City Council Regular Meeting

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES DATE: Monday, March 11, 2019 TIME: 7:00 P.M. PLACE: Urbana City Council Chambers, 400 S. Vine St., Urbana, IL 61801 The City Council Committee of The Whole of the City of Urbana, Illinois, met in regular session Monday, March 11, 2019, in the Council Chambers of the Urbana City Building. ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Maryalice Wu, Ward 1; Eric Jakobsson, Ward 2; Shirese Hursey, Ward 3; Bill Brown, Ward 4; Dennis Roberts, Ward 5; Dean Hazen, Ward 6, Jared Miller, Ward 7; Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor; ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: None ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: Charles A. Smyth, City Clerk STAFF PRESENT: Elizabeth Hannan; Kay Meharry; Carol Mitten; Lorrie Pearson; John Schneider; James Simon; Lily Wilcock OTHERS PRESENT: Elderess Melinda Carr; Grant Jones; Ben Thomas; Members of the Media Chair: Jared Miller, Ward 7 1. Call to Order and Roll Call There being a quorum, Chair Jared Miller called the meeting of the Committee of the Whole to order at 7:00pm. 2. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting Council Member Dennis Roberts made a motion to approve the minutes from the March 4, 2019 meeting. Motion seconded by CM Bill Brown and carried by voice vote. 3. Additions to the Agenda CM Dennis Roberts requested that a discussion regarding how Council receives cases from the Plan Commission and the Zoning Board of Appeals be added at the end of the meeting. 4. Public Input Elderess Melinda Carr did not wish to speak, but asked that her concerns about the Dr. Ellis Subdivision sewer problems, equity, and historic impact be entered into the record. 5. Presentations Bike Share Presentation on Proposed IGA Amendments Planner Lily Wilcock presented an update on the bike share program, which was implemented in 2018. It began with an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the City of Urbana, City of Champaign and University of Illinois, followed by an ordinance passed by Urbana City Council to allow parking of bicycles in the city right of way. VeoRide is currently the only licensed bike share operation, and has 500 bikes in the system which is the maximum number allowed. According to VeoRide’s statistics, there have been 14,800 users and a total of 165,000 rides, which is about 1,000 per day. Complaints, questions and comments have gone from one to three per week to almost nonexistent. Champaign remains on a pilot program and plans to continue that for the next year. The Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the City of Urbana, City of Champaign and the University of Illinois, which covers the joint-licensing agreement, will expire June 30, 2019, and will automatically renew if no changes are made.  Ms. Wilcock said she was seeking feedback from committee members to take back to the partner agencies regarding the IGA. She said some suggestions for changes in the IGA have been to increase the number of bicycles allowed and to increase the operator fee. VeoRide has suggested a performance based increase in bicycles, because the demand for bicycles is higher than the number available. It was also suggested that VeoRide provide statistics on how many complaints they receive about the bikes. Electric bikes were discussed. Ms. Wilcock said that in general, as long as an electric bike does not go over 20 miles per hour it is still considered a bicycle. She said that VeoRide is planning to replace 100 of their 500 bicycles with electric bikes. She was asked about scooters, and said that scooters are not covered by this agreement. She said if committee were interested in information about scooters she would do some research and come back with information for them. Scooters are not being considered at this time as part of the agreement. Ms. Wilcock told council members that the bike share app has been updated to show suggested areas to park the bikes when finished with them. She said right of way space is something that might need to be discussed and Champaign had concerns about parked bikes blocking the sidewalks. An increase in the number of bikes could increase the number left in the right of way. Ben Thomas, the general manager for VeoRide was present and answered questions from committee members. Ms. Wilcock said she would provide feedback from this meeting in discussions with the other members of the IGA. 6. Staff Report Mayor Marlin announced that the city received the DePaul University Chaddick Institute for Metropolitan Development Recognition of Excellence Promoting Bicycling as an Alternative to Auto Travel. She recognized staff who help promote bicycling in Urbana and said Assistant City Engineer Craig Shonkwiler and Planner Kevin Garcia were present in Chicago to accept the award. 