City Council Regular Meeting
Regular MeetingUrbana, IL · November 23, 2020
Minutes
URBANA CITY COUNCIL MEETING
MINUTES
DATE: Monday, November 23, 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, November 23, 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 (arrived at 7:26pm), Jared Miller, Dennis Roberts, Maryalice Wu
ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT:
STAFF PRESENT: Jason Liggett, Kay Meharry; Carol Mitten; Lorrie Pearson; Bryant Seraphin
OTHERS PRESENT VIA ZOOM: Ricardo Diaz, Scott Dossett; Public Input via Zoom: Rev. Dr. Evelyn
Underwood; Allan Axelrod; Brian Dunn; Tracy Chong; James Corbin; Christopher Hansen; Grace
Wilken; Beau Barber
A. Call to Order and Roll Call
With a quorum virtually present, Mayor Marlin called the meeting of the City Council to order at
7:25pm, following a special meeting of the Cunningham Township Board.
B. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting
Due to technical difficulties, CM Hursey left the meeting at 7:28pm
CM Miller made a motion to approve the minutes from the November 16, 2020 special meeting.
Motion seconded by CM Brown and carried by roll call vote as follows:
Aye: Brown, Colbrook, 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: City Council should look at information from Durl Kruse for traffic
stop disparity; Urbana should prioritize human rights over their image; police mishandling of rifle in
April 10 arrest of Aleyah Lewis and were in violation of taser use policy in a case in 2019; many calls
received for housing and clothing and Urbana should match services offered by City of Champaign;
there was silencing of public input during police listening sessions; support for tree grant resolution;
should be further discussion about One Door and time made for public input about it; need
accountability in City.
Mayor Marlin clarified that no city staff had undermined any efforts regarding the prevention of utility
shut-offs with the City of Bloomington. She said the City has supported and worked with Champaign-
Urbana Public Health District, Cunningham Township, Regional Planning Commission regarding the
prevention of utility shut-offs.
E. Unfinished Business
There was none.
F. Reports of Standing Committees
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Committee of the Whole – Council Member Dennis Roberts
1. Consent Agenda
2. Regular Agenda
a. Resolution No. 2020-11-059R: A Resolution Estimating the Tax Levy (Fiscal Year 2020-
2021)
CM Roberts moved to pass Resolution No. 2020-11-059R. Motion seconded by CM Miller
and carried by roll call vote as follows:
Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Miller, Roberts, Wu
Nay: None
b. Resolution No. 2020-11-060R: A Resolution Accepting a Grant from the Lumpkin Family
Foundation to Study Street Trees and Plant Street Trees
CM Roberts moved to approve Resolution No. 2020-11-060R. Motion seconded by CM Wu
and carried by roll call vote as follows:
Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Miller, Roberts, Wu
Nay: None
c. Resolution No. 2020-11-066: An Ordinance Approving a Right-of-Way License Agreement
with the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District
CM Roberts moved to approve Resolution No. 2020-11-066. Motion seconded by CM
Colbrook and carried by roll call vote as follows:
Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Miller, Roberts, Wu
Nay: None
d. Ordinance No. 2020-11-067: An Ordinance Amending Urbana City Code Chapter Three,
Section 3-43 (Increasing number of Class R&T-1 liquor licenses for Baldarotta’s Porketta &
Sicilian Sausage, 300 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana, IL)
CM Roberts moved to approve Ordinance No. 2020-11-067. Motion seconded by CM Miller
and carried by roll call vote as follows:
Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Miller, Roberts, Wu
Nay: None
CM Hursey rejoined the meeting at 8:11pm.
G. Reports of Special Committees
There were none.
H. Reports of Officers
City Administrator Carol Mitten announced the Landscape Recycling Center have changed to help
manage some issues with Covid-19. Operating hours will be from 8:00am to 3:00pm Monday through
Friday and closed on Saturday, until spring when hours will be re-evaluated.
Mitten also announced the City has been approved by the Illinois Department of Commerce and
Economic Opportunity for the $500,000 grant the City requested to help fund a series of smaller
grants called the CURES ES (Economic Support). It would reimburse up to $20,000 per business for
changes made to their properties to make them safe due to COVID.
Mayor Marlin said Ameren announced last week they were suspending utility disconnections. The
Regional Planning Commission will work the Cities of Champaign and Urbana, social service
providers and Townships to reach out to coordinate outreach to disconnected households. Mayor
Marlin said anyone unable to pay their utility bills should call their utility companies to let them know
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they are experiencing financial hardship due to COVID: Ameren phone number is 1-800-755-5000;
Illinois American Water phone number is 1-800-422-2782.
