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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/23/1995 COW minutes MINUTES COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MAY 23, 199,5 I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Gerald Farley called the meeting to order at 7 33 p m Present at the meeting were Mayor Gerald L Farley, Trustees T~mothy Corcoran, R~chard Hendncks, Paul Hoefert and Irvana Wilks Absent from the meeting were Trustees George CIowes and M~chaele Skowron Also present at the meebng were V~llage Manager M~chael Janoms, Assistant V~llage Manager Dawd Strahl, Pohce Chief Ronald Pavlock, Deputy Pohce Chief Ronald R~chardson and V~llage Attorney Everette H~II II. MINUTES Acceptance of the M~nutes from May 9, 1995 Mobon made by Trustee Corcoran and Seconded by Trustee Hoefert to approve Minutes M~nutes were approved III. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD Bill Reddy of 10,5 South Elm, spoke He wanted to share a recent letter he received which ~ncluded derogatory language concerning h~s sexual preference He read port~ons of the letter to the V~llage Board and stated th~s is obwously hate ma~l and wanted to bnng ~t to the Board's attention that hate crimes apparently are possible even in Mount Prospect Mayor Farley responded to Mr Reddy's concerns by stabng that he abhors thru type of communication and stated that he and the V~llage Board are sympathebc to Mr. Reddy's concerns regarding such correspondence IV GANG SUPPRESSION ORDINANCE DISCUSSION The rabonale for such an Ordinance ara as follows (1) The need to create a safe enwronment for the youth of our community through the estabhshment of reasonable regulations, (2) send a strong message that the V~llage maintains a "zero" tolerance for gangs and their negative Influences, (3) bridge any gaps or erase any ~ncons~stencles between ex~stmg local and State laws regarding youth, (4) bnng all relevant youth-ralated regulations ~nto one omnibus Section of the Village Code, and (5) provide the Pohce Department, parents, educators and other pubhc officials of our community w~th the tools necessary to protect and nurture our youth Mayor Farley prowded general background mformabon concerning th~s Ordinance and stated ~t ~s ~ntended that th~s ~s the first meeting to d~scuss th~s Ordinance prior to ulbmate passage by the V~llage Board He feels that there w~ll undoubtedly be subsequent reviews by the V~llage Board which w~ll ulbmately lead to a final Ordinance version for consideration by the full Board He stated that the t~mes have changed and ~t ~s necessary to consider such an Ordinance due to the negative influences which are occurring within our commumty Trustee Wilks prowded a general overview of some comments related to the proposed Ordinance from a previously prepared statement Village Attorney Everette Hill prowded a detailed overview of the draft Ordinance from h~s memo summarizing the changes The rewew ~ncluded an outhne of the new Secbons and the jusbficabon to these new Sections He also h~ghhghted Sections of the Ordinance which have been moved from other areas of the V~llage Code to th~s smgle location Mary Bower of One East Lonnquist spoke She stated that the TAP group has gone through the Ordinance very carefully and ~s supporbve of the Ordinance because they feel ~t is necessary at th~s brae However, one of the concerns the group d~d have is about the termination of some of the restrlcbons contained w~th~n the Ordinance being hnked or terminating after a specific age They also wanted to make sure they d~d not repeat State law and convert ~t ~nto a local form She stated that TAP w~ll prowde comments to the V~llage to consider and ~ncorporate ~nto the next rews~on when it ~s rewsed Frank Vlazny of 2103 Jody Court spoke He asked who would ~ncur the Prosecuting Attorney expenses and whether the V~llage would be requ~rad to provide a Pubhc Defender as part of th~s Ordinance Attomey Hill provided a response to the prewous quesbons He stated that age and gang activity ~s not hm~ted by the offender's age w~th~n the Ordinance He also stated that there are regulations on the State books, however, some of th~s regulations have been patterned to be more apphcable in Mount Prospect The V~llage w~ll not be required to prowde a Pubhc Defender because these are situations which, ~f the offender ~s convicted, w~ll not have a poss~blhty of facing jail t~me General comments by V~llage Board members included the following The Ordinance, ~tself, has grown beyond the original gang suppression ~dea because of the combining of various related ~tems into a s~ngle Ordinance Some members expressed concern about over-regulabon Also, concerns about how Pohce Officers were going to prove unlawful assembly Some members also recommended an enhancement to age restriction language so that age is not considered a hm~t~ng factor There is also some concern about the enforcement of gang s~gns and Ioitenng General consensus of the Village Board was to schedule another meeting in the near future where a Committee of the Whole discussion could take place and