Ordinance & Legal Review Committee

APPROVED CITY OF BELLEVILLE MINUTES ORDINANCE AND LEGAL REVIEW COMMITTEE 13 NOVEMBER 2013 6:00 PM COUNCIL CHAMBERS Chairmen to Announce Evacuation Procedure It was explained to all present that in the event of a fire or other emergency everyone here is to calmly leave the room and gather in the Southwest Quadrant of the Public Square in front of the St. Clair County Courthouse and wait for the all clear message. In the case of a Tornado or other disastrous condition all present should head directly to the basement of this building using the steps in the hall or garage entrance. Members Present: Alderman James Musgrove (Chairman) Alderman Melinda Hult Alderman Ken Kinsella Alderman Trent Galetti Alderman Jim Davidson Guests Present: Dean Hardt (City Treasurer) Garrett Hoerner (City Attorney) Kevin Higgerson (Gideon Association Representative) Phillip E Paeltz (Headmaster of Governor French Academy) Craig Stafford (Belleville Police Dept.) Michael Hagberg Joy Schreiber Jennifer Hoffman Alishia Randolph Ray Randolph Jacqueline Lee (News Democrat) Chairman Musgrove called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM. To start the meeting the guests were allowed to present their comments to the committee. Each person was to state their name and address. Guest Comments: The first guest to speak was Mr. Phillip Paeltz, the headmaster of Governor French Academy located at 219 West Main Street, in Belleville, Ill. He explained that the Gideon Association has for the last several years made themselves available and presented bibles to the students. He stated that the morning procedure for the students is to meet in the old Joseph Car Dealership on the corner and then it is necessary for the students to walk about 75 feet along the public sidewalk to the main classroom building. When they walk down the public sidewalk the Gideon Society is there and presents their material to all of the students. We recognize that the Gideon Society has a right to free speech and the right to religion and to express their views. But also, a Page 1 of 6  APPROVED number of our parents are opposed to the fact, either for religious reasons or for the fact they want no religion at all presented to their children as young as kindergarten by the Gideon Society, because this appears to be an intrusion of their parental responsibilities to the children and the fact that when they turn the children over to us, we serve as the parents during the day. So we present that dilemma to you, the city, the legal balancing act between the Gideon Society rights and the rights of the parents to have control of their children’s day. Mr. Paeltz did say he was not aware of a Belleville Ordinance that said he could ask Mr. Higgerson to leave and he never did. We now think there is some relief in the existing ordinances on solicitation that could affect this situation. Michael Hagberg, 701 Centreville Ave. was the second guest speaker. He wanted the subject suggested by Alderman Melinda Hult for the September meeting on clarification of the power of the moderator during Council Meetings added to the December Meeting Agenda. Alishia Randolph , 3212 Tanglebrook Dr., spoke complaining about a perfect stranger talking to the children. She wants and existing Belleville ordinance enforced that she believes will prevent the Gideon Representative from talking to, and giving material to, the children on the public sidewalk adjacent to school grounds. Kevin Higgerson, 71 Signal Hill Terrace, the Gideon Representative, was the next speaker. He stated that he was the individual that was passing out material to the students at Governor French Academy on the public sidewalk. He said he has some documentation with him that shows the Gideon International has the right to distribute copies of the New Testament on sidewalks adjacent to public schools. He has a letter from their attorney referencing a case before the United States Supreme Court that states they have the right to give out the New Testament. He said he was there distributing material and not expecting or asking for anything in return. He was asked to provide a copy of this letter and he did give a copy to Chairman Musgrove and Garrett Hoerner, the City Attorney. Ray Randolph 3212 Tanglebrook Dr, spoke about Belleville Ordinance 30-1-46 SCHOOL TRESPASSING. Basically the ordinance says that unless a person has permission, they cannot trespass on school property or on any public way within two hundred fifty feet of such public, private or parochial school. Mr. Randolph believes this ordinance can be used to prevent strangers from standing on the public sidewalk near the school, if told to leave by the principle of the school. Chairman Musgrove explained that this ordinance would be discussed when the subject of distributing bibles comes up further on in tonight’s agenda. Approval of Previous Minutes Chairman Musgrove asked for a motion to approve the Minutes of the Ordinance and Legal Review Committee for 8 October 2013. Motion was made by Alderman Ken Kinsella and seconded by Alderman Jim Davidson, all members present voted Aye, motion passed. The Minutes were approved. Agenda Item A – Discussion of CIVILITY Rules for Public Participation Sessions. A list of fourteen suggested rules were recorded during the last meeting