City Council

400 S. Eagle Street City of Naperville Naperville, IL 60540 Meeting Minutes City Council Monday, November 23, 2020 7:00 PM On Zoom - Open agenda to see cable, phone & streaming options Budget Workshop III On Friday, June 12, 2020, an amendment to the Open Meetings Act was signed into law. This new law replaces the gubernatorial executive order concerning the Open Meetings Act and allows public bodies to temporarily conduct meetings remotely during a state of emergency, subject to certain requirements, including a determination by the head of the public body that an in-person meeting is not practical or prudent. On Tuesday, June 16, 2020, Mayor Chirico issued an executive order determining that in-person meetings of the City Council and the City’s boards and commissions are not currently practical or prudent due to the COVID-19 pandemic. TO WATCH OR LISTEN TO THE CITY COUNCIL WORKSHOP LIVE: • Watch on WCNC GOVERNMENT ACCESS TELEVISION (Ch. 6-WOW, Ch. 10 - Comcast, Ch. 99 - AT&T) • Watch online at https://naperville.legistar.com • Listen by telephone (audio only) – registration to receive dial-in phone number required by calling the City Clerk’s Office, (630) 305-5300, by 5 p.m. on November 23 TO SUBMIT PUBLIC COMMENT IN THE MEETING: To address the City Council via Zoom and provide public comment, members of the public must register by 5 p.m. on November 23 at: www.naperville.il.us/speakersignup The public may choose to provide public comment in any of the following ways: 1. Submit a written comment to the City in advance of the City Council workshop (by 5 p.m. on November 23) to be read into the public record during the City Council workshop by a member of staff. 2. Submit a one-word statement of “SUPPORT” or “OPPOSITON” regarding a specific agenda item to be read into the public record during the City Council workshop by a member of staff. 3. Address the City Council live during the City Council workshop via spoken audio. Individuals who want to address the Council live must sign up to speak in advance of the City Council workshop (by 5 p.m. on November 23). Once signed up, the individual will receive an email from the City Clerk’s Office after the sign-up time ends with information about how to join the meeting. • Online sign-up closes at 5 p.m. on November 23, at which time no other speakers or comments will be accepted. City of Naperville Page 1 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 PUBLIC ACCOMMODATION: • Any individual who would prefer to listen to the meeting by telephone, to speak during the meeting by telephone, or who may require an accommodation to listen to or participate in the meeting, should contact the City Clerk at (630) 305-5300, by 5 p.m. on November 23. • Questions regarding online sign-up may be directed to the City Clerk’s Office by calling (630) 305-5300. PARTICIPATION GUIDELINES: The citizen participation guidelines are outlined in 1-5-6-6: - CITIZEN PARTICIPATION of the Naperville Municipal Code. • ALL VIEWPOINTS AND OPINIONS WELCOME: All viewpoints are welcome, positive comments and constructive criticism are encouraged. Speakers must refrain from harassing or directing threats or personal attacks at Council members, staff, other speakers or members of the public. Comments made to intentionally disrupt the meeting may be managed as necessary to maintain appropriate decorum and allow for city business to be accomplished. • SPEAKER TIME LIMITS: Speakers must limit their remarks to no more than three minutes. Petitioners may speak on an agenda item first and have up to 10 minutes and are also granted a five-minute rebuttal once all other speakers have commented. • IF YOU SIGNED UP TO SPEAK, staff will call your name at the appropriate time during the City Council workshop. Once your name is called you may identify yourself for the public record and then address remarks to the City Council as a whole. Speak clearly and try to limit remarks directly to the matter under discussion. Speakers are called in the order they sign up. A. CALL TO ORDER: Chirico called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. Present: 9- Mayor Steve Chirico Councilwoman Judith Brodhead Councilman Kevin Coyne Councilwoman Patty Gustin Councilman Paul Hinterlong Councilman Patrick Kelly Councilman John Krummen Councilwoman Theresa Sullivan Councilman Benjamin White Also Present City Manager, Doug Krieger; Deputy City Manager, Marcie Schatz; City Attorney, Mike DiSanto; City Clerk, Pam Gallahue; Fire Chief, Mark Puknaitis; Police Chief, Robert Marshall; Director of Finance, Rachel Mayer; Director of Human Resources, James Sheehan; Director of IT, Jacqueline Nguyen; City of Naperville Page 2 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 Director of TED, Bill Novack; Deputy Director of TED, Jennifer Louden; Deputy Director of TED, Allison Laff; Director of Public Utilities - Electric, Lucy Podlesny; Director of Public Utilities - Water, Darrell Blenniss, Jr.; Director of