Island Lake ticket scofflaw plan stalls
A plan to hire an Ohio company to collect on 250 unpaid tickets issued by Island Lake police has stalled after a heated village board debate.
Under the proposal, TekCollect would be paid $1,250 up front to pursue the tickets and another $1,250 when the job is done. Additionally, the firm would charge $10 per ticket collected, but that fee would be passed on to the scofflaw.
But several trustees had concerns about the deal during a meeting Thursday night and the board spiked the plan, at least temporarily.
Trustee John Ponio was the most vocal opponent of hiring TekCollect to go after scofflaws.
He criticized the company as a group of “telemarketers” and said the village could use its employees or hire local residents to make the necessary calls instead. Ponio initially said he’d be willing to call the various offenders if he would be paid $3.33 a call for the effort, since TekCollect has said it would make three calls per ticket.
Ponio rescinded the offer when Police Chief William McCorkle asked if he was volunteering to do the work. Ponio cited his status as a trustee as an excuse.
But he stuck with his proposal to hire people part-time to make the calls.
“I think there are a lot of people in town who would be glad to do that,” Ponio said.
He wasn’t the only trustee with questions about the proposal.
Donna O’Malley was apprehensive about TekCollect wanting to charge a $2,500 fee for the work, regardless of how much money it collects for the village. In her experience, collection agencies usually only take a percentage of the money recovered, she said.
O’Malley also asked if other firms can be considered for the job.
McCorkle said he looked into several companies before recommending TekCollect.
“Their prices didn’t meet what we were looking for,” he said of the other companies.
Trustee Don Saville had concerns as well. The plan should’ve been thoroughly reviewed at an earlier committee meeting, he said, and village Finance Director John Little should’ve been involved in the discussion.
After a long discussion, Trustee Connie Mascillino withdrew her motion to hire TekCollect.
“It’s just too problematic for too many people,” she said.
Because the motion to approve the agreement with TekCollect was withdrawn rather than tabled for a future discussion, the deal is essentially dead. It can come up again as a new item on a future board agenda, village attorney Julie Tappendorf told the panel.
Village officials said they’d like to meet with a representative from the company before making a decision.
Last month, McCorkle announced he’d discovered more than 3,173 unpaid tickets, dating back to 1990. The money owed totaled more than $200,000, officials said.
The village already contracts with a collection agency to pursue unpaid tickets, but the firm hasn’t been doing its job, Little said.