– Palos Heights Alderman Jeffrey Key updates the council on the fireworks situation for next year. Photo by Jeff Vorva
Palos Heights locks in fireworks show for 2022
By Jeff Vorva
On the final day of summer, the City of Palos Heights made arrangements for the fireworks show for next year’s Independence Day celebration.
The city council voted unanimously to hire Central States Fireworks for the July 3 show at a cost of $18,000 for a 30-minute show.
This year, the city increased the show to 30 minutes because the 2020 show was cancelled due to COVID-19 concerns. The 2022 show will be similar to 2021. The city was hoping to lock Central States down for a longer contract.
“Typically, we do three years,” said Ald. Jeffrey Key, who is the chair of the Recreation Committee. “But they are warning us that all the materials in that business are going up like in a lot of businesses so they can only do a one-year.”
New commish announced
Frank Giordano has been named the city’s new building commissioner.
Giordano previously served the Village of Monee for the past two years as its building service manager.
“He worked in Monee, Worth and Posen and he has experience, especially in the south suburbs,” Mayor Bob Straz said. “He knows all the players. We were trying to get somebody here who was familiar with the environment.”
It might be a gamble
For those who are hoping that the City of Palos Heights will push for another referendum to allow video gaming, it didn’t go well last time it was left up to the people.
In 2018, 3,319 voted against the proposal and 2,522 voted in favor of it – a 56.82-43.18 percent advantage for the “no” vote.
The issue came up in a recent meeting in which Rooftop Tap owner Frank Costa pleaded with the council to consider video gaming because of the hardship business owners were dealt with due to being closed or modified during a long stretch of time during COVID-19 shutdowns.
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