Arlington Heights may change how municipal code violations are handled

Arlington Heights residents who face fines for having their property in disrepair and businesses that violate health codes may soon go through a new legal process to have their cases heard.

With the approval Tuesday night by the village board, village officials plan to develop an in-house system in which municipal code violations worth fines of $50,000 or less would come before an administrative hearing officer at village hall — not go to court.

A similar system for parking violations has been in effect since 2010. All other police-related matters will continue to be heard at the Rolling Meadows courthouse, according to Robin Ward, Arlington Heights' in-house counsel.

Ward said the village normally handles few code enforcement cases — currently, only two are pending in circuit court — but bringing the legal process in-house could lead to more tickets being written and fines issued.

“We don't write a lot of tickets because the court system is not the best,” Ward said. “The court system is busy. We don't always get the attention we need.”

Individual fines for code violations are typically less than $1,000 per ticket, but they can add up over time. Ward says the primary goal, however, is compliance with the code.

That may mean not only paying a fine for overgrown grass, but also making sure it's cut.

In recent years, more and more municipalities have been bringing their code violation cases in-house. Some of the towns with their own adjudication systems include Barrington, Buffalo Grove, Elk Grove Village, Hoffman Estates, Mount Prospect, Rolling Meadows and Schaumburg.

Arlington Heights now plans to send out a request for proposals to find an attorney to serve as an administrative hearing officer. That person would hear testimony, accept evidence and make rulings. Decisions could be appealed to the circuit court.

Ward said it could be another month or two before the in-house adjudication system is set up.

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