La Grange and La Grange Park officials have agreed to create a shared adjudication court designed to serve both communities.
The village boards of both communities recently approved an Intergovernmental Agreement. The court is scheduled to open in the fall and a schedule of its hearing dates will be posted. The hearings will be held in La Grange Village Hall, 53 S. La Grange Road.
“This is a tool where we can help improve compliance to Village code and Village ordinances,” La Grange Village Manager Jack Knight said in a recent interview. “We’re seeking to improve compliance.”
Knight indicated that other suburbs had local administrative adjudication courts; Brookfield, Western Springs, and Countryside all have their own.
The Villages will jointly select an administrative hearing officer. Each Village will bear separate costs related to their cases, and recording devices will document hearing and be made available to the public upon request.
The adjudication court will be used for filing municipal ordinance violations, including building code violations, nuisance abatements, and non-moving vehicle code violations.
The court’s role is to settle low-level, non-moving traffic violations, including cell phone violations, no seat belts, and parking obstructions.
Not included would be more serious violations such as speeding, improper lane usage, reckless driving, or driving under the influence of alcohol. Those more serious offenses will still be under the jurisdiction of the Cook County State’s Attorney.
The second phase will start hearing building code violations, which will include, but not be limited to, being free of broken windows, deteriorating property, accumulation of garbage, dilapidated gutter, or peeling paint.
The adjudication court brings advantages to La Grange and La Grange Park in several ways.
First, people charged with an ordinance violation will be able to have their cases heard in La Grange, instead of having to travel to the Maywood Fourth District Circuit Court, for La Grange Park residents, or Bridgeview, the Fifth District, for La Grange
Second, the advantage to the municipalities is that code violations will be heard, instead of dismissed because the District’s caseload is too high.
Moreover, because a case at the District Courts is heard there, they retain a portion of the costs of fines levied. Being heard locally means the Villages will receive the full cost of any fine levied.
“Administrative adjudication will afford us the opportunity to resolve municipal ordinance violations locally without pursuing litigation,” La Grange Park Police Chief Tim Contois said.
Hank Beckman is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.