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, June 24, 2019 7:00 PM Village Hall I. Call to Order Village President Abu-Taleb called the Meeting to order at 7:04 P.M. II. Roll Call Present: 5- Village President Abu-Taleb, Village Trustee Boutet, Village Trustee Buchanan, Village Trustee Taglia, and Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla Absent: 2- Village Trustee Andrews, and Village Trustee Moroney III. Agenda Approval It was moved by Village Trustee Boutet, seconded by Village Trustee Taglia, to approve the Agenda. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. IV. Public Comment There were no Non-Agenda Public Comments. V. Regular Agenda A. ID 19-194 Presentation by the Early Childhood Collaboration Penny Wallingford, Collaboration For Early Childhood. Ms. Wallingford thanked the Village for their partnership and support. She discussed their scope of work and acknowledged retired Police Chief Tanksley for his commitment to the collaboration. John Borrero, Executive Director of the Collaboration For Early Childhood, stated that the purpose of the collaboration is to support children and families from birth to age five to ensure all children are prepared for kindergarten. He gave a presentation outlining the work they do. Mr. Borrero answered questions from the Board. B. ID 19-193 Discussion Related to Ambulance Fees Village Manager Pavlicek stated that several trustees had requested a discussion regarding the process in which the Village bills individuals who have utilized the services of the Fire Department by calling 911 and are then transported to a hospital. Village Trustee Boutet commented that the Village Ordinance states that "once ambulance services are rendered by the Village to residents, such persons shall not be billed for the remaining charges that may exist once final payment has been received by the insurance providers of the resident". She stated that she has received notification from a resident who received a bill, which is in violation of the ordinance. He also informed her that Blue Cross Blue Shield considers this out of network. She asked what needs to Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 7/9/2019 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 24, 2019 be corrected in order to comply with the ordinance. CFO Steve Drazner explained the billing process. The customer/patient gets the initial bill, which is usually covered by private or public insurance. Anything that is paid by insurance is credited. Usually, insurance doesn't pay the full amount so Andres Medical Billing (AMB), the Village's ambulance billing provider, sends out an invoice for the balance. If that is not paid within 60 days, it is written off. Village Trustee Boutet stated that this is not authorized by the ordinance. She would like the process corrected to comply with the code. Pat Mannix of AMB clarified that insurance is billed first and that this process has been dictated by the Village. Village Trustee Boutet commented that residents should not be billed the remaining charges per the ordinance; only non-residents. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that AMB has been under contract with the Village since 2015. She is concerned that perhaps the contract with AMB might require them to follow the process discussed. The ordinance was updated in 2017 and the contract, which is automatically renewed every year, may not have been updated with the new requirements. Village Trustee added that the Village needs to be in the Blue Cross Blue Shield network, as it is a very common insurance. Mr. Drazner stated that all ambulance charges are basically considered out of network. Village Trustee Boutet commented that this resident in question is still being billed a large amount. The resident spoke about the situation. Village President Abu-Taleb stated that the Village needs to follow the ordinance. Village Manager Pavlicek commented that staff will have to resolve that. Village Trustee Buchanan noted that if the ambulance bill is part of someone's deductible, technically the customer is responsible for all of it. Mr. Mannix commented that there is no simple solution in regards to policy parameters, deductibles, co-pays, etc. Trustee Buchanan would like to see residents have no out of pocket expenses other than their deductible. Mr. Mannix stated that his company bills as an out of network provider to all municipalities. The Village would have to negotiate with the insurance carriers in order to change that. He added that whatever the Village administers as policy is what he will abide by. Village Trustee Buchanan asked how much revenue the Village has received from the insurance companies versus revenues that were erroneously generated by these fees and how it will affect the Fire Department's budget. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that she would provide those numbers. She noted that this change in the ordinance just went into effect in 2018. Prior to that, the Village has always billed residents. Village Trustee Buchanan asked what the process is for people who do not have insurance. Mr. Drazner replied that the full amount would be billed. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked that a follow-up be brought back to the Board. C. ID 19-187 Updated Analysis of Renewable Energy Projects Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the reason for this presentation is to provide background to the Board prior to the upcoming Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) renewal. She discussed the Plastic Free July initiative. Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 7/9/2019 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 24, 2019 Scott Friesen, Environment & Energy Commission. Mr. Friesen asked the Board to move forward quickly to reduce the Village's carbon footprint. He urged the Board to approve the recommendations from the Environment & Energy Commission and to review them annually. Mark Pruitt of the Illinois Community Choice Aggregation Network gave an overview of the presentation. He provided a background of how electricity is delivered to Oak Park residents. Since 2011, local municipalities have been able to negotiate supply contracts on behalf of residents with Community Choice Aggregation. Prior to this, it was up to individual consumers to choose their own supplier. Starting in 2019, programs resulting from the Future Energy Jobs Act have become available. One of these is community solar, which allows individual residents to subscribe to these projects in order to offset a portion of their monthly consumption. However, this is not available within the CCA program. He discussed pricing. In the past, the goal of the program has been to negotiate a rate sufficiently below the ComEd rate to guarantee savings. Over the years, this has becoming more and more difficult. The Village went a different route the last time by choosing a vendor that would match the ComEd rate while continuing to collect the CCA Fund. He noted that the floating rate that matched ComEd provided more savings to residents than going with a fixed rate with the previous vendor. Mr. Pruitt provided his recommendations. The first is to extend the current contract with MC-Squared, as there isn't much room in the market to get savings and the CCA Fund incentive. Another recommendation is to work with MC-Squared to facilitate access for residents to subscribe to community solar. He believes that having this third party would benefit residents, as it is a complex process. If the Village would like residents to secure a subscription, they need to get started early. Mr. Pruitt discussed the proposed projects using the Village's CCA Fund and how they were evaluated. Projects being recommended for further pursuit are a solar canopy for the Village Hall parking lot, rooftop solar for the Public Works building, community solar subscriptions for Village accounts, facilitate PACE financing, streetlighting upgrades and promoting programs already in place. Village Manager Pavlicek added that some of these initiatives have already been funded in the 2019 budget and are in process. The highest priority to bring up next is the community solar subscription. Mr. Pruitt summarized the status of the projects and gave details on the community solar subscriptions. He stated that the fire and library facilities are best suited for this. He and Sustainability Coordinator Mindy Agnew answered questions from the Board. Updated documents will be provided to the Board in July when the recommended aggregation provider is presented to the Board. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked what the impact is on greenhouse gas consumption and emissions within these initiatives, as that is the metric in which they can measure efficiency of implementation. Ms. Agnew discussed the Village's participation in the Chicago Climate Charter and how that relates to the Paris Climate Agreement. She also discussed activities related to their membership in the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus. Ms. Agnew added that these initiatives have all been presented to the Environment & Energy Commission and they have given their feedback. Mr. Pruitt stated that he can convert the avoided energy into clean energy generation to avoided greenhouse gas emissions if Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla would find that helpful. VI. Adjourn Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 7/9/2019 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 24, 2019 It was moved by Village Trustee Taglia, seconded by Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla, to adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. Meeting adjourned at 8:54 P.M., Monday, June 24, 2019. Respectfully Submitted, MaryAnn Schoenneman, Deputy Village Clerk Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 7/9/2019