Finance Committee

123 Madison Street Village of Oak Park Oak Park, Illinois 60302 www.oak-park.us Meeting Minutes Finance Committee Thursday, November 17, 2022 6:30 PM Village Hall 1. Call To Order Village President Vicki Scaman called the Committee Meeting to order at 6:31 P.M. 2. Roll Call Present: Trustees Enyia, Parakkat, Taglia and President Scaman Also Present: Trustees Buchanan, Robinson, Wesley Trustee Enyia joined the Meeting via video conference per Village policy for remote participation. 3. Agenda Approval It was moved by Trustee Parakkat, seconded by Trustee Enyia to approve the Agenda. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. 4. Approval of Minutes A. ID 22-418 Minutes from the September 29, 2022 Meeting of the Finance Committee It was moved by Trustee Parakkat, seconded by Trustee Taglia to approve the Minutes. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. 5. Non-Agenda Public Comment Bob Tucker: Lives on 700 block of South Ridgeland. Believes proposal to reduce free time to park in garages and increased rates will harm small businesses and is not equitable. Urged Village Board to pump the brakes on the proposed changes and engage in a deeper examination and policy discussion of what the garages mean to our community and who should pay for them. 6. New Business B. ID 22-393 Recommendation on the Process for the Next Round of Distributions by the Village of Oak Park for American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funds Deputy Manager Shelley introduced the Item and Housing Forward (HF) Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 Executive Director Lynda Schueler. C. ID 22-397 Presentation by Housing Forward of its Request for American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds in the amount of $300,000 to open an emergency drop-in shelter for individuals experiencing homelessness during the winter months. Director Schueler presented HF's proposal. Trustee Taglia said he supports this great opportunity and inquired if the 15 beds will be expanded. Director Schueler responded that it is up for discussion. They are engaging Good Shepherd and Oak Park Temple. They lost volunteers during COVID-19. They are open to finding additional shelter sites. 10 beds are pre-registered and guaranteed. This is seed money and HF will go to the state to help them going forward. Trustee Parakkat asked if state funding is available now. Director Schueler said they are using all of their state funding to support operations at the Wright Inn. Trustee Buchanan requested clarification between the Wright Inn and the emergency shelter. Director Schueler said the emergency shelter is intended to serve people from the wait list being outreached on the streets. HF is only able to turn around four people a month through the interim housing program at the Wright Inn and there is much greater need. The people at the Wright Inn are the same every night. Trustee Parakkat asked if there are implications for approving funding for one versus two years. Director Schueler said they would be open to a one-year agreement. The state has said it is short 4,500 beds. Trustee Enyia inquired about the additional cost per bed. Director Schueler responded that if they have additional shelter sites and insufficient volunteers, it will fall back on HF to come up with that staffing. HF would have to look at what the cost would be per bed. President Scaman said she supports these emergency funds and Director Schueler can tell the HF Board that at least the first year funding will move forward. D. ID 22-396 Presentation of the Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce request for American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA) funds of up to $16,000 Deputy Manager Shelley introduced Oak Park River Forest Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Liz Holt. President Scaman introduced Growing Community Media (GCM) Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 Advertising Manager Marc Stopeck and Lawrence Nichols. Manager Stopeck presented GCM's proposal. President Scaman said this opportunity is available to all licensed business owners in the community whether they are a member of the Chamber or not. Trustees Buchanan, Taglia, Parakkat, and Wesley said they support it. Trustee Wesley asked what outreach is being done to businesses. Manager Stopeck responded that GCM and the Chamber have a lot of emails and also do a lot of walking from business to business. Last year the Village emailed all of its business license holders and that was very helpful. Manager Jackson confirmed the Village would do that again this year. E. ID 22-394 Presentation on Draft Guidelines for the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) Funded Program for DayCare Operators Deputy Manager Shelley introduced Development Customer Services Assistant Director Cameron Davis and Collaboration for Early Childhood (CEC) Interim Executive Director Laura Crawford. Assistant Director Davis presented a review of the Item. Trustee Parakkat asked how many daycares there were before the pandemic. Assistant Director Davis responded that there are currently 44 daycares and there were two or three