President and Board of Trustees

123 Madison Street Village of Oak Park Oak Park, Illinois 60302 www.oak-park.us Meeting Minutes President and Board of Trustees Monday, January 22, 2018 7:00 PM Village Hall I. Call to Order Village President Abu-Taleb called the Special Meeting to order at 7:24 P.M. II. Roll Call Present: 7- Village Trustee Button, Village Trustee Taglia, Village President Abu-Taleb, Village Trustee Tucker, Village Trustee Moroney, Village Trustee Boutet, and Village Trustee Andrews Absent: 0 III. Agenda Approval It was moved by Village Trustee Tucker, seconded by Village Trustee Button, to approve the Agenda. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. IV. Public Comment Pamela Mahn, Director of Senior Services for Oak Park and River Forest Townships. Ms. Mahn attended the Forum on Aging last week. She discussed the idea of a commission on aging being developed, and asked the Board to consider the expertise of the Township staff as well as the existing Senior Advisory Committee. Chris Donovan. Mr. Donovan spoke about another resident's previous public comments regarding her neighbor's lighting. He also discussed possible light trespassing from the future Albion building onto Austin Gardens. He asked who to speak with at the Village to address this in the Village Code. V. Regular Agenda A. RES 18-771 Resolution to Adopt the 2017-2019 Village Board Protocols Joshua Klayman. Mr. Klayman stated that citizen faith in their government is at a low point. He commented that the protocols contain nothing regarding how the elected officials should communicate with citizens. Chris Donovan. Mr. Donovan noted that the protocols state that the Village Board will not respond to speakers during public comment but shall instruct the Village Manager to follow up. This is not being done. Village Trustee Boutet expressed confusion regarding what document they are working from. Village Trustee Moroney commented that the Board had met last year to discuss Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 2/6/2018 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes January 22, 2018 protocols and made their changes. The document before them reflects those changes. In response to Mr. Klayman's comments, Village Trustee Button stated that his concern regarding communication will be addressed under board goals. She is comfortable approving the protocols as presented. Village Trustee Boutet discussed other items she would like to see in the protocols. It was moved by Village Trustee Moroney, seconded by Village Trustee Andrews, that this Resolution be adopted. The motion was approved. The roll call on the vote was as follows: AYES: 6- Village Trustee Button, Village Trustee Taglia, Village President Abu-Taleb, Village Trustee Tucker, Village Trustee Moroney, and Village Trustee Andrews NAYS: 1- Village Trustee Boutet ABSENT: 0 B. RES 18-772 Resolution to Adopt the 2017-2019 Village Board Goals Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the Board met over the summer and established an initial working document related to their goals. Discussion of the goals was tabled from a previous meeting due to a lengthy agenda. Subsequently, individual trustees offered to work from that document to edit the list, which staff had transcribed as part of the goal setting session. Rob Breymaier. Mr. Breymaier runs the Regional Housing Center and discussed diversity and inclusion as part of Oak Park's core values. Anthony Clark. Mr. Clark stated that the community needs to be cognizant of the need for affordable housing. He expressed concern that affordable housing opportunities are not available in Oak Park. Daniel Lauber. Mr. Lauber stated that the request to make affordable housing a priority is not something new. There is a need for 10 to 20% of units in new developments to be affordable to households of modest income. Paul Sakol. Mr. Sakol expressed concern about the need for low income housing and that longtime residents have to move because they can no longer afford to live in Oak Park. Mark Deaton. Mr. Deaton stated that the board goal document does not elaborate on affordable housing. He described Oak Park as becoming an economically gated community. He suggested looking at other communities that have succeeded in provided affordable housing. Joan Davis. Ms. Davis stated that many people who live on her block are being forced to leave, while people with a more modest income cannot afford to move here. Henry Fulkerson, Director of the Board of Housing Forward. Mr. Fulkerson stated that the issue of affordable housing is a growing concern in the Village. More and more cities are looking to use inclusionary zoning to increase affordable housing. James Pflueke. Mr. Pflueke explained that putting affordable housing in the goal document is important in order to plan ahead. Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 2/6/2018 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes January 22, 2018 Erika Washington. Ms. Washington discussed how she has benefited from diversity both personally and professionally. She spoke about how paying under-market rent in Oak Park helped her to rebuild her life after some struggles. Teresa Powell. Ms. Powell reminded the Board that this year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Fair Housing Ordinance in Oak Park. She urged the Board to make affordable housing a priority. Alicia Chastain. Ms. Chastain expressed concern over the Village becoming unaffordable for many. She discussed the lack of affordable housing across the country and the history of Oak Park's housing. Marteki Reed. Ms. Reed stated that Oak Park's promise was part of the reason she moved here. It is important to her personally that Oak Park uphold those principles. The First United Church of Oak Park's strategic plan includes working towards affordable housing. Steve Gevinson. Mr. Gevinson stated that Oak Park has the potential to be a model in regards to affordable housing and urged the Board to make that a priority. Lois Thiessen Love. Ms. Thiessen Love stated that she has been committed to racial and economic diversity and she wants to see that in her community. She believes that the only way to maintain racial and economic diversity is by intention and she does not see that in the new developments. Greg Marsey. Mr. Marsey thanked all who attended to speak. Affordable housing and the tax burden are, in his opinion, the two most important issues in Oak Park. He discussed a section of the Property Maintenance Code in regards to maximum residential occupancy. It is six people within a of 951 to 1,100 square foot unit, not including children under three. If affordable housing is not addressed, this will become the Village's defacto affordable housing policy. Joshua Klayman. Mr. Klayman commented that Oak Park has integrated neighborhoods. The Board needs to be careful about asking developers to build affordable housing in one particular place and to have a diversified economy. Sarah Grimsley. Ms. Grimsley presented housing cost figures prepared by Harvard University. She also commented that higher education costs have made it harder for people to move into home ownership and she would not be able to live here without help from a local non-profit getting her into a place with reasonable rent. Chris Donovan. Mr. Donovan discussed the Lexington Homes Development and Jupiter Realty regarding their developments of luxury housing. In addition, he believes the funds for the Madison Road Diet and Bend should be removed from the budget and go to other sources at the time of the TIF expiration. David Gullo. Mr. Gullo appreciates the discussion about goals but there should be a special meeting addressing crime in Oak Park as well as other actions addressing that. To address the recent car jackings, Village President Abu-Taleb stated that the Village Manager, Board and staff are doing everything they can to apprehend and prosecute these criminals. Public safety is priority number one and they will not put a price tag on that. Village Manager Pavlicek added that there are four meetings to address this Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 2/6/2018 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes January 22, 2018 scheduled next week. She gave dates, times and locations. There was additional discussion. Village President Abu-Taleb provided a background related to how the Board put together their original set of goals in June and July of last year. Village Trustee Moroney offered to take the lead in terms of talking to the other Trustees to continue to revise it. He put the suggestions into a revised set of goals which was given to the Village Manager for staff to put into a document. Village Trustees Moroney and Button clarified that the document released to the public is not the final document, but something staff drew up as a starting point based on their meetings in June and July. Village Trustee Button added that the document they will be discussing tonight is a somewhat "living" document in which Trustees have added language which includes affordable housing among other things. There were additional comments by the Trustees. Village Trustee Boutet asked for clarification regarding what the Board envisions with this document. Village Trustee Moroney stated that this document includes everything that was discussed and agreed upon at the June meeting. If does not include items that were not discussed by the Board at a public meeting. Village President Abu-Taleb spoke about the Village's ongoing contributions to affordable housing. He stated that to him, it is not a goal, it is a part of what Oak Park is. Village President Abu-Taleb read the core values and asked if there were any comments. Village Trustee Boutet clarified that these are not necessarily all the values of the community. Goal 1: Economic Development Village President Abu-Taleb asked for comments regarding Madison Street. Village Trustee Tucker stated that "Commitment to a plan for Madison and Oak Park Avenue by June 30" is aggressive and should be pushed out. Village President Abu-Taleb added that he has had conversations with the Village Manager regarding exploration of extending the TIF. There was discussion. There was consensus to extend the date to the end of the year with the understanding that "Resolve expiration of Madison TIF" includes extending the TIF as an option. Village Trustee Moroney continued reading the document