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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes 2006-2008MEMBERS PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: CRY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, January 30, 2006 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl, Alderman Wynne also present Doug Gaynor, Bob Domecker, Judy Aiello, Pat Casey, Elke Purzer, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Sue Cantor. Mental Health Board; Mark Sloan, (Recreation Board); Schona Suranda, Lary Ruffalo, (Human Relations Commission); Don Baker(Y.O.U.); Sandra Hill, (Family Focus); Mark Sloan, (Recreation Board); (See Attached List of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Bernstein I. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Bernstein called the meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. ll. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE DECEMBER 5, 2005, MEETING The minutes of the December 5.2005 meettna were called and unanimously approved f4-01. (Alderman Jean - Baptiste arrived shortly after of the approval of the minutes.) III. CHANGE IN INCOME LEVELS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS (FEE ASSISTANCE) AND INCREASING BEACH ACCESS FOR EVANSTON RESIDENTS Mr. Gaynor noted this is a continuation of the Saturday morning budget meetings. He had a conversation with Alderman Rainey to confirm her general proposal and is explained under items #6 and #7 in the memo Mr. Gaynor distributed to the committee this evening. (Attachment A.) Alderman Bernstein noted we brought in 5385.00 in revenue in scholarships, theoretically if we give the tokens away that would be our actual out of pocket loss. Mr. Gaynor mentioned fee assistance and scholarships Is something we've been doing for a number of years. Our numbers of about $350.00 in revenue for beach tokens with the assistance program could change based on the fact this is a two subject memo. The primary issue is raising the income level for the assistance which almost twice as much. If we use the income level that the Recreation Board recommended which was the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA), for a free lunch or modified lunch program, we believe we would see an Increase which would be hard to determine because the income level has gone up. We don't see a negative of revenue occurring. According to Alderman Raney's recommendation there then would be a higher income level and anything below that level would be free which would be a deduction in revenue. Alderman Bernstein asked what is the cost of administering these 55 tokens, Mr. Gaynor said it would be difficult for him to say, we have full time staff that are doing it already as part of their day to day responsibility. Alderman Moran said he had an odd way of observation on this proposal and a significant amount of uncertainty where we might end up depending upon what path we chose to take. He was impressed by some of Alderman Rainey' remarks about days of week and the two beaches, etc., etc., because in all the time and issues he has been Involved with recreation and having been on the Recreation Board for 3 years and well before that, he did not like adopting policies where people that we were intending to assist were somehow categorized in a certain way. He struggles with what Alderman Rainey said about hot or cold, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, getting two beaches, not at all of the beaches. That is a humanistic observation not an economic observation. There seems to potentially be some significant economic Impact depending how we go on this issue, if we decide two days are free as opposed to free assisted tokens there are some potential impacts there. If we say these days at these places its free, do people actually alter their behavior so that going to the beach means you always go for free. Do we lose token buyers because of this, which is a concern for him. When he was on the Recreation Board Janet Webb, whose work in the community he always greatly respected, always resisted doing something for free because if something is worth doing even if these people were of more limited means, it was better to have them pay something so there was a value attached to that something. Alderman Moran said he wants to support a program/procedure that will allow more people to get to the beach, but is not certain how to best go about that. He does not want to surrender too much of our revenue because it does cost a lot of money to run the program, costs that will endure no matter what we do on other things. However we reposition the program to whatever degree we're going to cut back on revenue it's going to move us more into the red In one way or another, which concerns him. He Page 1. would like to see us try to expand on access by making tokens available to more people on a reduced fee basis and is hesitant to go to the free basis but does not want to go the certain days at certain beaches basis. Alderman Tisdahl said she definitely wants to do something especially having read the numbers of the 38 tokens at the 75°% level or 14 tokens at the 40% level. We have a beach access problem in this community. We are a community on the lake for some people and not a community on the lake for others. She very much appreciates the Recreation Board's work and heartily endorses changing income level which has not changed for many years. Looking at current income levels the idea of trying to pay for beach tokens for children when there are four people in the family did not look good. What is being recommended is better than what it currently is and as a City policy those income levels should change on a yearly basis. Alderman Tisdahl agreed with Alderman Moran that she would rather everyone got tokens and could go to whatever beach they want to go to but is under strict orders, as was the Recreation Board, from City Council to be very careful about what it costs which is why the Recreation Board came up with the proposal. She'd be very happy to have tokens to go to any family, to go anytime, to any beach and does not think there would be such an overwhelming cost that it would be prohibitive. Alderman Holmes said she supports what Alderman Tisdahl has said and appreciates the work that has been done. She thinks we have agencies in the community who are working with families that may need the relief and a very simple thing would be for tokens to be applied for a certain amount each year, then see how that goes the first year and deal with it that way as it saves people's dignity, and they could still go to the beach. She does not think under the current system there will be anymore families than the 55 in the report given to the committee tonight. You will not get anymore families by running another ad that families will need to come to the City and fill out an application form to get a beach token. They may go to Y.O.U., Family Focus, or another agency in the community where those families would be able to get beach tokens. Those families do not have to keep the tokens as other families could use the same beach tokens, which is why there is a small number. That is something that she thinks could be managed as going to the beach in the summer Is only for 2 %: months at the most. She does not see this as a hardship for the agencies but sees working that way as being good collaboratively. Mr. Gaynor said providing to not -for -profits, and camps free beach tokens has been long standing. Y.O.U., the YWCA. District 65 Family Center, the Salvation Army, Lifestyle and Famity Center, are just a few that we originally provided tokens for. We changed giving tokens out because they were being passed around. What we now have is a letter. If Y.O.U. sends us a request we send them back a letter saying they are authorized for how many days forwhatever beaches they want to go to, which they present at the beach and are permitted in free. Alderman Homes said that Is well done but what we're discussing Is trying to get more families using the beach. She did run an agency that used to get beach tokens and then stopped. This Is the first time she heard that they were stopped because of the passing around of the tokens. She does not understand that concept in passing around the tokens, what is wrong with other family members using the tokens. Mr. Gaynor said he did not judge it, he indicated they were being passed around but did not limit it just to families. We have an obligation for financial accountability and found that tokens were being resold, people would pick them up and pay for them on a Monday and then on Wednesday come in and say they lost all the tokens and wanted us to replace them all, which we after a while we stopped doing. We believe the assistance should occur, but with a 50°% discount as was proposed. There is a token for presale at $10.00 which somebody could turn around and sell for $15.00 or $18.00. These are things that we have identified and one of the reasons we went to the letter. In our opinion it did not eliminate the original Intent as far as kids in the camps having access to the beaches. Alderman Bernstein asked if our current policy regarding replacement of lost tokens is you have to buy it again, which Mr. Gaynor said Is correct. Alderman Bernstein said presuming we give away the tokens we lose the 5385.00 revenue which to him is not revenue, in addition to which we lose the potential of those who are buying them now who would be able to get them free if we change the scale. Alderman Bernstein referred to the 2500+ children eligible for reduced lunch and the $26,000 of lost revenue to which Mr. Gaynor said that is just a scenario which has nothing to do with families but is just the children that are eligible for free or modified lunch. If we were to use guidelines used in the past for families of 3 or 4 members, if there Is a household income that qualified, that could be an average of 4 individuals we could provide tokens not just for the kids. There was a specific question asked about how many children were eligible for the free or modified lunch and Mr. Gaynor wanted to make it clear that is just the children what we're looking at is household incomes. A household family of four is what we are trying to accommodate with the sale of the tokens. Alderman Bernstein said presuming those 2500 children times 4 in a family would be 10,000 potential bodies on the beach, how many lifeguards would be needed which Is the other side of the equation. To him giving something away is not necessarily a loss of revenue, we'd be losing 5385.00 but to the extent additional lifeguards would have to be hired because of the additional 10,000 people. Is there any sense of how many lifeguards would have to be put on if every one of those people utilized the passes? Mr. Gaynor said for each Saturday and Sunday that we're open throughout the summer it would be about $9,100 per extra lifeguard. Alderman Bernstein asked if that would be giving these free tokens to 2500 families. Mr. Gaynor said that was not calculated as we are dealing with too many variables. For instance it's very difficult to access Lighthouse Beach as there is absolutely no parking there, people are parking 6 to 8 blocks away In the neighborhoods so we do not know that there would be an additional 2500 more people going there. Clark Street Beach could accommodate many more people as it is very large and there is a parking structure at Church and Chicago and Northwestern University. Alderman Bernstein asked If there Page 2. are more lifeguards on duty on the weekends than during the week. Mr. Gaynor responded no, the number is always the same and why we're confident that with the program as proposed by the Recreation Board we don't believe we would need to Increase staff. The actual financial impact would be a question mark on revenue which would then have a net Impact on the overall program. We don't necessarily see an increase in the number of lifeguards. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said Alderman Tisdahl proposed we extend the resource of the beach formore people to access. She believes if we make if affordable to more people at less cost those people who do not now come to the beach, and would want to, would come. Alderman Holmes' proposal to go through the existing agencies where some of the youth are being served that get free or discounted lunch, to extend that resource to them and their families as a pilot program for a year and see what happens. We can't anticipate what the increase would be nor does he think there will be a significant Increase in the utilization because he does not presume that those who are not using the beaches now are not accessing them because they cannot pay to got on the beach. He can go along with the thrust as a pilot program and see what happens at the end of one year then make a determination as to what we need to meet whatever challenges are presented to us. if we find there is a significant influx of people that the lifeguards cannot handle we may need to make an adjustment but he does not see us budgeting for additional assistance at the beaches at this time as he does not believe there will be that kind of significant increase in utilization. He would suggest doing a pilot program and extending the opportunity through the method suggested by Alderman Holmes but at this time do nothing else. Alderman Bernstein asked about the kids not being served by any of the agencies. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said the question is what is the demand. Among the options for recreation throughout the City he does not see that right now because we cannot anticipate what the response by these families. If you extend it to families whose kids are not registered through these programs you might get a general increase of 10%. As we look at what do we do with our youth, Alderman Tisdahl's heart Is in the right place except the piece meal approach to fight for equitable access to the beaches for the youth Is not necessarily the direction that he would promote as to how best to utilize our resources to advance the lot of the youth. Alderman Bernstein asked if there is any sense of how many people generate this total of 55 tokens, was it 200 people, or 500 people, do we know that number. Under our present guidelines how many people could have come in and purchased tokens at a discounted level? Mr. Gaynor said they are estimating 4100 households under the USDA. Alderman Berman said if 2500 households now have access to tokens and we're selling 55 tokens that does not seem like the door will open and there will be a huge increase. Alderman Moran's concern is about these other options and he does not know where it will end up. There are some big numbers in this report if a revised program were designed that brought in a flock of people. You talk about not losing revenue but that is only one part In the picture, the costs are relatively fixed, you may not be losing revenue but you're making the program the big loser if a bunch of people go for free and there is a significantly large increase. Ideally it would be not to charge anybody anything and everyone could wander down and jump in the lake when we feel like It, but the economic reality is we can't run any program that way we have to get some revenue. If we do what Alderman Holmes Is suggesting he tends to agree there will be an increment but nothing dramatic. He does not like the idea of there becoming a black market with the tokens but somewhere there has lobe a program where we can get more people to the beaches without running a significant risk of not covering our costs. Alderman Holmes' suggestion is a good start. Alderman Holmes thought we should start with Childcare Network going through all the agencies that serve families and work It out even if they got 10 tokens, she's not suggesting a huge number, to which Alderman Tisdahl interjected she Is. Alderman Holmes said this should be a pilot to see if it works and then people will know that it's available as it can be advertised. They've already done the Information in terms of income so they know the families that are eligible and people don't have to continue to prove that they are poor enough to get the service at a reduced price as they already proved it by getting Into their programs. Alderman Tisdahl said she's not disagreeing with Alderman Jean- Baptiste or Alderman Holmes with giving agencies tokens as that was a wonderful thing to do and would be wonderful to do again, but one of the most important recommendations the Recreation Board came up with is locking at income eligibility guidelines and one of the best things In this report is to look at the income guidelines. Alderman Bernstein said one thing that has to be considered is every otherprogram requires something other than a natural resource. We can only have as many kids playing socceras there fields to accommodate them, we can't build gymnasiums because we can't afford it, we put up a skate park which costs us a basketball court, there are realities. To him the commodity we can provide for our youth, and we give them painfully little, is something we should really concentrate on. He does not know how many people will take advantage. Alderman Wynne said she supports Alderman Holmes's idea and if we're worried about a black market issue why not make the tokens like a library book where you can check the token out and bring it back. This could be done on a weekly basis checking the tokens out and renewing them. Her question that we are going to change the eligibility requirements has been answered. She Is a beach user as the beaches are one of the best things about Evanston, although there are people who live very close to the beaches and can't stand the beach and go to the pools. if you buy the early tokens and you go to the beach 10 times over the summer It would be S2 for each entrance and looking at the difference between Skokie's and Wilmette's pools that's a pretty good buy. Alderman Bernstein said our costs are different than Skokie and Page 3. Wilmette as they maintain pools. Alderman Wynne said our beaches are expensive to maintain and part of why they are so attractive Is because we do a good job of maintaining them. Mr. Gaynor questioned Alderman Holmes' proposal where there are no forms to be filled out and tokens would be given to certain groups, in the recreation programs we still require that forms be filled out in order to qualify for scholarship programs. Are we eliminating the family opportunity by giving so many tokens to the agencies or the camp rather than providing an opportunity to obtain them for themselves and the kids? Alderman Holmes said she was talking about families not about kids. Mr. Gaynor said he is suggesting trying to give them more and if you're not in one of the agency programs how would you get a token. Alderman Holmes said we're talking about trying to reach lower income and minority people and she is trying to give you a way to reach them through some agency and the people who work with them, she's not talking about the kids. She assumes that Y.O.U., Family Focus, or the Childcare Network, or whoever, will still send you a letter wanting to get beach days for their kids that they have in their camps or summer programs. Alderman Bernstein said what we have to discuss and discover tonight is how whatever we decide impacts the budget. If it's a lass of revenue or an additional expense that's relative, whether we give them to agencies, which agencies, how many tokens, we can discuss before the summer. The reason this is being discussed tonight is because we're in budget sessions and it's a line item that we have to address. Alderman ,lean -Baptiste said his suggestion is that we do a pilot program through the agencies that says for the first time we would be extending this service to the families. Alderman Holmes is suggesting that we make this available for the families and those who want to access this benefit would request It. We may not get every family requesting to participate. He would not put out a general call outside the agencies at this particular point in time. If you find a 50% utilization for those getting access for the first time then we can begin to gage for the following year. We may be able to reach Alderman Tisdahl's proposal to put out this general call as we can then participate and prepare for what might happen, we may need more lifeguards and other resources to make sure we meet the obligation. We have to look at both a budgetary responsibility and also making sure we're prepared to deal with an increase utilization of the beaches. Rachel Heuman, wanted to say a few words on behalf of three people who could not come tonight, Aracely Conchola, former City Outreach worker, Denise Martin, Assistant Superintendent and Principle of the Freshman High School, and Fortuna Leon, President of Organization of involved Latinos. They have all have emphasized to us the necessity of this measure. The beaches, the beaches are virtually segregated, You will see people of color on the grass and you will see pale faces on the beach. In reviewing the data for the reduced and free lunch prograr^.. Denise said she was so strongly struck by something that those of us who can afford the $20 or S27 a year is hard for to take into account if you spend $20 or $27 at the beginning of the summer you've paid S2 for oach beach but we can't fathom is when you are on a low or moderate income there is food, medical care, prescriptions, school supplies, rent, a child's field trip, etc., things that constrain people to have to plan their budgets accordingly. There may not be S27 left to pay for those tokens and they and up being penalized by having to pay $7 per person every time they want to go to the beach. She's concerned about limiting the tokens to agencies alone because several of our friends who are in touch with the community have told us not everybody belongs to an agency. We're trying to open access to the beach and if we limit accessibility to only agencies we're doing it again but on a smaller basis. We don't have to worry about too many people using the beach even with the Increased government guidelines many people are telling us that it's still pretty hard. She agrees that this needs to be made a pilot program and hopefully we'll see a reasonable increase but the amount stilt may be high which we need to take into consideration at a later date. Joan Hickman, Ms. Hickman's comments are attached. (See Attachment B). Don Baker, Director of Y.O.U.. said one of the things that does distinguish Evanston is our beaches it's a wonderful resource for all of our community and all of our taxes helps support this community in various ways. In 1991 Y.O.U. changed the target population and began working with middle school kids rather than high school kids. In the summer of 1992 we had a summer program focused on Junior High kids and that first year we met a number of kids who had never been to the beach, which does not say something good about us a community. His advocacy would be for the widest open possible access to one of our most distinctive and treasured resources, our lakefront. Whether that is done through a much wider open access to beach tokens, which would be his preference, or some broadening of the free beach days. The wider open we can do something that says something good for us as a community, which he understands has economic implications which we don't yet understand. In terms of Y.O.U.'s involvement, we have taken advantage of each of the opportunities as they've evolved over the years. In the early years we bought tokens and daily passes and took our kids. Then the Recreation Department began making that available to us at no cost and more recently we got the letters, which we treasure and which we use every summer. We take groups of kids to beach, staff goes and supervises, but that's a relatively limited number of kids and the number of days because of the other activities that we have, it's not the families, We think it would be a much richer experience for the parents to be able to go to the beach with their children not just have them going with the Y.O.U. staff. We would be more than glad to work with the City and with the Recreation Department to have our staff trained In whatever way you want to train us in terms of deciding how tokens would be distributed. We have to find a way to take this central resource that makes Evanston a wonderful place to live and make it available to all of our citizens. Page 4. Sandra Hill, Director of Family Focus, she also sees children every day, every summer who have never gone to the beach, they've gone to the grass but never to the beach, which it hurts her to see every summer. She's hereto advocate for more access. She is a strong advocate of equity, we all pay taxes no matter how much, we all tout Evanston's diversity, diversity is not only race its economics and whatever way you decide do to this we as a community have to decide that we're going to increase the access to the beaches with this budget and do it because it's the right thing to do. This is also an Investment in our youth, we invest now or we invest later. There are children and families that have been living in Evanston for generation who don't know what it is go to a beach. If we are going to profess to be the most successfully diverse community of the North Shore or the Chicago Metropolitan area of Illinois she does not think we can leave this particular subject without making some changes of our access to our beaches. She supports any effort to increase the access whether training, education, getting the word out orwhatever you need us at Family Focus to do. We service the entire community, not just the 5' Ward but all of Evanston comes to our doors for something and so we have access to those families. Pat Gregory, resident said she comes before this committee tonight to ask you to take a closer look at how the City's Police Department handles the citizens of Evanston especially the young black males. There has been a lot of talk about profiling as it applies to the driving but no one has addressed the issue of racial profiling as it applies to walking down the street. Black motorists are often stopped for ridiculous questions. Four years ago the Evanston Police Department conducted a study to show they did not racially profile, however, there was a recent report in the Sun Times that proved different. The study the Police Department conducted did not show how many of our young black teens are stopped by the police while just walking. Being a public servant requires a certain level of understanding, hearing and confession. There are a small number of officers conducting themselves in an illegal manner making the majority of the department who do honestly serve and protect look very bad. The Office of Professional Standards investigates complaints against officers which is problem because the people doing the investigation are police officers. She believes an outside source should be contracted to insure that investigations are fair. Maybe its time for Evanston to review its hiring policy of police officers and make it mandatory for them to live in the City or make them be involved In some kind of community service because they really do not know this community. We say we're diverse; we raise our children that way. When it comes time to go downtown Evanston it's a different story. These boys are harassed and they are arrested for nonsense and she thinks this committee should take a closer look at the complaints you get from African American parents about the way the police conduct themselves with their sons. Thank you. John Heunian, resident, was interested in the current income level per household and was told that was $36.000 and they would have to pay 50% for the tokens. He asked for clarification of whether the agencies would be getting the tokens for free or at a reduced price and was told the agencies would be given a number of free tokens to disseminate to families that would meet some eligibility guidelines, people who use certain agency depending on what the agency services are. Mr. Heuman's said the reason we started this was because of the 90, 95 degree temperatures last summer and here we go again with these people on the grass not being able to get onto the beaches because you're only giving a certain number of tokens to the community organizations. He would like to see a cost of S5.00 for poor people to get a token not very much money, $10.00 for people under the $50,000 income. That would generate money as you rightfully have to be concerned about the budget. He thinks that would bring In enough money to alleviate any problems you might have about revenue coming in and he would agree there's not going to be a problem about lifeguards as they are relatively cheap. People should be able afford $5,00 a token for a family of 3 or 4. Alderman Bernstein said he has constituents that can't afford that and it's got to be paid at a time when summer clothes and shoes are needed for the children. The reality is historically these beaches were free. When we started to govern the beaches we became liable for them, even now when we don't govern them we're liable for them. Over the years the necessity of putting lifeguards on the beach came to pass, everything that's done takes money to do. Everybody has needs which is why we're working so hard to do something that is not going to impact the budget because our budget is already tight. All of us share the desire that the beaches be free to everybody. In a perfect world there would be sufficient funds coming in from other sources to allow everybody onto the beach and we would have the wherewithal to pay lifeguards, who do not come cheap as a matter of fact are very difficult to get. There are serious realities about staffing the beaches. Mark Sloan, President of the Recreation Board, said a lot of time was spent at their meetings which Alderman Tisdahl also attended, talking about this. Mr. Heuman brought to our attention the way we calculate who can qualify for a reduced fee is so antiquated and outdated that they needed to immediately address that. If we don't address that now we're making a very big disservice to the rest of the community. Without a doubt this has to be done. Secondly, they can figure out away to distribute free tokens to some of the agencies whether it's a 100 or 200. The concern is when those run out then potentially we will then reduce the status. We need a revenue generator not a revenue decreaser, some of the people will think it makes sense to make the investment for the whole summer. He has not heard anyone talk about the Monday, Wednesday, Thursday free beach days which was one of the recommendations to this committee. Alderman Bernstein said this has been discussed and the concern to this committee was we did not like the Monday, Wednesday, Thursday beaches. What happens if it's raining on a Monday and Wednesday and the kids don't get to swim that week? Page 5. Mr. Sloan asked if the committee wanted to get rid of Mondays, to which he was told no, they do not want to get rid of anything. Alderman Bernstein said the intent was to expand to allow more people into the beaches. Mr. Gaynor noted as a point of interest. June 7, 1993, the Human Services Committee created a free beach day that was directed by Mayor Morton and on July 5°i, 1993, through the rest of the summer Clark Street Beach was free on Mondays. Mr. Sloan said they suggested adding South Boulevard on Mondays as part of their recommendation. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said we should not be spending much more time on this and does not think we should roll back anything we have in place. What we are discussing is going forward in the direction of opening the beaches but how we do that is very important.. The advocates for a wide open beach or a new token discounted beach is good, but the problem Is we are operating with "X" amount of dollars with a number of competing interests. The City Manger has proposed cutting Fleetwood Jourdain Theater and various other programs, and certain branch libraries; a lot is on the table that we have to contend with as to how we move forward with this budget. We will not be able to make the decision for wide opening the beaches this time around. The pilot program is minimal cost, more people will gel involved, more families, lets took at that to see if we have any additional overhead that we might incur and study that. Mr. Heuman's proposal is something that we also need to take a look at as that may be a revenue generator and maybe it may not. There is a whole other issue that we never talk about, the notion that because you have a fee for something that's an obstacle to families who may not have a lot of money to get there. Some people chose not to go, people have different priorities and beaches may not be one of them. People can live without going to the beach, what we're talking is expanding the opportunity, more access, but lets not try to advocate a radical departure from what we do now. The rest of the Council members are not going to support that because we are talking about a limited pot. Let's keep this on the table and comeback to the Human Services Committee for further discussion as to what we do next year. For now this has to be limited. He's not trying to constantly see us as poor folks who can't do this or that, let's right for equity but lets do it In a way that's proactive which is why he's advocating that we do a more comprehensive youth program that assists the youth in trying to learn what they have to do to survive in this society, Taking the resources and investing in a couple of more days at the beaches is not really doing something quantative. Alderman Jean-Hantiste moved that we extend free tokens to the agencies to orovide [or the children and families who aualifv to participate Ina nroaram such as the free lunch. and other such services as a first vear pilot. The Issue of chanaina the guidelines can be discussed and a motion can be made to move on with that. Alderman Moran seconded the motion. Ms. DuCree from the audience, has lived in Evanston since the early 60's, has 6 children and she and her children lived on the beach during the summertime, which was an advantage to them to go out there and play. Some children did not like to go the beach but most of her children's friends wanted to go to the beach. Back then with 6 children she could not afford the money to go the beach but she had a reduction. There are different levels for incomes In Evanston, there's the wealthy, the rich, the middle class, and there's a poor, a less poor and a lower poor. If you give people the chance, even if you charge them $2.00, that's giving people an opportunity to have their children go to certain places. At the same time we need to give people some dignity, let us pay a tittle something and you will get your revenue. Schons Buranda, Human Relations Chair, commended the free Monday but asked why it can't be any beach not just limited to one beach. The Human Relations Department deals with a lot of children that actually do work and clean the beaches and the streets and alleys during the summer. A lot of those kids can't afford to go to the beach but they spend all theirdays there. She's not sure the agencies accommodate the youths between 16 and 21, she knows they deal mostly with the middle school children and thinks it would be a consideration on your part to urgently consider those kids not enrolled in those agencies. Mr. Gaynor wanted to clarify that the summer youth kids do not work on the beaches they work the festivals; automated equipment is used on the beaches. Alderman Moran wanted to add as pant of Alderman Jean -Baptist's motion that the Human Services Committee nominates Mr. Terry to develop a roster of the loglcal agencies to be the recipients of these free tokens. Alderman Tisdahl added Mr. Terry could work with the agencies to determine how manv tokens thev would need In case It was more than Alderman Holmes suaaested. Alderman Bernstein did not think this is going to have a budgetary impact and had another addition to the motion. Alderman Bernstein's addition to the motion was for Mr. Terry to expand the list to Include somewhere In the Citif for people not involved with an aaenev to have a place to no for free tokens. Mr. Gaynor said the other piece Alderman Tisdahl discussed was the new household Income and the 50% token discount and Alderman Bemstein Is suggesting free tokens. Alderman Bernstein said what he Is suggesting is we're giving "X" tokens to Y.O.U. and "X" tokens to Family Focus and other agencies, but that does not Include everybody. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked you're advertising that you can go through the agencies and become eligible. Alderman Page 6. Bernstein said Alderman Holmes initially said the agencies have already done the analogies with respect to who qualifies and the burden is being put on these agencies who already are strapped to have their people do the work of now researching people who are not already researched. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked Alderman Bernstein is assuming there is going to be a flood of people and he is suggesting !here would not be. To accommodate Alderman Bernstein's modification to have a place we already have these agencies so if a kid lives in the neighborhood and heard about this program he can go there and he's sure the agency will accommodate him. Alderman Holmes said she just used Family Focus and Y.O.U. as an example but there are many other agencies in Evanston which is why she is saying she thinks we can capture starting at Childcare Network which starts with the very youngest until we get down to Senior Services which gets to the elderly if we need to In terms of agencies which might want to have tokens. Alderman Bernstein said his sense is if we open it up to 25,000 families the next round wouldn't impact us that great. People who are going to go the beach are already going to the beach in someway. you prioritize. Everybody is not going to want to go to the beach. Alderman Tisdahl asked if the Summer Youth Employment Program can be included as agency, towhich Mr. Gaynor said that would be up to Mr. Terry. Alderman Bernstein called for a vote on the amendment. The amendment was unanimousiv aooroved f5-0j. Alderman tSernsteln called fora vote on the motion as amended. motion as amended unanimousiv annroved (5-01. Alderman Holmes moved to accent the Recreation Board new auldellnes for Income eliaibillty for recreational services forthe Citv of Evanston. Alderman Tisdahl seconded the motion and thanked the Recreation Board very much for doina these auldelines. Motion unanimousiv annroved (5-0). Alderman Tisdahl wanted to thank everyone who helped with this item. IV. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 12-0-06 AMENDMENT TO CITY OF EVANTON HEALTH DEPARTMENTORDINANCE PERTAINING TO THE DECLARATION AND REGULATIONS CONCERNING QUARANTINE AND ISOLATION MEASURES Alderman Tisdahl asked what happens when the Public Health Director is on vacation to which Mr. Terry responded there Is always an Acting Department Head. Alderman Bernstein called fora motion of arwrovat for consideration of Ordinance 12-0-06 amendment to the Cltv of Evanston Health Department Ordinance oertainina to the declaration and reaulatlons concernina quarantine and Isolation measures. Motion unanimousiv nonraved 15-0). IV. CITIZEN'S COMMENTS Ms. DuCree wanted to comment about Evanston police officers and said for quite a while she has heard her grandchildren and a lot of the young people saying they cannot go in downtown Evanston to the theater without being harassed by the security people or the policemen. They throw them out if only one says something that's not supposed to be said and do not give them any refunds. The language these young people are confronted with is the "r word and how often it is used with these young children it should be in Webster's dictionary. There are now a lot of youthful officers on the police force. There was an incident Ms. DuCree related about not having her auto sticker when a young female police officer approached her with a very rude mannerism, who should be off the police force, and wrote her a ticket. Ms. DuCree said to the officer she made a mistake and was willing to pay for the sticker when the officer wrote her another ticket to which Ms. DuCree asked why the officer was giving her another ticker to which the officer said she could give her how many tickets she wants to give her. The officer went down the whole block on the side of Foster and Brown, there were two ticket already on the cars and she gave each one of the of the cars on the street tickets even though there were tickets all over these cars already. Ms. DuCree asked if the officers know the rules as to what they're supposed to do with tickets or can they just do what they want to do. There are older police officers who are leaders, there are some good police officers who made a difference in this community and she hopes they stay on until they're 70. We have talked to Chief Kaminski about Officer Mayer, Officer Tracey, Parol or Paran or whatever his name is. She has talked to a lot of young people on the street and the things they say about some of these officers and how they disrespect them, push them up against the cars when there is no need to do that. She has seen with her own eyes what happening. She uses her camera any time she can and has a box of videos and not one of those videos does not have a police incident happen on her video tape with her grandchildren and her family. When she went to Northeastern she majored in Criminal Justice System and was thinking about using that for her thesis. Alderman Bernstein asked Ms. DuCree to move this from the box to this committee; they don't do any good sitting In the box we have to know who's responsible. Ms. DuCree said some of the younger people and older people are afraid and they don't know the procedure on how to go through to the next level. She went to the procedure, but had to take off work. Page 7. Some people say write a summary of what happened and have it notarized. She asked Chief Kaminski what does he consider a complaint, there are many people who call and talk to the Chief or who ever is in charge which does not go on they record. When Alderman ,lean -Baptiste first came on the Council, onetime he had a meeting when we thinking about a citizens review board but no one addressed that fully and it never was accomplished. There are law suits going on and you're talking about a budget. We really have to address these things and stop putting them on the back bumer. A whole lot of young people have left this community not only because of housing but because they're tired of being harassed. They just can't take it anymore and what's coming in is big time trouble you haven't seen nothing yet. Some these young people are scared but scared people do crazy things. She really thinks we need to address some of this. Alderman Bernstein thanked Ms. DuCree and said we were beginning to address this unfortunately the Chief is not here tonight because we don't have any complaints on tonight's agenda. We will make sure you will be notified if you will give us your address and this will come back on the agenda. We did talk about a Review Board and have had some grievances aired in prior meetings. There maybe conception with respect to whether or not people feel comfortable going to policeman or making a report on a policeman, and whether they think they can get anyjusGce, that they can't geljustice so they don't bother to make to make a complaint, that's terrible and should not be happening. Ms. DuCree said Detective 242 came out with the `P word around children the Spanish police officer he was with didn't say such things but Detective 242 who Is a big tall Irish guy did. Angela Warlick, it's ridiculous and makes no sense that she has to worry about going to the park, we pay taxes. When the whites come around the skate park everybody goes home. The white skater boards can skate and can loiter, and they can't. it needs to be stopped now, she doesn't care how you do it, stop it now. She can't take this she had two brain surgeries. She has scoliosis and she's standing here articulating. Thank you. Alderman Bernstein agreed that's not the way we're supposed to act especially in this community or anywhere else. Ms. Gregory said her concern was her 15 year old son who was with her and her first question is because we can't get any answers from the Police Department or the Chief what do our boys do. Her son has a membership at the Y; he grew up al the Y. when he goes downtown he's harassed. What do the boys do when they're stopped and thrown up against the wall, how are they supposed to respond to that when the police won't let them call home when the haul them in. Bom and raised here in Evanston she is also a taxpayer, she's afraid for her son. He's a big guy for his age and he's treated as If they think he's in a gang. She does not know what's going on he was stopped because he was riding his bicycle with a backpack and they wanted to search him because they said there were robberies or home invasions in the area. Can they just stop our kids and search them? Alderman Bernstein said there's a thing called the constitution that doesn't allow that. Any policeman has to have probable cause or reason to stop somebody. Do they stop anyway, absolutely. Your question with respect to what you have to do as a young man or himself as an old white man, unfortunately, initially the policeman is always right and regrettably if you start defending yourself it can come back on you. If the police are doing any damage to you physically, its more emotional and physiological than physical when somebody for no reason Is being pushed up against a car, he understands that, that should definitely be reported. Unfortunately in society you give police officers the responsibility and the authority to keep the rules. The fallacy Is some of them don't keep the rules and that's what we're trying to get to the bottom of. Alderman Bernstein pointed to and named each of the Aldermen on the committee and said to call us if you have those kinds of problems. He has made a note of Badge 242, but we have to deal with reality and what we're trying to do is change reality. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said for some of us this is a known issue, he does not know whether everybody on the Council understands that but he has young relatives who get stopped routinely. There's a presumption that they're doing something wrong. One of the things he and Alderman Holmes have been doing is meeting with members of the community, some ministers and others to try to pull together some kind of proposal that we can come back to the Council with whereby there will be an insistence on residency at some point or another or percentage of the force be maintained at a level where some of these officers at least know the community, have lived here at some point in time and as was suggested participate in some kind of community activities. Without our knowing its one size fits all. We also will be suggesting and going beyond suggestion that there be some recording of the stops that police make whether it's pedestrian or auto stops so that we understand the pattern. He has not seen any white families come here and complain that their kids are being stopped routinely , he hasn't heard any white constituents call him and say that is what's happening but has heard a lot of black constituents make that kind of complaint. Your statements have not fallen on deaf ears; we just have to get a process going. What he would also suggest is at the community level there's some work going onto try to bring people out to discuss this issue, people should come out and get involved. Pastor Curry's Church, First Church, has a meeting coming up this Saturday at 2;00 p.m. People should come out and share the information to see how that can be addressed in a systematic way. He's sure all Evanston residents would like to see this kind of action stopped and the Police Chief would like to see that things are being done and done in a way that is fair. We want to address this. As Alderman Bernstein said we've had this on the agenda and it will return on the agenda. Alderman Bemstein said this will be on the Human Services Committee meeting on the February 20°i agenda. Alderman Bemstein Page B. thanked the young man for coming out as we need to hear from the people who are being treated unfairly, it's not right. nobody Is condoning it. There's good and there's bad and we're trying to get the bad out of here. Ms. Gregory said a couple of months ago one night she and her husband were going into their house to make sure everything was secure, two police officers pulled up, knocked on the door and said they got a call from this residence saying there was a disturbance. She said are you sure it was this residence and they said yes, they need to come in and check. I said I'll let you in but there is notning here, so she let them and let them walked through the house. The officer said she did not understand how she got that call. Ms. Gregory then called the City to see if there was a call or complaint and nobody knew anything. The police officers saw some young boys there and told them to leave and as they're leaving another police officer comes up and says arrest them all. How can you tell the kids to do what they're asked to do when another officer comes up and says, just arrest them", then what they do is lie. She can't see these young boys being in any kind of trouble with the band or sports teams, all kinds of school activities walking up on a 250 pound armed person. She can't see that calling names and cursing at them and then saying things to them like "if we were in Chicago", well then you go work in Chicago because Evanston is not like that. She teaches and Sunday she talked to a couple of her white students and asked them if they were ever slopped by the police. They said, yea. we're stopped by the police". She then asked them when they say to you move on or whatever, do you question that. They said yes, they question them all the time. She then asked them how they respond to them. They said they just answer our questions and tell us to move on and we will either move on or we won't. She called the police department back in the summer when she decided to let her son go downtown, she asked if her son is not doing anything and he's approached by a police officer how should he conduct himself. The officer on the other end of the phone said he can ask, "am I in trouble", and it's up to them yes or no, then you say "I have to go home Now she has to tell her son you don't ask any questions at all, period. When I talk to my white students and when they were in the park and the officer came into the park and told them they had to move they asked why and the officer said because we got a complaint and then when we said nobody's come out saying that, this our neighborhood. Then the police officer said well you still have to move on. Maybe somebody will say let's go or we'll just sit there. Ms Gregory said this is what they don't understand; these kids talk to each other, because the next thing out of these boys mouths was, 'we know they treat our black friends different". If the kids are seeing this and we say how diverse Evanston is, we encourage our kids to be together, we take them places together, they spend the night over each other houses, and then they're confronted with something like this, that's a bigger problem then you can even ever imagine, It's frustrating for her as a parent when she's teaching her child to be respectful to everybody, to be honest, and don't be afraid. Now t have to tell him to be afraid. I tell him don't put your cell phone in your pocket from now on put it in your sock so when you get down there you can give me a call because the police are not going to call. If you go to the police department and say I want to see my child because he's under age you don't get to see him, but that's okay because the police are always 100% right. Something's wrong with that. Alderman Bernstein said the police are not always 100% right, but on the street you have to give them the respect of their badge and you hope and pray that they're respecting the badge from the other We. He has never lived it but he has been Involved and around it long enough to know it exists and he hates it. Everybody came here for the most part when we talked about diversity so that we could see that there was not only one kind of face in the world. One day maybe this won't happen. in the short term for your kids well being, yes sir, yes ma'am, and if the officer has done something inappropriate have them look at the badge number, call us. We're going to send you Initially to the police department but we're going to make sure that the process is a fair one because we don't want those people on the street; we can't have them on the street, that's not what we're about. Alderman Bernstein thanked everyone for coming and asked them to come back to the next Humans Services Committee meeting. VI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:59 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky Department of Health and Human Services Page 9. 1- Beach and Pool Passes Skokie residents can purchase beach tokens at the Evanston resident rate and Evanston residents can purchase 'Cool Pool Family Pass' at the Skokie resident rate. In 2005. 117 tokens were sold to Skokie residents. ; Season - Pool Pass Rates: individual $50.00 2 persons $90.00 3 persons $130.00 4 or more $170.00 , Winnetka - Season Beach Passes Only Resident Nan -Resident individual $40.00 $75.00 ; 5. If the Income eligibility guidelines for freeireduced lunches were used to determine ' eligibility for free beach tokens, what Is the potential Impact on beach revenues at a 50% subsidy level? Based on using the free and reduced lunch program numbers as a projection of eligible Individuals, a total of approximately 2,600 children would be eligible for free tokens. Due to the fad that the City does not have a record of Income data of who has purchased beads tokens In the past, determining the potential Impacts is not feasible. Staff could project that at a cost of $10 each, a revenue loss of $26,000 could occur if all of the District 65 children were to receive a free token. This number is only a projection because the department has no Information on how many of those individuals previously purchased tokens or would take advantage of the offer. There would also be additional family members and other residents In the commurirty that could also be eligible for the tokens, If this proposal was adopted. '18. Would there be additional expenditures If the recommendation as proposed by Alderman Rainey would be adopted. Alderman Rainey Is recommending to set the Income level at 80% of the median household Income as per the HUD guidelines and all Evanston residents whose individuallfamily Income Is below that amount level would be eligible for free tokens. As explained in the Income Eligibility beach access memorandum, programming at the beaches includes fixed costs, for the most part, for supervision, etc. Providing additional fee assistance or adding additional free beach days for residents during the week for Increasing beach access may not significantly impact the overall costs. After the first year, the collected data will determine If additional staffing, expenditures, etc. is necessary. --W 7. If the recommendation as proposed by Alderman Rainey was adopted, what is the potential Impact to beach revenues?. J. Based on using HUD Income Guidelines at 80% of the median income, 1,774 Evanston households would qualify for free beach tokens. Determining the impact of beach token revenues would not be feasible without having income data of who purchased tokens In prior 2 Kft. Grepairy sM.a c ouple'of month qp one night she and her husband were going Into their house to make sure everything was Isecure, two police of%cers putted up, knocked on the door and said they got a call from this residence saying there was a disturbance. She said are you sure It was this residence and they said yes, they need to come In and check. I said I'll let you in but there is nothing here, so she let them and let them walked through the house. The officer said she did not understand how she got that call. Ms. Gregory then called the City to see if there was a call or complaint and nobody knew anything. The police officers saw some young boys there and told them to leave and as they're leaving another police officer comes up and says arrest them all. How can you tell the kids to do what they're asked to do when another officer comes up and says, just arrest them'. then what they do Is lie. She can't see these young boys being in any kind of trouble with the band or sports teams, all kinds of school activities walking up on a 250 pound armed person. She can't see that calling names and cursing at them and then saying things to them like "if we were in Chicago", well then you go work in Chicago because Evanston is not like that. She teaches and Sunday she talked to a couple of her white students and asked them if they were ever stopped by the police. They said, 'yea, we're stopped by the police'. She then asked them when they say to you move on or whatever, do you question that. They said yes, they question them all the time. She then asked them how they respond to them. They said they just answer our questions and tell us to move on and we wilt either move on or we won't. She called the police department back in the summer when she decided to let her son go downtown, she asked if her son is not doing anything and he's approached by a police officer how should he conduct himself. The officer on the other end of the phone said he can ask, 'am I in trouble", and it's up to them yes or no, then you say'I have to go home'. Now she has to tell her son you don't ask any questions at all, period. When I talk to my white students and when they were in the park and the officer came Into the park and told them they had to move they asked why and the officer said because we got a complaint and then when we said nobody's come out saying that, this our neighborhood. Then the police officer said well you still have to move on. Maybe somebody will say let's go or well just sit there. Ms Gregory said this is what they don't understand; these kids talk to each other, because the next thing out of these boys mouths was, "we know they treat our black friends different". If the kids are seeing this and we say how diverse Evanston is, we encourage our kids to be together, we take them places together, they spend the night over each other houses, and then they're confronted with something like this, that's a bigger problem then you can even ever Imagine. It's frustrating for her as a parent when she's teaching her child to be respectful to everybody, lobe honest, and don't be afraid. Now I have to tell him to be afraid. I tell him don't put your cell phone in your pocket from now on put it in your sock so when you get down there you can give me a call because the police are not going to call. If you go to the police department and say I want to see my child because he's under age you don't get to see him, but that's okay bezause the police are always 100% right. Something's wrong with that. Alderman Bernstein said the police are not always 100% right, but on the street you have to give them the respect of their badge and you hope and pray that they're respecting the badge from the other side. He has never lived it but he has been Involved and around it long enough to know it exists and he hates it. Everybody came here for the most part when we talked about diversity so that we could see that there was not only one kind of face in the world. One day maybe this won't happen. In the short term for your kids well being, yes sir, yes ma'am, and if the officer has done something inappropriate have them look at the badge number, call us. We're going to send you initially to the police department but we're going to make sure that the process is a fair one because we don't want those people on the street; we can't have them on the street, that's not what we're about. Alderman Bernstein thanked everyone for coming and asked them to come back to the next Humans Services Committee meetina. VI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:59 p.m. Respectfully submitted, de01H ethHVa'i Services Page 9. Human Services Committee My name is Joan Hickman, and I am speaking to the Beach Token Proposal. It is my understanding that low income residents who purchase discounted Beach tokens will be limited to the use of the beaches and allotted specific days of use. I was a member of the residents who pushed to get the discounted tokens the first time around Here we are almost 44 years later with a similar and related issue. Well, I'm back. As a Senior citizen I resent the only on Wednesdays Senior discount. I understand the rationale of the retailers to bring people in the stores on slow days -- Wednesdays. However, I am a Senior everyday and I can't go to all the stores in one Wednesday and some Wednesdays I can't get there at all. But, I digress. ! I do not see a rationale for this proposal. I see this proposal as the, "Invisible Scarlet Letter." An invisible scarlet letter is a scarlet letter that has been removed but the imprint remains. Poor people have always been very conscious of being poor but worked very hard to give the impression they were not poor. Parents have spent the bulk of their paycheck to buy Air Jordan's for a child to say to the world `See I can afford to buy this for my child, we are not poor,' knowing full well they would have to do some serious budgeting to get by till the next ' - paycheck. ; = Imagine a parent trying to explain to a child why he or she cannot go the beach with a group of Friends because it's the wrong day. "Sorry, Honey.but we are poor and can only go on certain days and to certain beaches." Or imagine that child explaining to his or her friends the reason they cannot go to the beach. To save face the child would lie. Should a child be put in a position of having to lie and that lying is acceptable? - The fall out of this proposal is that certain beaches would become stigmatized. When I - was a child there was one Black and all the rest were white beaches. Is history repeating itself? Must we revisit the same issues over and over again? -I understand the need for budget cuts but must it be at the expense of people? - Let's remove all traces of the Scarlet Letter and let all Evanston residents enjoy the beaches. The taxes poor people pay are not separated as corning from poor people so why should the services provided be separated? I am trusting the Human Services Committee to keep the Human in your decision. Thank you for your consideration, s Name: -179 X, Monday - January 30,, 200 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Address/Org on: 4 I.-IUAA-PAA rO±LAV JJuue� tax 10, fIUMAN SERVICES COMNUTTEE on ap - Janukiy ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Name:;ddreiss/Organi�z ion: J 0 MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: PRESIDING: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, February 20, 2005 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. Aldermen Bernstein Holmes, Jean -Baptiste and Moran Alderman Tisdahl Elko Purze, Frank Kaminski, Sam Pettineo, Jeff Jamraz, Dennis Nilsson, Linda Teckler, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky See Attached List of Attendees Alderman Bernstein 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Bernstein called the meeting order at 7:05 p.m. II. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE January 30, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the January 30. 2007 meeting were called and unanimously accepted (3-01. (Alderman Jean - Baptiste was not present at this time.) Ill. CONSIDERATION OF JANUARY 2006 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes had a question regarding the Accounts Payable Aging Report, items 22 23, Postmaster rolls of stamps $80.00. and U.S. Postmaster postage S200.00. Her question pertained to these items both being on the bills list at the same time. Mr. Terry noted there was no one from the Township present as today was a holiday for them and he would Inquire regarding these items. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to accept the January 2006 Township bills noting they are sublect to an analysis of that issue. Alderman Moran moved for approval, seconded bV Alderman Holmes, approval unanimous 3-0. (Alderman Jean -Baptiste was not present at this time and arrived shortly thereafter.) IV. CONSIDERATION OF POSSIBLE AMENDMENTS TO ANIMAL CONTROL ORDINANCE Alderman Bernstein said at his request this was put on the agenda for consideration of modification. This Dog Ordinance was addressed several years ago after an incident involving a couple of Rottweilers when it occurred to him that are were enough teeth in our Dog Ordinance. He does not want to particularize any dog as a dog is as good as their master/mistress and the ability to control and the rearing they're given. He does not necessarily want to give a dog "one bite", because that bite could prove to be very serious. We now have a situation with a pair of Rottweilers that had been running free and were cited a couple of times but the case was dismissed because people didn't come to court. Subsequently two of them very seriously attacked a smaller dog causing a $1.000 worth of veterinary bills. After some negotiations we eventually voluntarily got the owner to get rid of the dog that was thought to be the aggressor. The other dog now is now characterized as a dangerous dog and this man now has to either get rid of the dog or build a compound to house the dog and take ameliorating methods. Alderman Berstein said he has driven by the house and does not see any new facility going up. There has not been any kind of building permit in the nature and type of structure we mandate for dangerous dogs which requires a building permit. When this was put into effect it was made to be more painful than getting rid of the dog. Alderman Bernstein noted Linda Teckler, the City's Animal Control Warden, is present tonight and has some very salient points about modifications she thinks the ordinance requires. He does not know how restrictive we can be and the due process of requirement whether we can give only one bite before we can get the dog out of town which he would like to see happen. Evanston has a lot of dogs, he loves them and wants them to run free at the dog parks and dog beach but they have to be controlled at all times. If people can't control their dogs it's not the dogs' fault its peoples' fault. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said all of the communication in the committee packet is about the impact of chaining dogs and how their disposition becomes meaner where they've attacked or killed children and questioned If we're talking about what to do about dogs that attack us. Alderman Berstein said that's part of it. He received a copy of a fetter and a newspaper artJcie from a young woman, in attendance tonight, that was Included In the packet about how many people raise their dogs, putting them on a three foot chain, keeping them from food and water, and are then very surprised when the dog Pago 1, gets off the chain and attacks somebody. Alderman Bernstein sold he wants to analyze the entire ordinance as it Is not sufficient for the number of dogs in this community. At the same time we unil have to got more serious about licensing dogs as there are more unlicensed than licensed dogs in Evanston. Ms. Teckler noted licensing dogs was different years ago when there were part timers and more people working In this area, but at the present time it's not an option because of staffing. Alderman Bornstein said licensing every dog In town would n'•ean needing to create another position, maybe a part or a half time position. The Dog Ordinance Is not an effective ordinance: it has too many loopholes, one of which Is not knowing how long people have to appeal the fine on dangerous dogs The Chief of Police has to act within 10 days. Alderman Moran said what he understood from the malenal is there was a suggestion that we at least amend the Dangerous Dog Ordinance to eliminate making the chaining illegal, whch makes a lot of sense to him. AI errnsn Moran moved that staff oreaare an amendment to the Dogs. Cats, Animals and Fowl Q►dinance, Chapter 4. to nrohlbit chalnlrxL of dogs In the fashion that has been exemollfied In the material recelve bJL committee and briny that back to the committee for action, if we're going to do wholesale revision of the ordinance there should be some kind of analysis from staff. Alderman Bernstein remarked there will be a lot of people coming to talk about their dogs but his concern is once we've declared a dog dangerous under our ordinance it may be much too late and asked if there are questions or problems with the consensus to the amendment proposed by Alderman Moran. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said other than having read the articles saying the kids that were killed or injured were all killed or injured by dogs that were chained. He does not know whether dogs become dangerous because they're chained and more information or specifics would help him understand this. Aldemian Bernstein said reading the article he got the sense chaining is an inhumane treatment of dogs and does not care whether or not they become vicious as a result of this, as initially they should not have to go through that. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said never having had a dog his perception of dogs coming at him is they're dangerous. Mistle Lucht, sent the letter and article to Alderman Bernstein, said she's working toward not chaining your dog 24 hours a day In your back yard. Dogs typically chained like that are probably not licensed or vaccinated and sometimes not fully cared for. Generally they are left outside 24 hours a day, do not have adequate shelter and are subject to all kinds of weather elements. They're most likely neglected as well and can become victims because If they're chained they can't get away from other dogs or people that abuse the dog which is not safe for the community or for the dogs that are chained. Alderman Moran agreed with Alderman Bernstein about making the transition from being chained to becoming more aggressive and more dangerous. To him that Is not a civilized way to treat a dog. Alderman Holmes asked how this will be enforced, how do you Identify these dogs, do people call in when they see them, who is going to do the follow-up. Those are the questions she would ask especially when she sees you only pay $1 0 for a license which to her seems ridiculously low. Maybe we could have more staff if the process helped pay for it, to do the monitoring and enforcement of whatever kind of ordinances we have. Alderman Bernstein said people will call in and either Ms. Teckler or someone that the Police Department designates will go out and take a look to the extent there is some ordinance being violated and it will be addressed. He does not anticipate police will be going around and looking In people's back yards but it has come up in his ward many times that people were brutalizing dogs. Alderman Jean - Baptiste noted the objective is to modify the ordinance so dogs are treated more humanly to which Alderman Bernstein added the other part is his primary concern is to get Ms. Teckler and the Legal Department thinking about what we can do. We have a lot of dogs running free often with the consent and knowledge of the owners who are walking behind them a half block or so away not knowing what their dogs are into, especially if the dog is not a socialized dog. Ms. Teckler said In regards to the Dangerous Dog Ordinance 9-4-1 T, under (B) paragraph it says a pen or dog run area six foot high (6') or a secure top. Dogs can climb very easily so she thinks it needs to be six foot high with a secure top. She also feels that dangerous dogs should be micro chipped so the dog that is scanned will always go back to the owner. As far as insurance of $100,000. she does not know any insurance company that will insure that other than Lloyds of London or some other comparable company, whi'7 is something that should be checked into She also thinks they need to change the time limit for an appeal of 10 days. Ms. Teckler did not think the construction is necessary it they're going to walk the dog. When they walk the dog they have to have the dog muzzled on a three fact leash Alderman Bernstein did not know what ability we have to find out whether or not one bile is going to be sufficient or if we can do that, will there be any support at all, oven from him. He does not want anybody seriously injured either a human being or another animal before some dog gets declared a dangerous dog To the extant that we can stop that perhaps it's the function of raising the penalties, those are not very steep ponalbes for that kind of conduct. He asked if Ms. Purzo could research information regarding concerns prohibiting chaining to sea what others have done with regard to ordinances. We're not looking to probudo a specific brood; we're modifying the behavior of the owners not the dogs. V. CONSIDERATION OF A REFERENCE TO ENDORSE STATE SMOKE FREE LEGISLATION Pnp4 2. Alderman Tisdahl, who is not here tonight, originally wanted this item on the agenda to revisit the Clean Air Ordinance in Evanston to determine whether or not we wanted to modify what we did a couple years ago when we were asked la go smoke free. Several Aldefinen said we would encourage the state to go smoke free and we now are aware that Chicago has a modified smoke free program which in the next 3 years will become a smoke free program. He would like the City to get an board with a resolution formally requesting this of our legislators as there currently is a bill pending to do just that. Don Ziegler, Evanston Health Advisory Board, said House Bill 4338 was introduced by Representative Collins and co- sponsored by our own Julie Hamos. it is to seek a 100% comprehensive smoke free Illinois in all work places including tsars and restaurants to tx consistent with New York and many other states including Great Britain. That bill is pending and has gotten out of cornnittee and is in the House. When he heard from Alderman Tisdahl that there was some interest in bringing this up she asked him to draft a letter and contacted different advocates from the Illinois Coalition Against Tobacco saying Evanston would support this legislation, what's the best timing and to whom should we send this. Their recommendation to have the greatest impact was to send a letter to the Governor and to the head of the Senate Emil Jones and Representative Maddigan, President of the House. Since Julie Hamos is a sponsorwe did not need to send a letter to her. Alderman Bernstein asked if staff could create a resolution to present to the Council wherein the City of Evanston expresses support for House Bill 4338, Alderman Moran did not think we should go for the proviso if they can come up with equipment that renders the air the equivalence of second r-.and smoke someplace else. Maybe we should also think about dropping the smoke trapping equipment. Alderman Semstein said maybe the resolution could speak to this if it's the will of the Council is to go smoke free, The reason he couldn't support a smokeless restaurant was because that is the nature and basis of our revenue production and he does not want to do anything to hurt them. He hoped it wouldn't be a question of life and death versus money. The state of California says it hasn't business and they can monitor it because you have to go to Nevada if you want to smoke, and New York is similar. In Evanston people, if they want to. may go to other communities to smoke. The nature of the resolution he would like to put forward is if the entire state would go smoke free. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said the first issue is to try to get a resolution in support of the state's initiative, which he supports with the modification suggested by Alderman Bemstein. Alderman Jean-Baotiste moved to suonort the resolution with the modifleatfons as sui, masted. Alderman Holmes seconded the motion. Betty Ester, from the audience, questioned the type of device Alderman Moran mentioned. Alderman Moran responded that is a filtration system equipped with devices to render the exposure to secondhand smoke in the area equivalent to exposure to second hand smoke in the ambiance outdoor air surrounding the public place. Mr. Ziegler said this is similar to the language in the Chicago ordinance but there is no technology that will have indoor air equal to outdoor air. Ms. Ester asked if the restaurant is equipping the indoor air with this system better than the outside air why are we not going to allow that. Alderman Moran there is no proof that these systems will clean all the smoke and toxic chemicals out of the air. People should be able to work in a place that doesn't have smoking whether it's trying to get the smoke out or not. We have no control over what people do walking down the street to which Mr. Ziegler added except it's the law that provides no person can smoke within 15 feet, in Evanston its 25 feet, of the entrance of a public place. Alderman Bemstein said the purpose of this resolution is to ask the state to become smoke free everywhere Inside, outside can be discussed at a later time. The City has just proposed an increase in the cigarette tax by which we're trying to give people a message. Alderman Bemstein called for a vote on Alderman Jean-Baotiste's motion. motion unanlmousty aonroved 14-01. VI. REVIEW OF POLICE SERVICES; POLICE DEPARTMENT ANNUAL REPORT Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked what entity conducts the Annual Report. Chief Kaminski responded the Office of Professional Standards (OPS)which consists of two supervisory staff members. a commander and a sergeant, who report directly to the Chief. They are responsible for conducting investigations related to a whole series of activities under the OPS. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to clarify that this is not an outside entity that carve to do a review of what our Police Department is doing. Chief Kaminski responded, no, but included in the weekend packets was a report a review done independently Last year from a consulting firm by a Mr. Mitch Brown, about our OPS. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if this was a consultant that we retained, to which the Chief responded, that is correct. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if there are any state boards that come into review the department's work. Chief Kaminski noted we are an accredited Police Department, one of the few departments in the country that are accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies. Every three years when they come into do our accreditation all our procedures are reviewed to make sure we follow the best practices in reference to intemal investigations. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted a number of people were in attendance regarding police who have not had the benefit of this review and asked if the Chief could give a synopsis of this report to share with everyone. Page 3. Chief Kaminski said this Is an Annual Report of the Office of Professional Standards which is actually two components of the police Department. It has the Internal Affairs component and the inspectional process component. The Inspectional component Is quality control for the organization, we monitor polices, procedures, and office behavior. We do an early warning system where we tract all our officers on an all performance indicator to see if any problems are beginning to show. We do all types of reviews of our procedures and programs to make sure we're doing the right things and if we find problems we try to correct them. The Intemal Affairs component deals with staff inspections done throughout the organization where various components are routinely checked to make sure we're doing the right things. Internal investigations are a result of activities brought to our attention by somebody else or activities we find ourselves. There a number of types of investigations we conduct intemally about our employees whether they're sworn or civilians. When a citizen comes in and files a formal complaint under the statutes regarding a police officer's conduct in the community it is Investigated thoroughly. Various administrative reviews are done where we look at officers' behavior, for example if they came late, they had an accident, or they did something that we noticed was inappropriate, we conduct a thorough Investigation on that. Any time anybody contacts the Chief to look into something because they do not want to rite a formal complaint we take that very seriously and investigate it under the category of Department Inquiry. If we find somebody did something wrong, we take it to the next level and conduct a disciplinary action. We have a Use of Force model which Mr. Brown's report indicates is one of the more through and complete Use of Force policies around. Mr. Brown's report mentions that our policies surpass none others in the country. All activities are monitored very closely on a regular basis throughout the Police Department. As a result we'll take disciplinary or corrective action regarding our officers for any of those activities. 1n last year's complaint register we had 10 complaints, in the area of administrative reviews 112 actions were taken for officers. The top 3 categories are tardiness, preventable accidents, and court miss. We did 75 departmental inquiries, 42 incidents of abusive force. In miscellaneous investigations we look at pursuits, specifically profiling, we track all the data on our traffic stops for the last 2 years and from that data we track every year, Each officer Is called in to personally review their data. Background investigations are done on all the people coming Into the department as well as for other positions. The Office of Professional Standards does a lot of work; we intemally do a lot of checks and balances that any business would do to make sure we're providing a quality service to the community. We take this very seriously and take all of our complaints seriously. What you do not see In this report is the flip side to this. The Chief said he often comes to this committee and we talk about some of the things officers have done, maybe inappropriately but nobody's perfect. Each time he comes he brings a packet and in today's packet there are 53 complimentary letters sent by citizens, which far exceeds the negative letters received, that don't get as much publicity as somebody doing something wrong. At least 53 citizens took time to compliment the officers and write a letter or send an email about what they did positively In the community and we should be especially proud of those activities. When we get a complaint It's investigated thoroughly and the officers report directly to the Chief. They've been trained In criminal Investigation and investigative procedures, they're very good investigators. As you all know when you have a complaint you need those investigative skills to do a thorough and complete InvesUgation as well as understanding the police officer Bill of flights which was passed by Illinois legislators and we are obligated to follow all the guidelines set forth in this bill. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked Chief Kaminski talked about how an evaluation Is conducted and asked what are some of the shortcomings seen with the department especially since you have a number of very young officers on the force, You do not have the officers you had In the past, that live in and know the neighborhood and he wanted to know how the Chief sees those aspects and what is being done to try to rectify those. Chief Kaminski said he would not call that a shortcoming, any organization Is going to go through a transition. Currently we are going through a transition; a lot of the people are retiring after 20 or more years. We've got very good young people, however in an organization you like to balance some senior people with young people. Right now we're hovering at 55% under years. The challenge for us Is to make sure we have the ability to train people and get them on line with all of our policies, procedures and especially the mission and values of what the department is all about. The organization is changing fast; people are leaving faster than we can get people on board to train which is currently our biggest challenge. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked the Chief to what extent does he feel his officers know the community, to which the Chief responded, when they're out in the field training program we try to do a number of things to build continual community engagement into all of their activities. Can you do it on a regular basis, no we've been short staffed for the past few years and are Just catching up to our staffing level now. Starting off the year we're finally at enough people hired, for the past 2 or 3 years we were hovering at between 15 to 20% non usable bodies because of the retirements and trying to get everybody on board. It takes at least g months to a full year to replace an officer. We have never lowered our standards of the hiring process, in fact we have increased standards and in today's market we do not see the volume of people wanting to be police officers as in the past. We're doing 3 to 4 tests each year getting over 100 people applying, out of the group that starts the process by the time we're done we may be lucky to 5 or maybe 7 people, which is how stringent the process has been as we try to get the best people for the jobs. Alderman Holmes thought there would be a lot of preparation time In terms of people retiring as you would know when they're going to retire. What Is the process for doing that? Chief Kaminski said not necessarily, some people walk In and say Its time to go and they're gone, some people say they're going to leave and then don't leave. It's hard to pin people down to this because you can't ask them when they're going to leave. Page 4. Chief Kaminski introduced Commander Sam Pettineo and Sergeant Jeff Jamraz, of OPS and Dennis Nilsson, Deputy Chief, Field Operations; all who are in attendance tonight and can assist in any of the investigations conducted. VI. CONSIDERATION OF AN APPEAL OF THE DISPOSITION OF A CITIZEN COMPLAINT Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the first incident was initiated August 3, 2005 by some interaction between officers and some youths who were in downtown Evanston and between the parent of one of the youths who complained to the Police Department as well. Alderman Bernstein indicated to the committee that we have the ability to go into Executive Session as some statements from the last open meeting gave officers names and badge numbers all which are relevant in terms of an Investigation but just as people are presumed innocent officers are presumed innocent until the process determines that they are not innocent and liable for their actions. Some of these complaints can result in personnel actions and we Have the right as a committee logo into Executive Session to discuss matters with respect to personnel. We don't want to call names at open meetings, as in the reports we have initials identifying people. Often people feel they can't speak openly in a large group and we have the prerogative of going into Executive Session if we think we're going to get better answers or a better discussion. People not involved in that particular case are excluded from Executive Session. Alderman Bernstein asked if the committee or complainant wish us to go into Executive Session to discuss this particular case. Alderman Moran explained work rules in relation to the Police Department and according to our collective bargaining agreements with them they have certain rights of confidentiality when there are potential disciplinary ramifications. if people want to mention names we need to go into Executive Session, if they don't want to mention names we don't have to. Alderman Holmes said for purpose of staying in an open meeting we ask people to refrain from using badge numbers or names of the officers until we can get through the complaint. If we then need to go into Executive Session then we can do so. Alderman Bernstein noted the internal investigation has been completed and we have an analysis of what they determined. If we don't accept the analysis the Police Department has given us or do not like the sanction or fact that it was founded or unfounded, that is something else we have to address and names are needed to do that. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to clarify if the resolution binds the officials of the City not to be discussing the personnel by name but if there's some complaints are they suggesting that the citizenry is bound not to raise the name. Alderman Moran remarked we're conducting the proceedings and are explaining to the people what the rules are; the rules are the responsibility to do it that way. Alderman Bernstein said if people need to mention names we will go into Executive Session. Further explanation of the need for Executive Session ensued. Comments from the audience were the complainants are here in person to testify at an open meeting shouldn't the officers also be in attendance at the meetings? Alderman Bernstein tried to explain that we protect the policemen because we have a contractual obligation to do it and all he can do is assure you that all of us are trying to get to the bottom of this. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested following the process of having the option of going into Executive Session if we need to suggest somebody's name. He also did not want to take that off the table for our next meeting when we may not have specific complaints on the table in terms discussing process. While it's binding to us as officials not to call out an officees name because we have some authority over their employment status, etc, etc., he's not sure whether he agrees it aught to be binding on the citizenry who may have a particular complaint. For the purpose of this session only he Is suggesting we go forward and try to hammer out the process that will follow because we have some differences In that. Alderman Bernstein was not sure he understood exactly what Alderman Jean -Baptiste was saying to the extent we can go forward with the process that's going to be open session and transparent, but to the extent people want to call names, and that's their right, we can't do it in open session. Bennett Johnson, NAACP. referred to the logic when you talked about the exemption of innocence of the defendant in the court, The basic premise is that persons should be tried in open process and the same thing should be applied to the police officers who also should have benefit of an open trial. His experience has been that with officers who have multiple complaints, where there's smoke there's fire and he's been Involved in this police arrest process for a decade. He would strongly urge that this be an open process. Alderman Bernstein said that's a valid point but it's a question of degrees. We have contractual obligations. If we're talking about a policeman whose physically abusive he wants him gone. If somebody wants to charge him with a battery then it becomes an open process seeing his name is in the newspaper along with any other defendant and he comes to trial In an open court. Here we're talking about possible suspension or expulsion from a job depending on the nature and severity of the charge. That's an employment issue, no freedom is involved. Mr. Juhnson said a policeman is the law, he is the primary contact that a citizen has with the government so therefore it's more than just job. He represents the City, he represents all of us and therefore that should be the primary consideration. Alderman Bernstein called upon the first complaint which Is one that was heard before and asked if the complainant wished to go into Executive Session to name names, if not It should be kept generic. We're talking about officers yet to be named, but that does not prevent you from asking the policeman's name. It's not a closed process if the complainant wants to open it up. He, nor this committee, knows the policeman's name. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked If the complainant knows the result of the Chiefs investigation, to which the Chief responded, yes, he did talk with the Page 5. complainant. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked the Chief if he could give an overview of the nature of the allegation and what the process was. Chief Kaminski said he Is the one responsible for all this data and has probably talked to most people in the room tonight. We've added an additional review process to the complaint process. Pror to coming to this panel we've run the synopsis of these complaints by another group of people to get their input trying to make sure we're doing the right thing or at least viewing the facts. The group is comprised of volunteers who have been part of his Advisory Board for the last 6 years, volunteers who want to remain anonymous who actually serve as extra eyes and ears reviewing and giving input in these cases. We're trying to make sure we're not missing things along the way. He encourages anybody who wants to be part of the Advisory Board to come on board, give him your names after the meeting tonight. This particular complaint took place downtown whereas you know we have a special beat, Beat 87 that was put into effect several years ago. We have a special car that patrols the downtown area from 7:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m., on Friday and Saturday nights which was in direct response when the theater and development began because of a lot of calls and complaints from every facet of the community about problems with young people, with robberies, etc., at the theater where Puck's restaurant is. During the summertime when people eat outside kids would ride by there and throw stuff at the people, take stuff off the tables, stand around and use very disparaging language to the people. To curb that kind of activity we put a police officer there from 7:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m., Friday and Saturday nights to patrol that area to make sure everybody is safe and we don't have those problems. We had a couple of incidents we told the officers to pay special attention to, groups of young people going through the downtown area doing a thing called' wilding", which is groups of young people walking up to a person, adults and young people, for no reason at all and punching them. The officer in this case was doing his job walking the area and saw groups of young people in the street and several times asked them to please get off the street and please get onto the curb. The response by the young people, according to the officer, was there were derogatory comments and remarks made to the officer about his appearance and his name. The officer let it go by and several citizens walked up to the officer afterwards and told him he was very composed. The officer left the area after giving that directive, he came back a short while later as they usually do to check to see if there was compliance by the young people and there was not. The officer approached again and again asking to do that, the young person did not abide to that and the officer said he'd have to arrest him. The officer then took the individual into custody and brought him in to the station and called the parents and let the parents know about the activity that was going on. That was the extent of it: there was nothing further about the arrest. That's a summary of the case. Pat Gregory, parent complainant, said that's areal brief synopsis of what happened, but that's not what happened. Her son was there and was standing on the curb, the police officer did come over and ask him to move and he moved and he turned around and asked the officer would it be okay if he stood In front of the theater and the officer told him no. When her son put his hand on the door to walk inside the theater the officer arrested him and he and all of his friends asked what had he done, the officer said it was something he said. The kids and her son said he didn't say that but the officer said yes he did he said it in a different kind of way. Ms. Gregory's nephew knowing her son had never been in trouble before and was scared was not going to let him go the police station by himself and was going to go with him so the police officer arrested him too. When she got to the station she asked to see her son and the Sergeant In Charge refused to let hersee him, then took her in a room explaining to her what happened. The Sergeant said her son was standing in the middle of the street to which Ms. Gregory said she couldn't believer her son would be standing In the middle of a busy street for as long as the officer said he was standing there. The Sergeant said her son then turned around and asked the officer a question and maybe the officer looked at her son as being smart and said he/she would have not arrested him and just told him to go into the theater, but the officer looked at it as being disrespectful. Her son was then taken to the station where a Juvenile officer was standing over him and cursing at him telling him he was going to take him to Maywood Juvenile Detention Center and his mother would never see him and kept cursing him. They would nol let her see her son as she asked several times to see him. She told the other officer that her nephew didn't do anything and asked to let him go. The officer told her police officers don't give rides, if he came to the station he'd be arrested. The officer then gave her a piece of paper to sign that was supposed to be a release form and he would not give her a copy of the paper she signed because he said it was for confidentiality or whatever reasons. Her son was not allowed to go to downtown Evanston for 7 days. She hears what you're saying about not letting police officers names and badge numbers be mentioned, but her son didn't even have the opportunity of due process, he was already convicted and punished. She has dealt with some very nice and very helpful officers in the community, but how can that police officer be unfounded and you're telling her son he can't go downtown Evanston after dark or when the street lights come on. The officer who had her sign the paper said they could not find him in the system but now he's in there like he did something. She is very angry about this and in the report it says the only officer that was found guilty was the officer that was cursing. All of them should have been found guilty. She was not afforded the right to see her son at all which is not right, her son was not afforded due process but he was punished. You talk about not punishing these police officers but these juveniles they take In and do the paperwork on and take whatever action they want, sometimes they'll go to court and sometimes they don't, but that paperwork is there. She's not happy with this and will not stop until something Is done. She understands what Chief Kaminski is saying but its not working for her, if it's a class action suit we need we will get that. They don't understand the psychological damage they're doing to these young black mates by always throwing them around and up Page 6. against cars. People drive by and see these black boys on cars and automatically think theses boys are bad. Her son is not bad. She spent too much time and money to make her son an upright citizen. Up until this point he respected police officers and so did she, but at this point she does not respect any of them. Anytime you treat teenagers like Ihal because you can, she had an officer tell her, "I did it because i can", she wrote his name down and three years later that's the officer that arrested her younger son and that's a problem. She talks to different African American people in the community and they talk about these officers, these veteran officers, who have been on the force for so long they fondle the teenagers and do other kinds of things that are scary. She does not like what she's seeing, she's not pushing anything undercover, and she's not going behind close doors and talking to anybody, because she can take care of her son. She looks at her students who come to her and say the police did this to me, I'm so scared. Not too long ago a boy called her to ask her if there's anything she can do to help him. He said he hasn't always been a good person but now he got accepted into college and missed two college interviews because there's one police officer that's by his car every time he goes out of his house and always harassing him telling him about Chicago. She does not know what this big thing is about Chicago, we live in Evanston and they work in Evanston and they work for us we don't work for them. What bothers her is she got this ridiculous letter in the mail talking about unfounded. Police OPS are police officers, the Chief just said he has a group of people he's been working with, is she supposed to be impressed because he opens this up and shows them this case and they say we're going to agree with you. What makes her think that they won't? People are afraid of the police, she's not afraid of the police because she hasn't done anything wrong. Her children should not be afraid of the police because they haven't done anything wrong and she told them if you do the right thing, if you mind your business you won't get in trouble. I told them a lie, because her son just asked a question and was arrested. What happened to those records? To this date nobody has called her or said anything to her about what's going on, its 6 months later. Just tell her what she needs to do, what she needs to tell her son and her students and every other black person in this community what we are supposed to tell our kids. If you'll be quiet the police won't arrest you, well that's not true because they pull up and say arrest all of them, mob action. How in the world do you call it mob action when you see a six foot 250 pound pollee officer with a gun and a billy club and you just saw him rip up your friend. Are you going to be lough and walk up on this officer, and then there's 10 more standing behind him and all of a sudden somebody drives up and says just take them all. So they take them all and call i1 mob action and then what about their friends who are white. One said he just got stopped downtown by the police and had $20 worth of marijuana in his pocket and the policeman took the marijuana and put it In his pocket and said he didn't see this, go on home. The kids tell each other these stories. We raise our children to get along with and communicate with each other. Even her white students say the police don't handle them like they do our black friends. She does not care who believes her or who doesn't. How in the world can we just arrest somebody just because they're going into the theater, or Just because they asked a question? Last summer when she start letting her son go out by himself they watched a movie about some police officers that grabbed a boy off the street, the boy got away but he had been molested. Her son said when he sees the police he's going to run away. She said let's call the police and see what you're supposed to do. She called and talked to a juvenile officer that said, no you don't run but if a police officer approaches you just ask them if you're In any kind of trouble. If they tell you no then you say okay I have to get home. But, when her son asked a question it was looked at as being disrespectful. She knows four other people that received letters like she received and have stories like hers, so something's not right but she's not afraid to take three steps forward, she's had it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said when he was reading this he wasn't sure what the charge was as he didn't see it. The Chief said there were no formal charges it was just an in station adjustment. