City Council Regular Meeting

CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES DATE: Tuesday, January 21, 2020 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 Tuesday, January 21, 2020, 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; Charles A. Smyth, City Clerk ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: None ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: Carol Mitten, Curt Borman, Sanford Hess, Jason Liggett, Brandon Boys, Stepheny McMahon, Lorrie Pearson OTHERS PRESENT: Rev. Dr. Evelyn B. Underwood, Audrey Ishii, Cynthia Hoyle, Annie Adams, Jeff Yockey Chair: Eric Jakobsson, Ward 2 1. Call to Order and Roll Call There being a quorum, Chair Jakobsson called the meeting of the Committee of the Whole to order at 7:00 pm. 2. Approval of the Minutes of the Previous Meeting City Council Member (CM) Miller moved approval of the minutes of the January 6, 2020 Committee of the Whole meeting. CM Hursey seconded the motion and it passed by unanimous voice vote. 3. Additions to the Agenda There were none. 4. Presentations and Public Input Rev. Dr. Evelyn Underwood did not wish to speak but wanted the record to reflect her continued concern for the Dr. Ellis Subdivision sewer issues. 5. Staff Report Stepheny McMahon, Economic Development Specialist, presented a summary and highlights of the January Business & Development report. She noted NuMed’s big opening on New Year’s Day, a new artists’ shop in Downtown Urbana, a ribbon cutting for Transcendence Media, and a new Jujitsu facility in Lincoln Square. She reported that Best of Africa Foodstore has been nominated for a national award. Summary graphs of new single-family home permit were distributed. She announced that annual TIF and Joint Enterprise zone reviews were scheduled for the upcoming week. In response to CM Miller, Economic Development Manager Brandon Boys reported that the Cohen Building had a signed lease for a new Japanese restaurant and that permits for related work have been issued. 6. Resolution No. 2020-01-007R: A Resolution Approving a Memorandum of Understanding to Upgrade the Area-Wide Record Management System (ARMS) (Compliance with National Incident- Based Reporting System Specifications) Committee of the Whole Minutes Monday, January 21, 2020 Page 2 of 4 IT Director Sanford Hess presented Resolution 2020-01-007R. He provided that Urbana’s IT department supports the police record system for the county and that this memorandum of understanding with the Sherriff’s office will allow the city to be the subcontractor on work to be performed to revise the system for new Federal reporting requirements. In response to CM Roberts, Mr. Hess provided detail on the scope of and discussed changes for expanded reporting requirements. He also noted that replacement software will be sought in the next two or three years but the mandate has to be met now. In response to CM Brown, Mr. Hess explained that an existing staff member would be devoted to this update working towards a May 31 deadline as a test case for the state. He also indicated that open portal data would be reviewed for consistency. City Council Member (CM) Miller moved to send Resolution 2020-01-007R to City Council with a recommendation for approval. CM Hazen seconded the motion and it carried by unanimous voice vote. 7. Resolution No. 2020-01-008R: Resolution Authorizing Protest/Request for Hearing/Intervention in Property Tax Exemption Proceedings (OSF Healthcare System/ 2019 Pay 2020) Assistant City Attorney Curt Borman presented Resolutions 2020-01-008R and -009R noting that these correspond to action taken by Cunningham Township. In response to CM Roberts, he noted that this formalizes the authorization for city legal representatives to take action as appropriate. City Council Member (CM) Hursey moved to send Resolution 2020-01-008R to City Council with a recommendation for approval. CM Roberts seconded the motion and it carried by unanimous voice vote. 8. Resolution No. 2020-01-009R: Resolution Authorizing Protest/Request for Hearing/Intervention in Property Tax Exemption Proceedings (Carle Foundation/ 2019 Pay 2020) City Council Member (CM) Roberts moved to send Resolution 2020-01-009R to City Council with a recommendation for approval. CM Hursey seconded the motion and it carried by unanimous voice vote. 9. Resolution No. 2020-01-010R: A Resolution Regarding the Release of Certain Closed Session Meeting Minutes and Approving the Destruction of Certain Verbatim Records of Closed Session Meetings (For the period ending January 31, 2020) Clerk Smyth introduced Resolution 2020-01-010R noting that it is based on the twice-yearly review of minutes from Closed Session minutes. City Council Member (CM) Miller moved to send Resolution 2020-01-010R to City Council with a recommendation for approval. CM Hursey seconded the motion and it carried by unanimous voice vote. 10. Discussion – Vision Zero – Bill Brown CM Brown, as chair of the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC), presented BPAC’s Vision Zero resolution and related information. He and BPAC committee members Cynthia Hoyle and Audrey Ishii reviewed the nine components of Vision Zero, provided a quick overview, and described the action requested by the BPAC resolution. CM Brown described the systems approach used by Vision Zero and showed two YouTube videos from Vision Zero cities Denver and Victoria. He illustrated how family and community drives the goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries. He provided some city data, definitions of severe injuries, and described how Oslo between the late 90s and present reduced their fatalities to just 1 recent vehicle fatality. He described Vision Zero as an umbrella concept that targets