http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/05/06/news/doc481ffd5224910099364330.txt

Mayor: Unified strategy planned for Pontiac prison

5/6/2008

Bloomington Pantagraph

Tony Sapochetti

PONTIAC -- Rod Blagojevich didn’t make any friends in Livingston County on Monday.

“The only thing I have to say right now is that I am thoroughly shocked,” Mayor Scott McCoy said after learning the governor’s latest plan for the Department of Corrections hinges on closing the Pontiac Correctional Center. “I have already talked with (state Sen. Dan) Rutherford and others, and the action we will take will be unified, swift and immediate. We will do everything we can to keep it open.”

The maximum- and medium-security prison, built in 1871, employs 551 people and has 1,650 inmates, who would be transferred by February to a now-empty facility in Thomson. Some, but not all, of the workers would be eligible to transfer to prisons elsewhere in the state.

In Pontiac, where reaction varied from “shocked” to “devastating,” residents saw the announcement as yet another high-profile move in Blagojevich’s budget game that so far has included a plan to drop — and reinstate — funding for the University of Illinois Extension service and to move 150 state road jobs from Springfield to far Southern Illinois.

“He can have all the plans in the world, but they still have to be approved,” said Bernadine List of Pontiac, as she talked with friends at Pfaff’s Bakery. “That governor seems to have lots of ideas.”

Alderman Don Gardner agreed. “It doesn’t make sense, and (Blagojevich) seems to be playing these games,” he said. “He’s done this before, and here we go again. He just seems to pick out high-profile topics that will create a lot of problems.”

Mike Stoecklin, interim chairman of the Greater Livingston County Economic Development Council, said the announcement was “unfortunate, but not surprising.”

“Does anything this governor do surprise you?” Stoecklin asked.

Added McCoy: “I think when it comes down to it, it’s about somebody not getting what they want and they will do what they can to others to get what they want. … It’s just hitting us below the belt.”

In 2004, after Blagojevich first attempted to close the prison, a mandated study showed the closure could cost Livingston County some $40 million.

Recovery could take years

The prison is the second-largest employer in Pontiac, and Livingston County already faces more than 100 job layoffs this year after cuts at Homeshield in Chatsworth and Interlake Material Handling in Pontiac. The county seat also is recovering from disastrous flooding in January.

A prison closure would “be pretty devastating,” Gardner said. “A large amount of our revenue for the community comes out of the prison, and it will take years to recover from it.”

The closure — workers and prison visitors travel to and from the prison, buying food, gasoline and other goods — would stretch beyond the county’s borders. “This will have a big impact,” Stoecklin said, “and the fur is going to fly.”

Dorothy Kovach of Saunemin, who was visiting with List at the downtown bakery, wondered about the workers’ futures in the middle of a national economic downturn. “It’s just all of those people that work there,” she said. “Where are they going to go?”

McCoy and others already were talking about how to avoid the proposed closure.

“I guess we are just going to have to see what’s going to happen,” Livingston County Chairman Bill Flott said.

“This is just not good news for Livingston County.”

However, concerns were raised by some who said that they would like to see the facility shut down because having a maximum security prison in town could be a deterrent for potential new residents.

McCoy said that he actually grew up next to the prison and continued to proclaim it an asset because of the jobs it provides

“Talk to the Realtors and see how the market is,” McCoy said. “I grew up (near) correctional facility, and I agree it’s not the most pleasant thing to have in your backyard, but it does produce jobs. It’s our second largest employer, and I respectfully disagree.“

It seemed to be a unanimous decision at the Pontiac City Council on Monday night that those on the panel wanted to keep the prison.

Ward 1 Alderman Bob Russell said that this was an example of “politics at its worse.” Ward 5 Alderman Mike Stalter actually served in the business office of Pontiac Correctional Center and worked as the chief financial officer from 2000 to 2004, when he retired. Stalter said that based on his experiences, Blagojevich might use “propaganda” to support the closure saying that the facility is out of date.

“If you want to go back and see the records, you can see that Pontiac was a well-run institution,” he said.