Superintendent pay tops year's news

Elgin Area School District U-46 Superintendent Connie Neale made news all year long.

And it wasn't for pulling the district out of financial and academic distress.

Neale's contract became the talk of several towns when school board member Dan Rich resigned in January, citing the board's capitulation to her contract demands.

Neale had asked for, and received, a raise and bonus worth about $60,000, bringing her total pay package with benefits to more than $400,000.

As the year -- and news story -- progressed, more details of her contract became public.

During the five years Neale worked in U-46, school board members had annually afforded her a laundry list of perks, including contributions to an out-of-state retirement fund and lifetime health benefits.

In total, Neale's contract called for about $1 million in post-retirement payouts -- a figure that does not include the pensions she will receive from three states.

Teachers, parents and residents lined up at school board meetings to speak out against Neale's lucrative deal.

Neale's contract also became an election issue, as the two top vote-getters in the spring school board election strongly opposed Neale's raise.

In May, Neale put her Elgin home on the market. At the time, she said she planned to remain in the area. By July, she had relocated to Missouri.

Then, in September, Neale announced her intention to go on indefinite medical leave for undisclosed health reasons.

In October, she announced her resignation -- though she will remain on medical leave and the district payroll until February.

The timing of Neale's resignation will allow her to reap the maximum benefit from her Illinois pension.

School board members in September appointed Mary Jayne Broncato to serve as interim superintendent.

They are in the process of searching for Neale's permanent replacement.

Meanwhile, Broncato makes more than $1,000 per day for her interim gig.

2. Elgin shootings

Elgin police were on high alert over the summer after a string of gang-related shootings, including two near schools, that killed two and injured seven on the city's east side.

The first shooting was reported in mid-July, followed two weeks later by the slayings of Francisco Franco, 21, and Julian Mascote, 18, in a shooting that injured three others on North Street near College Avenue.

In August, Sheridan Elementary School officials locked the school down after several shots were fired at a nearby vehicle after class had let out for the day.

In September, parents expressed outraged when several shots were fired near Huff Elementary School and Drake Field, while kids in a youth league were playing football and cheerleading.

Less than a week later, a teenage boy was shot in the back as he rode a bike along Channing Street with a friend. And later that month, three more people, ages 17 to 21, were injured in a shooting at Ann and Gifford streets.

Elgin police earlier in the year had reported that gang-related shootings were at a five-year low in 2006.

In response to the violence, neighbors staged a peace walk with city leaders, and hundreds of residents turned out for meetings with Elgin police and city officials.

The city council has since formed a committee to look at gang intervention and prevention programs.

3. Festival Park

Elgin leaders this summer gave residents another big reason to hang out downtown: the city's new, $11.5 million Festival Park, which opened Memorial Day weekend.

City officials say the park, located near the Grand Victoria Casino, is an ideal venue for any number of events, with plenty of open space, a play area for kids and other attractions, such as an interactive fountain where folks can cool down during the summer months.

The park saw plenty of action in its first year, playing host to Rib Fest, Fiesta Salsa and BoriquaFest.

City officials also held their inaugural FoxFireFest at Festival Park, featuring an art showcase, the Elgin Cycling Classic, a fireworks show and performances by the Elgin Choral Union, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra and the nationally acclaimed Redmoon Theater.

4. Storms, flooding

Residents along the Fox River were left with flooded basements and sandbagged yards after a wet summer that saw the river spill over its banks.

Low-lying homes from Algonquin to South Elgin flooded as late-August rain battered northern Illinois; and again later, as the rain storms dumped on southern Wisconsin trickled down into Illinois' already strained rivers.

The flooding closed streets and parks and created dangerous conditions on the river, which was closed to boaters.

More homes flooded when violent storms hit the area Aug. 23-24, causing canceled flights, delayed trains, power outages and downed tree branches.

Several cars were swept away on flooded streets, though no serious injuries were reported.

Municipalities spent the next week removing tree branches, repairing roads and fixing traffic lights damaged in the storms.

Less than a week after the storms, a Carpentersville woman was rescued after being swept into the river by flood waters and having to hang onto a branch for five hours.

More than 10,000 sandbags were distributed to local homeowners, while as many as 265,000 ComEd customers in northern Illinois were without power.

At least 600 homes and apartments throughout Kane County sustained flood damage.

Kane County has estimated the damage from the flooding and storms at $4.1 million.

The county was among six counties declared federal disaster areas in September.

McHenry County, which estimated the flood damage at $1.5 million, was declared a disaster area in November.

The designation means homeowners, businesses and nonprofit organizations can apply for low-interest loans to repair the flood damage -- a process that is still ongoing.