that could help improve Page 2 of 6  APPROVED the conditions during the Public Participation sessions. That discussion was Tabled until the next meeting. However, Alderman Melinda Hult, who had requested the original discussion requesting clarification of the power of the moderator during Council Meetings, because of the number of guests, made a motion to change the order of the day to discuss Agenda Item 7 (A). Motion was seconded by Alderman Ken Kinsella, all members present voted Aye, motion passed. Agenda Item 7 (A) Discussion about Bible distribution in front of Governor French Academy at 219 West Main St. Alderman Melinda Hult said that she did not fully understand what the two parties were asking the city to do. Mrs. Alishia Randolph responded by quoting from Belleville Ordinance 30-1-47 SCHOOL TRESPASSING “It shall be unlawful for any person to enter or remain in any public, private or parochial school or school grounds or on any public way within two hundred fifty (250) feet of such public, private, or parochial school or school grounds after being requested to leave by the principal or his designee”. Then Mrs Randolph said they want to make sure that they can tell Mr. Higgerson he does not have permission to be on school property. Alderman Trent Galetti mentioned that Mr. Paeltz never asked Mr. Higgerson to leave. Alderman Hult said she did not think the city could grant ownership of a public sidewalk. At this point, the City Attorney, Garrett Hoerner spoke to explain that the Ordinance was stated correctly, and that section was added by Ordinance No. 3803: 06-29-81. So we are talking about a very old version of the ordinance dating back in 1981. He said he knows that this has been looked into by Police Chief Clay and he and the Chief are reviewing the subject. He said further that just because these words are in our ordinance, does not make them legal at this time. A provision like that must be determined by the courts. Mr. Higgerson has presented a letter from the Gideon Society that references some court cases that suggests that the ordinance may be unconstitutional. Alderman Galetti stated that there must be a formal complaint made. Mr. Hoerner then stated that what Alderman Galetti said is correct, and there will have to be a complaint asserted by the headmaster before this ordinance can be acted upon. Alderman Jim Davidson asked the City Attorney if we can enforce this ordinance or do we have to drop it because someone says it is unconstitutional. Attorney Hoerner said we have to evaluate this legally, do some independent research and that is what he and Chief Clay are doing now. We should take into consideration all the oral and documentary evidence that has been submitted tonight and evaluate it. Then next month he could come back and give an opinion on the enforceability of the ordinance. This was followed by about 20 minutes of comments by almost everyone in the room, none of which added useful information to resolve this situation. Some comments were negative, some positive, some with suggestions for compromise, and some from just worried parents. It ended with a motion by Alderman Melinda Hult to TABLE the discussion on this ordinance until the next Ordinance and Legal Review Committee Meeting. This will allow the City Attorney Garrett Hoerner and Police Chief Clay time to research any court action taken in the last two decades that could affect this case. The motion was seconded by Alderman Ken Kinsella. All members present voted Aye, motion passed. Agenda Item (A) – Discussion on CIVILITY Rules for Public Participation Sessions. Page 3 of 6  APPROVED The following is a list of some of the suggestions from the October Meeting. 1. Have the participants form a queue leading up to the microphone 2. Announce some civility rules before starting the Public Participation 3. Tell them they must speak to the Council as a whole and not to anyone in particular. 4. Limit time to 2 to 3 minutes for all speakers, do not allow some to go beyond this time. 5. Get a Timer with three colored lights, Green for Go, Yellow for Wrap up, Red for Stop 6. Based on the number of people to speak, limit the total TIME allowed for speakers 7. Immediately Rule OUT OF ORDER anyone who starts calling another person bad names 8. Have people write out questions BUT NONE OF US WANTED TO DO THIS. 9. Have the moderator maintain ORDER more than answering questions 10. Allow Aldermen to Call out POINT OF ORDER for infractions in rules by speakers. 11. Cannot limit what they (public) talk about to only current Agenda items. 