President and Board of Trustees

123 Madison Street Village of Oak Park Oak Park, Illinois 60302 www.oak-park.us Meeting Minutes President and Board of Trustees Monday, July 10, 2017 7:00 PM Village Hall I. Call to Order Village President Abu-Taleb called the Meeting to order at 7:03 P.M. II. Roll Call Present: 6- Village Trustee Taglia, Village President Abu-Taleb, Village Trustee Tucker, Village Trustee Moroney, Village Trustee Boutet, and Village Trustee Andrews Absent: 1- Village Trustee Button Village Trustee Button joined the meeting at 7:55. III. Agenda Approval It was moved by Village Trustee Andrews, seconded by Village Trustee Tucker, to approve the Agenda. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. IV. Public Comment Rebekah Levin. Ms. Levin discussed the trend of people buying low priced housing in southeast Oak Park to renovate and sell at a much higher price. She expressed concern regarding a possible decline in economic and racial diversity. Cathy Yen. Ms. Yen spoke on behalf of the OPRF Chamber of Commerce regarding upcoming events open to all businesses in the community. She looks forward to the Board setting a date to meet with business owners. Chris Donovan. Mr. Donovan was in favor of the Board Meeting Agendas being released to the public on Thursdays. He expressed concern regarding the public comment procedure and also asked why he did not get the information he requested. Jeremy Olsen. Mr. Olsen summarized the Zoning Board's meeting and recommendation regarding Taco Bell. V. Regular Agenda A. ID 17-552 Presentation and Discussion of the Upcoming FY 2018 Budget Process Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the Village Board receives their annual independent audit in June, which is typically followed up in July with a preview of the Village's fiscal position in preparation for the budget process. She gave an overview of the requirements Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 7/18/2017 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 10, 2017 related to the budget process as established by the Village Code and State law, as well as the timeline. Chief Financial Officer Steven Drazner described the Village's Funds. The General Fund is the Village's primary operating fund. The three Enterprise Funds, Water and Sewer, Parking and Environmental Services are supported by the users and are not property tax supported. Capital Funds include improvements to the public way and maintenance of Village owned property and equipment. Internal Service Funds account for costs such as liability insurance and employee health care costs. Grant Funds include the CDBG as well as some smaller Health grants. Special Revenue Funds include anything with a dedicated revenue source to fund its expenditures. Mr. Drazner gave a breakdown of the tax levy rate, noting that the school districts are approximately 60% of the levy, and explained how equalized assessed value is allocated. He also clarified how much the Village's tax levy is per million dollars in regards to the market value of a home. Mr. Drazner indicated how the Village's tax levy is allocated, noting that 50% goes into the General Fund, and indicated a chart of comparable communities' tax rates. He discussed sales tax revenue from 2016 and showed comparable communities' sales tax rates as well as breaking down the Village's sales tax by business district. Mr. Drazner gave an expenditure overview of 2017 to date and discussed the debt service levy. He summarized the fund balance policy and budget drivers. Village Trustee Boutet asked when the Board will be having their goal setting session, as the budget should reflect the goals of the Board. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that it has been difficult to find a date when all Board Members are available but will continue working on that. Village Trustee Boutet asked for clarification regarding the Moody's report stating that the Village's debt percentage is 2.5% of the total EAV versus staff's lower figure. Mr. Drazner stated that he questioned that as well and learned that they use a complicated formula. Village Trustee Boutet also commented that she'd like to see the budget presented with some consistency from year to year for transparency purposes and ease of understanding. She asked about the "rainy day" emergency fund policy. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the fund rolls over from year to year and gets allocated by formal action of the Village Board. There is no set policy. Village Trustee Boutet also expressed concern regarding the Village's debt level. She would also like to see fund transfers explained. Village Manager Pavlicek gave an example of a fund transfer and explained how and why they are done. Village Trustee Taglia asked about the industrial category regarding the EAV. Mr. Drazner stated that the county corrected that and changed it to commercial. He asked how often the fund balance policy is reviewed. