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The Glenview Watch
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WILL TRUSTEES ENTRUST VILLAGE TECHNOLOGY TO ROOKIES?
In our last edition, we reported on internal problems at Affiliated Computer Services – a Texas-based company under consideration for Glenview’s information technology (IT) services.
Also on the short list: Prescient Development of Schaumburg – a company on the look-out for new talent. One job site online carries this ad: “Prescient Development, Inc. is currently looking for about 25 students looking for fulltime employment after Graduation this term. The entry-level positions involve network administration at client sites. Due to the tremendous variety of technologies you will be working with, they will train you for the technologies the client has. Also, you can work toward becoming an expert of a select group of technologies to support other consultants.”
The ad is at odds with another Internet entry – this one on the company’s own website where prospective clients might go for more information. There, in a question and answer section, the firm writes: “What is the experience level of a Prescient technology consultant? All Prescient information technology consultants have at least five years experience, with most at 10 years. While the big six information technology firms will put a senior analyst in charge of a project, they tend to put a rookie fresh out of school servicing your project at the senior-billing rate. At Prescient, senior level consultants provide all services. Prescient does not employ new college graduates.”
The decision to outsource IT services came after the village fired its in-house director, a seasoned consultant in the field. Dale Chellis had warned Village Manager Todd Hileman that his schedule for implementing several new computerized systems was ambitious and his budget inadequate.
In a memo Chellis wrote, “I have not seen any of the individual departmental business plans and was surprised to learn, for example, that no budget allocation has been made for the various departmental labor requirements to support the GIS rollout for 2007.”
GIS, short for Geographic Information Systems, is a computerized mapping program designed to help police, fire and public works locate everything from an underground gas line to a fire hydrant, an ash tree to the home of John Ash.
“There is a substantial amount of internal labor/resource time that is going to be required to get the GIS components in usable form,” Chellis warned. “The tree inventory, building databases from scratch for other public works, fire, police, mobile access to GIS data, and other information for GIS alone comprises a significant amount of internal effort and resultant costs.”
Chellis figured the village would spend “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” to get GIS up and running, and he warned of on-going costs for system maintenance.
He then detailed challenges for the police department, which has yet to fully implement its system for maintaining records. “Temporary help will be needed to keep the records department going while the village staff builds the new system,” Chellis said. Noting a 30-45 day backlog of data to be entered and some serious technical challenges, he added that Village Hall should not expect to have everything up and running by January 1.
Chellis then raised red flags over the development department, the fire department and plans to allow on-line bill payment, issuing of permits and licenses. Hileman took no public action in response to these warnings. Instead, he fired the messenger and began talking about outsourcing.
CHELLIS SPEAKS OUT
Still smarting from his dismissal in September, Chellis heard Glenview was planning to let an outside firm handle its information technology. On January 5, he wrote to the trustees: “I was shocked to learn that Mr. Hileman has requested approval to spend in excess of $3 million during 2007 for information technology expenditures.”
He forwarded a copy of the IT strategic plan he had written for the village nearly a year ago, noting that Hileman himself called it “an excellent piece of work.”
The Chellis plan would have reduced Glenview’s IT costs by changing the way the village implements GIS and the computer aided dispatch system purchased by the police department. “They’re going to waste a ton of money,” Chellis predicted.
While he had not seen a contract between the village and a consulting firm, Chellis thought the company selected to help Glenview with its information technology needs would only quote a price for standard services. “It is highly unlikely that the firm has included some of the major project-based initiatives. These will be priced on an ‘as occurs basis,’” Chellis warned in calling for an unbiased assessment of whether Glenview should outsource IT.
The trustees are expected to award a contract at their January 16 meeting.
CUSTOMERS ALARMED BY CROWDS AT NEW POST OFFICE
Glenview’s new post office opened on January 3 with no advance publicity, but lines were long in the 28,000 square-foot-building and in the 45-space parking lot outside.
“It would appear the new joint was not ready for business, and some open receptacles were being used to accept mail,” wrote one reader of Glenview Watch. “I thought the new post office was supposed to have more parking than the old post office,” said another. “I spent 15-20 minutes circling the parking lot trying to get a spot. People were creating their own parking spaces, parking in the driveway to the south of the post office and also parking randomly throughout the lot.”
Officials at Village Hall and the postal service defended the new operation, noting that the combination of New Year’s Day and a special federal holiday in honor of former President Gerald Ford meant closing for three days. “We closed Saturday at 1 p.m. and didn’t open again until Wednesday morning,” said Postmaster Alonzo Young. “Other post offices in the area also had long lines, and some people just drove up to look at the new building. It’s settled down a lot since then.”
