Ordinance & Legal Review Committee

APPROVED COPY CITY OF BELLEVILLE MINUTES FOR ORDINANCE & LEGAL REVIEW COMMITTEE SEPTEMBER 10, 2013 -- 6:00 PM COUNCIL CHAMBERS Members Present: Alderman James Musgrove (Chairman), Alderman Melinda Hult, Alderman Jim Davidson. Mayor Mark Eckert was also present as a voting member. It should be noted that we did have a quorum with three Aldermen present. Alderman Ken Kinsella and Alderman Trent Galetti were both excused. Meeting Guests: Mike Hagberg Joy Schriber Lillian Munie Kevin Bouse Alderman Bob White Alderman Lillian Schneider Royce Carlisle, Superintendent of Wastewater Treatment Bob Sabo, Director of Health and Housing Garrett Hoerner, City Attorney Dallas Cook, City Clerk Chairman Musgrove called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. The first order of business was for Chairman Musgrove to give an announcement about evacuation of the room in case of an emergency. If an evacuation order is issued, those present are to remain calm, walk to the nearest exit, leave the building and gather at the Emergency Assembly Area located at the Southwest quadrant of the Public Square in front of the St. Clair County Courthouse. To start the meeting the guests were invited to present their comments to the committee. Each guest, before speaking, was to give their name and address. Guests Comments: None of the Guests chose to make comments. Approval of the Minutes from the August 13, 2013 Meeting Chairman Musgrove noted that the August Minutes had the wrong starting time listed in two places. In the title it said 7:00 PM and in the first line of the first paragraph it said the meeting was called to order at 7:00 PM. Both times should have read 6:00 PM starting time. Alderman Jim Davidson made the motion to approve the minutes, seconded by Alderman Malinda Hult. All members present voted Aye, motion passed. Old Business: Alderman Melinda Hult asked the City Attorney if he has had the opportunity to follow the paper work on the Meredith Home. He answered that it is underway but he did not think it was something for this committee. He said “Yes, he is looking into it and expects to have something Page 1 of 6  APPROVED COPY for the Council Meeting on September 16th”. Agenda Item A – Review of the Crime Free Housing Ordinance and possible motion to approve and place on the next City Council Agenda after City Attorney final review. The discussion was started by Mayor Mark Eckert. He explained that the final version of the ordinance for Crime Free Housing has passed the Task Force Committee Public Hearing, unanimously, and passed the Health and Housing Committee and it is here tonight for the final endorsement to forward to the complete City Council on Monday night September 16th. He thinks the Task Force Committee worked very hard with the staff to put together an ordinance that he believes will be very helpful and a very good tool for the Police and Housing Department to use to, hopefully, improve some of these areas and rental properties where we have had Crime and where we have had a hard time dealing with some situations with renters, some with landlords and in some cases visitors. He believes this ordinance will help in all those cases and will help us to have a little more leverage to deal with people, more appropriately, who do not want to follow the law. As our City Attorney pointed out, this is primarily going after people who commit a felony or a Class A Misdemeanor. It deals with people who need to be dealt with, it is serious stuff. He think this will help the Police Department and the Housing Department, and, as has been stated by some of the good landlords, it is going to help some of the good tenants who are putting up, in some cases, with some scary situations. It’s going to help the landlords clean up situations and put some bad tenants on notice, who are running off the good people by fear. At this point, Alderman Melinda Hult asked the Mayor where in the Ordinance does it talk about a certain type of crime. The Mayor said the City Attorney would be the best person to answer that question. City Attorney, Garrett Hoerner answered that it was on page 8, Section 33-3-18, where it talks about a felony and Class A Misdemeanor. Alderman Hult then asked the Attorney to provide an example of a Class A Misdemeanor. Mr. Hoerner answered that there is a variety of Class A Misdemeanors. It could depend on whether it is a repeat offense, it may start as a class C Misdemeanor. Alderman Hult spoke again and asked “How is the average officer going to know about that when he responds?” Attorney Hoerner started to answer but Alderman Hult repeated “If some offense is a Class C and it can increase up to a Class A, how is the responding officer going to know it has repeated? Attorney Hoerner said it depends on what the charge is that is stated on the Rental Incident Form. The charge will be issued by the states attorney’s office based on the information provided. Alderman Hult spoke again and