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, July 25, 2022 7:00 PM Remote I. Call to Order Village President Scaman called the meeting to order at 7:01 P.M. She authorized a statement be read providing that the meeting is being held remotely due to COVID-19 restrictions and guidelines and that it is not prudent to have people present at the Village Board's regular meeting location due to public health concerns related to that pandemic. II. Roll Call Present: 6- Village President Scaman, Village Trustee Buchanan, Village Trustee Enyia, Village Trustee Parakkat, Village Trustee Robinson, and Village Trustee Taglia Absent: 1- Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla III. Agenda Approval It was moved by Village Trustee Robinson, seconded by Village Trustee Buchanan, to approve the Agenda. The motion was approved. The roll call on the vote was as follows: AYES: 6- Village President Scaman, Village Trustee Buchanan, Village Trustee Enyia, Village Trustee Parakkat, Village Trustee Robinson, and Village Trustee Taglia NAYS: 0 ABSENT: 1- Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla IV. Non-Agenda Public Comment Village Clerk Christina Waters read the following Non-Agenda Public Comment aloud: Rhoda Bernstein: Rhoda Bernstein submitted their public comment regarding the Chicago Avenue BP gas station owner’s belated gesture is not a sufficient response to the gas station’s huge problem that has been left festering for years. They asked the Village to begin work right now on closing off the Taylor street entrance to the gas station. The community is waiting for real action and they feel there is a danger that inaction now could end up to be like playing Russian Roulette. V. Regular Agenda Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 8/8/2022 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 25, 2022 A. ID 22-135 Preliminary Discussion with Department Directors Regarding the Fiscal Year 2023 Budget Village Manager Kevin Jackson introduced the Item. Chief Financial Officer Steve Drazner gave a presentation overview of the Item. Trustee Taglia commented he would like to figure out where the increase in the sales tax came from. CFO Drazner responded he will continue to research the increase and provide any information he receives to the Board. Trustee Buchanan requested clarification on what falls under the manufacturing column. CFO Drazner responded he cannot name specific businesses because it is such a small number. Trustee Parakkat requested the CIP be prioritized based on the size of the request so the Board could spend more time on the bigger ticket items. CFO Drazner responded staff will do their best to provide different types of sorting options. Trustee Parakkat requested clarification on where the reductions in the pensions will be accounted for. CFO Drazner responded once he has all the numbers from the departments entered in he will see where the village stands in terms of the total surplus or deficit. Trustee Robinson requested clarification on if the village has received any treasury funds from the ARPA allocations yet. CFO Drazner responded the village has received $39 Million so far. Trustee Parakkat requested clarification on any ARPA funds that were spent to cover lost revenue. CFO Drazner confirmed $10.3 Million is allocated to the nonprofits, an additional $15 Million for lost revenue, with a remaining amount of $12 or $13 Million, although he is not counting lost revenue as a real expense at this time. Arlene Pedraza, Management Analyst for the Finance Department, then reviewed the 2023 budget timeline. Trustee Parakkat proposed a 0% increase in the tax levy based on the current inflationary environment where the community is already hurting in terms of all the inflationary pressures around gas and food. Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 8/8/2022 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 25, 2022 CFO Drazner responded it is an option but if they do 0% that will carry forward indefinitely in the future unless you increase it more than 3% in a subsequent year. Trustee Taglia commented residents have had a hard year with inflation and price increases. He is comfortable with a very low or 0% tax levy this year and this is the year to consider it. His direction would be to be as small and as conservative as possible. He also encouraged the other taxing bodies to consider this for the affordability of residents. Trustee Buchanan requested clarification on what it would mean if the tax levy went to 0% and why we could not go up to 1 or 2% next year. CFO Drazner responded that was not what he was saying. Typically there is a 3% increase which would add on to the total levy amount; you would lose the compounded amount by skipping a year and that would carry forward indefinitely. Trustee Robinson requested clarification on if the Board would receive the police consultant report before they vote on the 2023 budget. Village