Young says the new facility offers an additional customer service station, more parking for customers, a larger self-service area with a copier, an automatic postal center machine, private postal boxes and a designated counter offering stamps, envelopes and boxes. He’s also pleased to have 28,000 square feet for parking postal trucks.
But some customers were not impressed. “Even with the local taxpayers forking over $3.75 million to help the postal service build a new post office, we still have only four service windows, and the postmaster says the lines will be even longer since the parking is better,” one resident told The Watch. “Also, due to space constraints with the old facility, the mail had to go out on the routes as soon as it arrived. Now, with more space, it can be stored for later delivery!”
The post office has about 120 employees and serves 22,700 households in Glenview. Service windows are open from 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 8 a.m. – 1 p.m. Saturdays. More than 1,300 post office boxes, vending machines and the automated postal center are available 24/7. The old building on Prairie Street is now closed.
Young said the post office provided free coffee and cookies to patrons for the first few days and will probably host a grand opening later this month. “We just wanted to get in, get settled and work out the bugs,” he explained.
OPPONENTS WON’T SUE FOR SCHOOL TAX RECOUNT
Citizens Organized to Save the Tax-cap (COST) says it will take no further action to stop a bond sale that will cost the average homeowner more than $200 per year. The announcement came after opponents of the increase recounted ballots in 22 of the 89 precincts in District 225.
“If this were a race where the difference was 10-20 votes, small miscounts might carry the day, but we could not identify sufficiently large miscounts to change the outcome of this election, said Lawrence T. Miller, an attorney representing the recount petitioners.
Miller said several touch screen tapes and absentee ballots appeared to be missing from materials supplied for the recount and detailed other data the county clerk refused to provide in a timely manner, such as complete early vote totals by precinct.
“We have concluded we do not have sufficient information to file a contest,” Miller said.
In a statement to the media, COST said it asked for the recount “to protect the interests of 15,616 taxpayers who cast votes against the $94 million bond issue. While all members of the District 225 school board supported the referendum, nearly half of the Glenbrook community voted against it. It is clear that half of the community is not adequately represented by the current board.
COST cited a recent school board decision to grant a no-bid referendum-related contract in advance of the recount. An architecture firm will get 6 percent of the money for construction expected to cost about $48 million. “The fact that this contract was awarded to a company outside District 225 boundaries that made a $5,000 contribution to the referendum campaign should not be overlooked by the community,” COST said.
“The next opportunity for the community to establish financial and ethical discipline within the system is the April election when three new board members will be elected,” COST concluded in urging prospective candidates to contact the group via its website: www.COST225.org
Editor’s note: Northbrook appears to have supported the bond issue more strongly than Glenview, and a post-election analysis shows how dramatically The Glen -- Glenview’s newest neighborhood -- is shaping this community’s decisions. The referendum lost in Glenview by 405 votes, and if The Glen (precinct 7) were excluded from the count, it would have lost in the village by 682 votes.
WIDER WILLOW ROAD BACK IN THE NEWS
Could Winnetka’s village president be the Jimmy Carter of the North Shore? That’s the question posed by Pioneer Press reporter Irv Leavitt in a recent story about Willow Road. According to that report, Winnetka’s Ed Woodbury is attempting to broker a deal between warring communities. Northfield hopes to prevent widening of Willow to four lanes by adding turn lanes at key intersections. Glenview and Northbrook want two lanes in each direction from Waukegan Road to the Edens Expressway.
Northfield’s village president has praised Woodbury’s judgment and expressed a willingness to work with him. Officials from Northbrook and Glenview are also hopeful, although Trustee Paul Detlefs points out that State Senator Jeff Schoenberg has been trying to broker a deal for more than a year.
The Illinois Department of Transportation hopes to meet with Northfield officials this month to discuss the impasse and show plans for intersection improvements.
This month, the state plans to start widening Willow Road as it approaches and crosses I-I-294. Crews will create dual left-turn lanes, so two lanes of cars can enter and leave the highway. Drivers should expect frequent lane closures. In 2008-2009 the Illinois Tollway Authority plans to widen I-294 from six to eight lanes.
BUSINESS WATCH
It’s risky business for Dan Nava who owns Famo’s sub shop on Milwaukee Avenue. After 30 years of serving fresh, affordable food to the public, he and his sons are struggling to keep their business afloat. A new property owner next door decided, without consulting Famo’s, to close the driveway customers used to get from Milwaukee Avenue to Famo’s, Liquid Fusion, Cliché and other small businesses south of the old Prime Minister. That leaves just one entrance to the property from Sanders Road.
