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 8, 2020 6:30 PM Village Hall I. Call to Order Village President Abu-Taleb called the Meeting to order at 6:31 P.M. II. Roll Call Present: 7- Village President Abu-Taleb, Village Trustee Andrews, Village Trustee Boutet, Village Trustee Buchanan, Village Trustee Moroney, Village Trustee Taglia, and Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla Absent: 0 III. Agenda Approval It was moved by Village Trustee Andrews, seconded by Village Trustee Boutet, to approve the Agenda. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. IV. Non-Agenda Public Comment Adam Paradis. Mr. Paradis found Village President Abu-Taleb's apology for his comments last Monday inadequate. Afshan Syed Norris. Ms. Norris spoke about the increasing disconnect between the Village and its government, and stated that Village President Abu-Taleb's comparison of profiling of Black citizens and police officers was egregious. Betty Besda. Ms. Besda stated that Village President Abu-Taleb needs to lead by example, such as when he told the Trustees that the Board table is not a political place and to be careful of what you say and how you say it. Cate Readling. Ms. Readling discussed the overwhelming amount of detail in the proposed budget amendment and hoped that a clear summary statement is provided to the Board, as well as the impact of these revisions. Ellen Pimentel. Ms.Pimentel stated that profiling of police officers is nothing like profiling of people of color, specifically Black people. Police can leave their job; Black people cannot change the color of their skin. Emily Brigell. Ms. Brigell was appalled by the Village President's equating the profiling of Black people to police. Jessica Gravely. Ms. Gravely stated that the Village President's statement that his comments were taken out of context is incorrect. In addition, the casualness in which he said it made it no less troubling. The Village needs effective anti-racist leadership. Village of Oak Park Page 1 Printed on 6/16/2020 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Josh Vander Berg. Mr. Vander Berg supports Village President Abu-Taleb's signing the My Brother's Keeper Alliance Pledge through the Obama Foundation. Oak Park alone can not solve all of society's ills, but they can come together as a whole for police reform and other issues in their own community. Keith Campion. Mr. Campion discussed excess force utilized by police and suggested re-evaluating the power given to them in the community. He also asked that the Citizens Police Oversight Committee be given additional authority. Lillian Cartwright. Ms. Cartwright was troubled by Village President Abu-Taleb's remarks. She also stated that defunding the police is a call for investment in community, social resources and quality of life. V. Regular Agenda A. ID 20-128 Review and Discuss the Draft Fiscal Year 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), Single Audit, Board Communication Letters, and all other Supporting Documents Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the State of Illinois requires an independent audit of the Village's finances within six months of the end of the fiscal year. JIm Savio of Sikich will present the document, which will be presented for approval by the Board at the next meeting in order to meet the June 30 deadline. Mr. Savio commented that most of the audit was done remotely and thanked the Village Manager, CFO and the Finance staff. He indicated which responsibilities are the auditor's and which are management's. Village Manager Pavlicek noted that the full document is available to view on the Village website. Mr. Savio went through key points in the 2019 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report (CAFR), Board Communication Report, and Communications Deficiencies Report. Village Trustee Boutet asked for a summary of the high level take-away's from this report. CFO Drazner stated that overall the Village is doing really well, keeping in mind that the majority of their revenue comes from property taxes, which is a very stable revenue. He noted that this will be helpful in terms of the pandemic. There are other communities that get 50 to 75 percent of their revenue from sales tax and have lost a great deal of revenue. That is not the case in Oak Park. Cash balances are doing well; there was a cash balance of over $13 million in the General Fund. The Self Insured Retention Fund is doing well and recovered from a deficit balance in 2018 to a balance of $9,000. Mr. Savio added that the goal of that type of fund is to break even. CFO Drazner stated that the Water and Sewer Fund was very strong, with $11.6 million cash, as well as $2.8 million in the Parking Fund. However, there are a lot of capital projects that may use that up. Overall, the Village's finances are solid with no cause for concern as of December 31, 2019. Mr. Savio added that there have been no new deficiencies this year. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla appreciated the work that went into this audit and the accompanying explanation. She asked for an explanation of the Retailers Occupation Tax . CFO Drazner stated that it is 1% of all purchases done online that is allocated to the municipality. Village Trustee Andrews expressed appreciation to CFO Drazner for the low number of deficiencies, which decrease every year. B. ID 20-149 Discussion to Reduce FY20 Expenses in Order to Address the Fiscal Side of Village of Oak Park Page 2 Printed on 6/16/2020 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 the Emergency Affecting Public Health Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic with an Amended Budget to be Considered at the June 15, 2020 Regular Meeting Village Manager Pavlicek stated that on May 18, CFO Drazner provided to the Board a number of proposed budget reductions for the current fiscal year. This discussion was originally scheduled for June 1 but there were other matters to be discussed. Tonight, the Department Directors will briefly review their reductions. CFO Drazner stated