consider these items which have been raised and review the possible revisions. V. STUDENT RESOURCE OFFICER (SRO) DISCUSSION In early 1995, the V~llage Board first considered the concept of a Student Resource Officer (SRO) Program for the V~llage's junior high and m~ddle schools The SRO concept ~s modeled after the V~llage's very successful and long-standing School Counselor Program ~n place w~th H~gh School D~stnct 214 and Prospect H~gh School The topic was d~scussed at two Committee of the VVhole meebngs and a Saturday meeting of an Ad Hoc group made up of various elected and adm~n~strabve representatives from the Village and elementary School D~stncts operabng within the V~llage Due to t~me constraints ~mposed by the Federal Crime B~ll and the Board's desire to take advantage of funding available for community pohclng projects, the SRO concept was tabled m favor of ~mplemenbng a commun~ty-w~de Problem-Solving Pohce Unit These two Officers w~ll operate throughout the V~llage on an as-needed basis to address specific problems ~n various parts of our community Mayor Farley stated that this is a continuation of the SRO discussion and would hke the Board to come to a recommended conclusion for staff d~rect~on Manager Janonis provided a general overview of the h~story of the d~scuss~on He stated that elementary School D~stnct 26 has expressed interest ~n entenng into a partnership w~th the Village for the implementation of a pilot SRO Program The p~lot Program has also been endorsed by other Mount Prospect elementary School D~stncts D~scussmg th~s matter at th~s brae ~s timely because ~mplementabon of the program would be m conjunction w~th the start of the 199511996 school year Chief Pavlock stated that he has d~scussed such SRO Programs with towns of Boise, Idaho and Tempe, Arizona Representabves from both towns stated that the activity of gangs were substantially decreased through the SRO Officers being assigned to the junior h~gh and m~ddle schools Frank Vlazny of 2103 Jody Court spoke He stated that he ~s opposed to putting more Pohce Officers m the schools He stated the problem ~s w~th parents and the level of dlsc~phne in the schools He felt that the parents should be held responsible for the actions of their children Jack Metcalf of 210 North Prospect Manor spoke He stated he ~s supportive of the project because of the lack of male role models in the schools He felt that a pos~bve role model, be ~t a Pohce Officer, ~s warranted in the school Shirley Smalley, Superintendent of School District 26 stated that she hopes to estabhsh a bridge between the elementary and h~gh schools through the use of an SRO Program at the m~ddle school She stated that many of the problems that are currently faced by the jumor h~gh-aged k~ds were faced by h~gh school k~ds ~n prewous generabons She stated that the School D~stnct would be interested m prowd~ng the necessary funds s~m~lar to how the funds are prowded by D~stnct 214 for the H~gh School Officer, Tom Munz of 605 See-Gwun, President of the District $7 School Board, spoke He stated that Distnct 57 ~s not yet ready to participate in the Program at this t~me but ~s interested m monitoring the p~lot Program He also stated he felt the Village m~ght reconsider how the cost ~s d~wded up because of the overall benefit to the V~llage and not just the schools Betty Launer of School District 57 School Board spoke She stated that she ~s interested in seeing how the Program would work as a p~lot and is ~nterested m breaking down the walls between the school and commumty for a successful program General d~scuss~on of the V~llage Board included the following comments Many of the Board members stated they are supportive of the p~lot Program with District 26 felt that early mtervenbon ~s warranted for the Program General consensus of the Village Board was to request the School District staff and the Village staff to work out necessary details prior to final action by the Village Board. Village Board members are also supportive of considering the funding of this pilot in a similar fashion as D~,'u;ct 214's funding arrangement. VI. MANAGER'S REPORT Manager Janonls stated that TCI, the Village's cable prowder, has told many residents that the picture quahty is poor because the V~llage of Mount Prospect ~s not ~ssumg any construction permits for necessary improvements He stated that it is important to get accurate information out to the c~t~zens and stated that TCI has many outstanding Permits which have yet to be resolved and feels that the current s~tuabon with any picture quahty is not related to the Permit situation VII.. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Trustee Hoefert read a hst of new businesses which have come to the community recently. Mot~or~ made to move to Closed Session to d~scuss Personnel and L~t~gabon by Trustee Corcoran and Seconded by Trustee Wilks Unanimous approval to move ~nto Closed Session at 9 56 p m Closed Session adjourned at 10 24 p m VIII, ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 10 25 p m Respectfully submitted, DAVID STRAHL DS/rcc Assistant Wllage Manage~