Nava and the former owner of that property had agreed to share a single entrance off Milwaukee at the request of the village – an arrangement that planners hoped would prevent more traffic problems on that busy street.. Nava says he provided the new owner, Zach Joseph, with a legal document absolving him of any legal responsibility should there be an accident in the driveway, but Joseph won’t budge.
Famo’s business is down by nearly half, and other tenants in the shopping strip have told Nava they won’t renew their leases. Frustrated customers have actually driven over the curb to reach Famo’s, ruining a grassy strip out front, and when Nava paid for a sign to warn customers that they could no longer turn into the driveway, someone removed it. “I’ve always tried to get along,” says the bewildered businessman.
Joseph did not return calls from Glenview Watch, and Glenview’s Development Director Mary Bak says she’s powerless to help Famo’s. “We have met with both property owners and asked Zach to consider a short-term easement while his plan is being reviewed,” she said.
Nava believes Joseph is playing hardball, hoping to bring pressure on the village to approve his plans for a commercial and office complex at the site of the old Prime Minister. In the mean time, Famo’s is hoping to get approval from the state and the village to create its own driveway.
Joseph’s proposed development, to be called the Nea Maya Center, will be considered by the plan commission on Tuesday.
OLPH STORMWATER PLAN CLOSER TO APPROVAL
Glenview’s largest Catholic parish moved a step closer to approval for a novel plan to reduce runoff from its heavily paved site in downtown Glenview. Under orders from the village to detain floodwaters, the parish has proposed creating 10 rain gardens – small areas that would absorb rain and snow melt.
It would also plant native grasses and wildflowers with especially long roots on the slopes of Loyola Academy’s sports fields upstream along the north branch of the Chicago River. Experts say those plants create tiny tunnels in the soil to improve natural storage of water, but critics have questioned their effectiveness at that location. The fields sit atop a giant garbage dump which was capped with clay to prevent toxic substances from seeping into groundwater.
The rain gardens at OLPH would be built this spring. Native plantings would be done at Loyola at about the same time, and the parish would take a third step – creating an 8-10-foot bioswale between OLPH and the Chicago River when the village installs a retaining wall and river walk there a few years from now.
Estimates of how much water might be retained come from the engineering firm Gewalt Hamilton and are based on small-scale studies. Partner Bob Hamilton admits it’s impossible to know in advance, but he hopes to work with a Chicago not-for-profit to try and measure impact after native grasses and wildflowers are planted.
In planning the future of downtown, village officials have also expressed a desire to “green up” the area, and in talks with OLPH, Village Hall proposed the addition of a 20 x 60-foot green space on the eastern edge of the church property along Glenview Road. The idea irked Trustee Pat Cuisinier, a member of the parish who decided to run for the village board when church leaders put out a call for someone to represent their interests.
“What we’re addressing is water detention,” he said. “It’s not greening up. It’s gonna’ cost roughly $43,000 to address this water detention issue and meet the code requirements. This southeast corner has nothing to do with water detention,” he told the board.
President Cummings said she thought green areas improved water detention and asked other trustees what they thought.
Cuisinier would not be stopped. He insisted this latest element was not needed to satisfy legal requirements for water detention.
“Let’s hear if other trustees are interested in pursuing this,” Cummings replied.
Trustee Paul Detlefs thought the parish should do as much water detention on site as possible, since the village couldn’t be sure how much water would actually be detained at Loyola.
Cummings said she’d like Glenview’s Environmental Review Commission to consider the Loyola site and wondered if it could be declared “environmentally significant,” so the highly-paid panel could weigh in.
Bob Hamilton scoffed at the idea that a former garbage dump might now be classed with The Grove. “Wow, that’s a big change,” he told the trustees.
Village engineer Joe Kenny mentioned that Glenview actually owns the land about twenty feet into the OLPH parking lot – a result of church efforts to re-channel the river about 80 years ago. Cuisinier bristled again, suggesting it was improper to even discuss that fact given the passage of time.
The board agreed to continue its discussion at a future meeting.
Editor’s note: Through this debate, the public should keep in mind that OLPH was ordered to provide detention after additional construction on its property in the mid-90's triggered a requirement that the parish comply with current zoning rules. The church should have installed underground vaults to hold storm water – a project that church leaders said would cost at least half a million dollars. The village was patient. It gave OLPH 10 years to comply. Now Cusinier is complaining about the expenditure of $43,000 and suggesting that the addition of some green space at the site would be onerous.