that the Finance Department has recommended reducing overtime expenses, various conferences and training, deferral of the budgetary transparency software purchase and temporary staffing for a total of $120,000. Chief Tom Ebsen stated that the Fire Department is recommending reducing conferences and training, sick time buy back, deferral of replacing equipment such as fire hoods, bunker gear, thermal imaging cameras and fitness equipment and deferral of the CPR Program for a total of $86,500. Acting Chief Joe Moran stated that the Police Department will reduce external support by deferring the Barnacle System, which would replace the Denver Boot, conferences and training for the Command Staff for Police Executive Training, reduction of D-97 Crossing Guards and firearms training supplies for a total of $72,000. Acting Chief Moran described the Police Executive Training. Village Manager Pavlicek added that the class was cancelled due to COVID-19. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked if there should be a reduction for SRO's since school has not been in session. Village Manager Pavlicek explained that those officers have been assigned to other duties. She also discussed revenue received from D-97 for crossing guards and D-200 for SRO's, which has also been reduced. Director of Development Customer Services Tammie Grossman stated that her department will reduce conferences and training in the Planning and Neighborhood Services Divisions as well as for Permitting and Administrative staff. External Support items being reduced include various contractual services and emergency services. Operational supplies will be reduced and new software for the Neighborhood Services Division will be deferred. Other reductions are funding to the Oak Park Arts Council and Visit Oak Park, She discussed the impact to Visit Oak Park, and noted that the State will be reducing their funding as well, as they are funded by hotel/motel tax and tourism has been halted. Village President Abu-Taleb proposed shifting some of that funding to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. Ms. Grossman stated that she would have that conversation with Village Manager Pavlicek before the next meeting. Village Trustee Buchanan commented that she believes there should be consensus from the rest of the Board before that gets changed. Village Trustee Andrews suggested a budget reduction somewhere other than Visit Oak Park to fund the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. Village Trustee Boutet would like to look at this as more of a long term solution. Village Trustee Andrews explained to her that her suggestion would be a discussion for next year's budget. This discussion is about reducing the budget due to the COVID-19 issues and not a long term planning strategy. Village Trustee Moroney commended staff for doing more with less. IT Director Alvin Nepomuceno stated that his reductions include conferences and training as well as travel and mileage. In addition, the telephone contract was lower than anticipated, for a total reduction of $12,750. Village of Oak Park Page 3 Printed on 6/16/2020 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Attorney Stephanides stated that the Law Department cuts are conferences and training and membership dues.There may be reductions in external support, but it is hard to predict. Village Trustee Boutet asked if there are any reductions in legal bills due to the courts being closed. Attorney Stephanides said that there are. The Adjudication Department has not had hearings either. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that in the Village Manager's Office, the reductions are three conferences and eliminating the reserve held by D-97 regarding the Early Childhood Collaboration. She clarified that no funding to the Collaboration has been reduced. Another reduction is eliminating clothing for staff. Regarding the Board of Trustees Budget, she took the liberty of eliminating a conference which has been cancelled. Director of Communications Cedric Melton stated the reductions in his department include external support, which was going towards A Day in Our Village and the Summer Youth Skills Program, both of which were cancelled. Other reductions are eliminating conferences and training and decreasing summer intern hours for a total of $30,500. He described the Summer Youth Skills Program, which is held in conjunction with the Library. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla would like to see that program done virtually. Mr. Melton explained how recruitment for the program couldn't be done due to COVID-19. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla discussed Juneteenth becoming a holiday in Oak Park. Village Trustee Buchanan suggested donations by the Trustees. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked that since there will be no July 4 parade, why is there no reduction for that. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that the fireworks display is handled by private investors and the Village really had no cost in terms of the parade. Mr. Melton clarified that the budget for that is about $2,500. Director of Public Works John Wielebnicki stated that he looked primarily at items that could be reduced in the General Fund such as conferences and training, memberships and various services that will be deferrals or one-time savings. Staff is also looking at what they absolutely have to do and what they are currently doing in regards to Maintenance. A number of general contractual services to support the building will be reduced, such as not running the Village Hall fountain. Other items include adjusting estimations of building improvements and general property repair. In regards to Engineering and Fleet, a number of conferences and trainings have been cancelled. Fuel and equipment parts have also been reduced due to less use of vehicles. The Forestry Division will have a reduction of conferences and training as well. Tree pruning, parkway tree removal and landscaping have also been reduced, If there is a tree