Public Safety Committee Minutes 2006 06-08-06 Page 1 of 4
APPROVED 7/13/06
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
YORIMLLE CITY HALL, CONFERENCE ROOM
Thursday,June 8, 2006
Committee Chairman Rose Spears called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m,
Present
Alderwoman Rose Spears; Aldermen Jim Bock, Dean Wolfer and Jason Leslie; Police
Chief Harold Martin; Mayor Art Prochaska; and City Attorney John Wyeth. Community
member: Mary Unterbrunner.
1. Minutes for Approval/Correction—Minutes from the May I 1 meeting were
approved with two revisions.
2. Overnight Parking Ban —Citizens Advisory Committee
Committee Chairwoman Rose Spears said the city is considering creating an ad hoc
citizens advisory committee to review the overnight parking ban, However, she's not sure
how to go about establishing the committee. At this point, seeking a referendum, as the
committee last discussed, would be the back up plan.
Alderman Dean Wolfer said the committee should devise an easily measurable system for
determining which streets should have parking bans. Chief Harold Martin suggested
designations come from public works if the city intends to use street width as the criteria.
Wolfer, however, that street width should be just one of many criteria.
Alderman Jason Leslie said a 24-hour parking ban on major and minor collector routes
such as Route 47 makes the most sense. From there, he said, the city could identify
specific streets where parking bans are necessary.
Wolfer asked how the city decided on a total parking ban to begin with. Chief Martin said
it was done to be fair. Now, he said whatever is decided upon needs to be fair and
consistent, otherwise it's confusing for residents and the police department.
Alderman Jim Bock suggested the city survey residents rather than holding a referendum.
Committee members discussed how best to phase the survey.. Chief Martin said it has to
be simple and to the point.
The committee brainstormed a sample survey. The sample survey would ask if residents
would prefer no parking ban; a parking ban on all streets; or a parking ban on some
streets according to a street-by-street analysis, The survey also would ask residents who
prefer a ban whether they would like the ban to be daytime only, night-time only or 24
hours.
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Resident Mary Unterbrunner said the committee might be surprised by the number of
people who are going to want a street-by-street analysis.
Bock suggested running the sample survey by a handful of people before sending out to
residents. Mayor Art Prochaska suggested holding a town meeting to answer questions
about the survey in conjunction with the mailings. The meeting date could be put on the
survey.
Leslie said he still struggles with the overall objective of a parking ban. He said it has to
be a pressing issue for him to embrace it again. Chief Martins said the main reasons for
discussing the ban were to deter crime at night and to make snowplowing more accessible
and mailboxes more accessible.
'The committee agreed the proposed survey should go to the Committee of the Whole for
approval before progressing. Mayor Prochaska said that with the committee's
recommendation, the proposed survey could go under the mayor's report at the June 20
C.O.W. meeting. The committee agreed to proceed in that manner.
3. PS 2006-27 Police Reports for May 2006
After commenting on some of the items in the report, the committee approved the report
and agreed to forward it to the July 5 C.O.W. meeting.
4. PS2006-28 Job Description for Records Supervisor
Chief Martin said the money for the position is in the budget. He just needed to get the
job description approved. Spears said it's a thorough job description. This person would
report to the office supervisor.
Wolfer asked about requiring a drug test, which isn't in the job description. Chief Martin
said he's not sure it would apply in this case in which involves a promotion. However, he
said he'd run it past the city attorney.
The comrnittee agreed to bring the matter to the C.O.W. on July 5.
5. PS 2006-29 Job Description for Secretary to the Board of Fire and Police
Chief Martin said this position also is in the budget, but the job description needs
approval.
This position would be about 20 hours per month, if that, Martin said.
Spears asked if the two job descriptions, the police reports and the meeting minutes
approval could be put on the consent agenda. Wolfer said he would agree only if the drug
testing issue is clarified.
6. PS 2006-18 Request to Limit Liquor Licenses
Spears said there was nothing in the packets on the issue and she believes the committee
needs input from the city attorney before progressing.
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Leslie said he has a problem with limiting commerce, Mayor Prochaska said the intent
isn't to limit commerce, but to put performance standards in place. For instance, he said a
performance standard could limit the number of liquor licenses issued to one in a
shopping center of up to 100,000 square feet,
Wolfer said the intent is to put some controls in place rather than to put in limitations..
Mayor Prochaska said the tavern license is the only license that's limited in the city.
Currently, there's one license open. He wanted to introduce discussion on the possibility
of performance standards to see if there's any interest in them.
Wolfer suggested having the city attorney come to the July 13 meeting to give direction
on what controls the city could put in place.
7. PS 2005-11 Skate Boards and Motorized Scooters
Chief Martin said there's nothing to add on the topic and suggested holding off on any
new regulations until the parking ban issue is resolved.
8. PS 2006-17 Smoking Ban Discussion
Leslie said there's still interest in a smoking ban discussion, However, Bock said he
needs more information. He said if the city doesn't need to be a home-rule community to
incorporate a smoking ban,then he would be in favor of more discussion. But if the city
has to be home-rule,then he suggests halting the discussions because they would be
invalid anyway.
Leslie was asked to get more information and bring it back to the July 13 committee
meeting.
9. PS 2005-13 Countryside Parkway Address Changes
Spears said the item should not have been placed on the agenda.
10. Additional Business
Leslie said bars are open in Plano and Oswego until 1 a.m. during the week and 2 a.m. on
the weekend. Yorkville bars are open until midnight during the week and 1 a.m. on the
weekend. He suggested extending the city's bar hours to meet that of Plano and Oswego
for safety issues. When Yorkville residents travel to other towns to stay out later, he said
it creates a safety issue.
Chief Martin said by later bar hours, sometimes other issues arise because people have
more time to drink,
The committee agreed to bring the topic to the July 5 C.O.W. meeting.
In other business, Wolfer said everything is ready for the city's first Camp 911 to be held
on June 13 for kids.
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The meeting adjourned at 8:25 p.m.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Dina Gipe
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