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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/25/1994 COW minutes REVISED 2~9~94 MINUTES COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE JANUARY 25, 1994 I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was celled to order by Mayor Gerald Farley at 8 07 p m Present at the meebng were Trustees George C[owes, R~chard Hendncks, Paul Hoefert, Michaele Skowron and Irvana Wilks Absent from the meebng was Trustee T~mothy Corcoran Also present at the meebng were Village Manager M~chael Janon~s, Assistant to the Village Manager Dawd Strahl, Finance D~rector Dawd Jepson, Inspecbon Services D~rector Chuck Benc~c, Enwronmental Health Coordinator Bob Roels, V~llage Planner M~ke S~ms, Crime Preventmn Officer B~[I Roscop, Crime Preventmn Officer John Wagner and F~re Inspector Skip Hart II. MINUTES Acceptance of the M~nutes of December 14, 1993 Mobon made by Trustee Wilks and Seconded by Trustee Hoefert to accept the Minutes Trustee Hoefert requested an ~tem to be corrected ~n the Minutes which was a repeat of a sentence ~n the first paragraph Minutes of January 11, 1994, Mobon made by Trustee Skowron and Seconded by Trustee Hoefert to accept Minutes Trustee Clowes asked that the M~nutes be rewsed as it relates to h~s abstention for approval of the Minutes of the last meebng He was, ~n fact, not present at the t~me the M~nutes were approved He ceme late to the meebng III. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD Lee Learman, 318 North Eastwood, asked for a schedule of when the Budget meebngs were going to take place Manager Janon~s related the dates as scheduled at this point Larry Selbach, 213 Can-Dota, sa~d he was upset beceuse the tax discussion was not postponed due to the weather of last Tuesday n~ght He asked the Village Board why the ~ssue was not postponed so c~bzens could comment on th~s very important ~ssue Mayor Farley responded to Mr Selbach's quesbon by stabng that he takes responslb~hty for a poor job of cha~nng the meeting and d~d not move things along He d~d not expect the parking ~ssues to take as much time as they did There were c~bzens present at the meeting and felt that postponing the meeting would create addlbonal problems for the c~t~zens who were ~n attendance at the meeting There is st~ll t~me for c~bzen ~nput at the bme of the scheduled Budget Hearings Joanne Falco, 525 Lois Court, spoke She asked whether the tax ~ssue could be reconsidered and was concerned about the 2% Utility Tax She stated she surveyed 12 other communities ~n the area and only one has some type of Ut~hty Tax She also asked for reconsideration of the Sales Tax ~n add~bon to the Ubhty Tax Cibzens have not commumcated any desire to receive reduced services Mayor Farley stated that c~t~zens should bnng forward options they may have for balancing the budget because there ~s no good tax and no one wants to raise taxes Trustee Hendncks stated that he commends the residents for bnng~ng up the ~ssue of weather and how It may have affected ~t~zen participation He felt the weather d~d, in fact, affect ~bzen part~c~pabon last week Trustee Clowes stated that the most recent vote put ~n place how revenues were going to be generated based on the change m the taxes Unless there ~s a reconsideration of the preva~hng s~de, the vote can techmcally not be reconsidered There was prewous pubhc~ty put out on th~s ~ssue beg~nmng on November 30 He wanted to correct the question of whether the issue could be reconsidered during the budget process He felt that the budget process is not reflective of the previous vote concerning these ~ncreases ~n taxes Mayor Farley stated that he felt c~tizens should be made aware that Trustee Clowes' proposal had prowslons for ~ncreased taxes also The s~gn~ficant d~fference between h~s proposal and the proposal the Board approved ~s that clbzens would be taxed through a d~fferent spread of taxes ~nclud~ng user fees compared to the proposal which was approved IV. GAMBENG RESOLUTION Mayor Farley stated that citizens had suggested the Village Board adopt a Resolubon on Gambhng or propose a Referendum and also get the V~llage Board op~n~on on the record John Melzenthin, 1418 Birch Drive, spoke He stated h~s proposal ~s only focused on additional legalized gambling not the gambling that ~s currently approved by the State Specifically, he is concerned about wdeo poker and gambling parlors His concern relates to ensunng that the c~t~zens have an opportunity to address the gambling ~ssue at the ballot box Other communities have attempted to address th~s issue and he felt that Mount Prospect should also consider addressing this issue in a s~m~lar fashion 2 Reverend Robert Tuzik, Pastor of SL Emily's-Church. He is here to present a recommendabon from the Church Councd concem~ng gambhng The Council quesbons whether ~t ~s proper for the V~llage to use gambhng as a means to raise funds because of the social costs related to gambling