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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/10/1995 COW minutes REVISED 2/6/95 MINUTES COMMII'i'EE OF THE WHOLE JANUARY 10, 1995 I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Gerald Farley celled the meeting to order at 7.36 p m Present at the meeting were Mayor Gerald Farley, Trustees George Clowes, Timothy Corcoran, Richard Hendncks, Paul Hoefert, Michaele Skowron and Irvana Wilks Also present at the meeting were Village Manager Michael Janoms, Ass;stant to the Village Manager David Strahl, F,nance Director Dav,d Jepson, Police Chief Ronald Pavlock, Police Officer K~m Nagel, Deputy Chief Thomas Daley and Deputy Chmf Ronald R~chardson II. MINUTES Acceptance of the Minutes from December 13, 1994 Mobon made by Trustee Hoefert and Seconded by Trustee Wilks Trustee Wilks requested a rews~on to the M~nutes which stated her oppos;tion to the Recall Ordinance as d~scussed and felt the Ordinance itself should be considered unconstitutional Trustee Wilks requested her addition be made to the Minutes prior to the next meeting Minutes were approved with the change unanimously. Trustee Hendncks absta,ned III.CITIZENS TO BE HEARD None IV. STUDENT RESOURCE OFFICER Village Manager Michael Janonls provided general background concerning a Student Resource Officer (SRO) for junior high level schools. He stated that he d~d not want to leave the impression with the public or members of the Board that (:nme was rampant in the schools and the utilization of a SRO is not critical to the operabon of the schools and its relationship to the community He felt that such a request for SROs is considered a proactive approach focusing on young people similar to the h,gh school program and could be considered an extens,on of the success of the program at the h~gh school level Vanous School Distncts in Mount Prospect had ong~nally approached the village asking for consideration for ~mplementat~on of such a program. He felt that the program seemed to have merit based on the prehm~nary discussions vath the School Administrators and wanted to bring ~t to the village Board first to determine whether there was sufficient support to continue discussions w~th the four School Boards Chief Pavlock provided an ovennew of the Cops Ahead Program whereby the Village could apply for grant money to assist ~n the funding of add~bonal Pohce Officers He stated the high school program has been very successful and would be able to transfer such expertise which has been gained at the high school level to the junior h~gh level He stated that the focus would not be hm~ted to crime problems w~thin the schools but felt that an early ,nfluence of a pos,t~ve role model at the junior high level would be well worth the effort and felt the Officers could be considered a prevention tool Dr. Pat Todaldi, Dean of Students, Prospect High School, spoke She state~d she had worked with Officer Klm Nagel at Prospect H~gh School on many ~ssues not just items typically addressed by Police Officers She stated she considered the Pohce Officer as a resource for all issues which may occur community setting She felt the Pohce Officer allows the students to feel less inbmldated or hesitant about approaching an Officer the students know or are familiar. Students have typlcelly been very hesitant about approaching Police Officers on the street However, the Officer ~n the school functions as a poslbve role model for a strong foundation. General d~scuss~on followed in which various Board members raised a number of ~ssues The d~scussmn included how the Officer's time is ubhzed by the school staff and students The Officer is cons,dered a resource where staff and students can ubhze the Officer for vanous issues which are not hm~ted to only police issues The Police Officer is part of student onentat~on in order to famlhanze the students w~th the Officer and the Officer's role The role is not ~ntended to be a d~sc4phnanan for the school or to intimidate students The role focuses on working with students in various sltuabons to show that a Pohce Officer is more than an enforcer of the law The Officer fosters contacts with students in order to facihtate conflict resolut,on skills among students and staff members The extension of this program ~nto the jumor h~gh will allow the same interaction which occurs at the high school to occur at an earlier age 2 The measure of the success of th~s program does not I~e with crime statistics or even total number of student contacts Student contacts ara intended as a deterrent when necessa~ or just a resource for a student who may have d,fficult questions The Offices does carry a gun at the h,gh school, but the level of cooperation between students and the Officer is not dependent on the threat of a gun since the gun is concealed at all times Also, the Officer does not wear a uniform at the high school because of the level of cooperation which the Officer is t~ing to foster. An Officer at the junior high level would function almost identically as the Officer at the high school level. However, the Officer at the junior h,gh is to lay the ground work for the high school Officer. The issues wh,ch come up at the high school are not I,m,tad to high school age people any more, many of the same issues are now present at the junior high level If these issues can be resolved early, the potential problems may be avoided Also, if the rapport which is present w~th the h,gh school students can occur at the junior h,gh level, then the overall effectiveness of the entire program w~ll be greatly enhanced The pos,bve influence which the school Officer provides could extend for a longer period of time than just the h~gh school years Based on the amount of t, me the Officers are available ,n terms of years w~thin the school wh,ch the student may have contact would be long enough to increase the probab~hty an Officer may be ubl~zed A school Officer at a junior high level would interact with the students based on training and commitment the Officer exhibits Even though the number of students wh,ch a s,ngle Officer may serve could be 600 at the junior high level compared to 1200 at the h~gh school, the Officer would sbll be assigned to a single school The development of the rapport and the ava,lab,l,ty of the Officer cannot be I,mitad to specific days of the week so the Officer can cover more than one school The number of contacts would not be