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked then why was he arrested. The Chief said he was arrested and brought to the station and then released to the parent, the basis for the arrest was disorderly conduct with no formal charges filed against him. Ina situation like this we want the parents to know what happened and then release them to the parents, there are no formal charges in Juvenile Court or anything. It's just to let them know what the young man was doing because we certainly don't want there to be a record, we don't want a negative impact. We want to try to make sure he knew what the officer was doing at the time so that this wouldn't happen again. In reference to the delays that Ms. Gregory had that was just getting the kids out and trying to get them down from upstairs where the youth officers are. We know Ms. Gregory was upset at the time and they were trying to do as much as they could to let her know what was going on. The Chief said he was sorry that his. Gregory got the letter before we had a chance to talk because he did call her and left a message to talk to her about this. Ms. Gregory called him back several days later and they talked. He wanted to call and talk to her about the other incident she called about but she did not call him back so we really did not get a chance to get a little dialogue on what was going on. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said there were a number of youths acting disrespectfully but he did not get a sense that the officer identified this particular individual and his cousin as acting disrespectfully. Was that an arbitrary action like pulling one or two of the youths out? The Chief said the officer asked everybody to please comply. We talk about society and rights we also talk about social contract. The social contract we all have is when the police ask you to do something you comply. The officer asked him and then left the area, when he came back they were doing the same thing, so the message that the officer got Is his request to them the first lime was totally ignored. The point is when the officer's Page 7. message the first time wasn't taken serious enough to comply. They brought your son to the station; they called you and let you know what happened. That's the extent of it; he's not trying to minimize it from Ms. Gregory's part but is trying to balance things. Ms. Gregory said the Chief was not there nor was she there, the officer can tell the Chief anything he wants to tell him. She's telling him her experience at the police station was not a good one. That officer had a negative impact on her son just grabbing him, putting handcuffs on him and throwing him in the car when he didn't do anything. What happens when an officer asks a teenager to do something and they comply, they get arrested anyway. Her son complied, he asked him to move off the curb, her son turned around and asked him if it's okay if he could stand in front of the theater and everybody said that's all he asked the officer. She does not see how you could get anything smart out of that. The officer told him no, he was compliant, he was going in the door and he got arrested. As she understands it if the officer asks you to do something and you do it you're complying but the officer came back and lied to the Chief and said he walked around several times with everybody out there saying he asked her son to move and her son moved. There were a lot of kids there and he didn't arrest the white boy that was laughing at his shoes but him pulled him over to the side, talked to him and then he and his group left. He then came over because he thought her son and friends were having a conversation about something else. He just assumed that they were laughing at him, why does anybody have to assume he is that great he has control over everybody. Her son asked him how do you pronounce your name because of what it looks like. Nobody even laughed from his group and that's what everybody said. You have these officers who review everything that has to do with officers. The only officer that was founded was the one that was cursing, to her every last one of those officers are founded. Why would she have to sign a piece of paper that at first she was lied to and told the paper was a release, and as she later understood it was some kind of agreement that she should have received a copy of. What would have happened if she decided not to sign anything wouldn't have been able to take her son home, but he wasn't arrested. Alderman Bernstein asked Chief Kaminski what the paper Ms. Gregory signed was, to which the Chief responded, it's a station adjustment sheet to release him to the parent. It just says the young maans been station adjusted for whatever it was. Ms. Gregory said what you're saying Is my son was guilty, he was station adjusted, he was punished because he could not go downtown for 7 days. Her son was brought down to the station which means he was arrested, he was humiliated, degraded and then let go. He wasn't there for a few minutes before they let him go, he was there a while. When the officer went upstairs he lied and told her that her son was upstairs talking, talking, talking. The officer was lying because Ms. Gregory knows how her son is with her. It angers her that the Chief would sit here and defend this officer saying he left and came back. He didn't leave and comeback, he's lying and why isn't he here, he should be hereto tell her that In front of all these people. He's lying and everybody else lied, she should not have had to sign anything if she just came down to pick him up. Her white friend said when she went down they gave her son and she did not have to sign anything and he was really doing something, it that was because of curfew. Ms. Gregory said she is not a confrontational person, does anyone think she wants to sit here before all these people and discuss this. She's upset because she's pushed Into a position she does not want to be in, because her son is going through a thing with the whole police department and now is she supposed to convince him not to run when he sees the police. How can she convince him to stand there and comply? Her older son is also scared of police officers. They stopped her son's friend in front of his house; they picked up her son and came down the block, while she was standing at a house. The officer that stopped him ended up being the backup for officer that was the backup the first time, If that makes sense. Ms. Gregory pulled down the street and looked in the car and saw that washer son so she got out of her and she asked the same officer what's going on, is everything Wright. The officer asked her who she said as and she that was her son in the car and she wanted to make sure everything was alright. The officer told her to get in her car and move it before he gives her a ticket for double parking, she got in her car and went to the end of the block parked and came back and again asked if everything was alright, the officer told her to Just stand right there, and she asked the other officer if the kids are alright, they said, slay back. She then called the police station and asked the person at the desk what the procedure is because she just wanted to know if everything was okay and was told the backup officer should be able to give her that information. Then the same officer made all the boys get out of the car, search them, they had book bags that were dumped out on the ground to which Ms. Gregory asked why they were doing that and the answer was because they can. That is why these officers have that mentality because they have a leader that will back them up. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said at this point In time your differences have clearly been delineated. Let's have some discussion in terms of process. Unfortunately we have a process, we'd like to see a different process but that's what we have right now. Alderman Holmes wanted to clarify that in terms of this incident there are no records whatsoever on this young man. Chief Kaminski responded, right, but there's always a general field report that's under our records and none of those records are ever releasable to anybody by Juvenile Court law. Alderman Bernstein said if somebody is referred to Juvenile Court the record of a station adjustment will be on the record. There's a note of the HASJ adjustment station and it's less than a referral to the court but it is of record on the kld's record. Page 8. Br*d Bereft, Ms. Gregory's son, said when he was at the police station and while sitting down and they were taking his Information an officer came into the room and asked what did he do steal a bike or self drugs and he was wondering what was he talking about. The officer said no he was just standing outside downtown Evanston. Brad asked what did I do and he said don't worry about what you did well tell you what you did when you get done with this. They just assumed that he stole something or was selling drugs. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Brad if he was able to make that complaint to the Chief or to anybody in the police department. Brad said he told his mom and she did. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said that's an important piece of information to always put out so the Chief can at least know all that goes on because in his opinion there's no place for that kind of Insinuation. Alderman Holmes thought that should have come out in the investigation by the OPS, didn't they question the young people invotved in the incident. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Brad if he mentioned that when they interviewed him to which Brad responded, he did not say that exactly but told them the officer was assuming things about him. Ms. Sherry Gregory, Ms. Pat Gregory's sister, her son was with Brad when the Incident took place and the same things happened. He was at his dad's that weekend and she got a phone call from his dad saying he was at the police station and she asked what happened, and if she needed to come. Brad's dad said he would take care of it and call her back, He called back and said It was really nothing he got arrested but he didn't do anything and they had him sign the papers saying he couldn't go downtown for 7 days. Her son is kind of slow and was telling her things they were saying to him at the station and the officer that arrested him still bothers him when he sees him. She's not going to the police department because she's been there on numerous occasions trying to get things resolved that had not been resolved, She confronted the officer herself and told him to leave her son alone and if he has a problem with her son to contact her because she's his mother. She told him you will not disrespect, accuse, of want to know what he's doing every time you see him, because he does not get in trouble, he does not have that mentality like the other kids have. He's not out getting Into trouble because he's with his older cousin, Brad who's 2 years older than him, because our family is dose. Are you going to arrest me because I want to know what's going on with my sister? Ms. Gregory went on to relate another problem she had with her older son in relation to police officers that also involved E.T.H.S. She thought when people come with these types of problems they should be looked at as a community. A lot of these people don't have kids or don't know about these kids, but these kids get along and they talk to one another. He also thought this committee should be more public and something has to be done about the way the police are handling these kids threatening them by always watching them. She told her son let them watch him and every time they say something to him don't even respond to them just let her know and as the mother she'll deal with it and if they have any respect they will contact her if you were that disrespectful because she is responsible for you. Alderman Holmes was trying to understand if these were just station adjustments why the kids weren't allowed to go downtown for 7 days. Chief Kaminski responded when the youth officers are part of their counseling they set parameters for the kids and suggest there's a consequence for actions and what's to be done. It's a very informal thing; it's a teaming experience and what is gone over with the parents. Alderman Holmes wanted to clarify if this is an informal way that the juvenile officers interact with the young people. Chief Kaminski said the philosophy is to try to change behavior, to deal with the experience, and make sure there's no criminal record. When there's inappropriate behavior there's consequences which are what the parents agreed to. Alderman Holmes asked if it's informal what would happen if the kid went downtown within the 7 days. Chief Kaminski said it's not really a legal document it's more of an agreement the parents have with the police. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if Ms. Gregory agreed with the youth officer about the 7 day downtown condition, to which the Chief responded, that is correct. Ms. Sherry Gregory said that was not her understanding, the police talked with her son's dad. Ms. Pat Gregory said that was not negotiated with either her or her sister they just told us they had to sign the paper it was a release form. The officer said her son is not allowed to go downtown for 7 days and she was not able to get a copy of that form because of the courts, Brad was a juvenile and would be released to her, but she never agreed to anything. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said we have to try to move beyond this point to see what we extract from all of this to move the process forward. Chief Kaminski said he did not know Ms. Gregory was coming to the previous meeting and hoped to be able to talk to her to suggest having little roundtable with her and her son. We were exchanging telephone calls and Ms. Gregory never got a chance to call him back. He would suggest having around table at least with the kids because what bothers him the most is the hope that was going to be a teaming experience for the young people and if it's not turning into that from their perspective it's his responsibility to show where the officers' are and their perspective and then try to mediate it which he hoped to do before it got to this point. Alderman Bernstein thought it had been a learning experience, but It's been a negative experience. Alderman Bernstein remarked not having been on this committee very long, what is our authority is to deal with these complaints. Alderman Moran said under the City Code it's the Chiers call when a complaint of misconduct Is registered. They do the investigation and ultimately the Chief has to make a determination which he has and recorded to us. In Page 9. essence we can't overrule the Chief what we have done In the past is if we review all of this and listen to whomever is here talking, and if we feel that the disposition reported to us is the correct one we move to accept the disposition as its been presented to us and the committee votes to or not to agree. If people are not happy with that then that's expressed. There used to be a Police Services Committee which got rolled into the Human Services Committee to have these discussions where there would be an allegation of misconduct against a policeman or several policemen and that process would run its course. The Chief would make his decision and then we would have this discussion amongst the committee and people who would come to these meetings. He has always viewed our committee's roll in this is we are here to listen', we aren't here to overrule the Chief. The law is clear that the Chief is the one who makes this call. As policy makers we have the authority and ability to advise and consult or whatever, or wherever we feel somehow something's gone wrong within the activity of the police department. That is our role as he understood it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said as officials of the City our duty is to make sure we have the best police force and best service we can possibly have. We have youth who can also comport themselves in a way that is in their collective best interest. A discussion he has had with the Chief before is there is a real gap between the officers' understanding of the reality and the reality idea. There are not a number of officers who do not know the youth they serve nor do they know the population In general. Officers may come with their own prejudices that could be good, bad or indifferent, but they impose that on their reality. In terms of the orientation there should be an addibona) phase where there is some intemcton for the new officers, perhaps going to the churches, to the schools, maybe rail for some police community discussions where these new officers are introduced to the community to have a chance to interact and team more about the community, which he does not how it ran be implemented. Others may be involved with the youth at other levels. From time to Ume some of them could go by the barber shops and talk to the youth who may frequent some of those, but the gap has to be closed. There's no one size fits all approach to all of the youth. It's unclear to him what the motivation of the arrest was, the second arrest is even more confusing to him and why we think that aught to be justified. the issue of respect Is something all of our youth have to understand, you have to be able to handle the relationship with authority in a way that maximizes your chance of getting away from that kind of confrontation so you don't get a police record. We can talk policy all we want but there's a certain amount of defensiveness that needs to go on so people can avoid some of these pitfalls, because some officers are disrespectful and do curse and do presume that every black young man is a thief. That's a constant fight and he would suggest that there be additional steps undertaken and Is not just taken from this interaction. The fact that you include in your advisory an additional review is going in the right direction but opposed to waiting for people to volunteer try to see if you could reach out to recruit some of the longstanding individuals in the community who have some critical interaction with you and with the City so that we can bring some more credibility to the process of review. To review yourself is ultimately to serve yourself. He would suggest we do not close the book in this particular complaint and ask the Chief, since the Chief had intended to have further discussions, to go back and look at the facts and whether or not the outcome is not one that these youths believe that they've been punished for something when they don't feel they did anything wrong. There was some criticism with the officers, some smart talk, for which there may have been alternative ways of dealing with, but the second arrest is totally unclear to him. The first one is cloudy because he does not see where the identification of the individual was severed and apart from the rest of the group. He would suggest that be reopened for further discussion to try to probe the rationale of the officer that decided to sweep their cousin in. His family is raised like that too, no one is going to let one person go without going with them because that person is in trouble and that does not mean that all of them should be swept into the arrest. He does not know what the alternative is but certainly the second individual should not have been arrested for that rationale. Alderman Jean-Baotisto moved to reopen the matter and allow the Chief to further investloate and further talk to the vouth Involved. the parents Involved. and the officers and If there could be some discussions between the officers to bring closure to that. We need a police department that we can respect, that we can count on and the police department also needs to have some predictable interaction with our youth so they understand they're human beings too, and also need respect so if somebody is disrespecting them they may move them to a point where they may respond to them. He does not think they should go to any extreme and we do not want that authority abused, but it is important that there be some further discussion on this particular issue. Alderman Holmes agreed with Alderman Jean-Baptiste's suggestions because if you look at the first encounter with the officer he talks about one youth having a direct confrontation with the officer and several disrespectful comments were made so he gave them a warning and left. Then 45 minutes later when the officer returned he again says one youth and does not identify that youth as being the same youth, therefore she is not sure it is the same person that made him do this. He arrests the cousin for disobeying an officer as well when the cousin simply asked if he could go with his cousin which doesn't make a lot of sense as far as disobeying the officer Is concerned. Alderman Bernstein said this is just the Up of the Iceberg. There Is a perception and a perception becomes a reality that we have to address. Years ago we had conversations about the gang problem and met at Evanston High School and started a dialogue, we need to continue the dialogue. Alderman Jean -Baptiste had a good suggestion in terms of getting the police officers here. Historically he has seen the distinction among the people and the same distinctions are with Page 10. � 1 I policemen, they're people, some have a lower fuse others a higher boiling point but there is definitely concern and its not just expressed tonight we talked when we talked about an advisory committee to hear these complaints. There has to be a method in which we can reach out to this community because he does not want kids walking the streets afraid of policemen. that was the whole idea behind the walking patrolman is to interact with the people. We have a lot of work to do, it's an ongoing battle, but this is just a symptom of a greater problem we have to adjust which he's been trying to do for many, many years but does not know how. This is Evanston, we pride ourselves on our "diversity", but that's a loaded word. We talk in terms of a youth initiative; this is the serious part of the youth initiative. This committee, in conjunction with the Human Relations Commission, in conjunction with the Police Department has to rind a method by which we can start the dialogue and try to interact and impact this kind of thing. At this time Alderman Bernstein introduced the newest member of the Human Relations Commission in the audience Alderman Holmes asked if we know what officers and how many officers get these kinds of complaints against them, they may need some additional training. Chief Kaminski said he mentioned earlier that we go through a whole series of things to track all of our officers; it's called an early intervention system. All the data is put into a computer and we look at all types of data, the number of complaints they get, we look at sick call in, lateness, and if we see a threshold being met we deal with the officer on a positive effect. We've been tracking and monitoring our officers consistently for years and if there's a red flag that can be corrected, we watch because we don't want that liability either. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted in terms of the station adjustment if he didn't think his son did anything wrong and If nobody thought he did anything wrong and if he wasn't charged with anything then he would not want this station adjustment paperwork on him. It's Important for the Chief to take a look at that, particularly in this case, as to its implication of what people think and perceive. If it says nothing then why have it. The Chief said it's meant to be a positive interaction between parents, young people and the police. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said if it is intended to be that, that's fine, if his son did something or you thought he did something and we sat down and talked about it and came to an agreement as to how to correct it that's another thing. As you say it's meant to be the coming together of the station, the police officers, and the parents then let's make it that. In this case these parents are saying they didn't have a part in that agreement; there was no meeting of the minds in this particular issue. That agreement also says you agree they shouldn't be downtown for 7 days; please try to take a look at that. Alderman Holmes remarked everything is taped so if that conversation happened its on tape, to which the Chief said we do not tape those cases it's very informal. Alderman Jean -Baptiste addressed both Ms. Gregorys and said the Chief is saying it was to have been a collective statement as to how to address that. Ms. Pat Gregory said it was presented to her being paperwork to be signed for the release of her son or she never would have consented to the condition that her son was not allowed downtown for 7 days. If the officer, in trying to make It easy, says this is a release as opposed to going through the hard process of some discussion, some negotiation, some agreement, then we have to find a way to make that happen. Where that did not happen and where people were misled, or the officer made a mistake, has to be revisited. Ms. Gordon, also a victim of that process because it happened to her and she would not sign. Her son was released to her Immediately as she told them she refused to sign anything stating the fact that her son was in a gang. She also had an attorney standing next to her. This also involved District 202 when one of the Deans there indicated her son was involved in a fight. The teacher, the person that told her as well as the Dean that her son never started it. By the time she got to the high school, from Evanston Hospital where she works, the Dean called the police and told them her son was in a gang fight and she was not allowed to see him. She told them they had no right to do that. Once she saw her son he told her was innocent and his English teacher told her what happened. The bad thing about this was 2 of the officers tried to grab her son but he would not allow them to grab him and he told them he could walk down to the office, they then put him in handcuffs in front of the whole school and walked him to the Dean's office. By the time she got to the school from work her son was passing her in the hallway in handcuffs and driven to the police station. Not one lime did the Evanston Police Department give her a call. When she got there they told her she could not see him and she told them her son Is 16 years old how can they tell her she can't see her child. They wanted her to sign that paper and she refused. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked what is the policy, to which the Chief responded they notify the parents as soon as they reasonably can, conduct an investigation, tali the parents down to the station and deal with the parents. Alderman Jean - Baptiste asked if parents are allowed to come in and see their kids, to which the Chief responded, yes, if they're processing them or they're downstairs it just takes time to go through the process. There is a process that goes on and everyone has to wait until we get it all together, Darcelie Giles, said her son and a friend were at a party with some Northwestern students. Her son is 17 years old, his friend is 19. At the party they asked them how old they were and because they were underage asked them to leave. As they were leaving the police stopped them outside the house, they arrested them and said they did a residential burglary. They said they had a laptop computer and some other things, a detective told her they caught them red handed coming out with some things. They were in the police station for 3 days and her 17 year old son was charged as an adult. On Page 11. Saturday her son called her and said they gave him a DNA test and she asked why they did that. Her son said the detective said his name came up In a murder. They went to bond court where a lady said one of the kids kicked her downstairs and beat her up. The lady did press charges and they gave them a $100,000 bail and locked them up in Cook CountyJail. She didn't have S 10,000 for the bail. They made her son sign something during questioning him and when he would tell them something they wrote down what they wanted to write. When he read it back he said he didn't say that and they said theyrd fix it later. Something has to be done about this. She's looking into taking action on this because in her heart she believes they are innocent. These Northwestem kids were drinking at this party and when the policeman asked them if these were the guys that did it they said they didn't know. Alderman Bernstein said he hoped her son has representation because if he has felony charges pending against him he needs representation which is different than what we're discussing here tonight. The lawyer has the responsibility of going behind that signed confession to determine the validity of it, her son has to be represented which is something we can't gel into here. If you want to file a complaint for a policeman taking a false confession that's your prerogative. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said we'd have to address that In a different contest, maybe you could stay afterwards we might be able to refer you to somebody because three of us on this committee are attomeys. Aldermen Jean-Baatiste had a motion on the floor that we reooen the orocess for the Chief to consider some of the Issues brouaht un. The Chief said he likes to talk to complainants and was going to provide that opportunity to Ms. Gregory because whenever he hears those stories he tries to at least intervene in someway to figure out what was going on and explain that there is always two sides to every story and when we sit down and talk about it beyond being adversarial, you can usually get a better understanding of it. Alderman Holmes soconded Alderman Jean-Baotiste's motion. Aidemian Moran suggested we discontinue the committee's consideration until the next meeting and let the Chief do what he does. Alderman Holmes noted Ms. Gregory's letter from the Chief stated if she was not satisfied she could come before this committee, which is what she did. Alderman Bemstein assured the community that there is nobody on this committee, including the Chief of Police, who sanctions the kinds of activities that are alleged. Nobody is accepting it, nobody is condoning it and to the extent that we can find out what's happening we're going to do something about it. This is not what Evanston should be about and he knows Chief Kaminski doesn't want that to be what his Police Department is about. Our Legal Counsel, Elke Purze, indicated to him that as a mediator with the Neighborhood Justice System she has been involved in mediations and perhaps that's part of the approach that we can take, but we have to start dialogue and get to the bottom of this. Kids are kids no matter what color they are. Policemen have the most difficult job in the world but there are times when their judgment sometimes is right, and sometimes is wrong. To the extent that there's profiling going on, that's absolutely wrong and should not be and will not be tolerated. Judith Treadway, the Branch Secretary of the Evanston North Shore Branch NAACP as well as Executive Commfttee member. Thank you for agreeing to review this decision. She came to ask for an appeal process regarding the decision of the Evanston Police Department's complaint of Ms. Gregory. Also, she feels as far as the community Is concerned, the earlier part of the discussion was the articulation of the contract between the City of Evanston and the Police Department and asked if that supersedes the contract between the citizen and the City of Evanston that we should be protected and our rights should be upheld. As a matter of record, she has received numerous phone calls regarding police behavior and has three formal complaints, one of which if related to the incident just reviewed. She has worked with another member of their committee, Bennett Johnson, who has a long history of working around these issues related to police and citizen concems. She wants to acknowledge she has received these phone calls and complaints based on several issues, one is police harassment of our youth In particular black males, one is language that is inappropriate in terms of a probable cause stop or an engagement of our youth in the public, another is police stops that were based on "probable cause, another is related to the treatment of African American women when they're approached or dealt with by the Police Department on these "probable cause stops", another is about loitering what is it and if kids are going to the movies is that loitering or are they standing In line like all the other 75 or 100 people waiting to get in because there's no room on the sidewalk. Also, there is a perception that is a reality for many of our black youth that they are being intimidated by the police who are supposed to be protecting them. She has worked with the police since she came here in 1990 and she knows there are good policemen, bad policemen, good kids, and bad kids. One of the requests she wants to make is we need to have more sensitivity training and reaction training for our law officers in particular, especially because there is a changing of the guard. We have a tot of new officers who are coming from what she calls very sensitive communities that are homogenous and not as diverse as Evanston. Because these young officers are coming to our community they're bringing their frame of reference and how they dealt with their community which is creating some conflict because they're coming in with the authority and the gun which is automatically intimidating to our youth. Manyof our youth are not engaged in any kind of criminal or breaking the law acts, but because they all dress the same they seem to be representive. They're not representing anything but the fashion so she always tells the kids to put the pants up on their hips so no one will presume that you are of a certain persuasion in the community. We are greatly concerned about not having our parents contacted when an incident occurs, not only regarding the police officers in the street but at the high school where we have a police officer stationed. There is an assumption that our children are guilty when they are not. When she came here in 1990 and participated in the Task Force at the high school she was told that a station adjustment was supposed to be a talking to and that's all, there's not supposed to be any paperwork done, not any Page 12. consequences, just a talking to and that was all that was supposed to happen. She received a request from a citizen asking her If she has demographics on the station adjustments to which she said how would you assume there's demographics if the black kids are the only ones getting the papers and the white kids are being sent home, you are going have a skew of data that's only going to be representive of one group. Her last complaint is from a Hispanic parent in Evanston whose son was standing on the comer opposite of the campus of EfHS and was picked up by the police because there were issues about the young student. She can grant that police could talk to him but to arrest him because he's staying on the other side of the street waiting for his girlfriend is what she considers precipitous of having some engagement unnecessarily with the youth just because he might have been picked up by the police previously. As far as posture she just wants the committee to be aware of the fact that the NAACP is looking at all these things. She has talked with the parents and can vouch for the fact she has heard the same thing over and over, and heard the officers' response to the situation. She heard it again tonight and does not think our language has changed and out of sincerity and willingness to protect her child she feels this definitely needs to be reviewed and appealed by our Police Department with your assistance. In terms of law enforcement we wish to cooperate but we don't need to continue to have this adversarial perception In our community but we do have one and it's very difficult for those of us who wish to work with the Police Department when we hear stories from some our parents about what's happening to their black boys. We're not working to get cooperation for safety and security in community we're working to have people have animosity towards our Police Department and she does not think our police officers want that. Her last comment is regarding the hiring policies of this Police Department. She was approached by an unnamed person from Chicago showing her all of his credentials, all of the good work he had had done in the community, all the awards he received from the Chicago Police Department for his problem solving and policing, and building consistence of the community to make it safe from gangs, etc., etc., etc., telling her he applied for a position here. He was terrified that I would even come and ask to support him to be hired by the Police Department because of the politics of these people selecting whose going to be on our police force. She does not know what happened to this officer, she has not seen him nor does know whether he's here or not. As far as she's concerned she met him and was so pleased how pleasant he was to everybody he came in contact with and is very concerned that she does not see his face on our Police Department. Thank you very much and we will be back. At Gibbs, said his concern is not about him having children in trouble but when this was brought to him about the concern of so many young black men in our community having problems with the police. There's been a time he sat down with you about 12 or 15 years when he wanted your assistance for something he disagreed with from a detective investigating a case he was assaulted and from what the detective said to him he thought he should have brought it to your attention. You did give me the time to speak to him and hear what he had to say he still felt putout he did the wrong thing he went to someone that was supposed making feel that the door was open and he did get in but whether you heard him and addressed what he realty was concerned about he thinks fell on deaf ears. Everything he hears tonight seems to these people has fallen on deaf ears for many years. He may have spoken earlier out because he felt a little angry earlier about this going into Executive Session but to him it has always been something with trust with police In our community. What he sees in the 5 h ward every day is them giving our young black men a serious problem. Once he did see community police and thought that was very nice because the young kids were interested in meeting the police officers and felt when they grew up they wanted to be a police officer, a fireman or so forth. Those same impressionable youngsters see what's happening to the kids of their ages and they get horrified. All they have to do is see the police car stop and talk to their mommy or daddy and they start crying. That is sad because the child does not have a vision of kindness towards the police. He thinks more needs to be done and he's not saying you're not trying nor would he say the committee here isn't trying. The OPS decisions are backdoor decisions which he knows because it's been tried on him a few times. There Is this perception that if a black man speaks to a white man, a policeman, that becomes another issue that Isn't about law but how dare you look at me like you're an equal of mine. if you're for right and I'm for right we don't have to come up with a decision about the right. That's ail we have to be bothered with not your practice for racial superiority, he's not taking it today at 54 and knows not to give it them. A concerned citizen in the community that the problem resides steps up to continue to be a help for the problem be it a black child or white child or any child and be threatened with they're interfering with police work. Mr. Gibbs proceeded to talk about his personal experiences. He'd like to say if there is a way we all are going to be able to be to do God's will in this town not the rhetoric of we're a diverse place we're not more diverse than what they are In Iran because its too one sides on complaints you generally hear. All officers are not bad, all white people are not bad, black people aren't either. Shirley Gordon, said she lives in what is considered a high profile area, and proceeded to go Into a problem she has been enduring with the police that they are constantly following her from her home to her work and even when she goes out shopping. The Incident began with officers coming to her home and making unfounded accusations to which Ms. Gordon took it upon herself to take the necessary actions to have the incident looked Into and Is there here tonight make the committee aware of some of the actions taken by the police against citizens for no reason. Page 13. 5r 17 Ms. Oucre, has lived in Evanston for quite some time and proceeded to speak about the problems she's been having regarding parking in her area and about the rudeness of the new officers coming on the force that do not know the community. There are some very helpful Officers new and old but her suggestion was also to have new officers know the area so they can better serve the community and residents. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested there should be a community forum for these issues to hearcitizens as well as officers views and recommends some initiative should be taken to try to get that accomplished. Alderman Moran moved to accent the Annual Review. seconded by Alderman Holmes. Motion unanimousiv accepted (4-01, Alderman Bernstein retailed Alderman JeamBaotiste'a motion to reopen the matter and al low the Chief to further i ves i ate and further talk to the youth Involved. the parents involved. and the officers and If there could be some discussions between the officers to brina closure to that. Motion unanimously accepted (4-0), Alderman Moran moved to accept the Chief a Complaint Reaister (C.R) as recorded with the exception of C.R. 05-02 to be reopened and lnvestisated. Motion unanimousiv accepted (4-01. VII. ADJOURNEMNT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 10:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health & Human Services Page 14. HUME�N SERVIO%IMC! COMMITTEE on y a I'11a.1'y20992006 ROOM 2402 - ?.O� P.M. PLEASE PRINT N e: Address/Organization: r"walk �C,% •-,�`cr� /��d �✓ s rlcll� HUMAN SERVICES CONOWITTEE AvAum uay r cur ua l y 'av, dawwv ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRIM Name: Address /Organization: , y! 1 CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, March 6, 2006 Civic Canter - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. BERS PRESENT; Aldermen Holmes, Jean•Bapbste, Moran and Tisdahl MEMBERS ABSENT: Alderman Bernstein STAFF PRESENT: Judy Aiello, Doug Gaynor, Bob Domecker, Carla Bush, Elke Purze, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Rosemary Jean -Paul, Evanston Township; (See Attached list of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Moran I. CALL TO ORDER In the absence of Alderman Bernstein Alderman Moran chaired the meeting and called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. 11. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 20, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the February 20. 2006 meetina were tailed and unanimously accepted f4-01. ill. CONSIDERATION OF FEBRUARY 2006 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes motioned for approval of the February 2006 Township monthly bills, seconded by Alderman Tisdahl. Mallon unanimously approved f4-01. iV. CONSIDERATION OF CHANGES TO SIDEWALK CAFtr ORDINANCE Ms. Aiello noted at the end of the season some time was spent talking to the people operating the sidewalk cafes and looking at some of the issues that arose from those discussions. The predominant request from the people, particularly for Type 11 restaurants, was also having to go to P & D and Council to have their applications reviewed causing the process to take up to 6 weeks, and asked if there is any way this could be done administratively. It is important to know that part of that review process is not only with Site Plan, which has most of the departments represented, but also with the Health Department. Ms. Aiello noted if the committee agrees some of the background and issues that have arisen have been set forth with some recommendations that will be worked into an ordinance agreeable to Council. We're asking that Type It restaurants which have previously had licenses without any Issues go through the process with the Site Plan Review and then be approved administratively. Type 1 restaurants outside the core, (downtown) which serve liquor, are required to be approved by P & D. If there are no complaints or issues with litter, or trash dumpsters particularly in the downtown area during the season, the next season that Type II restaurant could be approved administratively. The current technical change Is we're asking for five (5) feet unobstructed setback space. During the course of the summer we know that they inch out which is why we and would like to have a six (6) foot requirement unobstructed that will have to be approved by Traffic Engineering and Public Works. Chicago has six (6) feet, Oak Park and Wilmelte have five (5) feet, we would like to request the increase to six (6) feet. We also want to change some of the language to clarify the issue of access for people with disabilities and animals. Last summer we had a report that an individual with a Seeing Eye dog was denied access because we don't allow dogs in the sidewalk caf6 area and want to clarify that Seeing Eye dogs for people with disabilities are allowed. During the summertime there are ropes that delineate the area of the cafes. Also, the cafes are supposed to take the furniture in at night but they have been piling the furniture into a comer. We have not been siteing that but would like to charge a little extra for that because they are using the public sidewalk and right of way for a longer period of time. We would also like to clarify the language relating to the umbrellas and canopies as there has been some confusion regarding that - Currently we only inspect in relation to complaints but would like to have a more routine inspection schedule as that would help in relation to doing the approval administratively. Ms. Aiello said that is a brief summary of the issues presented and would be happy to answers any questions. Page 1. Alderman Tisdahl asked If the five (5) feet versus six (6) feet setback would preclude any existing sidewalk cafes as she does not want to preclude anyone in voting for this. Ms. Aiello some language that we do not want to preclude anyone will be Included, but wants to squeeze out as much space as we can. Alderman Tisdahl's only other concern was regarding litter to which Ms. Aiello said they do that at Site Plan Committee and if inspections are increased at least once a week they will see the litter and try to remind people. Alderman Holmes's question was in terms of scheduling inspections. Ms. Aiello said Community Development does it on Monday and our office will do it one day at the end of the week. Alderman Holmes asked what Ms. Aiello has in mind clarifying the language in the ordinance with the encroachment of the canopies and umbrellas. Ms. Aiello said they were put in right at the edge so they might be encroaching onto what is supposed to be unobstructed and we will make it very clear that all umbrellas and canopies have to be within that six feet space. Alderman Moran called for the committee's aaprovat of the considerina the recommendation for chances to the sidewalk caf6 ordinance. the committee unanimousiv approved the recommendation (4-0). V. CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED PARK ORDINANCE AMENDMENT 15-0-06 Mr. Gaynor noted some time ago a number of the park ordinances were amended and when they were codified found some minor modifications were needed. There are four recommended changes for example; changing the name of Nichols Park In existing code to Fitzsimons Park, and Mulford and Florence tot lot In existing code to the Levinson tot lot. Alderman Moran asked Mr. Gaynor if he has discussions with the aldermen who represent the effective areas, to which Mr. Gaynor responded, no, as these are housekeeping changes. Alderman Moran called for anoroval of the orooned recommendations: the committee unanlmouslv aooroved the recommendations 14-01. VI. CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED 2006 CALENDAR OF SPECIAL EVENTS Mr. Gaynor remarked this is their annual walk through with the Human Services Committee; this same calendar will then go before the A & PW Committee. Events that require street closures require going through the A & PW Committee, the balance come through the Human Services Committee. The recommendation for approval is contingent upon meeting the criteria set forth by the City Council's special events policy. The only action other than our recommendation to approve Is regarding a proposed event by the North Shore Anti War Coalition that has requested Fountain Square with an estimated attendance of 400 people. They are requesting waiver of the fees that includes the standard special event fee of $100, the $50 park fee as Fountain Square Is by ordinance a park, and whatever additional costs that would be incurred for the police or public works efforts. This would entail closing down at least one of the thru streets that could be affected, Sherman, Orrington or Davis, which the Police Chief has notified us he is prepared to do. They would also need a loud speaker permit. Alderman Moran asked how this has been handled in the past to which Mr. Gaynor responded; a year ago Council did waive the fee. We have had to modify what they wanted to do because this type of event doesn't fit Fountain Square. At some point in time we will have to address that Fountain Square is a very highly visible location, which is very good for these types of events, except the Council has to make a policy decision because there could be a large rally of several thousand that would shut down that entire area. There needs to be a decision that even though this is a visible location for rallies Is It an inappropriate location for rallies. This event is scheduled to take place in a couple of weeks and we need to take action on this. Alderman Moran was interested in the prior instance when all the fees were waived. Alderman Tisdahl said she supported waving the fees but would like to point out if they are waived again we will have to waive them for every group who wants to rally there whether we agree with the rally's purpose or not. Alderman Moran said he did not have a strong feeling pro or con but what is being presented to us is the notion of treating everybody the same or not. In his mind we have to treat people the same and we need to understand that equality and fair handedness comes into play here. Alderman Jean -Baptiste agreed with Alderman Moran but said not every group is making that request and not every group will have short term utilization of that kind of venue. When the Anti War Coalition meets its over in a couple of hours. In this case the rally is March 18tn from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. Each group has a different need and we should try to take that Into consideration at the time they make their request. Alderman Holmes recalled the fees were waived because of circumstances regarding timing. If you're expecting that many or even half as many people you can pass the hat and collect some money to at least help pay for the loud speaker fee or something. She does not see waiving the entire fee. Page 2. Alderman Jean -Baptiste brought up that they provide insurance and asked what exactly will be the fees. Mr. Gaynor said the feels $100 plus the $50 park fee, but does not know what the cost would be for police officers. As he interprets the Chiefs memo he feels he can accommodate this event with his existing patrolmen. However there maybe barricades that would have to be brought out and picked up, that maybe a cost to Public Works but does not think is significant. A number of times barricades were dropped off on the comers that police department setup when they get there, then lake them down and the next regular work day we pick up the barricades, so he does not know see that as that as a cost. Alderman Moran thought maybe charge them S150 and not charge for the extra compliment police service and avoid the problem. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said unless they appeal that and come back to us then we have to consider this. Mr. Gaynor noted that is the only Issue in their recommendation. There area number of other events that they have not been able to negotiate but the policy is there and the groups clearly understand what the program is about. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked he was happy to see two additional Starlight Concerts at Twigg Park on the events calendar. Mr. Gaynor said the two new concerts were added when the budget was approved. Alderman Moran called for a motion to aoorove the Dronosed 2006 Calendar of Soecial Events. Alderman Tisdahl moved approval, seconded by Alderman Jean -Baptiste, motion unanimousty aDDroved 14-01. VII. CONSIDERATION OF PROPOSED 2006 CULTURAL FUND GRANT AWARDS Mr. Gaynor noted the Arts Director Jeff Corey is in attendance and has shepherded this process for the past several months with the Sub Committee of the Arts Council, It is the same as the previous process when the artists come and weigh all of the applications and proposals. This year the recommendation is to spend all the money. Alderman Tlsdahl moved aooroval of the or000sed 2006 Cultural Fund Grant Awards. seconded by Jean -Baptiste, motion unanlmousiv aDDroved f4-01. VUL CONSIDERATION OF A REFERENCE TO AMEND THE INDOOR CLEANAIR ORDINANCE Alderman Tlsdahl said she requested the committee revisit this as we all said we needed Chicago to do this and Chicago did. She wanted to follow the Chicago plan except for item 7-32-060, 'Where Smoking is not Regulated." under Number 7, and talks about air filtration and purification and does not want people installing huge devices and then saying it didn't work making them take it out. It should be addressed that if and when the technology exists to make it viable, as right now it does not exist. Alderman Tlsdahl thought our plan should be the same as Chicago's with the exception of that paragraph. Alderman Holmes thought the schedule is critical. She asked what this means in reference to Alderman Bernstein's recommendation, made at the last meeting, that the state become smoke free. Alderman Moran did not think It would change anything as we are still recommending to the legislature that they adopt a statewide ban. Alderman Tlsdahl added we are just saying that if some little town in Southern Illinois doesn't want a statewide ban, we want a ban anyway. Alderman Moran called upon those in attendance who wished to speak in support of the smoking ban. Marge Gambow, 927 Michigan Avenue, a breast cancer survivor and a volunteer for the American Cancer Society Reach Out for Recovery Program. She Is here representing herself and other survivors. Ms. Gambow quoted from the California Environmental Protection Agency Resources Board study dated March 2, 2005, that proposed identifications that environmental tobacco smoke is a possible toxic air component. In that report, based on 1000 studies of secondhand smoke and list a range of hazardous health affects associated with it, one of the most notable is the connection made between second hand smoke and breast cancer. Based on the best studies available researchers say exposure to secondhand smoke can increase a woman's risk of breast cancer by up to 90%. The study also states the casual relationship between secondhand smoke exposure and breast cancer appears to be greater for pre menopausal breast cancers. The report states higher risks were noted for breast cancer diagnosed in women under 50, women exposed before puberty and women who are exposed prior to their first pregnancy. In her own case breast cancer was not one of her risks. She did everything right, she never smoked, didn't drink, ate well, exercised, stayed a good weight and was diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 55. She is here tonight because she never wants another person to sit in an office and hear that they have been diagnosed with cancer. Her personal family's great risk was heart disease. She is here to support the ban and anything we can do to eliminate the risk is very important for our daughters and brothers and sisters. Don Ziegler, wanted to commend the City Council for recommending to the state that the state of Illinois goes smoke free. He appreciates that and the sentiment of Alderman Tlsdahl to have Evanston go smoke free sooner. Alderman Tisdahl asked him to get an update on the smoking ordinance passed in Evanston in June of 2004. what Is happening In Chicago, Skokie, and elsewhere and what are the implications for Evanston. See Attachment A. for Mr. Zlegler's comments. Page 3. Mellsu Leasia, !Ives at 2127Maple Avenue for28 years, wanted to share a little anecdote with the committee under the category of why wait. She made the argument several times In 2004 when we did this that it would make sense for Evanston to lead the way and not wait Chicago and some of the other communities changed their laws. Just a few weeks ago she had a family reunion at her home due to a death in the family and had over 35 people In for the weekend. About 20 of those people were in the age group between 20 and 30 and all decided to go out one night to a bar. She was very proud that they chose designated drivers and drove into the City of Chicago to visit a smoke free bar, the Charleston a Chicago tavem classic. This group of young people traveled to this smoke free bar and could not get In it was so crowded. See Attachment B. for what Ms. Leasla printed off their website. Meg McClaskey, a Clinical Medical Ethics Consultant and a Chaplain and said she has presented in this context before. See Attachment C. for Ms. McClaskey's comments. Alderman Moran noticed faces of people in the audience who have not spoken here tonight, who have advocated In the past and are somewhat disappointed in our trust of this issue. There is a great deal of momentum on the part of the Council to do what you want us to do. in the past some of us, and he counts himself within the crew, were concerned about the competitive aspects that have been discussed tonight and many other nights. If Ireland and Spain go smoke free anybody can go smoke free because they smoke like fiends or at least they used to. In the past we said if Chicago were to pass this, which is a barrier that we have passed. The competitive Impairment as suggested by Mr. Ziegler and others to a very large degree has been debunked and this is the right thing to do. Alderman Tisdahl asked Alderman Moran if he's saying he thinks it's the right thing to do right now and doesn't want to do it on the same schedule as Chicago. Alderman Moran said he is not sure that he came here tonight to confront the notion of whether we drop the hammer in the next few weeks as opposed to the bar schedule. He does not know what he wants to do right now as there might be other things we can do in relation to it, and does not think he's prepared tonight to tell people to stop tomorrow or after the next City Council meeting, that's something we need to think about. Mr. Tent' said the Chicago ordinance talks about a bar as having 65% of gross sales in alcohol which is not language in our ordinance. We don't define a bar that way, in fact a bar, per se, is not defined in our smoking ordinance. We just talk about bar areas of restaurants; they define restaurants at bars up to 15 feet from the bar. If, in fact, we want to hold off an implementation date for 2008 we would have to craft our own language defining who it is we're holding off until 2008. Judging by the tenor so far on those rare places where Chicago's ordinance is currently stricter, and where Evanston's ordinance is stricter than Chicago's, we want to leave Evanston as stricter. We also have the nursing home issue because Chicago did not exempt nursing homes. The only issue Mr. Terry raised was to point out we have the two facilities for the chronically mentally ill where smoking is allowed in those facilities and to ban it completely while making public health sense raises the specter of creating a community issue. This decision does not have to be made tonight but that's why we have exempted nursing homes. Alderman Moran asked Mr. Terry if he's had discussions with the management of those facilities about such a ban. Mr. Terry responded, not yet but he'll be happy to do that and will let the committee know how they feel about it. Alderman Tisdahl said she does not want to propose banning smoking at the facilities without hearing from them. Alderman Jean - Baptiste commented the last time when this was deliberated over, they did say when Chicago goes that way we're ready logo. It was an economic decision that we made and we're prepared to advance this before the City Council. Alderman Tisdahl asked Mr. Terry if he told restaurants and bars that the committee would be discussing this issue. Mr. Terry responded he had told some but did not do a blast email or fax as there is no ordinance on the table tonight. if the committee's direction is to draft an ordinance that can be done and brought back to the committee. Alderman Jean - Baptiste said the restaurants and bars can be invited to the next Human Services Committee meeting. Mr. Terry asked if the committee is proposing a different date in the drafting of the ordinance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked the Chicago language deals with freestanding bars and restaurants. Mr. Terry noted two items from the Chicago ordinance; one is bars with 65% gross sales from alcohol, which he does not believe anybody fits except the Blues Club has that potential. The ordinance then says restaurants at bars up to15 feet from the bar area which he not quite sure what that means but will get some further definition on that. Those are the two items held off until July 1, 2008. There is an assumption that for some in Chicago by 2008 the technology for air purification will get to the point where it says provide the same as outside ambient air which most are skeptical will happen. Alderman Moran thought we're clear we are not going to put that language Into our ordinance and asked Mr. Terry when drafting of the ordinance if he could highlight the decision points that we haven't gotten to tonight and which will be the focus of our discussion at the next committee meeting. Darfene E. Morris, has been a resident of Evanston for more than 50 years and lives at 810 Dobson. She is an educator, classroom consultant, teacher. and also a four year breast cancer survivor. Ms. Morris said she Is here to encourage you to move In the right direction making Evanston a smoke free community for the reason that secondhand Page 4. smoke or passive smoke does contribute to the risk of breast cancer. We need to have people survive in our country as long as they can and being an educator wants children to be in a healthy, joyful community and would like Evanston to ban smoking in bookstores, cafes, any place that families go and enjoy life. She also would like to ask if we do allow smoking In some areas that the doors be closed and ventilation is installed so that the smoke is not coming out Into the sidewalk area or going out into people's homes that live close to that area. Her mother was a smoker for 40 years, she never smoked, there was no other cancer in her family she's the first one to get breast cancer. The journey Is rough: she represents Sisters' Network, African American women who have gone the journey of breast cancer, Susan Coleman Foundation. and the City of Hope, as well as American Cancer Society here in Evanston, as a Reach Volunteer. She really encourages the committee to go forth with this as soon as possible because we need to have our community healthy. Catherine Counard, M.D., of 217 Kedzie, said she thought Alderman Holmes was the only Alderman that did not hear from her personally during the last attempt to have Evanston go smoke free. She is here representing the medical community. After the last hearing both hospitals came out in agreement, their Chiefs of medical staff, over a dozen physicians who provide medical care, two residents of Evanston all came and testified about the risk of secondhand smoke and how it negatively Impacts the health of people in Evanston every day. If the committee could move forward with this as quickly as possible, better than 2008, we greatly appreciate it, it will save lives. Mr. Ziegler asked Alderman Moran to clarity what the committee is recommending to which Alderman Moran said they are recommending the adoption of an ordinance that will no give back any of the more stringent requirements In comparison to the Chicago ordinance. We will adopt the majority of the Chicago ordinance where it would be stricter than what we have In our current ordinance. There are a few outstanding issues about wind down time and how we will define areas that have a grace period. It appears there a couple of definitional aspects we have to address which depends on what the wind down time will be. If there is no wind down time or if it's a short time it becomes less of an Impact. There a few outstanding issues that will be discussed at the next Human Services Committee meeting when we actually have a draft ordinance. Mr. Ziegler said the key point Alderman Tisdahi made was the same date as Chicago and asked if the committee Is considering something different. Alderman Moran said he will, but could not speak for the members of the committee and does not think the part in the Chicago ordinance about the equipmentwill be In the ordinance. Mr. Ziegler said neither did he as there is no technology that will ever be able to have 100% outside circulation. Alderman Moran stated there will be a draft ordinance at the next Human Service3 Committee meeting, April 3rd, which will try to define these outstanding points and we will then make a recommendation to City Council. IX. ADJOURNMENT Alderman Moran thanked everyone for their attendance and adjourned the meeting at 8:20 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services Page S. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: PRESIDING: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, April 3, 2006 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. Aldermen Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran and Tisdahl Alderman Bernstein Doug Gaynor, Carla Bush, Elke Purze, Jay Terry, and Audrey Trotsky Rosemary Jean -Paul, Evanston Township; Steve Lupton, Environment Board; (See Attached list of Attendees) Alderman Jean -Baptiste I. CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Human Services Committee was called to order at 7:10 p.m. by Committee Chair Alderman Jean Baptiste. it. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH 6, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the March 6, 2006 meeting were called and unanimously avvroved 14-01r Alderman Moran was not present at this time. iII. CONSIDERATION OF MARCH 2O06 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Tisdahl questioned the suspension of 6 clients for 90 days. Ms. Jean -Paul explained that was because of violation of regulations. Either they don't provide residency or they give false information about residency and are denied because of that. They are also terminated due to employment or failing to submit information from employment. Alderman Jean —Baptiste call for a motion to approve the March 2006 Township monthly bills, motion unanimously approved (4-0). Alderman Moran was not present at this time. IV. CONSIDERATION OF THE NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER B9 STUDIO CO -LEASE Mr. Gaynor said this was a straight forward co -lease as Sara Piepmeir, the tenant, indicated she could not afford to stay in that studio on her own but would be able to remain there if she had someone to share the studio. Jonathon Rutledge, an accomplished jeweler, got together with Ms. Piepmeir to share the space. Alderman Bernstein had a legal question about joint and severable liability and asked what would we do if one of the tenants does not perform as they each have certain responsibilities in terms of payment of rent and community service. Mr. Gaynor responded they are both held responsible because they both have leases. Alderman Bernstein said customarily in a joint tenancy situation two parties are equally responsible for payment of all the rent and asked if Ms. Piepmeir is underwriting Mr. Rutledge because what will happen if he walks away, to which Mr. Gaynor responded, Ms. Plepmeir would be responsible. Alderman Bernstein said he did not see that in the contract. Mr. Gaynor said he would make sure of that before bringing this before the Council. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested running this past Mr. Hill and also finding out whether this was the tenant's intent because as Alderman's Bernstein questioned are either of the two parties each responsible for the entire obligation or is there a specific person responsible for the entire obligation. Alderman Holmes recalled this is not the first time something like this has happened. We've had co -leases like this in the past and wondered how this was handled. Mr. Gaynor said it was handled as a co -lease but will double check that and in two weeks will bring it to Council with a sublease or co -lease that will satisfy Alderman Bernstein. Alderman Bernstein remarked nobody has ever defaulted, the question is about the community service and whether or not that was adequate Is pretty subjective. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said they should both be responsible for the joint liability and whichever one we get access to, if we need to collect, is the one to go after. Alderman Jean•Bantiste called for a motion to aovrove the Studio B6 sublease noting that it will be based on the g1Wuaae from the Legal Department. Alderman Bernstein moved aovroval. seconded by Alderman Tisdahl, motion for aovroval unanimous QUh Alderman Moran was not present at this time Page 1. V. DISCUSSION WITH THE EVANSTON ENVIRONMENT BOARD Steve Lupton, Co -Chair of the Evanston Environment Board, wanted to take this opportunity to report on a number of issues of great interest to the community of Evanston which the Evanston Environment Board has been involved in during the past 12 months. The Environment Board has been working with City staff trying to get the IEEC 2003 Energy Efficiency Code adopted for commercial buildings in the City of Evanston and is very happy to say City Council approved adoption at their last meeting. IEEC guidelines will be self enforced by the developers in Evanston that will introduce energy efficiency in the design and construction of commercial buildings. (At this time Alderman Moran entered the awting.) The code was already in effect for residential buildings and has now been adopted for commercial buildings. New buildings in Evanston are being built with a code that will enable reduced cost for operation and maintenance of these buildings. One of the chief goals for the IEEC, as well as having a direct positive effect on the environment by reducing consumption of energy and resources, is the code also helps reduce the operating costs of the building for residents. Developers' main goal is to keep costs to a minimum making it more economically viable for them to build the building, However, traditionally much less focus has been put on the operating costs of that building. The costs of heating, providing lighting, waste removal and recovery should now be reduced with this code because less energy will be used in both the heating and lighting and also waste reduction will be minimized. The residents of those buildings should see lowerusage in costs than had been expected in the past. We tried to emphasize to the City staff this is not just something that is good for the environment but is also good in terms of economic benefit for the City. The next program the Environment Board was involved with was the Lake Michigan Watershed Ecosystem Partnership. A sponsoring organization for the Illinois Department of Resources C2000 grants. These grants are made available by the state to support environmental restoration projects. Our emphasis with the City of Evanston is to try to focus on Lake Michigan to look at where the Environment Board can work with the partnership to sponsor grants that will enable the restoration of the lakeshore environment. These activities could include restoring some of the dune environment on the lakefront, which are areas of large boulders, and try to restore them into a more natural environment that involves plant life and dunes in front of the Evanston lakeshore. It can also involve recreational activities such places where residents can fish on the lakefront to improve the habitat for native fish species. It would also include educational activities working with the Ecology Center to try and sponsor programs for school children enabling them to do environmental studies and appreciation of the Lake Michigan ecosystem. Their next issue of their involvement was important to the City of Evanston's Strategic Plan. The Environment Board feels the City should work to adopt an environmental management system that is part of the City's Strategic Plan, a mechanism by which the City can track and measure its ability to meet certain environmental goals that could include reduced energy costs and waste generation, track its progress and be certified as a community that holds environment protection as one its key goals. We would like to see that built into the City's Strategic Plan in a formal way. This could also include environmental procedures when it comes to construction and other activities in the City. Last year we were Involved in the elm tree fungicide issue of reviewing some of the environmental aspects of the elm tree Inoculation program. They reviewed some of the technical data on the use of Arbotect which is a fungicide, and came up with guidelines for the use of that fungicide that are protective of the environment. We identified one of the main concerns is the aquatic toxicity of that fungicide and should be used carefully so that it is not flushed down the sewer system or the storm water system where it could impact the channel or the lakefront aquatic communities. Another issue we became involved in last year was the construction of old landfill sites in Evanston. Many of the parks in Evanston are built upon the caps of old landfills, for example, Robert Crown, James Park, and Lovelace Park all historically landfills in the City of Evanston. Last year some construction work was conducted at Lovelace Park that involved excavating the park and digging down past the benzonite clay cap that was put on that landfill when d was closed. Some local residents were very concerned with the procedures being used in that construction and came to the Environment Board asking us to help evaluate some of the procedures that were in place. As a result we came up with some guidelines to be reviewed by City staff, the Parks and Forestry Department and the Public Works Department to try to come up with a procedure for implementation. Some of the activities we will become involved with in the following year include any City approval for permeable pavers. Currently the regulations do not permit the use of permeable pavers in alleyways or driveways. Permeable pavers allow storm water to percolate through the surface of the driveway or parking lot and go naturally into the soil. Now with concrete orasphalt the rainwatercannot permeate that material and it runs off and enters the storm water system resulting In the high flows we experience during storm events. Permeable pavers would reduce the storm water runoff because it would enable the rainwater to run off or actually percolate into the ground which is naturally what it would do. We're working to try and change the regulations to allow that sort of material to be used In the City. Page 2. nni i The Environment Board is proposing legislation to encourage more green building. The IEEC 2003 was a good start but we think we can go further in encouraging Evanston to become an environmentally premier community with regard to that type of regulation. Another area the Environmental Board is involved with is revisiting the zoning code to allow more solar panels on roofs in a way that doesn't require special variances. Right now there are limitations on the use of solar panels in Evanston and the Environment Board would like to work with the City to come up with a compromise in which people could use solar panels but at the samo time not interfere with the esthetics of the neighborhoods and the streets The Environmental Board is working with District 202 and 65 as well as Northwestern University to implement a strategy to use bio-diesel fuel in their buses and trucks. We are also looking into this in conjunction with the Village of Wilmette and Skokie in their respective school districts on the use of bio-diesel. Bio-diesel, which comes from anew resource, is an aftemative to regular diesel and the large number of school buses makes it a very attractive target to use. There are certain EPA Federal grants that would support that initiative. The Board is also working with the school districts emphasizing energy consumption and lighting within the schools trying to look at solar power. Last year Districts 65 and 202 did a small project using solar panels or lighting within the school and we would like to try to work with them to try to increase the amount of solar energy they use. Some of the Board members are working with the City of Belize implementing design into their infrastructure, a personal Interest to some of the architects that serve on the Environment Board. Some of the processes in place there could also have some benefit to Evanston and we would like to see what comes out of that program that possibly could be implemented in Evanston. We are working with the Planning Department to look at green design guidelines for many of the activities in the City of Evanston. That is a brief summary of what the Environment Board is involved. in. Alderman Bernstein asked if any contaminated soil was found in Loveless Park. Mr. Lupton responded no, the soil that was excavated had no constituents that were above the minimum of concern. The fill was not regarded as hazardous or dangerous. Alderman Bernstein asked if we have any sense relative to the landfill at James Park. Mr. Gaynor said they tested James Park prior to the work done in the areas and the results are the same as Mr. Lupton indicated. There are various levels for a description, the worst is toxic, then hazardous, then special, and then probably nothing. By following the guidelines set by IDPA and EPA and how to dispose of special material, what we found there was special. The levels of any materials found were below any concerns for the levels that EPA or IPA asked. Mr. Lupton was out of the country when the Environment Board met with staff to discuss their recommendations and we adopted recommendations which were an enhancement to the program we have. Alderman Bemstein asked if we are still drilling at Mount Trashmore and do we know what's there. Mr. Gaynor said they know what's where they actually drilled and it's considered special. Alderman Bernstein said he would like to remove Mount Trashmore because of some problems we have with it, but if its contaminated soil we're not going to go there. Mr. Gaynor said it's special which means it has a specific method of disposal, we tested to a certain depth but we didn't go all the way. Mr. Lupton said one of the issues you have to be prepared forwhen you excavate something like Mount Trashmore is to have procedures in place if they do find something bad we're prepared to deal with it according to state and federal regulations. Alderman Bernstein remarked then we can't afford to dispose of Mount Trashmore. Mr. Gaynor added our testing was based on putting in fence posts 4 or 5 feet. Alderman Bernstein's concern about leveling Mount Trashmore is not to have people sliding down there breaking anymore arms and legs. Mr. Gaynor said they would bring recommendations forward to the City Council with respect to that. Alderman Bernstein thought our ordinance did change last year with respect to limiting coverage of pavers and impervious soil. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thanked Mr. Lupton and the Environment Board on behalf of the Human Services Committee, the community, and the world. He has had some discussions with members of the committee about the use of solar energy in the Caribbean and Central America. Alderman ,lean -Baptiste asked Mr. Lupton if he would come from time to time to give the committee a sense of what the Environment Board is doing. Mr. Gaynor wanted to add as Mr. Lupton indicated we're very, very well covered as far as all of those environmental issues under the Strategic Plan that was adopted by City Council a week ago. VI. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 10-0-06 AMENDING CHAPTER 8.21 OF THE CITY CODE REGARDING INDOOR CLEAN AIR REGULATIONS Alderman Jean -Baptiste called upon the attendees in the audience who wished to speak to this Issue. LhAndrews, 711 Wesley, said she has lived In Evanston since 1985 and also happens to work for the American Heart Association but is not here tonight to argue about the health benefits of reducing the risk of second hand smoke and the Page 3. impact of second hand smoke on the cardio vascular system. Just about everybody knows that just a little second hand smoke is dangerous. The negative effects on blood, blood vessels and heart rhythm occur quickly often within in minutes. Instead tonight she is speaking as somebody who spent much of her adult life here in Evanston, raised two sons here, one whom recently graduated from Northwestern and as somebody who really wants to be able to breathe smoke free air in any public place in the City including our restaurants and bars. She has a long family history of heart disease, her dad's two brothers died from it and from her work at the Heart Association knows the important of paying attention to family history and is doing all she is able to control the risk factors she can't control including exposure to tobacco. Not only is she concerned about this for herself but she also fears for her kids. Her recent graduate son doesn't have a job in the restaurant industry right now but there is certainly a chance he and her younger son in college could end up earning a living as a waiter or a bartender. if they wanted to do that in Evanston she would beg them not to look for a job at Bluestone, or Prairie Moon, or Pete Miller's, or Tommy Nevins, or any restaurant that allows smoking. Some of their friends already have jobs waiting tables and fixing drinks and neither her kids nor their friends, nobody for that matter should ever have to trade their health for a paycheck. She loves Evanston and wants this to be a strong economically vibrant community; she tries to talk her friends into moving here if they can afford to do that. She'd like to spend her money here especially now that she's an empty nester, but she has choices. If she and her husband want to grab something to drink and eat after work they travel more and more to places in neighboring suburbs, Highland Park, Deerfield, Wilmette, which amazingly are more progressive than Evanston when d comes to this issue. Or, we just stay downtown where we both work where more and more Chicago restaurants are actually going smoke free before they have to. They recently had dinner and drinks at Keefer's in River North which has seen its business increase 14% since going smoke free. The night they were there the bar was packed and so was the restaurant. As of today 12 states in the U.S. are completely smoke free, worldwide the entire countries of Ireland, Italy, England, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand, Uganda, Malta, Uruguay, and Puttan have enacted comprehensive smoke free workplace legislation including restaurants and bars. Countless cities have made the right move including Lexington, Kentucky, a city and a state that is home to hundreds of tobacco farms. She is really here to say if Lexington, Kentucky of all places can pass a strong ordinance, why can't Evanston. if Ireland of all countries can go smoke free why not our restaurants, it's just besides logic. She urges you to do the right thing, now, not in a year or two. A few years ago Helena, Montana, a town of 70,000 people, about the size of Evanston, and one hospital passed the comprehensive Clean Indoor Air law. After it was enacted physicians saw a 40°% reduction in heart attach admissions to that one hospital. Six months later the law was challenged and the town saw the heart attach admissions climb back up to the baseline. Any delay in the enactment of a comprehensive ordinance here could lead to serious health consequences from exposure to second hand smoke. More than three-quarters of Evanston residents don't smoke, as a member of that very large group and a representative of it she hopes Evanston sees the light soon and takes action to allow all of its workers, residents, and visitors the right to breathe smoke free air. Clauciffa Finn, 7135 North Wolcott In Rogers Park, fanner employee of Phoenix Health Care which is a day ce nter for people in nursing homes here in Evanston and was speaking on behalf of people spending time at this day center and also on behalf of the employees. The day center has about 150 clients per day coming into this space and this week the number will be bumped up to about 200 clients per day. The incentive for people to come to this day center, which is for - profit so they get monetary incentive per head, is that they get a pack of cigarettes every day when they come. You can imagine there is a huge amount of smoking going on in this place. Under the current Evanston laws the facility for smoking in this place is one room which is as large as a quarter of the size of tonight's meeting room, which is open to the main room where everyone sits at long tables when they're not in group. There are chairs all the way around that sits about 15 or 20 people smoking in this room and there is usually a line of about 15 or 20 people outside waiting to smoke so it's constant smoking. There is no ventilation to the outdoors in this room there is just one air purifier there. Some of the residents volunteer as smoking monitors for the room and they sit in there for a half an hour or an hour a day breathing this air. The smoke is going into the facility and everybody is breathing it. After working there for 2 months she started noticing headaches, fatigue, lack of breath, all kinds of things that she was dealing with so she gave notice 2 weeks ago. In starting to talk about this issue with other staff and clients at the center realized a lot of people were dealing with issues that it seemed clear to her had to do with the air. When one of the clients began going to the Phoenix Health Care program saw a huge increase in her migraines, another one of the staff started having migraines which he never had before he started working there and unfortunately due to his financial situation can't quit as she was able to. Other staff said they were experiencing dizziness and not being able to think clearly. She does not know about heart attacks as these are the people who have enough health problems as it is. The door to that room is open all day and even though she never went into the room her clothes always smelled like smoke. She knows about the suicide rate and agrees we have to let these people have their cigarettes what else to they have left in life when they get to where they're in a nursing home. Although using cigarettes as an incentive seems rather insane because it's practically impossible to quit. This is a new facility that has been around a year. They walked into this building knowing they weren't going to have availability of an outdoor smoking court something properly ventilated and separated from the rest of the place. She thinks there has to be buildings and places where these facilities can exist where outdoor smoking would be available confined enough were people aren't going to run off and do harm to themselves. Page 4. Mr, Terry noted outside of the debate on this ordinance we just became aware of this program and he uses the term 'Program* loosely. The facility is located at 990 Grove; it serves residents of long term care facilities, virtually none from Evanston. Chicago long term care facilities for persons with mental illness. They are bused to this location for a day long program known in the state as psycho social programming, but in his opinion the quality of that is dubious. A week or so ago we just got staff access into the facility with both Public Health and Mental Health staff trying get in the place to see what if any City regulations can be applied here. As you recall there was a place caller! Heartland which closed and this is almost identical to what Heartland was. We're also monitoring police calls and ambulance runs to this location. This facility is purely private and for -profit. Access to City staff is touch and go and as of right now it is a legal operation and in fact we believe their daytime activities are being subsidized by the state - Ms. Finn said she was glad to hear the City is looking into this although the Clean Air Ordinance would help move the process along. Mark Simon, M.D., 217 Kedzie Street; said he's thrilled we're reconsidering this issue that was considered two years ago. He just wanted to highlight one aspect, the social justice aspect of the Clean Indoor Air. Often people who work in restaurants as waitresses, waiters, and in bars don't have a lot of choices of where they work so the idea that people have a choice of going into an establishment that allows smoking or not breaks down a little bit in that area and its not a safe working environment. There's no question about medicine and sc;ence that second hand smoke causes the same problems as far a cardiovascular disease, heart attacks, lung cancer, that smoking causes and they're being forced to inhale the dangerous material. The Clean Indoor Air Ordinance would also have a flavor of social justice. Alderman Tisdahl asked Mr. Terry if Albany Care and Greenwood Care are non-profit facilities, tv which Mr. Terry responded they are for -profits. Alderman Tisdale said she was going to suggest exempting long term care facilities although she was not enthusiastic about that. Mr. Terry noted what Ms, Finn described is different than those facilities and as written in the ordinance we exempted them so 9 you did not want to exempt them a change would have to be made. Ordinance 10-0-M exempts them but not the facility described by Ms. Finn. Alderman Tisdahl said she would like to follow Mr. Terry's suggestion of January 1, 2007, instead of following her original suggestion which was the Chicago date because since Chicago passed it with a date and Cook County has passed it with a date in 2007. Looking at the audience there is not anyone in attendance from the bars or restaurants and there is not an outpour of this ruining our business, that whole argument is now over. We could save a life between January 1, 2007 and whatever the 2008 date was. This is our chance to go for it and she would like to congratulate Mr. Terry having picked January 1, 2007 Alderman Tisdahl made a motion to chance the date to January 2007. Alderman Jean -Baptiste called for a second to Alderman Tiisdahl's motion to chance the date to January 1, 2001, motion seconded by Alderman olmes. Alderman Moran thought this should be done sooner, to which Alderman Tisdahl said she would second that motion as she did not think we could get the votes to do this sooner. Alderman Moran suggested the date of July 1, 2006, and would prefer to add that we don't differentiate between the bars and smoking areas near bars. in Mr. Terry's memo on definitions and differentiation that was included in the Chicago ordinance where there were different dates for bars that he would not want incorporated in our ordinance, but would make it a fiat prohibition. Alderman Bernstein said he could not support either of those motions for the very reasons that like it or not there is and economic influence in this community. He has heard from restaurateurs and the Chamber of Commerce who said if we needed them here they'd be here tonight. There's no question that smoking kills. He was just in California and went into a bar for the first time in a long time, it was wonderful, it was smoke free. He would replicate the Chicago ordinance so that we continue to level the playing field and again our economy is largely based on our restaurants which is the only reason he voted not accept it two years ago. Unfortunately nothing has changed; people are going to die which he doesn't want to happen. He understands the data but to him the data is inconclusive with respect to individuals. Yes, New York is up, California is up, because the whole states are up. He is gratified everybody else is doing things. His concern is strictly the revenue, he took an informal pole and the people he spoke to who worked in those bars and restaurants chose those positions because the tips were better. Most of those talked to actually smoked themselves, so he's not sure who we're protecting, He doesn't go to any restaurants or bars where there is smoking allowed to the extent that there is a smoke free area in the restaurant and if he can smell the smoke he will call and report them to the manager because he wants it to be smoke free. The last time this was discussed 70% of our restaurants were smoke free but does not know what the current percentage is. It's coming; eventually the state of Illinois is going to be smoke free. As difficult as it sounds he has to opt to paralleling the Chicago ordinance we can stop all restaurants from smoking and phase in the bars. It's regrettable for people who are forced to work in those environments but his sense is people are not forced. Page 5. Alderman Bernstein could not conceive what the Phoenix Health Center charges if they giveaway packs of cigarettes. It's an outrageous thing to him if it's a private club and does not know if our ordinance would even be able to control it. Even if it's not in our ordinance Albany Care, and until recently Greenwood Care, were his constituents. Those people are killing themselves in other ways. His current concern is personal, when he walks down the street behind somebody smoking a cigarette he's impacted for a block and it just about kills him, he can't control his presence on the street as he has to be somewhere. He can't control the group around an office building he's walking into which are the areas he'd really like to control. We're talking about a total ban in Evanston which hopefully one day he'll be able to go for. It's a total violation of individual rights. Right now if the people in Albany Care, a residential care facility, are told they can't smoke first of all are going logo outside and smoke in his constituent's front yards. Secondarily. it's their home if we tell them they can't smoke in their homes then you're going to be able to tell people they can't smoke in their houses. He does not want to go there, its going to be a national evolution, it's already happened when started two years ago when Chicago went smoke free. Don Ziegler, who he loves dearly, and he fought about this because Mr. Ziegler wanted him to encourage Chicago to go smoke free and at that time told Mr. Ziegler he does not live in Chicago. He can implore his legislators in the state of Illinois to express his views for a statewide ban which we have done asking to make this a resolution for the state. Alderman Bernstein said the fact that our Mental Health was at an $89,000 figure and people were devastated when we thought about removing that. He's here to serve a different good and part of that good is to generate the revenue to run the social programs we have. if we take the jabs and give them back to the people who want to work in smoke free environment we're not going to be able to give the funds to people who need health care. it's a terrible thing to say but to him that's the equation. If you're going to take array from somewhere you can't provide what we provide. For the short term its evidenced to him there will be a diminution of our restaurant patrons. If we're following Chicago the restaurants are done so we go from 70% to 100%. The Chicago Civic Center used to have a room where the lawyers went to smoke and it was sort of a blanket, now there is no more blanket because they were precluded from smoking. They now walk outside to smoke so he cannot walk outside where there's smoking because his clothes get impacted with smoke. He understands where everybody's coming from and shares your concerns. His favorite niece who was previously a smoker just had a right lobe of her lung removed and he knows the consequences. He would like to be able to support this but in conscience and in the totality of what he is sitting here to do he can't. Mr. Terry said there are 33 places where you can smoke, 22 have liquor and licensed bar areas, 11 have no liquor and if he understands what Alderman Bernstein is saying those 11 that do not have liquor would go smoke free Immediately upon passage and the other 22 with liquor licenses, if you follow Chicago, would go smoke free in 2008. Mr. Perman of the Chamber of Commerce called him this afternoon and indicated that his position is fine with the 11 non liquor restaurants going smoke free immediately and doesn't want the 22 to be effected until July 2008. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to clarify what Alderman Bernstein was proposing which is simply a date of implementation for total smoke free Evanston as July 2008 and immediately want to have all restaurants that now allow smoking but do not offer to go smoke free immediately. The 22 bars serving liquor in Evanston will be kept on the same schedule as Chicago. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he supports that position. Alderman Moran said 2 years ago he voted the way Alderman Bernstein voted and was trying to reach a point he thought he could reconcile the various interests articulated here. The point he would have to disagree on is that nothing changed, most everything has changed in the last 2 years. At that time we were saying when Chicago goes we would go and we heard this recitation of countries and cities and states that have gone smoke free. He's convinced that the argument there is a distinct competitive disadvantage between our places that are part of the hospitality industry and other places to a large degree has been refuted. He's heard a number of times where places actually do better when they're smoke free, they don't do worse they do better. They might lose two people who want to smoke but might get ten people who don't want to be near smoke. He spoke to Mr. Perman this afternoon who tried to convince him to go the other way and he respects what Mr. Penman is trying to do as the head of the Chamber of Commerce. He told Mr. Perman the revolution is over there are only small rear guard actions being fought now. People have accepted the fact that this stuff is murderous, itwill kill you and there is no reason for us to be shy about it anymore. He had a hard time voting the way he did the last time because he really wanted to vote this way 2 years ago but was still concerned about this web of competition that everybody expressed concerns about. It's going away and to a large degree has already gone away. The earlier we end it the better opportunity we have to maybe save somebody's life. Over the course of 2 years someone may contract a case of lung cancer or have a heart problem or something, tonight if we can help some people stay healthy lets do that. Alderman Jean -Baptiste shared Alderman Moran's thoughts but is still concerned about the economic impact. We have been reducing the number of facilities that allow smoking. There is a compromise at this point in time that he will support and thinks the Council may be ready to vote by majority to go ahead and follow the time table Alderman Moran suggested. Alderman Holmes remarked in terms of the compromise what if we did the July 1, 2006 for the 11 and then follow the County rather than the City of Chicago for January 1, 2007 Instead of 2008. Page 6. 'jam-- Alderman Bernstein's concern was about the competition and the County precludes villages or cities that haven't already enacted smoke ordinances they render them smoke free, that doesn't impact us. He is consistently told our restaurants compete with the restaurants in Lincoln Parts and the City of Chicago. The revenues for bars and restaurants is not that great a margin, lt's a terrible thing to put life and death against economics, which is what he's doing, he's acknowledging it, and he doesn't like it. There's a choice here the only people being protected are people who go into those bars who make that choice. He does not know the number is of workers who are precluded from finding other jobs. Maybe if we discontinue the smoking in the 11 restaurants it will free up some better jobs for some of those folks. You have to be nuts to smoke, knowing what it does and what it costs. In 2 years maybe he'll be spearheading a movement to keep smoking off our streets because he can't get away from it on the streets. The people in his house don't smoke, he doesn't think he has any friends that smoke, nor does he think anybody on the City Council smoke. Who are we actually saving, the people who are going to smoke and continue to smoke maybe will not smoke as much because they'll go outside and smoke and pollute the environment outside through which he would have to walk to get to the smoke free restaurant. In his heart of hearts he's almost hoping the majority of the Council wants to do this, but he knows if they do in his opinion there will be economic detriment which is all he's concerned about at this time. His position hasn't changed in 2 years, if the state of Illinois goes smoke free tomorrow and mandates everybody he's be happy. His guess is there will be a lot more private bars, as in counties that do not allow alcohol you buy a membership to club where you can drink which eventually is what's going to happen with smoking. Employees are still going to be in there working, some of them whom don't smoke but are there because they can't find a job or can't get better money working anywhere else, that's a choice, When the rest of the economy dipped the last 3 or 4 years our restaurants kept us at level. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said there was a suggestion to consider a compromise which he would be willing to work with as he cannot see moving that radically to July 2006, but is open to consider moving to March of 2007 and thinks we should be able to get the majority of the Council to support that date. Alderman Moran wanted to see if we could get the majority of the Council to support July 2006. Alderman Jean -Baptiste called for a vote on the motion on the floor to su000rt a comolete ban of all smoking In the City of Evanston except for public olaces with the exclusion of Iona term care facilities as of Juhr 1, 2006, The motion passed 3-2. Aldermen Tisdahl, Holmes and Moran voted ave. Aldermen Bernstein and Jean -Baptiste voted nay. Alderman Bernstein asked Ms. Purze to look into revoking the Phoenix Health Care Center from operating in our municipality. Meg McClesky, 1211, wanted to thank the committee for their decision as this is such a critical issue. In her religious tradition people say if you save one life it's as though you saved the world and she believes you're saving much more than one life. She also would like to address the nursing home issue. For many ears her sister-in-law stepped outside her nursing home in Chicago to smoke. She does not know what the regulations are about where in a nursing home people can smoke to the jeopardy of the other people who live there. Mr. Terry said most of the Evanston nursing homes for older persons already banned smoking in their own rule, it's just the two facilities that house the chronically mentally ill, Albany Care and Greenwood Care. Alderman Holmes had another item that she has already spoken about to Mr. Terry. She is very concerned about the ordinance that allows the selling of cigarettes or smoking material within 100 feet of schools and parks. There recently was a situation in a ward where we were finally able to get rid of a place at Church and Dodge that just moved 25 feet north to open up again. She would like an amendment that would not grandfather anyone in and thinks it should be a minimum of 500 feet. She would love it to be 1,000 but at least 500 feet within a school or park for selling cigarettes and other smoking materials and whatever else could be included in the ordinance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms, Purze to look into a reference for banning the sale of tobacco products within 500 feet of any schools, parks, day care or other special facility. VII. