Stores in Homewood must now pay to have stray shopping carts returned to their property after the village board approved an ordinance Feb. 26. The village’s building department has been trying to work with retailers “to gain better control over their shopping carts” found away from their properties. Homewood has met with stores and issued “several” court citations.
Stores in Homewood must now pay to have stray shopping carts returned to their property after the village board approved an ordinance Feb. 26.
The village’s building department has been trying to work with retailers “to gain better control over their shopping carts” found away from their properties. Homewood has met with stores and issued “several” court citations.
Last year, the village contracted a landscaping company to have stray carts returned weekly. The new ordinance aims to pass that cost along to the businesses.
Homewood estimates that cost will be less than $7,000 annually. Each store will be individually invoiced for the expense. Each cart will carry a retrieval fee of $25.
The new ordinance intends to “encourage owners and operators of businesses providing shopping carts to use the means available to them to deter, prevent or mitigate the removal of shopping carts from their premises, and to retrieve carts that may be removed despite these efforts.”
A concrete work bid was also approved at the meeting. Homewood sought a bid in conjunction with Flossmoor, Orland Park and Richton Park for concrete flatwork. That includes things like sidewalk and curb replacement, road patching and restoration.
The cooperative effort between the separate towns helps limit the cost.
Strada Construction, of Addison, was the lowest of four bidders at $334,254. Homewood’s portion is $149,010.
The board also accepted the annual reports of the tree committee, the green committee, the firefighters pension board and the police pension fund.