Public Works, Dick Dublinski; Communications Manager, Linda LaCloche; Naperville Public Library Executive Director, David Della Terza; Naper Settlement President, Rena Calabrese; Naper Settlement Vice President, Harriet Pistorio; Naperville Development Partnership President, Christine Jeffries; Downtown Naperville Alliance Executive Director, Katie Wood Daily Herald, Naperville Sun, NCTV-17 B. INTRODUCTION: C. PUBLIC FORUM: COMMENTS TO BE READ BY STAFF Jenny Bouchier-Hayes Hello, the downtown streetscape project should clearly be postponed until after the local businesses have a chance to recoup from COVID. I know several business owners in the area and the consensus seems to be they are against the timing of this project. These poor restaurants and businesses need to be supported or we will lose some of the best places we have in this city. Walter Reilly I strongly believe that that planned for construction must be delayed as its impact on downtown business would be financially devastating on the wake of the horrendous devastation already down by closing and other restriction imposed due to Covid! Evidence of this devastation is replete on our down town streets with empty windows and closed up shops. I must mention not only the devastation caused by the riots. Our businesses, the live blood of our community and culture should not be challenged further! For the city to fail to delay this project as worthy as it might be would make it complicit in the financial hardship and death of additional businesses! Moreover, such losses in both temporary and long term business revenues will place financial burdens on the City and thus on taxpayers! Since this project lacks true urgency there seem no reasonable reason to not delay it to allow businesses to recover as best they can from the many months of loses created by the riots and pandemic! Please be compassionate to our down town business owners and their families and our citizens. Please protect the culture and community live … the reason we came here to Naperville and choose to live here. Be prudent and wise. Lastly know if there is additional costs to the project due to the delay these cost will most likely be made up by city tax revenues otherwise lost … and if not worthy costs for our businesses, the quality of life of our citizens and our community. Julie Kulak Mayor and City Council Members, please postpone the downtown beautification project. Why must this be done now? The downtown businesses have been hurt badly - many closed permanently - due to the pandemic. This is no time to restrict their operations. It's akin to remodeling the kitchen while the house burns down. It can wait. I'd rather see the money for this project used to help City of Naperville Page 3 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 our small businesses stay afloat. They need all the help they can get. Thank you Kelly Russo Please postpone the Streetscape project. Our downtown thrives on unique small businesses and restaurants. These business owners have suffered greatly throughout the pandemic. They are struggling to survive. Why is a construction project that will further cripple their potential business so imperative to complete this Spring? You need to give these businesses the opportunity to recover. Think of your own salaries. How many of you would be okay getting your income slashed in half? That is the reality small business owners are facing. They have families to feed and support just like all of you! Think about helping each other first. Beautification of the downtown can wait! Ann Hekhuis Dear Mayor and City Council members: Please do NOT vote to move forward with the Downtown Streetscape Project at this time. This Project MUST BE POSTPONED! The merchants and business in Downtown Naperville CANNOT bear any further obstacles, hurdles or losses. They have done everything within their power to remain open and serving our community during this pandemic. Please do NOT force them to unnecessarily suffer more hardships and impediments. Proceeding during a worldwide crisis with a beautification project is not putting the people and businesses who make up our city first. This will not only affect the businesses directly in the project’s wake, but the entire downtown area. And if there are no businesses left downtown, what’s the use of the beautification effort - there’ll be nothing left for anyone to go to. Please use common sense and compassion and postpone this project until after the Pandemic and until our downtown businesses have a chance to get on their feet again. That will benefit EVERYONE! Sincerely, Mark and Ann Hekhuis 814 Amherst Ct. Naperville, IL 60565 Joan Anderson Please reconsider the street improvements project slated for downtown Naperville. Our small businesses are already struggling due to the pandemic and this will put a nail in their coffin. It will make curbside pickup virtually impossible and that is currently the lifeblood of these businesses. John