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 Tuesday, May 28, 2024 5:00 PM Village Hall I. Call to Order Village President Vicki Scaman called the Special Meeting to order at 5:09 P.M. II. Roll Call Trustee Straw joined the Meeting at 5:23 P.M. Present: 7- Village President Scaman, Village Trustee Buchanan, Village Trustee Enyia, Village Trustee Parakkat, Village Trustee Robinson, Village Trustee Straw, and Village Trustee Wesley Absent: 0 III. Agenda Approval It was moved by Trustee Robinson, seconded by Trustee Wesley, to approve the Agenda. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. V. Non-Agenda Public Comment There was no public comment. VII. Village Manager Reports Village Manager Kevin Jackson introduced this evening's retreat session to discuss financial and strategic planning and the police station improvement project. VIII. Village Board Committees & Trustee Liaison Commission Reports There were no comments. XI. Regular Agenda A. ID 24-294 Vendor Presentations for the Strategic Financial Management Planning Program Interim CFO Donna Gayden introduced the Item and Baker Tilly Director Steve Toler presented the Item. Trustee Robinson inquired about the basis for the model. Director Toler Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 6/12/2024 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes May 28, 2024 said it is not proprietary. They will use information from the general ledger and discussions with staff about key drivers to develop a model the Village would own and update. She asked what flexibilities are embedded over the long term. Director Toler said they would work with the Village to identify key drivers and assumptions. They include a recessionary impact and it will be a long-range forecast. Trustee Robinson asked if a refresh assessment will be done on the long-term Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) budget. Director Toler said they want to assess the current CIP budget and then help inform if there is an under-funded or un-funded project that needs additional resources. Trustee Parakkat asked if the planning horizon is 20-30 years. Director Toler said they will focus on the 5-10 year horizon. Trustee Parakkat inquired how the prioritization and identification of financial needs happen for the outer years. Director Toler said they want to understand what infrastructure is out there so long-term decisions can be made today. Trustee Parakkat asked if they have a sensitivity analysis with certain risk events like a pandemic. Director Toler said they factor in physical and fiscal events that could play a role, and use that information to help inform the potential range of costs. Trustee Parakkat asked if the prioritization of large initiatives would come back to the Board during the planning process. Manager Jackson confirmed it will be part of the financial planning process. There is the public facilities projects, lead line replacement, and general capital needs including water and sewer. CFO Gayden added that the long-range plan is updated annually. Trustee Parakkat asked if there are inputs we are thinking of from other taxing bodies that will inform what the overall picture might be. Manager Jackson said we hope to do some level of engagement with the other jurisdictions to try to support the Board's interest and collaborating around the goal of affordability. Trustee Straw inquired how the firm plans for the unknown. Director Toler said circumstances, infrastructure, and technology will change and they have to use the best information we have today for predicting as well as we can into the future. Trustee Straw asked how population modeling will work into that. Director Toler said Oak Park does not have a significant amount of urban growth boundary to expand into so it would be population densification. He said the firm wants to understand the economic development initiatives and plans on the horizon for development and redevelopment to best inform the model of those impacts. Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 6/12/2024 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes May 28, 2024 Trustee Straw inquired how customizable the model is after the fact as the Village Board composition changes every two years. Director Toler said the numbers are always changing so they build into a dynamic fiscal model that they create in Excel that is changeable and will be usable in the future as people and priorities shift. Trustee Straw asked if we are doing the optional labor costing model. Manager Jackson confirmed we will do that. Trustee Straw asked how labor costing is modeled over a 20-year time horizon. Director Toler said you work with the best information you have today, take it by position, and understand each pay plan and benefits. Trustee Buchanan asked what gap this initiative will fill. CFO Gayden said the Village has a budget for the current year 2024 and a proposed budget for 2025. We are planning a lot of projects and a strategic financial plan looks at where we are today, the past, and projects out the future. This makes the budgeting for the upcoming years easier and allows us to know where you will possibly be and helps us to make better decisions. Manager Jackson said we do not have a model that currently does that. This model will be able to be updated iteratively and be available to future Boards as an institutional practice. CFO Gayden said it is standard practice for municipalities of this size and smaller. Trustee Robinson asked if the firm is providing the same model for union and non-unionized employees. Director Toler said the labor-costing model is based on the salary and benefits of each position. She said she sees the way we arrive at those costs to be very different. Collective bargaining agreements are the driver for unionized employees. Director Toler offered to share some samples of different models they have done. He said they build these models specifically for what suits the best needs of the Village. President Scaman noted she has been asking for future trends for a number of years and this will help us do that. Manager Jackson said the Village will bring a recommendation and contract back to the Board for consideration in the next few weeks. B. ID 24-286 A Presentation on the Potential Financial Opportunities and Limitations Related to the Options for the Police Station Improvement Project Public Works Director Rob Sproule introduced Chapman and Cutler LLP law firm and Speer Financial. CFO Gayden clarified that the Village does not currently