The Town of North Judson continues to move ahead with its water tower rehabilitation project. The Town Council Monday approved a resolution to submit a planning grant application and commit $3,300 for the town’s share of the project cost. Commonwealth Engineers, the firm selected for the project, is proposing a $30,000 budget.
The Kankakee-Iroquois Regional Planning Commission has been working with the town to secure grant funding from the state, and KIRPC Executive Director Edwin Buswell was at the meeting to help town officials continue with the process. At this point, he’s asking the council to update some of the town’s ordinances to bring them in line with the state’s requirements. As part of that effort, an updated Fair Housing Ordinance was presented for first reading Monday.
Buswell also provided the town with a revised Drug Policy Ordinance, but when Town Attorney Rachel Arndt reviewed it, she noticed a problem. “There’s a provision in there that says that we wouldn’t randomly drug screen, and so I just wanted to point that out to you because currently that’s our practice,” she said. “So if we pass that, then we’re going to have to do away with the random drug screens. So that’s just something you all need to think about and decide.”
Council members decided that the ability to conduct random drug screenings was something they didn’t want to see taken away. Buswell agreed to discuss the matter with state officials to see whether the grant process can move ahead without that provision before the council formally considers the new ordinance.