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that it has not been amended since 2011. Village President Abu-Taleb agreed that the Village needs to watch their debt closely. He acknowledged that improvements made to infrastructure, the garages, etc., increased the debt but expressed concern regarding the Moody's report of 2.5%. He asked Mr. Drazner to send the Moody's analysis as to how they arrived at that figure. There was discussion regarding the concerns of the Village Manager and CFO. Village President Abu-Taleb expressed concern that the Village ranked highest in the per capita levy out of 13 other comparable municipalities. Village Trustee Button joined the meeting. Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 7/18/2017 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 10, 2017 B. ID 17-553 Presentation and Discussion Regarding the Parking Fund Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the actual budget document pages and annual comprehensive financial report related to the Parking Fund are attached to this Agenda Item. She clarified that the $27 million balance in the Parking Fund is primarily the asset value. She reviewed revenue from garages, quarterly and on-street parking permits and parking meters. Vehicle sticker revenue goes into the General Fund. Costs of issuing parking citations are contained in the Police Dept. budget; revenues go into the General Fund. Village Trustee Button questioned the increase in the budget for 2017 ticket revenue. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that this reflects the change in fee structure that was implemented in August 2016. Village Trustee Boutet asked what the budgeted number of Parking Enforcement Officers is. Village Manager Pavlicek replied that there are ten; two are currently vacant. Village Trustee Boutet commented that parking enforcement appears to be lacking. She has not paid for parking and has not gotten ticketed. She pointed out that between 2005 and 2010, ticket revenue was in the range of $3 million; it is currently down more than $1 million. Village President Abu-Taleb directed staff to look into parking enforcement further. Perhaps some of the numbers were miscategorized or the new overnight parking policy may be part of this. Village Trustee Button is a renter and parks on-street. She has received many tickets and thinks that it is worth looking into whether enforcement is happening equally throughout the Village. Village Trustee Andrews referred to the Parking and Mobility Services organization chart and commented that from a structural standpoint, it is a management heavy environment. Village Manager Pavlicek commented that this doesn't reflect contractual services. Village Trustee Andrews asked for an updated chart that includes contractual services. Village Trustee Taglia asked if it is efficient to keep in-house staff for meter collections. Village Manager Pavlicek commented that it is labor intensive. She noted that there are confidential reports that staff can circulate to the Board that are done for security reasons and will provide more detail about those procedures. It is not highly efficient for 1,500 meters. There was a discussion regarding the Parking Fund balance and the OPRF HS garage. C. ID 17-545 Parking Discussion for North Avenue & Roosevelt Road, Including Adjacent Areas Mia Moorehead. owner of The UPS Store. Ms. Moorehead is considering moving her business to another Oak Park location but expressed concern that parking at the new location may be changed to 24-hour permit parking. She asked the Board to consider adding 15-minute parking for her customers or perhaps allow her to rent out some of those spaces. Judith Alexander, Chair of The North Avenue District. Ms. Alexander stated that the park at Kenilworth and North is being considered for use as a parking lot. She urged the Board not to do this. Interim Director of Parking and Mobility Services John Youkhana stated that the parameters for this discussion are Roosevelt Road to Harvard Street and North Avenue to Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 7/18/2017 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 10, 2017 Berkshire Street. He noted that his department has worked with other departments such as Public Works, Police and others and the presentation has been looked at by the Transportation Commission. Julie Dixon of Dixon Resources spoke about her background and what her firm does. She stated that parking should be easy and Oak Park has challenges. Beginning in December, Dixon Resources performed an initial finding of the Village's parking and made recommendations for next steps. They have been working on a parking maintenance solution and they are ready to begin pilot programs. The pay-by-plate pilot will be initiated within the next couple of weeks. She noted the direction they are looking to go is to automate as much as possible concerning the permit program, including using the license plate number as the permit number. This will allow customers to perform a lot of services online. Within the next month or so, an RFP will be issued for best practice technology solutions. Various vendors have demonstrated their technology for the Village in recent weeks in order to actually see what is available and ensure the solution implemented will have ease of use as well as grow with the community. Mr. Youkhana described the different daytime parking restrictions. Staff's recommendations include: standardize daytime parking to no parking from 8:00 A.M. to 10:00 A.M., Monday through Friday with open parking on weekends; three hour