They generally feel that the additional social services related to gambhng far outweigh the revenue that may be generated from gambhng and he asked for a Binding Referendum instead of an Adwsory Referendum Mayor Farley stated that he ~s unaware that there ~s any casino under consideration by the Village Board at th~s t~me Reverend Tuzik stated he had been ~nformed by Trustee Hendncks that a wealthy developer may want to bring a casino m to town and was informed of th~s poss~b~hty at a recent church service Mayor Farley stated he was unaware of any proposal and Trustee Hendncks has not shared th~s ~nformat~on w~th the rest of the Board He also stated he felt a Referendum would not be binding on any future Boards He feels that ~f the V~llage Board wants to take a pos~bon through a Resolubon then the proposal should go forward ~n order for it to be on record concerning th~s ~ssue Bill Blaine, 119 North Emerson Street, spoke He feels that elected officials are elected to make decisions, however, the decision concerning gambling should also include pubhc ~nput He feels the pubhc should be offered an opportumty for input because of the effect on Mount Prospect morals, community and hfestyle Joanne Bjork, 516 Carol Lane, spoke She questions whether the community and/or the Board would welcome gambhng at any Iocabon as other commun~bes have VVhen welcoming gambhng, you welcome more crime and the fact that c4tlzens are using money for gambling instead of other things which are important Omar Logan, 223 North Emerson, spoke He ~s opposed to ~ncreaslng ~n gambhng beyond what the current types of gambling are and thanks the V~llage Board for considering such an ~mportant ~ssue as this Mayor Farley read the proposed Resolubon concerning the gambhng pos~bon of the Vdlage of Mount Prospect V~llage Board The Resolution also included a requirement to estabhsh an Adwsory Referendum prior to the introduction of permanent casino estabhshment w~th Mount Prospect voters Mayor Farley also asked Trustee Hendncks if he is aware of any pending casino Trustee Hendrlcks stated that at the last Coffee w~th Coun~l, th~s ~ssue was brought up He felt this ~ssue should be brought to the full Board for cons~derabon He feels it should go to the people for d~rect~on and ~t should be a B~nd~ng Referendum He sa~d a local developer had menboned a poss~b~hty of looking at a casino option in Mount Prospect, but prowded no firm commitment Mayor Farley stated he assumes Trustee Hendncks is referring to a letter from Mr Ben Trapanl, a Mount Prospect Trapan~'s resident Mr. letter of January 8 restated the ,ssue of whether he was interested ~n pursing a gambhng estabhshment w~thm the V~llage of Mount Prospect The letter basically stated that he is not ~nterested ~n pursuing a gambhng estabhshment w~th~n the V~llage And further stated he feels the issue of expanding gambhng should go before c~t~zens through some type of Referendum Trustee Hoefert stated he felt the Board cannot make th~s a B~nd~ng Referendum And ~s unaware of any interest of gambhng w~th~n Mount Prospect and would not be ~n favor of expanding gambhng beyond ~ts current hm~tat~ons He would support the Resolution in ~ts current form Trustee Skowron spoke She felt that she could support the M~n~stenal letter as read by Father Tuz~k and feels that gambhng should not be used to balance the budget She feels that elected officials should make the de.sion concerning gambhng w~th~n the community Because there is a chance that ~f the ,ssue were brought to the people, the people may, in fact, support gambhng In order to lower taxes and balance the budget which would probably be contrary to the feehngs of the V~llage Board By taking such ~mportant ~ssues to the people, the question rises whether the Board should take other cnt~cal questions to the people instead of hawng elected offi~als dec, de the ,ssue because that ~s what elected officials have been elected to do by the people Trustee Wilks spoke She knows of no gambhng casino currently ~n the works And feels th~s Referendum should k~ck ~n only ,f a proposal has come before the V~llage Board VVhen this ~ssue does come up, ~t w~ll end up being considered as part of economic development and feels the ~ssue should go before the people This Resolution ~s d~fferent from Arhngton Heights' Resolution Also, the question of b~nd~ng versus adwsory depends on requirements of the State Statutes or Constitution The definition of Binding Referendum tends to relate d~rectly to a structure of government issue, for example, the number of Trustees Courts have also supported the ,ssue of Referendums as non-b~nd~ng for specific d~rect~onal type ~ssues hke gambhng or other ~ssue-related questions which may come up Trustee Clowes stated that gambhng has evolved ~nto an unhealthy ~ndustry and the State has taken over the gambhng Industry which seems ~ron~c because they also legislate gambhng He feels that gambhng should not be run by the State government