that is a hazard, however, it will be taken down. The Street Lighting and Streets Divisions include reductions in conferences and training, many of which were cancelled anyway. Also within the Streets Division, street sweeping will be done less often and by in-house staff. Other contractual services such as litter pick up and power washing will also be done in-house. Various material purchases will be reduced. External support for snow plowing will be reduced as well as overtime for snow removal. Within the Sustainability Fund, Village Engineer Bill McKenna stated that the Bikeway Project construction will be deferred to 2021, in conjunction with other construction work at OPRF High School. Staff will still move forward with the design portion of the project. The other savings would be to defer using green materials for different projects such as parking lots, and use asphalt instead. Village Trustee Buchanan asked if there were any other items cut from the Sustainability Fund. CFO Drazner noted that there are no other reductions in the that fund but there is a recommendation that perhaps the General Fund could borrow from the Sustainability Fund to get the Village through this time. That can be discussed further if the Board desires. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked if there was some other way to facilitate safer roadways and routes in lieu of the Bikeway Village of Oak Park Page 4 Printed on 6/16/2020 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 Project. Mr. McKenna commented that the Transportation Commission will be meeting to discuss implementing an alternative biking option. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla also voiced her opposition to using the Sustainability Fund for anything other than sustainability initiatives.Village Trustee Boutet agreed, as it was collected from residents for that one purpose. Director of Development Customer Services Tammie Grossman discussed reductions in the Parking Fund, which include leaving the Parking Manager position and another staff position vacant and eliminating conferences and training and temporary staffing services. In addition, Passport has agreed to waive their annual licensing fee for 2020 in response to the vehicle license fee issues from last year. Staff is also recommending reducing maintenance and improvements at garages. Bank charges have also been reduced due to fewer transactions. Signage replacement and the purchase of a vehicle will be deferred. Director of Public Works John Wielebnicki stated that there wasn't a lot of opportunity for reductions in Environmental Services Fund other than conferences and training and cancellation of the April shredding event. He hopes to be able to have it in September. Another thing to discuss is going to a six versus eight week fall leaf collection, but that is not noted in the document. Village Trustee Boutet asked that staff take a look at perhaps making composting mandatory. Mr. Wielebnicki stated that they are working towards that in 2022. Village Engineer Bill McKenna discussed the Water Fund. Major reductions include deferring work and supplies at the pump stations, deferral of a water main replacement on Augusta, delay of two water meter replacement projects, a vehicle reduction and deferral of the sewer project on LeMoyne. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla spoke in support of proceeding with any flood mitigation projects if there is any possible way to do that. Mr. McKenna noted that the Village applied for a grant to go towards the LeMoyne project and if they are awarded those funds they will proceed and this budget item may change. Otherwise it will be done in 2021. Mr. McKenna highlighted major reductions in the Capital Improvement Fund. These include funding for public art, deferral of expenditures for the Cap the Ike Study and the Home Avenue Bridge Study and halting the streetscape design on Oak Park Avenue. However, street resurfacing will continue, as they are committed to completion of this project in order not to lose Federal funding. Various traffic calming projects will be reduced, as staff was unable to perform data collection this spring. There are reductions in the Lake Street and South Boulevard Streetscape Projects, as staff doesn't believe they will incur all those costs in 2020. The Alley Program has been eliminated for 2020; what would normally be done this year will be done next year. Local street resurfacing will also be reduced. Poor drainage in alleys was discussed. Mr. McKenna explained why several projects funded by grants are being deferred. Village Trustee Buchanan asked how not completing projects funded by grants helps the Village's revenue shortage. CFO Drazner explained that the Village wants to ensure they don't have negative reserves for the year. They are just trying to get through the current year and those expenditures should be more affordable next year. Village President Abu-Taleb suggested looking at this on a two or three year basis, which doesn't change anything. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked if grants for these projects will have to be applied for again. Mr. McKenna stated that they will not lose the funding and will not have to apply for it again. CFO Drazner stated that the future is uncertain and the Village is trying to reserve as much as possible. Village Trustee Boutet asked how they will cope with that uncertainty. CFO Drazner stated that they will all do their best to project what revenues will be this year and next. Village Trustee Andrews stated that projecting too far Village of Oak Park Page 5 Printed on 6/16/2020 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 in advance could be dangerous because of so many unknowns. Village Manager Pavlicek reminded the Board that this discussion was part of their May 18 meeting. She would email that information to them again. Mr. Wielebnicki discussed deferrals from the Building Maintenance Fund, which are essentially putting off all building improvements. Regarding the Fleet Replacement Fund, staff will be holding off purchases of vehicles that were brought to the Board this year. