City Council

MINUTES CITY OF DEKALB SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING JANUARY 24, 2018 The City Council of DeKalb, Illinois held a Special Committee of the Whole meeting on January 24, 2018, at the DeKalb Public Library Bilder Family Meeting Room, 309 Oak Street, DeKalb, Illinois 60115. Mayor Smith called the meeting to order at 5:01 p.m. A. ROLL CALL Deputy City Clerk Shelly Jureczek called the roll and the following members of the City Council were present: Alderman Bill Finucane, Alderman Mike Marquardt, Alderman Pat Fagan, Alderman Kate Noreiko, Alderman Mike Verbic, and Mayor Jerry Smith. Alderman David Jacobson arrived at 5:09 p.m. Alderman Tony Faivre was absent. Also present were: City Manager Anne Marie Gaura, Assistant City Manager Patty Hoppenstedt, and Deputy City Clerk Shelly Jureczek. B. CONSIDERATIONS 1. Goal Setting Session Mayor Smith mentioned using an upcoming Committee of the Whole meeting to discuss meetings logistics for the future (i.e. where, when, how, audio, video, etc.). He then introduced Carol Zar, providing information on her background, and noting that she would be leading the exercise of this goal setting. Ms. Zar explained that goal-setting meetings are typically done offsite to get Council down from the dais and to allow the views of the aldermen to be discussed in a slightly informal setting. She indicated that City Manager Gaura was in attendance only to answer questions and would not be participating in the goal setting. Ms. Zar continued, explaining that the format of the goal setting would be in two rounds. Round one will be used to identify what the Council would like to accomplish in next 12 to 18 months (the life of this particular Council). Using post-it notes, each Council member was directed to write a single, very specific idea that they would like to accomplish over the next 12 to 18 months and place it on the wall. Ms. Zar provided an example of how specific each item must be, i.e., “improve 20 miles of bad streets”, not “improve all the bad streets.” The next direction from Ms. Zar was to have Council organize the ideas on the wall into common threads or categories, without discussion. Ms. Zar then read each idea aloud Special Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes January 24, 2018 Page 2 of 5 and Council members had some discussion to identify the categories for all ideas. The Council agreed on the following categories: 1. Transportation 2. Community Special Events 3. City Operations 4. Public Safety 5. Economic Development 6. Residential Development 7. NIU 8. Budget and Finance Alderman Jacobson left the room at 6:05 p.m., and returned at 6:07 p.m. The next step was to identify which items should be simple to accomplish and which are complex. Ms. Zar explained that simple goals can be completed without any other outside groups or consultants (i.e. City staff can implement). Complex goals need the help or cooperation of other governmental bodies, not-for-profits, or consultants to accomplish. Many ideas were discussed to decide if they were City business or not, whether they were simple or complex, and whether they were too general or vague. Ms. Zar advised that while assembling her report, she would group overlapping ideas. A break was taken at 6:34 p.m., and the meeting resumed at 6:49 p.m. Ms. Zar explained that the next step of the process was to have Council members write ideas for what they would you like to see before the end of Mayor Smith’s term, between 18 months and end of this Council. Alderman Verbic stated he thought ideas could be financially beyond Mayor Smith’s term, which was agreed. Mayor Smith stated that some of the ideas could be the same as the earlier round, with Ms. Zar in agreement. The Council was then directed to organize the goals from the round into categories, just as they had during the previous round. After the goals were organized, each one was briefly reviewed by the Council to determine categories. The identified categories were: 1. Medium and Long-Term Financial Plan 2. Capital Planning 3. Government Operations 4. Attractions 5. Business Redevelopment 6. Airport 7. Public Safety 8. Foster Quality Residential Growth As before, each goal was then designated as simple or complex within its category.  Minutes of the Special Committee of the Whole Meeting January 24, 2018 Page 3 of 5 Alderman Fagan left the room at 7:36 p.m., and returned at 7:40 p.m. Ms. Zar stated that the ideas presented should serve as a blue print for budget discussions. At the time budget discussions are taking place, conversations can be had as to which of the ideas the City can afford to accomplish. Ms. Zar explained that she will prepare a report, organizing the goals presented and provide the definitions of simple and complex, as used for this session. Once the report is ready, her intention would be to meet with Mayor Smith and City Manager Gaura to review the report. At that point, Mayor Smith and Council members will likely start to prioritize the goals. Mayor Smith inquired if the Council was missing any topics for short-term or long-term goals. Alderman Noreiko mentioned social service funding and that discussions haven’t been made regarding broader human service needs. Alderman Finucane stated that this topic could be discussed during the budget process. Alderman Fagan mentioned a long-range goal to discuss with the DeKalb Housing Authority and Northwestern Hospital for possible options for addressing housing for homeless individuals. Alderman Finucane added that he was familiar with the program that Alderman Fagan was referring to, where several hospitals in the Chicagoland area were paying for housing for homeless individuals. Among other details, he wanted to point out that it was the hospitals that were funding those programs and not the cities. Alderman Jacobson stated these types of human services may not be core services for the City. He continued, stating that safety, water, public works and roads are the