and asked the Board members to interject if there is an item they want discuss. Village President Abu-Taleb wanted to add attracting new businesses or investments to the community of $850 million by the year 2025 and grow the population by 3,000 people from base year 2015. This is just a continuation of the previous goals. There was consensus. Village Trustee Boutet would like to see an increase in affordable housing; that 15% of new housing should be affordable. Village Trustee Andrews would rather see that a specific range be maintained. The Village is currently at 18%. Village Trustee Tucker suggested adding "The Village will work to maintain current affordable housing stock and advance additional ways to make new affordable housing". There was consensus. Goal 2: Financial and Fiscal Responsibility Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 2/6/2018 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes January 22, 2018 Village Trustee Taglia suggested adding "Strive to grow the fund balance above 10%". There was discussion and consensus. Village Trustee Andrews wanted to change the language under "Work with other taxing bodies to reduce the rate of taxation in Oak Park". There was discussion. Village Trustee Moroney suggested "Work with other taxing bodies to minimize the annual tax increase in Oak Park". There was consensus. Village Trustee Taglia suggested adding a line item stating "Form a Task Force to study the efficiencies among taxing bodies" and have them report back in mid-July or thereabouts, to evaluate where there are potential savings and where there are redundancies. There was discussion. A deadline of August 1 was set for the report to be presented to the Board and a date of February 20 was set to establish the Task Force. There was consensus. Village Trustee Boutet wanted to change the language "Work with partner agencies to establish a plan for promoting affordable housing in Oak Park..." to "outside agencies". There was discussion and consensus to change the language to "..partner agencies and others...". Village Trustee Boutet was looking for more transparency in terms of funds going to the Oak Park Economic Development Corporation and wanted to add that as a line item. Village Manager Pavlicek explained the terms of the multi-year agreement with the OPEDC and noted that they are in compliance. Village President Abu-Taleb was in favor of keeping it the way it is. There was discussion. Village Trustee Moroney suggested adding "and increase financial transparency" to "Establish performance metrics to evaluate and determine funding". There was consensus. Goal 3: Infrastructure There were no changes. Goal 4: Service Delivery/Customer Service There was consensus to move Goal 4 into the Goal 1 position, with Public Safety as the number one priority. Subsequent Goal numbers will move down in their order of priority. Village President Abu-Taleb spoke about how the Board will continue to provide the police and fire departments with all the resources needed to keep the community safe. Village Trustee Button suggested adding "and allocate funds accordingly" to "Prioritize public safety as our number one priority". There was consensus. Village Trustee Boutet commented that she would like to see a new line item under Communication titled "Strengthen content of website". She also wanted the website to post Board Meeting agendas and minutes from years previous to 2010. There was discussion. Village Trustee Andrews agreed with the concept but does not want to appropriate a lot of funds to have someone do that. There was consensus to add "Strengthen content of website". Village President Abu-Taleb proposed forming a commission tasked with advising the Board how to make the Village more senior friendly from a policy standpoint. He wanted to add that under Customer Service. There was discussion. Village Trustee Moroney suggested working in collaboration with the Township. Village President Abu-Taleb did not want to interfere with the work of the Township. This is in response to what the community wants. There was consensus. Goal 5: Environmental Sustainability Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 2/6/2018 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes January 22, 2018 Village Trustee Taglia suggested adding "Explore community and utility grade solar" to Environmental Commitment. There was consensus. Village Trustee Moroney suggested changing the title of the document to "Village of Oak Park Board Goals - 2018 and 2019". There was consensus. Trustee Boutet commented that this should not be adopted until the changes have been made to the document. There was consensus. The motion and second were withdrawn. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the Board goals would be on the February 5 Agenda for approval. Village President Abu-Taleb instructed her to put it on Consent. This Resolution was withdrawn. VI. Adjourn It was moved by Village Trustee Button, seconded by Village Trustee Tucker, to adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. Meeting adjourned at 10:06 P.M., Monday, January 22, 2018. Respectfully Submitted, MaryAnn Schoenneman Deputy Village Clerk Village of Oak Park Page 6 Printed on 2/6/2018