Russ McCutcheon

The candidates are Bryon Vana, currently the city administrator of Darien and a resident of unincorporated Glen Ellyn, Mark Franz, the village manager of Homewood, and David Forrest, municipal administrator of Norristown, Penn.

Each talked about their backgrounds and answered questions from residents.

Vana, who has lived in the community for the last 13 years, said he?s been involved in the local schools and churches, and has a ?good pulse? on Glen Ellyn.

?You don?t get the chance often to serve in a capacity in the community you live in and raise your kids,? Vana said. ?That?s unique to my profession and I would be honored to serve in this capacity here.?

Vana, who started his career as a code enforcement manager in Bensenville 25 years ago, has been in Darien since 2002. He previously was village manager in Bensenville and Winfield.

As Darien?s budget officer, Vana said he has first hand knowledge of financial issues. Having helped establish a central business district along 75th Street in Darien, Vana said he would work with village staff to carry out Glen Ellyn?s downtown strategic plan.

He said he isn?t good at tooting his own horn, but did quote from an email he received from a reporter who was leaving the Darien beat.

?He said he found Darien staff one of best to deal with in terms of transparency and open government,? Vana said. ?It was an email I never deleted.?

Franz, who has worked in municipal management for 15 years, was hired in Homewood in 2003. He said economic development has been a major priority in his current job, as he?s administered four tax increment financing districts and worked to improve the village?s Halsted Street corridor. He compared it to Glen Ellyn?s ?fairly vibrant? Roosevelt Road corridor.

He also said Homewood has striven for an ?18-hour downtown,? making it an attractive place to be at night. Downtown areas may not have as much car traffic as major thoroughfares like Roosevelt Road, but they can be made a ?destination point,? Franz said.

Franz said Homewood has had good working relationships with other governmental groups. In 2005, the village set up a consolidated joint dispatch center with five other towns for police and fire services.

Forrest has been working for municipalities for 15 years, and has been in Norristown, located near Philadelphia, since 2007. The towns in which he has served in administrative roles are ?tougher communities that have a lot of challenges,? compared to Glen Ellyn, he said. They have lower tax bases, high concentrations of poverty, and more challenges with economic development.

?From the towns I work in, this is like nirvana,? Forrest said. ?You can?t get any better than Glen Ellyn.?

He said there are opportunities to improve the downtown, and suggested mixed use developments with residential and retail near the train station. Such ?transit-oriented development? could attract younger people, who might be able to afford housing at lower price points, if such developments are made available.

In Norristown, Forrest said he?s been involved in bringing a $40 million office development project to town, and the establishment of a shade tree commission, which has resulted in the planting of 300 trees.

Village President Mark Pfefferman said he hopes to make an appointment, with the advice of the village board, by May. Terry Burghard has served in an interim role as village manager since Steve Jones stepped down in November.

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JP Morgan Securities

We are raising our first-quarter 2011, 2011, and out-year estimates as well as our December 2011 price targets for Las Vegas Sands, Wynn Resorts, and Melco Crown Entertainment.

Our increased estimates and price targets are based on recent market-wide Macau data, our recent trip to Macau and Singapore, and broad market-wide commentary from our Gaming and Lodging conference last week.

Our December 2011 price target for Las Vegas Sands (ticker: LVS) is $58 (up $2), Wynn Resorts (WYNN) is $150 (up $10), and Melco Crown Entertainment (MPEL) is $9 (up $1).

We remain Overweight on Las Vegas …

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CAFO Specialist
The WVDA seeks a CAFO Specialist to oversee the CAFO program activities for compliance with state and federal regulations and laws. Will be primary contact for AFOs (Animal Feeding Operations) and work closely with agricultural producers, environmental entities, and staff in the WVDA. Must be able to maintain effective working relationships with WVDEP, USDA, USEPA, Universities, and other environmental agencies and groups statewide. Frequent travel may be required. A Bachelors degree from an accredited four (4) year college or university in agriculture, soil science, agronomy, natural resources management, environmental science, or related natural resource field required. Salary $30,000. For complete job description and application visit: www.wvagriculture.org/application.html; or contact Millie Taylor at mtaylor@wvda.us or (304) 558-2227. Submit application and resume to Millie Taylor, Executive Assistant, WV Dept. of Agriculture, 1900 Kanawha Blvd., East, Charleston, WV 25305 by May 6, 2011 – eoe.

