City Council Regular Meeting

URBANA CITY COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES DATE: Monday, October 26, 2020 TIME: 7:00 P.M. PLACE: *Held virtually due to Governor’s and Mayoral Emergency Orders The City Council of the City of Urbana, Illinois, met in regular session Monday, October 26, 2020, at 7:00pm via Zoom. ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor; Phyllis D. Clark, City Clerk ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: City Council Members (CM) Bill Brown, Bill Colbrook, Shirese Hursey, Jared Miller, Dennis Roberts, Maryalice Wu ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: CM Julie Laut STAFF PRESENT: Jason Liggett, Kay Meharry; Carol Mitten; Lorrie Pearson; Richard Surles; Lily Wilcock OTHERS PRESENT VIA ZOOM: Ricardo Diaz, Scott Dossett; Public Input via Zoom: Benjamin Stone; Allan Axelrod; Julie Watkins; Grace Wilken; John Kraft; Tracy Chong; Meghan McDonald; Drake Materre; Eddie Pratt, Jr.; Beau Barber; Rita Conerly A. Call to Order and Roll Call With a quorum virtually present, Mayor Marlin called the meeting of the Committee of the Whole to order at 7:00pm. B. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting CM Miller made a motion to approve the minutes from the October 19, 2020 special meeting. Motion seconded by CM Colbrook and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None C. Additions to the Agenda There were none. D. Presentations and Public Input Public Input via Zoom Comments via Zoom included: In support of resolution to stop shut-off of utilities; new public input rules do not allow interaction between the public and council members; some states surrounding Illinois have utility shut-off protections and Illinois needs to do the same; where will the homeless be able to go as the weather gets colder; more money going to policing instead of the community; criticism of the Urbana FOIA process; criticism of CPRB process; use Lincoln Square Mall for the homeless; Urbana has unethical practices. E. Unfinished Business There was none. F. Reports of Standing Committees Committee of the Whole – Council Member Shirese Hursey 1. Consent Agenda 2. Regular Agenda Page 1 of 5 a. Resolution No. 2020-10-049R: A Resolution Setting as Official Policy the Vision Zero Goal of Reducing Loss of Life or Serious Injury to Zero on Our Transportation System by 2030 CM Hursey moved to approve Resolution No. 2020-10-049R. Motion seconded by CM Brown and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None b. Ordinance No. 2019-08-040: An Ordinance amending the Urbana Zoning Ordinance (Omnibus Text Amendment II – Plan Case No. 2377-T-19) CM Hursey moved to approve Ordinance No. 2019-08-040. Motion seconded by CM Roberts and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None c. Ordinance No. 2019-08-041: An Ordinance Amending the Urbana Zoning Ordinance (Omnibus Text Amendment III – Plan Case No. 2384-T-19) CM Hursey moved to approve Ordinance No. 2019-08-041. Motion seconded by CM Roberts and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None d. Resolution No. 2020-10-050: A Resolution Approving and Authorizing the Execution of an Economic Development Agreement (Champaign County Economic Development Corporation, FY 2020-2021) CM Hursey moved to approve Ordinance No. 2020-10-050R. Motion seconded by CM Colbrook and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None e. Ordinance No. 2020-10-057: An Ordinance Amending Certain Urbana City Code Sections (To Reflect Changes in Laws Governing Cannabis and Cannabis Paraphernalia Use and Possession) CM Hursey moved to approve Ordinance No. 2020-10-057. Motion seconded by CM Roberts. Mayor Marlin and City Attorney James Simon responded to questions about the aggravated nuisance ordinance and the responsibility of landlords, saying it has been used very few times. Attorney Simon said this is not used to evict tenants, but is more for concentrated areas of crime, and gives the landlords an opportunity to come to the City to address problems. After discussion, the motion to approve Ordinance No. 2020-10-057 was carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None f. Resolution No. 2020-10-051R: A Resolution Approving an Intergovernmental Agreement (Records Management System) CM Hursey moved to approve Resolution No. 2020-20-051R. Motion seconded by CM Roberts and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Page 2 of 5  Nay: None. g. Ordinance No. 2020-10-056: An Ordinance Revising the Annual Budget Ordinance (Budget Amendment #3 – Omnibus) CM Hursey moved to approve Ordinance No. 2020-10-056. Motion seconded by CM Roberts. Mayor Marlin explained $6,885 in police expense is for very thorough triennial physicals for police officers. The $250,000 for parking meter replacement was questioned. City Administrator Carol Mitten said it was to replace parking meters. It had been planned for the previous year but there was not enough manpower to do it. She added the City is expecting a significant loss in parking revenue because they had not been charging for parking. Now that they are charging for parking, utilization is down. There was further discussion about the amount of money in the parking fund. CM Wu made a motion to amend Ordinance No. 2020-10-056 by removing the meter infrastructure project for $250,000 for consideration at another date. Motion seconded by CM Miller and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None The motion to approve Ordinance No. 