at the jail since Correctional Center in Chester Overcrowding at cuperating from injuries and fication—if the person is al- March 12. That evening, it were assaulted by an inmate has not returned to work. ready in the criminal system. was used for the first time. March 13. Menard is still The inmate responsible, Sheriff Shannon Wolff said It’s quicker and cheaper to Illinois Department of Cor- who is classified as severely it helps his office identify a use, according to Wolff. rections spokeswoman Nicole an issue mentally ill, will remain in suspect. The machine can also be Wilson refused to provide any segregation for a year. “We have had cases of used by the public to obtain a information about the specif- However, vague the infor- people giving us the wrong concealed-carry permit. The ics of the incident or the offic- tally ill; however, Menard Psy- mation from the department name,” said Wolff. “Also, oc- cost will be $31.50 to get ers’ names. chiatric Division no longer ex- of corrections may be, Wil- casionally, a suspect won’t prints, with that money going However, other sources say ists. Ty Peterson, staff repre- son was quick to say that even talk to us, but this helps to the state. None will be kept the inmate had been cuffed. sentative for AFSCME, veri- Governor Bruce Rauner is clear that up.” by the sheriff’s office. The two guards went into his fied that the inmate slipped trying to improve the horrid In the past, a suspect would Jail administrator Jason cell, he slipped out of the cuffs out of his cuffs and attacked state of Illinois prisons by enter the jail, and his prints Juenger said the machine can and fought with them. Sources the officers. hiring more correctional of- would be taken.

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