more before the pandemic. There are some home-based daycares that the Village wants to include in this program that are not currently licensed. Closure is not the ultimate measure of impact. Some daycares have had to change ownership. Trustee Parakkat said he supports this and inquired about the $500K amount. Assistant Director Davis said the Village Board can choose the amount. Staff will always recommend a tiered approach and used the previous $550K grant approved by the Village Board as a model and determined this grant would be an amount not to exceed $500K. Not everyone will participate. Trustee Parakkat asked if the funds could be distributed evenly among the daycares to avoid the application process. Assistant Director Davis said the Village requires businesses to provide certain certifications as part of the application process and would be desired with this federal funding. This would be one of the simplest grant programs the Village Board has approved because there will not be receipts. The application is short and simple and requires a federal ID number. DCS Director Tammie Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 Grossman added that ARPA requires proof of a connection to COVID-19 which the daycares will confirm in the application that they were certified at the time of the pandemic and impacted by the pandemic. President Scaman asked for the turnaround time between receiving an application and distributing the funding. Assistant Director Davis said the check would be cut the following week. Trustee Taglia asked if the $500K is determined by the number of daycares. Assistant Director Davis confirmed that the Village knows through CEC how many children each daycare serves and based the $500K off full participation, which is not likely to happen so any unspent amount will stay in the ARPA fund. Trustee Robinson said the Village wants to keep this dollar amount static and is an efficient use of ARPA funds. Daycares qualify for two ARPA categories: small business recovery and services to disproportionately affected communities. It is also a compounded vulnerability that the Village is addressing. It is the daycares themselves and the vulnerable segment of the population they serve. Trustee Parakkat agreed the investment in early childhood is the best investment that can be made. President Scaman agreed that daycares have suffered greatly during the pandemic and supports the $500K amount. Trustee Enyia agreed with his fellow Trustees. Deputy Manager Shelley referred to the revised CDCAC document attached to the agenda. She reviewed staff's recommendation for ARPA funds and the community requests to determine the amount the CDCAC will have to review those community requests. President Scaman inquired about the public health budget. Deputy Manager Shelley said the $64K assistant to the emergency preparedness coordinator and the $35K part-time COVID-19 tester positions could be put into a contingency fund under ARPA. Trustee Taglia asked if the contingency fund has any legal effect. Deputy Manager Shelley responded that it would just be an internal mechanism to hold the funds. Manager Jackson confirmed the contingency would be available for the Village to remobilize staffing as quickly as possible. Trustee Robinson requested clarification about the state grant. Deputy Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 Manager Shelley responded the state grant is for mass vaccinations. Other eligible categories like alternative calls for service, incubator study, and community safety study/mental health response are not recommended for ARPA funding on this proposal, though they still need to be budgeted for. Trustee Parakkat asked if the contingency fund will be included in the 2023 budget. Manager Jackson responded that in the current proposed model, the funding is budgeted based on FY2023 though use of the funding would be based upon need. Trustee Parakkat said he favors the contingency model and would rather see operational items like salaries and staffing stay in the regular budget as opposed to ARPA. The Village will be left with about $3.5M for external partners and he sees requests for $6M-$7M. He asked if the Village Board can meet each of the requestors in the middle and spend $2.5M and keep $1M contingent upon performance so the initiatives that are driving the most impact in the community gets first dibs on the remaining $1M and performance is incentivized. President Scaman said she is comfortable with what was proposed and would not want to put agencies with different missions in competition with each other. Manager Jackson said staff would have to evaluate the mechanics of Trustee Parakkat's recommendation and determine what would be required of the Village administratively and what impact it would have on the capacity of the agencies themselves. Trustee Wesley asked if the ARPA requests go through any process to ensure the ask amount is the right size. Manager Jackson said the process has been evaluated through the CDCAC. Deputy Manager added that it is based off the questions in the application. Trustee Robinson asked what would happen if an organization does not get the funding it needs. She asked how it is ensured that they use the funds they do receive for ARPA purposes. Manager Jackson said the Village actively monitors the funding that has been allocated. Deputy Manager Shelley added that the Village can work with the commission's staff liaison to ensure they understand. Trustee Parakkat asked if 2026 is when the Village has to give the entity the funding or if 2026 is when the entity has to have spent the money. CFO Steve Drazner responded that the money has to be spent by the entity by 2026. Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 President Scaman said she is in favor of coming up with the greatest number possible and supporting Trustee Parakkat's suggestion. Trustee Wesley said a couple line items could be shifted to general funds, like the community safety study and CAD and RMS systems. CFO Drazner said that is an option though he recommends the Village spend restricted ARPA funds before spending unrestricted general funds. Trustee Buchanan requested clarification on the $15.6M for operations and Board goals. She asked what is in the $950K item for the community safety study this year and next . Deputy Manager Shelley responded that the community safety study has the $2M CAD system and an RMS system. The RMS is in the capital budget. The cost is split between 2023 and 2024 and totals $950K. President Scaman asked if the Village Board is trying to aim for a specific dollar amount. Trustee Parakkat said he was just thinking about how to make the most of the available funds, not suggesting additional funds. Trustee Wesley said if the Village is looking to give back to the community, then it should prioritize those community expenditures out of the ARPA funds and move the Village expenditures to the general fund. Trustee Parakkat said if the Village moves the $7-$10M from there, it will ultimately land back on the community in the form of levy increases. President Scaman said the Village has $7M in ARPA requests and she would love to see the Village find a way to give the CDCAC $5M to review the requests. CFO Drazner said the Village has about $3M available, assuming the lost revenue calculations are accurate. The Village Board would need to divert $1.5M of expenses to community requests. Manager Jackson said the only option to preserve the amount of funding available for community requests would be to go to the fund balance. President Scaman said she would be comfortable with that. Trustee Parakkat said the partner agencies have received a substantial portion of the $20M already spent. A lot of the items are in the Village's proposed budget and are eligible for movement and the Village does not need to dip into the surplus. Manager Jackson confirmed that is an option. Trustee Taglia said his priority as a fiduciary is to ensure the Village is on good financial footing. Trustee Wesley said the Village's actions have to match its intentions and it would be disingenuous for the Village to pretend it cannot pull $500K out of Village of Oak Park Page 6 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 reserves and fund additional community impact if the Village Board desires that. President Scaman said the Village could have CDCAC rate the proposals as is and if the amount comes in greater than the available ARPA funding, then the Village could go into the general fund to support those initiatives. Trustee Robinson asked if the CDCAC was given a dollar amount last time or if they were asked to rank them. Deputy Manager Shelley confirmed it was the latter. Trustee Robinson said CDCAC can use the same process this time and whether or not an organization has received previous ARPA funds will be an important criteria. Trustees Parakkat, Wesley, and Enyia said they agree with sending all proposals to the CDCAC. Trustee Parakkat said putting the operational items in the ARPA funds artificially deflates the regular budget. Putting them in the general fund where they will continue to belong is the right spot for them for visibility purposes. Manager Jackson said staff would be okay with that adjustment. President Scaman said she supports the Village Board reviewing the Park District of Oak Park's (PDOP) $1M proposal at the November 29, 2022 meeting. Deputy Manager Shelley said the reason for the urgency is PDOP needs to know if it will get the $1M to be able to do the Andersen Park project next year. The Finance Committee was unanimous in their decision to support the full funding requests for the Chamber ($16K), daycares ($500K), and Housing Forward ($300K) and will make those recommendations to the full Village Board at the November 29, 2022 meeting. F. ID 22-382 Review of the Fiscal Year 2023 Proposed Budget Manager Jackson introduced the Item and Chief DEI Officer Dr. Danielle Walker, Fire Chief Ron Kobyleski, and CFO Drazner. Dr. Walker presented an overview of the DEI program for FY2023. Trustee Taglia requested a breakdown of the $200K in 2023 expenditures. Trustee Parakkat asked if the $200K in operational costs is included in the $300K for the impact assessment. Dr. Walker responded that it is contingent on the Village Board's discretion on where the funding will occur for the DEI program. The racial