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services Page 7. t�ijkRr.+��E'wx� � .k :' .�. qe ��ss'�."�'—L :4!-�a.n •.�..�� :� �Zi•.-.a 1� W7.w, SERVICES COMMITTEE Name: eVA 1� r -,J,— r. M ,v' k S,>--fC• LA - FIdine S im c)n CC ,z sz M cd?,5 its.. L, A z A-0 d v`ni:� %ozataay —.Mini at zotm ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. 'LEASE MIR Address/organization: f- . Z-VeL u s IL ce r'-4-,l n-t-ew 4-c,, Ll 1�Lt( I�ucE� l 32S A on roe. S+ -7! 1 WeS t4 C� 0 (F I - s� x y ;�T ari. ..: .:+.� r ...� r e�•�.. . ,-rT? =fir -. ,. �-e ,+ Rip ^l �. F1 '79 ��, [:.. _� :w . . y 7 .%—' 4T:.—=. ••v''-3.. R.�j. T:* �w.+7+,-r;!y?�R.Y-i?MT}Cr�ti nr..�r!•'qvr_-�'.^"'T __.14A SIGN's :7• ��• �s•.•..w �: ~.'L .-.l .. \ • '• - - -_ . _met-. ,. _•!- - HUMAN SERVICES CoMNIiTTEE Dnaa , Apru 3, 20, ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE MIR Name: Address/Organization: Topic Speaking On LI 71I ��?� s � A-ns��r rcu.-ti. I�lr�,r�-��c • 'gym o k�¢ — �e �c�a�5��-,. MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, May 1, 2006 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, and Moran Alderman Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Elke Purze, Harvey Saver, Carla Bush, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Alderman Rainey; Alderman Hansen, Pat Vance, Rosemary Jean -Paul, (Township Office); Sharon Eckersall, (Township Assessor); Sue Calder, Claire McCarthy Petersen, (Evanston Alliance on Homelessness); Sue Canter (Mental Health Board); See Attached Attendance Sheets for other attendees. PRESIDING: Alderman Jean -Baptiste I. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Jean -Baptiste called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. II. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MAY 3, 2006 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING The minutes of the Mav 6. 2006 meetlna were called and unanimously aooroved (4-01. Ill. CONSIDERATION OF THE APRIL 2006 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS AND REPORTS Alderman Moran motioned for aooroval. seconded by Alderman Bernstein. Alderman Jean -Baptiste called for questions and comments concerning the April 2006 Township Bills. Alderman Holmes had a question regarding the client information forms and recalled that last month Alderman Tisdahl asked about the six 90 day suspensions. This month there are five 90 day suspensions and she wondered if these related back to the six in March but was told it did not. Alderman Holmes said she was trying to make a correlation between people that are employed and people that might have been out of compliance. Ms. Jean -Paul noted that the month we're in determines that, paperwork isn't completed until that month. This number five is for April, these are new people. Alderman Holmes also inquired regarding the Medical Report as she only saw one thing where the amount and the amount paid were the same, and asked if these amounts carry over. Ms. Vance responded with the medical, druggist and others, they have agreements with Public Aid Assistance so they can bill an amount that we run through the system and pay the Public Aid amount. However, with eyeglasses there is not such an agreement so we pay what the billed amount is. This is the billing system so there are times when you will see that we are billed a larger amount and pay a lesser amount for certain things because we put our bills through Public Aid. Hearing no further auestions or comments Alderman Jean-Baotiste recalled the motion to aanrove the April 2006 Townshin bills, motion unanimously aaoroved (4-01. IV. CONSIDERATION OF FISCAL YEAR 07 BUDGET FOR EVANSTON TOWNSHIP Alderman Holmes moved anaroval. seconded by Alderman Moran. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms. Vance about the current status of the Township's budget that Is significantly in the black and what Is it that she's doing differently that is allowing us to be in greater compliance than what is expected. Ms. Vance said the last fiscal year was somewhat different than other fiscal years because the anticipated income and revenue actually came in and they got the tax revenue they budgeted for, as in prior years they had not received the amount of revenue they budgeted for. Also, what accounted for some of that was when putting the budget together expenditures were also below their projections, a lot of which had to do with the medical. Last year we did not have a lot of very ill people and did not have to pay out as much in medical. Some reductions in last year's budget are seen In this year's budget in personnel and other costs. Anytime you get your anticipated revenue in, and don't spend as much as anticipated you have a surplus. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked what the projected savings in personnel is. Ms. Vance responded, this proposed budget has a decrease in personnel cost of $12,000 in one area. She has the same number of positions; however, due to attrition new people were hired at lower salary levels. Some of staff opted out of health insurance benefits, and some opted having a single plan as opposed to a family plan, also decreasing costs. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms. Vance if the Township health insurance Is the same as the City's, to which Ms. Vance responded Page 1. they are not on the same system. In past they have not been able to gel a M of increases for staff and this year projected 5% increases for all staff salaries, and there is still a reduction in the personnel costs. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked for clarification regarding client payments. Ms. Vance said in this budget she is proposing increasing the client housing payment level of 5334 which has not been increased for over ten years. The Township is proposing clients housing payments increase by $25 taking if from $334 to a maximum grant of $359 which is paid directly to the landlord who provides the housing. Mr. Vance said she feels the Township can afford to do that and help our clients in any way that is feasible. This increase is projected to start in October, as leeway time is needed to get our budget approved and in get out certain notifications that this maximum grant will be increased from $334 to $359. This also depends on what the rent charge is as we still have people getting subsidized housing whose rent may be $60 plus which is what we will pay to them. Alderman Jean -Baptiste recalled the motion for approval of consideration of the Fiscal Year 2007 Budnat for Evanston Township. motion unanimously approved (4-0). iV. DISCUSSION WITH THE EVANSTON ALLIANCE ON HOMELESSNESS Susan Calder, Chairman of the Evanston Alliance on Homelessness, said she came before the Human Services Committee to establish a better dialogue with you. A memo was sent to the committee describing the Alliance and their goal which is to further and discuss the issues of homelessness and figure out how they can have a more vibrant relationship in the future. Ms. Calder proceeded to describe the Alliance, for those in the audience who did not receive her memo. About two years ago the Housing and Urban Development group (HUD) in Washington, determined that any community wanting money for homelessness had to become part of a Continuum of Care so the whole communitywould be working together to determine what is needed in that community as needs differ from area to area. Ten years ago Evanston determined we would be our awn Continuum of Care, the rest of Suburban Cook County and Chicago are other Continuums of Care. Evanston is very small in terms of how we operate and we were wise to be our own continuum because we do get a good amount of money coming in to the City for homeless issues. The Alliance meets monthly and has an active committee of 20 members comprised of professionals from agencies. City staff, some State staff, and sometimes volunteers, like herself. They have 25 agencies, soup kitchens, and ten representatives from government agencies that get their email on a monthly basis. The goal of Evanston's Alliance on Homelessness is to increase the City's amount of permanent housing for individuals and families and once people are in permanent housing keep them there where they can get the supportive services they need to continue to work through their issues. They would also like to increase employment and continue to increase moving people through transitional housing, which is up to two years, into permanent housing whether on their own or in supportive housing. In the past year an achievement of the Alliance was they maintained the funding for their current program and Increased linkages between people that are homeless and supportive services. They are linking people that need to go into immediate care to a more structured care, rather than living on their own. Fresh Start, one of the participating agencies, is working with seven real estate firms who said they will not need a deposit because the people being sponsored by Fresh Start are ex -offenders getting out of prison. They would like the people that are homeless to get all the mainstream resources they are entitled to. The state government has prevention funds they can give a family, up to $800 once every two years, as a stopgap measure if they can't meet their utilities, or if their car breaks down and they can't get to work they pay to get the car fixed. The proposed state budget is increasing Evanston's funds, which are very effective in preventing homelessness, from $116.000 to 5347,000. Connections for the Homeless is the administrator of those funds. Each year they have to do a survey to find out where the people are and find that 85 to 90% of the people are still in the same housing, which means we're getting stability for those families that need housing. Most of the money is received from HUD and this year they will apply for $765,995. Unfortunately that money does not pay for the entire service and HUD demands that the local community supports 20 to 25% of their grant. Agencies that receive this money have to seek additional funding from corporations and foundations. They get some funds from the City and the slate government to support the rest of these activities. One of the values of the Alliance is the networking with agencies to share information. This networking is particularly helpful in the issue of discharge planning when a person leaves the hospital or is discharged from prison. The Alliance benefits from working together with the other Continuums and Northern Illinois. The Alliance received a grant to help them do their strategic planning and would ask that you participate in that process as what happens at City government is very important to what happens to the homeless people in Evanston. The committee would have the opportunity to get to know the Alliance better and meet and talk to some homeless people. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked for clarification of the homeless population category called homeless sub -population. Ms. Calder said these are people that are homeless because they have a severe mental illness, have substance abuse problems, or they're mentally ill and have substance abuse which is MIISA. They could be a veteran; it depends on how Page 2. they describe themselves. There is a chronic homeless sub population, which is a HUD definition, for persons who have a disability which could be mentally ill or substance abuse and are homeless for over a year or have had four instances of homelessness in the last three years. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the population served is primarily Evanston residents to which Ms. Calder responded the Alliance numbers came from a street count that was requested by HUD and done in January of 2005, people that were in Evanston at that time. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said his point was to clarify whether or not we're serving the population that is primarily Evanston residents or are they folks who are transient in Evanston from Chicago and other places. Ms. Calder said they can be transient people but were in Evanston that night in January when the street count was taken. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to know if those served on an ongoing basis by the Alliance are Evanston residents. Ms. Calder said it varies by group. Looking at the available housing, people who live at Hilda's Place are greaterthan 50% directly from Evanston. The YWCA people are not from Evanston because they're victims of domestic violence who usually move out of their community for safety sake. Victims of domestic violence from Evanston go to other places. Connections New Beginning has seven apartments that are all Evanston people. As of last week there were 61 families, families with a child 6 or under, on the waiting list for those apartments. There is nothing available for people with children over 6 years old. The YWCA is transitional housing, the Department of Children and Families Services issues vouchers for Evanston. Housing Options are all Evanston residents. The Incline Program is all Evanstonians. Alderman Holmes said she has always been interested in are those families that move from relative to relative or friend to friend that do not have permanent housing, and asked if the Alliance been able to capture any of that? Ms. Calder said they know the 61 families on the waiting list at Connections, but they don't know the people that are doubled up. She has seen a census report that there are nearly 1,000 families that live in overcrowded conditions, which means more than one person per room in a household, and we would assume that some of those are doubled up families. Ms. Calder said she tried to call six to eight clergy as they thought people would be coming to them but they did not have a fix on that either. Alderman Bernstein asked where the 61 families find shelter. Ms. Calder said they double up and are somewhere. For the most part families are not living in unsuitable places for human habitant so they are not living in a car or something like that. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thanked Ms. Calder for her report. V. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 65-0-06 PROHIBITING BEEKEEPING IN EVANSTON Dolan McMillan,1519 Madison Street. said he was in attendance with his wife Heather, and the proposed aviary at 1517 Madison Street was his concem. Mr. McMillan said he is a Civil Engineer by trade. He was told by his alderman to come and speak his mind and not just let it go so he prepared a presentation that are his thoughts and his opinions that he hoped would be an Informative opinion. Mr. McMillan proceeded with a power point presentation entitled "Beekeeping in Evanston, Illinois'. See Attachment A. for Mr. McMillan's Presentatlon. Susan Dickman and son Gabrielle Jacobs,1517 Madison Street, this is the home where the bee hive is located, Ms. Dickman's and Gabrielle's presentation is Attachment B. and includes pictures of Beekeeping. Gabrielle's drawing of their yard and initial proposed sights and a changed proposed site for where they would keep the hive. See Attachment B. for Ms. Dickman's and Gabrielle Jacobs' Presentation, Attachment B1, for Gabrifelle's Drawing, Attachment BR, for Beekeeper Photos. Ken Nailer, 627 Taylor, Elmhurst, Illinois, President of the Illinois Beekeepers Association, completely understands someone not used to honeybees as he was once of those individuals and is now a passionate beekeeper. All the concerns raised tonight are natural concerns and are easily addressed through the research and writing that has been done on honeybees and the Illinois Beekeepers Association is the support for beekeepers and neighbors to help squash any concerns. He understands and respects the concerns raised here tonight. Honeybees are highly beneficial insects in Illinois-, beekeepers have been safely keeping bees both in rural and non rural areas throughout the world forthousands of years. Tonight we are mainly speaking to the fact that you are in a relatively densely urban environment. Honeybees provide the keepers as well as neighbors of beekeepers with honey which is rich in anti oxydents and has an antibacterial capacity when used on minor cuts and bruises. They're very beneficial and highly docile. Do people get stung, absolutely? People get stung by wasps, and bitten by snakes, but the feral population is already in Evanston and spread across the state, honeybee populations are pale in comparison with the feral wild populations already out there. Ms, Dickman's and Gabrielle's adding a single colony of honeybees to their backyard will statistically not increase the amount of honeybees In their neighborhood as well as throughout Evanston. Honeybees typically will not fly 50 feet and land in the next door neighbor's yard. They go to where the flowers and nectar are most highly concentrated and would rather go to the nearest field and forage on clover. Mr. Haller said he has been keeping bees for over 15 years and has been on the Illinois State Beekeepers Association for over 6 years, very rarely do they hear a concern from a neighbor with an active colony next door. Why, because the neighboring beekeeper educates those around them. In this particular case he does not know 9 there was enough time to educate the neighbors around Ms. Dickman's area but can guarantee after a couple months of no stinging and reaping the benefits, the education and the wander of watching the honeybees work not Page 3. only in the colony but also in the surrounding area there will be children gathered around to watch the colonies. The fear around honeybees is strictly highly sensational and not based on fact. A little about the Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Illinois State Beekeepers Association (ISBA). The state of Illinois encourages the keeping of honeybees in both rural and urban settings for all the reasons noted here tonight. While the Illinois Department of Agriculture it is not as appropriate with the City of Evanston versus a rural area, Central Illinois for example, every 5 years has passed the Aviary Act, a Congressional act that approves honeybees and their location within backyards as well as the protection of honeybees from illnesses and diseases just as livestock, for example in the case of cattle. The point being honeybees are a regulated insect. Honeybee colonies are to be registered with the Department of Agriculture; an inspector comes by every 2 to 3 years to inspect your colony. Meanwhile the Illinois State Beekeepers Association and Department of Agriculture is their support not only for neighbors of beekeepers but beekeepers themselves. If any questions or concerns come up we're there specifically and expressly to address those concerns and help educate the public. Additionally, the State of Illinois employs a Chief Apiary inspector who physically manages and supervises a team of 6 to 8 apiary inspectors based on districts. They are a team of permanent, full time individuals who set up appointments with beekeepers and inspect their colonies. The inspectors are primarily there to assure the honeybees are healthy in terms of swarming. Poor heath in honeybee colonies could be a concern for a neighbor. They are there to educate and support those local beekeepers. The Illinois State Beekeepers Association is an optional organization for beekeepers to join, the ISBA exists to raise public awareness to the benefits of honeybees, to support the public's interest as well as support its membership. Illinois has over 1,200 beekeepers who manage over 20,000 honeybee colonies, 500 of which are here in Cook County the most densely populated county in Illinois. Keep that in mind when you think about the number of concerns you hear on a yearly basis and complaints that he has heard are almost non existent. All 800 members of the ISBA support Ms. Dickman and her son Gabrielle and will be there to assist them in any way that they need. Additionally, he extends his hand to Ms. Dickman's neighbors, we are there also to support them and to raise any questions or concerns they might have. That is part of our objective, part of our constitution; we're there to support the citizens of Evanston. John Hansen, 127 North Madison, Lagrange, current Education Manager of the CookMuPage Beekeepers Association and past President of the Illinois State Beekeepers Association. The concerns of the Dickman neighbors are very valid concerns. He would like to point out that if bees are kept even in the first location of the Dickman yard with the oak tree in front of them, those bees will fly up and Mr. McMillan and his family will probably never see the bees as they will be 20 or 30 feet up or if they have a specific location to go to that is providing nectar they'll go there. Only a third of the bees ever go out of the hive to forage all the other bees are working inside the hive. Mr. Hansen takes care of the 2 observation hives at Lincoln Park Zoo. Often these hives need to be cleaned out but they're not designed for the bees to clean them out. He takes these outside in a small yard at the zoo about 15 feet from the nature sidewalk where people are walking by and starts cleaning the glass, the bees are flying all around him, he does not have any protection on, no gloves and is in a short sleeved shirt and he never gets stung, The people walking by are in amazement because they can't believe what he's doing. He takes a frame of bees over to the people to show them the queen bee, nobody has ever been stung. This sounds foolhardy but he would not do this if he thought there was any danger in what he was doing. There is no report of a visitor to Lincoln Park Zoo having been stung and he's been keeping bees there for more than 10 years. Bees can be working in a bee hive and most people don't even know the bees are there if you don't tell them. A swarm is a different situation but still is not a dangerous situation. A swarm is nature's way of reproducing the colony which usually happens in the springtime between May, .tune and the middle of July. When a swami happens the queen goes out, lights on a tree limb and all these bees cluster around her until they find a new home, They send out scouts and that cluster could be therefrom 2 hours to 2 days or so and is usually gone after the first day. As soon as they find anew home they are out of there never to be seen again. Mr. McMillan's other concern, he would like to address, is about not wanting to screen his visitors to see if they are bee sensitive. If you think you know of someone who is going to be visiting your home in the summertime and is concerned about that and you would have to be just as concerned about being stung by a yellow jacket not by a honeybee. A yellow jacket's venom is more powerful than a bee sting, although either one of them can have an allergic reaction. If bees were unsafe you would not see them in Chicago on Mayor Daley's City Hall roof garden. The Mayor keeps bees, bees are kept at Lincoln Park, Garfield Park has at least 4 bee hives right next to where people can walk, and nobody gets stung there either. He is here to speak against banning beekeeping in Evanston because it would be disservice to the community if you did that. Bill Buckley, 6525 Western, Willowbrook, has been keeping bees for 34 years and always has a veil and gloves with him as sometimes you can do something wrong to irate the bees. He has been on the Board of Directors of the Illinois State Beekeepers Association for 12 years, was president of his Local Association for 5 % years and is still on the Board of Directors there. Over the years he started about 15 people as beekeepers. In his opinion you would do the whole community a disservice if you enact this ban and this should be seriously considered. Nancy Smith, 2724 Harrison, a lot of people have covered the subject very well on how beneficial bees are to our environment. She would reinforce that in Evanston we pride ourselves on being a green City encouraging City trees and Page 4. gardens, bees are integral to that. The bee population throughout North American is stressed with pollulance, pesticides and invasive mites. Anything we can do to support the resurgence of bees Is ultimately good for our economy, good for our agriculture and if is a minimally downside to it she thinks we should support bees She grew up with bees, if you exercise the same common sense with bees as you use with a dog if you don't know if they are very safe. Bee's density is so low the danger is minimal. We can't erase all danger from the world If the City begins to see a trend of a lot of people wanting to keep bees it would make sense to think about allowing only so many hives for a certain amount of space and people would have to get permits. If someone set up a hive with bees right by a fence next to a kid's swing set on the other side of the fence, she would say the hive needs to be back 5 or 10 feet, something sensible There are sensible limits we can get around to make beekeeping acceptable in the community, but to ban it is kind of reactionary. John Black,1503 Madison, lives down the street from Ms. Dickman and Gabrielle and brought some petitions opposing the beekeeping. He does not think this is the right area for beekeeping because this is a pretty congested suburban residential area where the houses are very close to each other, they have porous fonces, and there are children In the neighborhood. His next door neighbors are seniors that have the nicest garden in the neighborhood and he has the feeling these bees are going to land there. He does not know if they are allergic to bee stings but does not think being allergic is a condition for not allowing it, as being stung by a bee is generally an unpleasant experience. Mr Black said he did a little checking on the Internet and looked at sites that are pro bees authored by people who are beekeepers and just a simple inspection is going to show you that there is a lot of precaution needed He saw pictures of bees swarming and the sites tell you the bees don't just stay in your yard they fly around and go to neighbors and interact with the plants and gardens. If he could be guaranteed that his neighbor's bees weren't going to be In his yard or his neighbor's yard interacting with our property he would be okay with this, but he does not see anyone being able to control the bees. After reading Ms. Dickman's letter in the Review where she stated there is no specific code against beekeeping in Evanston, if you look at codes 841, 844, which deals with nuisances, if then: is a swarm of bees in his yard any objective reasonable person would say that constitutes a nuisance. It's interfering with his nght to use and enjoy his property, if people can keep bees in Evanston and do it in a way which doesn't impact their neighbors that would be fine, but he cannot support this. Debbie Hillman,1118 Sherman, has a peach tree in front that last year was not well pollinated and hopes some bees are finding their way to it this year. She is hereto speak in support of beekeeping in Evanston, she is a professional gardener, has been a professional organic gardener for about 26 years, she has seen, and is seeing on a daily basis, ecological destruction in Evanston as we are seeing in most urban areas on an unprecedented level not only because we're not allowing bees but because it's our basic array of practices of thinking that we don't have to live with nature We are nature, we live in nature, it is our heritage to have and live with nature, to have animals, to have Insects, to have plants, to have fresh air, to have clean water, and a diverse ecosystem is the only way to do this, To be afraid of the world that we live in is to really miss out on what life is all about. Yes, we need to always to be aware all the lime of danger, of dogs, of bad people, of cars. We need to keep our intelligence and alertness but animals, insects, plants, are part of lifo and they are the staff of life that we need to feel that we are alive. The beekeepers have testified very eloquently And factually that bee hives are not going to be a problem; in fact the Evanston Food Policy Council, of which she is a convener, is proposing an urban farm in Evanston. We do not have any particular site and will be having a community meeting In the next few months to discuss this. One of the components of any urban farm or any good gardening ecosystem is boos and pollinators, grow your own food and be part of this incredible Life we live in. We are denying ourselves if we think we can put up a fence and a wall around Evanston that will keep natural things out. She will be vary sorry if we are so afraid In Evanston that we cannot live with life, Martin Geraghty, 1527 Washington, fives about 150 yards from where this bee hive Is proposed for. He lives on the comer of Florence and Washington and proceeded to show a picture of the garden his wife keeps which will be gone because he will have to mow it down if this is where some of these bees conclude they can rind something nice to help produce their pollen. Listening to the statistics if you have 70,000 people in Evanston 301 people will get stung When his grandchildren and their cousins come to his home he does not want to have to tell them don't worry the likelihood that - you'll be one of the 301 people who might get an anaphylactic bee sting in Evanston is pretty slim and he doubts that the N5 beekeeper association is going to come and do that either. Of course there are problems and dangers In nature, in spiders and snakes and wasps but there is no reason to ask his neighborhood to become the place where we increase that likelihood even slightly. It's not worth to him nor is it worth it to his neighbors. He'd be surprised if many people who live near this bee hive have signed the petition in favor. Matt 7'ermolen, 2144 Pioneer Road, said he's been a beekeeper for 19 years. He grew up in Evanston, has some experience in the City and served on the Environment Board for 2 terms. He wants to address the City's ordinance banning beekeeping. What you as officials have to do is not to ban beekeeping in Evanston but look at reasonable limits of what beekeeping could be. As you found out tonight there are people who already keep bees in Evanston. Ha currently keeps bees but they are not within the City limits. As he researched this topic he found the City has reasonable laws concerning how many dogs you can have, he would suggest the City also approach beekeeping in a very reasonable Page 5. manner. It's always incumbent on a neighbor to have a good neighborly approach about what it is you're hoping to accomplish then the City can back it up with an ordinance to address beekeeping in Evanston. Mr. Termolen brought model beekeeping ordinances from Florida and from Louisiana. These ordinances address some of the issues discussed tonight. These model ordinances address the number of bees that can be kept on your property, for example the density they proposed for sites less than an acre is a maximum of 2 bee hives. These ordinances also address flight line issues which can be very easily addressed by raising the fence line or by closing off the bees with a fence, which could be a plastic fence at a very minimal cost. They also address inspection, general maintenance, and responsibilities of the beekeepers. He would suggest Evanston look at these model beekeeping ordinances not as a ban on beekeeping. You've heard from both sides but there's a reasonable approach to beekeeping in Evanston. If you ban beekeeping you're still going to have bees in the City of Evanston. However, to address the neighbors close by and other individuals who spoke, he thinks its incumbent on the beekeepers to provide more appropriate levels of safety and security for the surrounding neighbors including distance set aside from other properties, type of fencing used, and number of colonies that can be kept in one given area. See Attachment C, Florida Ordinance and Attachment D,Loulslana Ordinance. Joe Koller, 0353 North Hiawatha Avenue, Chicago, has been keeping bees for 25 years and does it primarily for fun. He does a lot of educational talks with children in the North Park Village in Chicago and can understand Mr. and Mrs. McMillan's feeling. It's not easy, but once the hives are set up and they see there is no harm done they probably will change their mind. it's a wonderful experience for a young person to look at the wonderment of bees, how the queen works and how the workers work. When September comes you have the honey, which he thinks the neighbors will enjoy. Linda Kruhmin, 1422 Greenwood Street, has lived in Evanston for 15 years and does not currently have bees but has been studying them for a year and a half at the Garfield Park Conservatory. There is a small patch of clover on the side of her house that is a buzz every summer with wild bees coming from wherever. There are a lot of kids, different ages, in her neighborhood that come by this little patch of clover buzzing with bees and stick their noses right in it, they're not afraid of it and have never been stung. It's fascinating for all of us in the neighborhood and this has never been an issue. People who spoke before said some wonderful things about bees. The keyword is to be judicious about placement of the hives and to have somebody who has studied and knows something about beekeeping, and have a wide support of people behind them if there are any questions about it. It can definitely be done in an urban environment and has been done for a lot of years. It's a very positive thing. John Zbesko, 1120 Noyes Street, for the past 10 years has been the Community Gardener at McCormick Gardens. Tonight he came here he had no idea that this was an Issue between different property owners in South Evanston. He came here because he was dismayed that the various hives on McCormick by the roadwork are gone and as a gardener it affected him because he knows bees do a lot of pollination. He also has fruit trees and knows the problems with pollination of the trees. He wanted to say as somebody in the neighborhood and another random person In Evanston, there are beneficial externalities of keeping the bees that affect all the neighbors in a wide area. He too has gotten a lot of education tonight as he is sure the aldermen have and nothing he has heard so far makes him in the least bit concerned or worried about the keeping of the bees. In fact he wishes there was a hive in his neighborhood. Wendy Mlllor, 2418 Noyes, is a beekeeper in Evanston. Her father. who is 88 years old, is a beekeeper in Pennsylvania and loves his bees as there's not much he can do anymore. Someone brought up their concern about the elderly in the neighborhood. When she first decided to get bees she did talk to her neighbors. Some did not like the idea but were willing to give it a try and she made an agreement with them what she would do if it didn't work out it. One of her neighbors is In her 80's, another neighbor is in her 70's and there a lot of small children on the block. We have a few people on the block who have anaphylactic reactions to bees, they have an epi pen, that's what you do if you know you're allergic to bees you can an epi pen. Do honeybees sting, yes; she gets stung by them and doesn't like it. The only time she has been stung is when she bothered the bees. There was a swarm in her neighborhood last summer which was one of the most exciting experiences she's ever had. Bees in a swarm are most docile because they don't have a home to protect. They picked up 1000'5 of bees on a stalk of bamboo and carried them to an old hive they set up and watched them march into the new hive We have friends and neighbors come overall the time because the bees are so fascinating towatch. It is amazing what miraculous creatures bees are. She does live in Evanston and she does have bees and her neighbors have come around to appreciate them, she also gives them honey every year. Mimi Peterson, 748 Wesley, came to this meeting to show her support for the legislation banning beekeeping. She lives about 300 feet from the proposed beehive and asked what constitutes an affected neighbor. In our zoning code we have affected neighbors if you live within 500 feet. A quick look at the zoning code will take you only as far as the health and sanitation clause regarding nuisance animals. Evanston regulates the number of bird feeders we can have in our backyard, we regulate the ground feeding of squirrels and pigeons, we also do not allow farm animals in the City of Evanston. You have to figure, out what constitutes a farm anima! in regards to a comment made this evening about setting up a farm. In listening to everybody's comments she would be the first one to agree it sounds very interesting, fun and Page 6. fascinating. Everyone from the Illinois State Beekeepers Association worked in places such as Lincoln Park Zoo, or a Conservatory, or a nature place, where they have bees behind glass and people can walk near them. She remembers a few years ago there was an issue regarding roosters or hens in someone's backyard but does recall how that worked out and was curious how that was resolved. There was also beekeeping going on at the McCormick Gardens and wondered how that ceased to exist. Mr. Terry said his understanding is there was some action taken by the Director of Parks, Recreation and Forestry as the hives were placed there without getting prior permission from the staff that administers the gardens and there were complaints from other gardeners about the hives. It was the determination of the staff that administered the Community Garden Program that since the appropriate procedures had not been followed and there was a concern as the gardens are on leased property from the Water Reclamation District whether or not the hives being present on that property was consistent with our lease. Ms. Peterson said the Department of Agriculture regulates county lines and state lines and the trailing of bees that we are not equipped in Evanston to deal with. This effect raises many questions not out of fear and ignorance but flows logically from our existing ordinances already on the nooks in Evanston. Recently there was a photo in the Evanston Review that prompted her to see what she could learn about honeybee keeping because talking a closer look at the photo one can see there was a vast amount of property in the background. This was not in somebody's 30X100 yard lot. Furthermore, the person in the picture was in full protective gear as was in most of the pictures she's looked at on the internet. This looks like a fun, interesting hobby and she realizes this is good for the environment but she can't see how regulation of honeybees could work. If you allow beekeeping in our neighborhood on one block you need to open that up for every single person in this room and wonders how that could be done well because most of the ordinances she has seen regulate between 50 feet up to as much as 300 feet from other property that is contiguous which would mean we would not be able to have beekeeping in Evanston just based on those guidelines. Its cool Mayor Daley is a beekeeper and he's doing that in the City of Chicago, but that is not a comparable situation to somebody's backyard. These lots are all on top of each other with little tiny true link fences stacked on top of each other. This situation is different than owning a dog, or a cat, or a rooster or a hen because inmost situations the City has a handle on it, being able to license or have permits for them. Those homeowners have been responsible and accountable for the actions of those animals. She had heard about and did research on honeybees that they are endangered in some parts of the country and it's true that there are insects infesting their nests, etc. However, we do not live in California and we're not jeopardizing the ability for pollination. She's a gardener and is concerned the feral wasps and bees out there will be in competition with the domesticated bees. She has nothing against this idea but thinks it has to be in conjunction with the Ecology Center and someway confined to an area that is not in somebody's backyard in a residential dense, urban, single family neighborhood. This is not a policy to be decided by a majority of neighbors. Property owners should not have to arm themselves with epi pens and full protective gear to enjoy their backyard. These are logical health and sanitation issues that flow from the City ordinances on the books and it is questionable whether or not bees are a farm animal. The members should take the advice and follow the lead of the City Manager and the direction of City staff and ban beekeeping in Evanston. Mary Mercer, 2127 Forestvlew, he's not a beekeeper but thinks it would be a shame to do something based on fear. The thought of getting stung by bees is scary. Mr. Mercer said his 11 year old daughter has an inordinate fear of being stung by stinging insects a fear he too had. Over the years he has come to realize through trial and error that every stinging insect does not want to sting him. He now can actually relax and observe, with being afraid, these marvelous insects. In every yard, every park, in the air we breathe are all kinds of creatures, insects, mammals, birds. The chance of getting stung by a honeybee is very slim they are really docile creatures. Chances of getting stung by a yellow jacket are much higher because they are aggressive. The real issue is people as it often is in our conflicts with our natural world. If you really want to protect the children and the citizens of Evanston against inherent danger outlaw the cars as people gel hurt by cars. People who are allergic will have a bad reaction to a bee sting don't have to have an epi pen because the City of Evanston allows people to keep bees, they keep the epi pen because of all the stinging insects that create allergic reactions. He feels strongly about this, life is beautiful because we're diverse; some people think honeybees are nice, some people think they're dangerous and scary. Mr. Buckley commented that 98 and 99% of stinging insects are not honeybees. They all have stinging stingers and can sting you up to 6 to 9 times. A honeybee stings you once and dies. Alderman Jean -Baptiste called for a motion of approval for Ordinance 65-0-06 and opened this for discussion. Alderman Moran moved approval of consideration of Ordinance 65."6 Prohibiting Beekeeolnq In Evanston. Alderman Jean -Baptiste called upon Alderman Rainey and asked if she wished to make a statement at this time. Alderman Rainey said her only statement is she supports every statement that the pro beekeeping people made. Alderman Bernstein wanted to know what interaction is there between feral bees and honeybees and asked Mr. Haller if the concerns of the neighbors were valid. Mr. Haller responded without education and understanding the insects he would have to say there was concern, but with some basic understanding of the benefits and how docile these bees are as insects concern seems to vanish. Alderman Bernstein said the material staff has presented to the committee says Page 7. beekeeping is regulated by the State of Illinois Department of Agriculture but there is no licensure, theoretically the beekeeper registers the hive with the state. Mr. Haller said there is no license per se but a permit is required by all Illinois state beekeepers. The colonies get a number so they can be tracked and inspected by a registered and certified inspector. Alderman Bernstein asked how many bees are in a colony, to which Mr. Haller respunded midsummer between 60,000 to 80,000. Alderman Bernstein asked if these stay year round and hibernate in the winter. Mr. Haller said they do not hibernate but duster together for warmth, if they have enough honey they go through about 100 pounds throughout the winter to survive. and if they do survive they gradually build up the population in springtime and again begin the cycle. Alderman Bernstein asked if they consume the honey they produce and if people harvest the honey do they die. Mr. Haller said bumble bees also produce honey but honeybees are unique in that they produce a vast surplus of honey. A healthy colony of bees in any given year can produce up to 300 to 400 pounds of honey and require about 100 to 150 pounds of honey to survive the winter. Alderman Bernstein had some concern about swarming insects that are looking for anew home. He does not understand the relationship between the aviary and a new home and wondered if they are finding a home in somebody's tree next door, to which Mr. Haller responded that is possible. A beekeeper that is in basic understanding of beekeeping biology behavior can prevent the swarming instinct of a honeybee and can either prevent the swarming or capture the swarming once it's left the colony. A swarm usually 20,000 to 30,000 bees is very gentle and leaves the colony and clusters on a local tree limb anywhere between 50 to 100 feet from the colony. That swarm could absolutely end up in a neighbor's yard, or with awareness you would call the local beekeeper and the swarm would be removed immediately without any harm to anybody. Alderman Bernstein asked why do the bees move the aviary. Mr. Haller said it's their fascinating way of dividing and multiplying just as we have babies. A colony will divide in two usually between June and July which is how honeybees propagate themselves. That's a manageable process. Alderman Bernstein asked if the bees require water or do they get water from the flowers. Mr. Haller said nectar as it's gathered from flowers is about 70% moisture and in the summertime unless the colony is overheated honeybees do not require water. If they overheat they'll gather water from the air conditioning inside their colony and responsible beekeepers keep a small dish of water nearby about 50 or 60 feet away from the colony to encourage the bees to use that water source versus the local stream or puddle or birdbath. Alderman Bernstein remarked then you don't require a pond which could generate mosquito larva. Alderman Bernstein asked if there is minimal or no concern as to why we limit density of hives. Mr. Haller said it is based primarily on fear by communities. There are no studies that show that certain critical mass density of honeybees results in problems. Thai's typically a result of a board such as yourselves wanting to put some restrictions on honeybee colonies but not willing to ban the practice of keeping hives, a practice we would support as an association. Alderman Holmes asked if we have any idea how many beekeepers we have in Evanston. Mr. Tent' said until 6 or 8 weeks ago when these two situations developed his department had not received any information at all about beekeeping. Alderman Holmes asked if there is an association in Evanston or members of a beekeepers group. Ms. Dickman said she is told the organization meets pretty faraway and she has never gone to a meeting. Mr. Haller said the closest group is in DuPage County at Oak Brook but associations can pop up at various places. Mr. Termolen said he presented at District 65 Schools on beekeeping as there have been swarms of various kinds of bees and has also worked with Linda Lutz of the Ecology Center when questions have come up. There is an informal network for bees in Evanston and for schools where they can come to the Ecology Center. Alderman Moran appreciated all the remarks from people who have spoken here tonight. He wrote a paper in high school about bees and agrees that they are fascinating. His concern was of all the things that we tend to sanction in the City he cannot think of another situation where a non human participant in the natural system such as dogs, cats, etc., are literally let loose into a neighborhood. He appreciates that many in attendance tonight love bees and thinks he knows why, but he also has an appreciation that this could be a problem for people. He also knows there has been heavy emphasis in the remarks of the bee experts and advocates about how some fears can arise and with education the fears can be dispelled, but this still concerns him. You may be right that with education the sense of anxiety or fear that might arise if you are living next door to 80,000 bees could be reduced and probably in some ways could be eliminated. His own sense is it won't be eliminated on a community wide basis as there are some people who would live next to a bee hive and legitimately be concerned that they or their children or guests or pets may get stung by a bee. That sting might be a minor inconvenience or it may have major consequences. The situation we have here in a residential neighborhood is not a place where we should encourage this. He has no desire to discourage beekeeping as he thinks beekeeping is wonderful, but his own sense of community is those who want to keep bees should be able to keep bees and we should think about how to create an environment somewhere in Evanston where people can keep bees. Alderman Moran proceeded to use this as an example to liking dogs and said he and his family like dogs but there are people who don't like dogs and are afraid of dogs which presents a problem. As was stated this evening these are docile bees and by just using common sense around them and being calm they won't attack. However, this is something children don't know and dogs don't know. We should focus on a community aspect of this as it would be great to have some kind of beekeeping project but it would need to be put in an environment where those who are concerned about beekeeping aren't directly next to them. Page 8. „ Having bees next door to a neighbor that does not want them there imposes too much. Alderman Moran said he understands all the percentages and what is being told about the low possibility of getting hurt which he is sure is true. It was also brought up to educate the neighbors but maybe that's not where they're at. Most of what this committee does is try to reconcile the interests of numerous residents in Evanston in a way that's harmonious to most if not all the people and he cannot see how under these circumstances this can be done. That is not to say it could not be done in some circumstances. Chicago City Hall was mentioned, and at sometime we will probably build anew Civic Center and it would be great to have bee's hives on top of that building. He would be happy to have other places in town in other environments where the concern and the risk is reduced to a very small level, somewhere regardless of how large or smalt the hive is 4 is not eminent right at your gate, on your fence, or next to your garage where a bee may come and sting someone. He would not force people to accept this and would vote for this ordinance but suggests we have people like Linda Lutz, of the Ecology Center, come and talk about this where people interested in keeping bees might be able to do 4 in away where it would not be an imposition on direct neighbors. Alderman Holmes said we could be talking about some regulations rather than prohibiting the bees. Alderman Moran said his concern is if we don't have this ordinance than people can proceed in a way that has been suggested. Alderman Bernstein asked if Mr. McMillan was aware of Gabrielle's desire to raise bees. Gabrielle responded Mr. McMillan was in his yard with his dog and asked him what he was building to which Gabrielle said it was a bee hive as he would taking beekeeping. At that time Mr. McMillan seemed pretty interested in it and Gabrielle told him about it because he figured he aught to know. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted Mr. McMillan found out about this by accident. Alderman Bemslein asked if Gabrielle affirmatively went to Mr. McMillan and said this is what I'm proposing to do as Mr. McMillan came into the yard while Gabrielle was building the hive. Gabrielle said he did circulate a survey by hand and the McMillans would have gotten it except they weren't home at the time. Ms. Dickman said in the survey they asked people in the neighborhood on the block what was their perception of bees as she knows this has been done before. Alderman Bernstein said he was concerned because the experts tell us that education is very important. He appreciates the survey but would have appreciated a more definitive request of the neighbor first because that is what neighbors should do. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Mr. Termolen why he does not keep bees on his premises. Mr. Termolen responded because his neighbor is allergic so he moved there to Hawthorne Woods which is about 40 to 45 minutes from Evanston. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to know more about Hawthorne Woods to which Mr. Termolen said it has about a 90 acre beekeeping farm where they have apple trees. He has a smaller backyard and knows a neighbor that's concerned about gees so he moved his bees there. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said his reason for asking that question was he is trying to find someway for Gabrielle or anybody to keep bees, but also to balance the interests of Mr. McMillan who does not want the bees next to him because of his fears of bees. Sometimes people may say the fears are unfounded but that's an external kind of observation because how you perceive fears is very subjective and may be based on direct experience or what you've heard. Maybe at some point in time Mr. McMillan will come to understand bees better but right now he is fearful of them. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he too is in a dilemma because he wants people to be able to pursue their interests. Perhaps Mr. Termolen can talk to them to see what can be done then maybe we can find an aftemative place to have this in Evanston. In the case of the neighbor who is keeping bees in Evanston she was able to form some kind agreement with her neighbors to go forward and do that. In this case if there was an agreement you would have proceeded and done what you wanted to do but at this particular point in time he would not be inclined to open the possibility that anybody in Evanston who wanted to keep bees wherever they wanted to keep the bees can do so. Alderman Holmes asked staff to took into the possibility of having some hives in the community gardens that the City runs because there are several around the area. Mr. Terry said staff will look into this, the people to respond to that would be Linda Lutz or Doug Gaynor. He knows there was some concern about the community gardens on our Reclamation District Area and he can certainly direct that question to the appropriate staff. Alderman Holmes also asked if we perceive there is a problem or is there actually a problem with bees being on the metropolitan property. It seems to her a feasible area for having bees would be along the canal bank. Alderman Hansen remarked we're talking in terms of regulation which is a great idea but she does not think we should look at location. As Mr. Termolen said 4 is incumbent on the beekeeper to be mindful of safety. If we're going in the direction of other areas than in somebody's back yard to keep bees she would also ask staff to look at other regulations in Chicago as they do not have an ordinance prohibiting beekeeping but may have some type of regulation. In regard to the State of Illinois Beekeeping Agricultural Department, when you register your hive do they require any type of training. The people who spoke tonight all have years of experience, not to say Gabrielle wouldn't have that 10 years from now, but what she is hearing from these beekeepers is its not only location but its the experience, training and the knowledge that the person has in beekeeping. She would be interested in knowing if some of these communities that allow beekeeping have regulations or even if the State of Illinois Agriculture communities have regulations, and what they actually are. Page 9. Mr. Terry said more investigations can be conducted. In the investigations staff conducted it was found that there are some cities that have very, very detailed beekeeping regulations. Concern about the Department of Agriculture is that the primary goal of their regulations to a layman appeared to be the quality of the bees and making sure the bees were well. Neighbor relations was not necessarily a priority for state regulators as they look to local authorities to regulate issues of that nature. Alderman Bernstein asked what was is the cost to set up an aviary. Gabrielle said including shipping and equipment the cost was about $400.00. Alderman Bernstein asked Ms. Miller if she would mind a road trip to her place, to which Ms. Miller responded, not at all. Ms. Miller said her history is we don't legislate something based on a neighborhood problem or ask all of Evanston because of one neighborhood problem. On the other hand she was told that this is a nuisance ordinance and the reason she sought the permission of her neighbors was that she wouldn't be declared a nuisance. As faras the whole issue of beekeeping per se you have to get along with neighbors and she finds it very sad that we have let the exception rule. Alderman Jean -Baptiste announced everyone on the speakers' list has made their statements and the committee will deliberate over the matter to either come to a conclusion or hold this in committee. Alderman Bernstein said he did not know enough to vote effectively tonight and wants to go to Ms. Millers property to look around and educate himself about this issue, He is not ready to ban this nor is he ready to give everybody carte Blanc authority to raise bees as he does not know enough about this to vote today and would move to hold this if that is agreeable to the committee. Alderman Jean - Baptiste noted the direction to staff is to further investigate regulations that are in place in other communities, one of which is Chicago, and also to talk to Ms. Lutz to explore the possibility of beekeeping at a specific location in Evanston with the possibility of determining some type of regulation that may be focused on beekeeping etiquette at the location. Alderman Rainey asked it copies of a few local municipal ordinances could be obtained. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted we have 2 already and are looking for others. Alderman Bernstein asked if any of the experts in the audience tonight could provide any material that would be helpful to Mr. Terry. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if those experts who spoke tonight could provide Mr. Terry with their email addresses or phone numbers to be able to obtain further information that would help us in making a wise decision. V11. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9:45 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky. Department of Health and Human Services Page 10. CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, June 5, 2006 Civic Center - Council Chambers 7:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, .lean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Elke Purze, Vince Jones, Frank Kaminski, Carla Bush, Linda Lutz, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Alderman Hansen, Alderman Wollin, Rosemary Jean -Paul, Evanston Township; Sharon Eckersall, Township Assessor, (See attached list of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Jean -Baptiste 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Jean -Baptiste called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m. 0. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MAY 1, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the Mav 1. 2006 meeting were called and unanimously approved 15-01. III. CONSIDERATION OF MAY 2006 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes motioned for aooroval of the Mav 2006 Townshlo monthly bills, seconded by Alderman Tisdahl. Alderman Holmes had a question regarding the invoice for veteran's flags for $472.92. She noticed it correlated with aline item of the Township's budget and asked if this is a service we provide to veterans. Mr. Terry noted that for many, many years the Township has provided flags for cemeteries for the Memorial Day observances. Hearing no further auestions orcomments Alderman Jean -Baptiste recalled the motion to approve the May 2006Townshia bills. motion unanimoustv anoroved ("l., W. CONSIDERATION OF DISPOSITION OF CITIZEN COMPLAINS AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked that before our usual hearing of the complaints this agenda item should be states as, 'Citizen Complaints and ComplimenWCommendations' as there are a large number of citizen compliments and commendations for our Police Department's work serving the community. However, we discuss the complaints as apposed to the commendations. Chief Kaminski noted the first complaint of the year was CR M06-01. There was a call for service at a location where it was reported a fight was going on inside the premise and weapons might have been in the place. The officers responded and the fight then moved to the outside when several other people joined in resulting with the officers arresting several people. During of the process of the arrest the officers used their mace to facilitate the arrest. The three complainants that made the initial complaint failed to provide additional information or follow through. One complainant was later convicted in court of the charges of the arrest and the other two are still pending on trial. The Citizen Review was done intemally and three members found the complaint was SOL, Stricken on Leave to Reinstate. The investigation was stopped because the complainants failed to cooperate but can be reinstated if they decide to cooperate although after numerous letters and calls they did not follow through. The criminal charges are still pending. Alderman Jean -Baptiste called for any comments to CR #: 06-01. Alderman Moran moved to accept the report as oresented. seconded by Alderman Bernstein and unanimously anoroved by the committee 15-0). Chief Kaminski noted the next complaint CR #: 05-02 is actually a continuation of complaint from February when the Chief was asked by the committee to meet with the complainant and review the facts of the case. There was a meeting where Alderman Jean -Baptiste and Alderman Holmes were present. There were not only meetings with the complainants but with the four officers involved and we were able to resolve everybody's questions. As a result of that meeting the Chief said he still recommended the original disposition was appropriate. Alderman Jean -Baptiste recalled there were a number of interested people at that meeting. The Chief did meet with the parent, who was the most aggrieved by the situation, and wanted to know what the current relationship Is with the parent and the youth involved. Chief Kaminski said he and Alderman Holmes met with the parent last week regarding another problem the parent was having with another child and he thought the relationship has been very positive. In fact as a follow up he called the parent today and she was very appreciative that we are trying to work through some of the issues Page 1. i 11mmd with some of her children. Alderman Holmes agreed that a lot of progress has been made. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to share with the committee members that the Chief has also had some additional contacts with the community around youth and police relations and getting the officers to better know the community as well as the community getting to know the officers. Reverend Curry reported that there are some ongoing contacts and follow up meetings. Alderman .Sean -Baptiste called for approval of the Chlef s disposition of CR #05-02; committee's approval was unanimous (¢:a V. FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF PROHIBITIONIREGULATION OF BEEKEEPING WITHIN EVANSTON Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted at the last Human Services Committee meeting a number of people were heard from the City of Evanston and outside of the City in the discussion as to whether or not we would prohibit beekeeping or find some way to regulate it. At the end of the last meeting the committee concluded they needed further information. Some of the information requested was to find more information on ordinances from other municipalities addressing this issue, also the City's staff was requested to look into getting information on whether there are some options in the City of Evanston to have beekeeping at certain locations otherthan backyards if the City decided to go forward and allow beekeeping. Before continuing the discussion Alderman Jean -Baptiste called upon those who signed up to speak. Wendy Miller, 2416 Noyes Street, said she is a beekeeper and spoke at the last meeting because she did not want to get drawn into this but was because she is a beekeeper. She grew up with honeybees in her yard as her father is also a beekeeper and is biased in the sense that she does not know what its like not to have bees around. It wasn't until she moved to Evanston, 10 years ago, that she realized a lot of people are afraid of bees which is why she does not advertise the fact she has bees. She checks people out before she introduces them to her bees because she recognizes that fear. Since the last meeting she thought itwould be interesting to revisit her neighbors who she talked to before she originally had bees as there has been a lot of turnover in her neighborhood. She went out and talked to almost everybody on her block but did talk to everybody immediately around her. She was very surprised to discover that not a single person has been stung by a honeybee in the past 10 years and there have been times in the last 5 years when she had 2 hives going, Matt Tremolen had 2 hives going and there were quite a few bee hives along the canal. In our neighborhood one could argue that there may have been millions of bees and the most interesting thing to her is that nobody notices them. Alderman Bernstein visited her home and there were hardly any bees anywhere in her yard. We have a very diverse neighborhood, an elderly woman lives behind and another elderly woman lives next door to her and found that the bees never bothered either of these neighbors and there was not a single household that had a honeybee sting. She knows one of her neighbors was stung by a nest of yellcwjackets which are wild and uncontrollable. She was told about a homet nest on someone's porch and has heard a lot of stories about flying insects in her neighborhood but none were about honeybees. Some of the neighbors told her they feel their fruits and vegetables are more plentiful since there has been increased pollination which she certainly finds in her yard. On her block there are three people that she came across who have had anaphylactic shock reactions to flying insect stings in past. Two went through a special therapy to reduce the effect of stings on them so they now just get a localized reaction. One still has his epi pen at home and all three people said the bees don't bother them and they don't care that they're in their neighborhood as they certainly know the life danger to themselves. She wanted to share that information as she felt it was directly relevant to the issue at hand particularly once there was concern the bees shouldn't be anywhere in Evanston and certainly in northwest Evanston. Ms. Miller had a little petition taken in her neighborhood merely to show that she talked to the neighbors. A number of people have signed, some are her friends, some are not. Her petition says, "I support backyard beekeeping in Evanston." The other issue that has come up in relation to this which disturbs her is that one complaint results in the proposal of an ordinance that affects all of us in Evanston. She wishes there was a way for these neighbors to work this out amongst themselves so as not to impact all of us in Evanston. If you are going to do something and then waive regulation she hoped you could look at her situation and she would be glad to be part of the procedure to figure out what would be a reasonable regulation. She assumes if something becomes a nuisance then its something the City should address but until it becomes a nuisance why make it a nuisance before it's a nuisance. Thank you. Michael Roberts, lives at 1314 Randolph Street in Chicago, which is a highly, densely populated area and makes him an outsider. He and his son Max have had 3 bee hives for 4 years. He can agree with everything that Ms. Miller said about nobody getting stung. Honeybees are vegetarians; they're not carnivorous or aggressive like a yellow jacket or some other type of wasp. You can stand next to bees and they're oblivious to your presence unless you are using a product with some botanical fragrance. He spoke to two gentlemen before the meeting and it struck him that they have some real fear of honeybees but had never been near or seen a hive. He cannot anything say more than Ms. Miller has except it seems odd to him that the weight of a complaint from someone that's never been near a hive would be carried. Thank you for your time. Susan Dickman, 1517 Madison Strea4 wanted to say a couple of words about reason. Reason is the backbone of a Page 2. • '' �•. 1. civilized culture society. Without reason our reptilian brain takes over and the side of us that wants to judge things based on fear and lack of knowledge or refusal of lack of knowledge and we fight it and deal with it. She thinks banning honeybees would be unreasonable even based on lot size some arbitrary decision of lot size is an unreasonable decision as well. Chicago with a higher density population than Evanston has managed since the 1970's with backyard beekeeping. She feels that the burden of proof that honeybees pose a danger to society rests on the naysayer and basing a decision on fear, or what if, when there are so many other benefits is a lack of information or proof that they have detrimental effects. There are a lot of dangerous things in Evanston, there are cars, there's pesticides on lawns, and fawn pre treatment that get into the ground water and go into the tomato plants that she's trying to feed her kids. She does pre about fears and people on the block and the children. There are 20 children on her block and one on the way. She has some questions and concerns and does not understand why Jay Terry arrived at the May 1"meeting with a ban ready or why she read in two news sources that he was recommending a ban before information had even aired at the May 1 s' meeting. She does not understand why Carla Bush said the City called her to find out what she was going to do with the honeybees once we got them. The honeybees were at North Park Nature Center for 2 weeks, they've been at our house In our backyard for a week and a half, and nobody's noticed them. She just wonders about the democratic process when people call her to ask what she's going to do with the bees when there is nothing illegal about them. It took her several months to get past her own fears and realize that she could team more and educate herself and feels that's what we do in an enlightened society, that's what progress is. Isn't that what we're obligated to do when we're confronted with something or someone or people or cultures or whatever that we don't know about or understand. Don't we arm ourselves with knowledge, don't we find out more about those things. She's a teacher and when she did her teaching training learned the average to above average intelligent person needs 12 to 15 repetitions of anything for any information to be absorbed. She needed it repeated to her several times when she was leaming about this whole process that beekeeping does not pose a danger to people. In conversations she's had with physicians, people's allergies need to be far more concerned about the presence of yellow jackets and hornets. Her last comment is people really don't know honeybees, if you look at honeybees and look at yellow jackets and study their behavior for 5 or 10 minutes you see they fly differently, they behave differently, they move differently around people and around plants. People don't even notice them, had ours arrived when they were supposed to arrive and had her son secretly built his hive in our basement rather than in the backyard she does not even think we'd be talking about this because nobody would have even noticed that they were there. Thank you for your time. John Black, 1603 Madison Street; lives approximately 100 feet from their neighbor who as a hobby has proposed to locate a beehive in their 40 foot wide backyard. See Attachment "A" for Mr. Black's presentation. After his presentation Mr. Black proceeded to show a short video of a swam~ of bees made by a friend of his, a former Evanston resident who now resides in San Diego, Caidomia. His friend's wife had gone out to their backyard to play with their dogs and a swarm of bees erupted. This video zeroed in on what is described in audio as a nest but actually turned out to be a cluster ora swarm of bees. Mr. Black noted that the video was threatening and intimidating and something he would not like to have in his yard. At the May 1" meeting the bee experts were talking about swarming which does happen. Mr. Black went out and bought the "Beekeeping for Dummies' and some other books recommended at the last May 1" meeting, In the *Beekeeping for Dummies' book, chapter on "Anticipating and preventing potential problems" says there is no telling where a swarm might land. Vivian writes in -Keeping Bees' published in 1986, "nobody can stop a swarm and nobody is 100% successful or even 50% successful some years in preventing swarms. Finally, from "Bees in America, How the Honeybee Shaped a Nation' written by Hom, quoting C. C. Miller, Jr., a very big name in beekeeping, 'the only consistent thing about bees is their inconsistency', which he thinks is a fairly compelling statement when talking about this. At this time Mr. Black with the assistance of Mr. McMillan proceeded to show a power point presentation, See Attachment "A-1". Mr. Black noted all the Information contained In this power point presentation was sourced from Texas A & M University- Department of Entomology. See Attachments "A-2" and "A-31. Mr. Black concluded his presentation with, at a minimum while this issue is decided the City Council should enact a moratorium, retroactive to May 1, 2006, prohibiting the introduction of new beehives in Evanston residential areas. Thank you. Dolan McMillan,1519 Madison Street, said he and his wife have been married 10 years and have lived in their home in Evanston for abut 3 years. They have one 10-year old dog and one puppy. See Attachment "B" for Mr. McMillan's presentation. Mr. McMillan concluded his presentation asking the Human Services Committee to please consider an ordinance that will indeed ban or restrict the activity of beekeeping in Evanston, even if only through a regulatory ordinance. In addition, he was asking for a moratorium, retroactive to May 1, 2006, while this issue gets decided. Thank you. John Hansen, past President of the Illinois State Beekeepers Association, he does not live in Evanston and is a resident of LaGrange. He is in his 31" year of keeping bees and wants to refute many of Mr. Black's statements and would hope the committee disregards all the information that Mr. Black presented regarding the information from Texas A & M. Texas A & M Is dealing with Africanized honeybees that came up from South American through Central America and Mexico and are now in southern states and up into California. This is a hybrid bee that has nothing to do with the bees that we keep around the Chicago area. All of that information is false as far as our bees are concerned. It is true for the Page 3. ?yap i s '4i Africanized bees in Texas and they also have domestic bees there. He has never seen a honeybee in a garbage can, but has seen a lot of yellow jackets there. Yellow jackets are attracted to any kind of food and everything about human beings but honeybees only forage for nectar and pollen, that's the only food they eat. Nothing about a human being attracts a honeybee. Honeybees go out of the beehive and back and are called foraging bees and are only one-third of the numberof bees in the hive. They're even safe around children. He just put in 18 colonies of bees in a space no more than 45 feet square in North Lawndale at Flournoy and Independence Boulevard, When those hives develop into a full size there will be a lot of bees in that small backyard. The lot size has very little to do with bee safety. Yellow jackets are here from the middle of July until the first frost of the year, their population increases rapidly which the insects that will bother you. The honeybees will fly over your head. Mr. McMillan has nothing to worry about. Mr. Hansen said he could have a beehive next to his garden and can't find a honeybee in there because they like to fly a distance before they start foraging so they're going to go right over your head and you won't even know they're there. Bees disseminate in all directions from a beehive in a range from up to 3 miles. The area they can cover is 18,000 acres. With 16,000 bees corning out of one beehive that would be one bee per acre. If you can find a honeybee in your backyard or garden consider yourself lucky because they are scarce. Chicago has a lot of bees, on top of City Hall, the new hives and others in North Lawndale, active beehives in Garfield Park, plus observation hives at Lincoln Park Zoo. If these bees were so dangerous In public places the City of Chicago would not allow them. The bees are encouraged in Chicago and are not a problem. Thank you. Debbie Hillman, of 1118 Sherman and has lived in Evanston almost 30 years and has been a professional gardener for 25 years mostly in Evanston for residential homes. She does a lot of reading of philosophy and understands the principles on which we make decisions which is apropos because government makes a lot of decisions and we need to understand why. She came across and interesting concept based on a pair of words from high school literature, hubris meaning arrogance and often paired with anotherword safrosign which means conference. Hubris is human behavior that violates the pattern of nature, the laws that we all live under and the beings that we share this earth with. As a professional gardener she sees this kind of hubris daily, seeing lawn services try and clean up every single last leaf in the fall and then sees evergreens die because they have no leaf cover or protection from wind, sun, drying out. There's no additional soil made, leaf litter to live in are gone which daily ecological destruction in Evanston is. She thinks the world is now understanding that we have overstepped our bounds as human beings visa vi the natural world. She would like to share the word safrosign in comparison with hubris; the dictionary says temperance, self control, prudence. We live in a dangerous world there is no question about it but humans are the most dangerous creatures of all. The skill of mortality is its up to us to keep ourselves and to teach our children how to live in this whole world that includes all of us here and all the creature that inhabit this world including the plants and the bees who pollinate the plants who make our food. it's very clear that in the next 10 years we're going to face an ecological crisis that we cannot imagine in terms of oil to power all the transportation that we use to transport our food from Callomia from Chile and we will have to be growing more food here in Evanston which means we will need bees to pollinate. She wants to know everything about this world and every creature and to be as big as she can and relate to every living thing. That's her job as a human being and a creature of this earth. It is incumbent on all of us to feel the same way and believes its incumbent on a governing body to remind us that we are all part of this world including the bees. Bees have a natural home in Evanston and should be allowed to be here. Thank you. Dave Rutherford, of 21D2 Harrison Street said his family has been friends with Ms. Miller's family for 10 years or so. They had been to several backyard barbecues at Ms. Miller's house before they even knew that she kept bees. One .night when they were there she took them out and showed them the hives in the back. Most of the time they were very close to the hives and didn't know they were there. The bees were never were noticed when they were in the yard. What he is hearing at this meeting sounds to him like a proposal to either regulate or ban beekeeping in Evanston; it appears to be a solution in search of a problem. He's not heard of people reporting wild swarms or being attacked by bees in the downtown areas or any problems being reported relating to people keeping bees in Evanston. True, there may be some - people allergic to bee stings. He's reminded that a few years ago there was one person who had a hypersensitivity to the spraying done for mosquitoes who managed to get mosquito spraying stopped in Evanston and as a result the other 74,000 suffered through some of the worst mosquito years he can remember for the past 30 years. He doesn't think its good policy or legislating to restrict or ban the activities of everyone based upon a very few loud voices compared to the number of people who live here and he would ask you to not do it. Thank you. Phyllis Pestka, 1520 Washington Street, said she has been listening this evening and at the last meeting and highly resents the implication of most of the people that are pro bee that those of us who are against it have no knowledge and no understanding of honeybees. Her husband is an Evanstonlan, she's been here for 35 years, originally she's from Door County, Wisconsin, from a dairy farm. Her experiences with honeybees have been positive in that you can't be in any kind _ of situation where you're raising crops where you can't appreciate the value of bees. She will however take an absolute positive stance that she does not feel that it's appropriate for those bees to be in that small a space. It's not fair to the people around nor is it fair to the bees. It's very nice to say bees are docile for the most part and unless you provoke them you will not have a problem. However, over the years she's been stung numerous times by honeybees. They love clover, Page 4. clover is in your grass, you walk around barefoot and if you step on one she'd call that provocation for the poor bee and you're going to get stung. She would like to see some kind of compromise reached. To her it would be ideal if we could do something at the Ecology Center, which is her personal feeling. We're talking about the difference between a natural population of bees versus domestic hives. She's seen regular honeybees around and does not think we can assume that we're in a position of not having any natural wide population. Our garden has done terrifically for years. Mr. Hansen said none of the incidents described by Mr. Black ever happens but she's here to tell you that when she was growing up her aunt's house just outside of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, was infested by honeybees. The orchard owner near her raised honeybees and they swarmed and decided to move in at heraunt's home. They fought this three years running and tried everything as this was very inconvenient and miserable. It takes 3116' of an inch for a bee to get in. Her aunt eventually spent thousands of dollars over the course of those three years not only to remove those bees but to repair like damage in the pictures previously shown by Mr. Black. They had to remove walls from their attic to their basement, this was such a mess there was even honey on inside walls. Her question is if a swarm of bees occurs when the hive divides in the fall and she is directly across the alley from this hive and they decide to move into her house, who's going to pay for removal and repair. She thinks this is a fair question as she has lived through this and knows this is not fun. Also, in provoking bees it has been her experience that if you get within 30 feel of those hives, and she's referring to domestic hives, with farm machinery which is loud and causes vibrations, they will come after you because they perceive you as a threat. What then happens with the young people that go driving through the neighborhood now two blocks from her, her floor vibrates. Is that going to cause a problem with those bees, can they guarantee that its not. Thank you for your time. Mlml Peterson, 748 Wesley, livesl50 feet away from the proposed hive. Reasonable discourse is part of a civilized society and her opposition to beekeeping has nothing whatsoever to do with fear but flows logically from our existing ordinances. She also would like to add that she is really disappointed at the gesture of bad faith to have gone ahead and moved those bees into that backyard. That was not the spirit and intent of the last meeting as we left it. The idea was there was going to be consideration and more information that would be generated and those bees were not going to be in the back yard at least everyone sounded as though that would not happen in the interim and she feels sad that this action was taken withal[ this fuss still going on. It's clear that the City of Evanston wants no part of beekeeping in Evanston that Is no liability. Ms. Lutz May 31" memo highlighted the liability concerns for the City of Evanston should some problem arise on public land, such as the Ecology Center, the City would be liable, and has expressed numerous concerns with regard to liability. Ms. Lutz went onto note that there are very few areas which can be devoted to passive landscape that could house private bees. According to her memo the bees on McCormick Avenue were removed for safety reasons. It is significant to note the Environment Board had discussions regarding the important benefit of pollination which we all can agree on. Yet they raised the same concerns regarding the ability to contain beekeeping and apply regulations fairly. Ms. Peterson said she stated at the last meeting that regulation would be difficult to achieve and still thinks that Is the case. The proposed distance requirements of 25 feet from a property line are not sufficient to insure adjacent property owner's adequate use and enjoyment of their property. Beekeeping is considered an agricultural use in Cook County. An agricultural use in Cook County is usually at least 5 acres and is not allowed in residential zones. The model ordinance you have shown by the proponent and provided by staff noted as Draft No.1, copies of the beekeeping ordinance for Louisiana Local Municipality and Governments and is merely verbatim. However, this particular whereas was left out, Louisiana is among the leading states in honeybee production and agricultural byproducts associated with beekeeping throughout the United States. Obviously that whereas could not be in an Evanston ordinance because Illinois is not noted for honeybees or agricultural byproducts from honeybees. In Evanston we do not customarily live acres away from our neighbors or identify our addresses by county road and rural route numbers. Over the years in order to meet the growing obligations of a municipality the demands to increase the tax base has been met with density. We are a very dense, urban, residential community. She feels that's it unfortunate that Ms. Dickman has tried to frame this issue as solely about the passion of her son and his hobby. That our neighborhood had to endure being characterized as bee Gists by the metropolitan area's leading political columnist is indeed fascinating. Especially given the alleged vote fraud that led to a historic election contest that is still being contested in Evanston. This issue is not about an individual or his mother rather it is about whether it is appropriate land use in residential neighborhoods. Agricultural use that is regulated both by Illinois and U.S. Departments of Agriculture is not appropriate land use in residential neighborhoods. She hopes the committee members will at least refer to the discussion had by the Environment Board and instructional information regarding Cook County's position regarding beekeeping and whether or not we consider having beekeeping or regulating beekeeping in Evanston. Ms. Peterson wanted to discuss the on line petition Ms. Dickman presented at the last committee meeting which may have grown since that time. In the online petition there are 132 signatures. Ken Haller, the President of the Illinois Beekeeping Associafion signed it twice so there really is only 131 signatures,19 or 15% readily identified themselves as non Evanston residents, 25 or 19% list Evanston addresses or phone numbers, 21 people 16% suggest as theirverbiage that they live in Evanston but didn't provide a street or a name or full address, 66 people 50% provided no indication where they reside. The petition does not reflect the opinions of those people who are being asked to have beekeeping within 30, 40, 100, 1000 feet from the proposed beehives. Concerned neighbors have circulated a petition that does reflect the neighborhood sentiment. At the last meeting Alderman Bernstein asked some very good questions of Mr. Haller, resident of Elmhurst Page 5. and current President of the Illinois Beekeepers Association, about swarms. Mr. Haller said that it is possible when bees swarm it is likely the new colony will develop anywhere from 50 to 100 feet from the old colony and he even said that could include a neighbor's tree. Mr. Haller said not to worry because we could calla beekeeper and have the swarm removed. That scenario should not be forced upon us in our neighborhood on unwilling residents by the City government and which by itself constitutes a nuisance. Every time she has to call the Department of Agriculture to come and collect the bee swarms is a nuisance. She would suggest the distance requirements be closer to 50 to 100 feet from property lines at a minimum and it regulation is decided upon which she's still not convinced how regulations would work. It seems to her the huge amount of time and resources going to be required to enforce regulations, if it's implemented, is going to be taxing on residents of Evanston. Evanston is one neighborhood that is roughly 8 square miles, how many domestic beehives can one community hold without disturbing the natural environment of feral bees. She has an amazing garden that the entire neighborhood enjoys and her garden is not lacking for pollination as nature is taking care of itself quite nicely. She does not wish to have the added nuisance of domesticated bees 150 feet from her yard and believes it is not reasonable for the City government not to take action to protect the residential neighborhoods from agricultural use. Thank you again for your time. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the conclusion of public comments and said staff had been asked to do some research and come back to this committee with their findings and asked Linda Lutz to share with everyone what investigating she has done and what conclusions have been reached. Ms. Lutz said she in her 20th year of working at the City of Evanston Ecology Center, and was asked to take a look at having bees on public land in Evanston. One of the issues she discussed numerous limes with her supervisor in terms of on public property is it creates a whole different situation where the City Is placed in a position of liability but doesn't have control over authority. When they looked at this type of situation, the Ladd Arboretum Committee, a City Council appointed board, looked at keeping a citizen's beehives at the Ecology Center on the canal banks below it. There were some issues they thought appropriate which involved having adequate fencing, perhaps having a permit, signing a contract with the City taking out insurance on that type of thing only as a protective measure for the City because it would not be a City function but that of a private person in Evanston. Alderman Jean -Baptista asked that the committee see where they are in this process and noted at the May 1, 2006 Human Services Committee meeting Alderman Moran moved approval of consideration Ordinance 65-0-06 Prohibiting Beekeeping in Evanston. There was no second to this motion as the committee asked for time to study the Issue and this Is the time to either remove the motion or have the motion seconded. Alderman Bernstein remarked having no second there Is not going to be any recommendation from this committee, if the City Council wishes to bring it up on its own this has to move along without any commentary. Eike Purze, City Counsel, said without a second to the motion the motion dies here in the committee. if someone wants to bring it up on the floor at the next Council meeting this can be raised there. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if this means the status is quo from what it was previously until there Is any speck movement. Alderman Moran thought our rules allow for an item to be placed on the City Council's agenda at the request of one alderman. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the chair can second a motion, and was told he could. Alderman Moran than made the same motion he made Mav 1st. for anoroval of Ordinance 65-0-06 Prohibitina Beekeeoina in Evanston. Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded the motion thus ooening the item to be on the floor for discussion. Alderman Jean -Baptiste then asked the committee whether or not they wished to proceed. Alderman Tisdahl apologized for not being in attendance at the May Human Services Committee meeting and said she did not support banning beekeeping in Evanston. She would like to support Wendy Miller's offer to work on an ordinance as we do need an ordinance. When there were 20+ beehives at the Community Gardens there was a neighbor who suddenly had an inordinate number of bees in his yard and there was no attempt to education any of the neighbors at the Community Gardens about bees. There were 16 active hives in the neighborhood which made this a real problem. She believes we need to have education if there are going to be hives and in her view that should be the responsibility of the person who wants to have the hives. Ms. Dickman said she had to educate herself about bees. This does need some sort of ordinance because to throw 16 beehives into a residential neighborhood didn't workout too well. However, that does not mean that she wants to ban bees because she does not want to ban bees. Alderman Tisdahl suggested asking Mrs. Miller for help since she's willing to help. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked as a point for verification if there is a difference in banning bees and banning beekeeping. Alderman Tisdahl responded she did not want to ban beekeeping or bees. Alderman Holmes said she learned more about bees since May I` than she ever thought she would. She wondered ifwe did ban bees how woutd we do that The key thing far her in all of this is Ms. Miller took the time to educate not only herself but her neighbors which is the part we have been missing. Whatever we come up with there has to be education for the neighborhood or the neighbors where there would be beekeeping. In terms of general information she recalls from May 1" Mr. McMillan stated he happened to see the building of the hive and thinks we would not be in this situation if some education had been done. She certainly would not like to see beekeeping banned but thinks we have to provide Page 6. some kind of protection that will make everyone comfortable and is willing to work to try and come up with some kind of compromise to make sure we can appease both sides if possible. Aldemian .lean-Bapliste thought besides education there has to be consent. A neighbor could come and give him an encyclopedia on beekeeping but that may not get his consent, which is the issue here. This issue is whether or not we should allow beekeeping where neighbors have a problem with that, whether the problem is based on unfounded fear or whatever, the reality is if neighbors are not in accord with beekeeping he does not think we should have beekeeping. This specific proposal at this specific location has opposition, the status is not quo and anything can happen. We should call for a moratorium on the issue and if we can craft some kind of ordinance that can meet all of our concerns or there can be some compromise on those issues. Uml then he does not see anybody being able to set up an apiary in the backyard that Is not supposed to be there. He read in the Evanston Review that there were about 40,000 bees on the way, and if they are there, they're not supposed to be there. His position now is if they are there they should not be there until the Council has made a decision where the majority has voted to go forward. He thought our staff was clear that at this time we did not yet approve setting up of any beehives. At this particular point in time he would be opposed to having any new beehives set in place or at least since this came to our attention he does not think this one should go forward. Alderman Bernstein did not think there is any legal reason why we could prohibit the beehive from being formulated there. We don't have an ordinance precluding it and he thinks there was some sense among members of the Council that Gabriel would wait, but the fact that he hasn't waited is a mixed blessing for him. Alderman Bernstein asked Gabriel where his hive is In relative to the garage as at the time he was there a ladder was set up on the east side of the garage and thee was an open door to the garage, he did not see a beehive. Gabriel said it's not near the property line of the neighbor, the neighbor is more or less afraid of the bees and they don't have a problem with bees. Right now there are no more than 20,000 bees in there. Alderman Bernstein thought had we determined and voted on a moratorium that would be an unlawful hive but the fact is there is no prohibition against bees. He learned far more about bees than he ever thought or wanted to learn but the biggest problem, which is a lesson for Gabriel in civics, is neighbors have to live together. We live in close proximity to one another and any change, no matter how insubstantial it might be to you or your family may be a concern to other people. Alderman Bernstein saw the survey that was passed around but there was nothing in that survey that would indicate to him your intention to set up a beehive it just seemed as though you were doing a project in school about bees. The survey asked, 'What do you feel about bees.' It was very generic especially with respect to people who live next door. It's incumbent on you as a good citizen to knock on your neighbor's door and let them know what you hoped to do and ask if you can answer any questions about this and why you think it won't impact them in a negative way. Some people may say forget about it but as weal) know neighborhood disputes are the worst things we deal with. You can't mediate between neighbors that aren't going to get along but you should have given neighbors a chance. At the last meeting Mr. Termolen said he had beehives until such time as a neighbor told him they were concerned as they were allergic, at which point Mr. Termolen removed those hives. There is a question as to what actually caused the removal of those hives but that is what was told to us on May I", Alderman Bernstein said he and Ms. Miller walked around Mr. Termolen's house on Pioneer where the lots do not have much more space between the houses than the yards on West Madison Street. They met Mr. Termolen's neighbors daughter, about 10 years old, and asked her about the beehives to which she answered she thought he has them, or maybe he used to have them but does not know if he has them. This was a child who had been in the yard enough times to know of the presence of the beehives in Mr. Termolen's yard but now was not sure whether or not they existed which was consistent with the feeling he got standing and watching the bees in Ms. Miller's back yard. He does however have concerns about swarms because the book loaned to him about bees talks in terms of swarms and the need for the beekeeper to remove swarms. He does not have a problem with working out an ordinance that will give some comfort level but we all know that we're not going to give a total comfort level to all people. He's not in a mode to prohibit beekeeping in Evanston because his research and conversations with people who go back a long way with bees, one of whom is his wife, has pretty much assured him about the fact that unless you get up in the hives these bees are relatively low impact on a community. The thought of bees next to him before this month of educating scared him to death and in discussing the subject his wife told him she might want to have a hive in their yard. There has been some question about the number of emails the aldermen received and the import of the emails but he was taken by the fact that people from many places in the country felt strongly enough about their passion to let somebody in Evanston, Illinois know that in their opinion beekeeping could be created and run successfully in a dense area. Alderman Bernstein does not want to ban beekeeping in Evanston as that would be counterproductive, he does want to have some effect that can sway the fears of adjacent property owners. if that means construction of a fence so the flight pattern can verticality be up high enough that it's beyond everybody's level. Bees go all over and are not likely to nest next door, which perhaps they could. He would be among those who goes along with some kind of control. He does not want one neighbor to have power over another neighbor which is not fair to anyone. Today its beekeeping and tomorrow it may be mowers after 5:00 In the afternoon. We have to team how get along together and live together and hopes in the future anybody who wants to make any modification to their property that may impact others would respect his neighbors enough that they would talk to them about it and if needed find alternative locations which is something we as aldermen Page 7. cannot necessarily dictate. In terms of banning beekeeping he is told there are many more hives in Evanston than we have knowledge of. Ms. Miller was very forthright and there is a fear if we ban beekeeping her bees will go which would not be fair because they're living compatibly and not impacted in a negative way by her large dog or her neighbors. He asked about the cost of construction of these hives because he does not want people to go out and spend money to set up a hive and then forget about it. He was told the cost is approximately S400 and hopefully the parents of the young people that are going to be doing the beekeeping have explained to them this is something that has to be maintained because if its not going to be maintained the bees are going to die. He does not know how we can control this nor if a nuisance ordinance would prohibit this, but would like to have some reasonable method of giving some comfort level to adjacent neighbors. Alderman Moran remarked people are talking about these petitions and we're told that there are 73 signatures of people that live in this neighborhood who don't want this. When asking what kind of lesson is Gabriel learning he has to ask himself that question because Gabriel was here on May 1" and he and his mother saw that we had a very live controversy on our hands and presumed in good faith that they would not do what they now said they have done. Whether or not it's a violation of law he considers it a breach of trust. He is somewhat amazed that this committee is enthusiastic about something that one person likes, 73 of his neighbors don't like and he wins. Alderman Moran does not know what lessons Gabriel learns on those two levels. There has been a certain amount of education that's gone on here and a lot more education can go on in terms of bees because as he said the last time they're fascinating, amazing, interesting and wonderful creatures. There are a lot of things like that are in one environment and don't belong in another environment. There's nothing wrong with beekeeping but it needs to be done in an environment that's appropriate to the activity. Bees do sting and we've been educated over, and over, and over again about how docile they are but people who have come before us who are bee lovers acknowledge that they sting and it's an unpleasant experience. Honeybees maybe docile but in everything he's read no one contested the notion that they're going to interact in defense of posture and they will sting as clearly God gave them the ability to sting people as a defensive maneuver. They talk about people needing to be educated, but how do you educate a young child or a dog that doesn't understand how to interact with the hive. If someone has a fear of something education will not disabuse them of that fear. Bees will sting and we know there are people who have sever allergic reactions to them. Mr. Tremolen said forthrightly he understood he had a neighbor subject to the shock syndrome and moved his bees to the Hawthorne Woods, good for him. To say people should carry the epi pens and if you get stung use it, he has heard since then people that say you can't use epi pens if you're subject to high blood pressure or certain other conditions where the use of that as an antidote is a danger in and of itself. Why someone would persist in keeping bees in a neighborhood where one ormore neighbors could be subject to severe health hazards or death is beyond him. Most of the 74,000 people don't know whether they have a severe allergic reaction to bee stings or not. He does not know how this can be regulated. Will you regulate this so all this education is going to stop anyone from disturbing the hive? Beekeepers who attended last month's meeting said if they would drop an implement in the hive the bees would rise and sting them. One person said if you go in and take honey out of the hive that causes a defensive reaction from the bees because we've learned that the bees use the honey as a source of sustenance over the winter. They say bees produce 400 pounds of homey and only use 150 pounds but who's the weight keeper when they get to 150 pounds. One of the benefits that people keep repeating is that everybody in the neighborhood gets a jar of honey. Beekeeping Is a wonderful occupation but he thinks Gabriel should find a place where he can keep his bees where they're not 4 feet somebody else's backyard. In all the model ordinances they say at least 25 feet, there is no ordinance that says less than that, and they can't get 25 feet away as these are 40 foot lots. Placing the hive in the middle of the lot you have 20 feet on one side and 20 feet on the other side. This is impossible to do in this neighborhood. Another suggestion is build fences, this is a community that has rules all over the books about fences, where, when, how, front yard, back yard, side yard, how high, etc., etc. One of the nicest aspects of the landscape is you can go in the backyard and if there is a fence it's a low fence and one can see all the way down the block which is considered esthetically pleasing. The regulation would be to build a 6 foot fence which would block people's view. What are the rules going to be? He thinks the idea of regulation in this environment is going to be very, very difficult to do. This is not the environment to do this as this needs to be done in a preserve, farm on the edge of town, or someplace else. If you realty love it that much you won't mind driving to where the hive is located. There has to be a shared sense of what is right on this, which there is not. These people are entitled to some modicum of respect that they're not stupid, that they are completely incapable of being educated and they're not cool with this. How this is regulated so everyone in this room feels fine about this is a mystery to him and one that he does not think is going to be solved. He thinks everybody here likes bees and understands how great they are, but this a question of where they will be. