Palos Park Commissioner G. Darryl Reed said at Monday's council meeting that the payment system for residents needs to be upgraded. (Photo by Jeff Vorva)

Palos Park Commissioner G. Darryl Reed said at Monday's council meeting that the payment system for residents needs to be upgraded. (Photo by Jeff Vorva)

Palos Park to offer online payment system for residents

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By Jeff Vorva

Palos Park Commissioner G. Darryl Reed introduced a resolution upgrading an enterprise resource planning system at Monday’s village council meeting.

He said the last upgrade came in 2013 and the system is outdated.

“We want the dinosaurs out of here and make room for the Jetsons,” he said.

So, the council is jettisoning the old system as it unanimously passed the resolution for a service agreement between the village and BS&A Online for the implementation and use of the new planning system. It will cost $94,600 to implement the software.

Reed said this will allow Palos Park residents to pay their bills online and not to have to mail them in or come into the office unless they want to. He said that with all of the changes, this may not be fully in use for several months.

Speaking of technology, the council also voted to approve a contract with Proven Business Systems LLC of Tinley Park for maintenance of the village’s IT equipment.

The cost will be $4,160 monthly for the next 36 months for 32 devices. If another device needs to be added, the village will be charged $130 per device.

Short-term rental problems

The council is asking the Plan Commission to look into amending the zoning code regarding the regulation of short-term rentals in the village.

Village Manager Rick Boehm said short-term rentals “have resulted in neighbor complaints and the need for police involvement.”

He said that the current code prohibits short-term rentals but that the language in the code might not communicate a clear policy and it should be reviewed.

Parade to cause closures

The village’s biggest event each year is the Autumn in the Park festivities, which take place Friday and Saturday.

Because of the parade on Saturday, 123rd Street will be closed between 96th Avenue and 80th Avenue from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Alternative routes will be offered on Route 83, 119th Street and 131st Street.

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