After weeks of haggling, Chicago Heights aldermen have finally agreed to pay the city’s bills.
The City Council has been in a holding pattern over the otherwise routine bill-paying task because of a stalemate created by three aldermen to protest an ongoing battle over local election guidelines.
At July council meetings, Mayor Angelo Ciambrone twice was unable to muster a majority vote to pay the city’s contractors and suppliers. That’s because Aldermen Kevin Perkins, Robert McCoy and Francisco Perez kept voting “no” to protest the city’s appeal of a federal court ruling that would elect council members at large rather than from wards.
McCoy and Perkins were among four African-American plaintiffs who sued the city in 1987 over the legality of its then-commission form of government. The suit alleged the city was violating minority voting rights.
A federal judge approved a consent decree seven years later in which the city agreed to change from a commission form of government, in which four council members were elected at large, to its current aldermanic form, in which six council members are elected from six districts.
But Judge David H. Coar voided the terms of that agreement in May, calling for an at-large system that would increase the size of the City Council and Park District to seven members from six.
Coar also ordered that future municipal voting be done on a cumulative basis, meaning voters can cast seven votes for one candidate or one vote for each seven candidates.
The city, however, appealed Coar’s decision and is awaiting a ruling by the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals. The appeal, however, left officials unsure about which form of government would be in place for the April 1999 municipal elections.
But just last week, Coar issued a ruling allowing the city’s current aldermanic form of government to stand for the spring election.
The next day, Ciambrone, with Coar’s ruling in hand, called a special meeting of the City Council, which voted 4-1 in favor of paying the city’s bills. Perkins voted “no,” and McCoy was absent. Perez, however, joined the majority.
Candidates for the spring election, including Ciambrone, who announced his re-election bid last week, are circulating petitions now to meet the September filing deadline.
Village Hall update: When Glenwood village trustees decided to replace the dilapidated 1950s-era Village Hall, they settled on a design that would be in keeping with the “Old Glenwood” neighborhood in hopes that the new facility would spur a downtown revitalization.
The new structure, to be built on what is now the parking lot of the current Village Hall, 13 S. Rebecca St. would serve as an anchor to Glenwood’s downtown district along Main Street. Plans also include a proposed Metra stop.
Officials said the response from architects vying to lead the redesign was tremendous.
“We had 578 proposals from as far away as Rome and Puerto Rico,” said Eda Schrimple, economic development director for Glenwood.
The $2.6 million, 12,000-square-foot building was designed by Francisco Ruiz of Albany, N.Y. The Chicago firm of Harry Weese Associates will manage the project. Trustees are hoping that construction will begin in October. If so, completion is slated for sometime in late spring.
The current Village Hall will be torn down. That space will be used as a parking lot for the new facility, which will house the mayor’s and clerk’s offices, as well as the Building and Public Works Departments. Construction will be financed through revenue bonds.
