Finance Committee

123 Madison Street Village of Oak Park Oak Park, Illinois 60302 www.oak-park.us Meeting Minutes Finance Committee Thursday, October 25, 2018 6:30 PM Public Works Center 201 South Blvd. 1. Call To Order President Abu-Taleb called the meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. 2. Roll Call Present: Members of the Finance Committee; Trustee Tucker, Trustee Taglia, Trustee Andrews, and President Abu-Taleb. Absent: Trustee Button Also present: Village Manager Cara Pavlicek, Village Attorney Paul Stephanides, Village Vicki Clerk Scaman, CFO Steve Drazner, Finance Budget & Revenue Analyst Sean Keane, Deputy CFO John Kramer, Deputy Village Manager Lisa Shelley, Trustee Boutet, Trustee Moroney, Assistant Village Manager/HR Director Julia Scott-Valdez, Director of Adjudication Robert Anderson, Director of Communications Dave Powers, Director of Community Relations Cedric Melton, Director of Development Customer Services Tammie Grossman, Manager of Parking and Mobility Will Gillespie, Director of the Health Department Mike Charley, Fire Chief Tom Ebsen, Deputy Fire Chief Peter Pilafas, Interim Chief of Police LaDon Reynolds, Police Budget & Revenue Analyst Kellie Murphy, Director of Public Works John Wielebnicki, Village Engineer Bill McKenna, and Budget & Revenue Analyst Diane Stanislavski. 3. Public Comment Greg Kolar: Mr. Kolar presented comparison information between the Oak Park EDC and the Naperville Development Partnership (NDP). He highlighted that the NDP includes the Visitor Bureau and membership from other governmental partners, including their Park District. Also that their budget is more detailed and does not rely solely on funding from the General Fund. Chris Donovan: Mr. Donovan expressed continued dissatisfaction with the Village process for providing information regarding the Madison Street Road Diet to the public and gathering input from the community before preparing to vote on the project. Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 11/14/2018 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2018 Theo N. Foss: Mr. Foss provided feedback that white parking signs with yellow lettering is particularly hard to read in the evening. 4. Approval of Minutes There were no minutes. 5. New Business A. ID 18-999 Finance Committee Review of the Draft Recommended FY19 Budget The Village Manager provided an overview of the meeting agenda and outlined the remainder of the process and timeline for approving the FY19 Budget. Ms. Pavlicek also summarized the importance of working with unions to understand the impact of labor costs on a proposed budget. CFO Drazner presented 2019 Budget General Fund Revenues with two years of history. Mr. Drazner highlighted revenue from tax levy, service taxes, fees, transfers from other funds, and other types of revenue that are included in the general fund. Mr. Drazner responded to questions of the Village Board to clarify how estimates for 2019 are projected regarding revenue sources. Village Manager Pavlicek introduced reviewing of expenditures for each Village Department. Trustee Andrews requested percentage increases for expenditures be added to the budget document before approval. Adjudication: Adjudication Director Anderson briefly summarized the expenditures for his Department. CFO Drazner explained the decrease for IMRF from 2018 to 2019 due to a decrease in the cost for Village contribution to IMRF. Village Manager's Office: The Communications Department is in the Village Manager's Office. In the budget for FY19 is the addition of a Communications and Social Media Manager who will be working closely with Police and Fire for their communication needs to the community. Communications Director Dave Powers responded to questions related to his role working with Police and Fire on social media initiatives. Trustee Boutet requested that old agenda packets and minutes be uploaded to the website. Mr. Powers responded that this is a labor intensive task. Trustee Boutet asked for clarification regarding the allocated amount to fund "Friends of the Children" - Chicago in the FY18 budget. Village Manager Pavlicek responded that the allocation of funds to "Friends of the Children" was made for FY18 in the budget. The contract has not yet come to the Board for approval and is scheduled for December. Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 11/14/2018 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2018 Village Attorney's Office: Village Attorney Stephanides summarized briefly his budget and reported a decrease in his budget ask. Human Resources: Assistant Village Manager/HR Director Scott-Valdez summarized the goals and initiatives for modernizing the HR Department with new software and systems to assist with HR services to other departments and employees. Community Relations Department: Community Relations Director Cedric Melton reported briefly on his budget and the addition of an Intern for part of 2019. A task of the Community Relations Department is to mediate conflicts between neighbors. They average 30 mediations a year. Development Customer Services (DCS): Development Customer Services Director Tammie Grossman summarized the function of the 5 divisions of the DCS Department: Administrative, Neighborhood Services, Parking and Mobility, Permit Processing, and