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HR  Recruitment Consultant
Sheffield
Salary c £25,000 + commission and benefits
Who we are
This is your chance to join the team at Ashley Kate Associates, a renowned HR recruitment consultancy. We specialise in recruiting HR professionals for temporary, permanent and interim roles, working across all industries and every HR discipline. Founded in 2001, were now a market leader in one of the fast-growing recruitment sectors in the UK and overseas.
Who were looking for
If youve got the drive to succeed, a proven track record and can answer yes to the following questions then wed love to hear from you:
o Have you got what it takes to specialise in HR recruitment?
o Proven sales background and team player?
o Passion for building strong working relationships?
Plus, you should:
o Be a recruitment consultant with at least 12 months experience.
o Have commercial awareness and business development skills.
o Be outgoing – a people person and a natural salesperson.
o Enjoy a challenge, be tenacious and able to demonstrate your ambition.
o Have the desire to make this exciting role your own.
o Want to work in a dynamic team where youll be valued and rewarded.
More about the role
We believe that managing the full recruitment cycle adds variety for our consultants and makes for happier clients. So every day will bring different opportunities and challenges and youll be expected to:
o Build and develop strong, lasting relationships with clients and candidates.
o Run a schedule of face-to-face client meetings.
o Interview and assess candidates, then place them in the right roles.
o Handle all aspects of vacancy management from writing job specs and shortlisting candidates to negotiating salary packages.
o Manage the day-to-day relationship with some of our high-profile clients.
How youll be rewarded
As well as an exciting role, a fast-paced environment and job satisfaction, the successful candidate can look forward to a wealth of benefits, including:
o Competitive basic salary.
o Excellent uncapped commission structure.
o Performance bonuses and other incentives.
o Fast career progression.
o Up to 38 days holiday.
o Contributory pension.
o Professional development and training.
o Supportive team environment.
What next?

Find out more by calling Naomi Asher on 0115 922 3000 or you can send your CV directly to hrjobs@ashleykatehr.com. In your covering email, please tell us why youd like to work for Ashley Kate Associates and give details of your salary expectations.
 

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Discussions during Naperville City Council meetings are often passionate and fast-moving – so much so that they’re sometimes hard to follow.

That happened Tuesday night when council members took up the issue of how to divide just over $2 million from the city’s Special Events and Cultural Amenities Fund among nearly 100 applicants during the 2012 fiscal year.

Some council members lobbied for increasing SECA funding for some organizations and events at the expense of others. The staccato and occasionally heated debate left some audience members – and even a few city staff members – scratching their collective heads as to what was being suggested.

Enlightenment arrived Friday courtesy of Community Grants Coordinator Katie Wernberg, in a memorandum sent to City Manager Doug Krieger.

SECA funds come from the 1 percent tax on food and beverages sold in Naperville restaurants. Wernberg’s memo noted 99 applications for SECA funding were submitted last fall to the city.

While the amount of money available totaled $2.2 million, the application requests were higher by more than half, totaling just over $3.6 million, the memo indicated.

Council members, during a March 22 workshop session, agreed to grant just under $1.9 million in funding to the applicants.

They then voted April 6 to allocate $600,000 in SECA funding to the city’s general fund during each of the next three fiscal years. That money will be used to pay off a controversial $1.8 million line of credit incurred by the Millennium Carillon.

“After combining both (council) actions, there was a gap of $300,204 in available SECA funds,” according to Wernberg’s memo.

Council members on Tuesday elected to use the $180,000 SECA Fund balance; reduce the Century Walk Public Art allotment by $75,000; reduce the Naperville Heritage Society 200th anniversary celebration award by $10,000; and give $12,322 more to the Naperville Municipal Band, contracted concerts and parades, the memo stated.

Those actions reduced the gap to $47,526, the memo indicated. It was closed “by reducing all of the non-city services awards equally by approximately 7 percent,” according to the memo.

Twenty of the original applications ended up being denied. Eight organizations and programs – including those for Riverwalk maintenance and debt service for the DuPage Children’s Museum – had their requests funded in full.

Most of the other award reductions were in the $100 to $1,000 range.

The smallest – $39 – was incurred by Little Friends. The largest, after those of the Century Walk and Naperville Heritage Society, was borne by the Naperville Development Partnership, which had its funding cut by $9,006.

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How much digital information does the word consume annually?

Researchers estimate that global information consumption exceeds 9,570,000,000,000,000,000,000 bytes (or 9.57 zettabytes) per year.

In other words, if this information were a stack of books, it would measure 5.6 billion miles and would stretch from Earth to Neptune 20 times over.

These staggering data were reported by UC San Diego scientists and reflect information processed by the worlds 27 million business computer servers.