goals, data analysis, public messaging, and implementation. Ms. Hoyle discussed funding options and described how other communities have paid for their planning process such Columbia, Missouri in partnership with the Missouri Foundation for Health. She noted that Champaign County will be revising its IPLAN and suggested partnering with the Committee of the Whole Minutes Monday, January 21, 2020 Page 3 of 4 Health Department. She also noted that the National Safety Council funds programs providing additional city examples. She provided a link to the Road to Zero Communications Toolkit and described how the fatality rate on the University of Illinois campus has been reduced through engineering, working with the CUMTD, and law enforcement to attain zero fatalities for several years now. Ms. Ishii reviewed community and Urbana statistics comparing them to national levels stating that Urbana can’t wait for others as the level of local fatalities is not acceptable. In her series of statistics, she noted that vehicle related fatalities are the number one killer of children nationally. She reviewed traffic deaths comparing Champaign and Urbana over two ten-year periods and Urbana is now consistently at two deaths per year, mostly involving pedestrians, double the previous ten years. Questions from Council and Mayor Marlin followed. The concentration of fatalities on University and on Lincoln Ave. were discussed. Ms. Hoyle described the need to dive deeper into the actual accidents for better understanding. CM Brown noted that he has links to articles in the News Gazette related to many of the crashes. Ms. Ishii noted national undercount for those killed on private property or not classified as vehicular or pedestrian. Ms. Ishii showed that there has been no real change in actual crashes between the two 10 year periods so can’t be attributed to distraction. The local expertise, resources, and passion for pursuing Vision Zero were noted. Additional Public Input was heard. Annie Adams, a member of BPAC, spoke about a recent pedestrian fatality noting that she was nearly killed at the same intersection. She pointed out that the Airline Industry looks at near misses and that’s how they get issues under control. She described her own walking and biking everywhere as a child, talked about traffic issues on her current street, Wabash Ave, and concluded that all use these streets and it can be done safely. Jeff Yockey, representing Champaign County Bikes (CCB), indicated that he had sent a letter on behalf of the board of CCB in support of Vision Zero. He noted that CCB has been promoting Vision Zero since 2014. He reminded council that as a gold level Bike Friendly city, we are on the leading edge. He ended by saying that CCB will do all can to support and promote Vision Zero. Discussion followed. CM Miller stated that he was in support of adopting Vision Zero having spoken at length with Ms. Hoyle. He noted willing community members available to help. CM Jakobsson noted serving on the traffic commission and would be sympathetic to Vision Zero being a standing agenda item aimed at considering some low hanging fruit towards the concepts, making it a priority in our infrastructure, and how the commission should be looking at safety. Mayor Marlin said that Vision Zero efforts would be complemented by a rewrite of the comprehensive plan as she wants to include transportation, safety, sustainability, and a very broad approach to quality of life issues. She said that she remembered passing complete streets which was incorporated into the comp plan. She also said that she has been talking to staff about focusing CDBG funding in neighborhoods and blocks for lights and sidewalks; to use those funds where people can see a difference even if just block by block. She expects extensive public engagement going forth and it is a matter of identifying funding sources and identifying staff but considers it doable. In response to CM Roberts, the speakers provided potential community engagement activities including efforts through Safe Routes to School, the Ride Illinois Bike Safety Quiz, revising the I Plan, and doing additional data analysis. Ms. Hoyle acknowledged extensive support by the CUMTD, Ms. Ishii noted considerable material and gave Charlotte’s step by step approach is an excellent model to follow. CM Brown stated that BPAC was looking for direction to staff to work with BPAC going forward and noted ideas for how a task force might work. CM Roberts expressed Committee of the Whole Minutes Monday, January 21, 2020 Page 4 of 4 support for having those doing the presentation, that BPAC, could bring a proposal and resolution. In response to CM Hursey and waiting for the Comprehensive Plan update, CM Brown noted that this is a good point because the built environment affects how people use the roads such as improving walkability. However, he pointed out that there are some differences in players and Vision Zero involves outside community like CU Public Health. CM Jakobsson, as chair, returned the focus to process noting a set of recommendations with 3 sections from BPAC and asked for a sense of the council on each item. Council agreed to each. CM Brown then moved to direct BPAC to draft a resolution for council adopting Vision Zero as city policy with a goal of zero fatalities and serious injuries by 2030, and the related recommendations as presented. The motion was seconded by CM Hazen and passed by unanimous voice vote. 11. Adjournment With no further business before the Committee, Chair Jakobsson declared the meeting adjourned 8:45pm. Charles A. Smyth City Clerk Materials and video for this meeting can be found at: https://www.urbanaillinois.us/node/8260 Minutes approved: February 3, 2020