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to share with the committee that after the May 1" Human Services Committee meeting one of the residents of the City of Evanston called him about an articles he saw that we have some 42,000 to 60,000 bees on the way because the status of the situation at the timed was discussed was there were no bees or no hives. Alderman Jean -Baptiste then called Mr. Terry as he thought there were no hives setup so the bees were not in town yet and asked him to please communicate to Gabriel and his mother that we cannot go forward until there Is some decision on the part of the Council. Even though we don't have an ordinance prohibiting this neither do we have an ordinance allowing it. The status quo at the time we were discussing it when the problem was presented was that nothing was going on. Mr. Terry Page 8. noted that both prior to the May Human Services Committee meeting and subsequent to that meeting staff from our department, Carla Bush our Chief of Environmental Health, had a conversation with Ms. Dickman to confirm that the bees were not going to be coming in until a decision had been made by the committee. We were told they were being held in an area outside of Evanston and tonight it was news to us that the bees had been brought into town. Carla Bush confirmed she did call Ms. Dickman to ask what the status of the bees was and what her intentions were. Ms. Dickman indicated that the bees were in the area but not in her yard and she did not intend to have them on the property before this meeting. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said his position is until we make a decision to allow or not allow the bees this hive should be removed because whether or not we love nature or the philosophy of living things coexisting, to him this is a reflection of someone taking advantage of the situation and disregarding what is actually happening and the concerns of the neighbors. At this particular point in time status should be quo and status quo is that were no bees in that backyard before we started this deliberation to determine whether or not we should prohibit or allow it to go forward. He does not think we should allow that to happen. He thinks Alderman Moran is correct in saying, "what is the lesson here.' The lesson is not just act with impunity and do your own thing even though we had not communicated directly we are in the process of making this determination and in good faith one should have refrained from moving forward. Alderman Tisdahl said regulation does not mean that Gabriel keeps his beehive it means regulation and in this neighborhood everyone is completely educated on bees and now knows their own mind. When we vote on speed bumps we get information on the speeds people drive in your neighborhood before you vote on speed bumps and doesn't see why you couldn't have a postcard vote for this the same as we do for speed bumps as this is an equally important decision. Regulation doesn't mean that everybody everywhere gets to have a hive. At this point she would support a moratorium if the understanding at the last meeting was that there would not be a hive until after this meeting. Alderman Jean -Baptiste added retroactive to May 1", Alderman Berstein remarked he got a call the day after the May 1"meeting from someone who asked why we don't do a moratorium to which Alderman Bernstein said he did not think they were going to go forward with the hive. His understanding was good faith. He too is dismayed that the process wasn't followed as he had the sense that they would not go forward with this. With respect to the 73 people against the hives the chances are very good the 3r of April he would have signed that survey as at that time he had srJous questions about the impact of a hive in close proximity to the house. He's not saying there are not going to be problems or people are not educated, he has a sense that the real problems put forth tonight are more unlikely than likely to happen. We have to consider that this not just about Gabriel, this is a Citywide ordinance and we have to think beyond this particular neighborhood. He is speaking on behalf of 8,000 of his constituents voting not to ban bees. There are at least 4 hives in Alderman Moran's neighborhood and wondered if he has heard of any problems involving these hives over the last 10 years. Alderman Moran asked how would he know to which Alderman Berstein said he gets all kinds of calls and to the extent that this is a very interactive neighborhood and people know what their neighbors are doing especially if it's problematic. Alderman Berstein said he could go along with a moratorium until this is worked out but will not vote to ban bees unless somebody comes to him and again changes his mind as he thinks this is something we can have in Evanston. Alderman Holmes wanted to clarify when she was speaking of education she was talking about educating in terms of if the Dickman's had talked to their neighbors before they may not have gotten consent but at least the neighborhood would been aware of this. We've all learned about bees and when people sit down and try to work together that's possible. She agrees that regulations are regulations and has gone to both yards; Ms. Miller's yard is twice as large as Ms. Dickman's yard which means something in terms of space which should be discussed before we can make an informed decision to come up with an ordinance. She is not talking about banning beekeeping in Evanston but thinks we have to have something to make people feet safe and comfortable and does not know how to do that. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted hearing no discussion a motion has been moved and seconded to support banning beekeeping in the City of Evanston and called for a vote from the committee. He wanted it understood that regardless of which way this vote goes there is an understanding that this status quo is what we should operate from. When it came to the table for discussion there were no bees at that location. The first vote will be on the ordinance and then we have to discuss a moratorium. Alderman Jean -Baptiste tailed for a vote on the motion to orohibit beekeecincr In the City of Evanston. Motion defeated 3.2. Aldermen Bernstein. Holmes and Tisdahl voted no. Aldermen Jean -Baptiste and Moran voted ves. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said this now moves to Council from this committee where there will be further discussion at the Council level and a determination made as to how to proceed. If the Council votes to prohibit that's what will happen, if the Council votes not to do so then they will instruct the legal staff to develop an appropriate ordinance. Alderman Bernstein did not know whether we have the authority to entertain a vote for a moratorium. We could take a Page 9. consensus of the committee to take to the Council that we would like the consideration of a moratorium so that it can be put on the City Council June 12' Agenda and there will be adequate notice to vote for it. A moratorium done without the proper prelude is invalid. We can indicate our sense to the Council but we should move forward in terms of asking the Council to consider a moratorium on beekeeping until such time as we can determine what course we're going to take. Ms. Dickman said her understanding was there was no understanding at the end of the May 1" meeting, There was just a phone call to her that seemed very threatening. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked what was said on the phone call. Ms. Dickman said it was, 'what are you planning to do with bees?' Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if that was all that was said. Ms. Dickman said she responded she's not really sure and guesses they'll put them in a nature center and was basically told that's the right answer. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the individual that called her was from the City and by saying that's the right answer was saying it shouldn't be in your backyard, to which Ms. Dickman said, yes she did and understood this was a phone call that happened after the meeting. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms. Dickman if she understood that communication to mean that you shouldn't have it your backyard at this time. Ms. Dickman responded, yes, the government acts on laws but there are no laws prohibiting it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said you're right there are no laws prohibiting it and there are no laws allowing it. Ms. Dickman said she did not think that was a democratic process to get this phone call, to which Alderman Jean -Baptiste said the democratic process is that we're trying to make that determination, you participate, your neighbors participate, others participate, so we can come to some kind of conclusion, we don't move forward in the midst of this debate. Ms. Dickman said that was not clear. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted when Alderman Bernstein said we cannot ask that we operate from the status quo because that is what the moratorium is until we make a decision the status quo is that it's not prohibited, there's a case in point before us. Legal may have an opinion on what it means when we have a particular issue that there is a proposal to prohibit but it's not allowed. Does that mean that peopis move forward while the City's legislative body is considering how to move forward and whether or not it will have a law that allows or prohibits. Ms. Dickman said everybody thought status quo would remain until a decision was made but does not think there is a legal basis for it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said we can't move with impunity and asked what does this mean? Alderman Bernstein suggested that just because it's not specifically prohibited by our code does not necessarily mean that it can't be done. He absolutely agrees with Alderman Jean -Baptiste and his sense was that Ms. Dickman would be operating In good faith and by saying that he's not impugning her but truly believes she was part of this process and was giving her information, we solicited other information and are moving forward based on Gabriel's application to the extent that we had the month in which to do our homework and fully expected that Ms. Dickman would have delayed bringing the bees Into Evanston. That's not to say someone in his ward could have not gotten some bees set up. His issue in respect to moratorium is he would move that we suggest this to the City Council because this was not a matter on our agenda tonight and there was no notification. He does not know how many people want to raise bees in this City but should have taken the opportunity to come In and say don't impose a moratorium. Alderman Bemstein made a motion that we pass alona our recommendation that the City Council consider an Imoositlon of a moratorium on the imolementation of new aoiaries in the Cltv of Evanston which Is not with respect to anythina that's are-existinq. He does not know if there are any in his ward but hears from people about a whole lot less significant things to him than swarms of bees and would anticipate that if there were problems of beehives in his ward he would have known about it. He does not know if we can retroactively impose a moratorium but would think not. From this point forward the bees are there we will need legal counsel to come up with a method by which we can remove them if that's our decision which right now does not think we have a legal right to do. Alderman Jean -Baptiste and Alderman Moran might differ but the fact that it's not prohibited to him means that it's allowed. They followed the law but did not follow the spirit of our committee, that's humanity not the law. To impose a moratorium retroactively there will have to be an Investigation which his sense is we will not be able to do. His understanding and expectation was that the status quo would have been preserved when he walked out of the meeting on May 1:s Alderman Moran said at a minimum he would support the recommendation to the Council in relation to the imposition of a moratorium going forward but thinks it's a bit more complicated than what Alderman Bernstein is saying. He would ask legal counsel to give consideration to our ability to impose a deeper moratorium based on the fact that there appears to have been a situation here where misleading statements were made to official representatives of this City regarding this particular matter. In his mind the significance of that is the question becomes if an honest response were given that we're going to bring the bees in there would have been an opportunity to move for a moratorium based on a fair an honest statement of what the intention of the parties were which apparently was not made. A statement that was not reflective of reality led to Inactivity where otherwise there very well could have been activity. As everyone seems to agree they felt, and how he felt, given what occurred at our last meeting, for someone to move forward in engaging in this activity he thinks is a breach of faith in terms of the community discussion. Now it's more serious than that because somebody didn't tell the truth about their intentions that could have affected City activity. Ms. Dickman said those were her intentions but she changed her mind. Alderman Moran said he would ask that our legal counsel took into that. Page 10. Alderman Jean -Baptiste stated this is not philosophical, this is reality. There's a beehive of 20.000 bees next door to people who fear them. It's not some kind of idea, its real and he does not think we should allow these things to go on where they pose a real threat to people, real or perceived. While A is pending it's before us and he does not think anybody can move with such impunity to do their own thing. This is not just a question of breach of faith as we were proactive in moving forward and he has the consensus of at least 4 or 5 members of this committee to ask that this apiary be removed just as we have communicated and understood that it would not have been placed there and would ask that it be removed. The Council will determine what will be done, Ms. Dickman's legal right may be protected and a judge may rule that we are In violation of her right but at that particular point in time we'll cross that bridge. Until then it was our intent to consider this and give it as much time as possible and come to some kind of conclusion as to whether or not we should go forward. We explicitly communicated our position and at this point think the hive should be removed. Alderman Bernstein said the issue that we ask Ms. Dickman to remove the hive is we have a consensus of 5. He thought he made himself dear that he's not in any way condoning her actions. His question is philosophical in nature because its whether or not in fad our agent communicated our intent and does not know if they did because we did not have an intent, our intent was unspoken_ He thought in good faith the bees would be left out of town until we decided otherwise and had no reason to believe they would be brought in town during the tenancy of our liberations but he's been fooled before and would agree if the other 4 members are saying Ms. Dickman please get those bees out of town until such time as a vote can be had to determine whether or not they're going to be brought in legally and if so how, he would join that consensus. He does not know if we have a legal right to impose a retroactive moratorium having the moratorium process ws h building it's more than just our statements and feelings that are necessary to impose a moratorium. We don't know what's going to happen as there are certain concerns expressed which may or may not come to bear which are the kinds of things we have to discuss in order to formulate and pass a moratorium. Alderman Moran gave a good argument for Ms. Purze to follow with respect to how we can preclude them from keeping these bees if in fact the scenario went as indicated. The 5 of us are asking to please remove the bees until such time as we can make a determination; this committee has already voted which is bigger than just Gabriel and not taken case by case. It's for the entire community and is very important for us to get it right which is what we're trying to do and hoped that you would give us the fairness and respect to let us do our job and what's right for everybody. In terms of the timing of this Mr. Terry wanted to make sure everyone both on the committee and in the audience knew the City Manager's office has implemented a schedule in terms of the packet and Council agenda items. The agenda and all its supporting material for next Monday night's meeting is 99%read and In order for the appropriate staff work to be done on this ordinance this will be on the Council agenda for June 26 and will not be on the June Ir Council agenda. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said they will conclude this committee's discussion on this issue and ask legal counsel to look into the information to see how we can move forward on this. Mr. McMillan wanted everybody present tonight to note that this is his neighbor who he has to deal with everyday. He is an engineer and deals in ordinances every day and is used to looking at them going over them to see if they make sense or not. There is an ordinance in place in Madison that works. He just wanted to say exposure to the press has been the other part that came out of the good faith meeting that is harsh at best. He's been called all times of day and night, his parents were over one week and a newsman was out in front of his house. He does not know if that's the way these things usually go as he's never been caught up in the middle of it, but he's through being in the middle of it. He hasn't had an argument with his neighbor at all, they've spoken once over the fence, it was tense. He got a letter in the mailbox from her, didn't discuss it but has had his name in the paper and is known as the one neighbor opposed to it and he's through with that. He's through with it in the news and through with it in the media and is not going to fuel any more calls from the media he did it once. He's here talking to you and is going to be there talking to the Council, and that's the extent of it. He's now joining the ranks of the 72 other people in his neighborhood. Thank you. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thanked everyone for their comments and views on this issue. VI. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 68-0-06 AMENDING THE TOBACCO LICENSE ORDINANCE TO PROHIBIT SALES WITHIN 500 FEET OF SCHOOLS Alderman Holmes moved aonroval for Ordinance 68-0-06. motion seconded by Alderman Jean- Baptiste. Alderman Holmes remarked she did not have a chance to talk with Mr. Terry about this issue but after reading the Information in the packet has no problem with 250 feet rather than the 500 feet considering the implications of the finances Involved. The real issue she has problems with is tobacco being sold to under aged children, selling them I and 2 cigarettes, and being done near schools and parks where there are large numbers of children, particularly at the high school. The ChurdVDodge area is of primary concern and she's happy to accept the staff s recommendation of 250 feet rather than the 500 feet she asked for if that will help that situation. Mr. Terry said as he understands the intent there are actually two issues here, one is the distance issue and the other is Page '11. the grandfathering. He asked Alderman Holmes if she proposing to eliminate grandfathering within 250 feet, to which Alderman Holmes responded, absolutely. Alderman Jen-Baptiste asked Mr. Terry to clarify the terms of rational for this reference. Mr. Terry said there are two parts to the original reference. Currentty the ordinance banned cigarette sales 100 feet from schools and childcare facilities. At the time that ordinance was passed all existing providers were grandfathered in which did not put any existing tobacco sellers out of business. This proposal would be to now increase the distance to 250 feet and that ban would now affect those current tobacco license holders that fall within that radius. Alderman Holmes was concerned because there was a particular owner within 100 feet of the high school that sold their business, the new business that came in wanted to take over their license but could not. The new business then moved 25 more feet north and is selling tobacco there. That is a slap in the face of the community and what we are trying to redo to revitalize that area, which is why she made the reference. Alderman Moran asked what does the 250 feet versus the 500 feet do effectively. Alderman Holmes said that is detailed on the Cigarette Tax Projections memo in the packet. Alderman Moran noted both projections are for 500 feet and wondered what the difference is. Mr. Tent' said that would have to be done through the G.I.S. system to find out how many current license holders would fall within the 250 foot perimeter. Alderman Moran was happy to support the expungment of the grandfathering and is not promoting any of this for anyone to the extent that we can at least extract some money from these people who sell this stuff and thinks that is a relevant consideration. He'd like to hear more on how much we'll hang onto if it's 250 feet rather than 500 feet. Alderman Tisdahl asked about the selling one or two cigarettes, and assumed that is geared only at kids. Mr. Tent' clarified that is a violation of the existing ordinance which is not to say it doesn't happen. Alderman Berstein wanted to know the distances from schools from Dominick's and Jewel as they sell cigarettes. Alderman Holmes added she looked into that and there is also a Walgreen's which is the reason for the 250 feet. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the committee is at a phase where there will be further investigation and information for this to be held in committee. Alderman Holmes asked Mr. Terry if this is for the 260 feet she is willing to hold this until the next Human Services Committee meeting. Mr. Terry said this could be done either way, we can have it for the June 26'" Council meeting to make the judgment then or we can certainly have the information for the July Human Services Committee meeting. We can have that 250 feet impact number for you for either meeting. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Alderman Holmes what washer preference, to which Alderman Holmes said her preference was to have this information for the June 26°1 Council meeting. Alderman Jean- Baptiste asked if that meets with approval for the other committee members, which h did. Alderman Jean -Baptiste stated this will be forwarded to Council with the necessary research and data. VII. COMMUNICATION: EVANSTON ALLIANCE ON HOMELESSNESS Committee members acknowledged receiving and reviewing this communication. Vlll. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9:52 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services Page 12. /� � �.i _ � _ .,�. .. - a i � � •�.•l—� .— .- � 9./.erg �.F.:E �'_ i,F1_—. CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, July 17, 2006 Civic Center - Council Chambers 5:30 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdaht STAFF PRESENT: July Aiello, Elke Purze, Brad Yatabe, Carla Bush, Bob Dorneker, Doug Gaynor, Paula Haynes, Harvey Saver. Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Mayor Morton, Rosemary Jean -Paul, Evanston Township; Sue Cantor (Mental Health Board); Betsi Bums, Marc Casady, (Playground and Recreation Board) :( See attached list of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Jean -Baptiste I. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Jean -Baptiste called the meeting to order at 5:35 p.m. II, APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 5, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the June 5. 2D06 meetina were called and unanimously anaroved (4&L Ill. CONSIDERATION OF JUNE 2006 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Bernstein motioned for approval of the June 2006 Township monthiv bills, seconded by Alderman Tisdaht. Alderman Tisdaht had a question regarding the Carrot -Top Industries, to which Ms. Jean -Paul responded those are the flags they plant for Memorial Day. Hearina no further auestions or comments Alderman Jean -Baptiste recalled the motion to aonrove the June 2006 Townshio bills, motion unanimously approved 15-0). IV. RECOMMENDATION TO AUTHORIZE THE PARSKIFORESTRY & RECREATION DEPARTMENT TO HIRE A CONSULTANT TO SURVEY THE COMMUNITY'S NEEDS AND INTERESTS FOR INDOOR RECREATION SPACE Betsi Bums. current President of the Playground and Recreation Board said her Board is asking for a Request for Proposal for the hiring of a consultant to complete a survey on the community needs and interest for indoor recreation space. It has been noted under the strategic plan that something needs to be done with Robert Crown. At this point they need some direction from City Council to move forward. The last community needs survey was completed in 1995 which they feel is outdated and there needs to be an assessment of the entire needs of the community. The Crown Center is a very large center and they need to know if they could keep this facility as is with current functions or need to add additional functions. Multiple constituencies have come forward stating there needs to be addition facility space for soccer and lacrosse, and are looking at looking what can be done to assess the needs and move forward on this project. Alderman Bernstein asked if the $200.000 was the figure from last year and how much of that amount is left. He was told 5134,000 is left. Alderman Tisdahl noted the committee's next agenda item will be discussing youth ages 16 to 24 trying to reach out to them and find what their needs and interests are. She wondered if you are going to make efforts to reach out to that age group especially to those who don't readily respond to surveys. Ms. Burns said they could make part of their program making sure the consultants have that charge, as this is a group that needs representation in the survey. Alderman Moran asked if they have developed any idea of approximately what it would cost to do this survey, to which Ms. Bums responded, no. Alderman Moran then asked if the survey is going to be tethered to setup at Robert Crown as it might be envisioned in a different form, or is it just a general interest survey. Ms. Burns said it would be a needs surveyof what's needed in our community and they will then bring that back to Council to figure out what the next step is. last year the Council received Crown Center's multiple options, right now they just want to know what the needs of the community are to have some direction instead of moving forward without fully investigating what the needs are. Something needs to be done and they want to make sure to take full advantage of it while they have this opportunity. Alderman Moran wanted to confirm if this would be more or less attached to the Crown Center. Ms. Burns responded, it would, Crown is a part of this and until they have this survey they can't give recommendations to you on what they envision where they re moving forward with the Crown project. Page 1. Alderman Moran moved to charge the Recreation Board to ao forward with this development of a request for orocosal. Alderman Bernstein seconded the motion. Alderman Holmes asked if the S134,000 left would more than cover the cost of the consultant and was told they believe it would. Alderman Bemsteir wanted to clarify that this would not be specific to Crown but will be determined as to what kids want and where it should be located throughout the City. Mark Casady, Playground and Recreation Board, added this is more than programmatic as there is a need for an additional facility besides Crown. Ms. Burns noted this was looked at as laid out with the possible options back in 2005. Aldamman Bemstein commented, speaking solely for himself, we have a recycling center on Oakton Street totally underutilized, which he does know whether its big enough or what the soil circumstances were with respect to making it some kind of facility, but asked that you please look at that too. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked what triggered this initiative at this particular point in time, was it in terms of our strategic planning and the need to reassess recreational needs to make the proper recommendation. Mr. Gaynor said a couple of things kick started this again. With direction from the Council this was put on hold because of the great financial issues they had and it didn't make sense to come to a decision whether to repair Crown or do something else as we had no idea where funding would go and whether we had funding for the next several years. That now seems to be behind us. In the strategic plan it says City Council staff will come to some kind of direction on the Civic Center and Robert Crown. Over the past several months the Recreation Board has heard from the community saying they need a new soccer facility, among other things. It was recommended by the Recreation Board to look at the greater picture so that all of it comes together and we know just what we need to be building from the survey. They thought that would be a good start to help the Council in their deliberations as to where and how we move forward with Crown. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the charge to the consultant will be given by the Recreation Board and staff working together and recalled a publication from a year ago on best practices in the area of recreation looked at existing facilities and whether or not they were earmarked for recreation. They looked at schools and other buildings to make an assessment of actual utilization of potential use and whatever impediments stood in the way of that some of which were transportations and others. They were able to develop a program that met the needs of the youth in the community. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested that the Board go beyond existing facilities that are utilized for recreation and raise the question as to whether or not some local schools could be used for that purpose in after school programs. Another article on after school programs came out fairly recently and one of your packets included that type of information. The charges should be broad and call for thinking outside the box as a limited survey was done in 2001 for Crown where the usual questions were asked and the usual answers were given by the usual crowd. We have to reach out as far and wide as possible and think radically in terms of trying to do something. During the time he campaigned he heard that there is nothing that answers to the social cultural recreational needs of this diverse community. He does not knowwhether or not that is your charge but is letting you know some of the options people are thinking about. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted it has been moved and seconded to hire a consultant to do a survev. not to exceed the S134.000. of the communitv's needs and interests for Indoor soorts recreation space and called for the committee's vote. Motion unanimousiv accepted (5-0). V. UPDATE ON ACTIVITIES RELATED TO THE YOUTH ENGAGEMENT OBJECTIVE Ms. Aiello noted a report was provided to the committee dated July 10, 2006. The last update was in May when we Identified 157 programs funded by the City and at that time also indicated we are not going to go forward to engage a consultant as they did not think that was the best use of the City's funds. We wanted to find better ways to get the youth engaged to find out what they want and how to best serve their purposes. A recent graduate of Northwestern University was hired; who is currently at a national conference which is telling us this is a nation issue from the number of national conferences now on how to best reach out to the youth. In the report we tried to give you a brief update but more importantly to get into the areas that we've identified, recreation, job skills and employment, social services, public safety, Ideas for a youth summit, and parental accountability. We tried to give you an overview to tell you what we think the issues are and then come up with some recommendations. The members of the team, Mr. Terry, Ms. Haynes, Mr. Gaynor are here and wanted to have a dialogue with you. If we proceed to develop programs based upon the issues and recommendations set forth we are on the light track if the committee feels we're getting to the issues in the appropriate manner, and if not we want to understand where we need to change our direction. Page 2. Alderman Moran remarked as he read this a couple of things stood out, one in terms of job preparation and readiness you're on the right track by connecting with the high school. We've issued substantial funds to them pursuant to state statutes specifically with the Idea of job readiness, ability and education and a partnership with them would be a good thing. Also, this is a good time to pick that up and develop that with the new superintendent coming into the school. He salutes you for suggesting that as that is a good focal point for our efforts in terms of job readiness, preparation and training. He likes the idea accessing the Mental Health Board, the CDBG Committee, United Way and the Evanston Community Foundation. For the last 15 years we've done a tot to try to get agencies to cooperate and collaborate with each other. He personally was involved in this and felt that we never succeeded in a significant degree. Looking at the groups of major funders and bringing them together to try to develop a consensus agenda on that given that they hold the check books this may make a difference in terms of encouraging agencies to work together. Alderman Holmes was interested in why only 7 individuals attended the conference put together for the agencies. She asked if it was that we did not advertise it enough. Mr. Terry said invitations were sent out to the Executive Directors and it was designed to be a brainstorming session among center directors, middle school principals, and agency directors trying to think outside the box. Alderman Holmes thought it disturbing that the attendance for this session was so low. In April the Evanston Youth Initiative did a fantastic job of reaching out and getting youths of all ages, particularly the 15 to 24 youth that may have dropped out of school and did not have connections. She is concerned about all the youth but some of the youth have the wherewithal to connect and some don't, it's those who don't connect that we have to keep our hands on. She is excited about the possibility of extending the Summer Youth Program year round as that is wonderful for those kids who are in school but we still need to connect to those who are not in school and have no areas to be employed. Ms. Aiello said that is why when discussing job skillsCob training we divided it for those that are enrolled and those that aren't as the strategies are going to be different. We think a partnership with the high school would help but are not sure what the strategies are going to be for those that are not in school or in a formal work study program. Part of what we hope our new employee will do is find out where the kids are hanging out this summer, talk to them and rind out what their issues are and how we can begin to develop programs around what they need. We are looking into not only inviting the youth but the agencies and making it mandatory for those that we fund to try and combat the issue of people not showing up. One of the things we felt strongly about was it they want our money they're going to have to spend a day with us and come out of it building upon what the initiative did and also corning out with a game plan for specific targets. Alderman Bernstein thought we have to re invite these agencies to another summit meeting and he would like to see those that choose to attend and those who choose not to attend, We talked about bringing our dollars together because anybody taking our money should definitely be on the same page that we are. It always discourages him when we have public meetings how few people show up. You seethe same cast of characters, but there are just too few. It's incumbent on us as a Council, if we believe that vocational training is important to indicate that to District 202. His impression is that they have done away with that which in a large part may have caused the self fulfilling prophecy that kids for whom the education is no longer relevant dropout. If they can't learn how to do something meaningful that they can make a living at, why go to school. The woodshop is closed at the high school. Although Superintendent A1son had different ideas and wanted everything to be college prep which is not real in this community nor in most communities. We have students whose needs are not met at the high school. When we gave them the first TIF dollars it was coordinated with the Youth Job Center who had a facility there and we encouraged CD to interact with the high school because at the time Youth Job Center did not have anything more than a desk in the building. We wanted them to expand and make good use of them which he does not know if that was done. Last year we asked Youth Job Center about their interaction with the high school and found there was very little interaction with them. Superintendent Witherspoon is new and Alderman Bernstein is not sure how he feels with respect to the need for vocational education. He thinks its very important and maybe we can bring the disenfranchise back into the equation if there is something they can do to see some end goal other than qualifying for a college exam that they will never make use of because their intent is not to go to college. We then have the question of how to reach the unreachable. Ms. Aiello said one of the things they are hopeful of is that the City School Committee would make the issue of vocational education an ongoing focus of this year. Our hope is as soon as Dr. Witherspoon is settled in we're going to schedule a meeting with him if we can get the City School Committee to take this on as one of the issues. Also, we will need the support of those members of the Council who sit on the Community Development Committee to make sure that the funding is also appropriately designated as part of your focuses. Alderman Holmes remarked there was a discussion at the last City School Liaison Committee in terms of what can happen. She spoke to Dr. Murphy and Dr. Alson about the possibility of doing some kind of pilot program because we know there are some kids who can be Identified as early as middle school who are not college bound and we want to try to get them into a track where they can be productive citizens. Alderman Bernstein asked if this committee can come to some consensus as a Council that vocational training is an important goal of ours, then the City School Liaison Committee can move forward with that. Page 3. Alderman Tisdahl said the Board did have an entire career pathways committee and worked very hard at vocational education. One of the things she teamed that we all have to keep in mind is the high school cannot prepare students for every career that's out there, they can only pick a certain number that will "much smaller than we all want. Because of the diverse jobs that exist today there is no way that one high school can prepare students, therefore one of the things we aimed at for all of them was to merge them in Oakton classes so they could be relatively well guaranteed to get a job in on industry that needed workers. The possibility of preparing everyone for every career is not easy nor do we have the kind of money that something like that would take even if the high school gave up preparing them for college. Another point Alderman Tisdahl wanted to make is that E.T.H.S. has difficulty finding out who comes back after one semester at college. There should be a better way to track this. We have a postcard system that tries to track whose still in school but anyone who hasn't done well that first semester doesn't want to return their postcard and admit it and those students are hard for E.T.H.S. to track. If it became known that E.T.H.S. had some sort of system with the City s help, available for kids who did comeback that would be a wonderful thing but as of now once you're out the door, that's it. There was some discussion about students who need scholarship help to continue after the fist year and having some place to go for some kind of counseling. The high school would be a logical place but money is an issue. If students knew there was a place they were welcome they'd come and admit that the semester hadn't gone well if they received help rather than just a postcard. Ms. Aiello said that was one of things highlighted in the discussion Mr. Terry had with the high school. This was put under the recommendations for the out of school or the under employed because we weren't sure if there was an interest on the part of the high school to stay involved. Mr. Terry added at this point that was identified as a need and the high school has also gone through various stages in terms of their relationship with Oakton. Some years it's good, some years its not and that was seen as an opportunity for future working together. Alderman Tisdahl remarked in talking about programming and space and having to get rid of some programs that exist in order to have new programs for the 18 to 18 year old crowd we found that is a night age group. We did surveys and found there was nothing going on Saturday night, the drop in nights were very well attended, but you will find there is more space available for evening programming. Ms. Aiello added that is part of what they want to be able to do and hopefully is part of the survey. We think of the old Lighted Schoolhouse Program and through the City School Committee how we can get an inner governmental agreement that lets us use that with those facilities with a little more ease then there currently is. Alderman Tisdahl was very upset at the agencies not coming to the meeting when they were invited to attend and wonders how many meetings do we ask them to come to. Is this because we're always asking them to come to meetings? Mr. Tent' said he made it very clear that was tied to the strategic plan and was aimed at some discussion with executive directors. Alderman Tisdahl would like to know who did respond, look at this positively, and give those agencies extra credit when they're applying for funding. Alderman Moran noted there are obvious limitations to what the high school can do on the vocational training. He would hope In conjunction with our partnership the high school would go out into the community, and not be satisfied with just what can be taught in a vocational training program but try to develop internships or apprenticeships and start drawing on some of the other resources in the community so a larger array of spectrum of vocational tracks can be accessed throughout the city or the surrounding area. The Idea of making connections within the mercantile community itself is very important; to team how to do the job, land it to make the connections. It's easier to get a job when somebody knows your face and name and the idea of making that connection into the broader communitywould be a critical piece of an effective training program. Ms. Aiello said that is why we recommended that we try to extend the Summer Youth Employment Program in a year round program to open it up to people who aren't in school. This year we have 83 summer youth jobs in the private sector, the largest number we have ever had. We think we have momentum now that the employers know the Summer Youth Employment Program is going to provide them with a good worker and if we can expand with that we have some potential. This is another area where we can also partner with the Chamber of Commerce. Alderman Holmes thought we have to go with the particular age we're talking about for vocational training we need to think outside the box and partner with another community as we would not expect the high school do all of the trades. There is a school In Chicago, Dawson, that does that and we might be able to work out an arrangement to get our kids involved. Alderman Holmes wanted to mention the tiny project that has been ongoing for a year with Daniel Shavetz, for 7 kids off the street that have been teaming a lot of different kinds of general contracting jobs. Those kids are still working there and that Is amazing. Ms. Aiello remarked once Chief Kaminski gets to the high school he'll be out on the street getting to know those young people. There Is more opportunity to partner with the high school through the Public Safety aspect but Mr. Gaynor has been pointed out that some of the young people don't feel safe going to some of our programs. The point and part of what we need to do is to make sure there is a safe environment for them to go back and forth to the programs. Page 4. Alderman Bernstein was thinking in terms of vocational training not wind tunnels and robotics but toilets, bookcases, electrical wiring, automobile repairs, training for trades that will give them a good living. We have to encourage the high school to provide some kind of program for trades. We need to get to the kids who are willing to make their hands dirty to make a living which is the part of the population we're missing. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought vocational training should be available to all students, those who have that propensity should have the option to go in that direction and those who may be college bound can follow their goals. The high school is always going to have a very high objective of achievement as they're in the ninety percentile of kids going to college. If we have some vocational programs that work that one can evaluate at the end of the year and the type of training that will help these kids pick up a skill they can use for survival. The overall report reflects some great thinking and commitment. Theoretically we are where we need to be with these issues and now need to start implementing them which is the hard care work that has to be done. We have to find a way to inventory the youth who are falling through the tracks. When Superintendent Alson gave his update he said about 144 kids drop out of school every year, which over time is a significant number of young people who may have picked up jobs but there are others who live off the community. We have to Inventory that and try to monitor what is going on with some of these youths. The relationship with other agencies is about trying to make them accountable and trying to have some sense of management of that deliveryof service even if it is by reporting to us. We don't have to micromanage them but they have to come around the table. Many of them know if they are not cooperative when they come for CDBG funding or other funding sources we have it will be difficult to get so they eventually will have to come around. Mr. Terry wanted to comment that he was the first disappointed person when they didn't come to this meeting. However, one of the things he has stated over time is its not that they're necessarily uncooperative or uninterested but what we have allowed them to do overtime is to define their own success measures. We have never told the agencies this is what we want you to do, this is what we see as your goals that you have to achieve. They all do good work but they also have defined what is the good work they want to do and it's not that they re mismanaging or not wanting to work with us but at some point very soon there's a burden on us to tell them this is what we want to see different in our community and this is what we'd like you to work toward. Ms. Aiello thought our next steps would be is if there are no observations, issues or recommendations that we've identified that you don't us to move forward with she would recommend that we take this memorandum to the City Council to get their review, discussion and approval. Once we do that we will be able start to develop a program. Some of the ideas we have set down we don't have money for now and will have to make budget recommendations for. Both our new staff person, Shelia, and Gwen, our intern, who will be working on this has chosen to do youth for her graduate project giving us an extra set of hands to work with us for the next several months. Our goal would be to have the next City School Committee outline this issue for them in addition to having our discussion with Dr. Witherspoon beforehand and then have a summit with the various funding agencies right after tabor Day and try to target our youth summit for late fall. Our goat is engaging the youth is as soon as Sheila can get out in the community as we're trying to Identify places to go to begin to understand what's going on in the community. If there's no objection we will set this for the next Council meeting. Alderman Bernstein asked who's funding Sheila, to which Ms. Aiello responded this is part of the money approved last year. Alderman Holmes wanted to commend the Recreation Department's Basketball Program at Mason Park and thinks what we're doing is wonderful, She's gone thereon different nights for the past two weeks and finds It is going very well. Alderman Holmes's other comment is about parental accountability which she hopes we will continue to move forward on. We have to let parents know if things happen, they have to be accountable for their children. Ms. Aiello added they are hoping that Is one of the areas they will have some best practices in. Alderman Tisdahi asked Mr. Terry about the reference in the report that there is an increase in teen pregnancies and STD as they were decreasing in the high school. Mr. Terry responded that was in the draft but was not to be included in the report. The figures are not dropping dramatically but neither have they increased, they remained the same. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the next time this committee comes before Human Services you can give us a sense of application of what is going on in job training. Your report before is quite comprehensive. Ms. Aiello said we wanted to give you an Idea of our thoughts and the work we've been doing, now we have to put it into a plan, get some funds to do it, and move forward. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thanked everyone for the fine report. VI. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 68-"0 REGULATING THE ALLOWABLE DISTANCE FROM SCHOOLS FOR TOBACCO LICENSES Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the last time this was discussed on the Council floor the language needed to be worked on for a decision as to the distance. Mr. Terry commented that all of the discussions from the last City Council meeting were taken and Incorporated in that language but there is one thing they were not able to address. They looked at a variety of distancing mechanisms but Alderman Rainey raised the concern about any change In this ordinance on the negative Page 5. ,..W Impact on the economic viability of Oakton and Asbury. There is no way to change the language that a meaningful Impact In the radius from the high school without having that same impact at Oakton and Asbury. Alderman Bernstein remarked our existing ordinance actually does mandate prohibition of sales to minors and asked if we're trying to enhance the ordinance or just trying to redo it. He knows we don't want to sell cigarettes to kids but we may never have the enforcing to the current ordinance. He's satisfied that the one store he's trying to protect is for the residents at Albany Care. With respect to the Osco it's not going to be a 150 feet distance from the middle school. Mr. Terry said these are two different very similar issues, one is yes, we prohibit tobacco sales to those under the age of 18 anywhere in the City and that ordinance is enforced, the Police Department does regular sting operations. The 100 foot barrier between schools and other locations was put in place by the Council about 10 years ago because of concern generated about the high school. At that lime Alderman 'Kent brought this forward wanting to particularly address the issue of tobacco sates in the commercial districts near the high school. In that ordinance the 100 foot barrier has been enforced, however, there had been providers who had 101'-' foot. applied and were legally granted a license. Alderman Holmes brought this back again because it's a concern not just at Church and Dodge but in other areas. She's very concerned in her ward in terms of our young children being able to purchase cigarettes not by the packet but by Individual cigarettes. She does not know that this will even solve that problem but at least we should have it far enough away and originally why she wanted a distance of 500 feet This may not be an issue for anybody else as she understands the economics of some of the other places in the City and is willing to do what is most economic for the City. She does not think this is an unreasonable amount of space. Alderman Jean -Baptiste did not think there was a disagreement about the 150 feet but there was some specific reason we wanted to exempt some places. Alderman Bernstein's concern was not necessarily economic for that store, although they probably derive a great deal of economic gain. His concern was for his constituents at Albany Care who need to smoke cigarettes because they don't have much else. It is a controlled drug in addition to their mods and keeps the lid on things there. People who don't like smoking don't want him to say this but that Is the reality. Leonard Lemkfn from the 9"' Ward, said when he originally came before the City Council it was a plan to eliminate the vending machines and was done by City Council because vending machine owners were not paying revenue stamps making them illegal vending machines. The original ordinance was 500 feet and Alderman Kent negotiated with some stores that would have been put out of business. When they negotiated they said no window signs advertising tobacco In any of those stores. The store you're talking about has window signs violating the ordinance 2417. He does not know what the penalty is for that violation. He does not want to put anybody out of business, but if this was a drug house selling to our kids we wouldn't be having this discussion about economics. Tobacco is an illegal drug for our children. What he suggests Is not put them out of business, come up with whatever distance you want, increase the penalties and make them mandatory. The first offense, $500, whether it's the clerk, the manager or the owner they pay the 5500 fine to the City for selling to kids and lose the ability to sell cigarettes for 20 or 30 days. Any time they commit the offense they pay more, then don't allow them to renew the license. If we care about young people you won't allow these people to sell tobacco to our kids. At this time 6:45 p.m. Mayor Morton arrived at the meeting. Alderman Jean-Baplisle asked the committee if they're okay with the distance and found there was unity on the committee regarding the distance. Alderman Bernstein noted Alderman Rainey probably will not be okaywith the distance unless we can get Trader Joe not to sell cigarettes. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked that is a non issue, 150 feet Is what this committee has accepted. Alderman Bernstein was concerned with the display of cigarette ads In store windows near the elementary school. Mr. Lamkin said the windows that face Park School do not have signs the signs are put on the side windows not facing the school. Alderman ,lean -Baptiste had a comment from a constituent who suggested we include elementary schools and have two exceptions, Rice Children's Center and Park school because both of these schools are special service schools with school special populations and no student at Rice or Park Schools leaves the building without adult supervision. Small children go to Park School by bus with adult supervision to and from school. We have 10 elementary schools, 2 magnate schools, 3 middle schools, and the suggestion is that we include all of those schools in the ordinance. The committee can approve this with the exception of Park Elementary School and Rice Children's Center and see if legal approves this. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked the committee if they want to escalate the penalty which everyone agreed to. Alderman Tisdahl recommended the 2nd offense should boa 51,000 penalty. Alderman Bernstein's concern was the ambiguity of _ being subject to having his/her license revoked or not renewed by the Public Health Director. He's fine with $500 for the 1" offense and $1,000 for the 2nd offense, but If they do it two times the third time they should be out and we have to determine some standard under which we're going to revoke their license. Mr. Terry said there is existing language in the tobacco license ordinance that they're entitled to due process and a hearing which is something we need to continue to address administratively because what tends to happen is the clerk behind the counter Is the one that is arrested for Page 6. violating the ordinance and proving organizational culpability is then a responsibility of his department, we need convictions. First there is an administrative hearing within our department and with the appropriate record we'll make a revocation. Alderman Bernstein said for the purpose of the ordinance we should include, that the clerk is an agent of the principal and should allow that kind of a defense. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if that is the only clarification being suggested in addition to any other penalty or license fee and convicted of violating any provision of this section may be subject to having hislher license revoked, suspended or not renewed by the Public Health Director. We are then making the statement regarding a clerk or salesperson is considered an agent of the business. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted, for adoption we have amended the location restrictions to read, "It shall be unlawful for any person to sell, offer, or give away tobacco products within 150 feet as measured from lot fine to lot line of any high school, middle school, or elementary school except Park School and Rice Children's Center." Under the section dealing with penalty, "Any person violating the Section 3-16-5 shall be fined not less than S500 for the first offense, $1000 for the second offense, in addition to any other penalty licensee convicted of violating any provision of this section may be subject to having hislher license revoked, suspended or not renewed by the Public health Director. A clerk or sales person for purposes of this ordinance is considered an agent of the licensee." The Legal Department will come back and change this language. Alderman Jean -Baptiste called for a vote of the committee on the amendments/chances to the ordinance. The committee unanimously voted to accept the amendments/chanaes (5.01 Vil. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 65-"6 REGULATING THE PRACTICE OF BEEKEEPING IN EVAN STON Mr. Terry said following the last City Council meeting discussion the direction was to pursue a regulatory ordinance instead of a prohibition ordinance. Since this process started peeplehave submitted draft ordinances from other communities all of which have some central themes. He used the Aurora, Colorado format with some tweaking. Basically your decisions within this ordinance are number of hives allowed on a property, the lot line distance and local ordinances are all across the board in terms of lot line distance. The other language can be pretty standard In terns of maintaining the site. Mr. Termolin made a comment; Mr. Terry wished he included in the draft, about signage and the lock on a gate, also the flyway fencing that seems to be pretty standard inmost regulatory language. Where reasonable people would differ is the distance requirement. Given that we have 2 locations within the City, one of the locations has been in existence for a long time apparently with little neighbor issue. In local ordinances with distance requirements he has seen as little as 5 feel or as large as 200 feet. People may differ but the staff proposal is 15 feet in terms of a setback. Mr. Termolin feels 10 feel Is appropriate, the committee directed Mr. Terry to get back to him to seek his advice. Mr. Terry has also been in contact with Ms. Miller who is currently out of town. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the existing proposal regulation is 15 feet. Alderman Bernstein said the real problem is the proximity of the smallness of some of the lots and 15 feet might preclude somebody from having a hive. He would say that at least 15 feet but there is a variation that with the written consent of the adjacent neighbor it could be less than 15 feet. If the neighbor has no problem with that as that is who we are trying to protect. Alderman Jean-Bapfisle inquired as to the distance of Ms. Dickman's hive from the neighbor and was told it is 3 or4 feet as it is near the fence. Alderman Bernstein said if some people want to raise bees they should do it in lieu of use of their back yard but to the extent that people are not impacted in a negative way by the presence of bees they should be able to get the permission of the adjacent neighbor or the new neighbor if it changes. Based on her experience Alderman Tisdahl said she had a problem when there were 16 hives on a community garden plot. That was too many hives and the neighbors backyards were swamped with bees. Allowing 2 hives in each home you could have something similar to the 16 hives in a very small amount of space. She would like to limit the total number of hives you could have on a given block in Evanston as there are 60,000 bees in one hive. In the ordinance 94-19: BEEKEEPING, under (1) Colony Densities. 1, a. One -quarter acre or less tract size —Two colonies; to her that says every home in Evanston could have 2 hives. This probably wouldn't happen but if did you could end up with something like the 16 hives on the community garden plot. Alderman Holmes said even if you lived on an acre of land with these measurements to your neighbors she could not see how you could have so many hives on one block. Alderman Tisdahl said she would just like to protect having too many hives in a small area. Mayor Morton did not think there should be hives on garden plots and that should be specified as the garden plots are too dose together and just for gardening. Alderman Bemstein added they are also public space and people might attempt to get at the bees as there is nobody guarding the hives. He thought there could be some kind of limitation by space such as first come first served to which Alderman Tisdahl added and limit the number of permits in any time for bees. Mr. Terry said one of the difficulties here Is there are land use questions versus health questions. This is not a permitting ordinance; this would be a sub set of our general chapter regarding nuisances. This is complaint generated where City staff would go out in the event of a complaint like the rest of our nuisance ordinances. Mr. Terry said beehives are registered with the Page 7. state to which Alderman Holmes asked if there is some type of registration that could be reported to the City to which Mr. Terry said perhaps a notice requirement. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested limiting the number of colonies, in the ordinance under (1) Colony Densities: under a. One colony, b. Two colonies; c. Three colonies; and d. Four colonies. Alderman Bernstein asked Ms. Dickman how many hives she has as there are two boxes in her yard, to which Ms. Dickman responded she has one hive the other box is for when the colony increases. Alderman Bernstein noted Ms. Miller has 2 boxes that is 2 hives with 3 drawers in each hives but she has a larger lot than Ms. Dickman and her hives are surrounded by a small picket fence. Ms. Dickman remarked that for 9 years Ms. Miller and Mr. Termolin had a total of 4 hives in that one area. Alderman Bernstein noted Mr. Termolin was 100 feet away on a different street than Ms. Miller. John Black, of 1503 Madison, lives several houses down from the hive and is here representing 73 neighbors that continue to vehemently object to this beehive in our neighborhood of tiny dense residential lots. We presented our petition for a moratorium and prohibition in our neighborhood at the June meeting. This hive constitutes a nuisance, a public health and safety risk, and diminution to property values. He read the ordinance and quite frankly 15 foot setbacks are not enough that is too small a distance. There is language in Section D and Section I regarding the colony density and those numbers seem too high as well. The notion of a colony is not well defined in this ordinance. This hive has been a nuisance for his household and a number of his neighbors for over a month. He has a good bit of clover in his backyard, honeybees like clover, today abut 4 hours ago he was in his yard and counted 12 honeybees flying at ground level in his lover pretty well spread out and there probably were more than that in his flower beds as well. This is a routine occurrence; he's out there regularly inspecting and advised his wife, his mother who is allergic to bee stings, his 3 Y: year old child and guests to bean the lookout for bees. If he were barefoot today he would have been stepping on the bees and would have been stung. His mother is allergic to bee stings and is a frequent visitor to home. She uses his yard with his 3 Y2 year old son who he does not know if he's allergic, He knows others in the neighborhood are allergic, Ms. Dickman's neighbor is allergic but she doesn't seem to be opposed to this. On the Evanstonnow.com website, John Hanson, who is a former president of the Illinois Beekeepers Association and has spoken before the committee a number of times, said when you have a hive of bees, the bees that leave the hive can fly up to 3 miles, He said nobody will notice these bees because they will spread out in a 3 mile radius equally which amounts to one honeybee an acre, Some research Mr. Black did on USDA documentation on beekeeping in the United States contradicts that and says bees can fly 3 miles but they don't unless there's no food. They will fly up to several hundred yards to forage which means they will be In everybody's back yards. Another area of concern to him and the 73 people who signed the petition relates to the diminution of property values. If he's selling his house the presence of this hive a few doors down will reduce his property value. Experts concur that these bees can be expected to roam neighborhood yards. As the beekeepers told the committee, the public has a fear and apprehension toward bees, whether that's founded or not is a point of debate, but a prospective buyer of his house will likely select the bee free alternative. That is unacceptable as he wants his house to Increase in value not decrease and does not want to be making disclosures about insects on or in his house because his neighbor chooses to pursue this as a hobby. At the June meeting Alderman Bernstein seemed to raise concern about the City's liability as it related to beekeeping on City land. It seemed to him on the one hand the City is worried about potential lawsuits stemming from some bee related injury or claim but on the other hand it seems like the City is ready to pass that risk and other burdens to the property owner. If this activity is safe for residential owners with 15 feet or less setbacks why isn't it safe for the City. We don't feet this regulation is strict enough in terms of the setbacks. Palatine's setbacks are 25 feet, and we're using an ordinance from Aurora Colorado that's a lot different than this area. It would seem that you would look for a similar City as opposed to one farther away and geographically different than this area. He's not an expert on zoning compliance but was told by someone that has been looking at that as it's described in the ordinance he's not sure it complies with the zoning regulations In the City. It calls for a fence 10 feet high in all directions. If you put up a tool shed there are compliance issues for that. Finally, the colony density is too high, a quarter acre gets two colonies but a USDA document was using honeybees to pollinate crops and suggested placing colonies at 500 foot intervals for efficient pollination. One of the claims beekeepers made about the ecological benefit of the pollination of flowers, if that's a benefit of this he thinks you'd want to conduct the activity in a manner which provides efficient pollination. Thank you. Susan Dickman, this question of why it is not safe with the City has to do with the fact this is a new thing the City hasn't considered. Most cities haven't considered it, not a lot of people in cities are doing it and there are questions about that with everything. The second thing is she has clover allover her yard and the yards everywhere she walks; she walks a lot in Evanston. She only sees bees near her hive. After the June meeting when 2 neighbors on her block said that there were a lot of honeybees in their yards she went and took some good looks, on a sunny day when the bees are out. In a yard where there were raspberries, tomato plants, egg plants, peppers, grapes, she stood there for 15-20 minutes and did not find a single honeybee, She saw plenty of bumble bees and sweat bees and hover flies which look like bees but did no find a single honeybee. She asked a guy who lived next door to the neighbor across the alley from her if she could took in his yard and asked if there are a lot of honeybees around here to which he said no, are there bees around here. During the year she teaches a class for kids at Northwestern on Saturday mornings and during the summer teaches for 3 and 6 weeks. At least every other week she walks from her neighborhood to either the Farmer's Market or to Northwestern and looks at everything, now she's a beekeeper because her son got into this. On Julye, somewhere near the take, she saw Page 8. 3 honeybees In one field of clover. She's asked neighbors all over the neighborhood if bees are bothering them. If you put water out for them they won't go into people's pools or birdbaths, She stops at the Saturday yard sates and asks if anybody has seen bees. Its nice that 73 people signed a survey but several people told her that they way the survey was delivered was somebody going to the door and asking if you're pro bee or anti bee and when they said pro bee or 1 don't know they said are you going to be pro bee when they invade your house. She does not think that's very neighborly to enflame people that way. At the last meeting Alderman Holmes had a good suggestion about disseminating information to the neighbors and she put a mailbox on her back gate which is stuck closed. She and Gabrielle put together information sheets and does not know anybody who has taken any information. All the neighbors who are interested come by with their kids and she gives them information. On the front gate she put up a sign that says "Caution Bees at Work". The issue of property values she does not take as gospel that somebody says property values are going to be lower if this or that happens. This is what they said about Jews, blacks moving into neighborhoods. Sees are natural to the eco system and thinks that's a ridiculous argument and does not think everybody would agree on what lowers property values. We haven't seen a lot of bees, nobody's complained to us about them and she asked a ton of people. That's all she has to say. Alderman Moran had several observations. When Mr. Termolin was here he told us he kept bees for a while and then moved them to the Hawthorne Woods because a neighbor of his had a high degree of potential allergic reaction to bees and as a response thought It would better to move them. People have said several times tonight with respect to Wendy Miller there are no neighborhood issues, but he has two neighborhood issues. One, although everybody here says honeybees never bother anybody or sting anybody and Ms. Miller came to the last meeting and said nobody in her neighborhood had been stung by a bee or at least that she knew. That contradicted what she said at the previous meeting which was she had been slung several times herself. The other issue was Ms. Miller told us there were two neighbors who had this high potential allergic reaction to bee stings and according to Ms. Miller those two people said its okay for her to have a hive. He does not know under what circumstances these people said that but as a public official he has a problem with that because there might be one other person there who has potential severe allergic reaction to bee slings that hasn't said its okay and they're at risk. We've heard from the people in this neighborhood that they have relatives and friends who have the potential allergic reactions to these bees. From a public health standpoint for him that's a "neighborhood issue', and thinks it's also a Citywide issue. If you put 40,000 to 80.000 bees in this one area you're putting people at risk of being stung and you're putting them at risk of becoming seriously ill or dying. From his perspective even if 2 people say its okay that's still a public health issue. Other than all the bee people who obviously are heavily suffused with the notion that keeping bees is an important aspect of their lives, there have been 3 people directly Involved In beekeeping that have come to us. Gabrielle and his mom and Wendy Miller. It's remarkable to him that we received this petition signed by 73 people in this neighborhood who say they don't want to have to undergo this risk. He's not going to suggest that if she went to every neighborhood that you'd have the same ratio of people who are for and those that are against. He will suggest that he thinks a similar concern would be expressed by a lot of people and if we're acting as a governing body he has to ask if we're following what he thinks is an important axiom are we doing the best for the greatest number of people. Are we going to try to regulate beekeeping as opposed to prohibiting it because 3 people want to do it and we know of 73 who signed a petition that don't want it in their neighborhood and potentially hundreds of thousands who don't want it. Who are we trying to satisfy here? Ms. Dickman's statement was that she doesn't see bees anywhere and nobody she asks sees honeybees anywhere. Mr. Black counted 12 or more in his yard, so there are bees. Alderman Tisdahl pointed out that in the 7`� Ward when there were 16 active hives a house in close proximity had bees all over their yard, the bees go someplace because we have been told that is what they do go someplace to pollinate. In terms of public space, when the City made the decision to tell the people they had to remove those hives Mr. Gaynor was asked to comment on that. He sent a memo indicating the City had a concern that could be a liability on the part of the City having these bee hives on public property which he concurs could be a concern. On the proposed regulation a question he raised before and in hearing this conversation asks himself even more, what are we regulating here. We're talking about set backs of 15 to 25 feet, these bees a radius of 3 miles. Who is kidding who about 15 or 25 feet, it's illogical. This regulatory ordinance does not make any sense, 15 feet, 25 feet, 50 feet, 150 feet, 5 acres, 10 acres, 15 acres, its 3 miles. He guesses they have some kind of barriers in the yard of the hive but they're in Mr. Black's yard and in other people's yards, they go all over. Counting densities, 40,000 to 80,000 bees in one of these hives, and then there's the paragraph about queens, nobody has talked about the nasty queen who can cause problems and get aggressive and attack. He would ask whether this activity in an urban setting Is the proper subject of regulation and depending on your answer whether you think anything on this ordinance is pertinent to running a beekeeping operation. Alderman Jean -Baptiste announced the committee has to attend a 7:30 Budget Policy meeting and the task before them was to work on the ordinance to regulate beekeeping In Evanston. We still have paragraphs, sub paragraphs and sections to go over in the ordinance and Alderman Moran has asked those that had voted to not prohibit reconsidering their position to reopen that central question. We have to push this back to the next Human Services Committee meeting on August 7"'. Until then beekeeping is not prohibited in Evanston and we have no regulations. It is not governed by the County Regulation. No one on the planet governs beekeeping. This is to be continued. Page 9. ��� + .- . f - •r. �_ �`i.nr v�Yc'.'.:: �K v��•;.}`p��. y.,.dS s.'�.': ?A ":i�,,�-,,hIY iLV�: -- `S. {I 1 . ♦ Vill. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 7:40 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services Eaj Page '10. I1ml� ar DRAFT - NOT APPROVED CRY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, September 5, 2006 Civic Center • Room 2402 7,00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermon Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl, STAFF PRESENT: Judy Aiello, Sheila Mc Corkte, Paula Haynes, Harvey, Savor, Carla Bush, Evonda Thomas, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Rosemary Jean -Paul, (Evanston Township); Sharon Eckersatl, (Township Assessor); Sue Cantor, Mental Health Board; Louis Rowitz, Don Ziegler, Tom Sullivan, Tasha Deutsch, Mark Simon, Mark Schroder, Don Alexander, (Community Health Advisory Board); (Attached Ust of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Tisdahl 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Tisdahl called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. It. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE JULY 17, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the July 17. 2006 meotinn were called and unanimously aDoroved f5-01. Ill. CONSIDERATION OF AUGUST 2006 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BiLLS AND REPORTS Alderman Tisdahl called for questions or comments regarding the August 2006 Township monthly bills. Hearing none called for a motion of approval. Alderman Jean -Baptista motioned for approval. seconded by Alderman Moran. Motion unanimously anaroved (5-0). IV., CONSIDERATION OF THE EVANSTON DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES EPLAN COMMUNITY HEALTH NEEDS ASSESSMENT AND SERVICE PRIORITIES Mr: Tent' noted this is a document for the committee's consideration in their role as a Board of Health for the City of Evanston. The Evanston Department of Health and Human Services is certified as a local health department In the State of Illinois and as part of that required to periodically do an overall community needs assessment and service prioritization process. This document represents 18 months of work wherein an online community survey was done in partnership with our Evanston Community Advisory Board and Input was taken from as many different places as possible. Mr. Terry Introduced the Board Chair Louis Rowitz who introduced those board members present, Don Ziegler, Vice Chair, Tom Sullivan, Carta Bush, City Staff, Tasha Deutsch, Mark Simon, Mark Schroder, and Don Alexander. Alderman Tisdahl thanked the Board for doing all this work and called for questions from the committee. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the Board could tell the committee how they see future collaboration with the local hospitals in terms of addressing the priorities they have set out. Mr. Rowitz said one of the unique aspects of the Community Health Advisory Board is representatives of St. Francis and Evanston Hospital are actual members of the Board. Our discussions revolve around ways to collaborate with both the general health in the communityand hospitals In the community and for the first time In a community needs assessment we included the mental health community. They have met with each of those groups and out of that deliberation came up with the priorities listed In the report. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked how the Board sees the roles of the hospitals in meeting the health priorities in application with the City. As representatives of constituents throughout the City from time to time we are asked what Is the relationship between the City and hospitals, how do they work together, how do they intend to work in the future, eld what Is the difference of their roles In terms of advocacy and in application. Mr. Ziegler responded over the last 18 months he discovered how involved the hospitals have been in the actual creation of this plan. One of the meetings was at Evanston Hospital when the President of the hospital attended and talked about how critical it was for the hospital to be involved with the community. Mr. Schroder is a regular member of the Advisory Board and whenever an issue comes up rotating to the partnership we discuss that with our hospital partners. Ms. Deutsch added that this is a health department not a sickness department and to the extent the hospitals are Interested In preserving community honith they are very interested in helping us. We do not have very much to do with illness. Many of the things we boor about hospitals not doing their thing perhaps Is true but doesn't have much to do with community health. Alderman Jenn-Baptiste sold Ilion we have a distinction between the role of the department as an advocalo versus the roll of the honpliald ns pincos where people nro treated, but he is not sure of the distinction made bolwoon hunlitr rind elcknona. Ono unllly denls with health nM the other entities are dealing with sickness, yet you are in Page 1. z_, r oollaboretlon together. Ms. Do is . remarr od they need the hospitals to work with the board In the prevention of disease and 11Iness and (boy are Indeed working with us on that. Thom are things we can't help, people got sick and it's the hospital's business to make them well. Alderman Holmes Inquired whether there has boon discussion regarding possiblo dupllcntion of services between the Health Department and the hospitals, and If so what kinds of ideas have bean discussed or tried to eliminate that duplication duo to cost, In terms of budget for the City. Mr. Terry responded one of the points in his morno was the extent to which this process dovetails with the goals of the City Strategic Plan, the partnership goal. As we Identified In the B health priorities, as an example, under Access to Cara, he and Mr. Schroder recently convened a meeting by respective staffs so every employee of the Health Department understood all of the guidelines at tvanslon Hospital's sliding scale clinic where if at all possible people can be referred and got fast tracked Into that clinic. Mr. Schroder has opened up those lines of communication. The Health Department does not have many clinic services; we have family planning, sexually transmitted diseases, and some immunization. To the extent that we can partner with either one of the hospitals to provide a single point of entry or talk about that those discussions will continue into the future. This group has been following the lead of the Mental Health Board, both hospitals have a Behavior Health Department. In the coming year we'll continue to took at whether there's room for new Initiatives in that area and as the year goes on there will be more and more of these discussions. In terms of our overall community health these are the 6 issues which came out of our study and analysis of the data. We are working very closely with both hospitals in terms of emergency preparedness on pandemic flu planning and disease surveillance and disease monitoring activity. Mr. Rowitz added another unique thing that happened over the last 18 months is the involvement of the schools. We now have representatives from the schools on the Community Advisory Board discussing issues of concern to the elementary, middle, high schools and the university Alderman Tisdahl noted the report's reference to reducing the number of cars and wondered if encouraging people to Increase the number of hybrids might be easier to accomplish. Ms. Bush said she takes responsibility for that as it would be hard to find anything measurable that we could relate to or look at. Perhaps increasing public transportation, bike paths etc., with the walking communities to see what happens, which she does not have great optimism for. Mr. Rowitz added a little more positive measure might be to increase the number of hybrid cars and bicycle sates. Alderman Tisdahl thanked the Community Advisory Board for all their work and a wonderful report and called for a motion to approve the Evanston Department of Health and Human Services EPLAN Community Health Needs Assessment and Service Priorities. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved approval, Alderman Moran seconded the motion. motion unanimousiv approved f5-0. V. YOUTH ENGAGEMENT TEAM STATUS REPORT Sheila Mc Corkle, is the City Manager's Public Interest Fellow working on the youth needs initiatives and has been with the City a month and a half. For the last month she has been doing a community assessment on the challenges of African American Evanston youth, going out and talking to the young people in the community as well as the major social organizations. Her report lists all the organizations she has contacted assessing their assets and gaps of the Evanston youth and their target population. Alderman Joan -Baptiste asked Ms. Mc Corkle to comment on her meetings with over 100 youths. Ms. Mc Corkle said she has been primarily speaking with 14 to 23 year olds In organized meetings, going out to the parks for pizza, using outreach workers to reach the harder to reach and gang populations, also setting up individual focus groups via the social organizations asking them how they feel. The majority of the kids she talked to have been African Americans and is currently selling up Latino focus groups asking how they feel their role as members of the Evanston community. Overwhelming they don't feel as members of the Evanston community and don't feel that they have a place here. This has been an interesting learning experience for her as there are territorial issues within the same race. They don't feel comfortable going into different parts of Evanston, not necessarily based on the racial divide but within the Black community or Latino community, talking about what they fool their assets are for that target population recreationally. Many of the 14 to 18 year old youths don't foal there are many social outlets for thorn in Evanston. Many of thorn participated In a lot of the organizations when they wore younger but agod out of them, thorn are not a lot of social outlets. A big issue as well Is jobs, which we have boon working on trying to got a lot of partnershiping with ETHS, the Youth Job Center and our own Summer Youth Job Program, slronplhoning capacity rind trying to servo more rind more officiontly job readiness training, etc. Alderman Joan-Baplisto asked Ms. Me Corkin why nho comparlrnonlalized to prirocipully talk to African American youth and is now getting rowdy to talk to Latina youth, was lhnro sorno particulur Inclic for this? Mo Mo Cerkla Bald Iho African American youth have boon easier to Interact with becnusn one of than major groups olu opokn wills was Ile kids In Ilia Summer Jub Program; most of them word African Amnricnn, Also, rlding around with nett Thomas wan n good window Into the kids around 13rurnmal Bark and Mason Park which was an eaitalur lanrgal for hor 10 go rillor. 8119's wnrklntl wills at. Nick's t_nllrto focus urouli and other social urgnnllnllons wills apocilic Populations, I Or, I. amity I_acus'e wild learn rnntherai, Pago 2, Coopc*Awtth ex offenders. Atdem>Ian dean -Baptiste asked 9 Ms. Mc Garkla's Intent Is also to speak with white youth In , tha City of 5vans%n. Ms. Mc Corkle said she had a focus group throughout the City comprised of 8 youths, 7 were white r primarily from the north and east sides of Evanston, this was a much more intensive focus group. Her Interactions have been Informal just by the nature of going out to the parks and talking and riding in vans with them. This was a very Intensive assessment, asking their views on the community. integration and welcomeness, some of which was very parallel and some was different. There is a general consensus that being a young person in Evanston is not the most welcoming place which might be generationally everywhere. She was surprised to hear the white youths talk about not feeling comfortable in large groups just hanging out. At the high school, no matter what factions of the youth go off Into their separate comers after school they all are integrated in some sense at the high school and all have a diverse group of friends In that setting even if there are different groups. They all are intermixing In some way at the high school which to her Is an asset to the Integration issues of Evanston. Alderman Holmes asked if there were recreational issues for the white youths, to which Ms. Mc Corkle said the group of kids she talked to were over programmed being involved in many things, level organized things, that if their parents hadn't signed them up for and paid for them they otherwise wouldn't be able to participate in. A lot of them were in music groups, theater and sports on their parents' memberships to the "Y", etc. Four of the eight kids in the group were A.P. students and articulated it was also hard to find jobs as a young person in Evanston. Alderman Jean-Baptiste's understanding was that at some point Ms. Mc Corkle will participate in a process of making proposals of what to do and asked at what point that will take place. Ms. Mc Corkle said she Is currently in the process of finishing her assessment and doing an asset mapping of Evanston according to recreation, employment, and social services, what the assets of Evanston are and what are we already doing. Also finding ways to strengthen and partner with the social organizations. From this she will see exactly where the City needs to put Its focus and access or strengthen agenciestorganizations the City already funds or maybe look at those agencieslorganizations not doing a good job. Alderman Tisdahl thanked Ms. Mc Corkle for herstalus report and remarked Mr. Schroeder of Evanston Hospital might be a source of jobs for the youths. Alderman ,Jean -Baptiste motioned to anurove Ms. Mc Corkle's status repart. seconded by Alderman Bernstein. Motion for unanimousiv approved, 5-0 . VI., ITEM FOR DISCUSSION: EVANSTON HOSPITAL COMMUNITY ADVISORY COMMITTEE Alderman Tisdahl noted she and Mr. Terry are members of this new committee. She asked the committee for ideas about community concerns and needs they can bring to the hospital. Her experience with the Evanston Hospital was the wonderful job they did setting up the School Based health Center at the high school. Mr. Rowitz asked if these are quarterly meetings and if the Community Advisory Board could be made aware in advance of when those meetings take place. Alderman Tisdahl said Mr. Terry will make sure that cornes out in the packets. Alderman Jean -Baptiste would like Ms. Mc Corkle to have access to Information that Is circulated through our media and the outside media. Ms. Schroeder said they'd be happy to participation in any kind of healthcare organization or job fair. The last few summers they participated In the Mayor's Summer Youth Job Program and hired several high school students that were wonderful. Alderman Tisdahl said she would like the hospital to let our high school aged students know that some of the tech jobs require 6 months of training and tell them what would be required to get some of those jobs and what the salaries are. Mr. Schroeder said they currently have a job shadowing program at the high school about some of those opportunities to explore what it would be like to work in a variety of jobs at a hospital and they've been participating In that for quite some time. Alderman Tisdahl said job shadowing is wonderful but it only impacts a small number of students, therefore at the health fairs it would be very helpful it you could give some of the employment facts, training, and salaries, as our kids don't know all that. Vll. ITEM FOR DISCUSSION: FUTURE POSSIBLE BEEKEEPING REGULATIONS Alderman Tisdahl remarked this item is on the agenda is because it was left unresolved as some people were in favor of banning bees and sofne were in favor of regulations, but no one was in favor of completely letting it go unregulated. If we could rgive our.staff some clear direction then maybe at the next meeting this could be voted and sent on to Council in some form or other. Alderman Tisdahl announced she would call on those who signed up to speak but asked that those speakers have only new information because we do not need to hear what we have read and heard before. John Black, presented an article from the August 4, 2006, Sun Times Newspaper he wanted entered into the minutes. 'Those Bees Were Mad': Thousands Swarm Teen," Ossian, Indiana. (Sae Attachment A.) Mr. Black said this hive continues to be a bad Idea. There are 73 neighbors that continue to object to this nuisance. He gets honeybees in his back yard, he does not want them, his neighbor can't control them, his mother Is a frequent visitor to his home and uses his backyard and is allergic to them. Steve Chard, a State Supervisor for apiary inspections in Illinois, told him when honeybees swarm they're seeking a new nest. They can and sometimes do get into homes and nest in the walls. He Page 3. d Yx►'wertt this; and ,>ioesn't lfiinic any of his t~`etgfitiars want it. ihts hlye is surrounded by reslderitlat tiatstag that !s preftI porous and'accessible for bees.- its dose proximity to homes increases the likelihood of nests in someone's attic, interior wag* or garage: This gets us back to the diminution of property values. The perception alone of the hive is a problem, If someone suffers injury you're making disclosure when you sell your house and you're contending with all sorts of hazards. This risk is'avoldable and the City needs to act to remove this hive. Thank you. Thomas Schroeder, said he supports the bees. He lives 7 blocks from the hive and went there Sunday afternoon when the Dlckmans' were out. He walked up to 3 feet of the hive and found them working better then the last lime he saw them, they're really out gathering honey. One bee sat on his arm and he didn't even notice she was there and stood there watching the bees for about 15 minutes. Bees have been here for hundreds of years. There was a farmer Mr. Foster by Foster and Sheridan Road, Fester Street is named after him, who sold most of his farm to Northwestern University in 1660 when there were lots of bee hives here. Mr. Schroeder continued to tell how docile and harmless bees and swarms are. In May, June or July they only want to get out and get nectar, but In October when the flowers begin to freeze they can take honey off a dish. Mr. Schroeder also told of an incident about how tame honeybees are when his son was 10 years old. Another point Mr. Schroeder made was about the 6 —10 hives Mayor Daley has on top of Chicago's City Hall and the fact that these hives are therefor the rooftop gardens on the apartment buildings that honeybees are pollinating. In 1990 there were 10,000 or so beekeepers which are now down to 1,200 and getting less. There are certain people that fear honeybees and this thing is blown way out of proportion. Hobbyists are helping keep the bees alive to keep them in production as this Is a part of nature. Let's do the right thing as the bees do a lot of good for the garden, flowers, and making honey. Phyllis Pestka, keeps telling you this has been a total nuisance in her yard all summer and does not appreciate having bees crawling on her when she's in her yard when she's works In her garden. She thought that area was going to be a secure but when her neighbor goes into her garage squeezing between the fence and the corner of her garage does not find it very secure. What good does a locked gate do if an adult can squeeze through there then so can a child. Her whole attitude about this entire thing from beginning to end is the irresponsibility and total disregard for the feelings of the neighbors. At this point Alderman Tisdahl interjected this meeting is not to attack personalities. Ms. Pestka said that's her opinion and they've lived with it all summer, it hasn't been fun. Ken Haller, President Illinois State Beekeepers Association, said what seems to have been prevalent throughout all of the discussion for the past couple of months Is a sensational amount of exaggeration around honeybees. He Is here as a resource to the committee and is available to help bring facts to these sensational accusations. Without knowledge of these insects it's easy to sensationalize and he's here tonight to help expel that if you so desire. If you think of the million articles that come out every year in newspapers throughout the world you would run into about one a year about some mad honeybees. It's very Infrequent because it is very infrequent that there are news stories about mad honeybees versus other news stories Involving animals that are not on the table for discussion, such as eradication of rabies carrying animals. Eliminating or restricting honeybees within the City of Evanston will have relatively no effect upon the number of bees showing up In your backyard because bees are wild and have been here for hundreds and hundreds of years. You will see zero effect with the Dickman hive gone, guaranteed that's statistical fact. Swarms are not common; they do occur that's the honeybee colonies natural way of dividing and reproducing itself. One colony might swarm every other year. He has a video of how docile honeybees are. He brought some updated safety statistics for the committee, taken from the National Safety Council website, just to put in prospective what we're referring to in terms of injuries and to various odds of death by injury In the United Stales. (Soo Attachment S.) Thank you for your time, Mimi Peterson, submitted an article from the Chicago Tribune (See Attachment C.) For five months we've been talking about this and there's been no progress, because this has been a huge waste of many peoples' time and energy. She read in the newspaper about the woman in Lake Forest who wants to keep her pig, and everybody likes pigs. Their Health and Human Services Department and a group of council men or aldermen are paying attention to the needs of those people who have brought this issue to their attention describing their distress having to give up their residential neighborhood allowing a farm animal, a pig, to come and live in their neighborhood. It's been unfair for the beekeeping crew to try to characterize those who are against giving up their residential use of their property for farm use as being full of propaganda and things that are superfluously untrue. This Is not the case because it's been ratcheted up by those proposing to keep them in their yard. Ms. Peterson had a list of names of people who live in the neighborhood that are tired of this continuing to be an ongoing discussion. Meanwhile the summer is over, the bees have been living there, there have been no consequences for that and the consequences that are in play are those that are being held by the people who live In this neighborhood. She's here to reiterate that the people who live In our immediate neighborhood are very much opposed to this and those of us who traipse down here continue to remind you we're representing at lease 73 people, whose names she wants to share with you and get them Into the record, in our neighborhood who live in close proximity to this, Ms. Peterson wanted to hone in on the ordinance and would like to hear some discussion about the setback requirements because she does not foot the recommended setback requirements in the proposed ordinance are meeting the needs of our neighborhood nor does she think they're going to meet the needs of most neighborhoods In the City of Evanston. This Page a. b �sst W opink)l and maybe this committee will figure.out away that's going to make this work for all neighborhoods. , in her'res ilder~tlal lnelghboifiood they don't feel that a setback of 15 feet Is going to help prevent the nulsance of the farm use next+;ioor. Fifteen feet Is just not acceplable'and will not work. if you are seriously considering allowing beekeeping In Evanston, In our neighborhood, she Is going to ask and plead with you to make some accommodation for this neighborhood so we don't have to put up with what they are saying is no problem. Regarding Ordinance 65-0-06, Section 94-19. Beekeeping: Item (E); Fencing of Flyways. The fencing is a serious issue, the Ingress and egress in this alley and the placement of those bees doesn't meet this requirement and it if were to meet it 25 feet is In the center of the yard. You're talking about building a fence at least 6 feet high with a solid wall that will be in the middle of somebody's backyard that Is only 40 feet wide. We are In need of some leadership on this issue and need some serious discussion on how to resolve this Issue for this neighborhood. Ms. Peterson noted it needs to be represented this is not 4 people who have kept coming here for 5 months in a row; this is 73 people who live in this neighborhood who don't want this to take place. Alderman Tisdahl remarked that Alderman Hanson has asked the committee to come to some closure on this issue and hoped we can start to do that. Alderman Moran said from his perspective all the wondrous and beneficial aspects of bees and beekeeping is all true, but this is an activity like many activities that has a time and place. He has kept an open mind about this and listened to everything everybody had to say. When we started this we asked staff and other people to explore where we could somehow develop a beekeeping operation in Evanston where those people fascinated by bees could participate, but It turned out that was not workable and the people we were inquiring about did not want to be responsible for doing it. With lots of 40 feet by 140 feet this is an activity that will not work in that compact a neighborhood. Different neighborhoods in Evanston have different sized lots but the bottom line is you're never far away, however you locate or situate beehives, its always going to be a matter of feet away from your neighbors. When Evanston was a farm community beekeeping worked, but In this neighborhood you can never be more than 20 feet away from your neighbor if you have a 40 foot lot. it's wonderful for people to have an interest in these insects but you also have to be accommodating to your neighbors. If we don't acknowledge the concerns that neighbors have we're not focusing on things that are important. A lot of the things that we do in Evanston Is strive to develop consensus over policies and approaches to life in Evanston and there's a shared ethic in many aspects of life In Evanston. In this situation we have 2 people wanting to keep a beehive and 73 of their neighbors have signed a petition saying this Isn't something they want to have to share with those people. People have to acknowledge there could be someone who has a sufficiently allergic reaction that could die. Even recognizing that statistically that is a minuscule example it doesn't get you past the notion of people who come into contact with the bees "o don't know how to respond appropriately. He personally is not bothered by bees but it could present a problem to a fdde child or an elderly person. It is asking too much of people to be tolerant of it. The critical commentary on the regulation frequently was what municipalities do to make themselves feel safer even though they haven't practically addressed the hazard, the distance requirement, the number of hives, or the height of fences, etc. The issue here is can the community sensibly regulate beekeeping in a way where that regulation will allow people to feel satisfied and comfortable that they are not at risk to the few who wish to keep bees than the significantly larger number who are concerned about their susceptibility or vulnerability to large numbers of bees being kept close by. He wishes he could come up with something better but he cannot come up with anything better than to ban them. However many meetings %&Vve had about this he always walked out of here saying it will be addressed again and will again think about how to accommodate those who want to keep bees and accommodate those who are concerned about the vulnerabilities living in dose proximity to large numbers of bees but he can't find his way through that. The original proposal staff brought to the committee was to ban. tJderman Moran made a motion to alve consideration once again to the oriainal document that would ban beekeeping In Evanston. Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded the motion. 14Ar. Terry told the committee he will come back with whatever language you direct. The original ordinance went to Council and Council sent it back to the committee with the intent not to pass it. The direction to the committee was to consider a'lematives to prohibition and the same number ordinance was drafted with a regulatory ordinance that came to the committee 2 months ago. Procedurally you can send the original prohibition back to Council. Alderman Moran said Mat's the basis of his motion. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if a committee member votes to ban and it was voted by majority to ban, can that advance to Council, and if that vote fails then can we still consider it in the discussion regulation. Alderman Tisdahl called for a vote on Alderman Moran's motion to ban boekeenina. The motion failed. 2-3. Aldermen Moran and Juan-Baotlste voted for. Aldermen Tisdahl. Holmes and Bernstein voted aaainst. Alderman Jean -Baptiste then said we now have to move for regulation, to which Alderman Tisdahl said she supports regulation and wanted to have a limit on the number of hives. Alderman Tisdahl wanted to know why you can't vole by block whether or not you want bees just as you vote on speed bumps, a type of vote that has been successful when left up to the neighbors. Alderman ,lean -Baptiste asked if it Is being suggested that we adopt a process whereby we can gel the consensus of the block that the hive is going to be on the same way it is done for speed bumps and alley paving, and Page 5. a lieif F�eilvanl a`p `roposal of 5196. Mr: Terry s81d voting for speeii bumps grid atleypaving is reiated to public goods," , 3 yd>i'ri*"Ing'about a vote'on someone's private property, the attorneys world have to be asked if that can be done. Alderin6h' Semsteln noted 5 years ago a popular vote was taken on front yard fences. Alderman Moran asked what relevance is tits block if these bees fly 3 miles and was told the vote would be taken from the people closest to this hive Alderman Jean-$apilsle asked what would define how far we should go with the vote, can we say within 3 miles. If the Let;dDeparlment decided that particular part of the regulation is illegal then that could be stricken because there are oftfoarts that need to be addressed. We can discuss what the proper radius is and move 11; if it doesn't work we can change it. The significant Issues are the number of hives and the distance between lots, that would go Into the regulations for the Council to consider for which Legal can provide us with the necessary counseling. With prohibition having failed we need to move to regulate. We have come to this point because the substance of the concern raised is the potential health effects of this hive and disregard for the kinds of requests made to the current hive owners that they refrain from moving forward. We have not been able to make a decision and some think because the hive Is already there we don't want to offend the owner by removing it, but we have to go beyond that to make a proper decision, Right now the hive is 3 or 4 feet from the adjacent lot line which poses a danger to many of the neighbors. Perhaps the owner can join one of these organizations where you can keep bees In a location where there are no effects on the immediate neighbors. In limiting the distance between the lots it seems to him 15 feet may be too tittle but would say 25 feet seems to be reasonable. The previous proposal stales 15 feet and that "all hives should be registered with the State of Illinois, proof of such registration should be submitted to the Evanston Public Health Director upon request". Alderman Jean -Baptiste proceeded to cite sections from Ordinance 65-0-06, dated July 12, 2006. He noted the other aspect that should be considered Is, "all bee colonies should be kept in inspectional type hives with removable cones which shall be kept in sound and usable condition." "Setback, all hives should be located at least fifteen (15) feet from any adjoining property with the back of the hive facing the nearest adjoining property." He would suggest 25 feet and that be retroactive to the date we started discussing this. `Flyways, In each instance in which any colony is situated within twenty-five (25) feel of a developed public or private property line of the tract upon which the apiary is situated, as measured from the nearest point on the hive to the property tine, the beekeeper shall establish a barrier at least six feel in height consisting of a solid wall or fence parallel to the property line and extending ten feet beyond the colony in each direction so that all bees are forced to fly at an elevation of at least six feet above the ground level over the property lines In the vicinity of the apiary.' There is a requirement where they be kept, there is maintenance, and reference to the queens, 'Colony densities, it shall be unlawful to keep more than the following number of colonies on any tract within the city based upon the size or configuration of the tract on which the apiary is situated: a) One -quarter acre or less size— two colonies; b) More than one -quarter but less than one-half acre tract size — four colonies; c) One-half acre or more but less than one acre tract size — Six colonies; d) One acre or larger tract size —eight colonies. For each two colonies authorized under colony densities there maybe maintained upon the same tract one nucleus colony Ina hive structure not exceeding one standard none, this will have to be explained. The last item is prohibition,•"The keeping by any person of bee coionles In the city not In strict compliance with this section Is prohibited. Any bee colony not residing in a hive structure intended for beekeeping, or any swarm of bees, or any colony residing in a standard or homemade hive which, by virtue of its condition, has obviously been abandoned by the beekeeper, is unlawful. There's a fine if one Is In violation of that. "(A) Any person violating the provisions of this chapter shall be fined not less than ten dollars ($10.00) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) for each offense, and a separate offense shalt be deemed committed upon each and everyday such violation Continues." If you're found guilty of the particular ordinance the permit to keep such hives may be revoked, Alderman Jean-Baptiste's position is that we focus on a regulation that we can implement retroactive to the date that the initial prohibition was proposed and any standing hive that is not in confirmation from that time should be removed. Alderman Holmes moved to accent the ordinance as vr000sed with the addition of channina the setback: distant from 15 feet to the 25 feet. She had some other suggestions in terms of the number of hives per acreage that can be covered later. Alderman Bernstein's concern was not necessarily the hive that got us into this situation, but the hives in the City that have been existing for many years with the knowledge and consent of the neighbors. He does not want to eliminate those hives. He recalled that Elmhurst has a prohibition against bees and asked Mr_ Haller if he keeps bees outside the city, to which Mr. Haller responded the majority of the time, yes. Alderman Bernstein asked Mr. Haller what types of regulations does he think are appropriate. Mr. Haller said it's difficult to answer that tonight as he is not an expert on the hundreds of ordinances and regulations throughout the Slate of Illinois, and does not know the process you have gone though to determine this list. He would recommend that a short comprehensive study be done to determine what regulations are best within Evanston based on some other model cities populations. He's concerned about pulling numbers out of the air because they have to sound right here, but to come up with a true, real ordinance and regulations. Alderman Bernstein said he was asking Mr. Haller for his expertise with respect to what he would think is appropriate as we have heard neighbors concerns about the proximity of bees. He's been by that hive and back to the Noyes hive several times this summer and indicated that had he been asked day one to sign a petition against somebody keeping bees next to his house he would have signed it. Today he does not think he would sign it, He does not know the difference between the honeybees or any other type of bees, nor does he know if they're the Dickman's bees or bees from up north. Mr. Haller Page 6. esid,.mos! of.f wIfst jhsst pone, throughce tot Is,fn plow a community's level of perception of protection on behalf of am,, neipttbors: He'does not know if anyb6dy in Evanston has any record of the many years bees have been kept within . Evanston. Fifteen, twenty-two feet, six foot high fences, those are primarily based on perception of ignorance on behalf of those who don't know about bees. It's his job to educate the public, it's a very. very tali task and he's glad to see its had sofne effect here. He would like to go back and look at the facts because your laundry list has no effect on anybodyother than perception. Alderman Bernstein's was concerned about having to build tall enough fences when the bees get out. Ms. Peslka talked about having being plagued by bees and he does not know if they're the Dickman bees. We did get an email from a couple; he's not sure where they live relative to this address. There are neighbors living in close proximity to the Dickman's that haven't been impacted at all this summer. He's trying to separate the manner in which this beehive came on, which he does not condone and is trying to do his best to do away with that. At the end of the day if this hive has to be the one to go, so be it. His concern is for the people such as Ms. Miller who went around and educated her neighbors and got the consensus of the community. The Issue is he does not know how many people have been impacted by these bees. It is perception, but sometimes perception is enough to be reality. Blanketing, prohibiting or making the distance so prohibitive three quarters of the City could not do this because of the size of the lots. His suggestion for this would be having a fence high enough that would preclude people from accessing the bees or someone who might go into somebody's private space and unknowingly go after the bees. His only concern after the fact is the swarms, if there is a swarm they are going to find a house somewhere and he would just assume it would be adjacent to the existing hive rather than in somebody's home. A competent beekeeper knows when the hive is ready to swarm and provides another space for their hive to relocate so the hive does not go elsewhere. This is a difficult issue as he understands that people are frightened of insects and he hates to use the fact that it's been there for so many months to legitimize its presence. Having 25 feet he thinks ridiculous because you prohibit almost everybody. He wants something that limits the number of hives and places sc:ne type of opaque fence around it that would preclude people from accessing the hive. We also have to provide a good source of water for the bees. He Is not looking to become a beekeeper, his concern is just education and the worst problem we have with this situation is that it was sprung on people, not say its against the law because there is no prohibition but common sense dictates to talk to your neighbor if you're going to bring anything in that might raise somebodys awareness of a potential situation. Alderman Holmes thought we're being unfair by not making a decision about this and letting it drag on so long. She assumes our staff did the homework in terms of presenting the regulations that we first got and researched the information given to us so those recommendations were made on sound advice from other communities and is confident staff looked into this and made the recommendations. She agrees with the 25 feet because looking at the flight side, in terms of the closeness of where the hive is in anybody's yard, how much distance would that give to neighbors on either side, In back or even In front, and understands the appearance of feeling safe. We do have an obligation to the public to make them safe whether it's a safe bee or not. We all know we cannot ban bees because they're here and will be here but at least we would be addressing the issue or concerns of the citizens as we have had consistent dialogue with the neighbors who are not comfortable. Unfortunately this has been focused on just one neighborhood, but that is how it was presented. She Is prepared to go forward to make sure that we won't go through another summer with people being in limbo about this issue as we have an obligation to do that. Alderman Tisdahl wanted to limit the number of hives you can have per ward or per square mile, based on the 7" Ward's experience. None of you want 16 hives in a small space next to single family homes because those bees will not go Into everybody's yard but will pick a few yards and cover it. Not knowing the appropriate number she thought having 4 hives per ward as a way to start. That is her request to add Into the ordinance that will be received at the next meeting. Alderman Bernstein said if we are in fact going to pass some kind of ordinance he would like some consideration In the ordinance to allow adjacent neighbors to negate the ordinance with respect to a particular hive. Taking into consideration Ms. Miller's hives, her neighbors enjoy It and share the honey. He does not want her to have to move her hive because she went about it appropriately and is serving a need where people come and watch the bees. He is sure the Dickmans would probably do the same thing given the opportunity, but the way their hive arose was a different situation. He does not want to eliminate all bee hives because the 25 feet prohibits almost everybody, it would eliminate all bee hives in his 41' Ward. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if Alderman Bernstein is saying we need to establish a particular radius of neighbors to vote on whether or not to allow bee hives then the particular distance requirements from adjacent lots can be waived once the request has been approved by the neighborhoods. Alderman Bernstein said he doubts whether that's good legislation as he does not like to give the neighbors the power of life and death over their neighbors. He knows the perception Is there; his perception has changed In relation to hives. He does not live next door to a hive but now he would not be concerned if he did. his. Peslka asked a question about the water necessary for the bees and how do we deal with it when heated it becomes stagnated and mosquito larva would be an Issue. Her other question was, we have a lot of wild animals in the neighborhood and wondered how do you keep raccoons from attacking a hive if they're hungry? Mr. Haller answered, in Page 7. plopogn of w>at�r;`have a small'shatkriv dtsh w1tFi gravel iri'tl as mosquito larvae will not swim or lay eggs in a gravel, oontainN dish.` ' Secondly, raccoons don't attack honey bees that he's aware of, he has seen a couple of skunk scrMoing but there has been no issue of overturning of colonles. Bears are a problem and the only thing that can cause ' severe damage to a colony. Regarding the standing water Ms. Bush commented that she did not know that depth Is an issue, but water standing 5 to 7 days depending on temperature should be changed frequently as there is several larva in it and should be dumped, which is also a violation. Alderman Moran brought up not wanting to give the power of life and death to the neighbors but would see the question as giving the power of life and death to the person who owns the bee hive by putting an instrumentality into a neighborhood where somebody literally could die. This idea of taking a poll In the neighborhood is unworkable from a responsible legislative standpoint. He does not know what you have in mind, 51 %, 75%, what if the 1 % that says no Is a person who knouts they have a sufficient sensitivity to bee slings and could become seriously ill or die. How can this be regulated Ina way that Insures anybody a sense of safety, by responsibility or removing their vulnerability? Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked we don't have the vote to prohibit we need to regulate it in a way to minimize the danger. Alderman Moran said we have the President of the Illinois Beekeeping Association saying what you're doing now Is folderol and talking about a regulation that's not a realistic regulation, but addresses sensibilities or misperceptions of the hazard that bees may or may not bring In a compact environment. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted then on principal things are going to remain status quo unless you vote for regulation that can help move this process forward. Prohibition lost and we now need some regulation, if you have some ideas that makes this safer let's put that in to amend this ordinance and send it forward to be finalized so we can come to some decision. We have a proposal suggesting 25 feet as the setback, which was seconded by Alderman Holmes, are there any other aspects of this ordinance that we want to modify. Ms. Dickman said she feels that you're going on perception because a neighbor was able to get 73 signatures that represents the neighborhood, which she feels is a misconception. Neighbors talk to her all the time from both sides of Madison Street, on Florence, up through Dodge, on Washington and people all around Evanston stop her and say this is so ridiculous, what's the big deal about the bees. Her next door neighbor who started this who was very concerned about it is no longer concerned, we're friends. She's concerned that you're taking this vocal minority of three and making this assumption that these people speak for the neighborhood, which she does not think Is the case. She had a list of120 names and knows they're not all from her neighborhood. She didn't go from door to door to people, but people come to her and stand next to her working hive. She's tired of who considers what to be neighborly. Ms. Peterson had a question regarding ordinance item (E), Fences and Flyways. Talking about the B foot fence, visualizing what that would took like you have a solid structure or fence parallel to the property line extending 10 feet beyond the colony In each direction. This would be some odd looking structure In the center of the backyard that essentially would be 25 feet away. Her point is have you thought about what these structures that people are now building in theirbackyard need is zoning. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms. Peterson asked what would she suggest, assuming that they're going to get totally ugly. Ms. Peterson said she is suggesting that there be some thought given to allowing beekeeping in the neighborhood that would require structures that are going to look like this and we're going to allow them everywhere, are we thinking what the impact of that Is going to do to our neighborhood. Based on research she has done and she knows Mr. Terry has done, this ordinance is modeled after other ordinances and is really on the lighter side of most of the ordinances. Most of them came in at 300 feel, 200 feet, so this is a quite modified ordinance and the flyway fencing is therewith the Idea of the rights of bees. As has been pointed out several times the bees mayfly up and out but are going to land In someone's backyard. The question then is how many of these structures are we going to allow in neighborhoods. Alderman Jean -Baptiste commented prohibition didn't win therefore we have to regulate and we have an ordinance before us, if we have suggestions or modifications lets hear them. Let's not get into a lot of discussions on what certain things might look like. Mr. Terry had a question regarding Alderman Jean-Baptiste's mention of retroactivity, assuming this ordinance passes, what is the effective date, are you proposing to grandfather anybody effective any date. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he is not grandfathering anybody. Alderman Bernstein is arguing in defense of Ms. Miller, This is a community project and he does not know what to do with that as a number of people are saying this is dangerous for them. Alderman Tisdahl asked if we could grandfather In anybody who has had hives more than 2 years, Mr. Terry noted in terms of the records of our department we only know about 2 hives. We've heard rumors that there may be others in the community but he has not had any other addresses submitted to him of where hives may exist in Evanston, he only knows about the Millers and the Dickmans. He's not sure how anyone can then come in and say we've been around for 2 or 3 years and is not sure how he'd be Ina position to verify that one way or another. Alderman Tisdahl suggested if any hives have been registered or if the City is aware of their existence, that have been there more than 2 years could be grandfathered in. Mr. Terry said he has enough Information 10 draft an ordinance for the next meeting but the committee did not come to any closure or final consensus on people being able to vote hives in or vote to waive the ordinance. Alderman Bernstein did not think we will get consensus. Mr. Terry added then there is no public input portion to the ordinance. Alderman Tlsdahl called for a vote to authorize Mr. Terry to talk to sepal to find out whether this ordinance can be moved forward to the Council for consideration even though the committee has not said vea or nav to the ordinance. The veto was 3 ayes. Alderman Bernstein said we do not have an ordinance on which he is voting tonight to Page 8. * v*t Alderman Tisdahl said it was only voted that it would be fhe reasonable thing for Mr. Terry to bring back to tare committee. Alderman Bemstein commented, yes. bring It back but he does not know If that needs a vote. r Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked that this ordinance be bypassed by the committee and brought straight to the Council and ' wondered If tliere Is a procedure for this. Alderman Moran said when the committee hands up an ordinance to the Council the comrplttee has voted and made a recommendation on the ordinance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said traditionally this has been done but is there any legal impediment not to do it that way, to which Alderman Moran said he assumed there is. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Mr. Terry to talk to legal for an opinion on this procedure and if there is not a legal problem can'this ordinance be moved forward for discussion on the Council floor. Alderman Bemstein commented we usually introduce an ordinance with a recommendation from a subcommittee but would guess we can do this as we have bypassed in situations when we haven't come up a decision from the committee and it goes without recommendation. Usually you don't want to subject the rest of the Council to something we haven't scrutinized. He's looking forward to seeing how the ordinance comes back. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if this committee can authorize Mr. Terry to talk to legal to find out whether we can move this ordinance forward to the Council for consideration even though the committee has not said yea or nay to the ordinance. Alderman Tisdahl did not think this could be done and ready for the next Council meeting to which Mr. Terry said the earliest this could be ready would be for the 2nd September Council meeting. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked that we work to get this on the agenda for the 2nd meeting In September providing legal does not raise a flag about this. Alderman Bemstein remarked the urgency has passed and rushing to judgment now does not do us any good, if we were going to do that it should have been done 5 months ago. Alderman Jean-Baplisle noted we have been on this issue for a long time. A proposed ordinance came before us 2 months ago that we looked at and some of us said we wanted to prohibit this entirely. We discussed prohibition today and decided against it and now we have to talk about regulation. The only document that was before us to regulate was the one we now have which we have read again and made some modifications to. The prohibition ordinance lost twice, this now goes to legal. Mr. Terry asked when the next Human Services Committee meeting will take place and was told Wednesday, October 40', and said this will probably be done on the 40' VIII. DATE OF NEXT HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING AND ADJOURNMENT The October Human Services Human Services Committee meeting will take on Wednesday, October O after the Council The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9:15.p.m. Respectfully submitted. Audrey Trots apartment of21th and +Human Services r:. + � i i j r + � i 3 -=� I Page 9. HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE tay - beptemoer D, ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Name: A yes esMc„rv. VII � k- ��� tiM A'V� ,� l,,A. LP i 'Ssirn�. �+3.L,+^..vy�".'�"'!"^r•ar__.,,ti.�u��f,.;__....• .�,,r:.�,�..� �.i •,,...;::Sr,.• t;�s'�.►�*--�;"�y•'�.. 't W-Ir r� •S� i� �r� 5 1 1V H SERiTICES COMMITTEE Tuesday - September 5, _.. ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT e: Address/Org 'nation: Topic Speaking On: . e.r ilia lilt im ti e $ i C141CAGOTRIBUME M_ M rC4 3, IF ang S. 7 Associated Pre",, osslAN. . . lnd: — A teenage 1. . a-1 �w driver crushed, into. trftRW.tjz. uptemotthou-, sands of angrjhoneybeeii�#e- nine othm to the hospitHL" Mose bees werd b114" f�&N` Volunteer - Fki Chid bert, who im stung at tIn1e5 While trying to Ir 'Year_01d &Jrr wreckage. -rve b6s, esipeaiall ' honobe es, Id - tack like that." --i JjCqUdUM C4)8RirV3,L!S. V.V ZUnnedibtdiletiifT� . VAi r she lost Chi=MV • el road aboutl06moB the tunaR waim redcumi cwdaC4uzd.%g I ablackcl d'Ahe'ckr# 'had en9U1refirnfightsra TR tanks and- face-- jnj�vlth- temperat ures Ili the 9:;';'�' o Safety workeis -do the-'. bees with water _- and' fdam.- While they tried t6,_jL*j COS_ sairt, whoa was taken to'a near -by bospitalwith bij)kM'legs and MUWPIC bee StjnM She rL- mialned at Lutheran Hospital. oft Thursday: g :.:.Ahelhboralong. I*' and seven_ era, were also hospitalized for'' bee stings and symptoms. ..You can't reaiiy,• train for that. You don't really knOvy. You look for dawned power lints. You don't look for a mll- lion bees." said Master Troop- e-r Bob Brophy, commander of the Indiana State Police Ft. Wayne Post. Bee expert Stan Grove, a biology Professor at Goshen College. said the Insecti' are most active in warm when they furiously -tart their - wings to cool the temPRturo of the hive. "They dan*t like to be Jos- tled." Grove said. b site of According to the We Ai{p�ment orthe htvk­. They don't tied -Groves*)&'* Aug to ell ty wen fecl;iilr� ::asks 'b3s Bitters' ty work,, some weren't able to., vm not too swelled 'TW'jQurjW aze- Vil tti ld&ri 1*� wi MTheWebiltn iG "-as d'about80,OW.beft, beenAthe la PF-At •P. Herarryt�sto a ttRck _ff,jheya,r*,. libel- , iAl. � . 4 2 y. Grove SaW accid .:But &wg i_ 'y': F• i f I r I ' r r National Safety Council 2003 Odds of Death by Injury for the United States All Homets, Wasps and Bees: 1:4,406,818 - Estimated Honey Bees Alone: 1:13,661,136 lJow many times more likely are you to die from the following, than by a Honey Bee sting? Cause of Death an 'dimes More Likely? 1. Car Occupant 790 ' 2. Assault by Firearm 596 3. Narcotics 462 4. Pedestrian . , 272 5. Pick -Up or Van Occupant . , 208 6. Motor Cycle Rider 184 7. Choking on Non -Food Items 152 :.. 8. Fire in Building 138 9. Assault by Sharp Object 102 1 10. Fall Involving Stairs and Steps ; , , 61 11. Drowning in a Body of Natural Water 12.Occupant of Off -Road Motor Vehicle - 13. Choking on Food Items 44 14. Fall Involving Bed, Chair or Other Furniture; 15. Pedal Cclisti:- 16. Air and Space Transport Vehicle f 17. Firearms Discharge ! 18. Gases and Vapors 19. Contact with Machinery . " ;' " 32:. l II .E'�: ,. f. 20. Exposure to Excessive, Natural Cod �a,`. - _ . 5171': I 31 =; �.,,. 21. Fall From a Building or Structure 30. 22. Drowning in a Swimming Pool 26 23. Suffocation in Bed 15. ; 24. Drowning in a Pool 21 25. Fall Involving Ladders and Scaffolding 26. Alcohol 19 _ ,.:._... 27. Drowning in a Bath Tub 17 28. Exposure to Excessive, Natural Heat 14 : E . 29. Explosion 7 ` 30. Animal Rider or Occupant of Animal Drawn Vehicle 5 31. Cataclysmic Storm 4 32. Lightning 3 Source: http://%%,Nv%%,.nsr.or);/irs/stat info/odch.lum. CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, November 20, 2006 Civic Center - Council Chambers 7:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, and Moran STAFF PRESENT: Judy Aiello, Sheila Mc Corkle, Paula Haynes, Cam Herth, Carla Bush, Evonda Thomas, Doug Gaynor, Bob Domecker, Vince Jones, Dennis Nilsson, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Alderman Hansen, Alderman Rainey, Alderman Wotlin, Pat Vance, Rosemary Jean -Paul, (EvansionTownship), Sharon Eckersall, (Township Assessor); Irwin Lyons, (Township Auditor); Sue Cantor, Mental Health Board; (Attached List of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Tisdahl I. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Tisdahl called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. Ih APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 5, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the Sentember S. 2006 meeting were called and unanimously aaoroved (5-01. Ill. CONSIDERATION OF OCTOBER 2006 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS AND REPORTS Alderman Tisdahl called for approval of October 2006 Township monthly bills. Alderman Moran motioned foraooroval, seconded by Alderman Holmes. Alderman Jean -Baptiste questioned whether the legal bills were reviewed by the Legal Department before voting to pass the bills list. Mr. Terry said his understanding was Mr. Hill has been in contact with Mr. Hoover's office and Is still in the process of reviewing the bills, therefore he does not have a final opinion one way or another regarding the bills. Mr. Ter y's also noted the case is still pending because the Judge In the case switched offices and some of the records were lost; therefore the Judge isn't in a position to make a final ruling on the appeal. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the current bills Include the actual bills of the last four months which were previously outstanding, and wondered if the Legal Department is still reviewing those bills. Mr. Terry responded the Legal Department is still reviewing the bills and based on their conversation thus far with Mr. Hoover they have no reason not to approve the bills. Ms. Eckersall added Ms. Purze, Attorney for the City of Evanston, called her this afternoon to let her know she was sorry she could not attend tonight's meeting and she had a long discussion with Mr. Hoover today. The opposing counsel Is trying to appeal this but does not have a complete file and is going back to reconstruct the file. It will then be up to the Appellate Court to make a final decision. The attorneys have been moving for dismissal of the case because of deadlines not made on time by the opposing counsel. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said it seems totally unclear as to what the direction is and asked if Ms. Purze sent anything in writing to let us know what to do. Mr. Terry responded, no, these conversations just took place this afternoon. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought we should at least pay the prior bills because the Legal Department has had these bills for 3 or months and not done anything with them. We can hold the current bills for review by our Legal Department. Alderman Homes asked when this process is going to end. Ms. Eckersall said it should have been over by now but because of loss of the complete folder and the deadlines not being made by the opposing counsel it has been delayed. She also knows that Ms. Purze has asked Hoover and Associates forcopies of all the documents that are being submitted to the court so the City could have a complete file of all the documents. Alderman Moran had some serious problems with the billing practices of this lawyer. We're paying $200 an hour for a lot of ministerial things that can be done by kids in high school. To cite one example, to file a motion to dismiss to the Appellate Court, 2.20 hours at $200 an hour, we paid S440 for somebody to presumably walk into the Daley Center and go to the 29 h floor and put a piece of paper on the clerk's counter to be stamped. It's prevalent throughout the billing that we're being charged $200 an hour for any number of tasks that are clerk's duties. If the lawyer is doing that he shouldn't bill us at a lawyer's rate but at a clerk's rate. He would like Ms. Purze to look into that, it only took him about a minute and a half to see that we're being charged too much and somebody should talk to Mr. Hoover about this. Page 1. a* Alderman Bemslein agreed with Alderman Moran as there have previously been conversations with this lawyer when we tried to Indicate to him that he had not found the pot at the end of the rainbow. These billed items are ludicrous and we're well beyond the cap that was set on what we would pay for the defense of this case. He understands it's our responsibility to defend the Assessor but this is not necessary legal work and he does not want to pay for that. On one occasion Mr. Hoover came here to justify his existence and if he wants to come again and tell us why he chooses to charge us lawyer's time to do law clerks work maybe we'll reconsider, but right now does not think we should pay him. Alderman Jean-Saptiste's only concern was we have asked the Legal Department to be our eyes and ears and give us a report, but they have salon this for an extended period of time. He would therefore suggest that we hold the bills this time and make a decision at the next meeting as we cannot keep holding this man's money. Mr. Terry said it was not clear to him that the Law Department has had these bills for any extended period of time. He transmitted this request to the staff in the Law Department when he got the packet material and it was his impression the Legal Department had not seen these bills before. Motion to approve the Township bills were recalled. Alderman Jean-Raotiste made a motion to hold the Hoover bills In committee until the next meeting, motion seconded by Alderman Bernstein. Motion to accept the Township bills but hold the Hoover bills unanimously passed, 5-0. N. CONSIDERATION OF TOWNSHIP ANNUAL. AUDIT FOR YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2006 Alderman moved to accept the Township Annual Audit for the vearended March 31. 2006. seconded by Alderman Holmes. Alderman Moran inquired regarding the paragraph in the auditor's report letterentltled, "Uncorrected Misstatements . and wondered about the detail in that paragraph. Mr. Lyons, the Township auditor, said the wording is more onerous. When doing the audit the item before it mentions the audit adjustments to keep up with and these are some of the items related to property tax revenue accounts payable where there were small differences between the audited numbers we get. We didn't bather making adjustments but let the staff know that there were some small differences. Hearina no further auestions Alderman Tlsdahl recalled the motion to accept the Townshlp Annual Audit. motion unanimously accented f 5-01. V. CONSIDERATION OF THE RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE YOUTH ENGAGEMENT TEAM FOR FUTURE CITY YOUTH PROGRAMMING Judy Aiello thanked the members of the Human Services Committee for the opportunity to provide this presentation regarding the Youth Engagement Program that our staff Is recommending. Sheila McCorkle who has done the bulk of the work on this will walk the committee through the recommendations. We will then go through the priorities because it's a very comprehensive report and one in which there are more things we want to do than funding we currently have available, We will go through priorities and then any member of our team will be available to answer any questions. Most of the members of the team are present this evening; Doug Gaynor, Director of Parks and Recreation; Lyn Stones; Cynthia Harris, Director Police Social Services; Paula Haynes, Director of Human Relations; Cam Herth also Human Relations Department; Lloyd Sheppard, the City's Minority and Women's Business Coordinator, Jay Terry, Director of Health and Human Services; and Sheila McCorkle. The group has been meeting twice a month as a formal group and in between that time Ms. McCorkle has been meeting with people in the community and meeting with each member of the team individually, Tonight we are presenting ourrecommendations of what we believe to be the beginning of a comprehensive approach to dealing with some of the Issues with our youth. Alderman Berstein noted there were 2 statements in this report that blew his mind. The first on page 4, says, 'Though many of these feelings can be associated with the persistent racial divide that exists in Evanston." Then there is a statement on page 14, "There needs to be a paradigm shift in the way Evanston approached youth development in that the youth should not be considered a burden to the community, but an asset that is worth investment." Those two statements scared him to death. Alderman Berstein asked if that is what the research found. There were a lot of issues raised that many of us were sadden and somewhat surprised by, but not entirely. This is an issue that we really need to put our arms around and hopefully we have at least begun to set the framework for our program. Ms. McCorkle opened her presentation noting the background for the Youth Engagement Team developed a vision for the Youth Engagement Initiative based on 2 goals of the City's Strategic Plan which state: 1) Generating marketable job skills for Evanston residents and, 2) provide opportunities for and engage Evanston youth and young adults to become active and productive citizens of the Evanston community. Their vision statement states, provide opportunities for all Evanston youth and young adults to become active and productive citizens of the community through strengthening existing youth services, establishing a network of service partnerships, increasing participation within the available opportunities, creating marketable job training and placement and Increasing the opportunities for social and recreational outlets for disengaged Page 2. i1' youth. Ms. McCorkle proceeded to narrate a power point presentation on the Youth Engagement initiative describing the information, findings and data compiled on the background for, • An Asset Based Model for Community Development; • Agencies, Organizations and Groups Included in the Asset Map are listed and a detailed list of the programs offered from these organizations are listed in the full report; • A new approach on Youth Considered As Assets; • Developmental Assets used to assess whether a young person is going to have positive youth development (a detailed list of these assets can be found on line or in the detailed report); • Target Population, recommendations are designed to support and develop youth and young adults that are in at risk environments and who may not be connected or have access to the resources and opportunities that exist in Evanston; • Obtaining Youth Perspective, Ms. McCorkle met with over 100 youths at the parks, the schools, after school and at lunchtime and rode around with our Police Youth Outreach Unit to informally get the youth perspective. The first question she asked the youth of Evanston was if they are part of this community. Overwhelmingly they said no. There was a widespread sense of disconnect as members of this community. They don't go walking around individual blocks, especially in a downtown area because there is a perception of being stereotyped, a feeling of being comfortable when there is more than 2 or 3 youths together. Though these feelings can be associated with the persistent racial divide In Evanston, these feelings also are used as territorial. That statement came from two things, firstly, they are currently trying to plan a Youth Summit going out and talking to youths. She has 2 Northwestern students and 5 High School students working with her. They're asking what would they like to talk about at a youth summit and what comes up very, very often is the segregation even in the high school. All the kids in the community have said this, the black kids, the while kids, and the Hispanic kids. Its there in the community and the kids want to talk about it. Learning about the gang issues in Evanston, it's not just a black and white thing or just a Hispanic thing, it happens from neighborhood to neighborhood which she thought Is important to point out A very Important point is youth did not feel they had a youth voice in this community. They didn't feel they had a way to express if they had issues, if there were things directly or indirectly that affected them and did not feel they had a mechanism to come to City Council or whoever the powers may be and communicate their issues. Some commentstopinions expressed by the youth were when they were younger and went to grade school and Junior High there was positive Involvement for them. There were things to do after school, there were programs designed for them but once they got into the teen years it severely dropped off. Another comment, shocking as It may be to some people, its cheaper to get high at Evanston than it Is to go to the movies. A lot of the young people said there are not enough affordable things to do in this community for their age group. Career development, job readiness and employment, an overwhelming number of youth from all economic levels and all races said, yes, they do want jobs. A lot of the youth were reluctant to invest in the job training programs available because they said there is no guarantee they would get a job or get placed and did not want to waste their time. That was the sentiment expressed to her. In general there is a lack of knowledge and understanding of what kind of jobs are out there to pursue and what it takes to gat to those kinds of jobs. Based on the data Ms. McCorkle collected and the perspective given by youth and youth service providers, and the expert advise given by a youth service provider consultant, the attached report lists in detail the recommendations given as a means to develop a youth oriented infrastructure that will better address the needs of the Evanston community. These recommendations are: 1) Establish a Youth Division; 2) Reestablish a Youth Commission; 3) Create a Youth Council; 4) Create Additional Opportunities and Strengthen Existing Assets, a. Recreation. b. Employment Vocational; 5) Connect to Hard to Reach Populations, a. Expand Youth Street Outreach; 6) Establish Measurement Goals and Standards to Track Impacts; 7) Community Action i Youth Summit; 8) Agency Collaboration; 9) Add State Funding for Youth Initiatives to Council Agenda. (Attached Power Point Presentation notes In detail each of the above recommenda(ions.) The idea for the Youth Division is a mechanism for the collaboration, the supplementation, the planning, the monitoring, and the correlation of all the individual pieces that are happening In Evanston. Right now there are a lot of assets in Evanston, Intemally in the City and externally with the community, but there is a lack of mechanism to coordinate all of that to work together and partner. Many of the agencies said, yes, they want to collaborate, but from her perspective there was a lack of form to do that which is what the Youth Division could create. The recommendations the Youth 'team devised as the Initial steps for building a youth development Infrastructure is to support the Goats of the Strategic Plan as well as the vision of the Youth Engagement Initiative. Additionally, these Page 3. II= recommendations are designed not only to fulfill the support gaps that exist for youth and young adults but also seek to provide a more efficient means to partner, collaborate and condense assets already available in the community. We will continue to implore the perspective of the youth as we go through this process, as it evolves and builds, and once again we tali on the community and the Aldermen to bring leadership to support the youth and the Youth Engagement Initiative. Ms. McCorkle thanked the committee for their time and helping them achieve this goal. Alderman Tisdahl thanked Ms. McCorkle for her excellent presentation. Ms. Aiello noted they have come up with a lot of interesting recommendations. if our resources were unlimited we would be buying a building to have a teen center and hiring a lot more staff, but we understand the restrictions of our resources and what we have developed for you to discuss is just the first year priority. We will be presenting about S150,000 of new money in the proposed budget as it relates to funding foryouth programs. This is certainly not all the money that Is currently available foryouth programming; there is also the money for the Summer Youth Employment Program in the General Fund and some funding from CDBG for some programs. This is our first step of additional new money. Looking at all the recommendations that we set forth we are recommending that the Youth Coordinator and the support services for that division be our top priority. We think it is important to begin to pull together and develop that infrastructure that we need and start all of us working together to create the framework for a youth program. The second step is we feel very strongly about is the female unit for the Police Outreach, as Ms. McCorkle indicated when going out and talking to the youth there seemed to be a need for the young women to have someone to relate to. Adding to the female unit for the Police Outreach Program at this point would be a very critical element. We've begun a pilot Work Study Program with the high school that has an established curriculum. We have identified a pilot this semester with the Health and Human Services Department and are working towards next semesterwith the Fleet Services Division. Police and Fire Departments are also developing a curriculum. We are recommending that we work on this Work Study Program with the high school for several reasons. They have an identified curriculum that we can utilize where we don't have to reinvent the wheel so we can spend time evaluating their program to see if it is based upon something that we can use. if not then we can develop our own program. We think this furthers the City's goals of partnership for the Strategic Plan. Our overall goal is finding another agency doing something that we could partner with that we wanted to do first, and then do our evaluation to make sure that program was a good program and then move on to creating something as a last resort. We believe the High School Work Study is a good program and the Summer Youth Employment Program should continue to be funded and are also recommending adding the Arts Program that had been a component many years ago and then got eliminated. There have been several studies that show the blossoming of young people once they get involved in the arts. We also would hope the young people who participated in our Work Study Program would have a priority to join us for a summer job. Teens in Technology is the new program the Human Relations staff has been working on which we believe we can develop at no new cost to the City. This will require a lot of work with the Human Relations staff and the Chamber but think it will allow us to have a coordinated approach. The coordination of job training is something we strongly believe needs to start with the City and hope to develop a job training network that will allow the coordination of all these agencies and become a focal point such as the LAN (Local Area Network). The LAN group for many years has dealt with some of the social service agencies. Our focus would be on the job training which would have a great asset for us. We are just beginning the planning of the apprenticeship program as we currently do not have any funds for it. Everyone had the understanding a lot of the government apprenticeship programs are union but there area number of apprenticeship programs that don't have a union connection. The One Stop provides some information, but there isn't a solid follow up something that Lloyd Sheppard can do. With some creative use of our time and resources we can begin to see some additional use of the apprenticeship programs that are available. Our Youth Summit and Youth Council is something we want to explore further with the help of the Northwestern and E.T.H.S. students. We don't have money left for that in our $150.000, but this is something that State legislators could provide since they recently provided some funding for the Rogers Park Youth Summit. We can also get some foundation money because of the great interest in this. Finally, we would love to have a teen center which is our dream down the road. Some of the things the Recreation Department did this summer with a few drop in opportunities are the kinds of things we think we should be able to do, with minimal increases in resources by reshuffling existing resources. That is a summary of what we hope to do. All of the members of the team and the Northwestern students are in attendance and are available to answer questions. Ms. Aiello noted copies of the report and the power point presentation will be available online. Ms. Aiello remarked how pleased she was to have so many people joining us for tonight's meeting. Alderman Tisdahl called on those In the audience who had any comments or wished to speak. Lester Blair, member of the Board of the Evanston Foundation, said we are excited about the youth and would like help but need to get some type of reporting to tell us how we can help you. He also sits on the Board of CEDAiNelghbors at Work who also want to help. His questions come out of the issues of race and the negative scenario where a lot of the kids are feeling maybe they're being undermined because of the economic barrier that their families face. He also sits on the Page 4. Advisory Board for the Evanston Police Department and knows that we have some issues there. We just want to find out exactly how we can create this model because this has been going on for a long time. We have a model where we have Northwestern University that's available to help and have a lot of smart, bright, and very wealthy people In this community we don't have to have problems like this exist. We know we have a youth population that Is looking for someone to help. All we're saying is thanks for the report; we need to get some answers and put it on the table and maybe this could at least give us the answer to start to create a solution to the problem. Thank you. Reverend Curry, was pleased with the information that has been given. Most of it is redundant to a number of us who have been in this City for quite some time and the same old questions come out of the finding that you have which he believes that knowledge Is power. Our problem is getting it off of the page into action which has always been the case here. It's not just the dollars but the participation of all these different levels you have suggested to us. He would like see more minority participation in the structural design and the participation of the students at Northwestern even the E.T.H.S. students that have been working with you. It is important for us to reflect the diversity of our community. One of the things he appreciates, at this point in his life and his involvement in Evanston, is working with the former retired Chief of Police, Frank Kaminski, who is now the Safety Director at E.T.H.S. We're trying to develop a program between the clergy community and E.T.H.S., Positive Presence. He would like to encourage the City Council, as well as the continued study you put together, which he thinks is excellent, to engage and involve more of our minorities because that is the target you might be referring that feels disconnected and disengaged and would encourage that from the depths of his heart. Also, before the budget is passed he would like to see if the various agencies out here working so hard with young people could be given an opportunity to sit down with the City committee working on the budget to help in the development of the budget allocations as we move forward. He assumes the first year is already locked in but as we move forward we need to look at how we can generate more dollars and come up with more opportunities to have dollars filtered into our community. He would also like to encourage you to continue to engage the religious community and not just the African American Churches. A special effort should be made to contact the churches that should be represented here because he knows there are a number of churches who have a large endowment programs that might be willing to participate at that level. Thank you very much, Carolyn Murray, Evanston Youth Initiative, being a resident of Evanston she is very familiar with a lot of the recommendations. However, the City has been doing a large development in the downtown area with businesses and she strongly recommends that as the development Increases we look to those businesses to provide some type of opportunity through internships and through the development of that targeted area as well as the other areas. There used to be more private company or vendor opportunity for the kids that you don't see anymore. As we increase in the development of the construction and businesses she does not see a connection on getting the kids down there. At the Vh Ward meeting there were representatives from 5 local banks going on and on about the programs they have. They sold they would sponsor things for the youth at which time Ms. Murray said she asked how about internships, Consider that in the development because we are building downtown and there should be some type of requirement for those businesses to reinvest in our youth. Thank you. Wanda Reed, with Partnership Police, would like to say all that you're doing is great but what she'd like to see Is more parental participation here In ourcommunity. We're losing our young people. We need help. She understands when you talk about the money and other things, but we have to get the kids focused where they can get involved. She is looking for the parents, parents, we need you, the church can't do it all by themselves. She's upset because she's never seen the school in the situation she sees it in today. She's there from 3:00 until school is out, and she's not on the payroll. What she wants to say is, parents give us some time, come over there, if you're not working give us an hourand even it you are take an hour off and come over to the school. She's not going to give up on the kids, and tells them she'll be there every day to see that they're in their classes. We have to come together and work to see if we can get some help for our children. This is our problem and it's been a problem for along time. People were more involved, we're not involved like we should be, and we need to get involved. The buck doesn't stop here, it stops in the home and parents need to step up, come over there and see what's going on. She hopes you continue, if we need her, she'll help you, but she wants to see parents come to E.T.H.S. and see what their kids are doing. Thank you very much. Alderman Moran wanted to thank everybody on the team, particularly Ms. McCorkle who has taken a leadership position and made such a strong effort. Her report is great and just over the past two days made him think quite a bit about this and feels very strongly that we need to go forward with this initiative. He would also like to thank the Northwestern and high school students who are helping out and all of our staff who are working on this. We have a lot of reports that we do not always pursue with ardor but this is something that we have to pursue to get off the page and on the street, and he looks forward to supporting your recommendations. Alderman Holmes also wished to commend the team which shows leadership and guidance in terms of the report. She Writ a lot the weekend reading the report and highlighting items she had to go back and read again and again and said to herself this is something that has been going on for along, long time. Alderman Holmes recalled these were things talked about many, many times, now we have to have the conversation in Evanston about race, and not only with youth. She's glad we're saying In public that this conversation has to happen. She does not think the kids like it all but they sometimes Page 5. take the leadership from the adults and we have to move forward with this because as stated the youth Is our future and we roust Invest now, something we should have been doing a bng time ago. We have to realize it Is going to take all of us to make this change and she certainly wants to be part of helping to making that happen. In terms of the recommendations, you are absolutely right about a female unit and asked if we have looked at our current social service division of the Police Department In terms of that staff, because as always she's looking at money. As she recalls there is an outreach component and wonders if we can utilize that division as a part of that recommendation. Ms. Aiello said this would most definitely be in coordination with the Police Outreach Department's that Cynthia Harris heads up and would also worts closely with Ron and Thorras who are not full time employees. Our first recommendation was to create two new units, one new male unit and one new female unit. Given our resources we felt at this point one female unit was more critical, but as we go forward continually looking at resources and grants that we can do. Some of Ron's and Thomas's salaries are funded from a grant and: we would continue to see if there is the opportunity to increase the grant funding to extend their hours and if possible their entire program. When putting together the full budget it looked about $700,000, some of which is already in the General Fund, primarily the Summer Youth Employment Program $355,000. also 511,000 in a police grant. Recognizing that, we felt what we could afford to put S150.000 in the budget this year. These were the priorities that we have for this year and going forward will be able to begin to look at more grants, some foundations and opportunities for state funding. Alderman Holmes inquired about the coordination of job training at no cost and asked if that came under the diivision of Human Relations where they are already doing the Summer Youth Job Program, Ms. Aiello said that would be the place because they are doing the summer youth and have the contacts. Last year we had about 80 private fenders. The job training component is a natural because knowing what the employers have been looking for we can then target back to a network of the job training providers and hopefully make that connection. We have had discussions with a number of agencies specifically about the evaluation piece with the community foundation. As we continue to have a diminishment of resources we have to set some common goals of what we want to achieve, then hold all the agencies that get City funding to those goals and have some real measurable metrics to be able to say whether we met those goals, in three years that funding isn't going to be available. We obviously will not cut anyone off in a year's time but will try to set up some quantifiable and measurable goals of what we want to see in a five year period. Alderman Holmes asked if this new Youth Division will stand alone or come under the Human Relations Department. Ms. Aiello said at this point we are recommending the DNision stays in the City Manager's Office for a variety of reasons, primarily because it touches so many departments. In the future we may want to spin it off to another department, something we've done in a variety of areas. We get them on their feet and then launch them where it's appropriate after we see the emphasis over the first year or so. Alderman Homes inquired about the status of the job coordinator's position to which Ms. Aiello responded that Is not a new position and we're not going to be funding it because Mr. Herth In the Human Relations Department will be able to pick Uzi up as part of his work load. Everyone is going to have to stretch the first year since we don't have unlimited resources. Ms. McCorkle's enthusiasm made us realize some of the surprises also felt by Alderman Bernstein. This has been a wonderful experience for us sitting around the table on a regular basis and talking about this issue which we all have a passion for but have never had that focus. Our next step is for the committee to recommend our concept; you are not approving a budget tonight because that will be done in the normal budget process. We will then be able to move forward in our planning of these activities and begin to go back and create action plans for each of these recommendations. If tNs is approved for March 1` we will be able to hit the ground running and have already begun planning the Youth Summit, time website, and the work study programs, they are all unofficially underway. Tonight we would like to get feedback if there are other areas we should be looking at. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thanked the team that worked so hard in trying to bring out the comprehensive perspective on how we fight to win. The team came out of the kind of pressure and initiative and advocacy from the community. He would like to recognize the work of the Evanston Youth initiative over the last year and a half, when Pastor Curry summoned a number of us together to reflect and try to figure cut how to move forward when a young man was killed at the Keg and another was facing a significant amount of time in ja 1. At that time Pastor Curry said we have to reach those hard to reach youth. What is it about our community that allows fcr our youth to be engaged in such activities? We see the manifestation of those activities in our police blotters all the time. There is a lot crime going on at the high school, about 45 students drop out every year. We don't know what happens to them after that but see a lot of those who have dropped out interacting with our police force that go to jail and come back to our community. We have not had a way to reach the hard to reach youth. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to recognize the Evanston Youth initiative members present this evening and asked those in the audience to stand up and be acknowledged. The community has to continue to raise the pressure on the City, which he is part of. Last year as a result of the pressure of those who wanted to save the trees we allocated a lot of money to save the trees. Before that there were other causes and issues. We have to make the youth of this community a priority and have to sustain that. The work the City has done in response to the demand from the community is to be commended. Ms. McCorkle came on board and was able to bring us a perspective that the committee didn't have before as Ms. McCorkle is a young person and was able to engage directly with the youth community. We have to reflect on the fact that the City committee has presented to us what they feel should be the first step and people have to ask themselves If that will begin to correct some of the problems that we see. We talk about a teen center, when he grew up In this Page 6. community we had a youth center, the priorities shifted and that was transformed into a senior citizen center. We had a youth commission that disbanded for whatever reasons. We have had this pattern of throwing the baby away with the bath water and have to ask ourselves whether or not we are meeting the challenges. The Aldermen are getting ready to organize a community summit on crime in this community. He knows the Youth Initiative is looking at parenting as a main focus of their work. Winning that fight is a direct product of engagement to the extent we are not engaged in the process, if we don't make the recommendations presented here then the City will not sharply respond to the concerns that we are presented with. He sees the motion going forward with the organizing of a youth division, because it will just go away without some manager over the agencies demanding of them that they be responsive. You can be In an agency with a youth clientele that Is safe and you can do your reports and statistics and everything seems to be okay. What about the youth on Church and Dodge, we need to have that study impact in a way that shows that we are making some progress. Government has to take charge of this problem and work with all the other agencies that we fund who claim to be doing work in the community to make sure that they are accountable. He's happy to see us moving in this direction and thinks we are trying to recover what we have lost and hopefully we can move forward and make more progress. Ms. Aiello thought if anyone had satin their meetings every other Friday, they would have heard the same thing. We really need the agencies and the community to work with us. The Youth Initiative has been a group we have spoken with and now it is our hope to take this on the road. We will go to anybody that will listen to us talk about what we want to do to begin to generate that excitement and enthusiasm that we all feel to get their involvement. Alderman Bernstein reflected back 25 years ago to meetings he attended at E.T.H.S. about the gang problem and the fact that we don't provide for our youth. His children are teachers and tell him that kids today won't do homework because they don't want to do it. There is a societal problem that we have to address and have to stop it now. We always walkaway from it because we can't afford it, now we can't afford to walkaway from it. We have in this room tonight wonderful people who have devoted their lives to youth. This will have to start with some coordination which hopefully we can provide. He recalled as a young man in this community sitting in an organizational meeting discussing who was going to get funding for an outreach worker. At the time there were a couple of rival agencies both of whom wanted the funding to which Alderman Bernstein said he did not want to get into a contest over who would better serve, just Sol long as somebody serves. We can interact as agencies if we have somebody coordinating at the top, we can get far better bang for our buck and do not necessarily have to duplicate services, nor do we have to reinvent the wheel. The good people here tonight in this room have been spinning that wheel for 25 years and its time for decide that we will not be here 30 years from today saying the same things. It's frustrating because it's always about money, but children are something around which people can rally. We had a lot of donations for a dog, for our Canine Unit, where people came forward with food, training, etc. The youth need us and we need them, its time. He does not think there will be any hesitance from this committee. We had better be resolved to the fact that we have to come up with the money and initially see there is a good coordinator put into place to begin the process with an understanding that it is only the beginning and we're not going to stop. The youth In this community have untold potential and we have to start marshalling TIF funds at the high school. We have some resources available that we can use for job creation and have to start with a frontal assault on the problems that confront us. Alderman Bernstein thanked Ms. McCorkle for an incredible report. Some phrases in the report scared him to death but he can't say that they surprised him. We pride ourselves on our diversity but it always occurred to him that integration doesn't necessarily mean that you move in next to somebody who is a different color or different ethnicity but rather you move in and come to know those persons for their differences and learn to love them for those differences, then you move forward. He does not know that we live in an integrated community because when he goes to the high school and the grade schools, over here he sees the kids of one color and over there the kids of another color. He does not know why that is, whether it's a nature, which he chooses not to believe, but we have to change the culture, something we've talked about before, forever, and now its time to do something about it. Alderman Holmes wanted to elaborate on something Alderman Jean -Baptiste said, that we have to look at the youth at Church and Dodge. She wants us to be very conscious of not using Church and Dodge anymore, let's look at the youth at Greenleaf and Sherman, at Custer and Brummel, at Main and Dodge and at Maple and Church. She wants us to look at youth all aver because whenever we say Church and Dodge we know what people are thinking which is part of what we all feed into, If you look at the police daily blotter it's not just Church and Dodge and she wants to be on record assaying that because we have to. The 5' Ward, Church and Dodge, in terms of crime is even with the rest of the wards. Alderman Jean -Baptiste made a self criticism that we are all in this together. Alderman Tisdahl thanked Ms. McCorkle and everyone else for telling her things that she did not want to hear but knows are true. A note of some hope to bring to all of this since referring to Mothers Against Gangs several times. She spent a lot of time with Ron Strong, Sandra Hill at drop in nights. The Mothers Against Gangs drop in nights did not stop as a result of any misbehavior on the part of any students. For 3 years, every Saturday night in the summer, students were a well behaved terrific bunch kids that responded not only to her but Ms. Hill and Mr. Strong. The community was so incredibly supportive and funded that volunteers poured in to spend their Saturday nights in the high school gym. Ms. McCorkle, this community Is more behind you and your report than you may realize. Once again. she would like to say, the kids were terrific. Page 7. .;- 4i- AWMynJ kste moved to accent the reoort and recommend at least the Initial first vear proposal with the me vstlon that we may need to add some more comoonents to It to make It as strona as possible. Alderman Bernstein ss'c xWed the motion. motion unanimousiv approved (5-0). Alderman Tisdaht thanked everyone for their excellent report and a job well done. VI. CONSIDERATION OF THE REFERENCE TO AMEND THE CITY'S ORDINANCE REGARDING NOISE Alderman Hansen said she made this reference because of the many phone calls she received about the booming loud music of car radios and people sitting outside in front of homes or on their blocks late into the night blaring radios from their car stereos by people who do not live in the neighborhood or even five on the block. She knows the State of Illinois has a statute and is proposing something that has a little bit of bite to it. Certainly our police officers can go out and enforce the state statute under the Illinois Vehicle Code and issue a citation. She is asking the committee to consider something more and similar to the Chicago ordinance. There are other communities that have similar ordinances that allow for the 75 feet of noise from the vehicle, Chicago and Addison, Park Forest has 150 feet. if someone was pulled over for this violation the fine would not be minimal but something a little bit more substantial. Alderman Hansen is asking the committee to also start considering, as Chicago does, towing the vehicle at the very first violation of a loud music ordinance. An ordinance such as she is proposing needs bite in order to be effective. Alderman Hansen said she worked as a law clerk when the City of Chicago's ordinance first came out and can tell you it was very effective in the way of a substanUal fine at the onset and towing of a vehicle. We need to do something about this as there are many people in the 9ti" Ward continually subjected to this, not only during the day but all hours of the night. It would be good for this community, in terms of a nuisance, to put a little more bite into this ordinance which is why she's asking you to consider It. Alderman Bernstein noted if we're starting to talk about towing we are looking to Impact the owners of the vehicles, who customarily are parents if the children are there. When somebody permits the operation of a noisy vehicle does the Chicago ordinance relate back to the owner/parents of the car? Ms. Hansen said it allows for the towing of the vehicle and would relate back to the owner of the vehicle because the person who will to get the car out of the pound will be the parentlowner. Alderman Bernstein thought he may also have received a number of calls about this. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked in his 5 years on the Council he has only received about 4 or 5 complaints on this Issue. He kncrrvs a number of adults In the community are concerned about this but just after discussing the issue of youth empowerment this will impact the youth first. He is moving to hold this in committee to ask Ms. McCorkle if she can generate some youth response to this ordinance and see if we can find some middle ground to try to resolve this particular conflict At this particular point in time the issue of towing the cars, giving the police the additional ability to stop and Impact ownership is a major issue. We should have further discussion to see if we can bring in some youth responses. Reverend Kdstern Doll, has lived at 140 Custer on the corner of Custer and Brummel for a little over a year. The reason she moved to Evanston from Minnesota was to go to graduate school at Northwestern University. She essentially works at home and lives on the entire first floor of a 3 flat building which means she has all four exposures going on. There is no where in her apartment that she can go to escape the noise of these cars. They go down Custer so loud her windows shake, the mirror over her fireplace mantel shakes. All of herwork is done in her home and she works from the moment she gets up until the moment she goes to bed. She is so disturbed she can't study and actually resorted to wearing earplugs in her own home just to escape this very constant noise. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he has gotten 4 or 5 calls in his tenure as an Alderman but she wants to emphasize that this problem is not equal throughout Evanston. Certain areas have this problem more than others and not hearing this from your constituents in no way means this is not a very severe and very grave problem for other individuals. She implores you from the bottom of this heart that is trying to be a good and productive member of this community that you help us out here as this has impacted the quality of her life so severely that she has considered moving. She does not want to move. she likes the community, her neighborhood, and her building and feels strongly about wanting to stay. If she can't do what she came here to do it makes it very difficult. She urges you to take this Into very serious consideration before you write if off. Thank you. Alderman Hansen explained why she said start with the impoundment, because that is the big bite of the ordinance. The state statute says it's a petty offense, S50 fine, our ordinance says a minimum fine of $10 which is not going to get someone who is fined to turn down the radio or be a little bit more respectful when driving in the community. If some members of the committee are worried about a hardship on the parentewho aren't driving the vehicle at the time, she would argue in terms of what Ms. Reed talked about parents being on top and taking responsibility for their kids. If you didn't want to go with the impoundment issue then she would ask that you look at making It a substantial fine then that driver is held responsible. She is not saying loud music in a vehicle leads to a fatal car accident but is sure many of have seen the Tribune, on a daily basis, writing about teen drivers. Inevitably it is going to be young drivers that turn up their radios and drive throughout the community. This is a problem in our community orat least parts of the community and she Is asking the committee to consider doing something other than just leaving it as is. If some members of the committee do not feet that the impoundment is something they want to consider then she is asking you talk about an increased fine, $60 Page 8. and that you incorporate it into our ordinance. As the ordinance is now written It's a little vague, Instead of talking about vehicular car radios she's proposing a 75 feet distance. Alderman Holmes did not think Alderman Hansen Is talking about car radios but about those speakers that are Installed. When people pass her street her house shakes and she understands exactly what this refers to. Alderman Holmes believed this is in reference to these large speakers installed in the cars notjust turning up normal radio music, which does not cause that kind of vibration, the amplified radio is different than just normal radios. Alderman Moran thinks noise pollution is a serous problem In our world and certainly the speaker's statement was a very eloquent testament that something can be a real detractor to a neighborhood. If Alderman Jean -Baptiste wants to get youth input on this that's fine, but if people are acting badly he's not anxious to hear them tell they can't turn their speaker or radio down. We're all expected to have consideration for our neighbors. Whenever the committee is ready he's ready to go along with what Alderman Hansen Is saying in some shape or form. He would ask that the Legal Department bring back a beefed up ordinance with some options on this whether its increase enhancement or impoundment, we can then consider it and decide what's best for the community. Alderman Bernstein did not have any problem with beefing up the statute, his concern is enforcement. The vagaries of this statute of 75 feet in terms of prosecution after enforcement is always the question of the ability to enforce. He would ask the Police Chief how often we stop people for loud music or the pounding. Chief Nilsson said he did not have that exact number. He knew this was going to be on the agenda today but it takes time to find that number. He did talk to some of the traffic officers that make the arrests. These loud radios are an insult and an assault on our senses not to mention an invasion of our privacy, which is what makes us very aware of this. The challenge of doing the enforcement is young people do know the law and when they see that marked squad car the 400 amps automatically gets turned down to 25 amps and the woofer; and speakers are not vibrating anymore. He also found out from the officers issuing the fines that the Judges are not issuing maximum fines on these they're almost like nuisance complaints and are just being given minimai nines. We are and do write tickets but they're not that easy to find. When a cargoes by somebody's home by the time they callus and we get there where do we begin to took for that car. The end of last summer we did an enforcement action In the 571 Wa►d and wrote about 4 or 5 tickets in the area over the course of a couple weeks. It's difficult to catch them. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he is not ignorant of the fact that the problem exists but thinks the Chief himself indicated that at an intersection with multiple cars and one of them bouncing ail over the place, which one do you stop. He thinks the ambiguity of all of that is the police will stop the black youth. He's suggesting we ask Ms. McCorkle to take that to the high school to ask for some participation or interaction and circulate that as a flyer in the community saying there Is an ordinance on the books and there are some consequences. He's not suggesting we let people go who committed a violation, once you have a policy in place with police officers tracing and tracking down people you will not have a limit to what they do or do not do. If we do some advance work of educating people then everybody is on notice. if we pass this now and City Council approves it 2 weeks from now we then have enforcement starting and he does not think we have given people enough notice. He's not suggesting your experience is invalid as even ordinary traffic noises can be disruptive when trying to sleep at night. We will get the maximum that we could get out of this by just unleashing some kind of ordinance and'having major enforcements when no one is on notice as to just what is going on with it. He is suggesting we hold this in committee and give some notice to the youth population as we have just talked about the youth population and we need to give them some consideration. He's not talking about giving them a buy but giving them some consideration. Alderman Holmes asked if we could develop some guidelines along the lines of the amplifiers which would give the police some reasons for towing or large fines not just having the radio turned up. We have to look at this in terms of the real offenders because they are not using plain radios but using amplifiers. Developing some guidelines would help with the enforcement. Judith Treadway, 226 Callan, Is the Education Chair of the NAACP of Evanston, said she came here tonight from a school board meeting because she wanted to listen to the presentation regarding the youth engagement. Shewas a little late getting here and would like to request a copy of the report. The issue of youth engagement is a very vital and important issue in the Evanston community. Many people who have been working with youth, like herself, have been working in different avenues of engagement of youth, recreationally, spiritually on the streets, in schools, at our after school programs and our community centers. We are very concerned about what is going on with our youth today because Evanston is just a microcosm of the United States of America. In terms of the engagement of our youth there are many Is3ues she knows you wish to move forward and address with some real action steps. She will withhold any of her comments until she had read the report so she may adequately share her comments with the committee. She wishes to ask if you considered a population in our community who have the responsibility of our youth who are our relative caregivers. our grandparents. They represent more than 35% of the adults who are caring for many of these youth that we are trying to engage. She did not know if that was included in the report if not that there would be some outreach to some of our adult population who are raising these children. In terms of nuisances In Evanston and the safety and quality of life Page 9. _� i she too is concerned about the boom boxes and speakers in the cars that you want to holler in the middle of the night when that wakes you. We should use education as an initial step to educate the public if there is going to be any changes In any ordinances or the development of ordinances we need to advise our citizens that they should either not be able to play a radio that has a speaker that's over a certain decibel. She does not know if you want to restrict people purchasing this In the City of Evanston as that is a way of dealing with that issue. The other issue she would like to bring before the committee is the Issue of cell phones. It is time for our City to start addressing hands free cell phones because everyone has one and you have people just wantonly talking on the phone holding up traffic and causing accidents. Hand held cell phones create hazards driving and puts the driver as well as anyone walking in the street at risk. She is not an advocate for a lot of ordinances and would like to see some of the ordinances enforced. She realizes we do not have all the manpower we need to enforce all the ordinances but would like to see one of the ordinances we have been struggling with for along time be enforced which is Trucks on Ridge Avenue. She is constantly jockeying with trucks from morning, noon until night on Ridge Avenue. This is an ordinance we have had for along tune and needs to be enforced. She attended community meetings talking about our youth as many of the issues related to our youth are negative. We need to start thinking about all of the positive things that we could do to change not only our behavior and perception of youth but also to engage the youth in a more positive way. She is supportive of that and our NAACP Branch would like to be involved in any support, dialogue, or outreach to our youth in Evanston. Alderman Hansen noted Chief Nilsson stated the police are already doing this so people on the street are on notice. She does not know how productive it would be going to the high school and asking the students what they think about such an ordinance or stepped up penalties or fines. She suspects 99% of them would say they did not like that kind of ordinance. Alderman Hansen cited an example of a neighbor of hers that continued to blare loud music no matter how many times or how nicely was asked to turn it down. Asa person who dabbles in criminal law Alderman Hansen wanted to say one of the goals of a penalty type ordinance is deterrence. If you put such an ordinance or stepped up fine on the books the police officers won't be going out saying they have a new ordinance or fining these people and writing tickets all day long, all year long. Deterrence, you put it on the books, you step up the fine, if they do it once they will learn from it and they're already on notice. She Is asking you not to put this by the wayside but really consider it and test It. Thank you. Alderman Wollin wanted to briefly refer to the question regarding Judges. We have raised the fine for under aged drinking and it has had a dramatic effect, at least in her ward. She has been to some of the adjudication hearings. A young man had a very, very loud party that disturbed a number of neighbors including people in his own building. The Judge gave him a $25 fine, that is not enough to be a deterrence. For students having a large party that is comparable to a permit fee. One of the ordinances she would like looked into is raising the fine for loud parties because that is similar to what Alderman Hansen is saying; it has to be a significant fine. The landlord was ready to prosecute and charged his tenants $250 for disturbing the peace in his building which is the type of fine the Judge should have given. Alderman Jean-Baotiste made a motion to hold this in committee unt'1 we circulate this information to 1311ve notice to more aeonle aarticulariv some of the vouna people who mlaht be impacted. Alderman Holmes seconded the mo ion. Alderman Bernstein noted this reference is here for consideration and why don't we refer it back to ourselves. To him the ordinance is so vague it probably is unenforceable. We can't mandate what the Judges are going to do when we get to court and some of the young people playing these loud radios don't really understand they are violating another's rights, as this is the way music is played. The circumstances Alderman Hansen related about somebody sitting in front of the house constantly disturbing the peace, in that instance the police should be called as you have a witness to testify about the noise. From the other side of the criminal justice process he does not want to pass ordinances that we can't convict on and thinks this is a very, very difficult ordinance to enforce and successfully prosecute. Alderman Bernstein said he would be happy to raise the fines but does not think it is going to help the enforcement methods of the police. He does not want profiling to become part of this and does not disagree with Alderman .lean -Baptiste that sometimes it may come to that, although he does not think it's the function of color but the function that maybe these kids' ears are gone which may also be a part of this, they need the vibration because they can no longer hear the sound. He'd like to do some work with this ordinance and does not think it's ready to send to Council and without formally holding it would like an opportunity to go over this ordinance. There is a tot of strange and very vague language that to him is an unenforceable. Alderman Bernstein addressed Reverend Doii and said if somebody is consistently violating your space call the police. The problem is enforcement and his suggestion to people is when they call tell the police the direction the car is going in. It's not a bad idea to send a notification to the high school reminding people that loud music is offensive and a violation of other people's space, but does not know how much that will work. Alderman Tisdahl said she would support increasing the fine as she thinks the current fine Is too low. She also supports Alderman Jean-Bapbste's theory ifwe're going to try to involve youth we should start taking them seriously and at lease let them know that this is on the agenda, then if they want to they can come to a meeting. She is not going to be persuaded that just because they say no a fine isn't a good Idea. She would vote no to it, but would like to hear what the youth have to say and start engaging them in City government. She does support that proposal. The most we can do tonight is tell staff to draft an ordinance. We seem to have some unanimity and Interest in increasing the fine and could have staff come Page 10. back with a proposed ordinance that increases the fine and discuss that at the next meeting, at which point youth would be Involved. Alderman Jean -Baptiste agreed with Alderman Tisdahl's proposal and thought Alderman Holmes' suggestion that those who reconfigure their whole automobile to add a major speaker are the ones vibrating the whole block. If we can redraft the ordinance to include that section you can impose a higher penalty so people get a clear message about that. It is such a thin line if it's your radio that's loud as opposed to that speaker system that offends others. Alderman Berstein said It occurred to him in light of our conversation earlier tonight, that loud music In part may be that untouched youth crying out for engagement. Mr. Terry wanted to clarify that there is no ordinance on the agenda tonight; this is purely a discussion item to try to get some ideas. Also, regarding the comment about sending it back to the law Department, representatives of the Law Department were very clear with him that they would be happy to draft whatever the committee's policy direction was but they were not Ina position to offer recommendations. At this point Mr. Terry said he noted the committee's direction is to have a raised fine amount, an amount which is not yet clear, and to explore the possibility of having language Involving enhanced stereo systems. Alderman Bernstein added an analogy to the dark covering over the windows that's a question of degrees and it's always difficult to enforce the question of degrees. Alderman Holmes had a question in terms of the different sections of the noise ordinance because Alderman Wollin referred to parties and asked if that would be another whole section. Mr. Terry said that raises another question as to whether or not the committee is interested in a comprehensive review of the noise ordinance because our office did get some inquiries from citizens who had other noise issues. We did not direct them to this meeting feeling the meeting was about automobiles and stereos and that type of issue. If, in fact, the committee wishes to expand this Inquiry into all noise aspects we can certainly do that, but until now that was not his sense. Alderman Tisdahl asked if we could do loud parties without doing everything. A lady from the audience asked if we can consider putting some signs in key places and entrances to the City in some problematic areas stating that you will be fined for loud noises at")" amount. Something that people will understand and realize and also be aware of. Members of the committee agreed that this was a fine idea. Vll. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9:25 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services Page 11. ,A — w d' , k 4 rd ii. Ju A.,.6 dll■ ,. u J Yr .. W. a... HURIM SERVICEE'S' CU.t ix M k ■ 4 r ` ■ 4rir Name: Jam•-��,�il, f' � • �t.�►�� v *% �O I-) �ZA \ l._Mit ra k ►n ,.D h P *r; -S- �&Ac_ `Ty,pp yy\lal K 11� 61: tcl,rQA_ onaay -- N OVeMDer 'Zu, Zut COUNCIL CHAMBERS+ - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Address/ Organization: 1� z� , A 1Tew r4 c) tie), fw ., H 0 Cut w r S-z Xt c �AA", *�Duo - ko *A T% '7p,,� f/ly 0� c�✓r-+�P�r--ram Au,ilel,(Lco4-f1'Z C. Naylv1 w •t 5+ tYY► w9gl- !g(jkla�4114LI- V y�c�_g4►Cp HU30N SERVICES COMMITTEE 1rlVllu4yAmmo11 V Y CiliVCl COUNCIL CHAMBERS - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT.�.��---- Name: Address/Organization: P fl i 1 -- 05 e�w\.rr r� E� v. - r cA �A l r�,•,�5�: U Sr v a�.. c , <'7-ic0eQ,l/Z C-CC016 W uv6s par is 4- Recyec- n'1 P)oavc( S•a�� �!1 1 f i G O t�viP.JS f o„r go i t ,t l•�c 4- � r.+' ��� :L L. t teee- � \' •.' ,' •• i•a.- . .I� •4, 7.. f + �T.•1!.�"� 'ire +. h fin. e e 1tlgitive or Evwww I ... . �� , sue` 'ft• � � -S' ''; ^b�63� f ,� �. t •- . �: .-..- y= _Tti� ` gar • . it i;"�,;:y i:..+.in!'' ' �' y f�wi3�Presaniad By: Ya4th �igagement Tearii,=i�ov�n1 or 20 8� r: � Youth`Enciaaement-Teamf r= a Judy,'Alello — As City Msnager e DouO Gaynot — Dire06r of Parks and Recreation ' % " e ' Vinaetit Janes-' Asslstan't fd the CW Manager ­ f-Cynth(a Harris—DirectorPolica SoeialServices a Paula Hpyd"—DirectorofHuman Relations = ' a Carn He+rah'� Human'RolaUMi; Specialiat Jay Terry' — Director of ea f th and Human Services . i e SheliaMcCorkletY Mana—Cl erl'ubllclntorestFeliaw` 9 "r1.:'.rr1f 1�, BACKGROUND I The Youth Engagement Team developed a vision for the Youth Engagement Initiative based on Goals 3 and 12 of the City's Strategic Plan which state: ✓ Generating marketable job skills for Evanston residents s ✓ Provide opportunities for and engage Evanston youth and # young adults to become active and productive citizens of the Evanston Community ! k ---VISION-STATEMENT - -- --� -- S =w Provide opportunities for all Evanston youth l j and young adults to become active and productive citizens of the community through strengthening existing youth services, establishing a network of service partnerships, Increasing participation within the available opportunities, creating marketable Job training and placement and increasing the opportunities for social and recreational outlets for disengaged youth. ON i BACKGRON' D ' The recommendations in this re oft are based on the of owing: ✓ Data collected frorrf.youthatcyoung adults thraug formal and informal dlscuibr V. *L" ' ? �` �� Tye• T• v1ti, ' .' r=�•' �: ✓ Review of current assf3tid o�ipartunitles alcead available for'youth IrYtEie coiiiirity �;'�' f4F" ?•.�. '✓ Youth Team discussions :fin ✓ Assessment and advice�fro a �s I *r?' ✓ Best practico"research a Mou It development strategies ''�' ' 4 43Fe 3 II- -Groups - Youth As Assets, 1 '*-Young people are valuable•resourcbs In our,*.,'co', 1 arro n nd-mature as. they trafisition Into adulthood:'-:'.' m This is a shift from defc,-r- sea"i,ss"te.;ngths-based°•: occufi9'across the I, • ,,thtnklri andaagg country and ics leadtothe etiorgeiceaof r an entireiy� i new field 'posftive`yoiJth development" ® Rather than thinking `ot youth •as*a burdkp on a commuhity,communivas are mobilizin616 treat their; ; youth as assets worth 'the Investment 4 t ,. s i :j#j # 1� �Developmental Assets 10.1$earch Institute, a non-profit research Instltuta'based In Mlniieapdifs; :is a leader in positive youth development research .� ;Ssai:pb Institute has Identified 40 Internal and wabrnal liigredldpi called _,developmental esaetse that a1l young pe$ple nded toaarbw, up.? ' sy �to do healthy, competent; thr�vjp g adults C;,_�{rI Vn% IS • .. .... i • ii Tfly', , ' ♦ i�,j,'�}u�Cl4� =' '' a , iliii intira asses a 408 has, ihiJose likely boor. ahq Is tQ p�Ia(paie��' ,_;r :'; in rrali= klri behavlo'is'sf�c i'as'substance abuser barly d x ' , ,j laic G + ,hAait?iI a weif r�'sciiool� ha fi1gh sl Irl6steoirn, nd v IiIB + .Thos�'devn%' inanlal a'ss���have become a nationalotandarc an what aitth need in;iheli enirlrotiments' is become successful adults and I �vQ guidedisilr.�@aii$ I sisvgloprjlont of the recommendations t�• ,a=�' ' Target Population Recommendations are designed to support and develop youth and young adults that are In at risk environments and who may not be connected or. f have access to the.,resources and opportunities that # exist ire'Eianston; j The.Y6Uth teams dread of foccis;.throughout this process �iave- been in job readinesslemployment, recreatioiilpositive youth invoiveirient and social - si-e.T •.,.. ,#• � .,,E 5 = obfainingJYouth Perspective r,, 0 me:.Me Corkle has met with ovec.f01] outh and yyaiing adults, r $' hagas 14-23, to discus assets and iihallenges of the youth In Evans afi' ✓• Discussions were conducted through formal and Informal interac' do; s .r ~ �� . ' In the following Vva�rs;;-� : •'-;%0 x�.�- , y� ✓ Organtied focus b" ' at tho• Civic Center ✓ Informal talks at Mason and Brummel Park �w.r ✓ Discussions with youth at ETHS during lunch and after school'' _t ✓ Informal talks wfth,youth riding around with Police Youth Outreach Unit + ..i`:�'�i '" '' " �r3 r`S•� '`"'✓`Mr. Bembrysida s 66 td young opfe at Family Focus, .:w . Fleotwooi3.lourdiari and'during his ride along with Police Y6A-,' Outreach Unit _ .•, s t OBSERVATIONS Do you feelAe'a v`alue�dpar�cgf Evanston communlW it ✓ Youth expressed a WI espfead-een§a of disconnect as members of the Evanston community „ ✓ Many did not fool welcome fit EVanatohoUtstde the*lr own neighborhoods, especially In the d p#htown area because of negative experiences they perceive frost} Wor teslidents ✓ Feeling of constantly being stereotypod and are often dissuaded from participation In events oractivitiesin other parts of Evanston ✓ Though many of these feelings can be assxiated with the persistent racial divide that ezlsts In i=vanston, these feelings also extend territorially within the sama-raceR ' . ✓ Do not feet as thot;gh there fs a youth voice, do not feel as though there are groups looking at for their Interests in the community y I F 71­ :�� .� ..,.� tf� �7�T•.;•�vY�•`�.�•.��'•��7���t+,4aw�=.�K.-e:.:3�:�.,�r����+ .�. •i.•i �1 ;IIaYy-r Y � •�r�: :? � I� - •V -�t t Do you fee! like'' rare arafye aftlntsre3t�ng Otfetstor� ��'�,.;�'�"??et�op�rUcTpate•�'�vtan?�•,..; . '-�y � �,� 4 'BHom 1 waiK to [ApracY?Sl!r+rjrShl�y 1 ki airrii qm :Y Bvut#tbrl You . ,'-sr,� .;"�•'' � "tl la +:beeper to pe4.ttip{�S l Evanston, + � ' w � - - A 1••r�'!' �' � � tt►an -is 4a� rAoutea.- ErrJrattir�,�t;'tA' , � r ,, ~� �y_' Though rionY toaftitfi� `puticIpstW In posltiv�`�itat'sch�o�atn 1 lhR duftcore �vJ, they nwdx rt+1yh s ooNgh kehool years, �ost twd aged out bf the progranei t L L Al a r�: i✓ .'Those programs that era arsl�atile faro'kder youth Wm too er; ansive to partfclpati�S . 3 ' r Youth 1;4 ' siv;i►rgtsck o1 aVa(libte eoeial space gestvd to"Lda their interests irid fit interested in ow gymi la ski-dati Souris, oryintsed dance, irtti ind music propiups,# ' anher tree or Mon a opdab -JAY, � r A place to do horrre" with tutors and meMaii i `� . y {.' A! �Ss 'A teen a In tttrtrlch !ha could comfortably end safely hartQ out wkth aae otAer i as `; roller -a N1ri wtln4 at3eylvldeo pamas type otvanun. - �.�:,, • ' � •- - OBSERVATIONS Career Development, Job Readiness and Employment ✓ An overwhelming number of the yoUth'and young adults--i. ;;� �:• expressed a need to find meaningful employment. ✓ Many were reluctant to go through job readiness training fear that they would be wasting their time ✓ There was a general lack of knowledge on what types of V careers they wanted to pursue, what jolt oppottti�Wes o.r; c�,-eer. i fields.exlsteci arfdwhat steps ware requited #o pursue such, .'oPPortunitles • 'fix _ _' _ - •{t'••-e 'i� I n YbT, C de% th-, RECOMMENDATIONS ned so that five years tr These recomme , Es. 2-464, i ZEE? to see, V A reduction In criminal ;ehav16i..dQiAo and unfavorable activities' iamRng youth In and young sdulii In ourcommunity �OFikr'Ah irbidlalii .6 hi y'blulth pardtera-o�-ngecHatjon sponsored after NZ w I - 6 .. .. , , . progra ms 16'960th en Ati fficrttasa ga60ed In ed c 0 �'!An Increase In con'v'amlon of participants to future worklerce. An increase 11 agency. colla bo ration among agencies (entered 6i3.,!1 designated attategTes and leadership A sustaInable aril significant youth voice ie Commun tV-wldo standa0i and goals that measure impact and accountability �I I II III„ - .. - - .. -- - '-.i` - '. {•- -yqy yL yy RECOMMENDATIONS i .-.; ;1) Establish a Youth Dtvislon j ,21 Reestablish a Youth Commission 3) CreatO a Youth Council d) Create Addltlonal Opportunities and Strengthen Existing a. Recreation b. Employment/Vocational ,i:. 