Manager Jackson responded in the affirmative. Trustee Enyia is in support of staff presenting a budget with options lower than 3% levy. Trustee Buchanan also supports seeing options and would like to see what the short and long-term effects might be on the CIP. Staff was directed to present a lower tax levy and present what would need to be given up for a lower tax levy. B. ID 22-226 Presentation on Public Communication Priorities, including Website Redesign, Community Engagement Portal, and Online Customer Service Hub Village Manager Jackson introduced the Item. Village Clerk Waters read the following Agenda Public Comment aloud: Annemarie Kill, Suzanne Vestuto, and Sue Humphreys: Annemarie Kill, Suzanne Vestuto, and Sue Humphreys submitted their agenda public comment in support of a website redesign as it provides a great opportunity to promote more transparency and citizen engagement on the commission pages. They offered suggestions for inclusion on the commission pages and hopes staff takes these suggestions into consideration during the website redesign process. Erik Jacobsen, Interim Communications Director, and Bill Marshall, Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 8/8/2022 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 25, 2022 Cassidy Svetek and Jake Sager, Granicus Representatives, then gave a presentation overview of the Item. Trustee Robinson expressed their support for moving forward with Granicus as the sole service provider. They see the benefit from technical support to site performance and to ensuring we have compatible updates. Trustee Parakkat requested clarification on if the vendor has developed a mobile app. Jake Sager responded they have found typically 3 to 5% of residents actually download an app from the government so instead they make the websites mobile friendly. Trustee Parakkat requested clarification regarding if the website design is designed form a customer or citizen centric perspective. Bill Marshall responded in the affirmative - that is how they design the websites. Trustee Parakkat requested clarification if change management is also part of the scope from Granicus or is that on the village. Jake Sager responded currently within scope it is primarily around training, enabling how to use the system as well as some best practices around human centered design. There are other options that are not necessarily in scope. Trustee Parakkat emphasized the need to meet our residents where they are and engage them through multiple channels whether it is mobile, a tablet, or what have you. Cassidy Svetek responded with the online engagement platform it is creating a safe space where the community can openly and honestly share their opinions. Granicus has added a level of human moderation to ensure the conversations stay on topic without vulgarity or bullying. Trustee Enyia commented once they start to go through implementation they will realize what is missing, what the interaction is like, and what users are experiencing. He suggested to loop in some residents to try out the site to help fill in the holes and gaps to the user experience. Trustee Taglia expressed concern over the $55,000 annual charge as it relates to the budget. Deputy Village Manager Ahmad Zayaad responded this was discussed early on and budgeted for, and although there is an additional cost associated with the services being provided, it will create opportunities for efficiencies including the CRM module. Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 8/8/2022 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 25, 2022 Public Works Director Rob Sproule added they are currently using an Access database to manage their customer service process which is not supported anymore. Granicus offers an option to integrate with a number of different means of communication that the village already utilizes. The Granicus program will offer residents the ability to check in regularly on their requests and the ability as the village call center to expand the workflow process system beyond public works. Trustee Parakkat reiterated his desire for a mobile app solution. He agreed that having the same technology platforms allows for a lot of efficiency and this platform does have a lot of the functional elements that we want internally and externally. President Scaman directed staff to go forward with the Granicus Government Experience Cloud proposal and expand the contract to include all of the products in the proposal. VI. Adjourn It was moved by Village Trustee Robinson, seconded by Village Trustee Buchanan, to Adjourn. The motion was approved. The Meeting adjourned at 9:27 P.M., Monday, July 25, 2022. Respectfully Submitted, Deputy Clerk DeViller AYES: 6- Village President Scaman, Village Trustee Buchanan, Village Trustee Enyia, Village Trustee Parakkat, Village Trustee Robinson, and Village Trustee Taglia NAYS: 0 ABSENT: 1- Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 8/8/2022