Public Safety Committee Minutes 2006 07-13-06 Page 1 of 3
APPROVED 8/22/07
PUBLIC SAFETY COMMITTEE
YORKVILLE CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM
Thursday, July 13, 2006
Committee Chairman Rose Spears called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m.
Present
Alderwoman Rose Spears; Aldermen Jim Bock and Jason Leslie; and Police Chief
Harold Martin.
1. Minutes for Approval/Correction—Minutes from the June 8, 2006 meeting were
approved without revision.
2. Handicapped Parking Signs
Spears said there are still some businesses in town with signs posting fines of$100 for
parking in spots reserved for handicapped parking.
Chief Martin said that the city's police officers went to every business that still had the
$100 fine posted and made a list. The list was given to Bill Dettmer.
3. PS 2006-30 Police Reports for June 2006
Martin said the report includes a couple of letters thanking officers for their work.
He also said the M-1 vehicle was decommissioned and turned over to the Park and
Recreation Department. That department was short a vehicle.
Martin said a new car has been ordered to replace the one that was in an accident. He said
he's hoping insurance will cover at least 50 percent of the cost and the rest could come
from the contingency fund.
As for overtime, he said the department is holding the line on overtime.
The committee agreed to put the report on the Aug. 1 Committee of the Whole's consent
agenda.
4. PS 2006-31 ATF Bomb Dog Update
Martin said Officer Jeff Johnson will be the handler for an ATE bomb dog. He will
receive training for 10 weeks at a school in Virginia
Martin said representatives from Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
recently visited the city. He said the federal government will pay for the officer's
training. The city will pay the officer's salary. He added Yorkville is one of the smallest
towns to receive a bomb dog and he credits that to a recommendation from U.S. Speaker
of the House Dennis Hastert.
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5. PS 2006-32 Cannonball Trail @ John Street Signage
Martin said the city received a letter from Sheriff Randall requesting that the Cannonball
Trail/John Street intersection be signed as a three-way multi-stop intersection.
He said the city did an analysis and determined that it is not necessary to have a three-
way stop sign at that intersection.
His recommendation is to remove the yield signs on Cannonball Trail and add a yield
sign for eastbound John Street. He also suggested the intersection be re-evaluated
periodically.
Martin said the city put up three yield signs on Cannonball Trail. He said the signs should
actually be on John Street not Cannonball Trail. His opinion is that the intersection
should be legal.
If there's an accident there,then the city's liable. If the county wants to take over John
Street from Cannonball to Route 34, that would be acceptable. Martin said city engineer
Joe Wywrot will have to talk to county officials to try to get something worked out or the
city would have to put yield signs on John Street.
Eventually, he said as the city grows, the situation will get worse and something will
have to be done.
Spears said that if the city puts together a letter to the county on the issue, a letter also
should be sent to Judge Wilson.
The committee decided to bring the issue to the COW for discussion.
6. PS 2005-13 Countryside Parkway—Proposed Address Changes
Spears said the original strategy was to have people on Countryside Parkway change the
addresses of the residences as they moved and new people moved in. Then, Mayor Art
Prohaska said there are other areas in the city that do no conform to the adopted address
grid. It was then decided to correct all the improperly number addresses at the same time.
Spears said her neighbors are against it because of the cost involved.
Alderman Jim Bock said he thought this issue was resolved when the city decided to
notify KenCom about the addresses.
Spears wanted to know home many homes are in these areas. She also said she'd like to
look at ward maps to see where all of these areas are located.
The committee decided to wait until the maps were received and could be reviewed
before forwarding the issue to the C.O.W.
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7. PS 2006-17 Smoking Ban Discussion
Leslie said he would send some information to Spears regarding a potential smoking ban.
He's been researching what the Illinois regulations are. He said he could have the
information ready for the Sept. 5 C.O.W. meeting.
8. Additional Business
Leslie said he talked to Mayor Prochaska about extending drinking hours in Yorkville to
match those allowed in the county and neighboring communities.
Martin said he doesn't like giving people more time to drink, but he also doesn't want
people leaving Yorkville, going elsewhere to drink and then driving back.
That issue also will be brought to the Sept. 5 C.O.W. meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 7:15 p.m.
Minutes respectfully submitted by Dina Gipe