Mayor Marlin announced a man was arrested in 2018 and recently plead guilty to sex trafficking young
women in central Illinois from 2016 to May, 2018. He is awaiting sentencing and faces 30 years to life
in prison. She said several Urbana Police officers, including Detective Adam Marcotte, Sergeant Betsy
Alfonso, Sergeant Mike Cervantes and Sergeant Tim McNaught, were involved in the effort to bring
the offender to justice. They were given an award by Homeland Security.
Police Chief Seraphin announced the City entered into a billing adjustment with the Urbana School
District. For the current quarter the school district will pay $22,600 less than the amount usually
charged for this period. The upcoming quarter will also be adjusted by the same amount.
Chief Seraphin also announced there are staffing problems at the front police desk due to COVID.
The normal hours for the front desk are 7:00am to 11:00pm, but for the foreseeable future will be
from 7:00am to 7:00pm.
I. New Business
J. Adjournment
With no further business before the council, Mayor Marlin declared this virtual meeting adjourned at
8:25pm.
Kay Meharry
Assistant City Clerk
This meeting was recorded and is viewable on-demand.
Minutes Approved: December 14, 2020
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Agenda
URBANA CITY COUNCIL MEETING
DATE: Monday, November 23, 2020
TIME: 7:00pm
PLACE: *to be held virtually via Zoom (400 S. Vine St., Urbana, IL 61801)
AGENDA
A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
B. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING
1. November 16, 2020 Special Meeting
C. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA
D. *PUBLIC INPUT AND PRESENTATIONS
E. UNFINISHED BUSINESS
F. REPORTS OF STANDING COMMITTEES
Committee Of The Whole – Council Member Dennis Roberts
1. CONSENT AGENDA
2. REGULAR AGENDA
a. Resolution No. 2020-11-059R: A Resolution Estimating the Tax Levy (Fiscal Year 2020-
2021) - Finance
b. Resolution No. 2020-11-060R: A Resolution Accepting a Grant from the Lumpkin Family
Foundation to Study Street Trees and Plant Street Trees - PW
c. Ordinance No. 2020-11-066: An Ordinance Approving a Right-of-Way License Agreement
with the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District - PW
d. Ordinance No. 2020-11-067: An Ordinance Amending Urbana City Code Chapter Three,
Section 3-43 (Increasing number of Class R&T-1 liquor licenses for Baldarotta’s Porketta &
Sicilian Sausage, 300 S. Broadway Ave., Urbana, IL) - Mayor
G. REPORTS OF SPECIAL COMMITTEES
H. REPORTS OF OFFICERS
I. NEW BUSINESS
J. ADJOURNMENT
*Due to the Governor Pritzker and Mayoral Emergency Covid-19 Orders, the Urbana City Council Chambers will
be not be open to the public during this meeting. Council Members will meet remotely using Zoom Webinar. You
may watch the meeting on streaming services, or on Urbana Public Television, or attend via Zoom.
You are invited to a Zoom webinar.
When: Nov 23, 2020 07:00 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Urbana City Council
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83851742325
Or iPhone one-tap :
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US: +13126266799,,83851742325# or +19292056099,,83851742325#
Or Telephone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 312 626 6799 or +1 929 205 6099 or +1 301 715 8592 or +1 253 215 8782 or +1 346 248 7799 or +1
669 900 6833
Webinar ID: 838 5174 2325
International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kedW5Z8824
PUBLIC INPUT GUIDELINES
The City of Urbana welcomes Public Input during open meetings of the City Council, the City Council’s Committee
of the Whole, City Boards and Commissions and other City-sponsored meetings. Our goal is to foster respect for
the meeting process, and respect for all people participating as members of the public body, city staff, and general
public. The City is required to conduct all business during public meetings. The presiding officer is responsible for
conducting those meetings in an orderly and efficient manner.
Public Input will be taken in the following ways:
Zoom Webinar Participant
Click on the link listed in the agenda to join the Webinar. You must provide your name and email address in order
to join the Webinar. If you wish to speak during Public Input, “raise your hand” and wait to be called on by the
meeting host. You must state your first and last name for the meeting record. Participants will be muted except
when they are called on to speak; video will remain off for all members of the public when speaking.
Telephone Participant
Call the phone number listed on the Agenda. Enter the Webinar ID followed by the # key. All callers are muted by
default. If you wish to speak, “raise your hand” by pressing *9 once. When you are called on by the host or
presiding officer you will be un-muted. You must state your first name and last name for the meeting record.
Email Input
Public comments must be received prior to the closing of the meeting record (at the time of adjournment unless
otherwise noted) at the following: citycouncil@urbanaillinois.us. The subject line of the email must include the
words “PUBLIC INPUT” and the meeting date. Your email will be sent to all City Council members, the Mayor, City
Administrator, and City Clerk. Emailed public comments labeled as such will be incorporated into the public
meeting record, with personal identifying information redacted. Copies of emails will be posted after the meeting
minutes have been approved.
