A Monday Night Full of Geneva News: Teachers Talks, Candidates Duke It Out, City Levy and Much More

There's a heck of a lot of stuff going on in Geneva this evening.

First, there's a state candidates' forum at Geneva High School, sponsored by the League of Women Voters of Central Kane County.

The forum will feature candidates for the 25th State Senate District, Jim Oberweis (R) and Corinne Pierog (D); and 50th District state representative race, incumbent Kay Hatcher (R) and challenger Andrew Bernard (D). The event begins at 7 p.m. in the Geneva High School auditorium.

Then there the Geneva School District 304 board meeting, which is of extreme interest these days following a recent vote by the Geneva Education Association that authorizes teachers to strike if contract negotiations don't result in a settlement. The soonest teachers could go on strike is Nov. 9.

Also on the agenda is a report by the Sodexo food service, the announcement that Geneva has earned the 2012 "Bright A+ Award" for being among the top 59 school districts in Illinois, and a consent-agenda item to spend about $75,000 for wireless Internet upgrades at the two middle schools and two elementary schools.

The School Board meeting also starts at 7 p.m.

Also of interest is tonight's City Council Committee of the Whole meeting. On the agenda are a number of blockbuster items, including the recommendation of the 2012 tax levy, a recommendation to conduct a staff analysis, an amendment to the open burning ordinance, a recommendation to enforce A-frame sign regulations and consideration of an amendment to the city ordinance that restricts liquor-license holder from running for city office.

That last item has been under discussion since, July 31, when Stockholm's owner Mike Olesen announced his interest in running for the 1st Ward post. Mayor Kevin Burns opposed the ordinance change, while the board voted 8-2 to direct staff to draft language that would allow license-holders to run.

Last year, the tax levy was a hot item, when aldermen voted hold the line and keep the levy flat, contrary to the staff recommendation to increase it.

And, of course, readers of Geneva Patch probably are pretty familiar with the open burning and A-frame signs flaps.

The meeting starts, shockingly, at 7 p.m.

And all of this local news comes on the same night as the final presidential debate and the Bears' Monday night showdown against the Detroit Lions.

The Bears game starts at 7:30 p.m. on ESPN, CIU and WBBM 780-AM. The presidential debate, moderated by CBS's Bob Schieffer, starts at 8 p.m. and is on ABC, NBC, FOX, CBS, CNN, Fox News, MSNBC and more including CNN Espanol and others.