51 Connect to Nand to Reach Populatlons a. Expand Youth ; treet Outreach : • = ' s 6} Establish Measurement Goals and Standards to Track Impacts, .. = `I► 7) Community Action 1 Youth Summit 8) Agency Collaboration 91 -Aild State Funding for Youth Initiatives to Council Agenda; •rw "WIN : } i ✓ Division that oversees the planning, coordinating, supplementation and possible consolidation of activities of the public, private and religious agencies devoted to the Welfare and development of youth ✓ Monitor, coordinate and create comprehensive goals and strategies throughout the city's various Individual programs and departments that serve the youth in specific functions ✓ Sustainable infrastructure with designated leadership needs to be put into place to support polices and programs as well as monitor and build capacity on the assets already available both within the city as well as with external agencies serving youth Immmli e Just as the city Invests In maintaining Its Commission on Aging to specilically address the Issues and needs concerned with that population of citizens, so should it to be concerned with addressing youth concerns, who are the undisputed future of the city Many cities and counties around the country are engaging in action to help bridge the deficit that exists between youth and decision makers • Youth Commission made up of citizens, human services agencies and youth representatives take the role of setting goats, establishing priorities, advising local councils on legislative measures as well as monitoring program evaluations ► Involve the youth In the decision making and development of the community Program that provides youth not only with resources to loam about civic engagement but also with a genuine and meaningful opportunity to make youth voices heard which will a sense of ownership in this community r Youth Engagement Initiative should not only be a means by which the city can better serve its young people, but should foster an opportunity to teach young people how they can affect and serve their communities as well as develop a sense of social responsibility 1 i Recreation: 1) Teen drop -In center: * A place with positive youth activities and opportunities * Need for mentors and positive adult Interaction * Safe space to interact with peers on an Informal basis, a place to just hang out with friends, couches, TV, ping PDng, pool table etc. 0 Open late nights and on weekend for dances a Computer access and tutoring available In the after school hours V Youth Involved in the design of space II r.: Recreation/ PositW&Enaagement4 2j Use the Intergov utilize school facilities: • Create dro tp ro rams, gym access etc.T► P 9 e a Creating a sa a ubllc transportatloit fnirastriictt citywide: t''•'-`~` Youtiueky wevens''#i'p'Fairts �,y offeretn o eri'rttovanston specifically,in e • - '"�►elg WwnuLnaa�o 3angTtja";.' - -.7 • "�5.' also expRf. a131.�+rtY- f • �• c t.sa , ira.getting _ ll fir. ..�`�-. •y ���}tik :1'^••' r i ij Hun cu c o Asa i Pan 9 a, ding a'h fl specifically`c 17 ,?,L,• P. noHnow ;i4'shaie'reso4 nt and Vocational Traininq i Depari mint Es working to strengthen the Summer Program (ages 14-98): ' f rece e}summer employment t era ella at] on tools for employers and youth ?royor participation within the business district Vt ellearning component to the curriculum icernhig the 'Compare and Contrast" component asiiils component through coilaborativo efforts itio;, Department oer joblemployment efforts in the community to s and utilize job training programs LAN liT Ei bi I6- ment aMN-6 Z) Human Relation • Two phase pro the. summer jo�s.� to participate and • Phase one of T&T - studentsiI technology class and particip., th the city and opportuntttes wt jjj' • Phase two of T&T �studeiits summer by their�sponsore e� i all ZA `f s- �mglovrnen ,Vocational Trainiriq ear -round 3) Human Relations Dept �t is creating a y employmentges16-js t"= :•:,: O Two. or �aloymentprogram .r Q Iden 20 jusiior loryear-around employment— 10 stutlents,.. being hlrecl within the city,1Q being hired outside the city; oaeh.' `? year new juniors would join the program - _,,.?��,:"�',�i#i��"•j1 O Each year new juniors would join the program {fiat affe part , time employment In duringg tho school year and .141$ fie in r• employrnefifiluring the stlriiiner inonths Q Offer employe op nr1.o( pin-�lvo;empio mont articipating ralrram at a late of 5Q'l. oifhe minimum wag$�, *A3 �Wj� {.,+w tag • 'w •+ a'',fti ,- • . l .} ,�, .�, A. Ei M Vocational Training C) to Is partnering witw E64S.8 School-t ;Wrk, rograrn (ages 16-1 10 StNde'n1§ per semester' 'placed within departAeAts In the city to learn aboutain'd work within specific vocational'061ds 0 Job readiness curriculum and job reflective component provided by E�THS as part of the"'" students class schedule Z Emoloyment,and Vocational- Traininq W4 7-5 Will 6) The M inid"O t y ,Hess"; mr .0g.rarnJs working 'JAV ice to creaWAppretl icbs i Wograrn* (ages 17-30 T 2K O.Morking with U.S De of Labor, . Eva nston locar6ommunity Cbl[6geS to get Evanston residents into ar apprenticeship tra-ih.ing.in construction and btfier. vocational fields 14 Iob Trairifrt�'Fun.sii'r�1i iinpCograms at Oakton' collected through i I.J 4 The programming recommendations offered are developed with the target audience of youth and young adults that are in at risk environments and may need outside support for successful development With those youth in mind, there is a faction of youth and young adults, many of which are the most visible populations in the city, which, will require intensive outreach in order to become engaged in the available opportunities i 16 V— Prevention >>>1nterV'6i 0 Mpny of the social agencl pro ' Vandon philosophy LhA they become Involved In at l •T atilt a to n ;�.ifhou 0 c 4- rMHard to Reach Youth th W-0 orig xw�q Man "a (6 malts two workers In ong van 13 an WEvansn to, lot 11110. - VT1 an NuEr" y thpj'O no outreach work being done I an of Ewanston Aw r, .4 a 1� to &6' WeE A worVL' train youth and you'n'gl- rtcers youth leadera1b acras a tirsMl- t 4 6, MiNKgsourcusloppcirtunitlei "MR, arid 36dat 1 'FA- DIM anaborn 17 iti�l. �-' �' �� :Tit. J.. ..•: _,'�- Si r't"t•r���`4�J'- t�nectincl 0 s�'_ o`�4ut of...5chvol� Ire, i-.is •r ..> a-�it n a.reach the youth pogu nttthat are rio longer connected to the Nr+;;.�.:.. school system becauseiti hale graduated or dropped out, the ;exploring ways to partner with the Youth Job Ce to O# tan : :" Gad unity Cdi[!'tg6-dnifli6k ��r ft f a Fess- o atl�ho z egjes foryoulig,adu`#Ls Ehningful K r • s, v aU -abd Informational gap It at,'-'- oif"C f 0 g utilized ..d. � ` ' r- _-, A�ti f .• - `tip` r. %89111 Ws .p s;o( onnecting yo6n�a1. f =rograri�mIng reso6rcbj *4' �a `*To tiitough direct autreach�`r"I .+ ,,�ataliter jcb�s,p* , r Fn Tu a7.. •i.. +... s, w .M ':.r1'. X:ar ai �.0 '--t L �••1 raj rY� ♦•. .. i W k v The City does not currently have a mechanism for tracking impacts with the youth agencies receiving funding through the Mental Health board or the CDBG Committee • Establish a standard set of goals or measurement tools In place to i Indicate whether agencies are successfully serving the youth a These set of Indicators will enable to the city to build capacity on programs that work and eliminate those that are not Impacting the youth d The City Manager's Office along with staff of the Department of Health and Human Services and the Planning Department will soon begin discussions after both these funding bodies establish these performance goals and measures e It is the goal of these departments to have these standards in place for the fiscal year of 2009 agency funding cycle 16 r e The City cannot address the issues of youth alone. Top down Intervention is not enough to create lasting change * Community organizations, social agencies, local businesses, religious organizations, neighborhood block associations and Individual citizens all have to be apart of supporting all the youth of this community • Leadership from the Alderman and other community leaders Is necessary to mobilize and empower community members to be involved in this effort s Leadership is needed to develop community action plans and create networks of neighbors who are committed to the actions that support the youth -Youth Summit `1�:'Annual Youth Summit that heavily involves the youth and `. community organizations in the planning -process, <� V_ City vOld discuss110ff" on the issues that con-ET6 iouth develkn d rinent from tti�perspective of both"ji;h ut�t,.at-id those'-wh'�:supl ort youth Re{iresentatives foment_ties sittirig; .ar"aurid a.table wittrlhe �u�pose of•creatiE g a -city wide �: •.. �_.:_c3�,�:= :�:¢,-:. _..:':s• G}�.•y'fjie317g�-, ; •' "' -_ ti.,�t�j*',•« ,'a -.`;"+�-- -_-a-°.^_R-,ttiir.ri�, .- Jtii. ,�x}�s -•: .1 ;�,:, tisa,lso4anotheymectjanism•foerecognizing-youtiras.w,_; �alue membars.o flievco'r�muErity that have an ' r er g F oWne�sjifi Kd1er, ` ails ri' de'velopmer�t _ t" Ur ... , 5 , ; {ra. it+n{s� i :' f, 4" fit• '"_`,`, VE i'�i:F'yy'ii!!�tiati•�•.�.}y � {�r�wsff!e'�in ��� l-•."` - t -, .�1�1��. -�.., =i�.,•',�iT,lf� +''=s ,_':��}p. -. ��.�{'}i�-.•S��•i�.• �- •�ik �. - - -��X is �' 19 • Collaborations are opportunities to share best practices, inform on other agencies of Individual programs, dialogue and strategize concerning specific Issues and pull resources to better serve the target population on a larger scale Q The City Is In a unique position of already being connected to most of the youth agencies as a funding body and therefore serves as a natural coordinator of the many social agencies a The Youth Division would be able to take on the role of creating a forum by which agencies can collaborate and devise action plans that better address the Issues of the youth ------.-Creatinq a Centralized Youth Website s Many of the assets and opportunities that exist are not making the Impact they have the potential to make because there -is a jack of community knowledge about such resourcesVi- 6., track of shared knowledge amongst the es ram.;r,a�• � .'�a .. s Using the data collected In the commun�t�i;�lls;McCojk , s i working with youth and city staff to create a.coli�p�ehenslve website that lays out all of the available resourrces r--•-va0' �. opportunities for the youth of Evanston e Goal of the website o Create a centralized location for youth and famllies to access the community resources In the fieldsof emplbyinent, recreation, social sorvices and special events': f o_Yorith service providers to,inforniiet'bmmu`n#ty"b;'programs;., .,- j I and events as well as gain information on what other agencies and organizations are doing to support youth 1 E { ' I 20 �,�_•� ..�''-, «. rP. ua•.. ... - ... � � .. � -.- .+'.rfyr:,,'a,.:b �"`-1, el�,��••`•�••p.C�y'l:��Y.t'S i. % y o State funding has supported a number of pilot programs in delinquency prevention, job training, vocational education and other youth services in other programs in Illinois and local best practices. ,These have been funded by both educating State departments to local needs and by the use of "member initiative" dollars in the State legislature e State funding for local Initiatives for youth should be added to the City's legislative agenda when the City Council members meet with our local State elected ,.officials. PpEsummary of Recommendations Establish a Youth Division,;.: •IS• � ; f t � •r AI•, •A .21 ,Reastabllsh a Youth Cci nrnlsslon 3) Creates o �M HAT'' `_' �`'� •�• 1'`! .! - 4) Createfgd{tlonal DppoXunllls•+�s arnd Sire an Existing Assets a. Recrestion 7M . b. Empic '60nnect to A. Expan ammunlfj� 9 �.-Agee y d Col • '� i' R 91 Add 561:6 F �l .5 21 I Mi— CONCLUSION AND SUMrVIARY 0 The following recommendations afe presented to ihe Human Services Committee as the i�`'itial steps fob, building p you_ th developiriifi'nfrastiucture J, :;� •�+ _ • G./ ate: � .; +, r ': � ;' i ! y, a The Youth team devises ese rec6rnmendations`to t support the. Goals of the,$trategia Plan as weiraslthe vision ofAb Youth'En�65bdhient Initiative N a Additionally these 'recammendations,are designed �_ "yl•I not only to fultill.the,`s1 iport gaps that eidst.for youth and young adhi fd`bW:also, gook to•=piovlde a more. efficient me ' to70iRi �ar�;collaborate and condense assets.a ieady available in the community 0 r- -CONCLUSION AND SUMMARY m i ay We will continue: to iimplore the go)tpective and feedback of yotti�airic! young aadiJifs a welL_s the ,greater Evanst R-co y: T i �E=1s aaconn`�tiunity ;' f_s�va[��' Sty LAi1. 4t i ♦! i ^3d: oe lolved. Tice; risibility party for rid our youth and; other community iiii developing a more e`yauth. Success is eiglitiorhoods in liii M initiative i'•'-,r t 1 ! city cannot be the building systems o Leadership of the Ajd6rm leaders will be a crucil lfpp supportive commiihifj�if&-' heavily depend. drl loca support of the-Yon6 utfi Enga 22 Yfor your time an Thank you achieve o c pmenfed by S e ;..YOUTWE ass a j First Year Funding Priorities. 1. Youth Coordinator and appropriate support services for the division (Approximately $84,000) 2. Female Unit for Police Outreach (Approximately $50,000) 3. Work Study Program with ETHS (Approximately $27,000) 4. Summer Youth Employment Program ( Funded through General Fund) 5. Teen & Technology (No Cost) 6. Coordination of Job Training (No Cost) 7. Apprenticeship Program (No Cost) 8, Youth Council !Youth Summit (Outside Funding) 23 MEMBERS PRLgg T: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT; PRESIDING: 1. CALL TO ORDER r CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, January 29, 2007 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:30 P.M. Aldermen Bemstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl Judy Aiello, Rolanda Russell, Dennis Nilsson, Sam Pettemo, Doug Gaynor, Jeff Corey, Bob Domecker, Harvey Saver, Elke Purze, Brad Yatabe, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky Alderman Hansen, Sharon Eckersall, Diane Benjamin, Evanston Township Assessor's Office; Sue Cantor, ,lane Grover, Mental Health Board; (See attached list of Attendees) Alderman Tisdahl Alderman Tisdahl called the meeting to order at 8:40 p.m. and apologized for the lateness in starting the meeting as the Aldermen were all in attendance at another meeting. it. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 20, 2006, MEETING The minutes of the November 20. 2006 meeting were called and approved (4-01. (Alderman Bernstein was not in attendance at this time.) III. CONSIDERATION OF DECEMBER 2006 AND JANUARY 2007 TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes' ongoing question pertained to the Assessor's office December legal fee bills for R. S. Hoover and Associates. From December 11, 2006 through January 10, 2007 another S1,177.50 was added. Alderman Holmes questioned when will this end and what are these additional charges for? Ms. Purze of the City's Legal Department has been in direct contact with Mr. Hoover regarding the bills and said this case is on appeal. In August of 2005 we won on our motion for summary judgment to have the case dismissed. The plaintiff took it up on appeal and the Appellate Court afforded the plaintiff numerous opportunities to file their record. Apparently there was something improper about the riling of the record which is wtiat is delaying the case at the Appellate level. Alderman Holmes wondered how many times an appeal can be filed. 1.1s. Purze responded when an appeal is filed certain procedures need to be followed. Mr. Hoover sent a time line of everything that he filed with the Appellate Court up to this point. Alderman Bernstein also voiced his frustration with Mr. Hoover as this has been ongoing for years. Alderman Moran recalled the committee's concerns were about being billed large amounts of money strictly for clerical things, he assumes for somebody getting on a train in Lake Forest and traveling to the Daley Center to file something and then back to Lake Forest on the train billing us S250 and hour to do that There are services that will do what has to be done for $30 or $35 an hour. We need to get some delineation of how they went about with the defense of this case and how they were billing us and thought we would have this information tonight, as this has become quite expensive. Ms. Purze said she had the briefs and the time lines but does not have an exp:anation for why we were charged S250 for filing. Alderman Moran asked if they filed Appellate Court briefs without the record being on file as nothing can be done without the records being on file. Ms. Purze said they were trying to supplement the records because certain portions of the records were missing at the Circuit Court level. Alderman Bernstein asked if we can get Mr. Hoover's billing statement as he wants to see what the hours are, we were supposed to get these billing statements on a regular basis. This case was capped two years ago at a third of what this is costing and we are nowhere near done. Alderman Bernstein moved to hold oavment of this until all the billina statements were received, Alderman Jean - Baptiste fell we should pay a third of what Is being billed us and if Mr. Hoover wants to get all his money he can take us to court. To supplement Appellate records you can go to a clerk or call to ask if the records are ready and send anybody available to pick the record up to take a block away to the Appellate Court. We need to stop being exploited by this individual. Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded the motion to hold the bills. He hoped Mr. Hoover will get the message we have been trying to communicate to him for a long time. HSC Minutes 1/29107 - Page. 1 Aldsmian Tlsdahl called fore vote on the motion to hold inavment of Hoover bills. motion unanlmousiv passed (5- 1 Alderman Bamstein questioned Ms. Eckersall's need of additional funds for trial reassessment as that comes every three years, no matter time of the year it comes. Ms. Eckersall said it always comes during May, June and July, however her budget ends March 31$ and they want to be prepared for them starting March 90' when notices are mailed out. This means they won't be coming In until Tuesday of the following week so we have a few days there plus three five day weeks. We close the appeals the Thursday before Good Friday as we are not open on Good Friday. With the amount of days left in March we feel we will not need to request any more money for the assistant. This was discussed with Ms. Vance and what's left in the budget for office expense will cover this cost. We may run over in supplies but are going to time it where the supplies will go into the following year's budget. We think we're okay with this because they shortened the days by two weeks. Alderman Tlsdahl called for aooroval of the Townshlo December 2006 and January 2007 bills. to include Alderman Bernstein's amendment to hold t)avment of all Assessor's ieael bills. Alderman Moran moved aooroval, seconded by Alderman Bernstein. motion unantmousiv nonroved (5-01. IV. COINSIDERATiON OF ORDINANCE 12-0-07 AMENDING THE CiTY NOISE ORDANCE Alderman Hansen stated she met with Brad Yatabe of the Law Department and Chief Nilsson and Commander Pettineo to discuss enforcement of this ordinance and an increased minimum fine opposed to the current ordinance that has a S10 minimum fine. Rados versus speakers to radios are not specified because making it simple in language it's easier for the officers to determine whether or not someone is breaking the law. In this proposed ordinance the officer can ticket them if the radio or music can be heard 75 feet or more from the car. Another reason is the new cars now being made already have standard up scaled speakers and radios. This ordinance will also allow officers to write a ticket as they hear or observe this as well as if citizens call in that someone is parked in front of their home with the radio booming. This not only pertains to cars traveling down the street but parked on the streets as well. Alderman Hansen also wanted to include language in the tow issue which she believes would give the ordinance more bite. Fines can always be kept the way they currently are in the ordinance or changed if the noise can be heard 100 feet or more from the vehicle then the issue of the tow could be instituted. Currently EPD is using the enforcement understate law where there is no minimum fine and the maximum fine is $50. At the last meeting Chief Nilsson noted when the tickets get to court the judges don't do anything with them and as it currently stands they don't have to give any type of fine whatsoever. In 2005 the Police Department wrote 33 tickets and in 2005 they wrote 28 tickets. Unfortunately Alderman Hansen was not able to get the disposition because we don't keep those the Clerk of the Circuit Court does. Alderman Hansen referred to the language and how officers would be able to enforce 75 feet. In practice an officer has to come out and say he tape measured the distance and it said 75 feet. Often times when you're prosecuting a speeding ticket and the officer didn't use a laser or other technology there is an older way of determining if somebody is speeding called pacing, whim, is how the officer testified he was able to determine the speed of the auto, something in this instance that can help the officer. Chief Nilsson said there are some intersections where the officers already know where 75 feet is. If the committee is inclined to pass this ordinance onto Council and if Council passes the ordinance, In the future officers could visualize what 75 feet would be if they were to be at some type of intersection. Alderman Hansen believed that this type of ordinance with up scaled fines and your reconsideration of the tow issue would help combat this problem in the neighborhoods. This is being written under the state level and could help us in Evanston. Alderman Bernstein had no problem with this other than the enforcement capacity and noted the one thing we have to change Is if the sound generated by the device is audible to a person. A police officer is not necessarily a person, you have different sensibilities. In the ordinance he would add, including, but not limited to, a peace officer so an officer could actually hear and make his own arrest. He would ask where is the person who heard this rather than if the officer heard It. This is not a 911 call and he encourages people to call the station if they hear a car going by with the location/direction of that car and if the next person says the same thing an officer who has time might be able to intercept that car. Absence of that he does not know how you will be able to enforce this. Alderman Bernstein made a motion to amend the ordinance by addina the lanauaae that a person includes. but no by wav of limitation. a police officer. That wav If the officer hears It on the street his determination is sufficient. Alderman Moran seconded the motion. Alderman Jean -Baptiste respected what is being done and thinks a tot of people in town are tired of the big vibrating boom boxes which is why he agreed with Alderman Holmes about targeting that kind of moving theater speaker system as opposed to the general problem of young people playing their radios too loud. Many people may be in violation of this particular ordinance during the summer months, therefore it becomes too broad, and he would like to see us address our real concern. Most people would be not be offended by a loud radio going down the street, they're offended by these boxes that vibrate the entire neighborhood. He would rather support an ordinance that would do something to help shape HSC Minutes 1129t07 - Page. 2 av� that behavior than an ordinance that is so broad it will end up being somewhat arbitrary and community young people will end up being in violation of this without really having that level of offense to their neighbors. That is why he is opposed to this particular ordinance as it is. Alderman Holmes asked Alderman Hansen if we know what the levels of those new built in systems are in the new cars. What bothers her is what would be the consequences if you buy a car with a radio that has a higher sound level than what is normally built in, not the booming vibrating systems, who do you arrest, the manufacturer. What would we be enforcing because the cars are built by the manufacturers. Most of the young people we're talking about don't have the new cars but have the old cars that they put the systems in. Alderman Bernstein said the cars may have the capacity for the loud vibration but people can turn it off which to him is the real offense. He does not know how you specify vibration in an ordinance. Years ago when decimal level was discussed the cost of monitoring devices to measure sound was ridiculous. He would look to the discretion of our officers for this enforcement. We don't profile here so that will not happen. Theoretically this ordinance is available for that kind of sound and the directive of the Police Chief would be not to go overboard with this kind of ordinance. The reality is this is a priority crime and is not the preeminent stop that the officer will make and probably will be way down on the totem pole of offenses. He does not know if there is language to codify this type of intrusion. Alderman Moran moved for sooroval of Ordinance 12.0.07. seconded by Alderman Bemsteln. Alderman Tisdahl called for any further discussion and remarked if we are going after the really louder sound she also does not want to put a lot of teenagers in violation. She wondered if this louder vibrating sound be heard more than 75 feet away and asked if 100 feet could be more acceptable. Alderman Holmes added what bothers her is the loud vibrating sounds from the speakers not the radios. Alderman Moran noted the ordinance covers everything not only speakers. Alderman Bernstein said he supports the ordinance but his concern with this ordinance, as well with the old ordinance, is enforceability, we do not want to pass a law that will not be enforceable. If we pass this ordinance this may just call attention to the right thinking people to turn the volume down to the extent that if the officers come upon an offender in the normal course of their business, they can ticket that offender. Alderman Tfsdahl called for a vote of approval of Ordinance 12-0-07. ordinance aanroved 14-11. Aldermen Moran. Bernstein, Holmes, and Tisdahi voted ave. Alderman Jean-Bantiste voted no. Mr. Terry wanted to clarify that the ordinance was approved to include Alderman Bernstein's amendment. Alderman Bernstein said he has no problem if there could be language included to address Alderman Jean-Baptiste's concerns. We will look to the Police Department for their normal, rational enforcement. V. REPORT FROM THE EVANSTON MENTAL. HEALTH BOARD ON PROPOSED FY 06 AGENCY FUNDING LEVELS Sue Canter Introduced herself, Jane Grover and Harvey Saver and proceeded to give an overview of the Mental Health Board activities during the past year reporting the Mental Health Board followed the same funding process as in the past several years. Proposal reviews were held and questions by each proposal were developed and sent to agencies, each to be addressed at the hearings. Two sets of hearings were then conducted, one with the Mental Health Board funded agencies and another with agencies funded by both the Mental Health Board and the United Way, The Mental Health Board funding guidelines and criteria were revised prior to the hearings and then filled out by each Board member after the hearings. The results were tabulated and given to the allocation committee that used this Information as one tool for forming their funding recommendations. At the November Mental Health Board regular meeting they met to discuss the recommendations, make changes as required and vote on the recommendations as a whole. The Board adopted recommendations for the allocation of S844.000 to 27 programs and 18 different agencies. This recommendation includes the requested increase of funds of 515,000 over its current level of S829,000. The rational behind the requested increase comes from a number of sources. First the funding environment continues to be difficult. State funding has tighter guidelines and is more restricted as a result of the implementation of fee for service. The Mental Health Board received a larger number of proposals than in the past. The proposals this year came from 29 programs and 19 agencies. Over the past 10 years the Board has seen a reduction of 5262,000 in funding capacity, close to a 25% reduction. This year our funding requests were up $185,000 over last year's requests, approximately a 22% increase. Even though the amount budgeted for the Mental Health Board has remained the same since 2003, at S829.000, our dollars have in effect diminished because there has been no yearly boost to make up for the increased cost of living. in the E-Plan Community Survey mental health problems were related as a top health concern in Evanston. Looking at the total community health needs assessment mental health was one of top 6 priorities which would indicate the services the Mental Health Board funds are important and valuable to the community. A number of the funded agencies and programs support and cant' out the goals of the City's Strategic Plan as well as the Youth Initiative. This is particularly true of the programs and agencies promoting housing, employment. service to families, children and youth, and those Involved in collaboration in with other agencies and community groups. In order for the Mental Health Board to fund any new initiatives without an increase In funding capability the Board would need to take dollars from stable, excellent agencies and programs that truly count on local funding to make ends meet. Approximately 10% or about 7,400 individuals of Evanston's population use the services HSC Minutes 1129107 - Page. 3 provided by the funded agencies and about 85% of these people are low income. The Mental Health Board feels the request of $15.000 is a small amount, yet it is enough for the Board to recognize and partially support some additional Services for Evanston citizens. The allocations recommendations for FY 2007I08 were broken down as follows; maintenance funding for 18 programs was recommended, increased funding of S,1000 over maintenance for 5 currently funded programs that consistently perform exceptionally well, funding was recommended for the social work program of the Community Defender, which had not been funded for the past few years, no funding was recommended for 2 programs, BE -HIV mental health programs and a new request for the Trilogy Collaborative Housing Program, although an excellent idea but was not funded largely because of the amount of money they requested, over S60,000 for startup funds which was impossible for the Mental Health Board to meet without jeopardizing other funded programs also they had not yet sought funding from other sources. We encouraged them to do so and come back with another proposal for the next funding cycle. The BE -HIV mental health program was not funded for a variety of reasons. The Mental Health Board feels that the agency has an important mission, its visibility has increased, it has a wonderful website, and has developed good fund raising strategies 1n spite of these positives, BE-HIV's mental health program has failed to meet expectations that are required of all Mental Health Board funded programs. BE-HIV's final score when measured with the Mental Health Board's funding criteria toot was the lowest of all the funded agencies. The outcome objectives developed by BE -HIV were not truly measurable and client centered, they were based only on client report. Through the past and current funding year BE -HIV was able to report progress in only one outcome objective for one -quarter of reporting. Attempts by the Mental Health Board and staff to work with BE -HIV to revise outcomes were met with slow response from the agency and less than desirable results. For the past two years BE -HIV has served only 5 Evanston residents in the mental health program. This is the program funded by the Board, not the total agency, just the mental health program. This number is below the agency's own projections both years. While the program grew from 37 to 53 total clients, Evanston people served in that program dropped from 8 to 5 clients. BE -HIV reports their therapists have nearly full case loads and there is no waiting list. This would indicate there is ability to serve more clients. Evanston has a fairly high rate of HIV AIDS infection when compared to other Illinois communities, yet BE -HIV has not been able to engage more Evanston clients. Mental Health Board's funding to BE -HIV amounts to less than 1% of their total funding dollars. This would suggest that Mental Health Board funding would be more symbolic in nature. Because of their limited dollars the Board cannot support symbolic funding. It seems BE -HIV has been doing fairly well financially, that combined with Mental Health Board expectations not being readily met and other agencies performing at a higher level with regard to funding criteria outcomes, and Evanston residents served, the decision was made not to fund the BE -HIV mental health program for FY 200108. New program requests funded were, Center for Independent Futures Full Life Model Evanston High School Outreach Program was funded as a challenge grant with ETHS where the program is carried out. Youth Job Center received funding this year as they strongly responded to the Board's encouragement to focus on accountability and outcomes when they were not funded last year. The Evanston North Shore YWCA Transitional Housing and Community Based Services Program was also recommended for funding. The Mental Health Board has engaged in other activities involving community planning, Board development and community education. A new Mental Health Board accomplishment during December of this past year was the presentation of citizen's award to Carol Warkenthien former owner of Caf6 Express on Dempster and Sherman. Her shop was near a couple of Evanston's mental health facilities. Ms. Warkenthien went out of her way to support the residents of these facilities and was presented with a certificate from Mayor Morton for her kindness and welcoming attitude toward her Evanston customers who are living with mental health problems. Mrs. Warkenthien is not a professional or community volunteer but rather a local business person who cares a lot about people in the community. The Mental Health Board plans to recognize other community members who are not volunteers or human service professionals but ordinary citizens who help make Evanston a great place to live. Alderman Bernstein expressed his gratitude for an outstanding and incredible report. Alderman Moran thanked the Mental Health Board for all of their work and this amazing report in terms of detail, accountability and clear documentation of their efforts to fund our social service agencies on a just and equitable basis. He thought this committee should recommend to the City Council the Mental Health Board's request for S 15,000 in its budget discussions. He knew we had fallen down in our commitment in terms Purchase Services but was shocked to see that we're at the same funding level that we were at 21 years ago. We think of ourselves as a caring community and he believes we are, but we have to make some further effort to fund social services. Alderman Moran made a motion that the Human Servlces Committee recommend to the City Council to Increase the S15.000 for the Mental Health Board as requested. The committee unanimously anoroved this recommendation f5-01. Alderman Moran accepted the Mental Health Board's recommendations in total Including the circumstance where BE -HIV was denied and regretted the kind of circumstance we find ourselves in. When he first came on the Council a number of years ago BE -HIV was getting started. At that time the City of Evanston had the 3'd of 40 highest incidents of H1V or AIDS and personally felt we needed to make a commitment to outreach, education efforts and assistance for whatever we could do to support BE -HIV. Asa community we needed to develop a response to the high incidents HIV and AIDS presented to HSC Minutes 1129107 - Page. 4 the community. He hoped that BE -HIV did not feel overly criticized and take what has been said as a recommendatory suggestion In terms of bench marks and progress. He is very happy that BE -HIV is here and still performing an important function as BE -HIV has a strong history of being a contn—',�or to the community. He hopes you continue with your work here and that we will see you again. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thanked the Mental Health Board for all their work and development of criteria. He was glad to see the turn around for Youth Job Center being funded again this year after last year's denial. He also joins Alderman Moran in inviting BE -HIV to come back next year and apply for funding. His concern and the concern of many of the Council members is for the youth who are subject of our police enforcement as many of them suffer from being alienated, discouraged and disconnected. He was interested in wt7zl the Mental Health Board thinks needs to be happening in that area to help abate some of the problems. Ms. Grover responded the Mental Health Board has funded a number of agencies that address youth from Family Focus, Youth Job Center, YOU, to the Evanston Defender's office in their social work program and legal services. Sheila McCoricel recently came to a Mental Health Board meeting and made an excellent presentation explaining her efforts for the City_ The Board teamed a lot from Ms. McCorkel and see is a lot of youth needing attention and resources. We are stymied as to how to focus those efforts so the youths on the fringes and a bit adrift come back to the fold. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the Mental Health Board has engaged themselves with the various groups that have been trying to do things in the City. He asked if they see something that's missing that they may need to hear about and with Ms. McCorkle's input help that troubled population. Canter thoughtwhat the needs are Is currently in a data collection and knows the Board w0i be helping with that. There haven't been any new agencies applying that serve only youth. The agencies we have doing that have been there for a long time. The Mental Health Board is happy to help in any way they can by providing information and helping agencies collaborate with one another. The agencies that focus on families and youth already do collaborate but not necessarily in a formal way. Alderman Tisdahl commented the Mental Health Board has done a wonderful job and she Is in awe of your work. We're looking to get the non -profits in town to help with our strategic planning and wondered if next year the Mental Health Board would look at all the agencies you fund, particularly for teenagers, as she knows youth is funded but teenagers are the ones frequently left out. Ms. McCorkle's report says there were things for these teens when they were younger but now that they're in high school there's nothing for them if they're not involved in extracurricular activities. Maybe you're not getting any new requests which you can't do anything about but asks that you zero In and look with extra kindness on that particular group because we are trying to bring them into the fold, Ms. Canter thought the high school is doing some bridging with the younger kids that are in the Y.O.U. program as well as Family Focus, Alderman Tisdahl had a question about one of the agencies the Board is funding forhigh school students, the Center for Independent Futures. She knows their work is terrific as they have a home in her in her ward, but transition activities are the high school's responsibility. Ms. Grover said the Board also thought that and is why they required matching funds. Alderman Tisdahl was glad to hear that but said ETHS is supposed to be doing that. If they're not doing it well enough it doesn't mean we need a new agency, that is clearly the school's responsibility and they have to be told they have to a better job here. Ms. Grover said in their funding proposal there weren't funds for the type of work they were proposing to do, transitioning high school students out of high school into independent living, Alderman Tisdahl asked whether they are just sitting in the high school planning this or actually physically helping. Ms. Canter said it's the full life model, something they developed that targets the 18 to 21 group of students with special needs who after they turn 21 the bus magically stops coming and there is not much out there for that age group of individuals with disabilities, This program is an intensive way to prepare these students in that transition time to get ready for work or semi independent living or living in a group home and they also engage the families. It's much more than a transition program, it's mandated in the school that there have to be transition programs for ages 18 to 21, what they are proposing is even more so when the students have a plan. Each person has something they're going to do and they're hoping to reach out to students who have the most problems in that area, children from less advantaged families that need the most support to get their children on the way once they reach 21. This is quite a comprehensive program which is just getting started so we don't know that much about It. Ms. Grover noted in previous years they had criticized the Center for Independent Futures wasn't reflective of Evanston's demographics. We asked them to please dig a tittle deeper in the community as there are other students with mental health problems and developmental disabilities who need their kind of assistance in the housing transition that they're not reaching. They decided those students were at the high school and this program is part of their efforts to diversify some of their housing. Alderman Tisdahl said its not that she's opposed to funding them but questions if the high school is matching the funds since they already do this. Mr. Saver said the Executive Director of the Center for Independent Futures has begun looking for some direction with the Superintendent of the high school, specifically what they should be doing. At this point the Board still doesn't know what its budget will be come February 28" and whether they would then need to go back and make some overall modifications. Their Director already approached the high school letting them know things are still up in the air and asked if the Mental Health Board would be available to help discuss what the arrangements will be with the high school. The Hoard's path is it will be a dollar for dollar match. The transition tool they developed Is for an assessment In helping to plan some of the next stages that are a little different and more Involved and comprehensive than what the high school is doing. The high school initially committed 51,000 out of the total budget, and the Board then threw out the challenge to them that they'd be willing to support it. Alderman Tisdahl asked Mr. Terry if the City is asking BE -HIV to help us In the Health Department transition. Mr. Terry responded, not at this time. We had one preliminary discussion with them when we were examining the range of possible HSC Minutes 1l29107 - Page. 5 -r providers for HIV testing. He can't say we will never go back to them and raise that question, but at the moment we are exploring other alternatives for STD services and hopes to soon comeback with more information about that. Alderman Tisdahl then said she hoped BE -HIV will be back next year because we want you back. Alderman Jean-Baatiste moved to accent the Mental Health Board's report. seconded by Alderman Moran. The committee unanimously aooroved the Mental Health Board's report (5-0). VI. BE -HIV FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS Brad McLaughlin, Executive Director of BE-HfV, said nobody suggested that the Evanston Mental Health Board hasn't been deliberative nor have they not created criteria for reviewing some of these agencies, but there are a number of issues they still have and sent a letter to the Board explaining some of these issues. In the minutes of 2006 the Evanston Mental Health Board acknowledged they had an issue with how things were allocated. The very same set of minutes said this Human Services Committee congratulated them on such a deliberate process. In that same set of minutes they acknowledged why are they funding child services at 37%. why one agency gets 10% of the total funding, why another agency get 90% of the total funding for this program and the Mental Health Board said they didn't know except Mr. Saver Interjected when the Mental Health Board was created these were basically the funding levels they had all along. They delivered an application to the Mental Health Board for the first funding hearing when Ms. Grover was their liaison and spoke about how wonderful it was to see that the mental health piece had been pulled away from the education outreach which had also been funded. The Mental Health Board has funded case management and educational outreach as well as the mental health piece. The $500 for case management wasn't cost effective to do these reports and they thought it made more sense to streamline an application for the mental health piece. The United Way was delighted to see we had done this and congratulated us as we were receiving combined funding from both. At the end of that process we got $2000 more than we asked for and were one of the agencies that got increased funding last year and were trying to divide it out and make sure it was equitable between the two programs. Nevertheless our score was low which we called Ms. Grover about and were told she did not know but 52000 was a nice pat on the head. She also told us we were getting another liaison and there would bean intern liaison in this process. Carol Sittler, our intern liaison, visited our agency one time and was delighted with what BE -HIV was doing and continues to do in an aggregate for the City of Evanston and said she hoped to get BE -HIV next year. That is what we were very clear with in our application process. BE -HIV is an Evanston organization; we reach thousands of students in ETHS every year. Despite the fact that 1400 tests are done at the Evanston Department of Public Health every year we were certainly willing to chip in and pick up the slack wherever we could hoping the Health Department would be a little more directive of what those tests were like and when was the heavy season so we could get support in thereto do it. We were certainly willing to participate in that process. Every year a large number of Evanston residents, for one more degree of removal from a public organization, come to BE -HIV for testing as well. In our cover letter and in our application we went through the entire litany of our services that the citizens of Evanston receive in the only HIV funded agency in the City Evanston. We need the money in the mental health piece and it was a stark 55000 which was S2000 more than we received in the past. He does not know how many people you expect us to serve for $5000. That's still a cheap session for 100 hours of service and yet that's not true either because mental health was redefined last year to include some of the things that we have never included in mental health and very much shouldn't have. Not everybody is able to project themselves or tell their stories in one on one individual counseling and yet our therapy Is an approved form of mental health counseling and three Evanston residents attended that. Five Evanston residents received crisis counseling from us over the phone. You go to the Health Department, you gel a HIV diagnosis, and still most people think their world is over. Their world is going to change because their relationship with their employer, with their spouse or partner, with their friends is going to be different. There are a lot of things that happen to an individual. Some of them have issues with psychosis and many other issues of self esteem and disclosure issues in relationships that lake many weeks, months and perhaps years to address. The Mental Health Board said we only served the same 5 people this year, did they look the people housed last year, are those the same children in the child care services, the only one they asked about was ours. In the minutes you said we did a magnificent job there was a great deal of mis-information. In this last entire fiscal year we tried to get in touch with our liaison Mr. LeMell and never saw him. He did come to the hearing and dscin't ask a single question and when it came time for the allocation hearing he was not there. We appealed the first time and sent letters to Mr. Terry and the Mental Health Board. We were put on the January 110 meeting agenda and Mr. LeMell was not there. We had a liaison for over a year and nothing was addressed the entire year. The Mental Health Board looks at the application and makes assessments, on what? Outcomes are a huge issue for an organization like BE -HIV where you have relationships with your spouse, your workmates, etc., as your life changes dramatically with an HIV diagnosis. Mr. McLaughlin said, yes they did deliberate, we asked for the area of money that we needed it the most, they myopically looked at a single program that needed the most funding and refused to see the vast array of incredible services that we provide to this town. This is the only agency, of any kind, for HIV that you will find. Alderman Bernstein remarked we approved the Mental Health Board's recommendations and in light of this would like to revisit them. The liaison was to have played a bigger role and didn't, if In fact the decision is the same he appreciated that but requests that you review this. H5C Minutes 1/29I07 - Page. 6 Ms. Grover said it's hard to know where to begin. Its not about BE -HIV the agency, its not about Mr. McLaughlin, Its about the actual funding application that we received asking for $12,000 for a program that we funded last year for $5000 to serve five Evanston residents. It's not the issue that it was the same five Evanston residents, its that in a program that has grown BE -HIV has been unable to bring more Evanston residents into the program despite efforts to recruit clients to this program. This raises the question of the need for the program in Evanston. There's also another issue, we require all the agencies report to us how the program is making a difference. We have objective outcome measures that are meaningful that tell us how the program is making a difference and in this program the outcome measures were questionably meaningful, theywere based upon self report of those clients but the more important thing is we never got a report we got 4 outcomes measures in over 4 quarters, we got a report in one category on one outcome measure in 4 quarters. We didn't know if this program was performing. There was no objective way of knowing it these 5 Evanston people, in general, were better off. We cannot fund an agency because the agency does great work in educational outreach. We cannot fund an agency because it's the only comprehensive HIV AIDS agency in town, we have to fund the program because the program is performing and making a difference in Evanston. That was the basis for our decision. Ms. Canter added competition is so tight for money because every year it goes up little bit we have to set some standards of performance for each agency and we expect each agency to have measurable outcome objectives. We expect these agencies to serve a certain percentage of Evanston residents. Again, there are wonderful things that BE -HIV does but we also have to judge them based on our criteria otherwise it wouldn't be fair to anyone else. In the Interest of time Mr. Terry suggested, maybe in a future Human Services agenda we could talk about the overall HIV situation both in terms of the Health Department services and other City funding. A lot has changed in the 20 years since BE -HIV has been created; in fact there is another very active agency in town named Care Point that works with a lot of low income persons at risk of HIV. There have been a number of demographical and cultural shifts in terms of the Impact of HIV. While Care Point has never come to the Mental Health Board they have approached the City in other venues for some financial support It might be a good time later this spring to have a comprehensive overview of where we are with HIV services in the City. Alderman Holmes commented, having sat on the other side of the table in terms of the Board's liaisons she never considered the liaison to be a major piece of the evaluation. Getting the quarterly reports in and telling your own story is the big piece. Mr. McLaughlin said the issue was their de facto liaison spoke about BE -HIV and he was verygrateful that the errors in the minutes of the discussion about funding BE -HIV are going to be corrected. He found 13 either misleading or error statements that the other members of the Board relied on to make a decision. Alderman Moran stated the Mental Health has been positive in the field of social service funding where objective criteria are sometimes difficult to nail down. The Mental Health Board has done an excellent job of distilling objective criteria which we've all seen in the work product of these reports. We need to make sure that we keep that in mind here, although a lot of Mr. McLaughlin's criticisms seem to gravitate around process. He read Mr. McLaughlin's letter and commentaries very closely and sees where he's coming from but there were objective reasons for virtually every allocation made by the Mental Health Board and does not think they gravitated toward the criticisms Mr. McLaughlin raised. They were more objective and had to do with the entire application process for your agency as well as all the others that applied. Alderman Moran was a little distressed by some things Mr. McLaughlin said one of which was the statement that the Mental Health Board doesn't know why they make a lot of different allocations, he rinds that offensive. The Mental Health Board does a great job and everybody on this panel who are intimately familiar with this kind of work gave them their praise because they share the conception that the Mental Health Board certainly knows what they're doing. Alderman Tisdahl thanked the Mental Health Board and Mr. McLaughlin and hoped to see BE- HIV next year. VII. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE li-"7 AMENDING THE INDOOR CLEAN AIR ORDINANCE Alderman Moran moved for anoroval. seconded by Alderman Holmes. Hearing no further discussion Alderman Tlsdahl called for a vote of the committee. Ordinance 11 "7 was unanimously approved 15-0). V111. CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 1-R-07 AUTHORIZING THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE AN AGREEMENT WITH TAKASHI SOGA FOR THE COMMISSION OF A SCULPTURE FOR SHERMAN PLAZA A model of the sculpture was shown to the committee. Ms, Gerry Mascai noted that is the sculpture that will be at the comer of Sherman and Davis done by a Japanese artist who now lives in New York State. There was a very involved process selecting the sculpture that went on for months. There were 166 different submissions that was narrowed down to 5 finalists who came, met the committee, met with public, and had their pieces on display at the library. They received comments on the website and In person and the choice was made. Ms. Mascia noted if the committee approves this it will be before the City Council on February 12, 2007. Mr. Soga has been asked to come to this meeting as there was a question about height. Mr. Soga proposed a 15 feet high piece, and there was the question If the sculpture should be 13, HSC Minutes 1129/07 - Page 15. or 16 feet high. It was decided to invite Mr. Soga to come visit the site and with the committee and make a final decision. The contract will not be affected by a couple of feet up or down. Alderman Moran moved approval of Resolution 14-07, seconded by Alderman Jean-Baatlste and unanimously, Approved by the committee f5-01. IX. FREE BEACH TOKENS Alderman Tisdahl questioned if there were any staffing orcrowding problems with this to which Mr. Gaynor responded that itwas hard to make any comparison because July 8, 2005, might have been very cold and July 8, 2006, could have been very warm and they did not have to make an adjustment. Every year they put a crib there for people swim in certain areas. If it gets too crowded in one area they have to make it larger which costs more money because they would have bring In another life guard, which did not occur this year. Alderman Jean -Baptiste heard the tokens that were allocated to the agencies were used up. Mr. Terry responded, yes 98°% of the tokens were used. Alderman Bernstein inquired about a letter from some agencies requesting more tokens. Mr. Terry said no agency came to us during the summer and said they needed more tokens, which Is not to say that we may not ask for more tokens next year. X. PROPOSED RENT INCREASES FOR THE NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER RESIDENT ARTISTS AND 2007108 COMMUNITY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if Mr. Gaynor could give a quick overview as there were some problems a couple of years ago with Next Theater when they were unable to pay but they caught up, and wanted to know how everything is going at this time. Mr. Gaynor said he is somewhat superstitious and does not want to talk about the fact that things are going well. We have one studio in the basement that we're advertising for and hope to fill in the next couple months. If you haven't heard from our artists, that's good news. Alderman Tisdahl had a question pertaining to all the community service being done and asked if anyone encourages working with teenagers as part of our Youth Initiative as they only seem to work with little kids. Mr. Gaynor said what he would like to do in the future Is instead of having the artists submitting to us he would like to make suggestions to them. Our department Is looking to the future about the obesity issues, and the health problems that presents as well as addressing the older teenager, which is we want to focus some of our attentions. XI, ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 10.10 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 1129/07 - Page. 8 ..GUEST' -SIGN- -l-N-SH- -EET---,- HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday- _ January 29, 2007 ROOM 2402 - 7:60 F.M. PLEASE PRINT Name: Address/Organization: ��� v ilt►' 7TX C (��- J r -Lim� �iti�`I-.s2��:v�zN.liz�- �tS!'aCj�+6-1— MEN SPEAKER.0 S HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE uay - wianuary may, zuu7 ROOM 2402 - 7:80 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Name: Address/Organization: Topic Speaking On : �±A*Vxn Zsafi,-P-Aft t9,wuv- krbct0-�57ti..- bhzte4 adi-mK67"63— CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Wednesday, April 4.2007 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste. Moran, and Tlsdahl STAFF PRESENT: Police Chief Richard Eddington, Police Commander Barbara Wiedlin, Bob Domecker, Carta Bush, Alisa Dean. Herb Hill, Elke Purze, Jeff Cory, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Pat Vance, Rosemary ,lean -Paul, Evanston Township; Sharon Eckersatl, Township Assessor, Sue Cantor, Mental Health Board; (See attached list of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Holmes I. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Holmes called the meeting to order at 7: 20 p.m. It. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 29, 200T, MEETING The minutes of the January 29, 2007 meetlna were called and unanimously aooroved (3-0). Aldermen Bernstein and Jean -Baptiste were not in attendance at this time. Ill. CONSIDERATION OF THE MARCH 2O07 TOWNSHIP BILLS Alderman Moran moved for approval. seconded by Alderman Tisdahl. Alderman Holmes' ongoing question was about the Assessor's $23,000 legal bill from January through March. 2007. Mr. Hill stated at this point the status of the litigation is on appeal and the Township and the Assessor are 100% successful on the motion for summary judgment, the decision was the Assessor's conduct was appropriate. The plaintiff filed an appeal with the Illinois Appellate Court and the additional $23,000 Is for the cost of preparation and responding to the plaintiff. This billing came to the Law Department on March 29m at which time Mr. Hoover's office was contacted to get the background information on what was done to generate the additional $23,000 in fees. Mr. Hoover is currently in California because of a family member's medical situation and Indicated 11 was difficult for him to return. His office was contacted in an attempt to get further clarification of the billing and to again invite Mr. Hoover to this committee to come forward and explain certain prior billing items as well as the additional $23,000. Mr. Hill did speak to Mr. Hoover asking him to explain specific concerns with respect to the cost of riling and told Mr. Hoover that under no uncertain terms was it appropriate for him to be charging the Township for talking to him to explain his bills. Ms. Purze again spoke to Mr. Hoover and understands he intends to make an effort to get to the next Human Services committee to explain his billings. Mr. Hoover's work has been successful in that the Assessor was found not to have violated any law and had acted appropriately in the termination of this employee. The history of this case is that the rile was lost at the Circuit Court level and it took about 6 months to recreate the file and reestablish what the record was. With respect to attempts to resolve this matter Mr. Hill instructed Mr. Hoover to see if this matter could be resolved for what he would say in realistic costs would be a nuisance value. The plaintiff's demands were exorbitantly high and not representing reality so there was not the opportunity to resolve this matter. Hopefully Mr. Hoover will attend the next committee meeting to explain his billing, as he understands the specific concerns expressed by committee, to see if there is indeed value In the work that was done. There is no reason to expect otherwise, but there needs to be that review. Alderman Holmes thought this committee needs to have the exact amount of money that has been spent and wonders whether we would have been better off settling the case than continuing to pay a lawyer all this money. Mr. Hill said it is always a factor, whether acting as the Township attorney or the City attorney, with respect to the cost of litigation the value of the matter and the principle involved. This was and remains a heated case with respect to the propriety of the disciplinary action undertaken by the Assessor. If that could be resolved at a minimum nuisance value then principle and economics definitely would prevail. In this situation the demands of the plaintiff have been in excess of S100,000 and there was no reasonable basis to resolve it, the record speaks for itself. We should never lose track that the judgment was In favor of the Assessor, however, the plaintiff has the right and did appeal and is proceeding on the appellate basis. If the Trustees believe, with the brief that's cited, it appropriate for a change in attorneys for the City to Argue the Appellate matter, that is something he's not prepared to recommend at this time. This Is nothing for Mr. Hoover to explain except what he believes the remaining fees would be to argue this case before the Appellate Court. Realistically the attorney who wrote the brief knows the matter and at this point the Appellate Court argument should not be an expensive proposition. Alderman Holmes asked that the amount of money spent thus far be given to this committee prior to Mr. Hoover's coming before us. Mr. Hill said he will give the committee a total of the expenditures on this case HSC Minutes - 414107 Page. 1 Alderman Jean -Baptiste inquired about the $35,000 legal expense line item for this coming year. Ms. EckersalI responded that was supposed to cover the brief, if they call for an oral argument it would be minimal. Alderman Jean -Baptiste sold assuming the other side wins you will then have a trial which Is much more intense than preparation for briefs and a lot more money will be spent. He asked if the attorney suggested what should be budgeted, to which Ms. Eckersall said she did call him and asked what it would cost and was told 535.000. Alderman Jean -Baptiste was not comfortable with this attorney and the overall situation. This attorney probably perceives that we have a pot of money that he can access and would again ask our Legal Department to intervene to make sure that we are doing the best thing. He asked who recommended this attorney and was told it was not through the City's La.v Department. Mr. Hill said because the Township was also a defendant the Law Department Counsel, Jack Segal, represented the Township and the Township Assessor retained her own attorney with respect to the allegations. The Township itself was dismissed out of the case and what remained were charges of complaint against the Assessor. Again, the attorney has been successful and the case has been dismissed. it was dismissed in part because the plaintiffs attorney was sanctioned for not filing documents that the attorney should have filed. When Mr. Hoover comes before this committee he believes it would be appropriate to go Into Executive Session to talk about the litigation and where to now proceed. Mr. Hoover has been told what he needs to do with respect to justification for his billings; we asked for documents and for him to give an oral report of the status of the case and where he sees it going forward, which is contingent on him being here. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted we are paying this attorney 5200 and hour and asked how much we pay the attorneys we've previously had. Mr. Hill responded Mr. Hoover's rate is higher than the rate we pay for our retain attorneys, which ranges from 5135 to S150 per hour for proceedings. Alderman Moran suggested holding these attorney bills until such time as Mr. Hoover comes before the committee. Mr. Terry noted the total amount held including the amount held tonight would be 533.184. The Township bills amount for approval tonight would then be 5104,503.13. Alderman Holmes called for a motion of annroval of the Townshin March 2007 bills as modified. Alderman Tisdahl motioned annroval. seconded by Alderman Bernstein. Motion unanimously aooroved 5-0. IV. CONSIDERATION OF FY-2007-2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP BUDGET Ms. Eckersall noted some changes on her budget. The Deputy Assessor's budget for 2006-07 wasn't a carried over; it should be $54,800 as she has not had a raise in 3 years. Also, at the last meeting we assumed that the reassessment would fall partly into March and partly into the new year, but it did not. The notices got mailed Friday and she needs another $950 to cover her part time person who Is working full time for 4 weeks. Ms. Vance said the Assessor Is amending her budget figures, figures that were not given to her and the reason they were not reflected in the budget. Alderman Bernstein asked if the 520,000 figure is for a part time person and how many hours reflect part time. Ms. Eckersall responded 20 hours a week, but he Is working 40 hours a week for 4 weeks because of the reassessment. She also hired a part time person, as she normally does, to cover 40 hours a week for 4 weeks which was not taken into consideration because they did not think the reassessment would fall into Apnl. The entire budget has shifted into the new year because the assessment notices did not get mailed on time. Alderman Holmes did not know how this budget could be amended at this committee and asked Ms. Eckersall to submit the amended budget at the Tuesday, April 10'h City Council meeting. Alderman Bernstein thought it outrageous that the Assessor has almost 580.000 for personnel and said he was not Inclined to give another nickel. With the software and computers we have today everything is available on line to the Assessor's office. He speaks as someone who did this job for six years before anything went on computer. Ms. Eckersall said they had 900 people come through the last appeal and if this is not approved than she will have to let the part time person go leaving Ms. Benjamin by herself for 5 weeks. Alderman Bernstein's inclination was to tell Ms. Eckersall she is spending too much money. Part of the Assessor's function is to educate the population and now every bit of information that used to done manually is on line. All you need to do is tell people how to do it. He still gets calls about this. Ms. Eckersall said they are almost totally booked through the 20"' of April. They ha%-e 31.000 parcels and found out the Skokie Assessor's office is going to close which means everybody will be in the Township office. Alderman Bernstein stated he will not approve one cent more and is thinking about reducing this budget. He Goes not know where Ms. Eckersall's time figures into this but hopefully she will be in there assisting taxpayers. Alderman Tisdahl inquired about the 535,000 in legal fees budgeted for 2007-2008 and asked how that figure was arrived at. Ms. Eckersall said $9,000 of the 533,000 figure was from last year, only 523,000 is from this year. Ms. Vance interjected March 29 h is in the last fiscal year, bills are paid as received before the 31" of the month when the fiscal year ends. Therefore, the unpaid $33.000 bills remain in fiscal year 2006-2007 but will again be expensed In the audit as a legal liability, plus any additional attorney's amount Is a potential liability. The brief amount will come out of the budget year that just ended and the $35,000 amount if for this fiscal year 2007-2008. Alderman Moran called attention to the General Assistance Revenues and Expenditures 2007-2008 that reflect significantly higher percentages than in the estimated actual budget for this year. The Client Payments show $272,167 last year and this year is estimated at $386,180, an increase of 40 or45%. The Administrative Overhead increased about 25%; Medical Payments Systems are increased close to 100%. Ms. Vance explained legally the General Assistance HSC Minutes — 414107 Page. 2 fl,- budget has to include anybody coming in that may qualify for the program. The estimated monthly maximum number of people was 85 people. We have been able to average less than that. however have no indication of whether or not it may go higher. Medical was budgeted for what we anticipate may come in. $76.000. The last few years the Medical has been In the low $40,000's, however on this budget's fiscal year there is a medical bill of $46,000. The bill Itself was S147.000 but we pay on the medical rate. We budget on estimated caseload amounts. In terms of staffing, last year we were short a staff person and since then hired a person who is included in the budget. plus this budget also proposes taking over the payment of the staffing that was billed to the City for Emergency Services. Her budget projects what will happen which we were not able to do in the last fiscal year because in keeping some expenses down the amount of actual expenditures was reduced. Alderman dean -Baptiste asked why the Township has not realized their revenue from last year. Ms. Vance responded it has to do with the tax dollars that come in. last year was the only year that all their money came in by March 311t . Since the tax year bills come in March they start to pay on March 1", some people don't pay their lax bill until March 3e which means they would not see that amount in their account before April. The auditors will credit any tax dollars that come in April. If people don't pay their tax bill the Township does not get any income which is why they only expend those Items that they actually have to expend. Last year was a good financial year. Alderman Holmes noted the Proposed Township f=Y 2007-2008 Budget will be held until Tuesday, April 10`" when they receive the revised figures. V. CONSIDERATION OF DISPOSITION OF CITIZEN COMPLAINTS AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS The committee welcomed new Police Chief Eddington and Commander Weldlin. Alderman Holmes noticed on the Dispositions List there is no explanation for oral reprimand and asked if there are consequences other than just talking to the officer. Chief Eddington said in this case, no, reprimand is documented and should there be similar recurrences the Department will refer back to that discipline. Once anything is documented at this level it's findable for the department, also the Commanders can give the highlights, the early moming system the department uses to track all discipline references, should there be a continuing issue or repeated incident with an officer. Alderman Holmes also questioned when citizen's complaints are brought before this committee, has the citizen making the complaint been notified of what the disposition was and when the meeting is if they chose to come before the committee. Mr. Tent' noted the procedure that has always been followed is the Police Department notifies them that the case has been referred and gives them our name and number to call him if they're interested in appearing before the committee. if someone calls we schedule it right away. Alderman Jean -Baptiste preferred going over each case as he did not know whether there may be people in the audience who are in attendance based on a specific complaint. It also helps the committee understand how the Chief sees the handling of cases and whether or not he has any new approach he intends to Introduce. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to acknowledge that attached to the complaints are a significant number of commendations, compliments and letters of appreciation that the department receives as a result of doing this work. Congratulations on that basis. The first issue was as a result of a robbery investigation where the individuals pursued complained that the police stole money that was hidden in the vacuum cleaner. The process was reviewed and based on the information gathered in your interview there was no proof to the allegation. Because this was an internal investigation he never felt comfortable about the objectivity of the process that police investigate themselves to determine whether or not the complaint is well founded or that you would give the benefit of the doubt to your officers that you want to manage the perception that you're doing the right thing. In this Instance there was nothing specific to point out and he wondered whether any merit is seen to a process by a Citizen Advisory Committee, which would be worth while talking about in the context of these types of Investigations. Alderman Bernstein asked about the propriety of one officer that heard funds being offered to the complaining witness to drop the charges. Somebody said they actually saw money pass from the alleged perpetrator to the complaining witness and he suddenly decided not to press charges, which is very close to witness tampering. He wonders, if in fact an officer saw that what if anything he would have said to the victim to implore him to go forward and continue to press charges. Chief Eddington said these situations seem to be rampant and fluid and we are dependent upon the complainant's willingness to go forward to justify many of our actions. From reading the reports of this case, as soon as the victim's property was recovered their interest in pursuing the matter evaporated. Alderman Berstein said there was also an exchange of money to induce him not to go forward. Chief Eddington's recollection of this was the promise of compensation for damage that occurred during the incident but the victim contacted us and said he hadn't received any compensation. Alderman Berstein asked what is the policy of the Police Department, do you or do you not tolerate that. Chief Eddington said this was a more complex issue, if we can successfully prosecute we'll certainly pursue It. This case was a little grey. Alterman Moran remarked it's still dependent on this person showing up. The prosecutor's and the Police Department are strictly fashioned by what people are willing to do in terms of cooperating with them. If somebody doesn't want to cooperate the case Is over. Alderman Bernstein would like to see a sensitivity by the Police Department which he did not get a sense was done here. If in fact what happened here was a passage of funds, that should be addressed. HSC Minutes - 414107 Page. 3 Alderman Jean -Baptiste referred to the case where 4 occupants of a vehicle were stopped because they fit the profile of some Individuals who were involved In a shooting and held for 35 minutes. He does not know whether that process takes that long, and Inquired about the process of trying to clear or confirm whether or not those individuals were involved in such an Incident. Chief Eddington skid this particular incident involved another jurisdiction which added to the time length. If this was a single department event it would move along much quicker, when we're asking our communication center to contact another department to provide the information that adds to the time line of any situation regardless whether it is a shooting or hit and run or any matter. Also, this occurred during a high volume call load which further enhanced the time limit. We invest the time in restricting these individual complaints by the Office of Professional Standards to see if In fact, on this set of circumstances, on this date and time, these actions were reasonable. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Alderman Moran if in this type of situation, people who were held and handcuffed so long have a civil tights action. Alderman Moran responded, In this situation he did not think so, there was probable cause to stop which would be the key element and reasonable cause to believe somebody had recently committed a crime. A call was received from a neighboring jurisdiction saying to be on the look out for this. A judge reviewing this would say they had probable cause to stop them. The next thing to look at would be false imprisonment because they were detained for a certain amount of time, a half hour would not be a valid claim, what would be is a day or two and then Geared up with no basis. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought the third case was handled well by being accountable to the parents who came on the scene and sharing that information with the parents to satisfy their con cems. Alderman Holmes was concerned that the other parent didn't make it and wished they would have driven down half a block with the child to the parent. Alderman Moran thought the results were interesting in that the department disposition was a reprimand but the Civilian Review Panel was exonerated. Chief Eddington said there is sensitivity to those issues and when we can provide that proof we're going to do it right away to permit allegations in the future that it wasn't a fishing expedition. Hearing no further auestions Alderman Holmes called for a motion of aooroval for the cases that were reviewed. Alderman Bernstein moved for aooroval, seconded by Alderman Jean-Bactlate. aonrova) unanimous. 5-0. Alderman Holmes wanted Chief Eddington to know that a great deal of time had been spent on having some citizen Input into the cases. Former Chief Kaminski used part of the Advisory Board from the Police Academy to review the cases with him before going to the Review Committee. Chief Eddington thought that was an effort to allay the concerns if it was an all police matter with no other input. We are now more critical of our conduct and if that is a concern for this committee he would share the names of the people recruited by Chief Kaminski. We retain those volunteer services for a period of time because they have the time to commit to it and also the more they do it the more they become familiar with and understand the system and can come to a conclusion. Alderman Tisdahl would like to know the names of the Review Committee, how many years they're going to be on this committee, when you're going to recruit others, and wondered if there is some sort of by laws or other structure. Chief Eddington thought these were people Chief Kaminski had a lot of confidence in and asked them to perform the service. He does not know how long they're going to be there nor what determines services. Perhaps he can bring a proposal to the committee, not as formal as bylaws but as guidelines. Alderman Tisdahl said this is important to all of us and should be a little formalized. Alderman Jean -Baptiste referred Chief Eddington to some research the Human Relations Commission has done looking at other processes, to which the Chief responded that was one of the packets of information he Inherited from Chief Kaminski. Judllh Treadway, of 226 Callan Avenue, is with the NAACP and on the Partners for a Safer Evanston Sub Commission for Civic Education Emission, came here to ask some questions about police services related to potential complaints. She wanted to know when the Summer Plan is going to be presented to the public, also what the Youth Intervention Services are going to be. She also asked about a situation of a murder hate crime in Evanston that the community hasn't heard anything else about. She again wants to raise the issue about the loud speakers in the automobiles. Rice Park Is another issue; the park patrol cannot do anything about people in the park drinking and whatever as they do not have the authority to drive people out of the park. The issue of overcrowding in apartments bringing more people into a residential area where you have more people violating people's property, more traffic, parking on private property. Also there Is an issue of absentee landlords and the activities that go on at their properties creating more tension in the community. There was an incident when a person parked in front of her garage and was given a ticket and the fact that the person cursed her husband in front of two policemen and threatened him with two retired policeman. She thought when people start verbally assaulting and threatening people with bodily harm the police will verbally intervene and stop these people, but nothing was done. She did not file a complaint but is concerned about this kind of behavior in such an incident. We want people to be better educated about this as well as our police officers be better educated about how to address and be sensitive to the citizens who live and try to abide by the law versus those who totally ignore the law. She came to this meeting because she knew complaints were going to be heard. Most of us citizens In attendance tonight don't know anything about the complaints being discussed but many citizens who rile complaints against the police are not as diligent about j pursuing those complaints or having the time or resources to do that. The lack of objectivity on the part of the Police HSC Minutes -- 414107 Page, 4 Department creates opportunity for interpreting the incident around something related to police to be one sided, She feels as elected officials and hired officers of law in our community that we have to be overly conscious of our duty to protect the Innocent citizens of our community who are many Limas victimized in situations. She just wanted to raise some of the concerns she and other citizens of the community have to the Human Services Community and wants to be sure that our new Police Chief coming on board and the new partnering towards a safer Evanston and new initiative to try to have more positive concerns for our youth, that everybody is on the same page and when we call you'll be responsive to our pleas for assistance. Alderman Holmes saw three departments that these concerns need to be reported to, the Police Department, Property Standards, and Community Development regarding the apartments being overcrowded and absentee landlords. We will make the referrals to the proper departments and try to come up with some reply to these concerns. Chief Eddington is here to took Into his department, and the youth piece will be passed onto Ms. McCorkle in the Youth Department. Chief Eddington referred to the issue of the Summer Plan and noted we're awaiting the Cook County funding that has taken more time than usual because it has been radically changed and taken over by the City of Chicago. Based on that number we will then approach the City Managers office to determine what supplemental funding is available that was provided in the past. As soon as we have those figures we can begin to roll out the Summer Park Plan. Once again he would like to say if there is a complaint or concern about signing a complaint and bringing it forward to the Officers of Professional Standards the NAACP knows him, his door is open, come in and let's talk about it so we can attempt to explain and these issues will not fester. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the patrol will be part of the Summer Plan and about other kinds of initiatives that may not be satisfied just by a patrol. Chief Eddington said he is working closely with Deputy Chief Bellino on other tactics to supplement that. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked the Chief if he will be coming back to this committee in May or June to share this, to which the Chief said he will come back whenever the next meeting is, he knows he's ready but does not know if the County money will be ready. Alderman Bernstein recalled the genesis of the idea for a Citizens Board when they dialogued with Chief Kaminski on the perception that the plaintiff shouldn't even bother because he's going into the Police Department and they're going to take care of their own. We had ultimate faith in Chief Kaminski and are sure we'll develop the same rapport with Chief Eddington. However, we don't know how fearful anybody is of making a complaint because they think they're going to be targeted for making a complaint. It should bean open door policy, which is a concern of this committee. Chief Eddington appreciated this concern and one of the reasons he's here this evening is to let you know of his experience in dealing with the Department of Justice on similar matters. He understand the standards they expect and can assure you from the attitude he's seen from the Command Staff and the Officers of Professional Standards that's not an issue. He realizes those comments will be scrutinized by yourselves and your constituents. Bennett Johnson, said in 1956 while in Los Angeles he investigated police brutality for a lawyer that ended up In a $5,000,000 suite against the police department. While there he also worked for the Probation Department. He was an investigative aide to Harold Washington and wrote the criminal code for the state of Illinois. As Treasurer of the NAACP he received numerous calls about police misconduct and after leaving that office people are still calling him and has some suggestions to make. Everyone wants law and order, even criminals', people want peace, law and order In their community, In order for that to occur that has to be cooperation between the police and the citizens, there also has to be a high level of trust. If we have beat officers walking the street that would also help because they get to know the people In the community. When a complaint comes from a citizen, the citizen should not have to come to the Police Department to register the complaint as the average citizen is intimidated by a police officer especially when they're a victim of police misconduct. The complaint should be registered someplace neutral and not at the police department because there would not be the proper kind of Investigation. The role of Inspector Generals in every agency of government is outside of the usual people he's guarding and needs to be civilians or civilian and police outside of the department, primarily the City Council to take care of these matters. The situation in Chicago is a good example. While investigating police misconduct he used the University of Chicago Study done on the personal attitude of an individual toward the job, i.e. a teacher felt one way, a policeman felt one way, etc. This study showed that policemen feet, as a general rule, that they're pariahs of society because they deal with the worst element of society. Therefore, even a person who is totally unbiased after a period of time out on the streets develops certain biases. There is a need for constant training, not once a year but certainly every other month or certainly every quarter officers aught be debriefed and talked to so he understands where he's at and told how to deal with these things which would go a long way toward mitigating some of these circumstances. With the arrival of the new Police Chief and we should assume that as citizens and members of government that we can do something to make sure going forward we will diminish and minimize the number of complaints with more cooperation between the community and the police. That way we can reduce the crimes even more and set an example for the country. He was reluctant to come here today because it's the anniversary of the death of Dr. King which he still thinks a lot about. One assumption people make Is that there's criminals out there. Most of the people who commit crimes are a small percentage of our society and sit on both sides of the desk. Those are the few not the majority and if we work together, police and community, we can do something about it. VI. APPROVAL OF PROPOSED 2007-06 CULTURAL FUND GRANT PROGRAM AWARDS HSC Mlnulos - araror Papa. B Aldemrman Moran moved seoroval, secandtd by ldetman Jea-BaDllcte end unanlmously A proved by the RMMI 22 fHf. Vll. RESOLU77ON 1".07 AUTHORIZINO THE CITY MANAO ER TO EXECUTE A LEASE AGREEMENT BETWEEN THE CITY AND DEBRA TOLCHINSKY FOR STUDIO B11 AT THE NOYES CULTURAL ARTS CENTER ,&Idtrman TI1S1 hl moved aenroyal, seconded by Alderman Moran. and unanimouajy aeerovod by the c9mmltleo IML Vill. DISCUSSION WiTH TALKING FARM REGARDING POSSIBLE PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CITY OF Evanston Carolyn Zezima, President of the Talking Farm thanked the committee on behalf of her Board for letting them present tonight. Ms. Zezima spoke about the Talking Farm and proceeded to give a power point presentation describing the workings of the Talking Farm (See Attachments A for Ms. Zexlma's presentation, andAnachment B for the Power Point presentation.) After her presentation Ms. Zezima introduced Debbie Hillman, member of the Board of Directors to offer a few comments and put the whole broader food issue in perspective to show why this little 2 to 3 acre project they envision in a single municipality is part of a larger state and federal conversation about food and the environment. Ms. Hillman wanted to share some of the things going on statewide and nationally because these days food is getting everybody's attention. Urban people have suddenly decided to think about their food on a group and policy level which many people in Evanston have been doing for years on a personal level. Evanston had some of the earliest health food stores and one of the oldest and best Farmers' Markets in the Chicago area. Evanston also has a lot of alternative health care that talks about nutrition. Until recently the conversation has not been brought to a group and government level. Urban people don't grow food in front of them and today we're raising children who don't know that food is alive, they think it comes on grocery store shelves wrapped in plastic. A year an half ago they started the Food Policy Council which was part of the Network for Evanston Future that has been around since 1999 working on various sustainable issues, transportation, energy, and affordable housing. We thought if you start looking at food, how it's grown, where it's grown, how healthy is it, how alive is it, you solve a lot of other sustainable issues. If you grow it here you don't have to transport it with all the questions and concerns about food from other areas. The Food Policy Council decides to start talking about these things as a policy Issue as we need to be making better decisions as a society, as a community and government. One of the projects was the urban farm, something we're bringing right here locally but a lot of the food and agricultural decisions are made on a state and federal level. More than 90% of the food we eat Is not grown in Illinois which has only happened in the last 50 years. Why are our rural communities dying across the country? it was her mission to go to her state legislators and talk to them about this. We are fortunate to have State Represen!atives Julie Hamos and Senator Jeff Schoenberg that we talked to. Different groups of interest and involvement in this issue were brought to Julie Hamos after which a bill was written. Slate Representative Julie Hamos, an urban legislator, wrote an agricultural bill. The bill was entered into the House February 280i and was unanimously passed, it was passed by full House last Tuesday. The bill HB 1300 will revitalize the food system in Illinois, and says the state supports growing more food in Illinois, both local and organic. (See Attachment C, for House Bill HB 1300.) This was picked up by a South Side Senator Jacquelyn Collins who is now the chief sponsor. This is happening on a national level not only in the state of Illinois. Ms. Hillman is very proud that we were the catalyst to make it happen here. We think all ages of the community can benefit from this the proof of which is people are coming out from allover to work on a project that doesn't even exist. We don't have the land yet but have active committees working on it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste was interested in involvement of the youth and how they may get jobs through this. He asked if you were to set up such a farm here, how do you anticipate you would sell the produce at the Farmers' Market and would like you to elaborate further how you would turn this into a business as he does not visualize you have enough assets, turnover and personnel to make that sustain itself. Ms. Zezima said they are going to be a full production farm which is the reason they need 2 to 3 acres to make this a viable non-profit business. They need at least an acre and a half for full production and the rest of the site would be for various other uses including the educational facility and demonstration gardens. Our estimation is based on research and talking to other farms, an acre and a half could yield anywhere from 10 to 20 tons plus of raw produce annually. It would make about 15,000 plates of food which is not enough food to feed the City of Evanston, but it is a start. It's our intention to grow year round, the land has to be used intensively and as long as the season is possible to make it economically viable. There is plenty of organic and sustainable growing techniques that use the technology but multi value added products in general could extend our actual income. We intend on growing enough food to at least, if not immediately, become the farm part sustainable and if not contribute as much dollars to our educational mission as possible. We intend to sell both to the Farmers' Morkot, and CFA's (Community Support and Agriculture) a subscription service where you make a subscription to the Talking Farm in the beginning of the season and you assume the risk of bad weather and disease and we will provide the subscribers with a box of food ovary week. We hope to have some degree of contract growing with the restaurants so they can say they buy local. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked whore they anticipate their money coming from to got started. Ms. Zexln+n tospondod fundralsing In the form of grants and public requests for money. Thoy riled their 501.3C but have not recaivr3d the I.R.S. loiter yet and aro operahng under o fiscal 501-3C agency dedicated to a sustainablo City. They are willing to take 146C MinuWA - 4/4107 f't►oe 0 donations at any time and are seeking grants. Most of the farms operate under and through federal, state and private money. To get started they would initially need some form of donations from private foundations also in kind donations and looking to make as many partnerships as possible, the City of Evanston being the number one partner. Our last request is at minimum a token donation to call yourself a supporter of the Talking Farm. Amongst our several requests Is a small amount of money which is not our primary goal from the City of Evanston, but to use the authority that can help us out and includes making land available in some way to us. The Director of Education at the Botanic Education Gardens wanted to add to the discussion on funding because they are very involved with student apprentice programs and keep abreast of funding trends at the federal level and the USDA Community Food Security Program. We have learned from the administrators the amount allocated to food security grants has quadrupled. These monies are going to be directed towards viable projects that reflect community investment and involvement to develop local sustainable food production systems that have a strong vegetation component. This project would be ideal for funding of two USDA Food Security programs and also Robert Woods Johnson just announced an initiative to combat obesity and related health issues. Those monies are going out to a variety of education enterprises and activities around the country. There is a rising trend of attention in money that is being focused on this conversion of community education, nutrition and local sustainable production Ms. Zezima also noted projects like urban farms have gotten grants through HUD and the Department of Justice in other states to combat support of the idea of reducing crime in neighborhoods. It touches a lot of factors of urban life which is why it is so popular. Alderman Holmes thought the Robert Woods grant would be connected with the schools and some work with the children would be a large portion of that. Ms. Zezima quit a full time paying jab to work on this project and every one of their Board members volunteers their time. In our business plan and budget is the idea that we can have land by June and actually prep a little bit of soil for the late fall season to have a demonstration and nominal sales. A tad optimistic but she actually envisions that happening. She Invites the committee to cross over and walk into their farm; it's like entering another world. Alderman Bernstein asked where they are with respect to the Water Reclamation and what can we do to assist that. Ms. Zezima said they had many discussions and the met with several officials of the NWRD, if fact she spoke at their last board meeting. They met with Debra Shore the NWRD Commissioner and expressed their theory. They do have the NWRD support of Debra Shore and also her personal support as a Skokie resident either with or without the City of Evanston to meet with the City of Skokie. She has agreed to come as a Skokie resident and has already set up a meeting with the Village Manager and Mayor of Skokie. We just need Evanston to get this ball rolling and start making a real proposal to the NWRD. Alderman Holmes noted that would only be necessary if Evanston Is not able to lease directly and has to go through Skokie. Ms. Hillman said they met with Skokie's real estate attorney to clear up the fine points. They have known this is Skokie land and we do have to talk to Skokie, the question was do we have to go through Skokie to get the lease. Does Skokie have to do the lease because it's in their political boundaries or can Evanston make application for the lease? The attorney's opinion, based on precedent, was that as long as both entities are okay with that then the NWRD has no problem with it. In any case we have to talk to Skokie since this is primarily an Evanston group it is better to do it through Evanston and being on the east side of the canal if seems more like Evanston. We hope the City of Evanston will make application for the lease but we will do it in partnership with Skokie. Alderman Tisdahf moved to recommend the Citv of Evanston reauest the lease with orwlthout Skokie. Alderman Jean-Baotlste seconded the motion. motion unanimously passed 150). A question from the audience arose as to whether they intend to raise animals, to which Ms. Zezima responded it Is not their business plan to raise animals. IX. CONSIDERATION OF FYi2008 EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS Alderman Bernstein moved to accept the FY12008 Emeraencv, Shelter Grant fundina recommendation. seconded tsv Alderman Jean -Baptiste. Motion unanimously aooroved f5-01. X. CONSIDERATION OF A REFERENCE TO AMEND THE CITY GROUND FEEDING ORDINANCE Alderman Bernstein noted this is his reference and related the genesis of this ordinance was some years ago when a constituent on the west side, living adjacent to a couple of women who loved to feed animals and on a daily basis emptied the contents of 3 or 4, 2 or 3 pound coffee cans into their yard. The result was a plethora of critters. An ordinance was enacted to preclude people from feeding on the ground, He was recently called by constituents who encountered a variation of ground feeding in an area where somebody established a troth near the ground and was putting in enough food to draw a large number of critters asking that we review our ordinance to address this problem. David Piotrowski, said he was representing a couple of neighbors and is embarrassed that he had to come here to do this. Three years ago he and his wife moved into the historical district and put in a lot of landscaping trying to beautify the area. They have a confined area where their neighbor loves animals and continues to feed the squirrels, chipmunks, pigeons, and birds. The squirrels sit on top of the fence and throw peanut shells all over his property on his back porch, his front porch, his front lawn. He lets his dogs run freely in the yard and they eat things off the ground. In reviewing the HSC Minutes —414i07 P89e.7 ' ordinance there's a reference to a nuisance and in their opinion this Is pretty much a nuisance for the neighbors in the area and is asking that something be done to alleviate this problem. Marc VanBork, lives with and takes care of his elderly, ailing parents and has taken on the task of feeding the animals. They have lived on that property for 45 years and fed the animals for 42 years. He's a member of the Humane Society Wildlife Sanctuary Program and follows all the City ordinances. He constructed a feeder following all the guidelines that has a one Inch edge as required. The Health Department found no problem nor have they said anything he's doing is a problem. There is currently an issue he has to defend himself on that will be adjudicated on April 19Q1 . Up until the Piotrowski's moved here we have not had a complaint from any resident. The initial complaint was their dog had eaten a peanut shell. it's common knowledge that their dogs eat everything. When they were out of town his family took their dog to the Vet when no one else could. We've tried to make their lives comfortable. We introduced them to neighborhood and even got them someone to walk their dogs. Mr.Piotrowski told me I had to slop the feeding and became very aggressive making accusations to him one involving throwing cigarette butts on his property. Mr. VonBork's father is a concentration camp survivor and when people come and tell us to do things that is not perceived well. Peanul shells are biodegradable and their only violation was there was no ground feeder per se which has no►v been created and maintained continuously. Alderman Bernstein inquired as to the amount being fed and fed to what animals. Mr. VonBork responded they live in a heavily wooded are with a lot of squirrels that they feed by intent. They feed cardinals, sparrows, finches, chipmunks, even nocturnal !lying squirrels all normal Evanston creatures. Alderman Bernstein asked how many are attracted by this feeding, to which Mr. VonBork responded it varies season to season at times there be 6 to 8, or other times 3 to 5 squirrels with 2 or 3 chipmunks. He invites the committee members to come and visit his yard. Mr. Terry noted our department has been on this property several times and he and Ms. Bush made a personal inspection last week. The existing Ground Feeding Ordinance allows for aground platform feeder that must be raised off the ground and as indicated has to have the lip. The feeder also needs to have a tight coverage that must be put on prior to sunset which there was evidence was not occurring. Mr. VonBork was cited today by the City of Evanston and as he indicated has a court date of April 19°1. Mr. Terry remarked his opinion is the issue is clearly peanut shells because squirrels or chipmunks will carry peanut shells everywhere. The adjoining property does have an excessive amount of peanut shells. Whether or not neighbors in other parts of the community work out how the property can get cleaned up has broken down in this situation. He and Ms. Bush found 3 or 4 burrows of some nature on the adjoining property which his theory are from chipmunks, but does not know for sure whether or not there is another species. We have a violation that has been cited and will be adjudicated on April 1901. The issue is not so much the feeder but the material put into the feeder, as bird seed would not be as much an issue. Mr. Terry added significant staff resources have been devoted to this within the past 3 to 4 weeks. Mr. Piotrowski commented they put on a new roof that is damaged and their new trellis Is damaged from the birds. They tried to resolve this by speaking to the elder Mr. Von9ork who agreed with him and said it would be taken care of. Mr. VonBork failed to tell you he fills the troth every 2 hours and even though the City has been there several times still feeds them by hand. Mr. VonBork noted he spoke to Carl Caneva of the City, who said all that needs to be done is to cover the feeder to which Mr. VonBork said he did not have a cover but he cleans it up every evening and puts the remaining contents into a metal can which he seals and brushes off the edges making sure there is no residual feed. Alderman Bernstein asked how many ounces, pounds are fed every day, to which VonBork responded he never measured it but the dish he uses is a standard takeout type black plastic dish and mixes in a quarter cup of sunflower seed, a couple hands full of larger grain bird seed, smaller seed for finch. A mixed bowl of that is spread out when necessary or when it's gone. Alderman Bernstein's remarked he intends to come out and look at this property. He has received several emails concerning this which is why we're here to discuss this tonight. Everybody's grateful for Mr. VonBork's feeding of nature's creatures but there is a balance and a question of when your rights are infringing on others. Alderman Holmes suggested, as a beginning, having a conversation of negotiation and if there are so many peanut shells on the property to start there. Mr. VonBork said when the peanut shell issue stops he knows there will be other complaints. Alderman Bemstein stated we do not act on the basis of a complaint we try to understand that we live in an urban setting where people are next to each other and try to accommodate everybody's needs. We are trying to avoid the human impact of the forces of nature but when one does something to manufacture an unnatural condition of nature is when we want to step In. Alderman Tisdahl agreed with Alderman Holmes' suggestion to use shelled peanuts as a beginning rather than writing a new ordinance. She would appreciate both parties consider, in the spirit of compromising, resolving this issue. Mr. VonBork sold that's his intention If that's what the City advises him to do but since it wasn't in the ordinance and because to Mr. Piotrowski's behavior towards him and his family and the events that occurred he has no interest in cooperating with hIm. Alderman Holmes Indicated this should be tried in the in the Interest of being a good neighbor and resolving this without any other Issues. Mr. Terry added that during the process of this our inspectors learned that there are many aspects to this neighbor dispute and have encouraged the principals to take advantage of the Human Relations HSC Minutes - 414107 rage. 8 Fes_ •'.:�cz '�+av�;r y'�� ;4��+�. � i�A,iZ� ,FTC+..',-, ;�e•�,- - .S� N• SHEET HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE We es ay - April 4, 2007 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT /Nme:.Address/Organization: (e1 ioof a crnc t ✓Rn�T�ry A�.Ts 6 1, C-11- %07j zl -53aV .