said “What I understood the Police Chief to say was that he was not going to require the responding officer to complete a Rental Incident Form for each visit.” Attorney Hoerner said it is part of the officer’s training and within his discretion to fill out the form. Alderman Hult said, for her, that “at the officer’s discretion” is the biggest problem. Alderman Hult said she feels that we are kicking someone out of their apartment just because the officer shows up which does not mean a crime has been committed. Attorney Hoerner said the Rental Incident Form was more of a reporting mechanism to let the owner know what is happening on his property. Based on current laws, the owner does not have to wait for information on a Rental Incident Form to start the eviction proceedings. Alderman Hult said she has no problem with the landlord and the tenant running their business but it is when the City gets involved that she objects. Attorney Hoerner responded that if she is OK with the landlord, under the current law, having the right to kick the tenant out, the City is only requiring the landlord to exercise that right. This ordinance does not decide whether a tenant should be evicted. Only the court can do that. This ordinance only requires the Page 2 of 6  APPROVED COPY landlord to start the legal eviction proceedings. Alderman Jim Davidson spoke up to say the discussion is treating the ordinance as subjective but really the ordinance makes the rules objective. He said the way it is now, one landlord says I make my own rules and I will allow this or that and another landlord says I disagree, I will allow only this. The Ordinance makes them all operate the same and tenants are treated the same You are not going to have this condition where some guys do and some don’t, you will not have favoritism. We are just trying to bring everybody on to the same page. Alderman Hult said she does not object to everybody being on the same page but what she does is object to is “government directing commerce”. She thinks it is OK for each landlord having their own rules allowing this and that. Alderman Davidson responded with the example of one person who can legally drink all day but if they try to drive an automobile, they are endangering all the people around. When some landlords allow some people to do things like playing loud music that can affect other tenants to the point they have to move, that is wrong. Alderman Hult next asked about what kind of time frame are we actually accomplishing our goal in, if nothing is sped up in the process. We still have to go through the court system before someone is found guilty of playing their music too loudly or whatever it is. What have we accomplished by passing laws. Attorney Garrett Hoerner answered that question. He said he believes laws have a deterrent effect and he thinks that is one of the greatest benefits of the law. This ordinance will have a deterrent effect. While you may look at playing loud music is not a Class A Misdemeanor but if it occurs four times in six month period, that becomes a nuisance. If you use that example and you talk about affecting commerce you are talking about what affects the health and welfare of citizens, it is a whole different story if you have someone who commits felony murder.in an apartment building. He would be concerned about that person’s ability to continue to rent in that neighborhood. The benefits of this ordinance can sometimes help the tenants work out a solution to some nuisance situation as described by Mr. Kevin Bouse (Landlord) at the public hearing. At his point, Mr. Kevin Bouse spoke up and told the example of how he was able to visit the problem tenant and discuss how his behavior was affecting his neighbors and was able to achieve compromise. Thereby, preventing the loss of a good tenant. Alderman Hult then asked that after a tenant has been cited for drug use, for too much noise, for a few other problems, at what point does the city step in and insist that a landlord start the eviction proceedings. Attorney Hoerner answered that when the city has sufficient evidence of a Class A Misdemeanor or a felony. The ordinance applies to the landlord. The Landlord does not have to wait for a conviction in the court. Illinois statute upon which this ordinance is patterned the landlord does not have to wait for a court conviction to start the eviction process. It is based on evidence of any conduct that is a felony or a Class A Misdemeanor. Alderman Hult stated that the way this ordinance is written she could not vote for it. This was followed by a discussion between Alderman Hult, Attorney Hoernor and Mayor Mark Eckert using examples of various types of crimes. Especially one involving domestic violence during which it was made very clear that this ordinance will not allow the VICTIM of a crime, as can happen in domestic violence, to be evicted. Alderman Hult next said that the EOC was mentioned and that some people are saying that this ordinance is aimed