Sipich I strongly believe that that planned for construction must be delayed as its impact on downtown business would be financially devastating on the wake of the horrendous devastation already down by closing and other restriction imposed due to Covid! Evidence of this devastation is replete on our down town streets with empty windows and closed up shops. I must mention not only the devastation caused by the riots. Our businesses, the live blood of our community and culture should not be challenged further! For the city to fail to delay this project as worthy as it might be would make it complicit in the financial hardship and death of additional businesses! Moreover, such losses in both temporary and long term business revenues will place financial burdens on the City and thus on taxpayers! Since this project lacks true urgency there seem no reasonable reason to not delay it to allow businesses to recover as best they can from the many months of loses created by the riots and pandemic! Please be compassionate to our down town business owners and City of Naperville Page 4 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 their families and our citizens. Please protect the culture and community live … the reason we came here to Naperville and choose to live here. Be prudent and wise. Lastly know if there is additional costs to the project due to the delay these cost will most likely be made up by city tax revenues otherwise lost … and if not worthy costs for our businesses, the quality of life of our citizens and our community Stephanie Budzinski PETITION TO POSTPONE DOWNTOWN STREETSCAPE PROJECT. Not only impacts businesses on directly affected streets; it will certainly affect ALL businesses in the Downtown Central Business District (CBD). • Many in city leadership frame this as a normal construction project under normal circumstances. These circumstances are NOT normal. We are currently, and will almost certainly still be in, the grip of a global pandemic. The Project was originally postponed until 2023 to give businesses a chance to recover from COVID before it took place. WHAT HAS CHANGED? The merchants and businesses in Downtown Naperville can NOT bear any further obstacles, hurdles, or losses. They have done everything within their power to remain open and serving our community during this extraordinary time. Please do NOT force them to unnecessarily suffer more hardships. Proceeding during a worldwide crisis with a beautification project is not putting the people and businesses who make up our city first. This will not only affect the businesses directly in the project’s wake, but the entire downtown area. Please use sense and compassion; and postpone this project until our downtown businesses have a chance to get on their feet again. This benefits us all. Stephanie Budzinski Michelle Dellinger Although I believe the streetscape project is in the long-term interests of the city, including downtown business owners and all residents and visitors, I do not believe this construction project should move forward in 2021. Landlords and business owners can not bear more financial losses in the economic climate brought on by the pandemic. The beautification project should be delayed until retailers and restaurants can recover from government restrictions that limit their ability to be profitable. Kelly Parker As President and co-owner of Memory Keepers, I would like to share my thoughts regarding the proposed downtown streetscape project. Memory Keepers is a family owned and operated provider of digital preservation services. We utilize industry leading practices and technology in digitizing our customers’ outdated home media, including 8mm film, VHS and camcorder tapes, 35mm slides, audio, and much more. We have been proudly serving Naperville and the surrounding area for seventeen years at our Main Street location. • The proposed City Streetscape Project should be postponed indefinitely, or at least until the current health crisis is under control and businesses have had time to restore normal operations. • It is unimaginable that Naperville’s leadership would even consider such a project during these difficult times that businesses are facing. This is NOT a necessary project; it is a beautification project. • People need to regain confidence and comfort in coming to the downtown area. The last thing we need is to have streets and sidewalks City of Naperville Page 5 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 torn up, traffic jams, noise and confusion for half of the upcoming outdoor season. Rather, we need to do whatever we can to encourage people to come support CBD businesses. • There is a lot of talk about how important downtown Naperville is to the community. This is a perfect opportunity for our City’s leaders to demonstrate their commitment to CBD businesses. The top priority should be keeping businesses alive and well! Yes, beautiful streets are important, but clearly this area needs time