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Western Springs Village Board
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Updated: December 9, 2012 7:16PM
WESTERN SPRINGS — In other business at their meeting Monday, Western Springs village trustees:
• Approved a collective bargaining agreement with the village’s 13 police officers. The officers, represented by Metropolitan Alliance of Police, Chapter 360, will get a 2.5 percent pay increase each year for three years, retroactive to April 2011 when the last contract expired. Village President William Rodeghier said the 18-month delay in the contract was because “we had a lot of issues to negotiate.” In 2010, the first contract covering the village’s police sergeants went to arbitration and resulted in a 1.5 percent pay hike for the department’s five affected supervisors.
• Heard a traffic signal will be placed on Willow Springs Road near Lyons Township High School’s South Campus either after this school year or after the 2013-14 school year. The village, which will share the local portion of the project’s bill with La Grange and Lyons Township High School District 204, will pay between $8,000 and $10,000 for the $282,000 project. The bulk of the funding will come from a Federal Surface Transportation Board grant.
• Approved an ordinance amending the village code to allow the installation and use of temporary generators in side yards. Previously, village regulations only allowed for natural gas generators to be set up in back yards. “Generators have gotten smaller and quieter,” Trustee Edward Tymick said, noting that progress makes them less obtrusive on surrounding residences. Rodeghier said that testing of the generators will need to be done in daylight hours.
• Heard work is progressing on the water tower stairs. Matt Supert, director of municipal services, said new foundations have been poured for the stairs and the concrete is curing. He said residents should see visible progress with the project in the next seven to 10 days. Work is slated to completed the third week of November.
• Discussed renewal of the village’s paramedic contract with PSSI for three years. PSSI has provided the village’s paramedics since 1994. The contract calls for the cost of the village’s six paramedics to drop 2 percent the first year, and then increase 2.5 percent in years 2 and 3. “Other paramedic companies could be cheaper,” Trustee Patrick Word said of the $493,769 contract, “but you are not going to find the reliability and lack of turnover (of PSSI). Rodeghier agreed, noting “in all the public’s comments when they provide resident responses (on a paramedic service survey), I can’t think of a single negative experience .. Most of the comments are glowing.”
