City Council

400 S. Eagle Street City of Naperville Naperville, IL 60540 Meeting Minutes - Final City Council Tuesday, October 22, 2024 6:00 PM Council Chambers Budget Workshop II A. CALL TO ORDER: Wehrli called the workshop to order at 6:00 p.m. Present: 8- Mayor Scott Wehrli Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor Councilman Ian Holzhauer Councilman Paul Leong Councilwoman Allison Longenbaugh Councilman Josh McBroom Councilman Benjamin White Councilman Nathan Wilson Absent: 1- Councilman Patrick Kelly Also Present City Manager, Doug Krieger; Deputy City Manager, Pam Gallahue; City Attorney, Mike DiSanto; Assistant to the City Manager, Marcie Schatz; Fire Chief Mark Puknaitis; Police Chief, Jason Arres; Director of Finance, Raymond Munch; Director of IT, Jacqueline Nguyen; Director of TED, Bill Novack; Director of Public Works, Dick Dublinski; Director of Public Utilities - Electric, Brian Groth; Director of Public Utilities - Water, Darrell Blenniss; Director of Community Services, Melanie Marcordes; Director of Human Resources, Blaine Wing, Director of Communications Linda LaClouche; Deputy Director of Finance, Brent Strumpf, Budget Analyst Sherrian Kelly; Budget Analyst Nick Krueger, Payroll Supervisor, Erin Herrera; Executive Director Naperville Public Library, David Della Tarza; President & CEO Naper Settlement, Rena Tamayo-Calabrese. Daily Herald, Naperville Sun, NCTV-17 A motion was made to allow Councilman Kelly to participate via teleconference. The motion carried by a voice vote. B. INTRODUCTION: City Manager, Doug Krieger, began the presentation by outlining the agenda for workshop. City of Naperville Page 1 Printed on 12/18/2024 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final October 22, 2024 C. PUBLIC FORUM: No speakers for Public Forum. D. PRESENTATION: 1. Annual Budget Workshop #2: 2025 Annual Operating Budget The presentation was then handed over to Finance Director, Raymond Munch, who provided a high-level overview of the proposed 2025 budget. This overview included details of past work to get the City where it is today financial, a comparison of how the budget has changed, and information on how some upcoming funding challenges helped shape the 2025 budget process. The floor was then opened up for questions, Council asked about the property tax levy; staff advised more information would be provided in the third workshop regarding the property tax levy. Council also inquired about the cash balance in the General Fund. Munch explained what the cash balance policy is and possible options for what to do with the excess. Council asked for additional information on the proposed work for the Nichols Parking Deck. Staff provided some information but explained this was a project for an out year. Finally, a discussion took place on the possibility of adding a traffic light around Brixmor property. Krieger continued with the presentation by outlining a number of service needs and staff’s plan to address these issues. It was noted the Police Department continues to see an increase in mental health calls, as a result the MCIT was included in the proposed budget. The cost of this team including equipment was outlined, but it was noted the salaries and benefits were only budgeted at 50% and this team would not be filled until a revenue replacement for the grocery tax was identified. Next the service needs in Public Works were outlined. This included a discussion around the increase in the forestry group for things like tree trimming and removal. As well as the need for a Restoration Inspector to help ensure quality work is being completed by contractors. Krieger outlined the anticipated increase in credit card fees in 2025 and detailed some options the City can explore to help offset this cost. Next the 2025 pension contributions were outlined; then the presentation was turned over to Deputy City Manager, Pam Gallahue, who outlined employee compensation for 2025. It was noted that the merit pool increase is set at 3.5% and a number of unions are currently in negation. Gallahue then provided some details around the ongoing compensation study with the expectation that wage adjustments would start in 2025. This portion of the presentation concluded with a discussion around health insurance rates for 2025. Several questions were asked about MCIT. Discussion then ensued about what the MCIT would be doing, how they would help other units, the hiring process, how MCIT and CART would interact, and what the addition of this team would mean for how Naperville compares to similar communities with number of sworn officers. Council then inquired about the plans for tree trimming. It was noted the proposed increase would allow the City to get the trim cycle down to 7 years, City of Naperville Page 2 Printed on 12/18/2024 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final October 22, 2024 and that staff continues to look at which species of trees are best. Council did ask about Public Works proposed FTEs and staff noted this work could be done using technology, but it would still require a new FTE to control and manage the technology. This section of questions concluded with a discussion around the plan moving forward with credit card fees, and how staff plans to manage both health plan rate increase and adjusting the pay scales. Next the Electric and Water Utilities were outlined. High level overviews were provided to outline the capital work expected to take place in both utilities, the need for new FTEs to ensure both Electric and Water are addressing all service needs, and the outcome of the rate studies. Council inquired about a number of topics from this section. Questions were asked about the positions the utilities requested. Staff provided an outline of what those positions would do, what the hiring process could look like, and some of the risks included with filling these positions. A conversation also took place around what FAB discussed in regard to the rate studies. It was explained both utilities’ rate study recommendations were discussed with FAB and what was proposed in the workshop was aligned with what FAB felt was the correct path forward. Staff did confirm the proposed FTEs do not have any major bearing on the rates outlined in the rate study. Staff asked for a show of hands on who would support the rate study recommendations. Electric has support from eight members, but some concern was expressed about the plan for overhead to underground conversion. All 9 members supported the recommendation for Water. Following a 5-minute break the presentation was turned over to Rena Tamayo-Calabrese for Naper Settlement. Tamayo-Calabrese outlined some accomplishments from 2024 and goals for 2025. Then Tamayo-Calabrese provided an overview of the 2025 proposed budget for Naper Settlement. There were no questions for Naper Settlement, so the presentation was turned over to Dave Della Terza from the Naperville Public Library. Della Terza provided highlights of some of the library's 2024 accomplishments, 2025 goals. Della Terza concluded his presentation by discussing the proposed 2025 budget for the library, Council did not have any questions for the library. The presentation was then turned back over to City Manager Krieger who outlined budgetary request from community partners. Krieger discussed the budget request from DNA, NDP, and NCTV17. A brief conversation about what each of these organizations does took place, and then Krieger outlined major components of their 2025 request. There was a question about the City replacing some lost PEG revenue for NCTV17 which Krieger confirm is happening in 2025. There was then some discussion around the City’s lobbying efforts. Staff noted there was a new approach being taken which included working directly with lawmakers and more time would be needed to determine how effective this was . There were no additional questions, Krieger outlined the rest of the budget process. E. ADJOURNMENT: Budget Workshop #2 adjourned 8:15 p.m. City of Naperville Page 3 Printed on 12/18/2024 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final October 22, 2024 City of Naperville Page 4 Printed on 12/18/2024