at minorities. Alderman Jim Davidson stated that HUD rules were more stringent than our Ordinance and the HUD rules are not being criticized and the majority of their households are minority tenants.. Alderman Davidson said that most renters are NOT bad people. What we are doing is trying to root out the bad tenants that cause trouble and do not take Page 3 of 6  APPROVED COPY care of the building or grounds. Good renters are going to make the landlord fix up the building and grounds or they will move. That’s commerce and what makes it work. Mayor Eckert added that we do not think this ordinance will fix everything but he believes that as much as we have heard about crime and changing neighborhoods, putting this ordinance into effect will be an effective tool for the police and landlords to use against bad tenants and recalcitrant landlords. Also, we have added a “sunset clause” for the year 2017. If this ordinance does not improve things that we believe it will then we can vote it out. Chairman Musgrove asked if there was a member who was ready to make a motion on this ordinance. Alderman Jim Davidson made the motion to approve the Ordinance and send it on to the City Council for approval, which was seconded by Alderman James Musgrove. Chairman Musgrove decided to have everyone vote by roll call. Alderman Melinda Hult, No, Alderman Jim Davidson, Aye, Chairman James Musgrove, Aye and Mayor Mark Eckert, Aye. Motion passed, three Yes votes and one No vote. Agenda Item B -- Discussion of Ordinance 7712 that was returned to the Ordinance Committee by the City Council for further review. This is an Ordinance Amending Chapter 3 (City Administration Function of the Collector) of the Revised Code of Ordinances of Belleville, Illinois, as amended by Amending Portions of Sections Thereof. Alderman Melinda Hult asked if someone could explain why there is a need for a change to this Section of the Ordinance. City Clerk Dallas Cook, responded by explaining that it was a question of the work performed by Patti Rompel, the License Collector. Currently she is very knowledgeable of activities in the work for the City Clerk but about 75% of her current work is for the City Treasurer, Dean Hardt. Twice a month the State Department of Revenue requires that the City verify that each business still has a license to operate in the City. Patti usually makes the list and responds to the State. Dallas Cook, the City Clerk said that Patti generally functioned as his back up and now he feels his office is short handed. He would like this question resolved. Alderman Jim Davidson asked Dean Hardt and Dallas Cook how many employees each had. Dean replied seven and Dallas four (counting Patti). Dallas said he sometimes cannot answer his own phone calls because he has to answer the City switchboard calls. Dallas said he really needs Patti or someone to replace her. Dean Hardt said he was not fully aware of this situation and that the License Collector function should be moved to the Economic Development. Mayor Eckert said that job had been moved upstairs to Economic Development back in 2009 when we went to business occupancy. New businesses were handled through Economic Development to help them so if they needed zoning, or variances if they need a new sign it could be handled. Not all new businesses will volunteer to come in to the office and register. Some don’t know they need to and some don’t want to know. We are doing more now in helping new businesses, giving them guidance. In 2010 Jerry Turner (Former City Treasurer) asked if he could have Patti in his department because the work load was increasing. At this point in the discussion, Alderman Melinda Hult made a motion to TABLE this Ordinance until the next meeting of the Ordinance Committee Alderman Jim Davidson seconded the motion so this work allocation could be properly worked out. Alderman Melinda Hult asked that Human Resources Department be present at our next meeting to report on this situation. Chairman Musgrove called for a vote on this motion to TABLE this ordinance until the next Ordinance Meeting. All members present voted Aye. Motion passed. Page 4 of 6  APPROVED COPY Agenda Item C – Discussion / Review of the final draft of an Ordinance Authorizing the City of Belleville (St. Clair County), Illinois to borrow funds from the Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Program. Royce Carlisle, Superintendent of the Wastewater Treatment Department, explained that the purpose of the Ordinance is to allow the City to borrow funds from the Water Pollution Control Revolving Loan Program for the current improvements. This was followed by a brief discussion on the interest rate to be applied to this loan. This interest rate must be computed by the State based on a special formula and is only referred to in the loan by State statute requirements. Alderman Melinda Hult made the motion to forward the Ordinance to the full City Council for approval. Alderman Jim Davidson seconded the