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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/23/1999 COW minutes MINUTES · COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MARCH 23, 1999 I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Farley called the meeting to order at 7 33 p m Present at the meeting were Trustees Paul Hoefert, R~chard Lohrstorfer, Daniel Nocch~ and Irvana WiIks Trustee George Clowes arr~ved at 7 35 p m Absent from the meet~n9 was Trustee Timothy Corcoran Staff members-present ~ncluded V~liage Manager M~chael Janon[s, Assistant Village Manager Dawd Strahl, Village Attorney Everette H~II, Pohce Chief Ronald Pavlock, Commander Bob G~bson and Community Development D~rector WiIham Cooney. II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES .. Acceptance of Minutes of February 9, 1999 Motion made by Trustee Hoefer~ and seconded by Trustee Nocch~ to approve the M~nutes M~nutes were approved unammously Acceptance of Minutes of March 9, 1999 Motion made by Trustee Nocchl and seconded by Trustee HoefeA to approve the Minutes M~nutes were approved unanimously II1. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD John C. Barnett, owner of Internat,onal Jewelry Exchange, 432 West Northwest Highway, spoke He requested that a hst of potenbal businesses that are prohibited be provided to the Community Development Department so business owners know where they stand regarding potential conflicts w~th Zomng regulabons He had been adwsed to seek a Bus~ness L~cense d~rectly through the Mayor and the Pohce Chief s~nce they determine what is acceptable Village Manager Janonis responded by stating he has met w~th Mr Barnett numerous t~mes and Mr Barnett has changed his business operation from originally being a pawn shop He continued to request answers from staff by shopping for an answer he wanted, but eventually d~d not receive IV. PROPOSED VILLAGE CODE MODIFICATIONS 1. Solicitation Ordinance V~llage Attorney Everette Hill introduced the Ordinance by prowd~ng a general overwew of the changes He noted a change ~n the penalty from the current $25 to $500 to the $200 to $1,000 range He also clarified some of the definitions within the Ordinance based on comments from Trustee W~lks He stated that sohc~tors are not required to register or obtain a hcense w~th the Pohce Department but the Village does regulate the t~mes of sohc~tabon if sohc~tors do register w~th the Pohce Department, they are provided ~dent~ficatlon for sohc~tatlon purposes He would not interpret the Ordinance as intended to regulate pohtlcal sohc~tat~on He stated ~t ~s qu~te d~fficult to define a set of regulations which would be considered poht~cal sohc~tabon, therefore, the Ordinance has remained silent on that act~wty General comments from the Vdlage Board members ~ncluded the following ~tems There was a d~scuss~on regarding whether sohc~tors should be required to register There was also a quesbon regarding who would be fined m the case of a wolat~on, whether the solicitor or the supervisor of the solicitor There was also a comment that any reg~strabon w~th the V~llage does not ~mply any endorsement by the Village Attorney Hill responded to the comments He feels that the regulabon of sol~c~tabon ~tself would be problemabc based on current case law He stated that sbckers are available for residents to attach to their front doors e~ther stabng that solicitors are prohibited outright or sohc~tors that are registered only w~th the Police Department are allowed to knock at the door. Chief Pavlock stated that solicitors who register w~th the Pohce Department do receive a basic background check He stated that when solicitors do come to the do6r, the calls the Pohce typically get are just a request that the solicitors leave the property ' Very seldom does anyone ever want to s~gn a complaint He stated that he has not found any other town requlnng reg~strabon for solicitors General comments from the Vdlage Board members ~ncluded the following Items There was a d~scuss~on regarding sohc~tabon for local non-profit causes There was also a d~scuss~on regarding solicitors who are clearly underage and supervised by an adult Attorney Hill stated that the regulabons apply to all solicitors regardless of age He stated that ~t may be d~fficult to determine who would be fined for a wolabon, whether ~t was the underage sohc~tor or the adult supervisor He wdl rewew the defin~bons again to ensure that ~t ~s clear enough for the Police to enforce He also stated that there really ~s no d~ffemnce ~n the type of sol~c~tabon, whether ~t ~s for a local non-profit cause or not, the regulabons are ~ntended to apply to all sohc~tabon efforts Consensus of the Village Board was to consider the revised Ordinance at an upcoming Village Board meeting and to revise the definitions to clarify political activity. 