5. Space exhibit

The dinosaurs exhibit was a huge hit back in 2005 at Gail Borden Public Library in Elgin.

But the attendance records it set? They are now extinct, thanks to the library's "Space: Dare to Dream" exhibit this year.

When "Dare to Dream" landed in June, more than 69,230 people came out, the largest one-month total in the library's history.

That's a nearly 7 percent increase from the 64,719 visitors who showed up in September 2005, the first month of the "Giants: African Dinosaurs" exhibit.

"Dare to Dream" featured NASA astronaut Janice Voss discussing her life in outer space; plenty of out-of-this-world attractions, such as an Apollo 16 moon rock that's 3.9 billion years old and a replica Saturn V shuttle where visitors could feel the rumble of a pre-launch rocket; and even a live interview with an astronaut orbiting Earth on the International Space Station.

6. Nod to S. Elgin

For the first time, Money Magazine ranked South Elgin 82nd on its list as one of the "Best Places to Live" in the United States, inspiring a groundswell of village pride.

The village's annual events that contribute to its small-town feel won judges over.

The four-day Riverfest Express that's become the town's trademark event, the Fox River Trolley Museum and the Tuna Kahuna Fishing Derby, in which kids catch and release fish into the Fox River, all were mentioned in the magazine's entry.

"It's rare to find a place where you can fish in the middle of town," the magazine said. "But in South Elgin, it's common to see anglers wading the shallow Fox River."

So how does the village intend to raise its rating in 2008?

By taking care of the town's "less-appealing" areas and continuing with ongoing development, particularly in downtown, says Village President Jim Hansen.

7. Trustee resigns

A newly elected Pingree Grove trustee resigned from the board, just about a month after he'd been sworn in, after Village President Clint Carey discovered a racially charged letter from the ex-official's past.

In the 2001 letter, ex-trustee Scott Metz and his wife Terrie, who are white, blamed Elgin's westward expansion on "too many brown and black people" living near well-to-do residents. The letter went on to say the city is a "holding tank of non-tax-paying immigrants" and that occupants of homes in the $175,000 range are responsible for girl gangs in Hampshire.

Carey discovered the letter while going through old files at the village, confronted Metz about it, and then asked him to resign after Metz said his opinions hadn't changed over the years.

"I leave knowing that I am an honest person, and will not be manipulated by others to 'fit' into the correct 'shape' and appearance of Mr. Carey's empire," Metz wrote in his resignation letter.

8. Hospital wars

Elgin's two hospitals made news again this year with the latest in their ongoing legal saga.

Sherman Hospital officials already had broken ground in 2006 on their new, $310 million facility at Randall and Big Timber roads.

And that same year, Provena St. Joseph Hospital officials filed a lawsuit seeking to stop construction of Sherman's west side hospital.

This year a judge dismissed St. Joe's lawsuit -- but not before he called the Illinois Health Facilities Planning Board's decision to approve the new Sherman hospital "troubling."

St. Joe's has since appealed his ruling, seeking to overturn both the circuit court judge's ruling the and planning board's decision.

In the meantime, construction continues on the new Sherman hospital.

Hospital officials earlier this year held a "topping off" ceremony, as construction crews put in place the six-story structure's final steel beams. The new facility is expected to open in late 2009.

9. Election shakeups

The spring elections saw shake-ups on three local boards, with several incumbents making way for fresh faces.

Challengers John Steffen and Mike Powers were elected to the Elgin City Council over incumbents Tom Sandor and Brenda Rodgers.

The newcomers campaigned on issues including improved public services, smart planning for western growth and increased scrutiny of developer incentives.

In Elgin Area School District U-46, challengers Amy Kerber and Maria Bidelman were the top two vote-getters in a seven-candidate race for four open board seats.

During their campaigns, both newcomers spoke out against the contract given former Superintendent Connie Neale. They were also the only two candidates endorsed by the district's teachers union.

Incumbent Dave Mathews lost his bid for a third term on the school board.

In Pingree Grove, voters gave the nod to Wyman "Clint" Carey over longtime Village President Verne "Bud" Wester. Carey received 177 votes to Wester's 81 in a three-way race.

Incumbent Jon Peschke, who had served roughly two decades on the village board, also lost his re-election bid.

10. Happy 100th

Pingree Grove celebrated its 100th birthday this year on Valentine's Day, an event that attracted longtime and newer residents to the party -- including Marguerite Radloff, a member of the town's first Mexican family, and Brian Todd, and his wife, Missy. The Todd family has lived in town for about a year.

Joyce Wessel, the great-great granddaughter of Israel Straw Pingree, one of the town's founders, also attended.

The village, now home to 2,500 residents, organized special events to keep the party going all year, including the dedication of the new Centennial Park, summer concerts and a car show.