VOP Trustees Report 4-7-14

Village of Oak Park Board of Trustees

April 7, 2014

Maria Jepson, Observer

6:30 Executive session

7:30 Open Session

In attendance:  Trustees Glenn Brewer(by phone), Andrea Ott,  Peter Barber,  Colette Lueck.  Adam Salzman, Robert Tucker acted as President Pro Tem, Village Manager Cara Pavlicek, Village Attorney Paul Stephanides, Village Clerk Teresa Powell.  

Absent: President Anan Abu-Taleb

Public comment:

Two people spoke objecting to the recently adopted ordinance related to lease addendums to rental property contracts.  Reasons for objections cited were that it puts the landlord in the position of having to evict an “objectionable tenant” after three complaints without any proof of criminal activity and without the benefit of due process for the tenant.  The landlord who does not evict can be fined $1000.00 per day and lose the right to rent their property.  The ordinance applies only to renters, not to homeowners who may cause disturbances.

Dawn Marie Mueller introduced herself as a person having a strong interest in genealogy and a supporter of police and law enforcement.  She invites the community to contact her as she would like to form a “coffee klatch” to become more informed about people’s concerns. 

 Jim Kelley noted that the agenda for the meeting includes a discussion of areas where marijuana dispensaries might be located and noted that there was little concern that a gun store had been allowed to enter into business within a block and half from a preschools and three blocks from an elementary school.  Mr. Kelley reminded the board that over two years ago 80 people attend a village meeting proposing an amendment to zoning laws, yet nothing has been done to date.  He requested that the board revisit the zoning laws.

Public Hearing:

A public hearing was held regarding the establishment of permanent traffic diverters to prevent North Ave. traffic from using the streets Elmwood and Rossell as a means of avoiding the signal light at Narragansett.  Several residents spoke to the effectiveness of the temporary diverters that have been installed and requested that the permanent structures be allowed.  The hearing adjourned and the motion to install the permanent diverters was passed.

Village Manager Report:

The Village Manager reported that money has been committed from the development company working on the Lake and Forest property and that deadlines have been met, so that work can move forward.

Regular Agenda:

Several proclamations were enacted:

1.     Certificate of appreciation to Village Employees for Washington Illinois tornado relief effort.

2.     Arbor Day will be celebrated April 7, 2014 with a tree planting at Percy Julian Middle School.

3.     Earth Month, April 2014.

4.     Older Americans Month, May 2014, with special emphasis on “Celebrating Seniors” May  15-22

5.     Sexual Assault Awareness Month, April 2014.

There were several appointments to various committees, reappointments and Chair appointments.

The developer of the property on the southwest corner of Madison and Harvey asked for a seventh extension to secure a tenant for the property.  Ultimately the board decided to grant an extension until July 2015 with the idea that the developer should return to the board in six months with a status report.

The Planning Commission gave a presentation regarding the placement of dispensaries for medical marijuana should Oak Park be designated as a city that would have such a facility.  The commission proposed that the area around Rush Oak Park Hospital would be a logical choice.  After the presentation and discussion, no action was taken.

It was not possible for the board to act upon the resolution to execute a contract with an electric power supplier as the bid process had been corrupted by a “Scribner’s error”, with the only bid coming in mils.

After discussion it was decided to run the bid again as soon as possible and for the board to vote as quickly as it could get a quorum together.  The work needed to be completed in quick order so that Oak Park would not go over the two month limit of returning to ComEd for power. If that were the case, then the commitment to ComEd would have to be for one year.

Oak Park has received $1.2 million dollars from the Illinois Jobs now program for the resurfacing of streets.  The resolution to move forward was passed.

The resolution to move forward with a Fair Housing Task Force was passed and committee members were appointed.  It was noted that there were 19 applicants for this task force, and seven were appointed; those not chosen were encouraged to apply for openings on other committees, and it seems that some of the vacancies will be filled from this pool.

An ordinance was passed for a class C-1 package liquor license to be issued to Trader Joe’s

Meeting adjourned at 10:04 p.m.