Village Moves Toward Prosecuting Local Ordinance Violations In-House

Village of Glenview Board of Trustees unanimously voted May 17 to consider forming an office that would allow local ordinance violations to be decided in Glenview rather than the Cook County circuit courts.

Development Department Director Mary Bak told the trustees creating the office of Administrative Adjudication would be more efficient and fair, applying consistency to violation issues.

She also pointed out that a local process would send a "strong message" to violators and that there is an opportunity for the village to recover some court fees.

"The village really receives very little revenue from the circuit court ticket issuance process," Bak explained. "The fine that is often imposed covers only the court costs and we get little, if any, revenue back.

"Again, our intent is to seek compliance with village codes and make sure the issues are rectified in a timely manner," she stressed, but getting revenue would help cover the costs of our staff time investigating and prosecuting the cases.

The village would charge $50 per case and Glenview saw 225 cases last year, Bak said. 

"Not all of those went to court, but at $50 a case, we would see how some of the cases would generate revenue," she said, plus any fines the law judge imposed.

Forming such an office is allowed under village code.

"The purpose of [the program] is to achieve a better handle on local control and compliance," Bak said, "by conducting these hearings in the [Village ofGlenview] board room."

Property maintenance will be the sole focus of the hearing process to start with. Officials will assess the programs strengths and weaknesses after a year, then decide what other violations should be added.

"Property maintenance is such an important part of our community, we want to maintain as much control as possible," Bak said. "We think this will send a very strong message to the violators that we're very serious about ordinance compliance in the realm of property maintenance."

 Trustee Pat Cuisinier  commended the efforts and offered his support.

"I think it's a streamlined process and it saves a lot of unneccessary litigation expense," he said. 

Trustees were briefed on the program in an April workshop. A law judge candidate has been selected and will be introduced at the next trustee meeting May 24, Bak said. Trustees will officially vote on the issue at that meeting.

A public education process will begin in July and the first hearing in Glenview would take place in the latter part of the month, Bak said.