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked why $3 million, not the entire $4 million, wasn't removed from the Police Facility Project. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that a $1 million contract was awarded to the architect by the Board. Staff has advised them to hold off on the design and the Board will have an opportunity to revisit this project at a meeting in August. This discussion was originally scheduled for April.Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla voiced her opposition to the entire project. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla was happy to see there were no cuts to Public Health and asked if they have incurred additional expenses this year. Village Manager Pavlicek stated that they have applied for and received some grant funding and she would provide a spreadsheet and other details. Village Trustee Moroney asked for clarification that there has been a $10 million revenue reduction. CFO Drazner stated that is correct. Village Trustee Moroney stated that these reductions tonight total approximately $2 million, so that would require taking money out of the Reserve Fund Balance. CFO Drazner added that a number of items will be removed from the CIP as well. Village Trustee Moroney stated that they all have to understand the tough spot they are in. Village Trustee Boutet wants to look at the organizational chart, as layoffs are happening at other municipalities. She asked if there are layers of management that can be addressed, or employees who were paid for not working. Village President Abu-Taleb asked what she is proposing. Village Trustee Boutet stated that taxpayers are being asked to pay for services they aren't receiving and that those people should' have been laid off and allowed to collect unemployment or be required to use their sick and vacation time for days missed. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla asked her if she was proposing to cut all those staff positions in the 2020 amended budget. Village Trustee Boutet said no, but there are different ways to configure staff. Village Trustee Walker-Peddakotla stated that it is nobody's fault that COVID happened and that staff couldn't come to work. She is grateful that the Village was able to pay their employees and should absolutely avoid firing people at this time. She is not in support of that. There are other things that they can do such as looking into offering early retirement to those who may want it and not fill those positions until the economy recovers. Village President Abu-Taleb agreed and stated that they owe it to the good people who have been working for the Village to provide them with their jobs. Village President Abu-Taleb was happy that both police and fire pensions have gone up 5% in terms of being funded. Pensions have been difficult, as they are put in place by the State and it is up to the local municipalities to fund them. Village Trustee Buchanan asked how the proposed loan to the General Fund from the Sustainability Fund will be paid back. CFO Drazner stated that would be dependent on the cash flow. Village Manager Pavlicek clarified that this was an option and not a certain action being taken. Non-Agenda Public Comment Logan Siever. Mr. Siever commented that Oak Park has been held as a symbol of Village of Oak Park Page 6 Printed on 6/16/2020 President and Board of Trustees Meeting Minutes June 8, 2020 diversity and unity across the country. He suggested starting with the Police Department in terms of budget cuts and suggested a regional police force between adjacent villages. Maria Pascarella. Ms. Pascarella stated that the Village President is out of touch with his constituents who are fighting for justice in Oak Park and that police reform is needed. Marlon Millhouse. Mr. Millhouse, a Black Oak Park resident with two sons, expressed disappointment in Village President Abu-Taleb's comments regarding police. He feels it shows a lack of sensitivity and awareness of the current climate. Monica Halloran. Ms. Halloran is saddened and hurt that Village President Abu-Taleb negated the moment of suffering the nation and community is experiencing and that a leader in Oak Park should have understood the power and pain of his thoughts and words. Kevin Barnhart and Sue Humphreys, members of CPOC. Mr. Barnhart and Ms. Humphreys would like to know when the promised procedural justice, transparency, accountability and honest recognition regarding policing in Oak Park.will be addressed by the Board They also would like an overhaul of the CPOC (Citizens Police Oversight Committee) Charter. Rachel Stark. Ms. Stark disagreed with Village President Abu-Taleb's comparison of African Americans and the police in regards to being profiled. Rebecca Malinowski. Ms. Malinowski felt that Village President Abu-Taleb's comparison of being Black in American to being a police officer was inappropriate, offensive and inaccurate. Rika Common. Ms. Common suggested that the Board change their protocols to provide time to respond to public comment during the meeting. Steve Krasinsky. Mr. Krasinsky disagreed with Village President Abu-Taleb's comment that people of color feel the same way as the officers stopping them. He was also disappointed that other Board Members failed to speak out against this remark.. Tim Wilbon. Mr. Wilbon spoke against funding for body cameras for Oak Park police, as research shows that they don't improve the public's view of police legitimacy, professionalism or satisfaction during police interactions. There are additional limitations that allow officers or control when they are recording and potentially control access to the recorded video. VI. Adjourn It was moved by Village Trustee Taglia, seconded by Village Trustee Moroney, to adjourn. A voice vote was taken and the motion was approved. Meeting adjourned at 10:02 P.M., Monday, June 8, 2020. Respectfully Submitted, MaryAnn Schoenneman Deputy Village Clerk Village of Oak Park Page 7 Printed on 6/16/2020