Pulse: A move to elect fire protection trustees

Troy Township Supervisor Joseph Baltz and Shorewood Mayor Rick Chapman on Friday announced a voter revolt of sorts.

A news release went out publicizing an action to be taken Tuesday by "a group of concerned Troy Township residents" who want changes in the fire protection district.

Petitions are to be presented to the Troy Fire Protection District calling for a Feb. 2 referendum that would require that the fire trustees be elected rather than appointed. The fire board also would be expanded from the current three members to five members.

"...Electing the fire department trustees would allow for more accountability in local government," Chapman said in the statement.

Baltz incidentally is a retired Troy firefighter.

Route 59 motorists traveling through Plainfield now are driving on a two-tiered road system. Finished pavement, just opened for traffic, is several feet higher than the lanes yet to be rebuilt.

Going from one level to the other could get a little tricky, and Plainfield Trustee Garrett Peck may have been trying to head off some phone calls when he recently remarked at a village board meeting, "The village is not the governing body that created upper and lower Route 59." It's a state road project.

The Joliet planning department has been crafting an ordinance adding more city say-so on where tattoo studios can go. The idea came out of the recent controversy over now-closed Westside Customs Tattoo Studio as it tried to relocate to Jefferson Street.

Planner James Torri said the ordinance is pretty much ready to go whenever the city council's Land Use Committee wants to take it up for consideration.

One potential stumbling block: Committee Chairman Joseph Shetina leans toward free commerce and was part of the minority vote in support of Westside Customs.

Before Joliet Park District Board Member Jim Albritton could blitz former Chicago Bears player and current radio broadcaster Tom Thayer at the Joliet Area Chamber of Commerce annual dinner last week, the guest speaker called an audible at the line of scrimmage.

"Oh Jim, you don't have to sass me just because I'm up here," Thayer said the moment Albritton stood up during the time for audience questions.

Thayer, a Joliet native and former Joliet Catholic High School football standout, showed in more ways than one that he knows the local players.

Pulse contributors included Bob Okon, Janet Lundquist and Brian Stanley.