NEW LIBRARY SHOULD OPEN IN 2009
Glenview’s library administrators say the architectural firm of PSA-Dewberry will soon begin designing their new 93,000-square-foot building, and later this year a contractor will be chosen. Officials say ground will probably be broken in the spring of 2008, and “barring any unforeseen complications, the entire process will take approximately one year.” The library board invites suggestions for the new building from patrons. Send ideas to Executive Librarian Vickie Novak at vnovak@glenviewpl.org.
VILLAGE OFFERS HOUSING FUNDS FOR SENIORS
Applications for Glenview’s Senior Housing Assistance Program are now available. The program helps people 62 years of age or older with their property taxes or rent. To qualify, individuals must have lived in Glenview for at least two years, have an annual household income below $14,700 for a single person or $19,800 for a couple. (Medical expenses such as insurance premiums and the cost of medications are deducted.) Residents of Patten House, Depot Square, retirement homes, assisted living facilities or nursing homes are not eligible. Forms are available at Village Hall, the public library, North Shore Senior Center, Glenview Senior Center and on-line at www.glenview.il.us . (Select “Forms” from the main page menu.) Completed applications will be accepted at Village Hall February 5 - 16. All applicants are encouraged to meet with Kim Hand, the village’s senior services coordinator, to review their applications. Call 847-904-4366 to make an appointment.
ON THE BEAT
It looks like a certain young hoodlum will have to spend more time in class – learning to spell. On New Year’s Day, officers responded to Hoffman School where an employee had found disturbing graffiti on an east exterior wall. The police report states: “Offender spray painted ‘eat puzzy.’”
Two weeks earlier, Glenbrook South High School employees observed several words spray painted on a shed and concession stand near the football field, including a swastika next to the name of a teacher who is Jewish.
SAVE THE DATE
-- The Village will be picking up and mulching
Christmas trees through Friday,
January 12. Remove all ornaments, lights and tinsel.
Don't cover the tree with plastic. Place the cut end of your tree toward
the street. (Multi-family units: place your tree at the single-drop
location for your building.) The village will not pick up wreaths or
garlands. Bag them and place in regular trash containers.
-- At 7 p.m. Thursday, January
11 the trustees will learn more about form-based code, a
possible tool for downtown revitalization. Unlike traditional zoning,
which focuses on a structure or the use of land, form-based code
emphasizes the look and feel of the property, as well as how it fits in
with the surrounding community. The meeting will be held in the police
department’s community room, 2500 East Lake Avenue. In the mean time, you
can view a
power point presentation at
www.glenview.il.us
-- You can help shape the future of the Milwaukee Avenue Corridor between Sanders and Greenwood. From 7-9 p.m. Friday, January 19 the village will kick off a six-day planning process at the police station on Lake Avenue.
-- Members of the Glenview Area Historical Society meet at 2 p.m. Sunday, January 14 to vote on a possible name change. By calling themselves the Glenview History Museum and Library, the group hopes to qualify for more funding. For details, call 847-724-2235.
-- The Glenview Public Library hosts its Monday Evening Book Group at 7:30 p.m. January 8 in the Maynard Room. Participants will discuss The Song Reader by L. Tucker. Copies are available at the circulation desk. Anyone may join in this free program.
READERS WRITE
JNA was dismayed to hear the village may allow a developer to drain the pond near Glenview Road and Liberty Lane so he can build three homes on a site that now has one: “The argument that this was a man-made pond and therefore does not constitute a wetland is completely false given that 50 years have passed since it was constructed. Nature always finds a way to re-establish herself and has no doubt filled this niche with wetland species. What’s more, the fact that the pond never dries out suggests it is fed to some degree by groundwater – another reason to consider it a wetland. Army Corps of Engineers guidelines state:
‘One or more indicators of wetland vegetation, hydric soil, and wetland hydrology must be present for an area to be a wetland. If you observe definite indicators of any of the three characteristics, you should seek assistance from either the local Corps District Office or someone who is an expert at making wetland determinations.’
“It would seem to me that at least two of these indicators are satisfied.”
DC agrees the pond should be saved: “If Glenview had any brains at all, they would expand the park system to make this a more desirable community instead of jamming in more and more houses -- making miserable traffic congestion even worse. I see two other open properties that border Countryside Park that could expand that heavily used area. By the way, there is no restroom there, so people use the bushes.”