motion. All members present voted Aye, motion passed. Agenda Item D – Discussion on amendments to Chapter 38, Sewers, Section 38-3-7, regarding Lien Rights, Collection and Occupancy Permit. County Treasurer, Dean Hardt started the discussion by explaining his request started with a request to make a few typing corrections in the Chapter 38, Section 38-3-7. In the process, other changes were suggested. After a few comments, it was mentioned that additional help was needed in the Treasurer’s Department based on the billing practice by the water company. They bill the resident immediately when the meter is read but sewer bills are sent out in a batch (group) in order to save money. It was also mentioned that there could be a computerized solution to these billing procedures. Then it was noted that this committee does not have enough information and that this is not the correct committee to work on this problem. Alderman Jim Davidson made a motion to return Agenda Item D back to the Sewer Committee. Alderman Melinda Hult seconded the motion. All members present voted Aye. Motion passed. Agenda Item E – Discussion of Subject Suggested by Alderman Melinda Hult – “Requesting Clarification on the Power of the Moderator during City Council Meetings and Proper Protocols.” Alderman Melinda Hult started the discussion with the question “Are there any Ordinances that do away with Roberts Rules of Order ?” Attorney Garrett Hoerner answered that we did adopt our rules, in Article 2 of Chapter 2, from Roberts Rules of Order. Roberts Rules of Order does provide that if the moderator is going to participate in the deliberation on the merits of it, the chairman can give the Chair to the longest serving Alderman. What he (Attorney Hoerner) has observed, in the three and half months he has been present, is that we have a relaxed method of conducting the meetings compared to what our own rules call for. He said you have rules that require you to stand before addressing the assembly, that limit the number of times you can comment during deliberation to once, limits the talk to 10 minutes, and there are other rules in there that are not being followed. He said, he guessed the question is “How do you want to do it?. These are your rules. You can choose not to follow them informally, you can choose not to follow them technically, that is, wave them by a 2/3 vote, you can amend them because they are documented by an ordinance. But what you get, if you want to be ridged and formal and you want to temporarily relieve the chair from participation, then the flip side is that you cannot ask the Mayor questions. The question for the council is two fold “Are you satisfied with your current rules?”. They can always be updated, or modified, in any respect, if you so desire. If Page 5 of 6  APPROVED COPY not changed and you are satisfied, you can enforce them rigidly and we can be more formal. Really, it is up to you. These are your rules. It is up to you to make them. It is up to you to follow them. But I think there is an important rule that I would hope everyone would always follow and it is the rule on CIVILITY. Attorney Garrett Hoerner mentioned that we have some trouble with public participation. The rules we have are very general. The act that allows public participation is also general. It says you are to afford the public the right to speak based on rules that you promulgate. There are not a lot of laws on public participation but there are some cases that recognize that you have a constitutional right to put on reasonable limitations. It goes back to civility, and relevancy and things of that nature. Attorney Hoerner said it is really up to you if you want to formally enforce the rules. Alderman Jim Davidson said public participation does not allow the public to attack. the aldermen. The public cannot stand out there and call us names. What do the aldermen have to say to stop somebody from calling us names; what are our options. Attorney Hoerner said with respect to public participation the only restriction we have is time but what should carry the day is CIVILITY. It is not for you to sit here and have someone impugn your integrity. Those types of things can be declared out of order by the chairman. Public participation is not a question and answer session. It is not an interrogation. It is an opportunity for the public to put in their two cents on a particular subject. Committee meetings are probably a better place for the public to attend because that is where you will find the most open discussion on a subject. The decision to be made by the council is to decide what rules do you want to live by and what rules do you want to enforce. Alderman Jim Davidson asked if we need to make a motion to put the subject of Public Participation on the next meeting agenda. Chairman Musgrove said that no motion is required but that subject will be added to the agenda for the next Ordinance Committee meeting. Respectfully submitted, James Musgrove, Chairman Page 6 of 6