Video Gaming, Pensions, Infrastructure and Bands Top Village Board Agenda

Like Congress, the Oak Lawn Village Board is expected to go into summer mode by adopting a monthly meeting schedule instead of the bi-monthly meetings we’re used to.

Tuesday’s agenda is jam packed with political intrigue so let’s get down to business. Meanwhile, enjoy our photo of the village’s alley infrastructure program at work. Third District residents’ tie-rods can all breathe easier.

Here’s what we’ll be watching:

• Pocket Casino -- Trustees will vote on a parking variance request to reduce the number of parking spaces required for a new video gaming casino at 6346 W. 95th St. in the Oak Lawn Promenade shopping center (95th Street and Ridgeland). Village board members will decide on a 7-0-1 recommendation by the Planning and Development Commission. Under the state’s video gaming laws, establishments holding liquor licenses may have up to five video gaming machines on the premises. The Blackhawk Restaurant Group LLC’s new establishment, Penny’s Place, will offer light appetizers, wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages, in addition to gambling. Will Blackhawk take their ball and go home if the village board nixes the parking variance?

• “The 13th Alley” -- Trustees will decide on a resolution approving the paving of an additional alley under the 2012 alley repaving program. Speaking of infrastructure, village board members are also poised to vote on resolutions approving K-Five Construction’s bid pursuant to the 2013 roadway resurfacing and water main project, agreements with Christopher Burke Engineering and Edwin Hancock Engineering pursuant to the “2013 additional infrastructure improvement project.”

• Commissions and Appointments - The mayor is expected to name her appointment for village treasurer. The current village treasurer is moving out of Oak Lawn. Additional commission appointments will also be announced. We’ve consulted the “list” and there doesn’t appear to be a potential candidate named for village treasurer.

What’s not on the agenda -- Here’s where we wish we could turn ourselves into a “fly on the wall” for the executive session, where “probable or imminent litigation,” and “appointment, employment, compensation, discipline, performance, or dismissal of specific employees of the public body, including hearing testimony on a complaint lodged an employee of the public body or against legal council for the public body to determine its validity.” 

Pending whether it adopts an abbreviated summer schedule, the Oak Lawn Village Board meets at 7:30 p.m. on the second Tuesday for the months of June, July and August at Village Hall, 9446 S. Raymond Ave. The meetings are free and open to the public.