City Council Regular Meeting

STATE OF ILLINOIS CITY OF URBANA Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor Charles A. Smyth, City Clerk URBANA CITY COUNCIL Monday, May 15, 2017 The City Council of the City of Urbana, Illinois met on Monday, May 15, 2017 at 7:00 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building. ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT Maryalice Wu, Alderwoman Ward 1 Eric Jakobsson, Alderman Ward 2 Aaron Ammons, Alderman Ward 3 Bill Brown, Alderman Ward 4 Dennis Roberts, Alderman Ward 5 Dean Hazen, Alderman Ward 6 Jared Miller, Alderman Ward 7 Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor Charles A. Smyth, City Clerk ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE None ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT None STAFF PRESENT Elizabeth Hannan; William Gray; Mike Monson; Sylvia Morgan; Brian Nightlinger; James Simon OTHERS PRESENT Katie Adams; George Amaya; Bishop King James Underwood; Members of the Media A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL There being a quorum, Mayor Marlin called the meeting of the Urbana City Council to order at 7:03pm. Meeting started late due to prior meeting. B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING Alderman Miller made a motion to approve minutes from the meeting held on May 1, 2017. Motion seconded by Alderman Hazen and carried by voice vote. C. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA Mayor Marlin stated she had a deletion from the agenda. Under new business, appointments to boards and commissions, item she removed the Public Arts Commission appointment. Eric Jakobsson’s current appointment to that board will not end until June 30. D. PETITIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS George Amaya spoke to council members concerning the Urbana Business Association’s use of “Singo de Mayo” for a karaoke event that took place May 5 at a local venue. At an earlier meeting, Alderman Ammons had questioned whether the Latino community had been consulted about the use of the name and if they would find it offensive. Mr. Amaya told Alderman Ammons he appreciated the role he provides for minority communities and urged for a better effort to understand and learn about those from other cultures who reside here. Bishop King James did not wish to speak, but asked that his concerns regarding the Dr. Ellis Subdivision sewer issues be entered into the record. Katie Adams from Crisis Nursery spoke about the application for Consolidated Social Service funding. She said the mission of Crisis Nursery is to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing emergency child care and supportive services to families. Supportive services would be available for a number of situations, including homelessness, extreme parental stress and medical crises. Ms. Adams stated that Crisis Nursery is requesting $20,000 from Consolidated Social Service funding, which is about two percent of the nursery’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year. Mayor Marlin relinquished the chair to Alderwoman Wu from 7:15 to 8:30pm to present the budget. Finance Director Elizabeth Hannan and Mayor Marlin gave a presentation of the FY 2017- 2018 budget. The presentation focused on the general fund, from which most bills are paid for the day to day operations of the City. Mayor Marlin stated that because of the shortcomings in the current budget, the short term strategies used in recent years to balance the budget will change. There are long term concerns in the budget, including police and fire pension funding, structural deficit in the general operating fund and inadequate investment in maintenance of the infrastructure. Mayor Marlin said one of the significant initiatives included in the budget is the addition of a City Administrator, which will provide professional management to the city. Proposed revenue adjustments to help balance the budget include a food and beverage tax increase, as well as an increase in sewer use fee, stormwater fee, and the recycling tax. Some of the planned reductions include the retirement of the Chief of Staff and the Community Development Director, and a decrease in funding of the UBA and Public Arts from the General Fund. Mayor Marlin said a Voluntary Separation Incentive Program (VSIP) will be offered beginning in the new fiscal year to reduce staffing of nonunion employees. She announced that several budget briefing sessions would take place May 17 through May 19 for city staff. Finance Director Elizabeth Hannan spoke about revenues and said that a large portion of the City’s revenues comes from sales tax, property tax and income tax. The City’s portion of those revenues could decrease if the state decides to use sales tax and or income tax to help decrease the state deficit. This emphasizes the need for the City to take the necessary steps to work toward a balanced budget.  There was discussion during which Mayor Marlin and Ms. Hannan answered questions from council members. Alderwoman Wu relinquished the chair to Alderman Jakobsson from 8:17 to 8:24pm to join in the discussion. Some of the topics discussed included police and fire pension funds, the VSIP program, City Administrator position, purchase policies, TIF districts, social service funding and the Lincoln Hotel. Mayor Marlin said there will be public presentations in the next few weeks, including the Public Works Capital Improvement Plan, and presentation of the Urbana Free Library budget at the May 22 Committee of the Whole meeting. There will be a public hearing on June 5, and Finance Director Elizabeth Hannan will go into more detail about the budget, as well as some of the long term funding issues. On June 19 the ordinance adopting the FY 2017-2018 budget will be presented. The video of this budget presentation and discussion can be found at: https://www2.city.urbana.il.us/Scripts/CouncilVideo/Video.asp?v=/_Video/City_Coun cil/2017/20170515/03._Budget_Presentation.mp4 The proposed FY 2017-2017 budget document can be found at: http://www.urbanaillinois.us/departments/finance/financial-reports/annual-budget E. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was none. F. