The Rundown: Palos Hills Hears More Flooding Concerns, Votes On Liquor And Signs

Water Woes: The Palos Hills City Council heard from two sets of emotional homeowners at Thursday's meeting, both distraught over flooding issues that occurred during.

Frank Piatkiewicz had tears in his eyes when he told the council that sewage, not water, is backing into his yard and property on South 81st Avenue. Both homeowners at the meeting lived in the 10000 block of South 81st Avenue and said that while the recent event was particularly bad, the situation does not just occur during unprecedented rain events.

Mayor Gerald Bennett and Public Works Commissioner Dave Weakley both said that the Palos Hills sewer system is one of the best, if not the best, in the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District, but the homes on that block are old, in a flood plain and at the mercy of all the systems in the MWRD.

Bennett said millions of dollars have been spent on improving the system in the past couple of years, but illegal sump pump drainage (residents diverting flow into sanitary sewers), being downstream from less sophisticated systems and flowing in the MWRD causes problems that Palos Hills cannot always fix.

“This city did not just wake up to find that a sanitary system has overflowed. We have been very aggressive in trying to solve this,” Bennett said. “I know Dave wants a perfect record and we've come a long way ... we will work aggressively on this matter.”

Piatkiewicz said after the meeting that he understood many factors were at play, but felt that something could be done and did not feel he should have to foot the bill to alleviate the problem.

“This is not rainwater, it's [sewage] … this happens all the time, it comes up to the house and I've inquired about it before,” he said. “Any time there is a heavy rain this comes in to the yard and crawl space.”

Check Patch for extended coverage of this issue later today.

Liquor License: The council voted 8-1 (Ald. Joe Marrotta was absent) in favor of subtracting one H license and adding an H-1, effectively allowing sales until 2 a.m at Palos Tobacco Liquor on Roberts Road. Ald. Martin Kleefisch (1st Ward) voted no, as he said he would when the issue was .

“I have a concern about the proliferation of extending hours to sell liquor, I just don't think it's a healthy for individuals first of all, but it could also pose a concern for our police department,” Kleefisch said at the June 2 Council meeting.

Signs: The council also voted in favor of extending the city's 30-day no fee banner and flag program to 60 days, which Ald. Pauline Stratton (2nd Ward) proposed as a way to help businesses in the trying economy. Aldermen were split during discussion at last week's committee meeting as too whether the measure was a positive one and would even help businesses, but most agreed it likely wouldn't cause an added proliferation of temporary signs in the city.

Ald. Mary Ann Schultz (5th Ward) voted against the extension.

The 60-day limit is for a single year and can be consecutive or broken up throughout the year, however business will have to file paperwork with the city documenting what days temporary signage will be used.

 6/17,  5:30 p.m. - The article was amended to clarify the fact that businesses can display signs and banners etc. for either consecutive or non-consecutive days as long as the 60-day limit is not surpassed.