Planning. DCS manages contracts for outsourcing security and maintenance of Village Hall and garages, building permit inspectors, 12 citizen commissions, and 8 partner agencies. Trustee Moroney commented on his appreciation for the DCS Department for managing fixed costs of the Village by consistently doing more with less. Ms. Grossman walked through increases in the budget for external support, primarily technology system updates. Additionally, Ms. Grossman responded to questions of the Village Board related to grants for businesses and single-family homes. Parking Enterprise Fund: Village Manager Pavlicek clarified that funding for the Parking and Mobility Department comes from services provided directly from the department except parking enforcement. Fees from citations assist with paying for parking enforcement officers in the Police Department and Adjudication. Ms. Grossman introduced the Parking and Mobility Services Manager Gillespie and provided a summary of intiatives for 2019. Ms. Grossman responded to questions related to a Dockless Bike program. Trustee Moroney requested staff to provide an opinion regarding whether or not a Dockless Bike program is a good idea for Oak Park. He cautioned that he does not want to support spending staff time on a program that they do not fully support. Others on the Committee shared his concern. Partner Agencies: Oak Park Regional Housing Center (OPRHC): Interim Executive Director Michelle Rodriquez Taylor responded to questions of the Village Board regarding initiatives for 2019. Ms. Rodriquez Taylor highlighted plans to investigate securing additional funding for a strategic plan, Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 11/14/2018 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2018 marketing, and increased online presence. Trustee Boutet encouraged them to consider what additional approaches they could take to addressing root causes of housing segregation. Trustee Andrews requested a report of accomplishments from the OPRHC. Ms. Grossman stated that will be part of the contract agreement for next year and will be provided to the Village Board for this year. Trustee Andrews suggested the OPRHC consider requesting funding from other governmental partners who benefit from the work of the OPRHC. Trustee Moroney requested data from larger land owners with the intention to set a goal for seeking integration amongst those who rent and those who own. Trustee Andrews suggested working with Oak Park Realtors to gather additional data. Oak Park Residence Corporation: Assistant Executive Director Beth Swaggerty presented on the Small Condo Program which provides education and support to small condo associations to address challenges specific to having fewer owners. The Small Condo Program provides education on by-laws, procedures for running meetings, preparing for expensive repairs and regular maintenance of buildings, etc. Oak Park Housing Authority: Assistant Executive Director Beth Swaggerty presented for continued support from the Village for Administrative costs. Visit Oak Park: President & CEO Eric Wagner reponded to questions from the Village Board on their budget and initiatives for 2019. Mr. Wagner described a new marketing plan to specifically target individuals who have expressed a desire to travel. Trustee Moroney requested Visit Oak Park work to collect data to identify their baseline and better understand what initiatives are working to advance tourism. Mr. Wagner spoke of the additional investment that comes from the State for every dollar spent on tourism locally, as long as Visit Oak Park continues to exist. Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce: Village Manager Pavlicek shared with the Board that financial support for the Chamber is not currently in the proposed budget. Current President of the Chamber Robert Stelletello and incoming President Mike Lavery presented to advocate for funding to be reinstated at a lower level to support the OPRF Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Stelletello and Mr. Lavery highlighted Chamber accomplishments and continuing efforts to advocate for and support small businesses in the Village. Ms. Grossman shared the original intention for funding the Chamber of Commerce was for the Chamber to maintain a database of businesses and conduct administrative functions related to special events and Holiday lights programs. Currently the Village relies on its own database. Mr. Stelletello responded to questions regarding increased membership and Chamber services to small Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 11/14/2018 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2018 businesses and the various business districts. Oak Park Area Arts Council (OPAAC): Executive Director Camille Wilson-White highlighted the arts programs the OPAAC coordinates or manages to serve the community; Arts District Art Banner Project, Gallery Spaces, ArtsFund grant program, Scholarships, Community Mosaics, the Mini-Mural Program, and coordinating with developers for advising on art in community spaces. Ms. Wilson-White highlighted new ideas for 2019; tours of murals and a street proetry project. The Board Treasurer for the OPAAC, William Wallace, shared that they have been able to collect additional revenue from projects in