April 11, 2006 City Council Meeting
This was a long meeting, with sixty items on the agenda. I will write about the relevant items.
The landscaping tabulations were picked: McAdams will be in charge of Ogden Avenue and the Depot District. B. Davids will be doing Cermak Road.
The North Berwyn Park District by agreement with the City, will be providing services at the 16th Street Community Center.
City Vehicle stickers' prices will not be raised for the coming year.
All ice cream truck drivers will now be fingerprinted.
Berwyn will now be working with the Illinois Housing Development Authority concerning its affordable housing programs.
An ordinance passed on a 5-4 vote, with the Mayor breaking the tie, wherein all buildings located in the City will have 100 amp main breaker circuit breaker panels.
Fees for working without a permit, i.e., putting a new roof on and not getting a building permit, have been increased. Almost all work in Berwyn requires a permit. Please check first or pay the price.
Again, 5-4 vote, wiht the Mayor breaking the tie, fees for compliance and occupancy certificates will not be raised.
An ordinance was passed wherein when the City reviews plans for a permit application, there will be a non-refundable deposit. If you apply for the permit and do the work, the deposit will be credited to the permit fee.
An ordinance was passed in which I voted against the passage, wherein Committee of the Whole meetings can only take place on City Council meeting weeks, so now, there can only be Committee of the Whole meetings during two weeks of the month.
An ordinance was passed, wherein if someone buys a house "as is", and the price of repairs is estimated to be less than $3,000.00, then rather than putting money in escrow, an attorney's letter will suffice.
An ordinance was passed wherein awnings erected over a business can now have a name, adress, phone number and website place on the awning.
The speed limits on Windsor and Stanley from Ridgeland to Harlem will now be 25 mph, down from 30.
Since there are two policeman retiring, the City has allowed 3 new patrolmen to go the Police Academy. This means that there will be one new policeman. The budget gave money for 3 new policemen this year. 3 is the optimal amount of policemen to go to the Police Academy, so when one more policemen retires or leaves this year, we will get to hire the 2 additional policemen.
The gravel lot at the library will be paved this year.
The Berwyn Development Corporation will be reviewing the retail overlay maps/plans to address the shortcomings and ineffective passages so that the overlay will make sense.
A $35,000.00 loan was approved for Kaleidoscope Kids located at Hoome and Windsor.
A banner desing has been approved by the City Council to be hung from light poles. Hopefully, the banners will start appearing on light poles by the end of the year.
The City Council meeting set for April 25, 2006, shall be quite interesting.

Finally, please remember that my second 3rd Ward Town Hall meeting is taking place on Saturday, April 29, 2006, at 10:00 a.m. at Trinity Church, located at 26th Street and Riverside. Continental breakfast will be served.
- posted by Mark @ 7:49 PM