Town Board Approves Spending For Police Vehicle Upgrades, A Firework Display on July 3 and Paving Improvements along Laramie Avenue
The Town of Cicero trustees during their bi-weekly board meeting on Tuesday June 14th, 2022 . A presentation by Ismael Vargas, chairman of the Clergy Committee, about the few days he spent in Ukraine and a permit was tabled for the next meeting (Photo by April Alonso).
By Efraín Soriano
Town board members gathered on June 14 to discuss and approve various ordinances and resolutions.
The first Town of Cicero board meeting of June featured the approval of several invoices regarding Cicero Police Department patrol vehicle upgrades and tuition fees for five new police academy recruits. Including new plans for paving improvements along Laramie Avenue and various streets, the settlement of two distinct cases titled Ogie Davis v. Town of Cicero and Jacob Ellis v. Town of Cicero, and much more.
You can find the agenda and all documents here.
The only agenda item not approved was a permit for the Mary, Queen of Heaven parish annual Queenship festival. The festival has typically blocked off parts of 24th Place and 53rd Avenue, to host their 5 day festival with live music, games, food and liquor to raise money for the church.
A representative from Mary Queen of Heaven Church stands before the Board of Trustees on Tuesday, June 14th, 2022 as the town clerk asks clarifying questions about their permit (Photo by April Alonso).
“In the past you’ve included if there’s going to be any food sales, liquor, live music or security detail. It’s not included. Can you please specify?” said Town Clerk Maria Punzo-Arias to a representative of the church
After some clarification on the required documents between the church and Punzo-Arias, President Larry Dominick went on to ask the church representative what time the live music stopped.
Upon hearing the answer of 10-11p.m., Dominick said it is too late to be playing music at that time.
“We don’t care what it says there [on the letter], we care that you straighten this [paperwork and licenses] out because you’re asking for five days of closing these streets,” Dominick said. “You’re going to inconvenience a lot of people.”
The board moved to table this request, meaning they will revisit this item at the next board meeting pending the submission of a new letter with all required documents by the parish.
Here are the approved agenda items:
Ordinances
The Town approved an ordinance that establishes a working relationship between the Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) and the Town of Cicero. This is in preparation for the RTA/Urban Land Institute Developer Discussion Panel in which a panel of development experts will assemble to provide guidance on land use issues for select transit-oriented development areas in Cicero such as the Metra Station on 26th Street and 49th Avenue.
An ordinance was approved granting a parking variance for a new mini-mart and deli opening on 6122 West Cermak Road. A business of this type in the C-2 zoning district of Cicero requires three off-street parking spaces. The applicant and town agreed for the yearly purchase of three “El Strip” parking passes to satisfy this zoning requirement.
The board approved an ordinance that would authorize the payment of severance pay to any eligible employees who commit to voluntarily leave their employment with the Town of Cicero between July 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022. To be eligible an employee must be full-time and have at least ten years of service as of September 30, 2022. The town is offering these employees two possible plans.
Option one is to take 20% of their base salary, and option two is 10% of their base salary and 12 months of medical and dental health care premium payments for select employees.
President Dominick and the Board of Trustees agreed that this is in the best interest of the town and its residents due to the impact the current economic climate has had on the revenue received by the town and the increasing cost of providing public services.
Event and Project Expenses
With the Fourth of July around the corner, the Town and Board of Trustees has approved entering an agreement with RKM Fireworks of $23,000 for a fireworks display on July 3, 2022. The Town noted that it is committed to promoting various cultures and traditions, and that it is in the best interest of the town and its residents to sponsor a special event like this.
Two agenda items approved were resolutions for improvement from the Illinois Department of Transportation. The Town plans to use $210,000 allotted to them by IDOT in the Motor Fuel Tax (MFT) fund and $2,450,000 from the Rebuild Illinois (RBI) fund to complete a street rehabilitation project which includes paving improvements at various street locations. These streets include Laramie Avenue (from Pershing Road to 30th St), Park Avenue (from Austin Boulevard to Central Avenue), 59th Court (35th St to Park Avenue), 59th Avenue (from 35th St to Park Avenue), 21st Street (from Laramie Avenue to 50th Avenue).
The Board approved entering into a service agreement with Frank Novotny And Associates, Inc to manage and provide engineering services for the Street Rehabilitation project mentioned above.
A total quote amount of $71,038.22 from A Beep, LLC was approved by the board to repair and replace the speaker and lighting systems in all three Cicero Fire Stations. Fire Chief, Michael Piekarski stated that the Emergency Telephone System Board (ETSB) “agreed to pick up another portion of the cost of this project” however it was not made clear what that amount was.