Most of this information is incredibly transient: it is created, used, and discarded in a few seconds without ever being seen by a person, one of the researchers said in a statement. Its the underwater base of the iceberg that runs the world that we see.

The researchers admit that their report may be incomplete because it does not include full estimates from large companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo! and other large companies that build their own in-house servers.

Whats even more surprising is that these calculations are based on data from 2008, and researchers said that server loads are doubling nearly every two years. Therefore, an estimate of digital information consumed in 2011 is likely to be far greater than 9.57 zettabytes.

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Discussions during Naperville City Council meetings are often passionate and fast-moving – so much so that they’re sometimes hard to follow.

That happened Tuesday night when council members took up the issue of how to divide just over $2 million from the city’s Special Events and Cultural Amenities Fund among nearly 100 applicants during the 2012 fiscal year.

Some council members lobbied for increasing SECA funding for some organizations and events at the expense of others. The staccato and occasionally heated debate left some audience members – and even a few city staff members – scratching their collective heads as to what was being suggested.

Enlightenment arrived Friday courtesy of Community Grants Coordinator Katie Wernberg, in a memorandum sent to City Manager Doug Krieger.

SECA funds come from the 1 percent tax on food and beverages sold in Naperville restaurants. Wernberg’s memo noted 99 applications for SECA funding were submitted last fall to the city.

While the amount of money available totaled $2.2 million, the application requests were higher by more than half, totaling just over $3.6 million, the memo indicated.

Council members, during a March 22 workshop session, agreed to grant just under $1.9 million in funding to the applicants.

They then voted April 6 to allocate $600,000 in SECA funding to the city’s general fund during each of the next three fiscal years. That money will be used to pay off a controversial $1.8 million line of credit incurred by the Millennium Carillon.

“After combining both (council) actions, there was a gap of $300,204 in available SECA funds,” according to Wernberg’s memo.

Council members on Tuesday elected to use the $180,000 SECA Fund balance; reduce the Century Walk Public Art allotment by $75,000; reduce the Naperville Heritage Society 200th anniversary celebration award by $10,000; and give $12,322 more to the Naperville Municipal Band, contracted concerts and parades, the memo stated.

Those actions reduced the gap to $47,526, the memo indicated. It was closed “by reducing all of the non-city services awards equally by approximately 7 percent,” according to the memo.

Twenty of the original applications ended up being denied. Eight organizations and programs – including those for Riverwalk maintenance and debt service for the DuPage Children’s Museum – had their requests funded in full.

Most of the other award reductions were in the $100 to $1,000 range.

The smallest – $39 – was incurred by Little Friends. The largest, after those of the Century Walk and Naperville Heritage Society, was borne by the Naperville Development Partnership, which had its funding cut by $9,006.

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NASHVILLE – Direct corporate donations to political candidates will be legalized in Tennessee and the amount that can be given by all contributors will be raised by about 40 percent under legislation approved by House and Senate committees Tuesday.

For political action committees, for example, the maximum donation will increase from $7,500 to $10,700 and adjusted upward for inflation in future years. Corporations will be treated as if they were PACs under the bill, SB1915.

With Senate Speaker Pro Tempore Jamie Woodson, R-Knoxville, as sponsor, the bill was approved on a party-line vote by the Senate State and Local Government Committee on Tuesday morning.

The House State and Local Government Committee approved it about three hours later on voice vote.

House Democratic Caucus Chairman Mike Turner noted that foreign-based corporations also would be allowed to contribute under the bill, though House sponsor Rep. Glen Casada, R-College Grove, said they will have to have a Tennessee presence to do so.

Its going to be like an arms race with Democrats and Republicans trying to compete for this corporate cash, Turner said.

But Casada said the move will lessen candidate dependence on PACs and provide more money to educate voters.

More money is more free speech, Casada said.

Woodson said the move is a logical response to a US Supreme Court decision last year that struck down a federal law barring corporations from making independent expenditures in political campaigns. The Tennessee Legislature last year approved a law allowing independent expenditures in state campaigns.

The new bill goes beyond that to authorize corporations to directly give money to candidates and political parties for the first time in Tennessee, which has had a longstanding ban on direct corporate contributions.

The bill also would raise the current maximum contribution that can be given to a candidate, which has remained unchanged since 1995, according to Woodson. The limits would be raised annually based on inflation.

Under the bill, the maximum individual contribution to a legislative candidate per campaign would increase from $1,000 to $1,400, and the top donation to a gubernatorial candidate would rise from $2,500 to $3,600.