equity action plan and the operational components of the DEI program will happen simultaneously. Manager Village of Oak Park Page 7 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 Jackson said staff can follow up and provide that detail. Chief Kobyleski presented on the Oak Park Fire Department (OPFD) and the request for three new full-time firefighter paramedics and a third ambulance. Trustee Taglia inquired about the projected net cost and whether it includes the overtime but not the lost billing revenue. Chief Kobyleski confirmed that is correct. Trustee Taglia said he feels this is a good and necessary investment. Trustee Parakkat inquired if Oak Park receives any revenue from providing mutual aid to other communities. Chief Kobyleski confirmed there is if OPFD picks up from out of town. Trustee Parakkat asked if having a third ambulance would increase that. Chief Kobyleski confirmed it would. Trustee Wesley noted that half the time OPFD has calls and does not have an ambulance to send. He asked if OPFD is tracking any adverse health impacts to residents based on the increased response time. Chief Kobyleski said it is hard to track because of HIPAA laws. Once OPFD drops them off at the hospital, they do not have any further contact to know the outcome. Trustee Wesley asked if OPFD has seen an increase in psychological trauma and mental health calls over time. Chief Kobyleski said it appears they have increased. Trustee Wesley asked if the overtime numbers could potentially be offset once the ambulance fees are recouped. Chief Kobyleski confirmed that is correct for the first four years with the step increases. When they get to full pay, it will be about a wash. Trustee Enyia said he is glad both firefighters and residents can benefit from a third ambulance and more service. President Scaman agreed and recognized the increased need with additional senior housing. CFO Drazner presented highlights and changes since the November 3, 2022 meeting. Trustee Parakkat asked where the alternative call response is earmarked. CFO Drazner responded that is in the current year budget and next year's budget under VMO External Support. Trustee Taglia asked if the OPFD numbers are based upon prior history. CFO Drazner said even if the Village does not make the three new hires, Village of Oak Park Page 8 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 he is still comfortable bumping the revenue up by $100K. The target hire date would be mid-year so the Village is not getting the full benefit out of that. Trustee Taglia inquired why some of the recommended allocations in the budget for the partner agencies differ from the amounts in the actual proposals. For example, the Housing Center requested $600K. Director Grossman responded that the Village had budgeted for the updated housing study in the first half of 2023 and recommended the Housing Center remain at a flat funding level until that study can be done. Their proposal also included a DEI analysis and Manager Jackson wanted to work on the Village's internal DEI efforts before funding the Housing Center's DEI work. President Scaman inquired about the internal review process. Director Grossman responded that the Village asks for submissions in July for the next year's budget and then meets with the partner agencies and reviews their requests and then makes recommendations. Trustee Taglia requested detail on the Oak Park Area Arts Council (OPAAC) public art component which is requesting more. Director Grossman responded that the sculpture walk was added back in because it is a big benefit to the local business district post-COVID-19 and will add value back into OPAAC's budget. Trustee Taglia said he supports Trustee Enyia's mural proposal. OPAAC liaison Trustee Enyia said he put forth a motion to propose an additional $10K for OPAAC's Off the Wall Project to revitalize spaces with local artists. The $10K would help fund a mural on South Boulevard that would go up in summer 2024 and depict residents who have lost their lives to violence. Some funds have already been allocated through Senator Harmon and Representative Lilly. The Park District has also donated the tree project. D200 may be able to help as well. President Scaman and the other Trustees indicated their full support and Manager Jackson will ensure the $10K is added to OPAAC's budget. Trustee Parakkat noted that partners often expect the funding level will remain steady. He would like to get to a model where the community impact is evaluated on a regular basis against Board objectives and that determines the funding level and clear expectations and gives the Village the ability to measure against those expectations to ensure they meet those performance criteria. Director Grossman responded that there are clear goals and deliverables for each partner agency, which includes a detailed scope of work in their contract. If the partner agency has not spent Village of Oak Park Page 9 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 the funds in the way that was anticipated, Staff always comes back to the Village Board to reduce funding as a result of that. At the December 5 meeting, each partner will have a contract and detailed