City’s core products and a discussion should be had to determine what services the City wants to fund outside of those core services or responsibilities. He added that the Council should determine whether the City should just be acting as an information point and not a funding source. Mayor Smith agreed and stated that the Council may need to address the possibility of reducing some services that are not in line with the core services of the City. He added that he liked that the City would continue to assist the social service communities, but a review of whether or not the City should be responsible for funding those endeavors may be appropriate. Alderman Fagan stated he believed it is the City’s responsibility to bring in those types of services, but not necessarily to fund and run them. Ms. Zar clarified that it appears that the Council wants the City to be brokers of those services. She continued, stating that in her experience, the City is obligated to provide enough notice that it will no longer be funding something that it has historically funded. She agreed that this is not the staff’s responsibility as these are policy decisions and the Council needs to take responsibility for it. Special Committee of the Whole Meeting Minutes January 24, 2018 Page 4 of 5 Mayor Smith mentioned relationships the City has with other bodies (i.e. the DeKalb Public Library) that he doesn’t fully understand. He also mentioned some airport issues he would like to discuss. Mayor Smith stated he would like to explore a possible meeting with other municipalities to discuss the idea of sharing in the costs of the airport, but a consensus of the Council would be needed to proceed. Several Council members agreed this should be discussed. Alderman Noreiko mentioned exploring quality-of-life issues discussed during the previous budget process (i.e. municipal band, downtown flower displays, and downtown holiday lights). Although the dollar amount is not enormous, the Council should determine whether the residents want the City to continue to fund these types of programs. Mayor Smith added that the outdoor holiday lighting and the flower displays this past summer were very attractive and contributed to the quality of life here and he praised the people who worked on those items. Alderman Fagan pointed out that he felt he received additional insight with this this type of meeting. He was able to see how other Council members are thinking and what their goals are. Ms. Zar stated she was very impressed with how the Council was working together as a team while going through this goal-setting process. Alderman Verbic followed up on some of the prior comments regarding social services. He related attending a recent continuum of care meeting where the leader asked, “What do you all do when you see a homeless person?” He felt that was a very good question and thinks that the Council needs to determine what measures it has in place, what are the expectations of the funds the City does have, and how does that improve the quality of life for those intended people. C. Public Participation Bessie Chronopoulos provided handouts to the Council with information that had previously been emailed to Alderman Noreiko containing ideas for goals, many of which were mentioned during this meeting. Ms. Chronopoulos spoke regarding loving the community as the reason why she and others participate. She mentioned that Mayor Smith recently stated, and she agrees, that the City needs transparency and accountability. She was very happy with the outcome of this meeting and appreciates what Ms. Zar brought to this process. She spoke on the importance of working as a team to accomplish goals. Misty Haji-Sheikh commented on some things she learned as a chair of health and human services for the county, where they had residents attend the session who were actual recipients of the services. She then discussed TIF vs. the enterprise zone, and suggested instead of a TIF, an enterprise zone could be used. She appreciated the non-Monday night meeting. Ms. Haji-Sheikh stated that at a recent Committee of the Whole meeting, she had asked the City for a listing of TIF spending versus the budget  Minutes of the Special Committee of the Whole Meeting January 24, 2018 Page 5 of 5 and that, to date, no one has gotten back to her. She is looking for accountability on what was promised versus what was done. She then suggested that the priority for the City should be to fix the streets, the water pipes, the crumbling bridges, and other infrastructure. She believes City Hall should be farther down on the list for items to be budgeted. Lynn Fazekas stated she was impressed that the topic of homelessness was addressed at this meeting and she felt this was one of the best meetings of its type that she has been to in a long time. In her opinion, many public meetings are filtered by staff, so she appreciated the “unfiltered” format of this meeting. She appreciated Council getting out and speaking with people in their wards and she is seeing a big change. She wanted to know who to talk to if people want to volunteer at the City with different things such as assistance at warming centers, clerical paperwork organization, grant writing, and lobbyist activities. Alderman Jacobson stated that these meetings are mandated to be held quarterly in the City’s municipal code. He hopes everyone appreciates the impact that can be made in a couple hour session. He echoed Lynn Fazekas’ comments of continuing these types of meetings and putting in defined and focused discussion on these topics. D. ADJOURNMENT MOTION Alderman Jacobson motioned to adjourn the meeting; seconded by Alderman Fagan. VOTE Motion carried on a 7-0-1 voice vote. Aye: Jacobson, Finucane, Marquardt, Fagan, Noreiko, Verbic, Smith. Nay: None. Absent: Faivre. Mayor Smith declared the motion passed and adjourned the meeting at 8:25 p.m. ____________________________________ SHELLY JURECZEK, Deputy City Clerk Approved by City Council: February 26, 2018.