City Council Special Meeting
Special MeetingUrbana, IL · October 19, 2020
Minutes
URBANA CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
DATE: Monday, October 19, 2020
TIME: 6:45pm
PLACE: *Held virtually due to Governor and Mayoral Emergency Declarations
The City Council of the City of Urbana, Illinois held a special meeting on October 19, 2020, at
6:45pm via Zoom.
ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor, Phyllis
D. Clark, City Clerk
ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: City Council Members Bill
Brown; Bill Colbrook; Shirese Hursey; Jared Miller; Dennis Roberts; Maryalice Wu
ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: Julie Laut
STAFF PRESENT: Kay Meharry; Lorrie Pearson
OTHERS PRESENT VIA ZOOM: John Kraft
A. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
There being a quorum present, Mayor Marlin called the special meeting of the Urbana City
Council to order at 6:46pm.
B. PUBLIC INPUT
Mayor Marlin summarized the new guidelines for public input, since this week was the first
week for implementation.
John Kraft provided public input via Zoom. He commented that Urbana has two sets of
meeting rules: one set for in-person meetings and another for electronic meetings and said he
wished the City would reconsider the policy.
C. NEW BUSINESS
1. Ordinance No. 2020-10-055: An Ordinance Approving an Extension to a
Redevelopment Project Start Date (Urbana Landmark Hotel 2020)
Mayor Marlin said the ordinance had been revised, with the addition standard language
consisting of one sentence, worded as follows: “This ordinance is hereby passed by the
affirmative vote, the “ayes” and “nays” being called of a majority of the members of the
council of the City of Urbana, Illinois at the meeting of said council”.
CM Roberts moved to approve Ordinance No. 2020-10-055. Motion seconded by CM
Wu and carried by roll call vote as follows:
Aye: Brown, Colbrook, Hursey Miller, Roberts, Wu
Nay: None
D. ADJOURNMENT
With no further business to come before the council, Mayor Marlin adjourned the meeting
at 6:53pm.
Kay Meharry
Assistant City Clerk
This meeting was video recorded and is viewable on-demand.
Minutes Approved: October 26, 2020
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Agenda
URBANA CITY COUNCIL
SPECIAL MEETING
DATE: Monday, October 19, 2020
TIME: 6:45pm
PLACE: *to be held virtually via Zoom (400 S. Vine St., Urbana, IL 61801)
AGENDA
I. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
II. PUBLIC INPUT
III. Ordinance No. 2020-10-055: An Ordinance Approving an Extension to a Redevelopment
Project Start Date (Urbana Landmark Hotel 2020) - CD
IV. ADJOURNMENT
Phyllis D. Clark
City Clerk
*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: Oct 19, 2020 06:45 PM Central Time (US and Canada)
Topic: Urbana City Council Committee of the Whole
Please click the link below to join the webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85416107765
Or iPhone one-tap :
US: +13126266799,,85416107765# or +19292056099,,85416107765#
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 +1 346 248 7799 or +1
669 900 6833 or +1 253 215 8782
Webinar ID: 854 1610 7765
International numbers available: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kdDI0HFUv0
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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 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
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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,
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“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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