by Madelyn Fogarty

madelynfogarty@yahoo.com

The Dwight Village Board is considering options for enforcing minor village ordinance violations and making sure violators pay their fines.

As reported in the July 14 edition of The Paper, unpaid tickets issued by Dwight police over the last two years currently total approximately $3,500.  Chief of Police Tim Henson expressed his desire to get the mounting unpaid violations under control and met with Mayor Bill Wilkey and Village Attorney Gary Neville to discuss ways to handle the situation.

At the July 12 meeting of the Dwight Village Board of Trustees, the board learned that a plan is being developed that could allow court dates to be scheduled at a block of time once a month for addressing outstanding local violations. Court scheduling issues were cited by village officials as one reason unpaid fines have not been more diligently pursued. Currently, when unpaid fines or contested violations are sent to court, police officers issuing the citations must be present at the hearing. With court dates set at various times, this leads to problems getting officers to the court at designated times and incurs officer overtime charges.  Village Attorney Neville discussed the possibility of hiring Boggs & Fillenwarth LTD to prosecute all village ordinance violations at a reduced fee rate.  In addition, the village may look at the possibility of adopting some state statutes as village ordinances. These preliminary plans for addressing unpaid violations and enforcing payments are being reviewed before being brought to the Village Board for approval.

A review of the Ordinance, Judicial and Licensing Committee meeting that took place prior to the board’s session was reported.  Still under discussion are proposed ordinances relating to mobile homes and mobile home parks.  The committee reviewed related ordinances from neighboring communities and discussed many concerns such as storm shelters, concrete pads, tie downs and age of trailers.

Committee member Jerry Curtis pointed out that all items were still under consideration and no decisions have been made regarding changes going forward.

“These items were given to us to consider and that is our duty,” explained Curtis. “This is all under discussion.”

The committee also reviewed the need for a Contractor’s Registration/ Permit/Fee requirement. Following the June 5 tornado that caused extensive damage in the Village, a temporary requirement was put in place requiring contractors seeking work in the village to register at the village hall.  The committee is looking at making a recommendation to the board permanently mandating registration of contractors in an effort to protect consumers by ensuring registered contractors are insured, bonded and legitimate operators.

“I think this is a must,” stated Dwight mayor Bill Wilkey regarding the registration proposal.

However, village officials did point out that registering contractors is no guarantee of workmanship and still requires the local consumer to be cautious when hiring contractors.  A recommendation will need to be made to the board at a later date in order to enforce the proposal.

The board did take actions based on recommendations stemming from a July 6 meeting of Dwight’s Services, Health and Safety Committee.

The board elected to allow a squad car purchase to replace the current 2003 Ford Crown Victoria . $25,000 is budgeted for the purchase. Mayor Bill Wilkey opposed the committee’s recommendation citing the weak economy and suggested waiting another year to make the purchase. Trustee Jerry Curtis countered that currently the police department has three vehicles with high mileage and should not delay the purchase. Board members agreed to the move with Trustee Nick Kester casting a no vote.

A police department proposal to pursue establishing a K-9 Unit within the Dwight Police Department received board approval with Trustees Mike Woods and Jared Anderson casting descending votes.  The K-9 Unit will not be village funded.  The Police Department will seek private funding for the K-9 unit.

A final Services Com-mittee recommendation approved by the board requested the purchase of a CD/DVD player in the amount of $336.25.

In addition, the Services Committee met on July 12 following the board session and reviewed the need for more part-time police officers.  With the recent retirement of a part-time officer Joe Kokaly, the Village has only two part time offices.  The committee authorized Police Chief Henson to move forward with seeking part-time candidates.  Part-time police officers must meet the same requirements as fill time offices.  Officer recommendations will come to the board for approval.

In other business the board approved:

• an event request and sound amplification permit from 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. for “Twisterpalooza” at Willy’s Pub on Saturday, July 24,

•  a block party request for the 300 block of West Williams street on July 31.

The next meeting of the Dwight Village Board of Trustees will be Monday, July 26 at 6 p.m. in the Public Services Complex.  An ordinance committee meeting has also been scheduled for Monday, August 2 at 5 p.m. in the complex.