2 Seat Safety Belts Ordinance Village Attorney Hdl stated that th~s Ordinance ~s proposed to allow the Police Department to stop a vehicle for a seat belt wolabon as the pnmary offense ~nstead of some other offense As ~t stands now. the Officer does not have probable cause to stop a vehicle for only a seat belt v~olation As a Home Rule community, State Statutes allow the Vdlage to consider seat belt use as a pnmary offense Chief Pavlock stated that th~s Ordinance has been supported by the Illinois Chiefs Assoc~abon m addition to Judges and the Crime Prevention Assoc~abons have all s~gned on to support th~s regulabon Officer Bill Roscop, as a representahve of the IIl~no~s Crime Prevention Association, stated that the Assoclabon endorses the Ordinance and intends to be-m chdd safety seat ~nstallatlon as part of the campaign for seat belt use General comments from Vdlage Board members included the following ~tems There was a d~scuss~on concerning regulations surrounding PoI~ce stops for traffic offenses There was also a concern about if the primary a~m is to get children buckled up and chdd safety seats, why focus on adults There was also a comment that the Village could not legislate against a lack of responsibility for people who refuse to wear seat belts Officer Roscop stated that studies have shown that if adults are buckled up, they set a good example for children to be in the chdd safety seats also Consensus of the V,llage Board was to consider the Ord,nance at an upcoming Vdlage Board meeQng 3. Obscene and Harassing Phone Calls Ordinance Vdlage Attorney H~II stated that a State Law already exists defining harassing phone calls However, much of the acbwty, which has been documented by the Police Department, does not necessanly meet the cnterla required for State prosecubon Th~s change would allow local prosecubon w~thm the local court Commander G,bson stated that he recommends passage of the Ordinance requmng prosecubon to be handled through the local Court call He stated that caller I D has cut down on some of the complaints but there sbll remains a number of complaints which come ~n regularly General consensus of the Vdlage Board was to support the Ordinance and cons,der passage at an upcom,ng V,llage Board meebng. 4 Ordinance Regulating Secondhand Dealers Vdlage Attorney Hdl stated the current regulabons are extremely bght as to regulating gold and sdver reselhng and the requested expansion of the Ordinance ~s to ~nclude goods exchanged for cash or held on consignment He sa~d the Ordinance requires a I~shng of goods purchased and ~ncreases the holding penod for Pohce reporting purposes He sa~d the ~ncreased holding penod would allow bme for residents to report m~ss~ng ~tems ~f they happen to be out of town at the t~me of a burglary He stated the h~gh annual fee ~s due to the ~ncreased Police regulabon as outI~ned [n the proposed Ordinance General consensus of the Wllage Board was to support this Ordinance and consider it at an upcom,ng Vdlage Board meebng 5 Placement of Publ,cat~on Vending Equipment on Publ,c Property Ord,nance Vdlage Attorney Hdl stated that the recently redesrgned and reserved area at the train stabon has an area designated for placement of vending machines ~nstead of them being d~sbursed throughout the area General comments from the V~llage Board members ~ncluded the follow~ng ~tems 3 There was a d~scuss~on regarding how accommodabons would be undertaken when new pubhcabons come ~nto market There was also d~scuss~on regarding the general appearance of the vending boxes themselves There was a quesbon regarding whether the area near the Busse Car Wash entrance to the tram platform ~s designated as a pubhc vending area There was also a suggesbon regarding the ~nclus~on of a working telephone number for contacbng the vendor ~n case of ~ssues regarding malfuncbon or appearance of the vending box Vdlage Manager Janonis stated that the regulabon ~s designed to hm~t the sprawl of a number of boxes and could accommodate add~bonal vending boxes as space permits Community Development D~rector Cooney stated that the s~ze of the enclosures was determined to be s~xteen spaces at the t~me the boxes were ordered He stated ~t ~s qu~te hkely that an annual mwew would have to take place to determine whether enough space exists and ~f add~tional spaces needed to be constructed General consensus of the Vdlage Board was to support the Ordinance and consider ~t at an upcoming Vdlage Board meeting V. VILLAGE MANAGER'S REPORT None VIANY OTHER BUSINESS None CLOSED SESSION Mobon made by Trustee W~lks and Seconded by Trustee Nocch~ to move ~nto Closed Session to d~scuss Property Acqu~s~bon The meebng moved ~nto Closed Session at 902pm Meeting reconvened ~nto Open Session at 10 20 p m VII ADJOURNMENT No other business was transacted and the meebng was adjourned at 10 21 p m Respectfully submitted, DAVID STRAHL Assistant Vdlage Manager DS/fcc H \GEN\Cow\M~nutes\323999 COW M~nutes doc 4