HIGHWOOD CITY COUNCIL’S 6.6.23 MEETING IN A NUTSHELL
Economic Development
In ‘16, the City Council voted to establish a pilot program allowing “curbside cafes” (i.e., permit-based, seasonal bar/restaurant seating in street parking spaces adjacent to curbs). At present, Beermiscuous, Clucker’s, and La Casa De Isaac & Moishe have permits for curbside cafes (La Casa De Isaac & Moishe has not yet installed their seating). The City Council voted to extend the program through April ’25.
Finance
The City Council voted to approve the payment of various bills totaling $268k.
Legal
The law firm of Klein, Thorpe & Jenkins has served as the City’s City Attorney for over a decade. The firm requested a $10 increase in hourly rates across all categories of service. The City Council voted to accept the revised fee schedule.
Parks and Public Spaces
Mayor Pecaro recently appointed a Beautification Committee – comprised of Alderman Falberg, Alderman Levi and me – to help investigate, plan and prioritize various beautification ideas, and ultimately to make related recommendations to the City Council. The Committee has met twice and is working to advance recommendations for the below improvements.
Creation of a mixed-media/bricolage style mural in Everts Park (example of the target style here)
Development of a pocket park on City-owned property at 341 Waukegan Ave. (i.e., the vacant lot just north of the Bent Fork Bakery)
Development of an extension to Everts Park on City-owned property at 340 Green Bay Rd. (i.e., the former site of Javier’s Garage)
Installation of new lighting, landscaping and seating walls on the west side of Green Bay Rd. from Prairie Ave. to North Ave.
Installation of new street signs and decorative posts in the residential district
Installation of new wayfinding signage in the downtown business district
The City Council previously approved the construction of a storage garage at Memorial Park (i.e., the Western Ave. ballpark) to replace 4 ramshackle storage units. The garage construction was completed last week and 2 of the 4 storage units have already been removed, with the remaining 2 storage units expected to be removed very soon (pictures here, excluding 1 of the storage units of which I failed to photograph before its removal).
Public Safety
In ‘21, the State passed a law to require all law enforcement agencies to employ the use of officer-worn body cameras. The City is required to implement the use of body cameras for all officers by January 1, 2025. Further, the City is required to adopt a written policy that minimally includes various requirements related to the 1) operation, care and maintenance of the cameras and 2) retention of and access to the camera recordings; the City is also required to provide an annual report to the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board. At a recent meeting, the City Council directed City staff to begin implementation in an effort to be operational by end of the City’s fiscal year (i.e., April 30, 2024). The City Council voted to approve purchasing body camera and vehicle camera hardware, software and related services (e.g., data storage) from Axon Enterprise at a total cost of $145k; some related grant funding is available and the City will apply for the same, however the City is required to comply with the law whether or not it receives any grant funding.
Other
The City Council voted to approve meeting minutes from May 16, 2023.
Highwood Library’s June newsletter is here and its annual report is here.
Highwood American Legion Post 501 sponsored and conducted a Memorial Day ceremony last week at City Hall (pictures here).
Celebrate Highwood’s first Evening Gourmet Market of the ‘23 season will be held today (June 7th) from 4:30 to 9:30 pm at Everts Park (a calendar of forthcoming Celebrate Highwood events is here).
The Lake County Forest Preserves Planning Committee approved a resolution to recommend accepting the transfer of the Openlands Lakeshore Preserve property from Openlands. The Lake County Forest Preserves Board of Commissioners is expected to approve the final agreement at its June 14th meeting (additional information here).
Meeting Records