Wood Dale aldermen hang up on this idea

Chances are you haven't been able to reach your Wood Dale aldermen by cell phone.

Two of the city's eight aldermen refuse to own a cell phone while others keep their cell numbers reserved for friends and family.

That realization has forced 4th Ward Alderman Sam Lewitan to drop his push for the city to either provide cell phones for all elected officials or triple their quarterly phone allowance.

Lewitan said he asked city staff to investigate the cost of getting each alderman a cell phone and adding them to the city's network. Staffers were also asked to study whether raising the aldermen's $60 quarterly stipend should be increased to $180 every three months.

"Basically we have an alderman who complains that he is left out of the loop and not told about important issues," Lewitan said without getting specific. "But he doesn't have a cell phone and he doesn't return messages left on his answering machine tape.

"I thought this would be a way to help keep him in the loop better."

Second Ward Alderman Ed Kneip, one of the two without a cell phone, recalled a "tragic" city experiment a few years back that gave each alderman a laptop to keep in better e-mail communication. The program was scrapped after a few months with few aldermen using them regularly.

"I see no real problem in continuing the way things are now. It's not broke. Let's not fix it," Kneip said. "That's my opinion, and I'm not a real proponent for cell phone use."

First Ward Alderman Nunzio Pulice has a cell phone but doesn't use it for city business. He's not interested in changing the policy.

"The allowance we get already right now is OK. I have a cell phone but my home phone is on our Web site," he said. "I don't give my cell phone to anybody except family and friends."

If you're a family member or friend of 1st Ward Alderman Joe Kolz, you already know that he's the other alderman fighting the urge to go wireless. You can reach him at home or at his auto shop in Bensenville

"I hate people that have cell phones and drive with cell phones," Kolz said. "All these people walking around with these phones up to their ears are getting full of electronic controls and waves.

"I'm no doctor but they're going to have problems one day so why would I want to deal with that?"

Alderman Dan Shawke of the 3rd Ward agrees that his stipend is adequate for his monthly cell phone bill but would use a city phone if available.

"That's not going to happen because in the end I think this was just Lewitan's way of nudging some of the aldermen to be better communicators," Shawke said.

Lewitan, a freshman alderman, said he learned one lesson early through this initiative.

"There are certain battles you're just not going to win so you move on," he said. "This was one."