Police
The board approved an ordinance authorizing a collective bargaining agreement for Detention Officers represented by the Illinois Fraternal Order of Police Labor Council. This extensive bargaining agreement outlined employee rights, compensation, principles of discipline and much more. You can find the entire agreement on page 33 of the documents above.
The next item approved on the agenda was an invoice from the Cook County Sheriff’s Police Academy in the amount of $19,500. This particular invoice is for the training and tuition fees of five police recruits set to join the Cicero Police Department upon graduating from the police academy on August 18, 2022. The five police recruits are: Nestor Carillo, Skylar Mathis, Salvador Ramos, Aaron Rodriguez, and Luiz Suarez.
The Board of Trustees then went on to approve four invoices provided by ABC Automotive Electronics regarding the purchase and installation of communications equipment within four separate Cicero Police Department patrol vehicles. The communications equipment included various light bars, mounts and brackets for lights, radio and PA system and a rooftop antenna. It cost the town $11,747.31 per patrol vehicle, $46,989.24 in total.
The board approved a resolution authorizing a quote from Current Technologies Corporation in the amount of $14,664.48 to completely replace the existing surveillance camera system within the parking structure on 50th Ave and 23rd St. The superintendent of police, Jerry R. Chlada Jr. noted that the cameras installed in 2007 are outdated, no longer functioning properly and unable to be repaired.
During the board meeting, Police Superintendent Jerry Chlada was asked to give a report to the board and recent news and focus from the CPD. In his report, Chlada said “we’ve been spending a lot of time touching base with schools, talking about safety inside the schools with the kids.”
In light of the various active shooter scenarios around the country. Chlada added “we’ve been trying to spend a lot of time on the streets being proactive, loud music has begun now that the weather has warmed up and we know it’s a problem for everybody.”
Chlada then finished by thanking the board for their continued support with “18 new men.” He then stated that the police department had lost about 50 officers to either retirement or resignation since November 2020.
“Hoping to get our numbers back to at least even and then maybe after that we can talk about trying to add a few extra men. So get ready for that conversation,” Chlada said.
Settlements of Litigation
The board quickly moved on to the following resolution item which was the approval of the settlement of Ogie Davis v. Adrian Gasca & Town Of Cicero. This settlement case involved a vehicle collision that occurred on January 20, 2020 near 16th St. and 57th Street between Ogie Davis and a Police vehicle piloted by Adrian Gasca. The incident occurred after Gasca was distracted by the on board police computer and they collided with the rear bumper of the vehicle of Davis.
The Town agreed to pay $30,000 to Davis and his counsel in the settlement terms approved by this resolution. However, the Town denied any wrongdoing and all parties agreed to enter this agreement with no admission of liability from the Town.
The second settlement approved was in the workers’ compensation case Jacob Ellis v. Town of Cicero. This case involved police officer Jacob Ellis who sustained an injury to his right shoulder while attempting to make an arrest on October 11, 2019. The settlement was calculated as 55 weeks of compensation times $836.69, totaling a settlement amount of $46,017.95. After deductions for attorney and medical fees, Ellis is set to receive $36,789.36.
CITIZEN COMMENTS:
Greg, a long time resident of Cicero began by describing his experience voting this year.
During citizen comments at the town board meeting on June 14th, 2022, Cicero resident, Greg, speaks on his disapproval of his voting interaction with a poll worker and seeks information regarding landlord issues (Photo by April Alonso).
“The last election I voted electronically. Now they give you a piece of paper to fill in and put into a machine. The person who took my sheet first looked at who I voted for and then initials it, I think that’s wrong,” Greg said.
When asked by the town clerk if he had filed a complaint, Greg stated that he had not yet done so.
Greg also went on to ask the board to direct him to any legal department that could help people who rent.
“There were two brothers who owned the apartment complex, then a second [landlord] took over, then a management company took over from them. The management company said they would keep everything the same,” Greg said. “But then all of a sudden they come in and say we’re no longer a yearly lease, we are a month to month lease. They raised our rent from $685 to $800, gave us three months' notice and now we’re month to month.”
President Dominick redirected Greg to the building department who he thought would be better equipped to help Greg with this issue.
The next comment was from Jaramillo-Flores, who on behalf of Morton 201 Foundation and the Board of Education, presented Larry Dominick with the Pay It Forward award for his “generous and continued support to provide a better future for our students.”
The pay it forward scholarship is a $2,000 one time award to a graduating senior who attends an accepted college, technical or trade school.
According to Jaramillo-Flores, the Morton 201 Foundation has awarded 10 Pay it Forward scholarships this year and 32 scholarships since 2019 totaling $50,000 in awards.
Find the video to the full board meeting below:
Efrain Soriano is a local freelance photographer and a contributing reporter for Cicero Independiente.
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