to recover from the chaos of 2020. • Tearing things up right now is short-sighted and possibly very detrimental to CBD businesses. Please do not take for granted that downtown businesses will survive, because many of us are already struggling to do so. Thank you for your consideration. L Socash The Downtown City Streetscape project absolutely needs to be postponed. Going ahead with this project is very short sighted and will only hurt our small business that we love. Especially restaurants that have been crushed by limited openings and will need to have full openings in the spring to survive. Elizabeth A Shaffer-McCarthy I would like to express support for additional funding for police CIT training and the hiring of additional police officers. Hiring additional police officers, promotes supportive working conditions for Naperville Police and reduces job-related stress. Expanded CIT training promotes de-escalation and improved community communication. I would like to oppose initiation of the downtown streetscape renovations until the pandemic is over or until outdoor dining/retail is no longer an option in winter of 2021. In order to support local businesses located on the affected streets, it is impractical to perform construction in the only outdoor areas in which they can conduct business. Brady O'Mary Dear City of Naperville Leaders & Council Members, I have lived in Naperville for 21 years and watched the downtown area evolve into a thriving business community. While I appreciate proposed efforts to improve the aesthetics of the downtown area, I do not support having that discussion in the middle of a global pandemic that has left hundreds of thousands of people dead and resulted in the contraction of our economy. I disagree with the assertion that downtown Naperville "looks terrible" made during the November 9, 2020 City Council Meeting. I have never heard anyone say that, whether they live here or not, and it's quite disappointing to hear those words coming from one of our city’s leaders. Furthermore, I don't think cities that are voted the "best place to live" or the "best place to raise a family" earn those accolades if they have downtown areas that “look terrible.” Based on what I've read about this project, it is first and foremost a beautification project, not a safety project. In fact, a March 2019 article in the Chicago Tribune stated, "“Pedestrian comfort” is the goal of a new downtown Naperville streetscape plan that calls for $$15 million in improvements, including benches and seat walls, raised planters, increased landscaping, and wider sidewalks with lit arches along Jackson Avenue." The city of Naperville’s downtown streetscape improvement project states “The goal of this project is to improve the streetscape within the project’s boundaries. With local and national favorite shops and restaurants, Downtown Naperville is like no other. By improving the streetscape, we improve an already lasting City of Naperville Page 6 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 impression for our residents and visitors to continue making Downtown Naperville the premiere shopping destination in Chicagoland.” If there are immediate safety issues with sidewalks, potholes or other structures downtown, I'm sure the city will take immediate steps to remedy those without much, if any, debate as they have in the past. We can try to predict what may or may not happen in 2024, but that is merely speculation and perhaps not the best use of our energy. What we do know and what downtown Naperville business owners have communicated is if this project moves forward, many of them will be forced to close. We've already lost five or six this year and that is too many. If we lose more businesses and those losses are accelerated by a project that was a choice, it's going to be more and more difficult to convince new businesses to locate here and replace lost tax revenue because Naperville's reputation for supporting local businesses will be tarnished. We're on the cusp of a very difficult season for brick and mortar businesses as retail sales are predicted to decline 25% this season, not to mention restaurants that will not be catering office parties, hosting holiday gatherings or serving indoor patrons. There has already been a drop in disposable income and spending due to rising unemployment and continued job loss fears. The US GDP isn't expected to return to 2019 levels until at least 2022. This is not a normal economic downturn. This is COVID-19. I will leave you with this question. Are you comfortable with the thought of looking back at 2021, knowing you made a decision that put someone out of business because you prioritized looks over livelihood? This isn't the time to worry about aesthetics or beauty. This is a time to embrace humanity and demonstrate decency and compassion. Please do not inflict more pain and create more obstacles for struggling businesses, the people who run them and their families. Please let compassion, empathy and humanity guide your decision tonight and make 2021 a year of healing and prosperity for our city, our businesses and our citizens. Thank you for your time. SPEAKERS Jim Hill spoke in favor of budget requests for the library and the downtown streetscape project. Jennifer Bruzan-Taylor spoke against the downtown streetscape project and in favor of adding police officers. Steve Rubin (Downtown Advisory Commission and downtown property owner) spoke in favor of the downtown streetscape project. Chris Mason spoke against the downtown streetscape project. D. PRESENTATION: 1. 