PACs and corporations will be able to give up to $7,100 to House candidates per campaign and $10,700 to Senate or gubernatorial candidates, up from previous limits of $5,000 and $7,500, respectively.

Also, the maximum total amount a candidate can accept from PACs in a single campaign, would increase from the present $75,000 to $107,200.

The bill also will repeal current law that limits the total amount an individual can donate to all candidates ($40,000) and PACs ($61,400).

Tom Humphrey may be reached at 615-242-7782.

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Maryland will try to tap further into the rapidly growing Asian market next month with a trade mission planned for the governor and representatives from as many as 24 businesses.

I can truly say that China is working hard to create stronger trade relations with American businesses, Pam Klahr, president and CEO of the Howard County Chamber of Commerce, said in an email to The Gazette. Klahr said she recently returned from a visit to China with a national group of chamber executives.

Building trust and understanding is the biggest hurdle, Klahr said. I believe the trade missions are a good way to develop stronger working relationships.

Gov. Martin OMalley (D) announced the mission Thursday during the signing of a memorandum of understanding with Seoul, South Korea. The agreement establishes a cooperative trade and investment relationship between the state and Seoul in science and technology, particularly life sciences. OMalley and the accompanying business executives plan to visit China, Korea and Vietnam during the 10-day mission.

Maryland needs to be proactive in attracting good jobs and companies that will build our economy and our tax base, said Georgette Gigi Godwin, CEO of the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce. Economic development is a competitive sport. To be competitive, Maryland must be active in emerging markets.

China is Marylands third-largest export market, with more than $571 million in exports in 2010. Korea is the sixth largest, jumping to $481 million in 2010 from $206 million in 2009. Vietnam is a more nascent export market, ranking No. 52, but state officials view it as a promising opportunity.

The state already has meetings set up with several prospective companies in Asia and hopes to return with deal announcements, said Karen Glenn Hood, spokeswoman for the Department of Business and Economic Development.

With economists predicting that Asia could have 50 percent of global [gross domestic product] by 2050, it is critical that we move forward now to explore new opportunities for trade and investment, particularly in our shared strengths on science and technology, OMalley said in a statement.

Marylands last state-sponsored trade mission in 2008 yielded three Israeli companies that set up operations in the state.

A large part of the trip is helping the businesses here open new doors in Asia. … Its the personal visit that can really seal that deal, Hood said, and OMalleys presence will highlight for foreign executives the importance of the mission.

These missions are really very successful, Hood said. We just havent done as many recently because we want to be mindful of the budget.

State officials are still selecting the 24 businesses that will be represented on the mission. Among those that have already signed on is Marlin Steel Wire Products in Baltimore.

Marlin exports to more than 30 countries, including China, Japan, Singapore and Taiwan. But the company has had trouble breaking into the Korean market and hopes to forge better relationships through face-to-face connections, Hood said.

The missions delegation also will include state business officials and academic leaders. In China, OMalley is to address the 13th Shanghai Bio-Forum, a gathering that attracts that nations top biopharmaceutical executives. The delegation also is to attend a Maryland in China banquet to discuss trade and investment opportunities in Maryland for Chinese companies.

Since 2007, Maryland has attracted more than 20 foreign-owned companies from high-growth countries and has trade offices in 10 countries, according to DBED information. Maryland was the first state to open a Chinese trade office, in 1996.

Among its foreign success stories are Irelands Ellickson Software in Baltimore city and Korean drug supplier Daewoong Pharmaceutical in Rockville.

lrobbins@gazette.net

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Gov. Chris Christie should not yield to the state Supreme Court if it elects to maintain the wasteful Abbott district funding.

To start with, the court is interpreting the state constitution incorrectly. The constitution never intended that a ?thorough and efficient? education be provided, only the means to do so. Also, the meaning of ?thorough and efficient? was never defined, nor were the boundaries of that description. How can the court make a decision without knowing what to base it on?

The court is not empowered to make funding judgments. That is the job of our elected officials, not the courts. The court is acting outside the bounds of its constitutionally dictated job description.

A precedent has been set regarding ignoring court decisions. The Obama health care law was found unconstitutional by many federal judges, yet our president ignores them and moves on.

If the state Supreme Court judges do not provide a reasonable decision, they likewise should be ignored.

Also, many Abbott communities have really outgrown that designation. Hoboken, for one, is a very wealthy community, as is Harrison and other places.

It is only good government to review the status of these communities and remove them as Abbott districts as soon as possible.

Tom Kesolits

HOLMDEL

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