neighboring communities that will allow them to add an employee to assist with promotional efforts of projects and programs in 2019. Trustee Moroney requested the OPAAC provide additional detail in their budget for clarification on costs. Oak Park Economic Development Corporation (Oak Park EDC): Trustee Boutet requested marketing efforts be brought under the direct management of the Village and not necessarily be a task of the Oak Park EDC. The Oak Park EDC was not present to respond to questions related to their budget. Review of their budget will be scheduled for a future meeting with updated actual budget information. Trustee Moroney requested the Oak Park EDC consider taking a second look at their budget to reduce their request. Trustee Boutet and Andrews agreed. Downtown Oak Park (DTOP): Village Manager Pavlicek summarized the terms of the agreement that exist with DTOP as pass through funding from the SSA for that area of town. Finance Department: CFO Drazner summarized the Finance Department and highlighted budget cuts that have reduced their budget. Board of Health: Village Manager Pavlicek briefly shared that the Board of Health Department has a minimal increase to handle increased services for 2019. Fire Department: Chief Ebsen provided an overview of staff and firefighters that are represented in the budget for the Fire Department. Village Manager Pavlicek clarified differences in actual and proposed budget costs between areas of the budget due to timing of filling open positions. Trustee Andrews suggested an explanation be in the budget for these differences for the benefit of public understanding. Deputy Chief Pilafas responded to questions related to managing overtime costs. Police Department: Interim Chief LaDon Reynolds provided a summary of increased personnel. Police Budget & Revenue Analyst Kellie Murphy Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 11/14/2018 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2018 and Interim Chief Reynolds responded to questions related to assessing how large of a police force is necessary to minimize need for overtime and organizational structure changes to support the needs of the Department. The Police Department plans to increase positive youth interaction to combat concerns around increased drug use and crime. Public Works: Director of Public Works John Wielebnicki provided an overview of the Public Works Department and their budget. Mr. Wielebnicki explained how the Village Engineer and Assistant Village Engineer work with contracted Engineers to manage development and infrastructure projects in the Village. Village Manager Pavlicek requested the Village Board plan for providing direction related to consideration of transferring Dole Library to the Park District. The Finance Committee invited the Park District Executive Director to present on their request to acquire Dole Library to expand programs to seniors in partnership with the Township and the Library. The Park District would be willing to work with the Village to provide storage space for records currently being stored at Dole Library. Trustee Tucker suggested the conversation be scheduled for Executive Session, pursuant to discussion of sale or purchase of Village owned property, as soon as possible. Oak Park Public Library Board Member Theo Foss suggested the Park District would be a better property owner of Dole Library. It is his opinion that the Village has not maintained the property and their only use of it is to store records. Village Manager Pavlicek summarized the desire to digitize the records however funding to support such a project is not currently in the budget. Water and Sewer Fund: Mr. Wielebnicki presented briefly on projects for the water and sewer fund. He would like to invest in a customer portal to eventually move to monthly or bi-monthly water billing. This would help public works identify leaks, reduce water waste, and improve customer service. Trustee Andrews would support use of software to allow residents to access their water usage data. Mr. Wielebnicki suggested contract changes with Waste Management and fee changes to encourage composting and cover costs for servicing multi-unit buildings. Trustee Andrews would support consistent services for multi-unit buildings and single family homes. Village Manager Pavlicek requested members of the Finance Committee provide direction for additional meetings needed to make decisions on the FY2019 Budget. Trustee Andrews suggested they need one comprehensive meeting with the entire Board to review the general fund budget. Village Manager Pavlicek shared with the Finance Committee the need to schedule a "Public Hearing" meeting for the budget on November Village of Oak Park Page 6 Printed on 11/14/2018 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes October 25, 2018 5, 2018 so that the public has a chance to respond to the budget. She suggested the Board can schedule November 12th and possibly November 15th to have a more detailed conversation about the budget. 6. Old Business No old business. 7. Adjournment It was moved by Trustee Tucker and seconded by Trustee Andrews to adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the meeting wa adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Clerk Scaman Village of Oak Park Page 7 Printed on 11/14/2018