2021 Annual Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program Workshop #3 Naper Settlement Calabrese discussed strategic initiatives and capital requests. Council discussed the funding arrangement for the Settlement's Innovation Gateway and Agricultural Interpretive Center and that after the Settlement raised City of Naperville Page 7 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 two-thirds of the total cost the City would contribute the final one-third, vacancy factor, and new events for 2021. Council also asked why 2020 expenses increased while revenues decreased. Calabrese stated that nearly $2M has been raised for the projects. Pistorio discussed salary and benefit costs, regular maintenance of the grounds, that $200,000 was used to transition to distance learning programs, and explained other COVID-related purchases. Library Della Terza discussed the 2021 levy request, the library's vision, how it pivoted in response to COVID, and key initiatives for 2021 including diversity, equity, and inclusion audits, technology upgrades, and the development of a new strategic plan. Community Partners - Naperville Development Partnership (NDP) and Convention/Visitors Bureau, NCTV-17, and the Downtown Naperville Alliance Council discussed City contributions and efforts to attract businesses to Naperville. Jeffries explained the responsibilities of NDP, that it is not a membership organization, there is no fundraising, and that is a partnership with the City. She discussed transparency, FOIAs, advertising for all 315 restaurants, the production of the Dine Naperville guide, grant opportunities, and successful development projects. She stated the Council will be added to the list to receive quarterly board reports. The meeting recessed from 8:54 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. Mayer presented the recommended budget and stated that the 2021 budget is balanced without Council requests and residents should realize a $4 decrease in the City portion of their property tax bill. She explained that the Home Rule Sales tax and property tax have capacity to support new initiatives and new staff requested by Council. Council discussed the Home Rule Sales tax, borrowing, financial principles, and capital projects. Mayer discussed borrowing that would have been necessary if Home Rule Sales tax principles had not been relaxed and that property tax is 50% lower than surrounding communities. Krieger discussed the Follow-up and Action items portion of the workshop and highlighted police officer CIT certification, appropriateness of using CARES Act funding, cost of training, and sharing the cost of social workers across municipalities. Marshall explained that cost and scheduling of CIT and stated that each Naperville social worker has a workload of approximately 450-500 cases so is not practical to share with other municipalities. City of Naperville Page 8 Printed on 12/17/2020 City Council Meeting Minutes November 23, 2020 Council discussed the timing of the downtown streetscape project and Washington Street Bridge construction. Novack explained the Washington Street Bridge project timeline and that March 1 would be the earliest start. Wood spoke against moving the downtown streetscape project forward in 2021 and that City incentives would not change the vote of the businesses. Council provided direction on the following action items: Downtown Streetscape By consensus, Council directed staff to not include the downtown streetscape project in the proposed CIP. Expanded Water CIP Council supported the expanded capital program and the issuance of an estimated $14.5 million in bonds to fund projects. Increase Property Tax Levy The City Council supported increasing the property tax level to capture growth in the City’s equalized assessed value (EAV). Additional Staff The City Council expressed support for the addition of five personnel to the department to include four police officers to be allocated among the Traffic Unit and Special Response Units and one civilian social worker. The Council also supported one full-time staff member to develop and coordinate sustainability programs. 2. Receive the 2021 Annual Operating Budget Presentation E. ADJOURNMENT: The budget workshop of November 23, 2020 adjourned at 11:28 p.m. /S/ Pam Gallahue Pam Gallahue, PhD City Clerk City of Naperville Page 9 Printed on 12/17/2020