Written Input
Any member of the public may submit their comments addressed to the members of the public body in writing. If
a person wishes their written comments to be included in the record of Public Input for the meeting, the writing
should so state. Written comments must be received prior to the closing of the meeting record (at the time of
adjournment unless otherwise noted).
Verbal Input
Protocol for Public Input is one of respect for the process, and respect for others. Ridicule, obscene or profane
language, lack of respect for others, and personal attacks are not acceptable behavior. Public Input shall not be
used to air personal grievances. Speakers should address all comments to the public body as a whole and not to
individual members or City staff.
Public comment shall be limited to no more than four (4) minutes per person. The Public Input portion of the
meeting shall total no more than one (1) hour, unless otherwise shortened or extended by majority vote of the
public body members present. The presiding officer or the city clerk or their designee, shall monitor each
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speaker's use of time and shall notify the speaker when the allotted time has expired. All public comments should
be addressed to the public body as a whole. A person may participate and provide Public Input once during a
meeting and may not cede time to another person, or split their time if Public Input is held at two (2) or more
different times during a meeting. The presiding officer may give priority to those persons who indicate they wish
to speak on an agenda item upon which a vote will be taken.
The presiding officer or public body members shall not enter into a dialogue with citizens. Questions from the
public body members shall be for clarification purposes only. Public Input shall not be used as a time for problem
solving or reacting to comments made but, rather, for hearing citizens for informational purposes only.
Accommodation
If an accommodation is needed to participate in a City meeting, please contact the City Clerk’s
Office at least 48 hours in advance so that special arrangements can be made using one of the following methods:
• Phone: 217.384.2366
• Email: CityClerk@urbanaillinois.us
*In order to maintain reasonable decorum at a meeting, the presiding officer or any member of the public body
may call a speaker “out of order”. The presiding officer of the meeting shall have the authority to provide a verbal
warning to a speaker who uses abusive, harassing, threatening, or defamatory language, or who engages in
disorderly conduct that disrupts, disturbs, or otherwise impedes the orderly conduct of a meeting. If the speaker
refuses to cease such remarks or conduct after being warned by the presiding officer, the presiding officer shall
have the authority to mute the speaker’s microphone and/or video presence at the meeting. The presiding officer
will inform the speaker that they may send the remainder of their remarks via email to the public body for
inclusion in the meeting record.
*Definitions of Types of Language and Conduct That May Warrant Verbal Warning:
“Abusive” means harsh, violent, profane, or derogatory language which would demean the dignity of an
individual or which is intended to humiliate, mock, insult or belittle an individual.
https://www.lawinsider.com/dictionary/abusive-language
“Harassing” means to annoy or bother someone in a constant or repeated way; to make repeated attacks on
another person.
https://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/harass
“Threatening” means to say that you will harm someone or do something unpleasant or unwanted especially
in order to make someone do what you want.
https://www.learnersdictionary.com/definition/threaten
“Defamatory” means a statement or communication that tends to harm a person's reputation by subjecting
the person to public contempt, disgrace, or ridicule, or by adversely affecting the person's business. A
statement that is likely to lower that person in the estimation of reasonable people and in particular to cause
that person to be regarded with feelings of hatred, contempt, ridicule, fear, or dislike.
Black's Law Dictionary (11th ed. 2019)
Citations that Authorize the Presiding Officer to Bar Offensive Language During Public Comment:
The following citations provide the legal basis for adopting UCC Section 2-5(b)(1)(d) that allows the presiding
officer of a City Council, Committee of the Whole, or a City-sponsored board or commission regulate “abusive,
harassing, threatening, or defamatory language” during public comment. The following Attorney General binding
opinions and case law essentially classify abusive, “harassing, threatening and defamatory language as “manner”,
not “content”, of speech that can be reasonably regulated under the First Amendment. UCC Section 2-5(c)
(Ordinance No. 2020-09-049. Attorney General binding opinion numbers 2019 PAC 59187, 2018 PAC 55462, 2016
PAC 45349; Milestone v. City of Monroe, Wisconsin, 665 F.3d 774, 783-784 (7th Cir. 2011); Vega v. Chicago Board
of Education, 338 F.Supp.3d 806, 811 (N.D. Ill. 2018); Sandefur v. Vill. of Hanover Park, 862 F.Supp.2d 840, 847
(N.D. Ill. 2012); I.A. Rana Enterprises, Inc. v. City of Aurora, 630 F.Supp.2d 912, 920-923 (D.C. N.D. 2009).
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