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES 1. Committee Of The Whole a. Resolution No. 2017-05-029R: A Resolution Authorizing Acceptance of Grants for Market at the Square with First Federal Savings Bank Alderwoman Wu made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-029R as forwarded from committee. The motion was seconded by Alderman Ammons. The City Clerk stated the vote would have to be by roll call. The vote was carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-029R was carried by roll call vote (7-Aye; 0- Nay) b. Resolution No. 2017-05-030R: A Resolution Authorizing Acceptance of Grants for SNAP Double Value Program with Farm Credit Illinois at the Farmers Market Alderwoman Wu made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-030R as forwarded from committee. Motion seconded by Alderman Roberts and carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-030R was carried by roll call vote (7-Aye; 0- Nay) c. Resolution No. 2017-05-031R: A Resolution Authorizing Acceptance of Grants for SNAP Double Value Program with LINK Up Illinois at the Farmers Market  Alderwoman Wu made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-031R as forwarded from Committee. Motion seconded by Alderman Ammons and carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-031R was carried by roll call vote (7-Aye; 0- Nay) d. Resolution No. 2017-05-032R: A Resolution to Approve an Intergovernmental Cooperative Agreement between the City of Urbana and the Illinois Department of Revenue Alderwoman Wu made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-032R as forwarded from committee. Motion seconded by Alderman Ammons and carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-032R was carried by roll call vote (7- Aye; 0-Nay) e. Resolution No. 2017-05-033R: A Resolution Ascertaining Prevailing Wages (2017 - 2018) Alderwoman Wu made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-033R as forwarded from committee. Motion seconded by Alderman Ammons and carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-033R was carried by roll call vote (7- Aye; 0-Nay) f. Resolution No. 2017-05-034R: A Resolution Authorizing Acceptance of an Illinois Arts Council Agency (IACA) Grant for a Youth Employment in the Arts project (Public Arts Program) Alderwoman Wu made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-034R as forwarded from committee. Motion seconded by Alderman Brown and carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-034R was carried by roll call vote (7- Aye; 0-Nay) g. Resolution No. 2017-05-035R: Resolution Approving an Agreement with the Illinois Department of Transportation (Lincoln Avenue Improvement from south of Killarney Street to north of West Saline Court)  Alderwoman Wu made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-035R as forwarded from committee. Motion seconded by Alderman Jakobsson and carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-035R was carried by roll call vote (7-Aye; 0- Nay) G. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES There were none. H. REPORTS OF OFFICERS Public Works Director William Gray informed council members that the Mayor recently signed license agreements with Metro Communications, McCleodUSA Telecommunications and Consolidated Communications for bored fiber optic cable installation in various locations. Further information for these agreements can be found on the City website at http://www.urbanaillinois.us/ROW_Permits. Mr. Gray reminded everyone about the public meeting for the Curtis Road Corridor Study. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, May 16 from 5:30-7:00pm at the Church of Christ on Philo Road. I. NEW BUSINESS 1. Resolution No. 2017-05-036R – Resolution Waiving a Resolution Respecting Passage of Resolutions, Resolution No. 9394-R30 (Waiver of Resolution No. 9394-R30 in Order to Reaffirm Resolution no. 2017-04-028R) City Attorney James Simon explained that at the last Council meeting there was a resolution presented and voted on that, due to time constraints, had not gone through the Committee of the Whole. Resolution No. 9394-R30 requires all resolutions to go through the Committee before being brought to Council. Resolution No. 2017-05-036R waives the Resolution No. 9394-R30, removing the requirement that it to go through Committee first. Alderman Roberts made a motion to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-036R. Alderwoman Wu seconded the motion which was carried by roll call vote. Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-037R was carried by unanimous voice vote. 2. Resolution No. 2017-05-037R – Resolution Ratifying City Council Action Respecting Resolution No. 2017-04-028R Mr. Simon explained that this resolution reaffirms Resolution No. 2017-04-028R, which was passed by Council on May 1, 2017 without having gone through Committee first. Motion was made by Alderman Miller to approve Resolution No. 2017-05-037R. Motion seconded by Alderman Jakobsson and carried by roll call vote as follows: Ammons – aye Jakobsson – aye Wu - aye Brown – aye Miller – aye Hazen – aye Roberts – aye Disposition: Resolution No. 2017-05-037R was carried by roll call vote (7-Aye; 0-Nay) 3. Mayoral Appointments to Boards and Commissions  a. Market at the Square Advisory Board – term to expire June 30, 2020 1. Valerie Koress b. Traffic Commission – Dean Hazen c. Regional Planning Commission – Dennis Roberts d. Market at the Square Advisory Board – Maryalice Wu Mayor Marlin presented these appointments. Alderman Jakobsson made a motion to approve the appointments of Valerie Koress and Maryalice Wu to the Market at the Square Advisory Board, Dean Hazen to the Traffic Commission and Dennis Roberts to the Regional Planning Commission. Motion seconded by Alderman Brown and carried by voice vote. Disposition: Mayoral appointments Valerie Koress and Maryalice Wu to the Market at the Square Advisory Board, Dean Hazen to the Traffic Commission, and Dennis Roberts to the Regional Planning Commission were carried by unanimous voice vote. 4. Council Appointment - Mayor Pro Tem Alderman Jakobsson made a motion to appoint Alderman Roberts, the most senior member of the City Council, as Mayor Pro Tem. Alderman Brown seconded the motion. City Attorney James Simon explained the Mayor Pro Tem has the legal authority of the Mayor when she is away or unavailable. Motion to appoint Alderman Roberts as Mayor Pro Tem was carried by voice vote. Disposition: Motion to appoint Alderman Dennis Roberts as Mayor Pro Tem was carried by unanimous voice vote. J. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the City Council, Mayor Marlin declared the meeting adjourned at 8:47pm. Kay Meharry______ Recording Secretary Charles A. Smyth_ City Clerk This meeting was taped. This meeting was broadcast on cable television Minutes Approved: June 5, 2017___