He feels ~t should go to the ~t~zens to get an Adwsory Referendum and would support the Resolution m ~ts current form He would also recommend that a Resolution be drafted concarmng home rule power preemption of the General Assembly ~n order to protect the powers which Mount Prospect needs to operate The expansion of gambhng ~n Mount Prospect would further preempt home rule powers Mayor Farley stated there appears to be general support of the V~llage Board Trustee Skowron suggested a change in the wording to state the current Village Board would be bound and the language of using gambhng for revenue sources to balance the budget would be prohibited Mayor Farley stated that he would ask that th~s ,ssue be brought forward for the February 1 V~llage Board meeting and would concur w~th Trustee Clowes' Resolution concerning home rule powers for consideration at that time also V, BOCA PROPERTY MAINTENANCE REVISIONS Mr. Janonis stated that there had been d~scuss~ons over the last year to ~denbfy the problems of apartment complexes and causes of such concerns w~th~n the multi-family un~ts throughout the V, Ilage One of the subcommittees that was formed was the Housing Committee Th~s Committee recommended the ,ssue for cons~derabon and suggested rews~ons to the current BOCA Code As part of th~s rewew, the ,ssue of occupancy hm~ts was raised as part of the current Code ~ssues In order to beg~n the process of addressing th~s ,ssue, we need to get j c~t~zens ,nvolved ~n prowd~ng ~nput as to how the Property Maintenance Code should be structured Chuck Bencic stated that he is recemmend~ng approval of the BOCA Code as to conform to other BOCA Codes which the V~llage has prewously approved The BOCA Code ~s also more comprehensive ~n ,ts current form and there w~ll be few local amendments necessary ,n order to put the Code ~n place Bob Roels spoke He stated that the Code has been upheld by Courts where ~t addresses property maintenance ,ssues The only need to rewse the Code would be based on the desire to comply w~th more stnngent V~llage Codes which may be currently ~n place He also stated that we could require all outstanding wolat~ons to be resolved prior to sale of property and could control that through the Real Estate Transfer process Mayor Farley stated that staff wants to d~scuss the Code rews~ons w~th the V~s~ons Subcommittee and schedule various c~t~zen input ,n order to get group consensus and ,nput prior to the Code being approved by the V~llage Board Trustee Clowes stated he supports the involvement of the V~s~ons group He felt ~t ~s ~mportant for the V~llage to prowde the means to help property owners resolve tenant problems relabng and creabng property maintenance ~ssues Mr. Janonis stated that th~s is one part of the larger ~ssues which need to be addressed w~th the assistance of various landlords through the c~bzen ,nput which we are requesbng at this brae The first step is to estabhsh occupancy hm~ts which w~ll help toward the overall goal of property maintenance Ullian Perham, 501 West Dempster, spoke She stated that many committees are currently being formed to address the problems w~th the owners and the need for occupancy hm~ts Is very prevalent in all d~scusslons She would hke to move forward and parbc~pate in th~s ~ssue as quickly as possible She also stated that she feels some businesses should also address the shopping cart issue and their abandonment on multi-family properties Chloe Herman, President of the Northwest Suburban Association of Realtors, spoke Her group wants to congratulate the Village Board on mowng forward on th~s ~ssue and also would hke to participate and be informed on what is occurring She also requested a copy of the BOCA Code that is currently being proposed and considered Mr. Janonis stated the BOCA Code would be d~stnbuted w~th V~llage comments to all participants of the vanous committees that are currently being formed and to individuals who would hke to participate ~n prowd~ng ~nput ~nto th~s issue He would also recommend that meetings be set up to specifically address vanous areas w~th~n the Code ~tself m order to expedite th~s process It would be more efficient to break the Code into vanous components for d~scuss~on than to rewew the enbre Code all at once VI.MANAGER'S REPORT No Manager's Report VII,ANY OTHER BUSINESS Trustee Hendrlcks stated he would hke to bnng back a couple of ~ssues relabng to SWANCC at the next Board meebng and feels that all members of the V~llage Board should be included ~n the Board of D~rectors of SWANCC He further stated that Trustee Corcoran should remain the representabve for the Board and Trustee Hoefert should remain as the alternate Mayor Farley asked ~f th~s could be held until Trustee Corcoran returns s~nce he is the Board's representative on the SWANCC Execubve Board VIII. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 9 57 p m Respectfully subm~tt~ed, -'-"DAVID STRAHL DS/rcc Assistant to the Village Manager 6