Township Board Meeting

STATE OF ILLINOIS CUNNINGHAM TOWNSHIP Diane Wolfe Marlin, Chair Charles A. Smyth, Township Clerk CUNNINGHAM TOWNSHIP BOARD Tuesday, September 3, 2019 The Cunningham Township Board met in Regular session Tuesday, September 3, 2019, at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building, 400 S. Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois. ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Chair: Diane Wolfe Marlin Trustees: Bill Brown, Dean Hazen, Shirese Hursey, Jared Miller, Maryalice Wu Town Clerk: Charles A. Smyth Supervisor: Danielle Chynoweth Assessor: Wayne Williams ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: Trustee Eric Jakobsson ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT: Trustee Dennis Roberts OTHERS PRESENT: Frederic Grosser 1. ROLL CALL Chair Marlin called the meeting of the Cunningham Township Board to order at 7:02 pm. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING Trustee Wu made a motion to approve the minutes from the meeting held on August 5, 2019, seconded by Trustee Brown. With no corrections, the motion carried by unanimous voice vote. 3. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA There were none. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION There was none. 5. COMMITTEE TO VERIFY BILLS The following items were presented in omnibus fashion: 1. Town Fund 2. General Assistance Fund Supervisor Chynoweth noted bills for the Town Fund for $46,239.28 and the General Assistance Fund for $52,300.03. In response to Trustee Hursey, Supervisor Chynoweth explained the Interim Check category in the bills and the process related to partial payments and overpayments. Ms. Chynoweth also noted that conference room electronics costs were split evenly between Township and Assessor funds. Trustee Miller made a motion to approve the Town Fund for $46,239.28 and the General Assistance Fund for $52,300.03. Motion was seconded by Trustee Hursey. With no further discussion, the motion carried by unanimous voice vote. 6. REPORTS OF OFFICERS Township Supervisor Danielle Chynoweth provided a written report to the board. She noted that GA participation is at 118 individuals this month and commented, that based on her third August of observations, that this bump upwards follows past patterns and may correspond to summer unemployment spikes in the area. Homeless assistance is down to 25 cases reflecting a number of closures. She also stated that all of the Township staff are trained deputy registrars able to register Page 1 of 2  people to vote during office hours. She noted Township participation in a new NSF grant application with the University of Illinois using smart cities technology, the recent Labor Day Parade, and plans to be in the upcoming CU Pride parade. These outreach efforts are being made to increase awareness of Township services. Assessor Wayne Williams provided a written presentation to the board and summarized key slides. Mr. Williams began with an explanation of statistical terms used by Assessors. He described a Sales Ratio Study which aims for an ideal assessment of 33.3% of value, reviewed the Coefficient of Dispersion (COD) with a 15% goal, and provided some historical data. He also provided a slide of 2017 and 2018 COD by racially ranked neighborhoods showing disparity issues. He then described Price Related Differential (PRD) as a tool used to measure assessment bias and provided similar breakdowns contrasting neighborhoods noting that PRD values for Cunningham Township are out of the expected range of .98 to 1.03. Assessor Williams summarized current problems and noted that assessment measures were good through 2010 and then something happened. He described plans to address these issues stating that they are going to use new technology (CAMA software system), a new digital property cards system, a new website, and by staying educated with current best practices. Assessor Williams summarized the extensive training he and his staff have taken recently by providing several slides summarizing takeaways including the basics of mass appraisal, preferential assessments, homestead exemptions, residential modeling, and assessments of new properties. He ended his presentation by noting a goal of reassessments of all properties every four years and gave as an example, Neighborhood 21, which was completely revalued. There were no questions for Supervisor Chynoweth or Assessor Williams. 7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was none. 8. NEW BUSINESS There was none. 9. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business to come before the Cunningham Township Board, Chair Marlin declared the meeting adjourned at 7:24 pm. Charles A. Smyth Township Clerk This meeting was taped and broadcast on cable television. Website link for this meeting: https://www.urbanaillinois.us/node/7666 Minutes Approved: October 7, 2019 Page 2 of 2