7. Resolution No. 2019-03-004R: A Resolution Approving the Re-Engagement of Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, LLP for Financial Auditing Services Finance Director Elizabeth Hannan presented this ordinance. She explained that the original agreement with Baker Tilly Virchow Krause LLP provided for five audits and they have completed the fifth audit. She said because of challenges presented by the city’s change to the Munis financial system, the FY2018 audit took considerably more time both by city staff and by the auditors. Ms. Hannan said staff felt Baker Tilly should be retained for an additional year to put the city in a better position to transition to a new auditor at the end of that time. When Ms. Hannan asked Baker Tilly for a proposal to stay for one more year, that they also included a proposal to extend for three years. The pricing for the three year option was more favorable than the proposal for one year. Ms. Hannan explained that when considering proposals for an auditor, experience and qualification would outweigh cost as the most important factors when choosing a firm. She recommended re-engaging Baker Tilly for an additional three years. After discussion, CM Roberts made a motion to send Resolution No. 2019-03-004R with a three year extension to council with recommendation for approval. Motion seconded by CM Eric Jakobsson and carried by voice vote. 8. Ordinance No. 2019-03-020: An Ordinance Approving and Causing Publication of the Official Zoning Map of the City of Urbana, Illinois (Plan Case 2372-M-19) Planner Lily Wilcock presented this ordinance and explained that the map includes all of the zoning changes made through March 2019. Illinois Municipal Code requires that municipalities publish an Official Zoning Map by March 31, annually.  CM Maryalice Wu motioned to send Ordinance No. 2019-03-020 to council with recommendation for approval. Motion seconded by CM Dean Hazen and carried by voice vote. 9. Ordinance No. 2019-03-021: An Ordinance Amending Urbana City Code Chapter Three, Section 3-43 (Increasing number of Class A liquor licenses for Niemann Foods, Inc. dba Save- A-Lot #477, 220 N Broadway Ave, Urbana, IL) Mayor Marlin presented this ordinance. She said that Save-A-Lot Foods currently holds a Class C liquor license, and would like to obtain a Class A liquor license. They would then eventually apply to the State of Illinois for a video gaming license. If approved for the video gaming license by the State, they would then come before Council to be approved for a G-1, video gaming license. Grant Jones, from Midwest Electronics Gaming. He told committee members that the liquor sales part of the store is separate from the grocery area and has a separate entrance. Hours for the grocery store and liquor store are 8:00am to 9:00pm and would remain the same if they obtain the Class A liquor license and the gaming license. There are no plans to turn the liquor store into a bar. The purpose of obtaining the video gaming license is to increase store revenues. CM Jakobsson made a motion to send Ordinance No. 2019-03-021 to council with recommendation for approval. With no second, the motion was defeated. CM Brown made a motion to send Ordinance No. 2019-03-021 with no recommendation. Motion seconded by CM Jakobsson and carried by voice vote. 10. Discussion: A procedural change regarding how Council receives cases from the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals CM Dennis Roberts initiated this discussion and said he felt that there was not enough time for council members to review cases from the Plan Commission and Zoning Board of Appeals before voting on them. He said for significant development projects or zoning changes, council members have very little time to look over the materials, especially when the items come from a commission directly to council. He said those cases should go to committee rather than council because the rush to approve some projects does a disservice to council members and citizens. The need to be well informed and to have ample discussion time as a group before voting was discussed. It was agreed that although project briefings are useful, it would also be useful to have a group discussions on some projects to get feedback from other council members. Committee directed staff find a process that would allow council members to be better informed about projects, and have ample time for group discussion before voting on them. 11. Adjournment With no further business before the committee, Chair Miller declared the meeting adjourned at 8:51pm Kay Meharry Recording Secretary Materials and video for this meeting can be found at: https://www.urbanaillinois.us/node/7555 Minutes approved: March 25, 2019