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PROPOSED INTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT
Department: Cook County Building and Zoning
Other Part(ies): Village of Ford Heights, Illinois
Request: Authorization to enter into and execute an Intergovernmental Agreement with respect to the Cook County Vacant Building Ordinance between Cook County and the Village of Ford Heights, Illinois.
Goods or Services: Inspection Services
Agreement Number(s): N/A
Agreement Period: Two (2) years from the date of execution
Fiscal Impact: Revenue Generating
Accounts: N/A
Summary: The Department of Building and Zoning respectfully requests authorization for the President to enter into and execute the attached Intergovernmental Agreement between Cook County (“County”) and the Village of Ford Heights, Illinois (“Ford Heights”).
This Intergovernmental Agreement (“Agreement”) is the result of efforts undertaken by the Department of Building and Zoning, the Cook County Land Bank Authority (CCLBA), the Cook County Sheriff’s Office, the Department of Administrative Hearings, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office and representatives of the Village of Ford Heights, which wishes to document its position as a “participating municipality” as authorized under the County’s Vacant Building Code.
RATIONALE
The purpose of the Agreement is to authorize the collaboration and cooperation between the County, CCLBA and Ford Heights to enforce Cook County’s Vacant Building Code provisions within the borders of Ford Heights, to authorize the County and Land Bank to exercise any and powers of the municipality under 65 ILCS 5/11-31-1, and to document and set forth the obligations of each party to the Agreement. Per the Agreement:
1. The Cook County Department of Building and Zoning and its employees (“Department of Building and Zoning”) to be the enforcing authority with respect to vacant buildings located within the Municipality’s boundaries.
2. The Municipality shall use its own employees to determine whether buildings within the Municipality are vacant and unregistered.
3. The Municipality shall provide a copy of the Notice of Violations to the Department of Building and Zoning of any vacant and unregistered buildings within the Municipality’s borders. Said notice shall be electronic and shall include the address of the property, the property’s permanent index number, and the date the Municipality discovered the violation. The County and the Department of Building and Zoning shall have no duty to discover which buildings within the
Municipality are vacant.
4. The Municipality will work with the County and assist the County in its prosecutions of violations of the Vacant Building Ordinance. Such assistance shall include but not be limited to providing witnesses to testify at administrative adjudication proceedings.
5. The County, through the Cook County Land Bank Authority and the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office will also assist in locating resources to acquire vacant, blighted properties and return such properties to productive use.
6. To assist the Municipality in providing inspection services to the County, the County shall pay the Municipality fifty percent (50%) of all fines and penalties that the County collects from any and all enforcement actions of Vacant Building Ordinance violations within the Municipality’s borders.
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