limited to students, but ~s expected to include school staff and parents To be a resource, the Officer would prowde conflict resolubon training so that their role does not grow to be a role of d~scipl~narian The determination of whether the Officer in the junior h~gfl would be armed or ~n uniform ~s dependent upon the school staff's recommendations However, someone ~n a uniform could easily be viewed ,n a d,saphnarlan role The final detarm~nat~on has not been made on the weapon and un~form The h~gh school Officer is able to provide a sense of security without a uniform, so the same may be true at the jun,or high level Some Board members were concerned about the message that armed and umformed Officers would project at the junior h,gh level Peer mediation and confl,ct resolution training and functions can just as easily be performed by pla,n clothes Officers Some Board members also questioned the support of th,s project by jumor h,gh adm,mstrators Trustee Clowee asked how ~s the success of the program ~s measured He also asked whether the Police Officer ~s an extension of authority ~n place of the school staff members Officer Klm Nagel stated that she focuses on preventive issues and attempts to avmd being I~mited to solely criminal s~tuabons, therefore, she would charectenze her acbwtles as a deterrent factor at the schools Manager Janonis stated that it was difficult to measure activities but ~nstead the focus has been on the inputs or contacts of the Officer in the school by the students He also stated that it is too early to request the junior high representatives to d,scuss th~s at their respective Boards unbl there was a spa=tic comm,tment from the Village Board He would recommend the consideration of an Ad Hoc group of elected representatives from each Board (V,Ilage and School) to discuss this program and whether the request for funding should be submitted Consensus of the Village Board was to create an Ad Hoc Committee made up of elected representatives from the Village Board and the School Districts. This group would discuss the need for the SROs and the funding situation as It applies to each elected body. Mayor Farley stated that he would nominate the elected officials from the Mount Prospect Village Board and would consider any Board members who would be ,nterested in volunteenng their t~me The Village Board directed staff to proceed with the creation of the Ad Hoc group and contact the School Di~,cts to determine their willingness to meet on the subject as an Ad Hoc Group. V.MANAGER'S REPORT None VI. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Trustee Clowas requested the Village Board consider tak, ng a pos~t~on regarding the new Area Code designation as proposed by Amentech Manager Janonls cautioned the V, Ilage Board that the costJbenefit of des~gnabng extensive staff time ,n research,ng the Impact of the Area Code change on V~llage residents would be difficult to jusbfy ,n terms of the time and the unl,kel~hood of any changes actually occumng However, he d~d recommend that a letter could be sent by the Village Board members expressing their concerns vath the creation of the new Area Code 4 Tru~ee Hendrlcks stated that he had several items to present to the Village Board for cons~derabon 1 He requested a Committee of the Whole dlscussmn on a parental respons~b~hty ordinance related to guns 2. He requested the Village Board consider discussing recreabonal vehicle parking in residential areas at an upcoming Committee of the Whole meebng This request was made based on the recent changes to the Ordinance in Arlington Heights 3 Trustee Hendncks read a letter from resident M~ke Colhns in which a statement was made whereby the R~de-A-Long Program has been curtailed so that Trustee Hendncks ~s not allowed to pa~=pate In the R~de-A-Long Program Trustee Hendncks stated he wants his day m court and has requested a written response from Manager Janon~s as to why he is not allowed to participate ~n the Ride-A-Long Program Manager Janonis stated he has submitted a written response to Trustee Hendncks outhmng the reasons why he is not allowed to parti=pate ~n the R~de-A-Long Program 4 Trustee Hendncks read a letter from the Mayor to a resident concerning a vehicle sticker and he raised an issue w~th the Mayor for using h~s stationery for the response to the ras~dent and requested a copy of the correspondence to the village Board members. 5 Trustee Hendricks referred to a note from staff concerning the vacation of Henry Street He stated that Cook County has vacated the street between 1965 and 1968 He stated that he had contacted D~stnct 17 of Cook County and has requested that they provide necessary mformabon to the village of Mount Prospect concerning th~s vacation Mayor Farley responded to the ~tems which Trustee Hendncks brought up 1. He would support a d~scussion concerning parental raspons~b~hty for firearms at an upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting 2 He stated the village Board has already d~scussed r v.s and would only be interested in discussing r.v. parking after January of 1996 He stated it d~d not seem necessary to continually bring (beyond an annual d~scuss~on) th~s ~tem up when the Board has clearly dec~ded on this ~ssue Items would be referred to the Committee of the Whole by the Village Board 3 He stated he has been given a copy of the memo from Manager Janon~s to Trustee Hendncks concerning the R~de-A-Long Program and would be val~ng to provide an additional copy if necessary 5 4 The Mayor stated he would conbnue to use his stationery as he felt necessary and the type of stabonery he would use he would use with d~scret~on depending on the respons? that he felt was appropriate 5 Trustee Skowron suggested that the Board consider a d~scussion of the recreational vehicle philosophy at an upcoming Committee of the Whole not the actual parking but whether these types of vehicles should be allowed ~n residential area and why are they ~n residential areas Motion was made to enter Into Closed Seselon to discuss Personnel. The Motion was made by Trustee Hoefert and Seconded by Trustee Corcoran. Village Board went into Closed Session at 9.24 p m Village Board members returned from Closed Sess;on at 9 45 p m VII. ADJOURNMENT There being no further bus~ness to d~scuss, the Committee of the Whole meeting adjourned at 9 46 p m Respectfully subm, itted,,~ ..~ DAVID STRAHL DS/rcc Asststant to the Village Manager 6