time limits for daytime parking from 10:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M., Monday through Friday.; removing daytime permit zones that are not being utilized; standardize overnight parking in Zone Z7 to 11:00 P.M. to 6:00 A.M.; convert the underutilized metered spaces on Marion and North to 24-hour or overnight permit parking and consideration of the creation of metered parking spaces on Kenilworth at North Avenue. Mr.Youkhana stated that there are 4 pilot areas for pay-by-plate technology for 60 days. Regarding parking on Roosevelt Road, staff does not recommend adding further restrictions or limits. As for the schools in the study area, the restrictions in the surrounding areas were put in place as part of a Board approved traffic plan. Staff will review that internally every five years unless needed sooner. Ms. Dixon stated that next steps include a review of the ordinances, the level of stakeholder engagement and a rate analysis. Village Trustee Andrews asked for extensive stakeholder engagement. Ms. Dixon stated that stakeholder engagement is critical when making these types of decisions; the first round of stakeholder engagement will be in two weeks. She also discussed a test where all restrictions are removed from a controlled area to figure out what the needs of those residents are and go from there. Village Trustee Button was in favor of starting with a clean slate and seeking genuine stakeholder engagement. Ms. Dixon discussed methods she will use to get residents informed and involved. Village Trustee Moroney suggested removing the 8:00 to10:00 restriction and go with three hour parking across the board. He also asked it there was any thought for relief for streets off of Roosevelt Road from congestion with businesses. Mr. Youkhana suggested that they engage with the businesses before considering restrictions. Transportation Commission Chair Jack Chalabian stated that there is an impact on South Oak Park at night from businesses in neighboring communities. This has not been addressed with this particular study. He would like to see Oak Park be more proactive rather than reactive. Village Trustee Andrews asked if there is a hybrid solution where a code can be typed in so that a commercial customer would pay a higher rate for parking. Ms. Dixon noted that such a system exists, but that with the plate recognition system, they can get more creative. Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 7/18/2017 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes July 10, 2017 Village Trustee Taglia agreed with Trustee Moroney regarding the 8:00 to 10:00 restriction. He also agreed with addressing the issue on Roosevelt Road at night, as this will continue as new businesses open. He was in favor of pay-by-plate. He also noted that there is Village owned property at Euclid and North that could be used for parking. Village Trustee Boutet expressed concern about process. She does not have a goal of unified parking, as there are different needs for different people in different places. She expressed frustration that this is going to be gone over block by block over the year. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that this process was dictated by the Village Board. Staff brought in Dixon to write the RFP for technology. Mr. Youkhana noted that staff takes all feedback from these conversations with the Board, the website and stakeholders. This is useful and important as far as the study. Village Trustee Boutet wants to see as much outreach to the stakeholders as possible and does not want to see standardization just for the sake of it. Mr. Youkhana commented that staff wants to make it easy for people to understand parking in Oak Park and address the existing issues. Ms. Dixon stated that she can help create standard rules based on the needs of a specific area using a zone by zone approach. Village Trustee Tucker was in favor of the blank slate idea and starting over. However, he commented that all of these parking restrictions were put in place over years and a lot of work, but lessons have been learned. Village President Abu-Taleb commented that currently, there is no overnight parking from 6:00 A.M. to 8:00 A.M. That is problematic for people who hold an overnight parking permit and have to move their car at 6:00 A.M. Mr. Youkhana stated that the overnight passes are until 8:00 A.M. Village President Abu-Taleb noted that on the app it is 6:00. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that staff will research that. Village President Abu-Taleb stated that addressing parking has been one of the Board's goals and they have worked on it a long time. He noted that there might be an opportunity for revenue by reaching out to Berwyn to see if they would want to co-operate or share a parking garage or lot with the Village for people who patronize their businesses instead of them parking on Oak Park streets. The Village can also do this on their own. VI. Adjourn It was moved by Village Trustee Tucker, seconded by Village Trustee Button, to adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. Meeting adjourned at 9:25 P.M., Monday, July 10, 2017. Respectfully Submitted, MaryAnn Schoenneman Deputy Village Clerk Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 7/18/2017