Photo by Mike Brothers
Sullivan IGA donated $500 to Secret Santa. IGA manager Pat Stinson (center) presents check to Secret Santa representatives Police Chief John Love (right) and Greg Foster.

•December 2, 2015•

Secret Santa of Sullivan was presented a check for $500 from Sullivan IGA last week.

Accepting on behalf of the communitywide help organization was Greg Foster left and Police Chief John Love (right). IGA manager Pat Stinson presented the annual donation.

Chief Love said that 100 people have signed up for Secret Santa so far this season.

“People can still sign up for Secret Santa until Dec 5,” Love said, noting that the police department is handling all registrations for the program.

“Donations like the one from IGA help us bring Christmas to people who can’t otherwise afford it,” Love said, pointing out that the garage area at the police department will have toys on display for Secret Santa shoppers.

Secret Santa has grown from a couple of folks purchasing bicycles for Christmas to a community based help program all year round.

Love explained they have been able to help families in emergency situations with food, clothing and shelter in addition to making Christmas better for those who don’t have it so good. Read More

Roofs and HVAC systems needed

•November 11, 2015•

By Mike Brothers

Facing a little more than $5 million in needed HVAC upgrading and roof repairs Sullivan Community Unit 300 board members explored funding options at the regular Monday, Nov. 9 meeting.

Tim King of King Financial Consultants presented some options utilizing  health life safety bonds.

King explained, with existing debt expiring, the district could maintain its $380,000 annual payment toward bond payback.

“With your fund balances you also have the ability to purchase your own bonds,” King continued, noting Monticello school district self-funded health life safety bonds in January.

Sullivan fund balances totaling $6 million in education and transportation could be used with the district earning between 1.3 and 1.9 percent interest on the loan.

“One advantage to partially funding the bonds from existing funds is the balance could be borrowed locally at competitive rates,” King said.

Supt. Brad Tuttle asked about the option of selling bonds to cover a portion of the project.

King noted if the district needed to raise funds to reimburse or add additional funds, they could sell bonds to raise cash in 30-60 days.

Tuttle explained the district is looking at various funding options which will be discussed at the winter board planning session.

A public hearing concerning the intent of the board to issue $5 million in health life and safety bonds was held following King’s presentation. Read More

•November 11, 2015•

By Derek Pope
For the News Progress

Bethany residents may notice some changes as they drive through town this fall thanks to funding from Moultrie County and the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency. Over the past few months, village workers have replaced nearly 150 traffic signs throughout the village as part of a Federal Highway Administration mandate that went into effect this year.

The project, which consisted of installing new posts, signs made of modern highly reflective materials, and the removal of some old traffic signs that did not meet previously existing federal regulations, started back in July and was finished November 6. All of the materials were purchased by Moultrie County’s governing body and distributed to Bethany, though village labor was required to set up the new signage.

As part of the federal mandate, Bethany was required to have all the new signs in place by November 30 of this year. Similarly by 2018, all street signs will need to be replaced in order to posses the same “retroreflectivity” as the town’s new traffic signs.

Bethany’s utilities department also got the go ahead to change out 22 streetlights in the village’s downtown district with new LED lighting in the coming months, in part by using funds given to the village by the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA). Through the IMEA’s Electric Efficiency Program, cumulative funds are granted each year to be used by affiliated municipalities, as the town sees fit, in projects that will reduce overall public electricity use.  Read More

Photo by Mike Brothers
ReStore manager Jan Courtright is constantly cleaning and arranging merchandise at the Moultrie County Habitat for Humanity store in Sullivan.

•November 4, 2015•

By Mike Brothers

When Jan Courtright became manager of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Sullivan it was a natural fit. An open house was held to from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, October 31.

“I worked in Arthur and lived in Findlay so I drove by every day,” Jan began. “I began stopping and getting things for my house and just shopping.”

Courtright began to look at the ReStore as a daily American Pickers adventure, as he looked through shelves filled with everything from building supplies to vinyl albums and cassette tapes to rows of glassware and furniture.

You can get pretty much anything you need for your house at the ReStore.

Courtright’s shopping experience turned to management when his daughter told him about the opening in Sullivan.

“I really liked the store and what it does for the community, so I applied, and here I am,” he said, as he cleaned off a microwave getting prepared for the shelf.

He spends his 10 hour days moving and organizing and picking up donations along with the help of about a dozen or so Habitat for Humanity volunteers.

“Without the dozen or so volunteers this would not be possible,” Courtright said of dealing with the volume of merchandise coming in and out. Read More

•November 4, 2015•

Matt Schoaff is a principal of action. That is one reason every student at Okaw Valley High School toured major businesses and industry in the area on October 30.

Schoaff explained that four busloads of high school students left Bethany heading to places such as Mid-State Tank, Agri-Fab and Hydro-Gear in Sullivan, to MasterBrand Cabinets in Arthur and to TCCI in Decatur.

“We had kids in welding internships for the first time at Agri-Fab last year,” Schoaff said of Okaw Valley’s commitment to training.  “Our major goal is to graduate kids to be productive citizens.”

“Not another school is doing this,” he emphasized.

Doing things is what Schoaff is good at.

Last year he noticed that many of the schools in the area have common issues relating to curriculum. So a professional learning group became his goal to let educators in different districts share successful teaching curricula in five different subjects.

Arthur, Shelbyville, Oakland and Windsor joined Okaw Valley to explore curriculum issues with math courses in August.

That experience went well so Schoaff stepped it up this year, inviting more schools and setting aside a weeklong curricula series. Read More