A Quickie Council Recap!

Unlike James Patterson's 384 pages of 'The Quickie', ours is going to be much shorter.

In yesterday's post, Busy Bees!, we highlighted six items of interest on the City Council agenda that we hoped would get attention from the Park Ridge populace. We hear some items drew a lot of attention, while other items were referred to committees or ignored entirely.

Below is our quickie recap of those six agenda items:

1) A City Council discussion of off street parking (.pdf) for a property at 14 Main St. -- this item is on the agenda at the request of Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan (5th Ward); it seems Ald. Ryan is always eager to see to it the Real Estate company of his campaign treasurer, Owen Hayes, gets plenty of special attention.

While Benedict Alderman Robert Ryan (5th Ward) attempted, weakly, to speak in general terms about the zoning code requirements and process for requesting a zoning code variance for properties that remain vacant for 180 days or more, it was fairly clear to those present and familiar with Ald. Ryan's nonsense that his goal was to provide assistance to a particular property, 14 Main Street, that just happens to be a commercial property listing out of the McClennan Real Estate office; the same real estate office from which Ald. Ryan's campaign manager, Owen Hayes, operates. Mr. Hayes also has a listing, 104 Main Street, which is said to have off street parking issues as well.

The issue of the City's zoning code requirements for off street parking was referred to committee for review.

2) Under the City Manager's report, a discussion of the proposed extension of Cumberland Ave. (.pdf) under the train tracks; this isn't the worst idea we've heard come out of City government, but couple it further with a proposal to close Greenwood at the train tracks, and it becomes perhaps the most boneheaded proposal we've heard come out of City government.

Alderman Dave Schmidt (1st Ward) offered that he could immediately save the City the cost of consulting fees by letting everyone know that the idea of extending Cumberland Ave. under the train tracks and then closing Greenwood at the tracks was considered insanity by everyone he's heard from on this issue. Several residents also addressed the Council and expressed their displeasure with this idea.

However, our sources tell us this item provided the highlight of the evening when those in attendance were given a glimpse into the void, otherwise known as the mind of Mayor Howard Frimark. Mayor Howard let everyone know that the money spent to study the extension of Cumberland Ave. is not "our money" but rather it is "Federal money". The PRU Crew isn't sure about Mayor Howard, but Crew members recall recently reviewing some very large amounts of "our money" going into the Federal coffers.

Mayor Howard's mindset reminded us of the District 64 School Board thinking on money matters related to the City's offer to buy their district headquarters building.

Mayor Howard also let everyone know that he is unfamiliar with the area North of the train tracks because during the 30 years he's lived in Park Ridge he "doesn't go that way".

3) Also under the City Manager's report we see that an amendment to the separation agreement with former Chief of Police, Jeff Caudill, is up for discussion. We're going to bet this has something to do with the Pension Board's denial of a portion of the compensation package Caudill received.

A motion was made to set aside this issue until Ekl Williams could confirm for the City that former Chief Caudill had cooperated with the internal investigation of the police department. Ald. Ryan offered that doing such a thing seemed like "negotiating after the fact." Ald. Schmidt offered his agreement and this matter was referred to the Finance and Budget committee for number crunching.

4) Under Planning and Zoning is a first reading of the rather extensive changes to the year-old zoning ordinance that includes language we believe allows for more development of R-5 projects (.pdf); the densest and tallest residential projects that can be built. We're also wondering how much the City has paid out in consulting fees on the zoning re-write and why these changes weren't recommended or corrected by the consultant during the re-write process.

This item was referred to committee for discussion of language concerning the B-4 area of the central business district; the hope is to determine language that would define the B-4 business district as a geographic area, then assign the R-5 zoning code to that area.

This item was also referred to committee to determine whether it is the City Council or the Planning and Zoning commission that has the authority to determine procedures and policies. The PRU Crew feels elected officials on the City Council should determine procedures and policies, but we know there are commissions out there that would prefer to operate freely and not be subject to the scrutiny of elected officials.

5) Under the Procedures and Regulations Committee report, the City Council is set to give a first reading to a new ordinance (.pdf) allowing Mayor Howard to control all appointments of the City Council.

To the PRU Crew's surprise, this item was referred back to the Procedures and Regulations committee for further discussion. It is our hope that committee and council members choose democracy over dictatorship, but we're not holding our breath.

6) Finally, under the Finance and Budget Committee report, we read that the City Council plans to authorize Mayor Howard to sign a lease agreement (.pdf) for parking spaces at 20 S. Fairview Ave. We are pleased to see that the City will pass through all parking space rental costs to those leasing the spaces, but we do wonder why the City will be providing bookkeeping and secretarial services to SCH Real Estate LLC, free of charge. We also wonder why the City's required disclosure of ownership (.pdf) documents have not been provided by SCH Real Estate LLC in accordance with the City's ordinance.

Finally, the City Council adopted the lease agreement for the parking spaces at 20 S. Fairview, and will now be providing SCH Real Estate LLC with free bookkeeping and secretarial services.

A member of the audience asked Mayor Howard if the long rumored participation of his wife, Nancy Frimark, as a beneficiary in the trust and/or SCH Real Estate LLC that holds title to this property is true. Mayor Howard stated that the rumor is "absolutely false." Certainly, Mayor Howard wouldn't lie about such a thing.

We look forward to seeing the required disclosure of ownership documents for this agreement; the City law is very clear -- disclosure of ownership interest is required.

There you go folks! A quickie recap of 1,137 words for your reading enjoyment!