12. Provide paper with civility rules and space suggesting they collect their talking points 13. Try to prevent some speakers from intimidating other more (obviously) timid people 14. Post suggested civility rules on the door, on the sign-in sheet and on the Microphone Alderman Ken Kinsella suggested that we review each of the suggestions in the list one by one. Suggestion 1 might be helpful to keep order but could be intimidating to some, Suggestion 2 would be useful, Suggestion 3 should be changed to “speak to the City and not any one person”, Suggestion 4 it was noted it would be better to try to keep the speaker to 3 minutes, Suggestion 5 was not popular with the committee members and would not help, Suggestion 6 was not thought to be practical, Suggestion 7 was thought to be the best way to handle speakers who use profanity or refers to any person or persons in a derogatory manner, Suggestion 8 was not popular with any of the committee members and considered not helpful, Suggestion 9 suggests the moderator is to maintain order and not respond to questions by the speaker, Suggestion 10 it was agreed we already have this right in the current Council rules, Suggestion 11 was not considered practical to limit the subjects to only items on the agenda, Suggestion 12 it was agreed to post any rules for the public, Suggestion 13 This can be handled by the chairman or moderator, Suggestion 14 there is no need to post the rules all over the place, maybe best placed on the sign in sheet. Also, there could be a block on the sign in sheet to check that indicates that person wants to speak to the Council. During follow up discussion the problem of redundancy among the speakers came up. It was suggested the moderator should ask the audience how many people are here for the same reason and if it is a large group, ask them to select a few people to speak for the group. Garrett Hoerner, City Attorney, said people will generally follow rules that are posted and made known to the public before the meeting starts. He also said we should document these rules for public participation, make them part of the ordinance, and put them on the meeting Agenda. Mr. Hoerner will work on changes to the city ordinance for this committee to review and vote on at the next meeting. Alderman Ken Kinsella made a motion to TABLE this civility ordinance until the next meeting of the Ordinance and Legal Review Committee, motion was seconded by Alderman Jim Davidson, All members present voted Aye, motion passed. It should be noted that Alderman Melinda Hult had to leave the meeting at 7:27 PM., so Alderman Ken Kinsella, Alderman Jim Page 4 of 6  APPROVED Davidson, Alderman Trent Galetti and Alderman Musgrove voted Aye to Table this ordinance. Agenda Item (B) – Review and approve the draft of the sewer rate proposed ordinance and approve a motion to place it on the December 2, 2013 City Council Agenda after the City Attorney completes a final review. Two Draft copies of Ordinance 38-3-1, one with the changes clearly marked in color and another copy with all the changes incorporated into the body of the ordinance were provided to each member of the committee. However, before we could have a discussion and vote on the ordinance the City Treasurer, Dean Hardt announced that he had found a few corrections that needed to be made before we could actually vote on the draft version provided. Those changes are as follows: On page 1 of 4, in paragraph (A) (1) (a) in the second line, following the words “a monthly charge of $5.51” change the value from $5.51 to $5.95. On page 2 of 4, in paragraph (A) (1) (a) at the top of the page where it says: Was Change to Units of Usage 1–3 $2.75 a unit $2.97 a unit 4 – 16 $3.63 a unit $3.63 a unit 17 – 33 $2.81 a unit $3.03 a unit 34 and beyond $2.75 a unit $2.97 a unit On page 2 of 4, in paragraph (A) (1) (c) change the third line as follows: FROM: “increase eight percent (8%) annually from the” TO: “increase one percent (1%) annually from the” On page 2 of 4, in paragraph (A) (1) (e) change the first line as follows: FROM: “All sewer users not living within the City limits of” TO: “All sewer users not located within the City limits of” On page 2 of 4, in paragraph (A) (2) (a) change the second line as follows: FROM: “__, 2013, a monthly minimum charge of $9.25 will” TO: “__, 2013, a monthly minimum charge of $9.24 will” On page 3 of 4, in paragraph (A) (2) (c) change the third line as follows: FROM: “minimum charges and unit rates will increase eight” TO: “minimum charges and unit rates will increase one” And page 3 of 4, in paragraph (A) (2) (c) change the fourth line as follows: FROM: “(8%) annually from the immediately preceding” TO: “(1%) annually from the immediately preceding” On page 3 of 4, in paragraph (A) (2) (e) change the first line as follows: FROM: “All sewer users not living within the City limits of” TO: “All sewer users not located within the City limits of” Page 5 of 6  APPROVED After a brief discussion and a few more comments about the time required before this ordinance becomes effective after City Council approval. Alderman Trent Galetti asked if this proposed ordinance was approved by this committee would we be recommending that it be submitted to the City Council for approval. Attorney Garrett Hoerner explained that the vote of approval by this committee would be to recommend the ordinance to the City Council for approval. Chairman Musgrove called for a motion. Alderman Ken Kinsella made the motion to approve this ordinance with the marked up corrections. Alderman Jim Davidson seconded the motion. The vote was as follows: Alderman Ken Kinsella, Aye, Alderman Jim Davidson, Aye, Alderman Trent Galetti, NO, Alderman James Musgrove, Aye. The motion was approved by a vote of three to one. Alderman Melinda Hult had previously left the meeting at 7:27 PM. Chairman Musgrove asked for a motion to adjourn. Alderman Ken Kinsella made the motion to adjourn, seconded by Alderman Jim Davidson, all members present voted Aye. Meeting was adjourned at 7:43 PM. Miscellaneous -- Chairman Adjourn Meeting: Page 6 of 6