scope of work on the Village Board agenda and the Village can review them. Trustee Parakkat said he wants to create a distinction between ability to spend and ability to create impact. He has looked at some of the metrics of partner agencies that show only 47% or 25% of goal achieved and it has not come up in discussions of how that translates into funding. Director Grossman said it depends on the partner agency and she is happy to have a conversation. Trustee Taglia noted the OPEDC requested an additional $100K and inquired why it was not granted. Director Grossman responded that OPEDC has a four-year contract with a set dollar amount for each year. They requested additional funds for marketing and an undefined incentive program. The Village explained to OPEDC that we feel its best for the Village Board to create the programs and deliver the incentives to the developers and businesses making the request. President Scaman acknowledged the partner agencies in attendance. Regarding CFO Drazner's memo on incremental levy increases, Trustee Parakkat noted that if there is a need to add an additional levy, the Village still has $250K surplus in reserves as of next year. President Scaman said she would support at least one additional alleys because the Village Board's goal is usually four and it was decreased to three. Trustee Wesley agreed with using the surplus for at least one additional alley and noted the Village has $30 million in the surplus. President Scaman noted there was also $180K for pavement preservation treatment and Public Works LED light upgrades. Trustee Taglia inquired if this is the same as the $50K LED light upgrade where they don't pay for their electricity and there is no payback. Public Works Director Rob Sproule responded that the Public Works facility does not pay for electricity for lighting so there is no direct payback. President Scaman noted there is consensus from the Finance Committee to add one alley. The $180K for the payment treatment and lighting upgrades puts Public Works just above $250K. Village of Oak Park Page 10 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 Trustee Parakkat said the $30K difference can be found because $1.2M that is moving from general fund to ARPA and that will also hit the surplus. CFO Drazner said it will be a little less than $250K because the Village had to add some additional expenditures so we're closer to $180K-$200K. The Village is safe and can cover one alley for $100K without any problem. Director Sproule said Public Works is comfortable with the LED light project being postponed based on all of the energy auditing work they are planning to do next year, which will give us a much better understanding for evaluating priorities across all facilities to maximize sustainability. Trustee Taglia noted that things change and the Village could be off by $1M or $2M. Trustee Parakkat suggested that the Village has another $1.25M that at this time with this information looks like a surplus because of the Village's ability to use ARPA funds. CFO Drazner said it is more than $1.25M. His projections are more like $2.5M to $3M. Manager Jackson clarified that the proposed ARPA expenditures are built into the general fund budget so if the Village Board accepts the proposed budget for ARPA funds, those expenses will no longer be necessary in the general fund and would be moved to surplus. Regarding the Health Department, Trustee Parakkat noted a $480K overall increase in the department itself. Manager Jackson responded that staff will bring back a revised proposal based on the Village Board's feedback. Deputy Manager Shelley said staff can provide the Board with a write-up of the exact accounting for the $480K difference. She said it has to do with some positions that were left out of last year's budget and the many vacancies. There is also some health education and nursing supplies that did not exist previously. Trustee Parakkat said he would like to know if it will be 15.5 FTE and if it will be salary increases versus FTE increases versus other expenses. He said he feels the Village needs to go for stability as opposed to growth. Trustee Wesley requested that the vision statement be included around the Health Department as well so the Board can see what the alignment is of the budget. Deputy Manager Shelley clarified that the Health Department is not proposing any new staff next year. There may be additional contractors in the external support budget line, which are not part of the FTE count. Manager Jackson confirmed that information will be provided. President Scaman said the November 21 meeting will be a budget public hearing and adoption of the CIP. November 29 will be a special meeting to Village of Oak Park Page 11 Printed on 9/27/2023 Finance Committee Meeting Minutes November 17, 2022 continue the operating budget review and the December 5 meeting will be to adopt the budget. 7. Adjournment It was moved by Trustee Parakkat, seconded by Trustee Taglia to Adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. Meeting adjourned at 10:01 P.M., Thursday, November 17, 2022. Respectfully Submitted, Deputy Clerk Hansen Village of Oak Park Page 12 Printed on 9/27/2023