Streamwood considers hearings for local violations

Streamwood is the latest Northwest suburban community to consider starting its own hearing system for local ordinance violations instead of relying on Cook County courts.

Trustees last week approved the enabling legislation for such a system, but no starting date was set.

Consideration of expanding the current hearing process for impounded vehicles is taking place in conjunction with Streamwood's plans to implement red-light cameras at Irving Park Road and Route 59 this fall.

It's hoped that a hearing process in Streamwood itself will be used to handle tickets issued from the red-light cameras. But exactly what other types of violations

would be heard by such a process has yet to be determined.

Palatine has been using these in-house hearings since 2004, while Hoffman Estates began doing so last winter.

While these types of hearing processes are becoming increasingly common, each municipality implements it differently, Palatine Assistant Village Manager Sam Trakas said.

For the past four years, Palatine has been using it for all village ordinances but not parking tickets, Trakas said. Nevertheless, parking tickets are intended to be included in the process by year's end.

Schaumburg has been hearing parking ticket cases in-house since 2001 and impounded vehicle cases for about a year, police Sgt. John Nebl said.

Hoffman Estates this year hired former state Sen. Cheryl Axley to serve as its first administrative hearing officer. Its cases involve violations of all village ordinances and are heard on the first and third Monday nights of each month.

Hoffman Estates Mayor William McLeod said the goal is to create a process that's seen as objective and fair. Who the hearing officer is has a lot to do with that, he added.

"I've been very pleased with it," McLeod said. "I haven't heard any complaints. With many of the ordinance violations, it's easier for people to come to the village on a Monday night than to the courthouse in the middle of the day."

McLeod said there can also be a financial incentive for municipalities to help relieve the bogged down court system through the recapture of fees and fines that would otherwise have gone to the county.

"It's not an overwhelming amount of money," he said.

When the village adopted the system, Village Manager James Norris estimated the village could generate as much as $400,000 annually in fines from missed court dates, which otherwise would go to the county.

Though Palatine wasn't the first in the area to go to use such a system, it was among the earliest, Trakas said.

"One of the benefits is our managers don't have to go to the Cook County courthouse anymore," he added.

One of the key responsibilities for a municipality running its own hearing process is to do it professionally and keep it separated from other departments and the influence of elected officials, Trakas said.

Streamwood is currently hearing its impounded vehicle cases at 6 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays, but it's unknown whether this would change under an expansion of the process, Deputy Police Chief Jim Gremo said.