do business with Chapman and Cutler. Chapman and Cutler Partner Larry White introduced Partner Joe Saverino who presented to the Village Board. Trustee Robinson asked if the Village turns over title of the building and the real property acts as collateral in these relationships. Partner Saverino said the legal title typically will stay with the public sector and the real estate Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 6/12/2024 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes May 28, 2024 interests are not going to be part of the collateral for the transaction. She asked if there are operating and maintenance obligations built into these contracts, which Partner Saverino confirmed. She asked if the private sector entities come together and form a separate legal entity consortium, which Partner Saverino confirmed they will typically form an LLC which protects the Village from bankruptcy and liability. She asked if they are conducting due diligence on the consortium entity or the underlying private sector entities. Partner Saverino said due diligence would be done during the RFP and procurement process. Trustee Parakkat inquired about the additional risk premium. Partner Saverino said it is difficult to say because there is not a baseline. It depends on what you are asking the private company to do. Trustee Parakkat asked if the Village has done something like this in the past. Manager Jackson said he worked on significant projects in Champaign and Long Beach. Trustee Parakkat inquired about the recourse if negotiations fall through. Partner Saverino said there is no guarantee that a team will make it all the way through. Trustee Straw said a mixed use development structure is not just a risk allocation vehicle but it could substantially defray the Village's costs. Partner Saverino said mixed use properties are more complex and you could craft incentives for the private companies that are going to develop it. Trustee Straw inquired about the limitations on the assignability of the interests of the private entities involved. Partner Saverino said you build protections into those definitions. Trustee Straw asked where municipalities get this wrong. Partner Saverino said it is having unreasonable expectations in terms of the risk sharing early on so you want to rely heavily on your feasibility analysts and financial advisors that know the space and market. Speer Financial Senior Vice President Raphaliata McKenzie presented to the Village Board. Trustee Buchanan asked why this would work, what these private entities would get out of this, and how this is different than taking out a large bank loan. Partner Saverino said when dealing with complex projects, you can engage separate design firms and architectural engineers. Manager Jackson noted the current Village Hall does not have a contract for operations and maintenance. We want to explore the opportunity and have a lease impact on the Village and extend the lifecycle of the building. Partner Saverino said he can share the slide deck and a sample RFQ. Trustee Parakkat noted the historic preservation architects assessed that Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 6/12/2024 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes May 28, 2024 the current Village Hall is structurally sound and allows for renovation. Manager Jackson said there are significant accessibility issues related to the current structure. The estimated renovation costs are $30M-$40M on top of financing a new police station. Trustee Parakkat noted that estimate included relocating Council Chambers. Manager Jackson said this is part of the due diligence process. The Village Board took a recess from 7:08 P.M. to 7:37 P.M. C. ID 24-287 A Facilitated Discussion on Village Board Goals and Priorities for the Police Station Improvement Project Director Sproule introduced the Item and Ludwig Speaks LLC Facilitator Steve Ludwig. Facilitator Ludwig presented the Item and led the Trustees through group activities and the Trustees reported out on their discussions. It was moved by Trustee Robinson, seconded by Trustee Enyia, to extend the meeting past 10:00 P.M. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. President Scaman said she is not hearing any support for Option 1 to build a new police station onsite. Trustee Wesley said $150M is a non-starter for him and something better needs to be done with the numbers for him to vote yes on anything. Trustee Robinson said she agreed with President Scaman and would not consider Option 1. Trustee Parakkat agreed with Trustee Wesley and said the number has to come down a lot. Manager Jackson said we won't get to any real costs until we get to the next phase. Trustee Wesley confirmed he wants to see a lower order of magnitude cost than what has been presented by the last two architects. Trustee Parakkat said coupling these two decisions together would delay it. It would help to have the costs of a new facility and a renovation staggered. The police facility is the priority. Trustee Straw agreed that he does not need to see Option 1 come back. He said he would be interested in an option that isn't necessarily moored to this site. He suggested building vertically in the Avenue Garage in a way that is a mixed use development or looking at other spaces in the village we have an interest in acquiring. He said he is open to a creative Option 4. President Scaman said if expediency and cost are valued, then the land we own is both of those things. Trustee Straw said he doesn't want expediency Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 6/12/2024 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes May 28, 2024 to be at the cost of making the best decision. He said bringing private investment to the project, which would be difficult on this site, isn't something we should overlook. He said he didn't love any of the options and maybe a new option is the way to get consensus around what's next. Trustee Enyia said he is open to Options 2 and 3. President Scaman recommended having conversations with the Village Manager on assessments of space in our community, which Manager Jackson agreed. XII. Call to Board and Clerk Trustee Wesley said he thoroughly enjoyed the moderation and facilitation this evening. XIII. Adjourn It was moved by Trustee Wesley, seconded by Trustee Straw, to Adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. Meeting adjourned Tuesday, May 28, 2024 at 10:22 P.M. Respectfully submitted, Deputy Clerk Hansen Village of Oak Park Page 6 Printed on 6/12/2024