ALSIP
Village to add noise ordinance
Village officials plan to add noise nuisances to the list of offenses that can be handled at the local level.
The village has no ordinance that addresses noise and most complaints are resolved when police are called, Police Chief Robert Troy said.
Now, village officials are crafting an ordinance explaining when noise is a nuisance, he said. Trustees could consider the matter this month.
Parking tickets and building code violations can be contested during a monthly administrative hearing in the village. Noise ordinance violations would fall into that category.
Barbara Dargis
JOLIET
Parking lot to ease courthouse crunch
The city is opening a 44-space parking lot near the courthouse south of downtown and just east of the Will County Jail.
City Manager John Mezera said the new Marion Street lot should take some of the pressure off city parking garages, which were intended to primarily serve businesses.
The lot is also near the train station.
At $3 for all-day parking, the new parking lot falls midway between all-day commuter and courthouse parking.
Mezera said the lot should open within the next 30 days.
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Dennis Sullivan
ORLAND PARK
Teachers contract OKd in District 230
School board members in Community Consolidated High School District 230 last week approved a three-year labor agreement with the district’s 500 teachers after months of negotiations with the teachers union.
The District 230 Teachers’ Association also unanimously ratified the contract, which calls for raises of 6.2 percent the first year, 3 percent the second year and 3.1 percent in the final year. The contract takes effect this fall and extends through the 2009-2010 school year.
Under the contract, a first-year teacher with a bachelor’s degree would make $46,051 a year while a veteran teacher with a master’s degree could make as much as $107,113 a year.
The district includes Sandburg High School in Orland Park, Andrew High School in Tinley Park and Stagg High School in Palos Hills.
“This contract serves the best interests of our taxpayers, our teachers and, most importantly our students,” Dennis Cook, president of the school board, said in a prepared statement.
Carmen Greco Jr.
PLAINFIELD
Credit-rating boost will trim interest
Two major investment services have raised the village’s credit rating significantly, a move that will help the village save thousands of dollars on newly approved $15.6 million in general obligation bonds.
Greg Peters, with the village’s management services department, informed trustees at a board meeting this week that Standard and Poor’s rating went from double A-minus to a straight double A. Moody Investment Services’ rating went from a double A-3 to an A-plus.
Those jumps will allow the village to save between $125,000 and $250,000 in interest on the bonds the board approved Monday night.
The majority of the bonds would go toward transportation improvements in the village core, including $2 million on the installation of traffic control signs and improvements at the corner of U.S. Highway 30 and 143rd Street.
An additional $4.1 million would go toward improvements in the downtown area on Lockport Street, including the reconstruction of the road and the addition of a pedestrian walkway.
Patricia Trebe