PM noted our “article about liquor sales at Jewel stores on Sundays, and the editorial comment that the trustees should worry less about trivial matters like this. It seems to me the trustees of all the governmental units deal most quickly with issues that cost money. The more money, the greater the speed. Perhaps money is truly trivial in the overall scheme of things.”
The Watch replies: Only if it’s other people’s money.
Rick Nasello writes in praise of local street plowing personnel: “I have over 25 years of experience plowing snow on interstate and secondary roads. I also was a seasonal supervisor, sharing the responsibility of clearing one of the major interstates in the Chicago metro area of snow and ice. I am retired now but currently serve as winter staff support for one of our North Shore neighbors.
“The boys do a very good job clearing Glenview’s streets. They spend a lot of hours behind the wheel in the worst weather and are dead tired from lack of rest. (You know what I mean, fellas. It is often said that Dracula has better hours than the guys that plow roads and highways.) It's a tough job that takes people away from their families during holidays, birthdays and all those sports activities their kids are associated with. They really have no life in the winter, but make the sacrifice in the name of public safety.
“I don't know Glenview's snow and ice procedures from the inside, but they may use a support network of some kind (fireman, policemen and any other help they can find) to plow the side streets. Although their efforts are appreciated, they are not what I would consider seasoned snow plowers. And this is where I believe the problem JAS mentions probably come from. The village pretty much gives the snow plows the freedom to do whatever it takes to clear away the snow. The streets are top priority. It's a safety issue that must be addressed. With better training, these plow drivers would know how to avoid blocking the sidewalks. Plowing isn't brain surgery. It's just common sense.
“I had a plow push the snow all the way up onto my front lawn. As a result, I couldn’t get my garbage containers out to the street. I had to drag them all the way around my house through the deep snow. It then took me three days to dig out the sidewalk. Better training for the support staff is what is needed. JAS, your complaint has almost certainly fallen on deaf ears. That's just the way it works in the theatre of snow removal.”
Howard Silver also comments on local snow removal: “I read the concerns that OR and TT had regarding the lack of proper snowplowing around Lake and Pfingsten. I live to the south of that intersection, and I agree that both streets were poorly treated during and after the December 1 snowstorm. Your readers need to know, however, that those streets are not the responsibility of the Village of Glenview. Lake Avenue belongs to Cook County, and Pfingsten is owned by the State of Illinois. Those governments are responsible for the maintenance and plowing.
“As for the Village of Glenview, I found the plowing to be done quite well. Given the intensity of the storm early on that Friday and given the heavy snow that came down so rapidly, the response was superb. Our street was not plowed quite as early as it normally is, but we all need to be reasonable given the circumstances. Besides, once we got out of our streets, where could we go anyways when the county and state roads were so bad?”
Mr. S. defends residents who park on sidewalks and lawns when the winter parking ban is in effect: “Six people live in my home, and we have five cars. When the kids come home from college, there are even more vehicles. Two years ago I applied for one of those on-street parking permits. I was not only shot down but got a rude written evaluation from the village inspector. He said I had plenty of room on my property. The guy must have needed glasses. I have a small garage that is not capable of storing a car because of bikes, lawn furniture, tools, dogs and everyday life. My driveway can hold only five cars, and it’s a tight squeeze. With each car pulled up as far as it goes, the butts of the two end cars cover the sidewalk. Returning family members and their friends have no choice but to park on the lawn. Meanwhile, some of our neighbors have left their cars on the street and were not ticketed. One of them parks right behind our driveway, so it is extremely difficult to get out, but I don’t dare call the police, as my own kids would probably end up getting tickets too.”
GV watched Gerald Ford’s funeral, then wrote this note to The Watch: “I wonder whatever happened to a good Republican congressman. We certainly do not have one in Mark Kirk. He runs from his constituents and charges them for conference calls from Washington D.C. We in the 10th have absolutely no idea what Kirk is doing and how he is planning on spending our money. I challenge anyone who can produce a picture or movie detailing his doings in Congress.”
And photographer Carol Freeman is offering a paid internship for a part-time person to assist with her photography business. Call 847-404 8508 for details.
YOUR TURN: Write to glenviewwatch@aol.com or 3537 Maple Leaf Drive, Glenview, IL 60026. If you haven’t already done so, please consider making a contribution to support The Watch. Non-deductible checks should be payable to Glenview Watch. Thanks for your support and for reading. Dean Schott and Sandy Hausman, Co-Editors.