2020-10-056 was carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu, Marlin Nay: None h. Resolution No. 2020-10-052R: A Resolution Declaring Continued Utility Disconnections in Illinois to be a Pandemic Safety Risk CM Hursey moved to approve Resolution No. 2020-10-052R. Motion seconded by CM Miller. CM Miller suggested the possibility of having the utility companies give the City notice when they are planning to issue disconnect notices to Urbana residents. Mayor Marlin said she would give a copy of this resolution to the governor. She said Ameren and American Water have voluntarily agreed to suspend shut-offs until March 31, 2021. Extensive discussion about utility shut-offs and homelessness ensued. City Attorney Simon said it would be a good idea to get copies of the agreements from the Illinois Commerce Commission Ameren and Illinois Water to see if they have payment plan issues. After discussion, the motion to approve Resolution No. 2020-10-052R was carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None G. Reports of Special Committees There were none. H. Reports of Officers City Administrator Mitten informed council members about the Use of Force policy revision and listening sessions and gave an email address to which people can send suggestions. She said there would be two listening sessions: two sessions November 12, 2020, with the 1:30pm session being for youth, then another session at 7:30pm that day; November 13 there will be a 5:00pm listening session. Deputy Police Chief Richard Surles was present and answered questions from council members. Page 3 of 5 I. New Business 1. Resolution No. 2020-10-053R: A Resolution Accepting an Illinois American Water Firefighter Grant from Illinois American Water City Administrator Mitten addressed this resolution. She said the grant is for $1,000 and will be used to purchase a roof training prop. CM Wu made a motion to pass Resolution No. 2020-10-053R, which was seconded by CM Miller and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None 2. Resolution No. 2020-10-054R: A Resolution of Support for an Application for Illinois Transportation Enhancement Funds (Bakers Lane Shared-Use Path) City Administrator Mitten presented this resolution and said this is a right-of-way that goes along the east of Weaver Park between Main Street and Washington Street and would provide bicycle and pedestrian facilities that would connect Dr. Williams Elementary School, the Kickapoo Rail Trail, offices at the Brookens Building and several neighborhoods. She made a correction to the estimated total project cost, which will be $249,877.50. Urbana’s share would be $49,977.50. There will also be a section added to the resolution which would be worded, “Whereas the City of Urbana will provide the financial commitment up to 20% of the total project cost as requested from the State of Illinois to construct this shared-use path”. After discussion CM Brown moved to approve Resolution No. 2020-10-054R. Motion seconded by CM Hursey and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None 3. Discussion – CPRB Status Report and Recommendation City Administrator Carol Mitten began this discussion with statistics, saying there has been a dramatic increase in police complaints in 2020. In the previous 10 years the average for police complaints was nine per year, and the amount for 2020 is 10 times that number. She said the increase in complaints is being driven by a single complainant and the number submitted by that complainant year to date is 86% of the complaints filed. There has also been an increase in appeals in 2020, with 60 appeals on 92 complaints and 97% of appeals were submitted by one appellant. She said the problem with the Civilian Police Review Board (CPRB) complaint and appeal process is the CPRB ordinance does not define the type of misconduct that would warrant a complaint, and gave examples from some cities that do define it. Administrator Mitten said administrative/procedural complaints and car/minor operational complaints comprise 89% of the appeals, and gave a breakdown on average of staff time and expense per appeal. CPRB members Ricardo Diaz and Scott Dossett were present and commented on the lack of guidance in types of complaints and appeals, and the poor performance of the CPRB in the past. Amending the ordinance to reflect a complaint and appeal process was discussed. At 10:26pm CM Wu moved to extend the meeting to 10:45pm. Motion seconded by CM Hursey and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None Extensive discussion ensued. Ricardo Diaz said no complaints should be ignored, but there should be a filtering process to decide who will take care of complaints concerning administrative or minor operational issues. Page 4 of 5  At 10:45 CM Miller made a motion to extend the meeting until 10:50. Motion seconded by CM Colbrook and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None After further discussion, CM Brown made a motion to take the discussion to Committee of the Whole to limit the topics of complaints for consideration by CPRB. Motion seconded by CM Wu and carried by roll call vote as follows: Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey, Miller, Roberts, Wu Nay: None J. Adjournment With no further business before the council, Mayor Marlin declared this virtual meeting adjourned at 10:49pm. Kay Meharry Assistant City Clerk This meeting was recorded and is viewable on-demand. Minutes Approved: November 9, 2020 Page 5 of 5