Officers of the Illinois Municipal League PRESIDENT VIRGIL F. LAFFERTY, Mayor,    Champaign FIRST VICE PRESIDENT J. RUSSEL CHRISTIANSON, Village President,    Oak Park SERGEANT-AT-ARMS WILLIAM H. WINTERHOFF, Supervisor, Thorton Township EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR L. A. SARGENT VICE PRESIDENTS ALTON      Mayor P. W. Day BELLEVILLE      Mayor Jerome J. Munie BELVIDERE      Mayor Loster Cunningham BLOOMINGTON      Mayor Bob McGraw BROADVIEW      Village President Merritt Braga BROOKFIELD      Village President Fred Kuehn CAIRO      Mayor Paul Baur CALUMET CITY      Mayor Stanley Bejger CENTRALIA      Mayor H. B. Blanchard CHICAGO      Mayor Richard J. Daley CLINTON      Commissioner C. E. Corrington DECATUR      Mayor Clarence A. Sablotny DE KALB      Mayor Clayton Pooler DOWNERS GROVE      Mayor B. H. Groves EAST ST. LOUIS      Mayor Alvin Fields EVANSTON      Mayor John Kimbark FREEPORT      Mayor Glen Kunkle GALESBURG      Mayor William H. Small HILLSIDE      Village President Roman J. Binder JACKSONVILLE      Mayor Robert DuBois JOLIET      Mayor James T. Hennessy KANKAKEE      Mayor Edward Madison LA SALLE      Mayor B. D. Bruno MATTOON      Mayor Morgan F. Phipps MELROSE PARK      Village President Andy Frenzel MOLINE      Mayor Arnold Smith MONMOUTH      Mayor Donovan Vance MUNDELEIN      Village President John J. Noel PARIS      Mayor T. J. Trogdon, Jr. PEORIA      Mayor Eugene Leiter PINCKNEYVILLE      Mayor Wm. J. Cunningham RIVERSIDE      Village President William Hajeck ROCKFORD      Mayor Benjamin T. Schleicher SPRINGFIELD      Mayor Nelson O. Howarth TAYLORVILLE      Mayor Thomas Sweeney WAUKEGAN      Mayor Robert Sabonjian PAST PRESIDENTS A. E. Turngren, Mayor, Harvey Charles Wellner, Mayor, Naperville A.L. SARGENT--Editor DOROTHY COLEMAN NICKELSON--Assistant Editor

CITY HALL GOSSIP

AROUND THE STATE

Fox Lake has sold a $985,000 bond issue to finance a new sewer system, $310,000 in G.O. bonds at a 3.49% interest rate and $676,000 in sewer and water revenue bonds at a 4.92% average interest rate . . . Bloomington an $1,120,000 off street parking revenue bond issue has been sold at an average interest rate of 4.47%. In addition $280,000 in bonds were sold to the city's merchants by, prearranged agreement at 3% . . . Springfield, has sold a $7,200,000 electric revenue bond issue at 3.6+%. The issue will finance an expansion of the municipal power system.

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Decatur, Commissioner Jack W. Loftus reports that the city has invested idle funds on 66 different occasions since January 1956, this policy has earned the city about $100,000 . . . The Illinois Supreme Court has upheld a statute passed in the last General Assembly which provides for the dissolution of municipalities with less than 50 inhabitants. The case in question involved the Village of Rainbow Gardens in Boone County . . . The village of De Soto recently dedicated its new village hall . . .

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Highland Park, Mayor Robert Cushman has been notified by the American Bar Association that the city has been awarded its traffic court inventory award . . . Residents of Peoria, Bartonville and Bellevue will soon have fluorine added to their drinking water. Voters in these municipalities as well as other areas served by the privately owned Peoria water company approved the project at referendum . . . Herrin, the City Council has raised its police and firemen's salaries by $300 to $3,900 per year.

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Normal Councilman William Bryan reports that a profit of $8,606 was shown by the town's swimming pool operation. A total of 40,706 persons used the pool during its 2% month operation . . . City Manager Graham Watt of Alton was host to the September meeting of the Southern Illinois City Managers Association. Those attending the meeting were: Arthur Johnson, Greenville; Leland Kraft, Wood River; Harlow Richardson, Mt. Vernon; Chester Williams, Mascoutah and T. S. Jacobson, Centreville.

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According to a report of the University of Illinois Business Review, the State of Illinois has increased in population from 8,712,200 persons in 1950 to 9,754,000 in 1957. Since 1950, eight municipalities have at least doubled in size, seven in Cook County and Rantoul in Champaign County. Morton Grove had the largest increase with 290% and Niles came second with 286% . . . Vernon Lucas, City Clerk, Collinsville, has been reappointed Membership Chairman of the State of Illinois tor the National Institute of Municipal Clerks.

APPOINTMENTS AND RESIGNATIONS

Lewis R. Pensinger has been named City Comptroller of Decatur, succeeding W. H. Owens, who resigned . . . Joseph R. Gillespie, City Clerk, Silvis, replacing Mrs. Isabelle Scott . . . Raymond C. Stephens, Lake Zurich, resigned, and Maurice Spaulding has been appointed to fill his unexpired term . . . Charles R. Taylor has been named

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October 1958 / Illinois Municipal Review / Page 223

CITY HALL GOSSIP

Police Chief, Rantoul . . . Cecil Riggs has been appointed Village President of Metcalf to fill the unexpired term of Dan Smith, who resigned . . . William H. Alexander, Village Trustee, North Pekin, resigned . . . Fred Lueker, Pinckneyville City Councilman for more than seven years, resigned due to ill health . . . Gordon Blade, Village President of Pecatonica, has resigned . . . Joseph T. Connelly, Alderman, Urbana, has resigned . . . Robert A. McNeil, former assistant traffic engineer at Grand Rapids, Michigan, has been hired as Peoria's new traffic engineer . . . Harvey Carothers will become Arlington Heights' first paid fire chief; he was formerly assistant fire chief at Moline . . . Thomas R. Clydesdale has resigned after 19 years of service as Oglesby's City Attorney. Attorney Peter F. Ferracuti has been named to fill the vacancy.. Jesse Hillier, Village Clerk, Washington Park . . . Gerald Eastham has been appointed superintendent of water and sewers at Round Lake Beach . . .

BOND ISSUES

Atlanta voters have approved a G.O. issue of $45,000 to improve the city water system, Mayor A. E. Adams reports that $40,000 in revenue bonds will complete the financing of the project . . . Voters of the Round Lake Sanitary District rejected a $900,000 issue to improve facilities . . . Watseka, a $45,000 issue to improve the city's water system has been approved ... La Fayette a $20,000 issue to improve the water system has been approved . . . The Village of Worth, under the guidance of Village President Vernon W. Templin, has approved the issuance of $450,000 in General Obligation Bonds plus $900,000 in Revenue Bonds for a sanitary sewer system. Work is expected to begin this Fall with completion within a year.

DEATHS

Mayor Chester D. Pierce of Dwight. Mr. Pierce had been mayor for the last 28 years and was currently serving as Chairman of the Livingston County Republican Central Committee . . . Albert C. Masse, former mayor of Peru . . . Charles Stegmeyer, former mayor of Belleville . . . John E. Whalen, former city commissioner of Charleston . . . Perry Hathaway, Alderman, Chester . . . Marcia Gates, 11, daughter of Rantoul Mayor and Mrs. B. E. Gates . . . Carlo Coppi, Alderman, Royalton.