Local News

Homewood amends regulations on alarm system strobe lights

The Homewood village board amended the local fire code at the July 11 meeting. 

Trustees approved a change prohibiting the manual override of strobe lights in buildings connected to alarm systems.

It can makes things more confusing for emergency services if the lights are deactivated before police and fire arrive, Fire Chief Robert Grabowski said in a memo to Village Manager Jim Marino, resulting in lost “valuable” response time. 

“All this change does is require fire alarms to be programmed in a different way,” Grabowski told the H-F Chronicle. “Basically if a building owner or tenant silences an active fire alarm the strobes will remain active until someone from the Fire Department actually arrives and resets the alarm. Before, if an alarm was silenced the strobes would shut off. Now they have to stay on.”

In other business, the board approved the payment of more than $775,000 in village bills. Mayor Richard Hofeld pointed out that about $633,000, or 82 percent, covered five expenses.
 
D. Construction was paid $193,344 for street resurfacing. Davis Concrete was paid $106,917 for street resurfacing. Precision Pavement Markings charged the village $63,814.

Health insurance for village employees for the month cost $195,173. The payment to Thorn Creek Basin Sanitary District was $73,673.

Davey Tree Expert Company was awarded the annual public works contract for tree trimming, stump grinding and removal. The firm will charge $34 per inch for tree removal, $9 per inch for stump removal, $125 for spot tree trimming, $48 per tree for area trimming and $285 per hour for emergency removal. The expected total is estimated at $25,840. 

The budget was also amended to add $22,000 for a new HVAC system at the public works department’s landscaping and maintenance building. The current system failed on June 12.

Southwest Town Mechanical was the lowest of three bidders for the work at $19,900. The company will install a new Carrier-brand system along with all necessary duct work and air purifiers.

In a memo to Marino, Director of Finance Dennis Bubenik said the project can be funded with a general obligation bond issued in 2006. 

A hearing was held last month for a 2017 bond but it hasn’t yet been sold, so that funding wasn’t available.
 

 

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