Long Grove, Buffalo Grove team up on code enforcement

Buffalo Grove will provide Long Grove with property maintenance inspections and adjudication services under an intergovernmental agreement approved this week by Buffalo Grove trustees. Long Grove trustees had already approved the arrangement.

Long Grove Village President Angie Underwood said that in Long Grove, the process of pursuing property maintenance cases is long and involved. The matter must go to the village prosecutor and circuit court. There isn't the volume of cases that would justify having an in-house administrative adjudication process.

"What we're about is resolving the issues in a timely manner and not having it drag on for years, in some cases," she said. "So the administrative adjudication is a way to shorten up that process a bit."

Initially, Long Grove approached Hawthorn Woods, then Buffalo Grove.

"They have got the process in place," she said. "They have the facilities, too, to hold the hearings."

Under the two-year agreement, which has an option for renewal, Buffalo Grove will provide up to eight hours of inspection per week to Long Grove. Buffalo Grove will also provide written records identifying the date, time and location of inspections, as well as documentation of violations. Buffalo Grove will issue tickets and its personnel will attend hearings, court proceedings and meetings, as requested by Long Grove.

Under the administrative adjudication provisions, Buffalo Grove will provide a hearing officer and prosecutor, develop the hearing docket and correspondence, collect and deliver payments following the hearings and provide clerical, software, facilities and supplies needed to conduct the adjudications.

Buffalo Grove will receive compensation of $58 per hour, with a minimum of 1.5 hours per request, for inspections, hearing or court attendance and off-site meetings attended by an inspector, including travel time. Buffalo Grove will receive $100 per day, plus 50 percent of the fines or fees collected at each hearing.

Underwood said the intergovernmental cooperation could be expanded to other areas.

"Anytime that we can partner with one of the towns in the area to get services done in either a more timely or a more efficient manner or to save money for both of us, the village of Long Grove is always looking to do that," she said, noting that the village partners with the Lake County sheriff for police protection and also has partnerships with Ela and Cuba townships for road maintenance.

Buffalo Grove Deputy Village Manager Jennifer Maltas said the village will be conducting the inspections to make sure properties are complying with the property maintenance code. Handling adjudication locally speeds up the process of compliance because in the court system, "it's constantly continued (and can) take forever to resolve," she said. "The goal basically is compliance, not revenue."

Maltas said the agreement was developed after the village manager of Long Grove reached out.

"We have been talking to them about sharing services for a while," Maltas said. "We're hoping it's the start of the ability to share services with Long Grove. We're very close. We share a border. We hope we're able to help with sharing services … to make it less expensive on both of our sides."