� IN SHEET' � SPEAKER SIGN. . Name: �i;rUCy�t 7, Nr iT-H 2•F. An wR Oc Address/Organization: A) A -A e P P,4arvgii/A; q r Topic Speaking On: l Ms. Puree extended her services to the neighbors as she is a Certified Mediator of the Cook County Court System. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested not taking any steps in terms of self but begin to resolve this by closing this discussion and have Mr. VonBork and Mr. Piotrowski exchange numbers and set up a meeting to work on this issue. XI. PBLIC ART COMMITTEE COMMUNITY -BASED PUBLIC ART INITIATIVE REPORT GerryMascaf, PublicArt Committee, said when the City Council first approved this project and gave them a grant they agreed to work out a procedure that was well defined and well organized, and hired Jon Pounds as a consultant. Mr. Pounds heads the Chicago Public Art Group and has very successfully spent many years doing this exact kind of work in Chicago. Mr. Pound has drawn up a draft for any input you have that would help us. Alderman Jean -Baptiste hoped that in terms of outcome there is participation of not only racial diversity but also ethnic diversity that we are so rich in and knows that in every corner of the world you have uniqueness in of artistic expression. He is Interested beyond the paintings and sculptures, in the music which may be a bit beyond what you're thinking. Another component that could be explored was suggested to him some time ago, to turn Robert Crown Center into a center for ethnic expression of music where people of the City could come together to share in the various experiences we have to offer. Alderman Moran asked where do we go next if we were to move toward a community public art program, howwould that be drawn up to do an ordinance or prescribed plan regulation. Mr. Pound thought a lot of learning happens by a process that you have to some extent started by assigning monles and beginning to implement a plan. You should go through the process for a year and ask your questions a year from now. There are many ways it could go but looking at in a year from now you would see this set of policies and practices is more in the lines of the outcome that you want. This could come up iri the payouts schedule which might not be as obvious to some as it is to others. It is often a working class artist making a living doing his work not by selling work done in his studio. There is a way to see if the person you are working with is going to need some support beyond being able to be paid at the end of the project because a lot of expenses come up in the course of a project of working class artists. Hard working, capable, skilled experienced people will not have the capacity to just write that check for all the materials up front for a project that will take weeks to do. He's trying to lay out some of the questions and would be happy to lake the criticism now or at another time because he wants to document the work for Evanston. Alderman Moran understood what Mr. Pound said but if someone turned this over to him right now he would be a little fuzzy about what his next step would be getting started on a community project and starting to arrange meetings with someone. He has no expertise about but loves it when he sees it. Mr. Pound said this Is a process that is a little bit messy because you have to have some community beliefs and trust, you have to let Ideas evolve because the artist is not _ 'paid to do what the community tells them to do nor is he supposed to decide what they want to do and put the piece there. There's a dialogue that cannot be described yet you have to begin that process and practice it, record it, document it, and refine it. Ms. Mascai said one of her thoughts in terms of starting this project was that the focus would be on the community and if it doesn't mean something to the community that lives there then there's no point to that. Those of us working on the project don't have an ego involved, we want something the community points to and says we did that and that's good for us and we can't do anything without a community based Involvement which will come partially through this _ committee because you know your community a lot better than we do. Mr. Pound gave his email address to the committee. Lonnoundsecnaqnet. The comments In the next week or two are valuable. Ms. Mascai said she is available for any questions, comments or complaints. Xq: ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 10:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trots y, Department of eallh and Human Services HSC Minutes— 414107 Page. 9 City of Evanston Human Services Committee Good evening. My name is Carolyn Zezima, and I am the president of The Talking Farm. I am joined here by several members of our board,of directors. Thank you for letting us; speak with, i you tonight.. 1. What Is The Talking Farm { . ... ,. By now, we've met with many of you, and will be meeting soon with the rest, so most of you are already familiar with The Talking Farm and its mission, but I'll restate it to remind everyone why we are here. The Talking Farm is a nonprofit organization in Evanston seeking'to'cstablish a local`` urban farm and environmental learning center that grows organic produce for local distribution, tenches agriculture, food production And beneficial entrepreneurship, and through a working model, fosters conversations about how we can create a healthier and sustainable food system. The,freshest, tastiest, most nutritious food is that which is grown with the most sustainable techniques and eaten as closely after harvest as possible — in other words; locally and organically grown food. Most urban residents have had little opportunity to understand where their food comes from or to grow their own food, whether due to limitations of time, skill, or space. But given the tremendous demand in the Chicago area for organic food, consumers are beginning to think about where our food comes, and are gaining an awareness of the nexus between food and other issues, such as obesity and other health effects, the environment and food safety. The Talking Faun was founded as a way to reconnect Evanstonians with the source of their food, to providea local source of fresh, organic produce, and to educate and unite the . + . , .a:,. community around one of our most basic and culturally important needs: the food we cat. DIscuss bow other cities helped other urban farms Local agricultural programs like the one we're proposing are thriving in many cities all over'the country --indeed, all over the world --because they offer enormous benefits to the local economy, the environment, and the health of our citizens. [GO THROUGH THE SLIDES] Local governments like the City of Evanston have significant influence over access to good, healthy, fresh food and how to use local:land to produce food in our own communities. Many cities in the U.S. and around the world are using their authority to designate land for agricultural use and to regulate and support development of agricultural land as a tool�foreconomic development and environmental stewardship. - The Talking Farm is an Evanston -based project whose time has come, which has local, regional and national food policy and environmental implications, and which can produce meaningful and tangible results for the local community. While The Talking Farm is not yet a Chicago area buzz word, it surely will be in the next year. By partnering with The Talking Farm, the City of Evanston has the opportunity to be chief sponsor of this unique homegrown initiative that will help secure Evanston's leadership role in reconnecting agriculture and urban community life. A well -run and beautiful Evanston farm that serves the politics, culture, education and public health of sustainable local food systems can mark a transformation that will inspire thousands of other American communities. 2 ' :'a. ti=:.'' .. - .•�•srs. � +�Y- - ��'� - _.. -�f�• .r ;t,-.'.���{r. nth;, !",i.;i�.=;:;a y`r iYi The combined farm and educational setting makes this project uniquely compelling because it provides: 1) the most effective potential for meaningful human exchange of time, activity and energy; and 2) a crucial step in addressing one of our most basic and important needs: producing healthy food for the entire community. With the city's support, The Talking Farm is prepared to step into the role it has carved out for itself to help move Evanston into a sustainable future, and to become a national model on how to bring a community together. to: i r reclaim their food system, while creating a valuable resource that everyone can enjoy.' t Discuss youth initiative.and Evanstonian article The Talking Farm is a community organization, intended to bring togletlier and lic"n'fit` all of Evanston's residents; but the input and effort of our youth are'an essential element'of our vision. We see a myriad of community enhancement and particularly youth engaIgement opportunities being' fulfilled through The Talking Farm's education and knowledge -sharing' activities that involve both learning and doing. litany skills are needed in any farm and all are marketable and can help adults and youth find gainful employment or start their own businesses. Our vision is to develop programs in the following major activity areas: Agricultural production (i.e., farming, farm operations, soil management, community/home gardening, etc.) 19 Food preparation, processing and preservation (i.e., reclaiming competence in skills required to support good nutritional habits) s Beneficial entrepreneurship (i.e., providing knowledge, collaboration and resources to develop new sustainable -Food -system ventures, including marketing, small 'business 3 71 management, food distribution systems) Cultural appreciation (i.e., harvest festivals, potlucks, and ethnic' food Pests) I understand that the city is launching a new youth initiative and so I -wanted to;give you a:' couple of quotes about the inspiring connection between youth and urban fanning: This is from the head of the board of the Dudley Street Neighborhood Initiative in Boston about the Food Project, a Dorchester urban farm: "There are some things that make The Food Project different from other programs. Many programs give kids something to do during the summer that keeps them busy and off the streets, but they don't teach them leadership, investment in their community and community service." And this is from an Evanston high school senior, Elle Spacek, who serves as our student liaison in a March 30th article in ETHS school newspaper, The Evanstonian: "The Talking Farm is a way to teach, show and personify the benefits of organic farming, and support a great grassroots organization, not some agribusiness that's making everything monoculture" Included in our staffing vision is a educational coordinator, who will work with the farm manager to attract, recruit, and retain eager interns, job trainees and other students interested in learning about farming, food, and other environmental subjects. This individual will not only focus'on serving the needs ofthe organization, but also on serving the interns and trainees needs as well. Focus on N1WRD plot We are still looking for potential sites, but we have identified a couple of sites that are.ideal for the use we have described. Here is where we hope the city can truly help us reach.our, vision. 4 i- The most ideal site we've located is Metropolitan Water Reclaimation district property along the canal. [SHOW MAY] This MWRD site is a natural and ideal location for our faith. A faun like ours embodies the long-term commitment to sustainable green development and preservation of open green spaces in the urban environment. Using MW`RD land for agriculture and environmental education is consistent with the district's storm water management mandate to` ' reduce stormwater runoff pollution, flooding and erosion. And it can help prornote'the area surrounding the Canal as a healthy, accessible, green corridor of open space that people can iise and enjoy. We want to work in partnership with the City of Evanston, as well as the MWRD and the Village of Skokie to make the Canal area both an ecologically healthy area and a vital part of community development ' We have spoken and met with several MWRD officials and we Understan&the process. We would like -the City of Evanston to lease the land directly from the MWRD, with the cooperatiort,of the Village of Skokie, and lease it to us for use as the farrn.'Aceording to MWRD officials, there's precedent for this and would be well within the legal authority of the MWRD and from what we know so far, within the authority of the City of Evanston, The rent is token, and the lease is 30 years. And as we described, the use consistent with the type of site and the' area. Elaborate on role of Office of Sustainability, other partnerships --like Ecology Center There are a number of other ways that the City can partner with The Talking Farm and we've listed them in the memo we provided. But a couple warrant particular note as particularly effective and easy ways to launch our partnership. 5 The first is the notion of working directly with the Office of Sustainability. Our mutual missions and work overlap well, the synergy would make each of us more effective than working along, and working with The Talking Farm would be an ideal first priority for the new director to begin his or her work. Indeed, the City may be amenable to allowing The Talking Farm some office space in the same area until we can get our own space. The second is the idea that while The Talking Farm is obtaining a site, allowing it to-1 begin its educational mission by giving it venues to share information, hold educational and-" ` fundraising events and teaching the public about food and farming issues.) Great venues including the Farmers Market —the Talking Farm would be the ideal "information table" at the market and help consumers know how to make food choices, what,": questions to ask the farmers, even be a resource for the farmers themselves. Also, the Ecology Center seems to be an ideal place to allow. us to -use for the interim until we have, our own building to use for classes and events. And the Library. Right now;'our- • ;" budget can't support renting public spaces, and allowing us to use these venues would be a great first step in supporting our mission. Conclusion An urban farm can help supply us with local healthy food that we can trust. Celebrating the food we cat is one of the essential pleasures of life. It is deeply satisfying to know that the food we put in our families' mouths is as fresh, wholesome, and delicious as Nature intended. Air rtrbaii farm is a tvaj, to reemmect its to they source of our food so ice can celebrate the earth's bottaV and etrjoy ineals ice know are safe to eat. Just as importantly, it can keep our money working locally, meeting local consumers' and restaurants' booming demand for organic produce, and providing jobs and job training to build economic opportunity for citizens. R 1 11 ,I II0MMOMEW Y ��:�.i.�i � .. � - J� � .� - _ ., .. .. . * .t '.1 `•'�1}�lid'na-y�+,�. q-- ii� _;3`.i4 �P7;�: � ... M' e ` Our goals are, from short -'to long-term are: • To broaden and increase community awareness, support our fundraising efforts through public relations, marketing, creating a charter funding base, general contributors, events, and corporate/business funding; and ■ To fund our growth from a fledgling nonprofit and ease our administrative transition with minimal budgetary strain and growing pains, so that;The TalkingFarm cati take more effective steps to achieve its mission. ■ To procure suitable land and initiate farm operations, including phasing in capital needs; • To plan and run consumer -driven food and farm -related educational programs workshops in sustainable growing practices, food production and value-added products, winter growing techniques, marketing and branding, horticulture, etc; To provide jobs and job training for youths and adults through the"growing of food and to give them access to increased career apportunities; :.�►. ''To increase the,;availability and diversity bf locally grown, organic produce for all, of t Evanston's citizens; We welcome any questions you may have about this project, now or in the future; and if you want more information, please contact us at the phone number on the literature we gave you. _= Thank you again for your time and we look forward to collaborating with you on this project. 7 I 1: R 1", S- I- I U R011 T 1J I" P'A 11 INI... THE TALKING FARM "The Farm that Has Something to Say" Help us join cities all over the country that recognize the benefits of urban agriculture! Know Where Your Food Comes From Celebrate Earth's Bounty with the Freshest, LOCAL and Organic Ingredients Support a Sustainable Local Economy and Healthy Food System Nurture Strong Community Connection s Create a Healthy, Safe and 'Green' Evanston Help Shape Evanston's Food and Environmental Future r y } � ti•. •J��f / �i / (r i `� . 1� C�z �'s•y ..* ..sue ' ` - ` " ; i ' `�,.'.A , -r ►vim :.. r, - 7 rj y 1p IK a � �14:7OZO-IK+'?l7tQ:1d i i ` .. - - � I yam- ' _ • ,.. - : r'��.� �' i M. - '.� S.• �. ,. ,.-r j}ti may- � . � •w- - . -. 1 r f • f f v.4 • • • �i�y.r'w '1!i y - 3•s �. _•=Li �. , r I LL 17 -lie p I. X It !Ak gk rd At ---------- ........ h iyt� ! �"`1,y"r'k. 5 � ' it• r ������'/�"� .�� e•. � �%�.•, �:• �}; .twee ,S � '# t � .� 0i Zm I too 11 MATO 27 4� Z7 N� 7- _r4 w 0 0 o4 JIL;aain - • 1'i• � i ..1 .Yr P 1 a i _ w Cry _.. �a7.5��•t�,�^-' , M � " •, ° : {y �_- -. ,- � ,�L ,}.� �_ �!_ .�. . � u+,••� • +, , •'gat' •c-a-ri+rr €f�. ��.•� 3. A rF r. _� St ..,F' .. �_ ��^.x,Ts�.-'�-�."c'.`ai �. - -tz .. . :i aT IL 6� City Farm, Chicago, Illinois ' 1 s � • 1 � tea..-+{� - _. •af . /y a _ :Srr:<'' .w 1- r±: •fj , r "fir . i � "' �~ � .lL f' , `• ' ` , i • 'ITV!' -L + i� Z �y �y 0 a� L .. a :son � n. � -lob IF goir fit 1-7,4 4c Aw at� INW 41� J y�l+ ..� • �V n • 1�� :.tom .� � - r kid.• � � �+ w % � •� a! _ �' - j•' sit .� ���,� �` ��� I , �. r'8 l'+n..:. r-. •.�.f.'� srs` —� • nsa —�`_ y 1 �..-� `�`pa•.: _ _ •',-.T �f. 4��w * l t-, f j ��":•s' �, yr` r + . a -M ""I " t t IL J - ` r' R • ✓' r i w It r r s f ' fj -46 77 AP to AT j 1-4 1 -�. .Y`. ` _ .�+llf"'•J•.� _SIN- .-- jrL � •,� tom. �.> �:_..s--.:F.--�.._ `ire'-r:..ar•Nkr,-.eaf:+_y*.-z,:.► _.:� e€�r i- - � zw-sr`.31 F a s - • I ,' ! rit ` s r � - The Food Project, Dorchester, MA anti::, 777 �1r � Pe" list At �-{y, ,..r'+i. �s-.y, iT+ • -sue - r . 't '► r t.� ,n•' P.a Y' Ity ��.'_ y �. - M'1 i. +xs, •f. -' "s- ?7 `_: notli.W r. Michigan State University I A.. ;PI OF -t V 4 X %t&- 2 ti V-s •Fi.t• � � ' evenskdnian "Talking Farm" coming to Evanston: By Marx Graham along with it," said Zezinia. She which will reconnect Evanston News Editor also stated that the farm could serve with food production. is expected An urban farm and as a pan -time Job for students, and to be Isvo•threr acres and grow 10- envirvnmenlal center, perhaps "inspire kids to think about 20 tons of &W-enough to make .Icaming tcnviru will benefit the community ch will b Iotal farming a+ a caner." around 15,00D plates. In ways and gel both The fartnwillencourage pooplc According to Palsyl3cnvcnisle, students and adults involved, will students to buy locally For carious reasons, chair of the Education Cotnnihtec , aduts corning ults n soon. "Having foul sources so far away for The Talking Farm, one of the , The gaols of the non-profit data not give any food security" biggest problems in the U.S. is i urban firm project are to pro-6dc LCLtlrta slated. In addition. tliC JYS[C1Tr of farms and pcaplr'S fresh food for local distribution. organically grown products du not separation from it. 10°'6 of the U.S. ' tracts about agriculture, foal use hanuful pesticides that degrade lives in cities. which is the opposite producrion and cntrrprencurship, cntrtionandhting the environment and ham] health. of 50 years ago. Industrial rood andpromotecnd and buying, locally supports ttte is efficient. but when looked at the Evanston coarnunity together locsrl contntunity and ccnrlomy and closely, it is imposing huge cW is in around the issue of food, according reduces food miles. "When terms of lard and the cm irunructa to Carolyn Zczirna, president of you fly an organic paid henvcuiste. The Talking Far= tomato from California. you aren't -The Talking Farm iy a way 5tudeots = participate in really doing something better to teach. show. and personify , numerous vmys. -%Vc want to teach tar the environment, and you arc the benefits of orgrn]c farming, people about food production. wasting a lot of fuel," said senior and •uppoa a great grassroots ; We anticipate that kids will come .EfleSpacck, student liaison for dlc organization, riot rsomcagribusiness to work on the farm und•Iearn program. According toZezima, die rann. that's making everything monoculture," stated Spacck. rnatketing and otter skills that go RIGHT OF QUAY OF THE NORTH SHORE CHANNEL IM� PARKS/RECREATION LEASED i I VACANT CORPORATE USE L14-ItM"4I WATERWAYS w" Penaaee of Lariat k7H NO Leon Parmrf leauei 7ermedlesae Rematta ! at VKW4 - 1 100 6 02 1h+e y" Ch w n idarYia I14-052 4 00 I f-01.50 410.31-21Fi I sut�lemb-Ctoafa" 603 CZM:rp T(MIA ALWON Z-25e I 017 11-01.0313lwil-=& 606 WMarch Asonae hL•120 I 199 041SIM"."MMIO l 607 tbnarCfe AsMYt 010 YfapedSkotu t4.22tf to-111 01101.94to03.314M alI (1!<W"A--wmu L L C +l•731 I t 521 01.01-01 to 12•31.2-10 a l7 Sa * Part astr c td.-216 1 4 331 04•21-14to ok-2 r-M 1 e i3 Clacaaa 7ramt Awr-om lik- 3 I 0111 11.01-83to 12-31..+1a Eta Ora TMuiwrnxr 1 • i I tee amwe 015 Skate Pat 0, , I}a -71 s 7 601 04.71.94 to 0+-n -.a2 j e,le l/ita0edslaw Ili-221E 690 tu-01•WtoClI a I7 Yiaw of stow I see ax r I I Ole 4Y+owdstt;k's 1 - seerc.1 7 1 616 �Y.oc1 5ty.van0Vra NI-216 1• 3207 0i-71.041a0s-70.2V.s ! I e 20 • 2001 { I 621 �K*M C-oo'm++KlfDM IhP-305 0atl o12 -96 to 00-22-2w, j 1122 fN?4Z4 000II 02•II}531a01-01.M I 1 I 1/{2 SCALE OF MILES b.1b1 ,�rl. b.ab a�z E�0 f3R1NY1 71 0.02 al ..' It4 f L i tr£STL 'f 1 6 Revised 11/04 A e1 �fA HB '1300 The Illinois Food. Farms. and Jobs Act of 2007 95TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois Introduced by Rep. Julie Hamos Why do we need this Act? • Illinois Imports more than 90°% of its food, with Illinois food consumers daily spending millions of dollars for food that could and should be grown by Illinois farmers. These dollars are leaving the borders of Illinois, denying every Illinois community the economic benefits of recirculating wealth. • The loss of Illinois's rich farmland to urban sprawl compromises Illinois's ability to feed itself with fresh foods. As the number of Illinois farmers has declined, rural communities have been losing population, causing rural decay. • By the growing demand for local and organic foods, Illinois food consumers are demonstrating that they are willing to pay a premium for foods that they know are fresh, nutritious, and that benefit local farmers and communities. • There are many Illinois neighborhoods, both rural and urban, without stores selling fresh locally grown or organic foods. What does this Act do? HB 1300 assembles a Task Force from diverse iliinois constituencies that are necessary to construct and maintain a complete in -state food system for the production, processing, storage, distribution, sale, and preparation of local and organic foods. An in -state Illinois -based food system would pay for new local and organic food -related jobs by plugging the present leakage of food dollars from the Illinois economy. The Task Force's objective is to pinpoint bottlenecks that are hindering the development of an Illinois -based local and organic food system, making recommendations for their solution to the 9& Illinois General Assembly. Called the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Plan, policy and funding recommendations will be made on: • Farmer training and development (beginning and existing) • Helping farmers to transition to locally grown foods, USDA organic, and specialty crop production • Improving consumer access to fresh and affordable Illinois -grown foods in both rural and urban communities (farmers markets, roadside stands, and new and existing groceries) • Removing barriers separating landowners, farmers, businesses, and consumers desiring to participate in local and organic food networks • Constructing a local food infrastructure (processing, storage, and distribution) • Developing new food and agriculture -related businesses, such as on -farm processing, micro - markets, incubator kitchens, and marketing and communications businesses • Research into best practices and opportunities for local and organic food production and handling • How best to inform the public about the benefits of local food systems and about the development opportunities provided through this Act A To Support this Bill, Here's What You Can Do On February 28, 2007, HB1300 was brought before the House Agriculture and Conservation Committee. The Committee voted unanimously (10-0) in favor of the bill. On March 27, 2007, the full House approved the bill, by a vote of 108 — 8. Now the bill is in the Senate. i. Contact your State Senator or Representative to express support for developing local Illinois food systems. 2. Add your name and/or organization to the official list of endorsements. Send your Name, Organization[Farm, and Town to Debbie Hillman at 847/328-7175 or DLHillman0sbcalobal.net 3. Follow progress of Bill on Illinois General Assembly website, Go to www.iloa.aov and type in HB1300 at "Search by Bill Number". , For more information, contact Jim Braun, Illinois. Farmer -Consumer Coalition Bryan Sharp, Illinois Farmers Union Springfield, Illinois Taylorville, Illinois 515R29-2679 2171786-4220 JBraun2525avahoo.com Brvar-KOILFU.orq Debbie Hillman, Evanston Food! Policy Council Evanston, Illinois 847/328-7175 171JHillman0sbcalobai.net Jim Slama, Sustain Chicago, Illinois 312/504-5537 J imS Iama6DSustain USA.orq Keith Bolin, American Corn Growers Association Manlius, Illinois 815/445-5491 ahoafarmer0hotmail.com Harold Wilken, organic farmer Danforth, Illinois 217/249-2311 ianiesfarmO.vahoo.com Bridget Holcomb, Illinois Stewardship Alliance . Brad Halbrook, organic farmer Rochester, Illinois Shelbyville, Illinois 217/498-9707 217/7744794 Brkioet8litinois$tewardshinAlliance.orq halbrook0consolidated.net 95TH GENERAL. ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2007 and 2008 Illinois Food. Farms. and Jobs Act of 2007 HB1300: Introduced by Rep. Julie Hamos SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED New Act 30 ILCS 105/5.675 new Creates the Illinois Food, Farms, and Jobs Act and the Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force. Sets out the composition of the Task Force. Provides that the Task Force shall develop a plan for expanding and supporting a State local and organic food system and for assessing and overcoming obstacles to an Increase in locally grown food and local organic food production. Sets out the contents of the plan. Amends the State Finance Act to create the Illinois Local Organic Food and Farm Fund. Effective immediately. A BILL FOR HB1300 LRB095 08986 CIVIK 29177 b AN ACT concerning agriculture. Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly: Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Illinois Food, Farms, and Jobs Act. Section 5. Legislative findings. ■ Illinois should be the Midwest leader in local and organic food and fiber production. r One thousand five hundred miles is the average travel distance for food items now consumed in this State, and agricultural products sold directly for human consumption comprise less than 0.2% of Illinois farm sales. ■ Ninety-five percent of organic food sold in this State is grown and processed outside of the State, resulting in food dollars being exported. In Illinois ranks fifth in the nation in loss of farmland. ■ The market for locally grown foods and for organic food is expanding rapidly. ■ Consumers would benefit from additional local food outlets that make fresh and affordable Illinois grown foods more accessible in both rural and urban communities. ■ Communities are experiencing significant problems of obesity and nutrition, including lack of daily access to fresh fruits and vegetables. ■ Low-income communities that are currently "food deserts" lacking sufficient markets selling fresh fruits and vegetables would benefit from local food distribution systems. ■ The State's urban communities are showing renewed interest in growing food in urban areas. ■ Rural communities would be revitalized by increasing the number of families in the State that live on small properties and by providing fresh high -value local food. ■ Farmers who wish to transition from conventional agriculture to local and organic food would benefit from training and support to diversify their farming operations. ■ Food consumers, farmers, and entrepreneurs would benefit from an expanded infrastructure for processing, storing, and distributing locally grown foods. ■ The capture of existing food dollars within the State would help to revitalize the State's treasury by creating a broad range of new in -state jobs and business opportunities within both rural and urban communities. ■ For the purposes of this Act and for the retention of the greatest benefit from every food dollar spent In this State, support for local food means capturing in Illinois the greatest portion of food production, processing, storing, and distribution possible. Section 10. Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force. The Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Task Force ("the Task Force") is created. The Task Force shall initially be appointed by the Govemor and convened by the Department of Agriculture and shall include the following Illinois -based members: (a) one representative each from the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and Human Services. (b) four organic farmers, representing different dairy, meat, vegetable, and grains sectors; (c) four specialty crop producers, representing different flower, fruit, viticulture, aquaculture, fiber, vegetable, and ornamental sectors; (d) two organic processors; (e) one organic distributor and one non -organic distributor; (f) three representatives of not -for -profit educational organizations; (g) one organic certifier; (h) one consumer representative; (i) two representatives of farm organizations; (j) one university agricultural specialist; (k) one philanthropic organization representative; (1) one food retailer representative; (m) two municipal representatives from different communities in the State; (n) four representatives from community -based organizations focusing on food access, to include at least 3 minority members; and (o) one chef specializing in the preparation of locally grown organic foods All members of the Task Force shall be appointed for a 2-year term. Section 15. Illinois Local and Organic Food and Farm Plan. The Task Force shall develop a plan containing policy and funding recommendations for expanding and supporting a State local and organic food system and for assessing and overcoming obstacles to an increase in focally grown food and local organic food production. The Task Force shall prepare and submit its plan in a report to the General Assembly by September 30, 2008, for consideration of its recommendations in the 96th General Assembly. The Plan, among other matters, shall: (a) identify land preservation and acquisition opportunities for local and organic agriculture in rural, suburban, and urban areas; (b) identify farmer training and development, as necessary, by expanding training programs such as Farm Beginnings, incubator projects such as Prairie Crossing Farm, urban agriculture training programs, farmer -to -farmer learning opportunities, or other programs; (c) identify financial incentives, technical support, and training necessary to help Illinois farmers to transition to local, organic, and specialty crop production by minimizing their financial losses during the 3-year transition period required under USDA standards and to help with recordkeeping requirements; (d) identify strategies and funding needs to make fresh and affordable Illinois -grown foods more accessible, both in rural and urban communities, with an emphasis on creating new food outlets in communities that need them; (e) identify the financial and technical support necessary to build connections between landowners, farmers, buyers, and consumers; (f) identify the financial and technical support necessary to build a local food infrastructure of processing, storage, and distribution; (g) identify the financial and technical support necessary to develop new food and agriculture -related businesses for local food and organic food production and distribution, such as on -farm processing, micro - markets, incubator kitchens, and marketing and communications businesses; (h) identify the financial and technical support necessary to expand the development of farmers markets, roadside markets, and local grocery stores in unserved and underserved areas, as well as the creation of year-round public markets in Chicago and other large communities- (i) research, identify, and coordinate best practices and opportunities for the development of local food and organic food production; 0) identify opportunities to educate the public and producers about the benefits of local foods systems and about the development opportunities provided through this Act; and (k) identify legal impediments to local food and organic food production, and develop recommendations for a remedy. Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law. CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, May 7, 2007 Civic Center - Room 2402 8:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Judy Aiello, Jay Tery, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Pat Vance, Rosemary Jean -Paul, (Evanston Township); Sharon Eckersall, Diane Benjamin, (Township Assessor's Office); Bennett Johnson, Patricia Gregory, Madelyn Ducre', Albert Gibbs, Richard Katz PRESIDING: Alderman Holmes 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Holmes called the meeting to order at 8:20 p.m. II. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE APRIL 4, 2007, MEETING The minutes of the April 4.2007 meetina were called and unanimousiv approved 13-01. (Aldermen Bernstein and Tisdale entered the meeting shortly after the approval of the minutes.) Ill. CONSIDERATION OF THE APRIL 2007 TOWNSHIP BILLS Alderman Moran moved for acceptance of the Townshio April 2007 bills. seconded bir Alderman Jean -Baptiste. Mr. Terry noted that the bills list before the committee includes the S33,106.25 Hoover legal bills. His understanding is Mr. Hoover has requested an opportunity to speak before the entire City Council when he will be back in Evanston and is tentatively scheduled for May 29th City Council meeting. If the committee wishes to follow the past couple months practice to hold the Hoover bills, $33,106.25 is the amount to withhold from the bills. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved approval list except for the Hoover legal bills. motion seconded by Alderman Tisdahl. Motion unanimousiv nooroved 15-01., IV. CONSIDERTION OF TOWNSHIP ANNUAL BUDGET ORDINANCE 4143-07 WHEREBY THE CITY COUNCIL ACTING AS TRUSTEES OF THE EVANSTON TOWNSHIP WOULD APPROVE THE ANNUAL TOWNSHIP BUDGET FOR THE 20OT-08 FISCAL YEAR Ms. Vance gave the committee an overview of the Township budget. Ms. Vance noted the Township proposed budget is In three sections, the General Assistance Fund, the Emergency Assistance Program Fund, and the Assessor's Office Fund. The General Assistance Program current budget request projects keeping the number of 85 clients per month. Some of the major changes occurring in General Assistance is the Township will now also assume the salarycost for the Emergency Assistance Program as well as an office person and additional monies for utilities and toward some housing costs. Next year's proposed budget will hopefully cover 100% of the Emergency Services budget. This change occurred due to the projected 85 client case load enabling us to keep the case load down as well as our medical. However, this year they had some $40,000 medical bills which they will be getting some money back for as she filed a claim for catastrophic, incidents. We have been able to keep the case load down and manage the expenses. Also our revenue, the actual tax dollars the Township is due to receive, has been coming in, She would like to note they currently have one of the best cash flow balances since she's been there, but if somebody files and wins a property tax appeal that is money we have to pay back within that tax year. One year our office had to cut back due to some tax appeals that had to be paid back. Midway last year we increased the amount paid to General Assistance clients and this year she is looking into housing costs pay outs. We have been getting a lot of the anticipated projected revenue. Alderman Holmes thought 2008 and 2009 tax appeals might be a big concern. Ms. Vance said if a business or a resident appeals and they have collected the money from us the Treasurer's office will say we owe them back "X" numberof dollars which that they takeout of that fund, money we do not get. She has seen 4 major businesses in this area that have had tax appeals come through. Alderman Tisdahl asked Ms. Vance if she has talked with our legislators about the Impact of the property tax appeals on your budget, and added the point is to all talk with them. Ms. Vance responded she has not had any communication as currently they are In a good position and not stressed by the property tax as many Townships. Alderman Holmes remarked she mentioned that because it is something we have to be aware of and concerned about because there are so many appeals being made. Commissioner Suffredin was at her last ward meeting and said anyone who's taxes had HSC Minutes 50107 - Page.1 Increased by 35+% should appeal and whether or not it is going to happen is something we should be looking at for 2008 and 2009. Alderman Moran noted a number of items in the budget are very positive, and in two instances are negative on an operational basis outcome. He was interested in how Ms. Vance reconciles her budgetary process. Ms. Vance responded when they prepare the monthly financial statements, she along with her bookkeeper and accountant look at what Is occurring to see where cut backs are needed and project where we can make up for that. Alderman Moran asked if there was an excess of funds this past year and how was that dealt with. Ms. Vance said these monies go into a fund balance that actually is not used. For example, in the year 2008 we project "X' number of dollars which if we do not receive that amount our expenses are 5200,000 or whatever over that would then be taken out of the fund balance and would reduce the fund balance. Alderman Moran asked if the Township has a positive fund balance, to which his. Vance responded, yes. Alderman Moran asked if at that point when you're preparing your projected revenues and expenses for the coming year and you have a positive fund balance do you deduct that from the levy. Ms. Vance said the Township is capped for 4 cents for General Assistance and 3 cents for the Township. 7%, therefore we can only project 3% of the cost of what the cost of living or the CPi is or which ever is the lowest. We can only increase ours by the CPI Hfiich also includes losses from property to make sure that money is used and is how our revenue comes in. We don't lower the 7 cents to be taxed. Alderman Moran asked is the Contract Services is principally for fees. Ms. Vance said their Contract Services include their copy machine or any contract for property and equipment. Their General Assistance budget does not have anything contracted out for legal expenses. Ms. Vance added that they usually do not fund anything other than the flags for the Veterans. They had S15,000 in that fund this year, $5,000 of which has been obligated toward helping fund the Youth Summit taking place on Saturday. The Township is helping to fund the Youth Summit. There also was an item cut out of the City's budget for picking up food for the Food Aid Center and we are looking at funding the transportation to pick up the food. Alderman Bernstein had some questions for the Township Assessor. He questioned the $15,000 increase and wondered why another $25,000 in legal fees is proposed. Ms. Eckersall said that amount was suggested if the case when to the Appellate Court and into ajury trial. Alderman Bernstein said he would discuss that with Mr. Hoover when he attends the May 2e City Council meeting. Alderman Bernstein inquired about the S1,000 Contingency item that was estimated actually at $150 and now proposed at $1,000 which he thinks is ridiculous. He also asked about the increase in Dues and Subscriptions, to which Ms. Eckersall responded they have dues for the Cook County's Assessor's Association for $400 or $500 for monthly lunches for Ms. Benjamin and herself, the notary fees $50 or S 100 for herself and Ms. Benjamin. there is also a subscription for the offce's new software about S 1.500. Alderman Bernstein asked how that software was paid for to which Ms. Eckersall said they will be billed later for the software. Alderman Bernstein asked what equipment Ms. Eckersall proposes spending $4.500 on. Ms. Eckersall said their printer went down and they purchased a new printer for $900 that is a scanner and a fax machine. She had a contract on their old printer for 3 years with Office Depot for which they will be getting a refund of 5400 or $500 because the contract was not up, and then the printer will cost less. Alderman Bernstein questioned the Equipment Maintenance item for 52,000 to which Ms. Eckersall said that was for different equipment contracts. They called Compubits when their computer went down which cost 5300 or $400 and call them several times during them year to put them back on line. They also had IRIS installed on all their computers. Alderman Bernstein noted Contact Service increased $2,100 to $4,500 and asked what that was for. Ms. Eckersall said she will give the committee a breakdown on the $2,400 used last year and projected increase this year. Alderman Bernstein remarked he wanted a breakdown on everything to include Legal. Contingency Fund, Dues and Subscriptions. Equipment Purchased, and Equipment Maintenance, and would like to see what was purchased in the last 3 years. Supplies have gone from $2.000 actual to a proposed $3,500. Ms. Eckersall said they just bought supplies for the reassessment that will come out of this year's budget. Alderman Bernstein pointed out Postage has a $600 increase, to which Ms. Eckersall said they had a lot of postage going out of their office and a lot of it has been coming out of Petty Cash which should actually be in postage. Alderman Bernstein did not see a Petty Cash fund in the budget and asked for a breakdown of the Petty Cash fund. Alderman Bernstein noted the Postage and Printing and Dup4cating have been increased after the fact. He would have expected a bigger budget during the tri-annual than in the year following when you don't have that work to do. Ms. Eckersall said the Triennial fell into all of April which will be payable in May. Alderman Bernstein's concern now is you budgeted last year knowing there was a t►i-annual coming which got to us sooner than you anticipated by a couple of months, but your proposal for last year took into consideration that you were going through a reassessment period. Ms. Eckersall the budget now is for the total reassessment and the same with the salaries. Alderman Bernstein wanted the items previously mentioned broken down and right now will say he is going for a reduction in the budget. Ms. Vance wanted to comment about the $20,000 legal item. When the accountants do their audit they ask how much for the legal is the potential liability. The legal liability spent possibly 575,000 and with the year ended they would have spent $55,000, the 510,000 in there is another $10,000 toward potential obligation. Alderman Bernstein remarked that would be $10.000 of the proposed $25,000. Alderman Bernstein proposed holding the Assessor's budget. Mr. Terry said the current schedule calls for the budget to be introduced May 14'" , there will be a public hearing, and consideration of the budget would be May 29' . The HSC Minutes W107 - Page.2 Township is the one form of government where you can approve the budget after the fiscal year has started, it started April 1". Alderman Holmes announced this will be taken upon May 14". V. CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 23-R-07 AUTORONG THE CITY MANAGER TO EXECUTE A MASTER LEASE WITH THE LIGHTHOUSE PARK DISTRICT OF EVANSTON FOR GROSS POINTE LIGHTHOUSE PARK, LIGHTHOUSE TOWER AND TOWER LAND (TRACTS 1, 2, AND 3) Ms. Aiello said the Lighthouse Area Task Force came to you in 2005 when their first recommendation was that we enter into along term tease with the Park District for the Lighthouse. That was their wish and we began negotiations which took longer than she hoped itwouid take. What the committee has before them is a proposed lease that the Lighthouse Park District Board and staff are recommending. Ms. Aiello proceeded to highlight a few things that are different in this lease than (lie teases in the past. Everything was consolidated into one lease where before there were different leases for different tracts of land everything is now consolidated into one. The memorandum outlined what the Park District issues were when we started as they wanted a long term lease to deal with funding and also wanted a longer lease if the City ever decided we would no longer lease the Lighthouse to them, they also wanted us to make a commitment to talk about future use of the fog houses. The City wanted to understand what kind of commitment they were going to make to the maintenance and improvement of that area and wanted minor things such as an annual meeting to discuss that. We also wanted further delineation of the hours of operation and to standardize the insurance provision with the other properties where we have tenants. Over the years three parcels of City property at the intersection of Lincoln and Ridge had been leased to them. They are all passive uses with no development on them. just a green open space. As part of this lease negotiation their board decided they now do not want to lease these parcels from us and the City will be taking back those three parcels. There is an interest for the parcel north of Lincoln at the tail end of the parking lot that the Cause Building has some Interest in purchasing. When it gets approved by the City Council their attorney will be contacted to see if they are still interested. The northeast comer of Ridge and Lincoln is a developable parcel but at this point does not recommend the City take any action to sell. The only issue is whether or not the City would want a park bench or anything on it as a function to keeping it the green space it now is. The lease goes into more detail as it relates to our commitments and their commitments. The Lighthouse is the City's, it was deeded to us from the Federal Government with the provision that at any time they could come back and take it from us, we obviously don't think they will but that provision has to be in the lease. We have agreed that once a year we will meet to talk about the fog houses. We'd like to explore if there is a way they can get some grants to do some things in their museum or some exhibits that can mesh with what the ecology people do because they have a camp there. There is an opportunity to discuss this on an annual basis to see if there is a way we can both use it a little more. They have to provide us the insurance which if they do not that is one of the reasons we can terminate. The language in how we terminate depends on if the Federal Government takes it over, if they fail to pay their insurance, or if for some reason the City wants it and then they can object to the City Council and the Council will have to hear their objections before we can terminate the lease. Alderman Tisdahl wanted to add that the Lighthouse is in great condition, this is not because we were willing to tax them extra In order to take care of the Lighthouse. The reason they want this longterm lease is for their fundraising, some people would like to give them a significant amount of money but they needed to know they would have control of the Lighthouse for a longer period of time to feel the donation was justified. She very much hopes this will be passed. Alderman Holmes asked if the parcels west of Ridge would in any way limit the district In terms of their fundraising or taxing. Alderman Tisdahl said their fundraising Is pretty much set to the Lighthouse. Alderman Jean -Baptiste inquired about what would be reviewed on a yearly basis. Ms. Aiello said the fog houses and their maintenance will be reviewed annually, where they will tell us what kind of improvements they will be doing and we will share with them some of the long term maintenance we have to do to the complex whether it is the Arts Center, the Coach House, or the park land like Noah's Playground. This would be to establish more frequent communication. Other than that the lease would go to 2027 unless they don't provide us with the appropriate information. Alderman Jean - Baptiste asked why this land was leased for $1.00 a year as opposed to the land made available for utilization by public entities. Ms. Aiello said they raise taxes for those people that live within the geographic area and use that to pay for maintenance, pay for the salary for the Lighthouse keeper, and pay for their programming. They do most of the maintenance, what we do is very minor. We pay for more of the repairs for the Arts Center. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if there is a group of people taxing themselves extra to take care of the Lighthouse. Ms. Aiello responded the park land is open to everybody as Is the Lighthouse, nothing is reserved for the Lighthouse Park District people that isn't accessible to the rest of the public, the area is not restricted. The Arts Center has a separate lease and we get a little more In the rent. We do the maintenance by taking care of the outside of the building', they take care of the Inside of the building. The land is deeded only for public purposes and not for any commercial purposes. The committee unanimously 15-01 voted to anorave consideratlon of Resolution R-23-07 to execute a master lease with the Llahthouse Park District of Evanston for Gross Pointe Lighthouse Park. Liahthouse Tower. and Tower Land (Tracts 1. 2. and 3.1 V. CITIZENS COMMENTS HSC Minutes 517107 - Page.3 Sennett Johnson said his concem is about law and order and conduct in Evanston. We live in a democratic society where law is made by the citizens for the citizens not for the police, not for the wealthy, not for the businesses but for the people. Problems come when police have power over people that is not within a purview because the policeman has a duty to make an arrest not to administer punishment, not to adjudicate, but make an arrest and take the individual before the court and the court decides guilty or innocent. In our country nobody is guilty no matter how flagrant they were caught until the court decides they were guilty and administers punishment. The punishment is also administered by a jury of their peers which is how things work. The problem is that policemen, because they are out there everyday, have a lot of stress and develop pariah complexes because they are dealing with many people who are considered the worst people in our society. Again, the worst people in our society always runs back to race and also runs to powerless and powerless are also women, Sexism and racism are the hallmarks of police misconduct. His concern in our fair City of Evanston is we should do what we canto make sure our police do not take upon themselves the power that is not theirs. In other wards they can't make an arrest because they're presuming a person is guilty. The first thing Mr. Johnson would propose is training, not the training that once you get a uniform and where you were hired you go through more or less basic training, then you're put out on the street without ever coming back for any kind of review. People who have authority of the law should be trained on a quarterly basis to come back into the house where someone assesses their attitude toward race, toward women, and toward themselves because self image goes a long way in society of how a person treats his fellow human beings. They should also have training on their understanding of the taw, in other words what is their responsibility under the law. Often in any job you take shortcuts and forget what the principals are. You need that kind refresher, especially for police more than in other professions. Probably the only other professions would be the health medical profession and teachers. Misconduct is illegal; a policeman who gets involved in misconducts violates the law which he's supposed to uphold. It makes the City vulnerable to litigation, not only vulnerable but there is a cost in the litigation not only for the court case and lawyer fees but also the cost of settlement. He knows most of police misconduct case settlements are covered by insurance but that is not what we should be aiming for. We should be aiming for a situation where we don't have litigation or law suits. Another important thing is the handling of the City, we're supposed to be Evanston the Athens of the west, and it hurts our image when we have policemen out there doing what they should not be doing. He's suggesting we have a Civilian Review Board or whatever you want to call it something a lot of people have been talking about this for a long time. He thinks its time to act. First of all there should be a person on the board from every ward in the City. All nine wards should be represented by a citizen, with no members or officials of a Municipal Union on the board, that means no firefighters, no garbage workers, no police officers on the board. This board should be citizens who can advocate for the rights of the citizens and for what is correct and lawful under the law. The board should report to the City Council not to the City Manager because we are the citizens and we should have the power that means we could also delegate this power to other people to retain that power. We should have subpoena power which is very critical because without subpoena power you cannot bring people in front of you and demand that they tell the truth. This board should have an Independent budget that comes from the City Council directly to them. The members and subcommittee of this board, if they want to, should screen all complaints. The reason he is bringing this forward now, as this is something he has been thinking about for many years, is Chicago is moving in that direction. if Chicago goes in that direction and leaves us behind what happens to this enlightened City. If it's effective, which he is sure it would be, it would reduce crime because the citizens will be more involved in reporting complaints to the Police Department and will be given a fair trial. That is the fairness what we aught to be about. He was President of the NAACP for a long time and heard two complaints all the time, one about unemployment discrimination but the more important one time after time after was about policeman misconduct in Evanston, which he was unable to resolve them because the fox was guarding the chicken coop. In a democratic society to have a police force that is not under the control of the citizens is what happened in Germany and what is presently happening. He feels we have a great opportunity here to move forward on this. it's important for us to change what's happening in the City of Evanston. Alderman Bernstein asked Mr. Johnson how would we pick nine citizens to sit on this board. Mr. Johnson said this should beset up as a voting situation because it could get political. He would think the Aldermen or the Council as whole would nominate people with some specific requirements and qualifications so these advocates would have integrity. Alderman Bornstein asked Mr. Johnson if this would be a recommending body to the Council or would they have the authority to act on their own. Mr. Johnson said the problem with acting on their own is the liability problem of making errors, etc. He would think they would make recommendations with advise and consent and be given as much authority as possible. Alderman Bernstein asked if they would be volunteers, to which Mr. Johnson responded yes that is critical. Patricia Gregory, of 1747 Grey, said wished the way O.P.S. is currently operating could be revamped especially in light of what has come about in Chicago. Her personal experience is thinking she could go to O.P.S. with a potential problem, not looking for the problem to turn into a battle which is what happens most of the time with the people that she talked to. You have police reviewing themselves and their friends without getting to the bottom of the problem. You may get a response from them saying someone was found guilty but what does that mean. When you have people telling you that police Are there to protect everyone they should be protecting all the people of Evanston not just a certain group and not making a certain group feel as if they're the problem and no matter what you say or what you do will not make any difference. She asked a police officerwhy would he stop a group of boys In a car by pulling them out, searching them, throwing all their stuff on the ground and then telling them to pick it up. The answer the policeman gave her was, " HSC Minutes 517107 - Page.A 'because I can". She had problems with the same officer a few years later. You should look at police as being fair, as somebody that is going to protect you not somebody that will potentially battle against you just because you had a problem with them. You're looking for somebody to resolve a problem not just to battle with the police which is all it's been since she put in a complaint with O.P.S. She's not asking the police not to do their job or not to bother her or her family. If they break the law then there's consequences, but to take your authority and abuse it just because you can and because this person might have a complaint against one of your friends is totally not right. They take you to court where you have to prove yourself innocent when you were innocent from the beginning. Her son was stopped and told the car insurance wasn't valid. When the officer left the car her son called her to come help him. She knew the insurance was valid because she was stopped a few days prior to that by the same officer. That one little thing turned into something very big and ugly which did not have to happen because the insurance was valid. She is truly baffled by all this but knows that Q.P.S. should not be in the Police Department and should not be police policing police because they are people of like minds. Police should not abuse the power or authority they have because now her family doesn't look at police as protecting everybody as a whole. She is now afraid of the police which she should not be, and does not know if she will be protected by the police is something happens. Living in Evanston and volunteering and doing things in this community she is very appalled that her family has been treated as criminals as they are not. Her one complaint with O.P.S. is an ongoing nightmare of a battle and nobody cares. She would like this committee to know there is a family suffering from police just because they can. NoMyn Ducre , the question that always comes up at meetings and other places is always the same, what are we going to do about the Police Department. She attended a Council meeting when it came up about what to do when the police have the last word. What other avenues can we take to make sure that those things are followed through? She has followed through on a complaint at the Police Department and maybe a couple 3 years later she sees the officer she complained about has been promoted. Things changed, hopefully attitudes changed too but she does not know about that. if one of her children breaks the law and goes to jail he's suffering the consequences of the police. She wants to know what avenue we can take when an officer breaks those rules. She's not afraid to go to the Police Station under any circumstances. There are some people who have been discouraged from going to the station to make a complaint. Another thing is the timing, people work during the day, if you're not there by 4:00 p.m, you're out of business and therefore they think you don't want to follow through on certain things. It needs lobe out of that building something we've been asking for years and years. She's not asking, she's demanding that this Council tell us something that would meet with this urgency. You have heard a tot of complaints here and the best practice would be to rind out what has been happening, but what you have you been doing about it. She's tired of coming to meetings and meetings and nothing is being done. These problems go back to the 60's. Tonight she would like to know what steps this committee plans to take, something definite. Do we have any money for this, there has to be some lawyer to do some kind of investigation or research on how to go about this. Maybe you want us to do it. We really and truly have to make some plan. This committee has to think about this and at the next meeting and have some answers for us. Alderman Holmes said we have a new Police Chief and we certainly will make him aware of the comments made tonight and ask for some kind of report in terms of his experience from the community he just left. We can ask the Chief to give a report to the overall Council. Albert Gibbs, bom in Evanston, a product of the school system and comes from a family that owned business here. He participated in everything the City had to offer children and schools, after school athletics, etc. He's given back to the community. He speaks his mind and if he's wrong pays the consequences. He does not allow people to walkover him and dictate to him what he can and cannot do. He was raised to walk the right way where the law is concerned. He remembers when we had a Police Department that was reflective of the community and officers were aware of the entire family. We're being faced more and more with people who do not have a vested interest in the community and are running rough shot over the children and those who they do not have anything in common with. He's not saying the whole Police Department is bad, there are some good officers. On his way home from work leaving the grocery store with groceries in his hand they pulled up behind him and said, "Hey you, I'm talking to you, lake your hands out of your pockets". He asked the officer if he was talking to him as he was not breaking the law and gave him his name and address and date of birth which they checked onto see if he had a police record. He was asked why was he walking through the alley, since 1967 he's been taking shortcuts walking through the alley. He knew he was being setup as in reality it's still a practice of management and racial superiority. If this has not happened to you, you have no idea of what he is saying. The officer would not reveal the difference that he may have with another race or class of people as someone in authority will not do that. Those of you that say he must have done something wrong, yes, he did something wrong he is different than what the officer is and he did not bow down to the officer. Whatever way he handles the situation, courteous respectful he still gets treated like he's something the officer is scraping off his shoe. He does not say all officers are like but they have too many that demonstrate that type of attitude. He finds it hard that at 55 he can be coming home from the job clothes dirty, groceries in his bag, newspaper in his hand and lighting a cigar that he has to be talked to Ina way that makes him think he's about to be shot. When he called the department about the incident he was told he was manufacturing this as they did not find anything substantiating why he called them. He will never call them again and he won't allow them to act in the manner that they do. If things like his don't happen In the 1" Ward or the 7"' Ward it shouldn't be happening In any ward. Let's be concerned with everyone if this Is the City of diversity. HSC Minutes 517/07 - Page.5 Alderman Holmes promised Mr. Gibbs we are going to make this reference and come back with some kind of report. She recalls that Chief Kaminski said they had something do with the unions in terms of the O.P.S. We now have a new Chief and a different kind of board and we can ask the Chief to research what can be done and look at and learn from what is happening in Chicago. Ms. Ducre' said she is yet to hear a date, or a time, she's heard we'll get back to you in time. We need to hear a date. a time table. She's talking from experience as she's heard this so many times. she needs to hear a commitment tonight. Alderman Holmes said we will make a reference to the Chief and ask him to get back to us with some feedback by the June 4" Human Services Committee meeting at which time we will at least be able to address this. Alderman Holmes thanked everyone for bringing this before the committee. Richard Kati, came to the committee regarding driving and cell phones. He has done some research on cell phone use and has also done some prevention work with stopping tobacco use with kids. Cell phones are dangerous when you drive which is part of the larger problem of inattention. He knows Chicago has an ordinance to prohibit the use of cell phones while you're driving which is not enforced. His concern is he thinks it would be great to have a mindfulness driving institute where drivers in Evanston would have to complete some kind of training to be aware of the impact of a poor driving technique. Driving seems to be more of a right than a privilege and people are bombarded by all kinds of distractions such cell phones, radios, loud music, etc., which prevents them from engaging in driving and results in accidents, deaths, and expense. He knows sometimes the Police Departments can be in a program of mindfulness in driving that somehow ties into the vehicle sticker so that citizens who took the course would gel a special sticker for their car or maybe be induced to get a discount on their City sticker. The development of some kind of positive training and something that ties in with BMW orAudi where they all have driving schools where people will be entered in a rally and once a year a person will get a special program with one of these driving schools. The Police Department could develop some champion kind of an Institute that will bring safe driving to the City of Evanston and lake it around the state or around to communities and they would be known for their unique contribution to safe driving. He has no idea what this would cost but is thinking in terms of actually stopping and ticketing people for driving on the cell phone the expense of tickets, etc., would have to support a program. About a month ago he sent a letter to all the Aldermen about this. He does not know where to go with this but maybe something could happen. Thank you. Alderman Moran thought this is a very important issue and something he deals with everyday. He cannot see how we can make people respectful of each other when they get behind the wheel of a car. Mr. Katz has some very interesting Ideas. Mr. (Katz thought punishment does stop behavior but on the other hand to reward people for behaving appropriately with a sticker, community awards, some kind of recognition that will note to their fellow citizens that they are doing something right would build some pride in what they're doing, there is then the probability they will Increase that kind of behavior. He does not have an answer for this but knows there is this creeping sort of technology which Is encroaching upon independent behavior and with the right planned community pilot program the biggest thing there is the risk management. Mr. Terry remarked there Is a pending reference on this from Alderman Rainey. Neither Chief Eddington nor the Law Department was ready to discuss this tonight-, it will be on a future agenda. VI. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9.55 p.m. Respect fully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes SR/IN - Page.6 CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, June 4, 2007 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Chief Richard Eddington, Commander Barbara Wiedlin. Sergeant Daniel Russell, Alisa Dean, Elko Purze, Vince Jones, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Pat Vance, Rosemary Jean -Paul, (Evanston Township); Sharon Eckersall. (Township Assessor's Office); Bennett Johnson, Judith Treadway, Patricia Gregory, Madelyn Ducre', Albert Gibbs, (See Attached List of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Holmes 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Holmes called the meeting to order at 7:20 p.m. 11, APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MAY 7, 2007, MEETING The minutes of the Aoril 4. 2007 meetlnc: were called and aonroved (4-01. (Aldermen Jean-Bap6sle entered the meeting shortly after the approval of the minutes.) Ill. CONSIDERATION OF THE MAY 2007 TOWNSHIP BILLS Alderman Tisdahl Moran moved for accootance of the Townshln Mav 2007 bills. seconded by Alderman Moran. Mr. Terry noted that Mr. Hill is stilt in conversation rnth Mr. Hooverregarding the Assessor's $32,106.25 legal expenditures which for the past few months has not been approved by the Human Services Committee. Alderman Holmes questioned Mr. Hoover's intent to charge the City 1 % interest per month on the unpaid bills. Ms. Vance said a letter from Mr. Hoover Indicated that he planned to assess a 1% a month late charge against the balance owed by the Township. Alderman Semstein asked if that was stipulated in a contract with Mr Hoover as this cannot be done without a contract. Ms. Eckersall was asked it she had a contract with Mr. Hoover to which she responded, she had no idea whether there was a contract as Mr. Hoover was hired 3 or 4 years ago but wilt get that information for the committee. Committee members indicated Mr. Hoover's bills should be held pending the outcome of the discussions with the Law Department. Ms. Eckersall added the S 1.100 Office Depot charge is for a pnnier and they will receive a $500 rebate from their warranty. Hearing no further ouestlons Alderman Holmes recalled the motion to accotnt the Townshln Mav 2007 bills in tho, amount of $33,106.26. Motion unanimously approved (5.01. IV. CONSIDERATION OF DISPOSITION OF CITIZEN COMPLAINTS AGAINST POLICE OFFICERS Alderman Jean -Baptiste agreed with the findings of complaint 006-07. No one except the complainant heard the threat to kill someone and there were no witnesses to corroborate the complaint. The committee unanimously agreed (05-0) with the disposition of SOL for complaint #06-07. Alderman Bernstein noted complaint #06-06 was the group viotence complaint where people stood in the policeman's way and asked if that type of action is commonplace. Chief Eddington said he would not say that is a frequent occurrence although it does happen from time to time. This was a bit more volatile because of the proximity to the high school dismissal time and a significant large number of youths at the scene that were friends with the people who came to the attention of the police. Alderman Bernstein's concern was people not adhering to a valid policeman's order, something that should not happen. The plea was eventually guilty to aggravated battery which negates the complaint. Alderman Berstein moved to accept this finding. Alderman Holmes said the complaint was sustained because the complainant did not follow through. This happened in her ward and on the day it happened she received an inquiry about this complaint. The complaint was from the mother not the juvenile. The mother's concern was there was supposed to be a lot of witnesses that this child had actually been thrown to the ground. The events leading up to this incident was similar to what was contained In the report. The complainant was trying to defend her brother. Alderman Holmes tried to call the mother to find out why she didn't follow up If this was a concern, but did not gel a phone call back from her. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the Chief says to follow up the decision and make a complaint and asked when you come In do you submit something in writing, to which the Chief responded, yes. Alderman Jean -Baptiste then asked if the process is to invite people back for further discussions and interview with them and if the person or corroborating witnesses do not show back up your summation is then more likely to find the complaint unfounded. Chief Eddington explained the category used for that is SOL, which means if in fact the witnesses do appear the case is still open. For example, in this case if Alderman Holmes was able to contact the mother and let her know she has to go and talk to the HSC Minutes 614107 - Page.1 ponce the case will be opened up and the interview will be held. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked how many attempts are made to invite that person back, to which Chief Eddington responded, three to five, both by telephone and in writing. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the disposition of this case was SOL because there was no response. Alderman Holmes said there was some response and interaction between the OPS and the mother, she missed one appointment then another two appointments and came in for another, at one time the cousin came in. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if in this instance the case is SOL to be followed up and to try to bring some type of closure to this case. Chief Eddington remarked that is why the investigators recommended the disposition of cases #06-06 and #06-07 were SOL. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted case #07-03 was Withdrawn. Alderman Bernstein referred to the case of disabled parking at the Northwestern football game. He asked if the reason for the oral reprimand was because the officer was found to have done what the complainant said. Chief Eddington responded, no, we were concerned about the corroborating police officer's witness testimony that the driver and the officer had engaged in a screaming match and we felt that was inappropriate on the part of the officer as we can make our point without screaming and engaging in that kind of conduct. That was what the reprimand was for. We did not threaten the complainant with jail, the raised voices was the issue that we could prove. Alderman Bernstein said his concern was you found that it didn't necessarily happen the way it was presented but found there was screaming which is inappropriate and what the officer was reprimanded for. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked whether an oral reprimand goes into the officer's record. Chief Eddington responded if there is justified discipline or reason for the OPS or the Chief of Police to review the disciplinary rite we would file an oral reprimand and file them for six months. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggestion was to add an additional step in the process of those situations to restore any level of confidence there should be some communication with that Individual. Alderman Bernstein noted case #06-09 dealt with a bad stop and included a statement about gang cautions, which means there is a different process used with 'known gang members" than used with ordinary citizens. Chief Eddington said it depends on what we're using the gang caution for and in this particular instance the officer read too much into the gang caution and took it a little further than he should have without some additional corroborating evidence. in law enforcement it will pop upon the computer that there is gang contact gang caution for certain individuals. Alderman Bernstein asked if you're differentiating between people who are alleged to be gang members and non gang members because of this label as alleged gang members. Chief Eddington said the gang caution comes with other issues than just gang affiliation, gang affiliation of itself is not a crime, however, the cautions come with other activities. Alderman Bemstein said that gives the policeman probable cause to approach the vehicle and make an arrest His concern is if there Is distinction between how you approach somebody who you believe to be a gang member and somebody who may not be a gang member. Chief Eddington noted just because there is a gang caution it does not give us probable cause to arrest. Alderman Bernstein said it's not against the law to be in a gang and is concerned that we articulate some distinction. if we did then there would be a chance to stretch it more. Because this person had a prior DUW it gave the officer reason to believe he had another one which the law does not allow, you take somebody based on the circumstances you find. He was glad it was upheld that this was not a good stop. Today we have a number of young policemen and he realizes how difficult it is to be a police officer and how important it is to get the stability and the sense of calm a veteran has that a rookie may not have. He would like to say, especially to the new officers, people are to be judged basically on the merits of a particular view and not with any extraneous information. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought that was an important point. When he was on the Civil Service Commission the process stressed to the candidates if an officer knows an individual committed a crime before does that mean that officer has sanctions to go ahead and abuse this individual and treat the individual differently for violating the law. We have to be cautious as in trying to enforce the law there are certain communities where some people perceive any group of young men as being gang members and therefore approach them in a different way. We have to be extra cautious that we do not abuse any of the privileges we have just because we have authority. He does not know if Commissioner William Smith has anything to share in terms of the approach to the discussions with the new officers. Civil Service Commissioner William Smith said part of the process that they go through and continue throughout the interviewing process. We do roll play and his favorite is to make sure our candidates understand that to be a policeman in this community and how we approach people is very important, everyone is watching and we're going to be held accountable for that. There are Instances where we suspect that a potential candidate does not fit that profile, the model we're looking for. Some of the other things talked about in the interview process is the information we get back from people. There are questions about cameras, and what he Is trying to find out is what he can do in terms of the Civil Service Commission as well as ECDC because we get a lot of complaints about them and people are asking whether it's possible to make sure we do get cameras on all the police comers. He's trying to find out how he can support that, what he needs to do and who he needs to talk to do that. We absolutely do have a profile we're trying to get but unfortunately we can't Just hire older people. Alderman Tisdahl agreed that case #06.09 was well resolved and completely understood witness #1 who should be asked to serve on some commission or board as he/she was pretty correct In their analysis. HSC Minutes 6I4107 - Page.2 :�st Alderman Jean -Baptiste was unclear as to what the next step is once a particular officer Is reprimanded. He was ' interested in the feed back as he did not know if there is something done to have that officer correct hishier behavior going forward Chief Eddington said one of the things they do is additional training. One of the issues is in a complex situation of search and seizure the more training provided to the new officers the closer they will come to hitting the mark. You can go through the basic training but need time out on the street to understand these rapidly revolving situations and an additional training cycle to apply those lessons to understand where the guide lines are to apply them correctly. Alderman Holmes called forcommittee approval of the completed C.R.'s: the committee unanimously aoorovod the C.R.'s. Alderman Bernstein wanted to point out that we have 4 complaints but have numerous commendations written for and on behalf of our police officers in the way they dealt with different situations which the public never hears. V. DISCUSSION OF CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS Alderman Holmes gave some background of the last Human Services Committee meeting discussion when Chief Eddington was asked to review and report to the committee on a Citizen Review Board process, the possibility of moving the OPS outside of the Police Department. and the way complaints are reviewed. Chief Eddington appreciated the opportunity to comment and report on the Human Services Committee's inquiries. The Chief introduced Commander Wiedlin and Sergeant Russell investigators currently assigned to OPS and responsible for the significznt amount of material presented to the committee this evening. They are here and available to the committee and the public to answer questions on any specific issues. The Chief referred to his memorandum that asks for a dialogue as he has proposed a number of ways to do a Citizen Review. The positions of OPS investigators are rotated assignments. Alderman Holmes interjected at the last meeting the Committee asked the Chief if he could comment on his previous community, what they did and other experiences he had with citizen complaints. Chief Eddington said his previous department dealt stringently with citizen complaints, they were under the Department of Justice Memorandum and Understanding and it was very formulated how we handfed citizen complaints. Evanston has all of those components, the only thing we don't have that the Department of Justice mandated was a remote site where you could pick up the complaint forms. In his memorandum he invites the dialogue because he can build a citizen review system with the approval of the Aldermen and the City Manager. However, if that system misses the concerns of the community that Is not where we need to be as apparently there are concerns about how this is now being done. He has attempted to show how we're doing this with the backup material and show how some the roles that escape the police and OPS have to play by via the Illinois Police Officer Bill of Rights. There is a balance of interest here and we should stick to the issues. One of the issues brought to his attention was the concem about making complaints at the Police Station. He would like to know where people would feel comfortable making the complaints which part of this dialogue is for us to listen to these concerns. There are several citizen review comprehensive report models in our files from which we can pick and choose what we want. It is most important that we get to the bottom line to see what some of the unaddressed issues and community concerns are to see how we can more efficiently deal with these complaints. He wants to be as transparent as we can and have this open discussion regarding discipline that occurred, which is a form of citizen review. Our citizen volunteers participate in this process and the reports received this evening where there is a breakdown between the Citizen Review and our final disposition show that we have some barometer from the community on how we're doing. He is again eager to hear the community's concerns and In reviewing the transcripts from the last meeting saw some of those concerns. Unless there are specific questions about the information he provided he is looking forward to what the community has to say. Alderman Holmes commented that it was an education for her going through all the information the Chief presented to the committee especially in terms of the Investigation piece through the OPS when the investigation starts and the number of people it has to go through before it gets to the Chief. The current Citizens Review Board, that Chief Kaminski instituted before he left, does not see the complaint until it has gone through all of that processing and all the offices have made their comments. She wondered what would be wrong with having them get it as soon as the investigation was done, before it even goes to the Sergeant to make his comments. Chief Eddington said one of the issues with being citizen volunteers is we like to give them a package and have them look at everything that has been included and then make a decision. If they had seen it up front without our investigation or any discipline tied to it he is not sure what they are reviewing. He is flexible but wants to focus on what we want them to do when they look at the complaint. Alderman Holmes thought was why they couldn't get the information just after the initial investigation after all of the information of the Investigation has been done and the Interviews have been done. Couldn't they look at it before they get the input from the rest of the offices? Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought part of the conflict between the community and the police, In terms of review of complaints, was when the Police Department reviews itself the tendency Is they would not be objective. The last Chief and also the current Chief would also say we have a process and our people are fair and impartial and neutral, etc., etc., but the perception to the community is very important and if we bring citizens into the process of reviewing they should get a copy of the complaint when the complaint Is initially filed. They should be part of the process discussing how to Investigate the case. When you come to this committee you give us a report and with the summaries of what happened and the recommendations made. By the time we get the report we don't have anything further to discuss as we may have different opinions as to methodology nor, most of the time, do we have access to the complainant which in his opinion means there Is no objectivity. Lc;t the Citizen Review Board begin to look at the process and have the opportunity to HSC Minutes 614107 - Page.3 Interview witnesses. That way, at the end of the process, they can Interact with your internal process and have some discussions as to what their findings were versus what your findings were. Chief Eddington's said his concern in that area 18 consistency and if you look at the assignments in OPS they've been pretty consistent assignments not something we turn aver every six months because there is a technique and format that has to be followed. Depending how and when you want the citizens to conduct the interviews, is it going to be mandated that it is the same group of citizens, for how long a period are they confined to ask certain questions, etc. He wants this to be as transparent as possible because it builds confidence in the community if they see we can do it fairly. When looking on how we are going to do this what training would we want the civilians doing this to have? Do they need to do a training program before they evaluate these complaints? That is what he wants to invite the discussion to be so we can have a consistent process all the time. VI. CITIZEN'S COMMENTS Judith Treadway, with the Evanston North Shore Branch of the NAACP, and the Legal Redress Committee, is here to address the issue of a Citizen Review Complaint Board. She would like to request we have a Citizen Complaint Review Board removed from under the auspices of the Police Department perhaps under another City department, for instance the Human Relations Department. She would also like to request that the process for citizens filing a complaint against the Evanston Police Department Personnel be also moved from the Police Department to an appropriate location that is mutual regarding the complaint process that also may occur in the Civic Center and perhaps at the Human Relations Department. This is a very confidential process so we need to make sure that the document is put into hands of personnel with confidentiality, probably sealed and only opened by those appropriate personnel individuals who would be reviewing the complaints. The issue for the citizens of our community is that this process has not been perceived as been impartial but very partial to the story of the police personnel involved in the citizen complaint process. We would like to see representatives from the community who are themselves impartial as well as to coordinate this with the appropriate personnel of the Evanston Police Department In this process we would like all voices to be heard prior to the beginning of an investigation so there will be information already submitted from the citizen as well the police personnel in an appropriate and neutral environment before any investigation is conducted. Then that process is an investigation. The history of citizens appealing to the Evanston Police Department and our City government regarding unfair treatment or abuse of any approach process legally being enacted by a Police Department has been very negative. Seldom in these appeals do our citizens come out on top, meaning that the police officer was wrong in their action and the citizen was correct in making the complaint. We are not aware of any subsequent sanctions and/or corrective action in writing that has been acknowledged to the individuals in that process. She would also like to request that we establish, with this systematic review of the complaint process. the appropriate acknowledgement and planning of a professional development or training program for sensitivity and appropriate response of new police personnel and ongoing periodic training for veteran personnel. In addition she would like to say we appreciate your openness on being willing to discuss this issue. She has only been in this community for 16 years but has heard from other citizens that for the past 25 years they have been asking for a complaint review board that Is impartial and not under the auspices of the Evanston Police Department. She appreciates the opportunity to speak to this committee on this because many citizens feel they have no voice when it comes to any use or abuse of police authority. She would be willing to volunteer an Executive Board member of our NAACP to participate on this review committee. Thank you. Madelyn Ducre', wanted to reiterate what was discussed at the last Human Services Committee meeting. She has been listening to Chief Eddington but needs to hear more precise things about what we're going to do. She assumed that tonlghtwe would be talking about explicit things or howwe're going to handle the review board, what things we should be looking for when you make your decisions on what you are going to do or present, and after talking to the Chief, we as citizens will come and address that. Alderman Holmes explained the report the Chief proposed to the Committee is to have this dialogue with the Human Services Committee members, members of the Citizens Review Board presently working with the Chief, the Evanston Police Department Command personnel and interested stakeholders. They will sit down together with the community to try to come up with the goals of a citizen's oversight committee. He has examples of models allover the country but rather than just give a model wants to hear exactly what this community would like to see happen with this and to work from there. Ms. Ducre' did not think that was good enough. Many citizens are saying we're fired of talking; we want to see some specific issues this committee will address. We've been talking about this for over 50 years; we need to see some action from this committee. She would like the Chief to know that some of the younger as well older people feel uncomfortable as they don't know if they should write, or fell, their complaint. Also, when they go to the Police Station they direct them somewhere else when asking for a complaint form, or say they don't have any forms and they don't gel the forms. We need to be clearer on what happens when someone makes a complaint, does it go to the Chief, does the committee see it. When young people or older people go into the Police Department they're harassed forgoing there because someone will say they saw them going there and asked why they went there. Another issue is the time, when she made her complaint it was 4:00 p.m. Have things changed, does everybody go home at 4:00 p.m., where do you go to make the complaint, Chief Eddington responded they have supervisors on duty 24 hours a day 7 days a week and you can see a supervisor to make a complaint. They will provide the form to write it up and one of the reasons why the background information was provided is for more serious matters we need a signed complaint for us to precede under state law, not the decision of the Aldermen, not the decision of the police. Chief Eddington offered to give Ms. Ducre' the material discussed this evening to be aware of the rules that he has to function under which Is part of the miscommunication he is trying to avoid. Ms. Ducre' wanted to know whether OPS can be objective enough, as most people she has talked to say no. They want to know what happens to the officer if there is a complaint and it's followed through. When she made her complaint she did not know how it went until later on when something else happened. She HSC Minutes 614107 - Page.4 thinks what she and a lot of other people in this community are looking for is something specific we can work on to see some action on and before this night is over asked if we can set a date to get this done. Pat Gregory, said she came tonight to appeal to you about adding another entity to OPS as far as not just the police doing the investigations. Her personal experience with them is horrible. She filed a complaint and followed through every step she was supposed to do and about a month after filing her complaint received a call from the investigating officer asking her to came in. She went in and was told the officer talked with the Chief about this and who wants to know what we can do to make this go away. She wanted to continue with the process to see exactly what they came up with. They said they'd gel back to and asked if she was sure that was what she wanted. When she initially filed the complaint she got a number of calls from the officer asking different questions about what her son as he did not understand what happened because it didn't sound like her son anything. She then got tails from the Chief asking why don't we just squash this or do this. The letter she got from OPS said one of the four officers was found guilty and the other officers were unfounded. She called the investigation officer who just gave her a big runaround what went on for a couple days until she said somebody needs to give her the correct information of what she needs to do next. She missed the meeting she was supposed to attend because of all the back and forth running around. She then tailed her Alderperson about what was going on. When she finally went to the meeting the committee said they wanted the Chief to reinvestigate, open and look into the case and she would be hearing something. To this day she has heard nothing. This happened in February, in July she filed a lawsuit because she hadn't heard anything. This same officer continued to harass her son. Even with this the lawsuit in place, it got worse. If there is a problem and this is the process and you follow the process then there's retaliation. OPS needs to be formatted a different way. She knows beyond a shadow of doubt that Evanston has some great police officers because she has Interacted with them. They are very nice and kind and about community policing. On the other hand there a few out there that are not and if they think you're nobody, that's exactly how they treat you. She's not sure what needs but something definitely needs to be done. Albert Gibbs, born and raised in Evanston, said he has spoken before. He's all for a citizen's complaint review board. There are good and bad police officers, in particular neighborhoods and wards they act differently. In 5t"Ward they seem to be unruly more often then what is necessary. He is not saying all the officers are bad but when he constantly sees officers in his ward compared to another ward conducting themselves almost like the gang members they're supposed to be after, he thinks he's looking at thugs dressed in police uniforms. An Alderman made a remark about people responding to police and if not the possibility may lead to anarchy. He asked if he would feel the same if an officer was rude, insulting and maybe confrontational to him. If you're standing and watching something they will give you an order to leave or you will be accused of obstructing justice even if you're not near where this is going on. A Citizen Review Board is very necessary for the reason that the foundation is to protect us and serve us which at times seems to be more important than the people they are to protect and serve. He wonders if that's only because it's the ward where it maybe perceived may have the most problems with crime. Saying Evanston is a diverse community Is as much fried Ice cream as a rat being democratic. He's all for the citizens review board. Alderman Bernstein responded, in his estimation officers that are abusive are worse than a person who won't move away. We don't need police officers to become gang members or thugs; we need police officers to uphold the law. He does not condone any bad police officers but unfortunately the reality and the way our laws are created and written, the citizen has to take it, Subsequently we have a transparent, open process to address this; we can't have people on the street making the decision who is right or wrong. Yes, he Is concerned about anarchy, he's concerned about a good police officer who comes in without an attitude who is not given the respect to which he is entitled as a police officer, it's a two way street. He does not want any bad police and if he gave you that impression it was a misimpression as he does not condone any bad police activities. We're here discussing this so there is transparency and the perception that you can't get a fair shake by going to the Police Department is expelled, The Police Chief is new, he's giving him ultimate confidence and faith because he means well and is going to do the best he can with your input and everyone else's Input. There's no place on the street for bad guys or bad police. Bennett Johnson, every person in this room wants a police force that preserves and enforces the law for personal reasons as well as for the good of society. We are fortunate to have a structure of City government where this committee has oversight. Unfortunately the oversight Is not close or strict enough to make sure we have fewer complaints and fewer suits than we have at the present and we may have in the future unless we change. The reason for police is protection of its citizenry and property to the financial liability to the City because when we're sued it costs and also damages the City when there are Inferences of police misconduct and there have been many that he has been personally privy to. A few brief suggestions are, one, the law currently written by the Fraternal Order of the Police was not a law interested in protecting the citizenry of the community but interested in protecting the rights of officers. He's not sure whether Evanston has a Home Rule Committee or how much latitude we have in that situation. There's a rule where a Civilian Review Board can be set in place but does not how much power it can assume or can delegate, but Is something that should be very closely looked into by the Law Department. The common Issue in this is a matter of power, the police officer has total control of life and death over any citizen and may sometimes use deadly force In error and sometimes may use deadly force capriciously with malice of forethought. That happens, not to say it happens too often, but It happens, Unless we do something to make sure that power has some kind of control and oversight and monitoring It may lead to a worse situation than we have now. For many years he has studied the laws of arrest, search and seizure. What has happened In this country is at one time the rule of presumption of innocence was paramount in the way of police approach HSC Minutes 6/4107 - Page.5 and how court rule in violations of arrest and search, etc. Its been modified where there's less citizen rights then there used to be and does not think providing the police with an excuse to be arbitrary and permanence. They have given themselves the right to arrest and adjudicate and punish on the spot which happens very often. The problem is the courts deal with criminals and people who violate the law on a constant basis and image wise is also a fact as a lot of these are people of color and people of low income. They make the assumption that every person who is of color and low income is a high potent criminal which happens very often in the way they approach as Alderman Bernstein cited earlier they approach a person who is considered a potential threat the reason he is concerned about loitering. Black kids stand on a comer and a normal reaction to people is to move away because any group of kids can be threatening. The point is race plays a great part in this because of the culture, the customs, the laws that say people who are Africans have fewer rights than anyone else. The facts prove that that's the case, therefore a Civilian Review Board must have citizens on it who are sensitive to maters of race, who are fair minded, who are not interested in supporting the police because you're supposed to support your local police. They should be interested in supporting the citizen and the law of the land rather a group of people who have delegated themselves the power to control people. Chief Eddington approached him earlier about having a meeting on this matter and he will set a time to discuss this with him. This matter should be stopped before it becomes a more serious problem than it is today. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted things have been moving slowly and what the Chief has suggested having some discussions. He would ask the committee that we have a special meeting to focus on the creation of this Citizen Review Board where there should be some very rigorous discussion. The Chief has some sort of process in mind and has to legitimately represent the interests of his department. Others in the City will have some suggestions and we need to have a working session to" to put together a structure that we can live with. He would suggest moving to a special meeting of the Human Services Committee to work and try putting something together in place. Ms, Treadway very clearly articulated some of the issues a lot of people are thinking and if she can structure it in a different way it would help give us some guidance. Also, it would help if we could have the benefit some of the proposed models, but not too many models where we can caught up in discussions that came out of some discussions a few years ago. If any of the Civil Service Commission would like to sit down with us that would be help in looking at the process in totality. That would be his motion for this process. The Human Services Committee unanimously aoorovod Alderman Joan -Baptist's motion (") for a special meetina to out touethor a structure to institute Citizen Review and Police Complaints. Alderman Tisdahl inquired about the Chiefs idea of having complaint forms In places other than just at the Police Department and asked if that a could be done right away. The Chief agreed and forms will be placed at other locations. A date for the special meeting was set for Tuesday, June 191" at 7.00 p.m. This will be the only item on the agenda. Alderman Bernstein asked If the Disciplinary Act that determines what you can and can't do Is something the public should be aware of, copies of which were distributed. Mr. Terry wanted to clarify in the event any citizen did not know that Human Services Committee packets are available the same way City Council packets are available. Once the material has gone out to members of the committee we have packets that can be given out to the public. VII. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 52-0-07 AMENDING THE NUISANCE PREMISES SECTION OF THE Ci"iY CODE Alderman Bernstein inquired about Section 1: 9-5-4: under definitions, 1., eliminating'Any Felony' and wondered if that was done because it was redundant or was there a reason for that. Ms. Purze responded Ken Cox City Attorney, who wrote the ordinance is not present tonight, and might have done that because it was a catch all used by property standards. She was told this ordinance was modeled after Chicago's and if Mr. Cox took it out in one section he probably put it into another. It occurred to Alderman Bemstein that maybe it was repetitious. Alderman Jean Baptiste needed some clarification in the NUISANCE PREMISES paragraph "no public nuisance or violation of this Section shall be deemed to exist unless; the premises are used for two (2) or more such offenses within any 6 month period. When we say two (2) or more such offenses do you affirm that defense is punishable by imprisonment by one (1) or more years? in view of the fact that Ms. Purze did not write this ordnance and Mr. Cox did it was the decision of the committee to hold this ordinance for further clarification until Mr. Cox can attend a meeting. Alderman Bernstein also wanted the Order of Abatement addressed: 'the City Manager or his/her designee reasonably believes that any premises constitutes a public nuisance as described in this Section.........' Not knowing what 'reasonably believes" means there have some standards for that to be enforced. Alderman Bornstein moved to hold this ordinance for further clarification. Motion to hold Ordinance 52-0-07 amending the Nuisance Promises Section of the City Code Ordinance was unanimous approved (5-0). Alderman Moran wanted to urge the committee to pass this ordinance next time In the proper farm because he has some nuisance premises in his ward and without this ordinance these people cannot be successfully prosecuted. Administrative Law Judges are viewing our old nuisance premises ordinance as not being of a nature to make entry by means and enforce it and while that's happening people who don't behave well are going to continue to behave badly. This Is an issue In a particular neighborhood in the 6W" Ward and he hopes we will do something to which Alderman HSC Minutes 6/4107 - Page.6 Holmes added thls is an issue In a lot of wards. Alderman Moran asked that this ordinance be reviewed as quickly as possible because it is needed for all our sake, Mr. Terry wanted to clarity Mr. Cox Is on vacation but given there is an urgency on more than one City Council member's part to go with this we thought we'd put it tonight's agenda, get your questions, and see what the issues are. Also by way of background the Slate's Attomey's Nuisance Premise was the victim of a budget cut, there is no more State's Attorney work relative to nuisance premises and the burden to eradicate nuisance premises faits on the municipality to add an even more urgency why we wanted to move this forward this month. Vill. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 69-0-07 AMENDING THE CITY CODE TO CREATE A NEW SECTION ENTITLED "GANG LOITERING" Alderman Bernstein questioned the term 'hot spot'. Chief Eddington responded there's a formula the District Commanders go through for criminal activities in a specific geographic area which is a hot spot. Once that's defined by internal procedures then the position in the ordinance follow one. Alderman Tisdahl inquired if an area is defined as a hat spot does is stay one forever, or does that have to be reviewed periodically. Chief Eddington responded, it has to be reviewed periodically, there has to be an articulated reason why it's a hot spot, every district is going to have one whose criteria and the victim needs to explain why you're doing it. Loitering in and of itself doesn't get you a hot spot, it's a combination of gang and drug activity that defines that. Alderman Bernstein noted to the extent there is a formula we probably should put that out so that everybody knows exactly how you delineate a hat spot. Chief Eddington said we can forward Chicago's formula if you prefer, he prefers not to do the work on the hot spots if you are not interested in having an ordinance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste inquired about the need for this ordinance. Chief Eddington said his impression from City Council was this was being worked on long before he came to Evanston. Alderman Holmes sold she made the reference for this to come back to this committee to be discussed because of the complaints about loitering and the difference between kids just hanging out on comers and gang loitering. We wanted to make sure there was a real designation of the differences between the two which is why this item is on our agenda tonight. Alderman ,lean -Baptiste read the distinction of gang loitering, and asked what Is the difference understood by the Police Department. Chief Eddington said they currently don't have a gang ordinance and this language was added. The Chicago model is built on Supreme Court cases and we have engaged the training and dispositions from that model. if we can produce those things there would be a standard definition for gangs, loitering, and hot spots which would all be provided to you for the review of this ordinance. Alderman Holmes had additional background information from last year before Chief Eddington came here. Certain neighborhoods came together for walks and other group gatherings. A lot of calls were received about kids in areas where there was nothing for them to do, just standing and talking that were identified as gang members or being thereto sell and deliver. She wanted to make it very clear, this was not necessarily in the 5'h Ward. Something we were very concerned about was making sure that good, regular kids were not being singled out. if they were kids who doing unfavorable things they need to be dealt with. Alderman Bernstein called attention to the definitian of gang loitering, which to him is very ambiguous. It says, 'Remaining In anyone place under circumstances that would warrant a reasonable person to believe that the purpose or effect of that behavior is to take over that area.' Any group of kids will be intimidating to some people. If we can Identify what is perceived as drug trafficking, that is something Illegal. This Is criminalizing an intent which is hard for him to understand. We don't want gangs to take over our neighborhood but at the same time until we get places for our children to hang out the street comers may be the only place for them to hang out. Ms. Purze said this was done close to Chicago's ordinance and what can be flushed out in the previous ordinance Is developing some standards. There are four elements the Chief uses to designate hot spots, if the police officer is in a hot spot and sees a known gang member who is loitering, under this definition and there is one or more persons present and the officer has reason to believe that they are doing something wrong, illegal, or bad then this applies. Alderman Bernstein asked if you would have probable cause to make an arrest, to which Ms. Purze responded, yes, first the officer has to order them to disburse. Alderman Bernstein did not want to just disburse them nor does he want to bust a group of kids for being a group of kids. If there is reasonable belief a crime is being committed, arrest these people. This concerned him and he would suggest holding this ordinance. Alderman Moran has talked to a lot of kids In Evanston who say they are afraid to go into certain neighborhoods and they don't go there. There Is a potential where gangs can literally stake out territories by being there. They're not necessarily committing a criminal offense but they are shutting an area down, which he does not think anybody has a right to do that. About 3 or 4 years ago, In Chicago, Mayor Daley sponsored an anti -loitering ordinance that was challenged and went to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court Invalidated it because they said it wasn't specific enough and this is Daley's second effort to try to get something that will slick by developing more objective criteria to determine if what they are calling gang loitering is really a technique for intimidation. It's a difficult task to define this but it's a very real threat and a problem in the City. HSC Minutes 614107 - Page.7 Alderman Bernstein acknowledges this is a problem and why former Alderman Dennis Drummer started Coe- MomsiCoe- Pops, and why community policing is so important Neighborhoods have come together numerous times along with the Police Department, not as vigilantes but as a community acting to disburse kids from gathering. His concem is codifying some legislation that can be used to keep kids from gathering. There are people concerned about harassing any group and the effect of this ordinance would be to establish control over an Identifiable area. His concern is about making laws that can be abused. He does want to dissipate gangs but there are ways to address it that must come from the neighbors and the community. They have to take back their community; they can do it in large numbers with the Police Department. This is done by establishing a presence. Alderman Jean -Baptiste stated one non gang member selling drugs on any comer is Illegal as well as any large group is threatening. When we turned our attention to what was happening in Northwestern's neighborhoods some work was done in educating the neighborhood about this issue and we were able to work with the University to help change the behavior pattern. We can't criminalize the young people in this community and label all of them as being gang members because they get together. He agrees with intervening to disburse, move forward, do something different, or joining them to try to figure out what's going to work and try to help maintain order. Some of the young people are being labeled are criminals but he can't move to the position of beginning to judge what's going on by reasonable person standard that they're there for the purpose of dealing drugs. If they're dealing drugs they should be arrested. This is an enforcement issue, its trying to make our neighborhoods better. We can't just charge kids with a crime because they have gathered in a group. He's for trying to maintain the peace and not allowing a threatening presence to be created but not with a response and then charge them with a crime. Alderman Moran said this isn't charging them with a crime it's an ordinance violation. The penalty is a fine between $100 and 5500; it's like a speeding ticket. Alderman Jean -Baptiste was afraid we are tipping to the other side instead of doing the hard work and trying to pull these young people together and moving them forward. BenneftJohnson, remarked this is definitely unconstitutional. Those of us who believe in the Bill of Rights land the Right to Assemble know this is illegal, There are children in Evanston who are wannabe gang members, they're not gang members, they think they're gang members. They're also not aliens, these are our children that have parents that live with them and know them. These kids are not monsters, they're just a bunch of kids who are bored and want a find away to get some kind of recreation. This is really a matter of the police and the community sitting down and working together. Judith Treadway, felt this Is a very ambiguous ordinance and may lead to abuse of it. According to the Chief the hot spot is the spot to be Identified through a formula process by the calls to that geographic area. The legitimizing of this ordinance is in putting in the word 'gang image' because the hot spot must be a place where some kind of activity has been occurring that the police are monitoring and this hot spot must be a place where they Identify gang members. If you're using the term gang members you're actually targeting people being identified as gang members whether you know them to be gang members or not. That can be an abuse of police authority to start harassing Ihese'gang members' even though they may not be doing anything but standing on the street comer. That's something that will precipitate or create probable cause for further harassment of youth who maybe gathering on a comer. We already have the cameras which do exactly what you said they would do; the kids go from one comer to the next corner without cameras. Another concern she has with this law Imitating, replicating, or copying what is in Chicago, is Chicago has over 3.000,000 people; Evanston doesn't even have 90,000 people. Why would we want to create an ordinance with such a strong perceptual like gang loitering In this little community? This law may not equate to the amount of activity In a large city versus the amount of activity In our small community. We should work toward avoiding the abuse of our youth by having this law as it will make it more optimistic for an officer to arrest a kid who may not be doing nothing but just standing with a group on a street comer and maybe using foul language. She does not like this ordinance nor the word gang loitering and hopes this committee will took it over again. We should not be slapping ourselves on the back for having gang members in our community. We should have corrected the problem 20 years ago when nobody wanted to recognize that we had gang member in Evanston. That's when the prevention and intervention should have begun, we're now on the tail end of all the real gang members being old and gone and we're calling our little wanabes gang members. Let's work on the intervention for youth and gel rid of the word gang and stop trying to target it. The police can move the real criminals out of the community appropriately. We do not need to be targeting our youth by putting out this ordinance that they might fail under the guise of the police officers for being abused or harassed. Alderman Holmes wanted to note it is not just police officers driving this, a lot of our citizens are calling the police when they see kids on the comers or in the neighborhoods giving the appearance the kids are doing something. She cannot say how many times last year police officers said to her these kids have no where to go, they're not doing anything but we're being called. We have to distinguish between these groups of kids. Ms. Treadway agreed with Alderman Holmes but using the word gang is an inappropriate term and should not be a term that will allow for the police to harass youths who might be giving those citizens cause to call the police, as she also calls the police. She doesn't tell the police when she calls that they're gang members but a group of kids causing a disturbance. If we start using gang in everything then we will be presupposing that any kid gathered in a group getting into a little fracas on the street is going to be a gang member. She's not against citizens calling but doesn't like the word gang and thinks this ordinance is too ambiguous for our community of less than 90,000 people. Alderman Bernstein did not want the pendulum to swing the wrong way. There are gang members in this community and to him a wanabe is as dangerous as a potential gang member. He does not want to condone gangs; we have gangs and HSC Minutes 614107 - Page.8 will continue to have gangs. It's incumbent on the Police Department working with the community to identify that maybe they're called gangs because they're bad kids who happen to be doing criminal things in concert. Lets not delude ourselves even though we're a community of 75,000 there are bad kids in this town, but we also have to acknowledge that we have a tot of good kids in this town and it's difficult to tell the difference. You're going to come upon a group of people standing together some of whom have gang affiliations, that doesn't mean the whole group does. Ms. Treadway remarked these kids live together and they go to school together and it's hard for any youth in this community not to have a friend who is not in a gang or a wanabe, they have to live too. They're not going to stop socializing with these other kids because that's dangerous for them. There's a fine balance that we have to promote. If It's the issue of going from community to community she feels strongly about that because when you get along with everybody from different neighborhoods you feel comfortable going to other neighborhoods. We don't need to put any more pressure on our kids not to have relationships with people who might be gang members, who just might be doing bad things but aren't bad people. Alderman Bernstein said what he does not want to do is say we don't have gangs because there are bad people around here who act in concert which he always believed was the definition of a gang. In reference to hot spots we have people doing bad business everywhere this is not unique to Evanston, Kenilworth and other areas have crime, there's crime ali over. What we have to do is go back to the Coe-Moms/Coe-Pops model because a mom or pop can go and scatter a group of kids hanging out. The gangs are not every group that's on the comer, are there gang members among the group on the comer, probably. Our children know who the gang members are which to him is why there isn't abetter education than the City of Evanston because your children know how to handte every kind of a situation and every kind of an individual. We have to reinvent the neighborhoods. become nosey, get people outside instead of Inside on their computers, Interact, and get the Police Department interacting to give comfort levels to groups of kids. He believes this because he's lived it and he's seen it. This is our town and if we want it to be our town its not done by an ordinance, but by interacting and by personality and by engaging these kids and maybe keeping some of those wanabes into the straight and narrow which is why the Youth Program is so important. We have to give those kids something to do before we can tell them to disburse. Chief Eddinglon pointed out that part of the background of the law enforcement definition for gangs was very specific. Also you wilt find there is a tag called "self admitted' for most of the gang members In those law enforcement hits. This is not a label put on a group of unruly kids. This ability to arrest gang members through the use of our neighborhood enforcement team is extremely labor intensive and frightening versus the beat officer telling them to move along when there are crowds. What's being brought to the City Council is this balancing act that involves dollars and cents and public policy and this Is one option that has been utilized in Chicago that you can look at and accept or reject, yet all those strains run through this very specific definition of gang members and the cost to put together a drug promotion conspiracy versus to move along. That's the decision of the State Law Enforcement, the Legal Department and the Police Department. It was the Committee's unanimous decision f5-01 to hold this ordinances for further consideration. Afs. Ducre' commented that the discussion of the Nuisance Law and attaching things to it scared her. It can be a technical way of the law obstructing things and then attaching something else. Ms. Ducre' described an incident involving a young member of her family and other youths that were using foul language, at the basketball courts at one of the City parks. The Incident led to someone calling the police. An officer came and talked to the person who called him then talked to the youths. The officer went back to again talk to the person that made the call at which time two more officers arrived and the first officer said to arrest all of the youths who were all taken into the station. Ms. Ducre' would like to know what happened to talking to children. Why arrest these young men. swearing is all over the community and on television everyday, Her concern is when her relative's mother went to the Police Station she could not take the youth home without signing a paper. This wasn't the type of arrest where there is a court date, the officer said the paper would be put in their file and If they ever caused any kind of problems they will look at that, they tatted it a nuisance, but it's a form of a record. The youths were 14 to 16 years old. Her concern is why isn't there some policy in place, and if there Is a policy she would like to see it changed because we are destroying young people's lives, Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought Ms. Ducre's point was there should be more dialogue and communication. He told she could follow up on that incident to find out what Is going on. There is a perception here that basketball courts have dosed down because they only want a certain group of kids coming there to play as they see them in the context of gangs and negatives. That is something that should be followed upon. He does not know if there were any complaints or formal discussion with the Chief about this. Alderman Holmes said Ms. Ducre' did call her and she sent a letter to Chief, but as of today he had not received it, she gave him copies tonight. Ms. Ducre' called her lawyer who said if those things were said it sounded unconstitutional and he would have to look further into this. Ms. Ducre' would like to know what happened with the record, why can't the parents get a copy of the statement. Alderman Holmes said if the complainant filed a formal complaint a copy of that should be available. Chief Eddington said this is the first time this has come to his attention and hewill considerthe letterof complaint and will initiate our Internal Investigations to see what happened and what questions we can answer. IX- CONSIDERATION OF AN iNTERGOVERNMENTAL AGREEMENT WITH EVANSTON TOWNSHIP FOR THE PROVISION OF EMERGENCY ASSISTANCE Alderman Moran motioned for apvroval. seconded by Alderman Somstein and unanimously approved i5-0l, HSC Minutes 614107 - Page.9 X. CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION R-28-07 SEEKING COMPREHENSIVE SCHOOL FINANCE REFORM Alderman Moran liked the resolution until he got to Section 1: C and D, because it sounds too much like what they're now doing in Springfield. There really should be comprehensive education funding reform and in his opinion the legislation should get serious about it but nobody in Springfield is willing to do it. He is voting against this ordinance because It's enabling the goofiness that is going on in Springfield now with people there who can't get around to doing what needs to be done. Talking about casinos as the answer to education and health care funding is ridiculous. Nobody wants to confront the fact that the state income tax needs to be raised or that sales tax caps need to be lifted because those are the only things that are going to get it done. That's his position. Alderman Tisdahl said she spent five years in Springfield working on school funding reform with getting a bill passed for a billion more dollars in school funding, so she does not think it's true that nobody wants to do it. A lot of us have worked awfully hard and awfully long. This reason this is this way is very specific, the Joint legislative Task Force of School District 65 and 202 has worked long and hard and the way bills work in Springfield you say you support a certain bill that has all the provisions but you can end up supporting a bill that you don't agree with at all by the time it reaches the final vote. There were some proposals in Springfield that would lose money for the Evanston schools, school funding proposals that would cost us millions and there are some that are good for us. What final form it will be in nobody knows. The Joint Legislative Task Force tried to call out those things that would help the Evanston schools. The PropertyTax Appeals Board is very bad for the Evanston schools. She did not see what Alderman Moran's problem was with Item C of this ordinance. Alderman Moran said people are entitled to appeal their property tax and you're going to amend the tax code to tell people that they can't appeal that tax. Alderman Tisdahl said there are definitely ways to appeal the property tax but the question is how many ways do you need to have available to appeal. This says it's difficult for school districts who have received money that are then told they have to pay it back. She strongly urged support of this ordinance although it probably won't matter a great deal, but Districts 65 and 202 would be happy if we would support them and if we do support this our legislators will get another Indication that the community wants school funding reform. If we don't support this that certainly weakens Evanston's position. A lot of work went in this an the part of a lot of people in Districts 65 and 202. she was not part of it but this Is what they came up with and she supports and hopes we all will support this. if we eventually do get school funding reform, which this asks for, that will help the property tax in Evanston and if we can have some reliance on the income tax and less on the property tax that will help this community continue to be an economically diverse community. It's probably the biggest thing you can do to help that happen. Alderman Moran said we look at and our legislators feel they have to took at that Evanston being the unusual community that it is their forced into the politics of Springfield of supporting tax initiatives and school funding initiatives that have to be looked at from the parochial sense of what makes sense for dollars and cents for Evanston. From his perspective we have to look at a broader plain than that and look at the entire educational system throughout Illinois which is why he's going to vote against this. He would like the record to show that his request of our state legislators is that they engage their colleagues In a real colloquium about real reform in funding education in Illinois and not hunting around the edges and looking forways for Evanston to get an edge when the whole system is broken when it needs to be put back together again in a sensible way other than floating boats and having people pull the arms of slot machines. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked whether Alderman Moran if he could see his way to add a paragraph to urge some alternative. Alderman Moran proposed the following paragraph to be added to the ordinance: We should urge our legislators to engage their colleagues in Springfield both In the House and (he Senate to come up with meaningful slatewide education funding and to considerall affordable elements In doing that including adjustments to state income tax and sales tax and come up with a betlarformula. Alderman Jean Bavtlste moved approval of Resolution 28-R-07 as amended by Alderman Moran, motion seconded by Alderman Bernstein and unanimously approved (5-0). XI. CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 27-R-07 AUTHORIZING THE DONATION OF SURPLUS MEDICAL FURNITURE AND EQUIMENT TO THE COOK COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH Alderman Tlsdahl moved approval, seconded by Alderman Bernstein. Alderman Holmes did not have an issue with donating the material but did have an issue that we have given up on using ourown Health Department and our families will have to go to Skokie to the Court House for services. One of things she thought we were very Gear about during our budget hearings was as long as the services were available In the community that people were okay with it. The Skokie Court House is not our community and she wants to go on record assaying she's very, very disappointed that the services have been taken out of our community. The City was in conversations with Access for Care at Howard, which Is a little different than the Skokie Court House. She can deal with Howard Street but taking this to the Skokie Court House Is different and thinks this is bad for us In terms of having removed these services from our Health Department and now having them out of our community, something she did not bargain for. HSC Minutes 614107 - Page.t0 Alderman Bornstein thought we were going to make certain the services were available before we gave upon ours. He recalled the budget considered continuing on through July and there were conversations about the backlog in Cook County. Mr. Terry said the process after the budget Involved the elimination of a number of state grants. The clinic Is being proposed by the County is for Family Planning and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Once we informed the State of Illinois of our decision relative to the grant funded services an entire bureaucratic process started that didn't involve us and which the State of Illinois began to look for alternative service locations for the state funded services Through a series of conversations, which he and no one In our department was involved with, the Cook County Department of Public Health, the Illinois Department of Human Services, and the Illinois Department of Public Health decided that the Skokie Court House was the best service location for our region, at least in terms of Family Planning and Sexually Transmitted Diseases. Once our decision was made it started a lot of processes that would be extremely difficult to stop at this point. Alderman Tisdahl asked if we could try to stop them. Mr. Terry said we laid off 13 staff, 6 or 7 of which have found other positions, and we are 3 weeks away from the total closure. It would involve reversal of policy from everything you've articulated thus far this year. Alderman Tisdahl said we did articulate that we would provide the services if we couldn't find anotherway of providing them. Alderman Holmes asked about our negotiations with Carepoint and others. Mr. Terry said we did not have negotiations per se with Carepoint. About 3 or4 weeks ago he did receive, what he hesitates to tail a proposal, which did not present him any kind of data in terms of who would be served and where those individuals would come from. Every health provider we talked to indicated to us that the notion of an Evanston only anything was not economically feasible, health is now a regional service to be provided whether its by the hospitals, the County, Planned Parenthood, or Access Healthcare, any partner we spoke to indicated the numbers just weren't there for an Evanston only operation to be viable. If we were to try to reverse field now it would end up being virtually and exclusively a general fund operation and would be an additional burden to the budget above and beyond what was budgeted for in the last fiscal year. At this point there are any number of state officials and state action that are all moving forward under certain set of assumptions which flowed from our decision not to provide the clinical services any more. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if Carepoint submitted a non proposal because as he recalls we were to negotiate with them which was one of the options we were going to explore. He can see that as something we would proactively pursue as opposed to waiting to respond to a proposal that they may submit. People will now be going to the Skokie Court House for STD and Family Planning services, Mr. Terry added or go to Access Health Care or the outpatient clinics at the hospitals. There Is no one size fits all answer to where people are going to go. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said they have not received a real update to what we're doing, Mr. Terry responded we gave the update to you a week ago in your Friday packet it was quite detailed as to where we were on every service transition. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said when a document is given to us without discussion or interaction then we can't question or get further explanation on the subject matter. Mr. Terry wanted to respond to the discussion of Carepoint and said in January and February it first came up as a potential part of the budget consideration because it would have required an additional budget allocation, He had not received anything from Carepoint until mid to late April, well after the budget had been passed. At the time it was proposed he did ask them, and for whatever reasons did not receive any response from them until after the budget passed. Again, he did not consider it in quality or In detail that it was worth going forward with particularly if it meant going forward and asking for a special budget allocation to fund something. He does not know how many Evanston residents they serve. He does not deny that they provide a good service, but given their location if he asked to justify an allocation In the Evanston budget he'd like to have some sense of how many Evanston residents they serve. He would also add to that both the City's CDBG Process and the Emergency Shelter Grant Process, are funding Carepoint for the first time. His staff, A1isa Dean, has been working very closely with Sara Flax and CDBG because there has been uncertainty as to what Carepoint does and does not do. Both departments have been working together for the first time to have a set of contract objectives so that everybody is on the same page of understanding what the expectations are of Carepoint in terms of what they do and how we're going to be measuring them in terms of the success and objectives they've achieved. It was in that atmosphere that he thought adding another layer of something, which he could not define beyond something, on Carepoint didn't seem to be the prudent course at this time. Alderman Holmes said she asked the City Manager a couple of times for an update on where we were with these services as she was concerned. The update she received a week ago did not click in until today when going over her final notes. This did not say what we said we were going to do, and thought take this back to the Council in terms of what we said about dismantling the Health Department especially the clinical services as that takes away their credibility, Alderman Bernstein's recollection is the City Manager said that we would find accommodations for all these people and we would not put them In the street. She thought we needed to get everything in place and we'd be out in June and July. Mr. Terrysaid that was because of the state funding we wanted thereto bean orderly transition of the State funded services and the State of Illinois through its departments decided that the appropriate agency to pick up at least our Family Case Management Program and our Family Planning Services is the Cook County Department of Public Health. Alderman Bernstein asked if we're going to bus people out there to which Alderman Holmes added especially the young folks. They used to be able to walk to the Civic Center but it's a long way to the Court House and she's not sure about how the buses run there and was Informed there are buses going there. Ms. Ducre' sold she was against getting rid of the Health Department and asked the committee If they are saying that these sarvices are going to be out of reach for a lot of people that will have to go to Skokie. What Is going to be left of these people who want health care and it's not available to them Alderman Holmes responded this discussion just HSC Minutes 614101 - Pago.l 1 W concerns STD and Family Planning services and does not have anything to do with the well babies or school physical that Is all taken care of at the hospitals, Alderman Holmes did not know what we can do about this, to which Alderman Bornstein added we don't have any people left so the traffic that was there, Is of no consequences. The question is can we generate some revenue it we sell the furniture and equipment. Mr. Terry said equipment is old and of dubious value so the only altemabve would be Ebay. Alderman Joan•Bapbsts suggested donating the equipment to Belize. Mr. Tent' commented we thought our equipment was not in great shape, but when the County staff went through our stuff they said they didn't have anything that good in their system. Alderman Holmes recalled the motion to consider Resolution 27-R-07 authorizina the donation of surplus medical fumlturo and equipment to the Cook Countv Department of Public Health, motion unanimousty oassed 14-0). (Alderman Moran left the meeting before the vote was taken.) XII. ADJOUNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 10:15 p.m. Respectfully submitted. Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services 1 34 148C Minutes 6/4107 • Page.12 .�':il�'-. ':..P1 •}:ryP^•••��'�,•w%J• ..5+ r)`r J'}.'.�J'• :l �.++ � �. IS-:.'...Y.;,i. - •'IT.S7+S - - i� •:. _'. .�--_.-...... ...� .. .. •.k' � /s 1�i.'a. ., •ir.. ... 'i�� •i• '�i :':Sf' .. -r .'Zr�.i..�JiMS .�aa-...». .. +s..'.+rs►.J�7+it><►'�".2�"C. .. � •. .,. .-. r ., i',- -_ - HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday - Tune 4, 2007 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT N e Address/Organization: rAT�� s7 /�' �..�rs�,✓ IAw WA U � � ql a t'i� �-� �,� �.,,�� -� :�[. GJ�✓" . lF R� .. yr. r�•e . �.._• .. ti• � :1�,��'. [:.r ._� •r+r4.�: .. -. 1r•a. � .__ �. _.w....,•�r-1.. r--.,�......�,-....-..�-.. r,Y. • : `t�S- ��,wi►,�, Y "�a . ry r r'M 1� ./t i _ L eTNr�� - •�:.=s° ' / •'� s ; rd�:Y HEET 1-M..: ... .• .' •re i.if'r r,`j.fr ,�:,.. � �' y'i.;� S,li'r.; - r� J.. .i. .. _'_ .�'. •+ ! "Ss,•l.. i +t ���C �::3,'Sr•., ..-r;> rra�A.C]iT+�.. �syr. L.lr'... .,,/:'q.. L'aYrt.#• 1: ,: .. �._....-..�. ..-r. ...# .... ./.. :'�.r. - � - 1 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday - June 4, 2007 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Name: Address/Organization: Topic Speaking On: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING Tuesday. June 19, 2007 Civic Cartier - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT,- Aldermen Bernstein. Holmes. Jean -Baptiste, and Tisdahl MEMBER ABSENT: Alderman Moran STAFF PRESENT: City Manager, Julia Carroll, Police Chief Richard Eddington. EIke Purze, Rolanda Russell, Vince Jones, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Alderman Rainey, Randy Walker (Evanston Mental Health Board), Cherylette Hilton,Chair Human Relations Commission),William Smith, Bennett Johnson, Judith Treadway, Madelyn Ducre', Patricia Gregory, (See Attached List of Attendees) PRESIDING: Alderman Holmes Alderman Holmes called the meeting to order at 7:12 p.m, and explained this special meeting was called to hold discussions with community members regarding their concerns about the handling of Police Department complaints. Tonight's discussion will also look into the possibility of having a Citizens Review Board thalwould be separate and apart from what is now in place. Staff has prepared and distributed material for this discussion, citizens have also contributed references. Alderman Holmes received a packet of material from San Diego that she shared with the committee and any interested citizens. Chief Eddington was asked to comment on where he thinks we are and where it is possible for us to go and discuss the different approaches and implementations that were Included in the material he sent. Chief Eddington recalled at the June 4, 2007. Human Services Committee meeting asking for solicitation from the community on what the issues were. We have spoken in generalities and been enamored by the label, "citizen review" the and perceived need to address the Issue. However, there is no crisis to motivate our decision making and we have the luxury of time to work through this and come to an effective reasonable solution. He is pleased that the information from San Diego was included in the packets and looking at the level of training used in their audit system is a key component of exactly what we want. With that set as a long range goals he is interested in pursuing what is immediate, cost free fixes that we can implement. For example, at the last meeting per Alderman Tisdahl's direction the complaint forms were distributed throughout the City in other City facilities, primarily the Park District. We have to measure how big a problem we have and how much money you want to spend on this. Some of the information provided in the overview material breaks down the cost per complaint and he is once again concerned that he will be in similar meetings with difficult discussions about how much money we have and where we need to spend it. He is not here this evening just for this Issue, but looking to the next budget discussions and deciding where the City's resources are most needed. There are low cost options that he would suggest we can tack onto the current system that he hopes will address some of the issues needing to be addressed. Alderman Bernstein asked if there are any specific prohibitions in our collective bargaining agreement that mandate police officers review police officers. Are there any prohibitions in our current contract that would preclude us from having an entirely citizen review board? Chief Eddington responded, no, if in fact the board merely reviews. If we're going to wander down the road of subpoena power we will be bumping heads and one of the things he got from San Diego was because it's an audit process they talk with the investigators, not the officers, they can sidestep those issues and there is no conflict with the union, their review is of the Chiers policies and decisions. It almost depends on what we come up with that will determine whether there is going to be a conflict. Alderman Bernstein said then that would mean any citizen review board could not impose sanctions but would have to go through the Chief. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to apologize in advance for having to leave this meeting early. He perceives this process as having time to have some additional sessions and not having to solve everything tonight. He asked the Chief to share with the committee what is the current involvementwith citizens in the review of any complaint. Chief Eddington remarked at this point in time the citizen review occurs towards the end of the process. The citizen volunteers come in and read the same summary that the Human Services Committee reads but do not see the discipline given by the Department. We are not attempting to coach them into a decision; they independently arrive at their decisions. When they do the review Commander Wiedlin. the current OPS Commander, is in the room with them to be available to answer any subject matter questions or translate any police jargon that may be in the reports. They discuss the case, get information from Commander Wiedlin, and then render their decision or recommendation. You see that recommendation unfiltered along with the decisions the Department has made. The goal of that is to give you a gauge of the Department's decisions against what the citizens feel is appropriate. HSC SpecW Meetlng - 6/1912007 - Pago 1. JucM Tre&dway wanted some clarity from the Chief on the process. The Chief mentioned in order not to have a conflict regarding any sanctioning of a police officer that might conflict with the union contract, the final decision is up to the Police Chief. If that final decision is up to the Chief and if during a Civilian Review Board investigation it is found that the police officer was in error, then it would be up to the Police Chief to dictate what the sanctioning of that officer is according to whatever guidelines are established based on your role as Chief and what you can do in terms of sanctioning a police officer, period, correct? The concern citizens have is more focused on the pretimi nary process, the initial investigation, the hearing from the citizen, the hearing from the officers. If the officer is found to be acting out of accordance of the expectation of an officer it would still be the Chiefs responsibility and duty to sanction that officer appropriately, correct? The Chief. responded, yes, that is his responsibility. Ms. Treadway, added, then we would not have anything to do with that Chief Eddington's response was, no, but we are revising some things now and want to make sure we're theoretically all together about this because at this time the citizen input and comment doesn't come until the end. Ms. Treadway said, that is on the current process, we're talking about anew process. No matter which process we selector keep, the Chief still has the final decision if an officer has to sanctioned, correct. Chief Eddington, responded, yes undercurrent state law and contract. Ms. Treadway said all we're concerned with is the process not with having any authority to subpoena or whatever else the Chief mentioned. Alderman Holmes noted her understanding is trying to take the authority has never been the question. It has always been in terms of the citizens' input. Ms. Treadway said they're not trying to challenge the Chiefs authority to make those sanctions; they're only concerned about the process being more open up front. William Smith, wanted to echo the Police Chiefs remarks. One thing about Evanston is we have the ability to fix almost anything and work on any problem and find solutions. As the Chief noted, what we're discussing is the degree of goodness. We do not have a crisis and when we think about the fact that ourpolice force has in excess of 125,000 citizen contacts per year and when you took at the number of complaints that generate throughout the process, even it you multiply that times ten, it is not anywhere near being a crisis situation. (At this time 7:25p.m. Alderman Jean -Baptiste left the meeting.) We are talking about the degrees of goodness because at the end of the day we don't want any complaints, we don'twant any police officers misbehaving. We have a lot of good officers and are very proud of the team out there. but occasionally one may misbehave and we want to make sure that doesn't happen any more than it necessarily has to. Looking at the current process, on the onset it appears when a citizen comes in and wishes to file a complaint the citizen makes the determination as to whether they want that complaint to be a formal complaint or an informal complaint. If they decide that is a formal complaint they are required to fill out a complaint sheet, take a swom affidavit and the interview is taped. During OPS's investigation of the complaint an investigation and an Interview with the police officer that is affected is also taped. Mr. Smith asked the Chief if he believes the process was changed and if the citizens could gel involved in the process early would that be any violation of any statue law. Also, could that citizen group have access to the taped interviews? Chief Eddington, responded, he was not sure, that is something we would have to look into and research. Whatever paths we go dawn we have time to look into it, not only Stale law but what contractual arrangements we have with both the Teamsters and the FOP would also have to be taken into consideration during that review. If that's the direction of the committee he will certainly ask Legal to research this. Mr. Smith said he did not want any money spent on this before going into the process; it was just a thought as to whether or not that data would be accessible if you do decide we want the citizen involvement early on. Alderman Tisdahl was worried about the process before you even get to the process. Citizens she has talked to sometimes think they fled a formal complaint as they do not understand the difference between formal and Informal complaints. She'd like it made clearer to people as to what our complaint process is and how they can file a complaint. Also, she greatly appreciates having complaint forms at recreation facilities and wondered how that Is being communicated to the community. Chief Eddington said he hopes we can work through this as a lot of this is a series of miscommunications that are relatively easily addressed. As to how people will know where there are complaint forms available, we have talked with the staffs and caretakers at the recreation locations. Oftentimes citizens will chat with other people they trust before they decide to get involved in this and those caretakers would be the guides to the forms and how to point the citizen, who has a concern, in the right direction. Madelyn Ducre', remarked most of the people are saying this is just a process of going through the complaint and we're not trying to over step the Chief. If a citizen does not feel the Chiefs decision is right there is a step that can be taken which she would imagine would take it to the City Manager who is over the Police Chief. In reference to formal or informal complaints she has heard people say they made a complaint, they talked to the Chief and told him about the problem and nothing was done. At a Human Services Committee meeting several years ago former Chief Kaminski said they only had one complaint that year, the next year or so later he said they only had five complaints. At that time she asked, but received no answer, if it's a complaint when you call the Chief, does he take it as a complaint or just chatting. Maybe something there should also be established. Alderman Holmes thought that was an education piece that we have to work on In terms of when you see a person of authority whether it's the Chief or one of the Deputies and you are voicing something to them you may think you're complaining but they may not. We have to educate on both ends in terms of the person in charge saying are you registering a complaint or you asking can you take my complaint as I'm concerned about this. HSC Spedal Meeting — 6119/2007 - Page 2. Ms. Tmedway noted Alderman Tisdahl asked if there actually are different forms for formal complaint and Informal complaints. She has never Bled a complaint against an officer but usually calls in and has a dialogue about the situation. She calls that an Informal verbal complaint and does not feel the need to write it down because if she has an issue she could bring it to the Chief to address appropriately for Improving police services. Chief Eddington, responded, there are formal complaint forms; they're on grey paper with blue highlights. Some have been dropped off at the Civic Center. The informal issues are usually handled via memo or email, if there is no serious rule or regulation violation. If someone sends us an email about a serious matter we would escalate it to formal complaint. Alderman Holmes asked if a resident calls about anything that's happening in the neighborhood and speaks to the Officer in Charge would that be an informal complaint as she does not consider that a formal complaint against an officer but something that needed to be reported. Chief Eddington responded, if the call was not about something we were doing but about something wrong in the neighborhood that would be a service delivery issue. We overuse the word complaint and in his opinion what we are focusing on this evening is officer conduct. Formal and informal is almost driven by what conduct we're talking about_ When you call for police service we also call that a complaint, but that's something he does not want to deal with tonight. Pat Gregory, wanted to clarify if at the end of the day informal and formal complaints are counted together or are you just counting one and not the other. Chief Eddington said at this time you're seeing the formal complaints that deal with citizen matters. You are not seeing the complaints that are generated inside the organization, for instance when somebody wrecks a car and doesn't come to court. those are internal employment complaints that are not reported to Human Services. Ms. Gregory said what she meant was how many of the complaints citizens made against police are informal and formal and are they totaled together. Chief Eddington said at this time only the formal complaints are reported to Human Services Committee. Bennett Johnson, commented that the premise of the matter of police complaints is this is a democratic society and all people are equal, clearly some people are more equal than others based on practice and on obtaining power and wealth, also In race, and gender. The law is based upon the assumption that we're all equal in our particular government in the City of Evanston. The rote that the police play is predicated upon the set of laws and rules that are promulgated by City Council, State, etc. Therefore, these people are delegated the power by the citizens, they are the enforcers of the law. The people a citizen sees the most as a representative of government are the police. A policeman is to cart' out the law as far as investigating crime, pursuing misconduct by any citizen police or other, preventing antisocial behavior, vandalism, etc. Therefore the assumption power is in the people not in the policeman, not in the aldermen. If we go from that premise then a civilian police force is not only appropriate but it is mandated, if we agree we all are created equal and we all have a vested interest in law and order. We delegate the policemen to handle law and order. The problem comes from two places, one is that a policeman has as his duty to deal with people who are miscreants, criminals, antisocial, insane, the problems in our society that cause the disorder and are unlawful. If 80% of the time you deal with people who are criminals you have a distorted view of society. When a policeman who sometimes in good faith, is dealing without any assumption of racism, etc., gets angry or excited and overacts that is where misconduct occurs. What is required is an objective independent group, not the police force that sits down and acts as a jury and reviews complaints by the citizens. One of the problems is that the system in place today lends itself to manipulation by the people who are being Investigated. For example, the contact with FOP whose mission is to protect its own, which he appreciates, Is given inordinate power to adjudicate or evaluate whether or not something is right or wrong is when problems occur. When the police themselves assume the authority to review and investigate without oversight, again is where problems occur. We in Evanston consider ourselves to be enlightened and progressive, we have a multi cultural society and cannot enlighten and invoke a system that does not lend itself to manipulation of those who are designated by law as judiciary responsibilities to protect and serve, the role given the police officer. He does not think anybody here wants to be a cop other than the ones who are, however we do want to make sure that person to whom we give the authority to put people in jail does not offend, harass and kick those people around who are law abiding citizens. He's not accusing the Evanston police of doing that but we do know that occurs in the City of Chicago and other places. His concern is complaints, there are misdemeanors and felonies and there can be some gradation of what is considered a complaint. A low grade complaint is where somebody didn't like the way the policeman looked at them, rather then somebody who complains about a person handled by the police. All complaints should be a matter of record and reviewed. if we look at the whole picture and say there were 40 calls and complaints of the informal low grade kind and only 3 met the adjudication level, that's fine. Then we really get the true picture as with Ms. Gregory and her son that's not the real picture and we are in a state of denial. We're not here to put the policemen on trial, we're here because we want to have a society that is tranquil, that is orderly, where people obey the law. We don't want our children acting ugly and becoming criminals in this criminal justice pipeline just because they are angered they were manhandled or treated unfairly by policemen, nor do we want our children to hate police because of this. That's our concern and the only reason he and all these people are here tonight. Ms. Gregory said if a police officer has a bad day a very minor situation could turn into probable hell for everybody where they may take the authority because they can. Officers don't understand that we live in a very integrated world and these kids talk to each other, black as well as white. When these kids are confronted with the same situation but treated differently that's when you have problems. At the last meeting someone said in South Evanston police officers asked the kids to leave and they wouldn't leave because they felt like they weren't going to be treated fair any way. When you take the time to ask the kids how they feel about the police the first thing they say is it's not fair. We need to be more open about the communication we're having, even tonight, so it can be very productive and everybody can leave here feeling HSC Special Meet4V-BIIWO07 • Page 3. something was accomplished. It's not going to be that way if we just sit here and continue to cover stuff up. When people talk to a police officer they think they're actually making a formal complaint and its not, its not even being documented. People are starting to feel agitated about what's going on, not talking about it and displaying negative attitudes because we don't see it. We come to these meetings when you say it may just be one officer which is not true. That's probably because you don't live in an area where you feel that's an issue, but it is especially in the neighborhood she lives in on the West Side of Evanston and she knows in the South end it's the same thing but on the North end you don't hear about it that much. We talk about kids gathering in crowds but we don't talk about that crowd that stands on Dodge and Davis, that are getting high before 8:00 in the morning and nobody is asking them to move because they won't move. We need to be fairer and open about the guidelines that we have. Alderman Bernstein thought we're here to formulate some kind of a policy. We have a perception problem, every cop on the street is not a bad guy. For a young person to think that when a policeman comes up to him/her that this cop is a bad guy is wrong. We have to tryto change that. Regarding complaints, to him if there is a complaint with respect to the activities of an officer that should be recorded someplace. We are equals but a jury of one's peers determines the facts, a Judge imposes a sentence based upon the law and he does not want to take that responsibility away from the Police Department. We do have contractual relationships with these officers and if we don't like it we're going to have to redo the contract in a couple of years, right now we're subject to the contract we've agreed to. We have a willing new Police Chief who Is here giving of his time and trying to make things right. The biggest issue he sees is the perception that you cannot get a fair shake, maybe that's valid. Everybody thinks people take care of their own, they say it about lawyers, about doctors and police officers. Complaints, verbal or written, have different weight, but should all be recorded in someway. What he cannot abide is children, adults, anybody on a comer when given a valid order to move by a police officer and not moving. If you don't think helshe should have had you move then move and then make a phone call. We cannot have a society if the people who are charged with responsibility are not going to be taken as the authority figure. We also can't have a good society if the people who are given that responsibility are going to abuse that responsibility. Unfortunately police officers aren't entitled to have a bad day, the rest of the world is but policemen have to restrain themselves and thank goodness we have people out there trying to do that. You have to be more than human to be a police officer. That's what we're here for now. what happened in the past will give rise to the better system we're going to create for the future. Ofllcer Tony Correa, Teamster President, wanted to thank everyone for their interest in the department and In the citizens that we serve and would like to address some of the issues brought up today, We as union police officers are highly professional in every attempt where we're in contact with the citizens. He understands that somebody may have a bad day. It is very important that we differentiate between police misconduct and what the citizens think their rights are and what Hollywood tells them what their rights and beyond that what they think the police authority is. Oftentimes we have contact with someone who says you can't do that and we can which escalates the situation with the citizen looking at why that officer is doing that. That gives the perception that we ourselves are raising the level but In essence often times maybe we don't raise it fast enough to eliminate that type of activity, not necessarily to the level of throwing someone to the ground but whatever it takes to eliminate whatever the problem is. Our Police Department is as diverse a Police Department as Evanston is diverse a City. As far as the children being raised having hate toward the police that is not our Issue. His father raised him the police didn't. He would contend that is the parents responsibility to instill respect in those kids and instill what Is right, what is appropriate and what Is inappropriate regardless of whether the police are honored because the complaints he gets in the Problem Solving Team are these kids act up and when you get there they stop acting up and when you leave again act up. Citizens' fears and complaints are what drives us to respond to those calls and take action. The problem is that we respond and take action to what the citizens want and then often times we're criticized by those same citizens. He's not here to argue whether or not there should be a citizens review board, his position is that police officers have rights as well as everyone else has rights. To come in on a daily basis and be served with complaints, officer you did this and the person is upset is defeating not only to the police officer but to the Police Department. There is now going to be a system created that can inundate the staff on researching and identifying, good officers, saying what you are violating is kind of silly. A perfect example is a woman complained that he did not say thank you when she handed him her driver's license. The woman said he just came up, took her information and he wasn't even polite. That's the perception so many of the citizens are not aware of, what the police have to do and how quickly we have to do it. The longer he stays at a stop the longer he tries to make someone feel good is the longer someone else waits for him to get to them. The education aspect of this process really would be served better rather than a citizen review board reviewing the process. Maybe the process is stagnant because the officers aren't receiving additional training. What is spent on that committee could be submitted to the Police Department for officers to receive ongoing training that we don't receive now. A number of officers could be educated in schools that are not available because of budget restraints. This Is the differentiation between police misconduct which myself and some of my coworkers are not seeing. Also, as much as you don't think the Police Department is reviewing the police officers ask any officer if they feel that they get a fair shake when there's a complaint, he would content that they think they're under the biggest microscope possible. Ms, rreadwaysaid she quickly reviewed the civilian review board list the Chief put together and saw itwas ail based on 4 parameters of what kind of service would be involved, the complaint form, identifying how many officers, and the budget for each department. References were made to an auditing processes and the most sophisticated one was in San Francisco that has quite a large budget for their citizen review board. She did see where there were different variations of assigned personnel for civilian review boards and officer complaints against officers. We have 2 officers assigned to the HSC Special Meeting - 6/1912007 - Page 4. 11109 OPS. Ms. Treadway asked If these officers also do intemal investigations and if there is a designated amount of time they spend on citizen complaints during the course of year. She wondered if the department audited the amount of time they spend on citizen complaints compared to the internal investigations, to which the Chief responded, no they have not done that. Ms. Treadway said what they are proposing is not spending any additional money but just making use of what is already in the budget for the services. Of course, more could be done for education in the community. Since those 2 officers are already there, our vision of a civilian review board would be made up of volunteers from the community and would not be any cost to the Police Department. Chief Eddington said he would direct Ms. Treadway to the San Francisco information provided with the level of training that the citizen volunteers must acquire before they're considered participants in this. He seriously doubts that a volunteer is going to pay for that training. Ms. Treadway noted training a citizen review board which would be approximately 5 or 6 people would incur a cost to the City. The Chief said that would depend what you want to review, when you want to review, and if volunteers want a day off we need a relief factor for them. We need to figure out what resources we want to apply, which would depend on the model we're going to use, how many people and how much training they're going to receive. That's when the cash register starts ringing. Alderman Holmes remarked if we look at the number of formal complaints we wouldn't have a citizen's review board working that much in terms of time. We would have to get a commitment from the volunteers if the City was to pay for the training as it would not be cost effective to train people every year. People have to be very serious about accepting to serve on this board and would have to commit their service for a number of years. Mr. Johnson said we have to think in terms of construction, so you can't talk about cost until you decide what you're going to build, The basic problem with this issue is the level of trust. He could go to a group of black kids on a street comer that he has never seen before and get them to move. One, because he knows what language to use, or he might know somebody's mother or preacher, and that gives him a relationship with those kids, also he is not a foreigner to them. At one time there was a policeman who had a very effective reputation for moving kids. Peer group pressure puts the kids on the comers, who intimidate people because they look intimidating; they look goofy, which can be handled if policemen work with people in the community to develop an understanding with who these kids are. An example was brought up about a policeman not saying thank you which is an appropriate complaint primarily because it was registered. There was an offense given to a citizen of our society so that should be considered a complaint, not to give the officer an administrative reprimand but to send him to a place to help him understand or to have a discussion on how to handle these situations. That is the reason to bring policemen In for monthly or bimonthly meetings to debrief and rind out what their problems are so they realize they are not an army of occupation, that the kids don't really hate them, and there is a need to develop a real relationship with them rather than have these adversarial issues. Alderman Holmes noted the items that are to be followed up on for the next meeting; 1) the Chief and the legal department is going to check to see if citizens will be able to tape conversations by the police officerand the complainant; 2) what is involved in having citizens input up front; 3) the training cost for volunteer review board members. This information should be available for our follow up meeting. Alderman Bernstein remarked that Officer Correa made some very interesting statements and thinks training should also be for the police officers. Our police force is younger than he's ever known a force to be, more than 50% of our force have fewer than 5 years of service. After a policeman has been in service for awhile he's better at meeting and greeting than he was in the beginning. There is an education process that has to start with the parents who have to instill in the kids that the policemen are there to help us, they're there to serve and protect. The law says if a policeman is beating on you you have to take it and ask questions later, which unfortunately is what you have to do and why we have to educate police officers. Policemen are held to such high standards that he does not how anybody would ever hope to be a police officer. He agrees that anytime a police officer is disrespectful and offensive to a citizen the citizen has a right to call and report the Incident, but he also agrees it's not something for which you put somebody against the wall. If everybody is respectful of everybody else our problems would be solved, that's what we have to educate people about. He has attended these kinds of discussions In this community for 30 years. The high school started talking about gangs before there was a gang problem yet the Police Chief, at that time, said there wasn't a problem which was why we didn't have any gang intelligence. This is a society problem that is not going to be fixed tonight. Again, he does not want to be unfair to police officers because they're doing a job they have to do. They do react to citizen complaints, some which are foolish but the responding policeman has to understand because this is a taxpayer and he/she has to deal with the situation. Those things don't come easily and are a matter of education and training and ultimately a matter of experience. The Chief has a big responsibility now because we have such a young force. He's happy we are having this discussion to get these young cops off on the right foot. He wants to see communication, citizen involvement in police work, and people coming forward as the eyes and ears of police officers. We're in this together and as citizens have the right to oversee not just police officers, as aldermen are subject to scrutiny as well, everybody should be. Pat Gregoryis afraid when she sees an experienced officerwith a bad reputation. As a teacher in this community, In order for us to be promoted we have to do some type of community service. She remembers when Evanston police presence was not a negative thing; you'd always see a police officer helping at track meets and other community activities. With everybody being so negative towards each other and all the problems we're having maybe having police afters volunteer in the community might be something to look into. The statement, "I can", is a nightmare to her because she saw an officer do something that was wrong removing a kid and asked him why he was doing that, his answer was, "because I HSC Special Meeting - 0/19/2007 • Page 5. can' It's hard when you've had a really bad experience with an officer more than once and when you see another officer you're afraid wondering If you can trust them. Parents have to tell their kids I understand you had a bad experience, but there's a certain level of respect you have to uphold, and police officers have to do the same thing. She thinks it's a two sided coin. They do have a hard job and she would never want to be police officer. She also knows Evanston has a lot of good officers that do their job well, there's just a few that don't. Madelyn Ducre'wanted to comment about the crisis of police officers that has been going in Evanston for a long time. Maybe no one paid attention to it because it was happening to a certain people who didn't speak up enough to make a dentin anything, or maybe tried to speak and no one paid any attention to them. She has a degree from Northeastern in Criminal Justice and one of the main things she leamed was that most of the police officers there said they are human beings just like anybody else. If you're human beings you are subject to make mistakes like everyone else. As Officer Correa brought up a police officer needs respect, which she agrees with, we need to teach respect but we need to teach respect for each other. Another concern she has is policemen not speaking up against another officer. If we solve that problem where they won't be penalized for their actions because some officers will not speak up because they have to watch their backs. She remembers from her Criminal Justice class a policeman has to be one step ahead of the citizens, because you don't know what's out there. We want is to have some fairness and a balance because when she sees over 80% of people in jail are black people that's telling her something. As she has told her children and is telling her grandchildren there's a difference in standards here and there is no other way to look at it. Someone brought up the children standing on the corners, sometimes she feels like telling them off herself, but nevertheless when you approach them they come across in different ways and there's a difference if the police have to handle it. When the academy teaches police officers to lookout for themselves, that's telling her something. She did some research about academy people and found they were taught to look at a certain segment of a community in a certain way. That Is like being programmed beforehand. We are wasting our time if we think we're going change overnight. It's a crisis for her seeing so many young blacks and Latinos in jail. Would she feel happy is there were more Caucasians in jail, she does not think so. All she wants to see is young people have a fair chance. Chief Eddington appreciates that there was a time and place where segments of the community may have been treated differently. However, those days are long gone and we're in a different world. The Academy we use is Suburban Law Enforcement. He would ask you to take the time to go visit with them and he will set this up for you. He listened to the gentlemen who talked about differential treatment, that's not there anymore. He would also like to talk about the code of silence which is way overblown. He's been a policeman and a Moss a long time and when cops know somebody else Is not right the first person they go to is their Sergeant and ask to get away from that guy which Is what happens inside our culture. We understand the rules and how the law works and that we're not supposed to go outside of that. That code of silence is good for the movies but In the real world doesn't work that way. He realizes there's a lot of baggage from the past that he can't make go away but he has to deal with what's here and now. There's a different newer perspective that has to be articulated and recognized and we should also recognize what the Evanston Police Department has done. The decisions to use the Suburban Law Enforcement Academy was made by Chief Kaminski, someone who he thinks has great credibility in the community, who worked very hard at outreach and would not ever tolerate any of this. He realizes you look at things differently and what the urgency of the situation is, his only concern is we don't get stampeded Into bad decisions where we fritter away a lot of time and resources fighting fights we do not have to fight which Is why he said the audit versus Investigate. Officer Correa asked that we look at the quality of the caliber of police officers we hired. The vast majority of them have 4 year college degrees and a good number have Master's Degrees. We're not talking about people who do not have the ability to think and think outside the box. As far as what their motives are when we talk among ourselves we strive to do better than people think we can do, better than our supervisors sometimes think we're capable in an effort to know that we are capable. He has 11 years of police experience, he went to Champaigr for his Academy and the comment made as far treating different segments of society different holds no water. Even more importantly we don't want to treat people poorly because we know certain other police officers out there are treating our family members a certain way. He has a wife, a child, a mother and father, and does not want them to get stopped and harassed by the police anymore than he would want to bother anybody. The majority of time we want to make our contacts with the citizens, which more often than not is a negative contact. We don't have the luxury to stop in just to say hi, if we did somebody would say don't you have something better to do. The reality is sometimes our contact is brief and may not have the warmth that people like but at the same time we want to get ourselves down the line for the next call. Evanston is an urban community, and as police officers we're moving from call to call. We don't want to make mistakes nor do we want our supervisors calling us on making a mistake. We strive to do a good job because we don't want to be perceived as somebody who is lax a daisy and unwilling to cross at and dot an I. The majority of us are people who want to serve in some capacity. He's part of the Problem Solving Team and on his bike in his community as often as he can be there. The only problem is it's difficult to spend a large amount of time In anyone area because there a lot of different areas that want the police there. He's on his bike In the community on Tuesday through Saturday from 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. One Important thing, the union has not In any way attempted to be adversarial to this community or to this group but is a resource for the community In whatever way possible. Alderman Holmes's remarked her best description of Evanston to newcomers Is, Evanston is a suburban setting with urban problems that we normally treat with our rural approach. However, we know we have urban problems and need to 11SC Spectral Meeting — 611WD07 - Page 6. work together. There is no one here tonight that does not want to work with the police to make things better. Maybe we have a different view of how that should come together. As far as a citizen review board is concerned she likes the front end more than she tikes the lower end of the input from the citizens. It would be best to hear the cases at the beginning and give their views; the decision is still the Chiefs no matter what. She has not heard anybody say they want to take that away from the Chief but we want to be able to have some citizens input. She does not know if we need to have another special meeting as this esn be continued at a Human Services Committee. Junad Rtzkl said to him this review group would be a waste of taxpayers' money and people know his views about wasting tax dollars. Also, he thinks this could be harassing police officers. 1f the police are rude to criminals what's the problem. He filed a Freedom of information Request several years ago about lawsuits the City had faced and how much money was paid. He saw there were very few lawsuits that cost the City huge amounts of money. This process will take police officers' time to deal with and the police are short handed. Al the last budget meeting the police wanted 10 new officers for a special problem unit to deal with problems in this town. Now we're going to take officers and make them spend time away from their police work preparing to deal with these cases and issues. Are we going to provide them with lawyers or do it with our tax dollars? Those filing complaints against the police should be subject to some examination themselves. Some people won't like this but there are criminals in this town that have no business filing these complaints. Why are we looking at the police why aren't we looking at the criminals? We're not talking about little kids on street comers but about criminals with extensive criminal backgrounds and who have been arrested and in court numerous times. What is this committee doing about this? looking at minor things with police does not make any sense to him. Ms. Treadway thought what was supposed to come out of this meeting was to establish some doable things based on information already submitted for the potential of the review process. She begs to differ with comments that criminals are the ones who need to be looked at by this committee. We're looking at citizen's complaints; every citizen in Evanston is not a criminal. The Police Department has had extensive training from the Department of Justice Community Services Division which she facilitated in the spring and winter with former Chief Kaminski. Continued service was requested regarding how to appropriately deal with responses, how to engage the community to get to know the citizens versus knowing only the criminals in the community, etc. What we need today is what is doable in the cost effective process for correcting the front end of the complaint process. She made a list of recommendations, three of which are doable. The process for filing a complaint should be confidential and should be filed in sealed envelopes to be opened and reviewed by designated personnel which can be done now. The complaint forms should be available at all locations, which the Chief has already started. Also, ongoing professional training and development for officers that Is already in process. We all agreed this process needs to beat the beginning of the complaint process. The history is we as citizens feel we have not been treated fairly in the complaint process and is our reason for being here. We agreed on that and have to move forward making some corrections. We need to compile a list of potential frameworks for correcting the review process or establishing a civilian review board. We need a plan from the Chief for this; there is a plan already in place and the subsequent training that is going to help the police officers. There should be a determination whether a complaint is appropriate for a formal complaint or appropriate for an informal follow up which would take care of having documentation of all complaints. We need more information for the education process in our community and our schools about curfew and certain things in the law. What needs to be reiterated is curfew law, standing on comers, what a police officer can do, what Is probable cause, etc. Most people don't understand how probable cause is manifested, because you have a tail light out does not mean you can look in my car, you're supposed to deal with the tail light. A current education piece about basic youth and law issues needs to be put together to be placed in all our community centers. This is the time to flood the community to let the kids know the time of the summer curfew. We need our police to be back on the bikes. She hopes the next meeting will be In a community setting and there will be a check list of the doable things we're going to do to try to establish a civilian review board and improve our complaint process to work better with our law enforcement officers to create better relationships with them and increase communication between the citizens and the Police Department. The goal is for us to all work together. In certain situations the citizen is not always right and the police officer Is not always wrong but we have a perception and pattern of all of these complaints being unfounded when citizens make them which Is why we want this process to be improved. We're not concerned about what is decided at the end, we're concerned about the process. Mr. Smith was under the impression when we started this discussion the purpose was to determine whether or not we needed to change the existing process regarding citizen's complaints and police misconduct. If we do need to change that process how do we need to change it and develop certain models to get to where we're tying to go. We spent a lot of time talking about it and his question is whether or not you feel we need to try to reinvent the wheel or would we be better served In the Interest of time to start with a particular model, for example like San Diego and then determine how to modify that, if In fact we determine we need to change the process. How then to modify that model so it fits our particular need. He's concerned if you start to build your model from the bottom up you're going to miss a lot of things that you need to be concerned about and will spend a lot of time on things that mayor may not have the kind of impact to support it. He would like to recommend for the next session we spend time reviewing and trying to determine whether or not a particular model meets our particular needs and how that model needs to be modified to better fit what is needed. Mr. Johnson said if we want a model of an efficient police force we should use the German Gestapo model. However In this countrywe have what we call presumption of innocence, every person is innocent of crime until proven guilty by a jury of his/her peers. There Is no such thing as criminal people in the population by definition, they have to commit a crime and HSG Spada! Kfeebng — 6119i20o7 - Page 7. until they are apprehended even if caught in the act of a crime still are not a criminal unfit they're convicted of that crime. There is no such thing as a criminal walking around the streets. We have anti social people and people who in no way can be rehabilitated. That's not the majority of people who are so called criminals. We talk about perception of misconduct, it's not a perception it's real. When he was President of the NAACP he cannot count the number of complaints he got that were valid. He will certainly agree that it diminished over the past few years. We have to do something about it, trust is important and the need to interface with the police. He believes that we are on the verge of doing something positive but he does not want us to rush into this process. we want to think and talk it out and put something In place that we can all agree upon. It *11 not be perfect but something that will be effective and efficient and remove the perception and make a reality the fact the policemen who are citizens and the citizens who are civilians can also work together to reduce and eliminate much of the unlawfulness and disorder built on this. Ms. Ducre'said she filed a complaint against a police officers that came out positive, OPS found the officers to be wrong. It look 3 to 6 months but she followed through with it because she didn't want what happened to her happen to anyone else. You don't know what it is to have two police come into your home when you know your door is closed and then lie about it saying the door was ajar. No one should be able to come in your home just because they think they can. Another issue she is seeing a child being mistreated, she does not care what color they are, they're her child and are not going to be mistreated. Police officers can make mistakes. She hears Alderman Bernstein talk about young officers, it doesn't depend on their age because there are some old officers who should been gone a long time ago. Just because they're young doesn't mean they're going to make a wrong move all the time. A child's life shouldn't be messed with a record because after a while they won't care anymore and feel that's what society thinks of them. All she asks is that you please just have an open mind as she's trying to be open minded as well. Shona Buranda, wanted to everyone, who was not already aware, to know that the Human Relations Commission has been discussing this issue for the last 3 or 4 years. They conducted extensive research looking into what would be the right model. As was said tonight there is no perfect model, but all 9 Human Relation Commissioners researched this and came up with a model that realty would fit. They spent every single month from the year 2004 to 2006 going through and comparing the different models. They met with the City Manager about their research but encountered some strong objections and have been trying to do something about that. She is glad to see this is an ongoing discussion and would like you to check with the Human Services Commission office for the all minutes and information they worked on that you can use. Alderman Holmes said that was acknowledged and retails the Human Relations Commission brought something they had been working on in terms of citizens review board. She has no idea were all the materials are but will have It tracked down so that work has not been done in vain. Alderman Holmes announced the next Human Services Committee meeting is July V which will have a full agenda. We could devote the August meeting as a follow up to tonight's meeting and look at the San Diego model as the one that might be modified to suit our needs. Also, we would not have to worry so much about cost, except for training a volunteer board. The meeting was adjourned at 9: 07 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services HSC Special Meeting — 611912007 • Page 9. II■ .e flr�kj.aG','.?.afi�T►ir'?''--r ;a��. wLrr:r. ,.�.oM•."is r.J J+_�,�. �,. ;. .. _ {_ � EA� F - X"TAXAMSEi��TICES COMMITTEE SPECIAL MEETING" Name: T0A\ �J ►� o IR kE,f,o W fA . 'w ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Address/Organization: 27Co-7 124Al AA C(P •�Q•i�K�+yti,��r,. •caiG>ni..:+. n,r.+..�.aR•.�r.. NJ�+tiw,3•. :•,.. ,_ :e. - - - _ - ,_,_ -... ..._ _ - - U -S 7-SIG, %JM, •� t:tt'-"+ .,p�q:��i..: HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE ��..�. SPECIAL MEETING Tuesday - June 19, 2007 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Name:Address/Organization: ppAhAl go Est! f� J ►1�-�. ! j1 d rt—. ' n .rim t Y?�..r •-_ _ ... -r - t CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, August 6, 2007 Civic Center - Room 2404 7:00 P.M. MEMBERS PRESENT: Aldermen Bemstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Police Chief Richard Eddington, Judy Alello, Ken Cox, Harvey Saver, Rafael Molinary, Doug Gaynor, Evonda Thomas, Audrey Trotsky OTHERS PRESENT: Rosemary Jean -Paul. Evanston Township, Sharon Eckersall, Township Assessor, Bennett Johnson, Madelyn Ducre', Albert Gibbs, Kristin Doll, Gordon Soto PRESIDING: Alderman Moran I. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Moran called the meeting to order at 7:25 p.m. It. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE JUNE 4, 2007 MEETING AND JUNE 19, 2007 SPECIAL MEETING The minutes of the June 4.2007 meeting were called and unanimously anprovad (4-01. The minutes of the June 19. 2007 Special Meetino were tatted and unanimously anoroved (4-0). (Alderman Bernstein was not in attendance at this time.) III. CONSIDERATION OF THE JULY 2007 TOWNSHIP BILLS Alderman Tisdahl moved for anoroval. seconded by Alderman Jean -Baptiste. Alderman Jean -Baptiste questioned the Assessor's equipment maintenance bill for 31,110.50 from Computer Bits, Inc. Ms. Eckersall responded an amount of this bill was held over from last year's budget that has to be corrected. She brought this up when going over the budget for her office. Alderman Moran suggested removing that item for payment until the Assessor can supply Information about the bill in question, and that the motion to approve the bills incorporate all matters excluding that bill. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved to aoorove the Townshlo July 2007 bills with the exception of the Assessor's bill for Computer Bits, Inc., as reflected In the amount of $1.110.50. Motion unanlmousiv avaroved (S-0). IV. APPROVAL OF SPECIAL EVENT DAR-USSUNNAH PICNIC IN TWIGGS PARK, AUGUST 19,2007 Alderman Tisdahl moved aonroval. seconded by Alderman Jean-Banttste. Alderman Jean -Baptiste inquired regarding the process of approving City events for the year and asked about the provision for people who make requests later. in the year. Mr. Gaynor said the same procedure is followed going through the Special Event Committee. There are some 60 or 70 events that are brought to City Council for approval in March after our January/February deadlines and we did not feel we were providing customer service by telling people they missed the deadline. Alderman Holmes noted this group purchased a building the beginning of this year and this event is to try to introduce themselves to the community they're moving into. They want this event to be a get to know their neighbors for the people who will be using the center as well the community people in the area. Alderman Tisdahl remarked Alderman Holmes helped connect them with Over the Rainbow and they were very helpful with the wheelchair wash. They did a terrific job and are serious about trying to be a part of the community. Alderman Bernstein asked where the parking plan came from. Mr. Gaynor said a member of each City department is on the Special Events Committee and the Parking Department created this plan because they are going to be bringing so many folks into the City and will be using bus transportation from their location in town. Alderman Bernstein remarked they're talking about 500 people, 200 people coming from Devon, how are people going to be bussed to the various locations, will there be signage or specific reserved spaces on certain blocks, or will people be driving around the blocks looking for parking, Alderman Holmes said this was not discussed and she will bring the issue up to them. Everything is close by and there will probably be about 150 people from that neighborhood. Alderman Moran called for a vote On the motion for approval of the Dar-UsSunnah Picnic in Twiqas Park. The motion was unanimously approved (5-01. HSC Minutes — &6/07 - Page t of 9 V. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 44-0-07 AMENDING THE LANDLORD TENANT ORDINANCE Alderman Bernstein moved and Alderman Tisdahl seconded approval for discussion. Rafael Molinary, Human Relations Specialist for the past eight years, said these revisions were recommended by the Human Relations Commission. He was asked what might be done to improve the ordinance to help with the enforcement of It. One of the main things they thought was important was, up until this point people could have oral agreements to cover almost an entire year. After years of experience they felt it would be clearer when people call them about what the Issues, obligations, and liabilities are, is if these agreements were in writing. They found when ordering the ordinances there was nothing to prevent asking that this be put in writing regardless of what the agreement is, When people call them they can bring a copy for them to know what they did and did not agree to, what the amendments are, and what the addendums are. They ask that this Committee consider allowing this change for it to be clear whatever agreement they have Is In writing. It's also very clear that the underlying precondition to this is none of the rights that the LandlordlTenant Ordinance already outlines can be abrogated by anything that's put in writing. Everything in our ordinance has to be guaranteed within any lease agreement because in effect it's incorporated by reference as the overriding law in Evanston, and since Evanston has Home Rule you have every right to do that. We also thought it would be consistent with another problem they have that throughout the ordinance there are 4 or 5 provisions that refer to material non-compliance. too one knew what material non-compliance means, it was just a word thrown out years ago when the ordinance was enacted. We talked about whether material non-compliance was a provision either for the landlord or the tenant because we did not have any definition of what material non-compliance meant. After talking with the Legal Department and the City Manager's Office we recommended there be a definition of material non-compliance in the ordinance because what was referred to in the rules as code violations, any significant violations already enumerated in our own ordinance and other material issues we believe are relevant to rising to the level of being material non-compliance which is self explanatory in that ordinance. They wanted to get rid of the old model lease which does not work, the print is so small no one reads it because no one can read it, which they figured is a problem because if its something people aren't using. Why are we printing it out and selling it at .35 cents a copy? Every time the law is changed or amended they have to go back, not only to change our printed law but also the lease that no one reads. The attempt to summarize it doesn't always incorporate the full meaning of the law in our ordinance, which they thought was non productive. They thought the best thing to do was to eliminate it, not draft it up or amend it anymore or worry about someone trying to read it to amend it. Theyjust want to make sure every landlord gives the tenant a copy of the amended ordinance. The law already says you have to give the new ordinance to a new tenant any time at least when there's a renewal of any changes or updates in the ordinance, which was the other main reason they did this. The definition of "rental agreement" is now a written lease agreement. Alderman Bernstein thought even though the lettering is small the fact that the lease is on a model of an Evanston form is a much better practice. To the extent the analysis are different we will have to make them coincide with that, but he wouldn't give them up, we can just print the letters larger. Using a lease prevents a lot of problems. This doesn't mandate that all leases be in writing, all it does is say if it's not in writing it's not subject to enforcement which is what the real estate law is about. He does not know what will be accomplished by this change. Regarding material non-compliance, it seems in the ordinance you defined what material non-compliance is and then go on to say, "A single Instance of non- compliance may be serious. Any failure to comply may be serious of continuing lfiteltheractually,orpotentially, Increases risk of adversely affects the rights and welfare of the landlord or tenant(s)." He has no idea what that means and wanted to know who wrote that. Mr. Molinary said they interfaced with the Legal Department's his. Purze who drafted that definition. Alderman Bernstein wanted to know what Ms. Purze intended that to mean because he thought it was confusing and did not understand why Its there, It's clear that material non-compliance is a problem that affects the rights of the tenant. There Is always the question of proof and he does not think it belongs in the ordinance nordoes he understand why its there and what it means. Mr. Molinary said their discussion was about correcting the 30 day notice, where the landlord gives someone a 30 day notice which they do not abide by and proceeds to again break the rules, There was the discussion if the tenant does this again, which he thought was if they do something after the 30 day window where they theoretically conformed, possibly one single event after that 30 day mechanism was completed, could be enough for then say they're out, which he believes was part of the underlying discussion. Alderman Bernstein suggested discussing this with Ms. Purze. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wondered why we're eliminating the lease. Mr. Molinary said it was all based on the idea that no one could read the lease and enlarging the print could help tremendously, Alderman Jean -Baptiste said landlords and tenants are glad to have a lease authorized by the City of Evanston; lets not get rid of the lease. Alderman Moran found the wording a bit unusual on the rental agreement because if the notion is to mandate the written lease maybe we should say, all leases must be in writing. He thought the material non-compliance section could be tightened up a bit on the verbiage and should have a larger and better font. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought the lease should be left alone, if there needs to be some corrective language, add that. The people who use the leases have not called for its abolishment. Alderman Moran told Mr. Molinary they appreciate the work he has done as it seems that we're going in the right direction. We'll hold this ordinance until next month to be able to discuss it with Ms. Purze, who will tighten this up and with some proposed new language and we can then pass it. HSC Minutes — 8/6107 - Page 2 of 9 VI. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 52."7 AMENDING THE NUISANCE PREMISESECTION OF THE CITY CODE Alderman Tlsdahl motioned for approval, seconded by Alderman Holmes. Ken Cox, attorney for the City's Law Department, said the Nuisance Premise Ordinance the City now has is based on Chicago's 1994 Drug and Gang House Ordinance. Chicago amended its Drug and Gang House Ordinance in late 2005 and the Nuisance Premises Ordinance has not changed since then. This is an update based upon the 2005 changes the City of Chicago put into place. As far as an overview of the sections of the ordinance, Section A, expands the violations that can render properties to be considered a nuisance premises. Before there was a specifically enumerated list, there now is still such a list, however, it says, "including but not limited to." There can be other violations of Federal, State, or City law to lead a property to be deemed a nuisance premises by the Chief of Police. Section B, renders property owners or managers liable for failing to abide by the terms of notices of violations which are discussed In Section D. Section C, requires the Imposition ofnuisance abatement measures on those found Ilable for violating the ordinance. One problem that can occur is if a property is deemed a nuisance premises then it goes through the Administrative Hearing Process. Frequently hearing officers will only impose a fine and therefore no positive action is taken to remedy the nuisance and abatement measure. By requiring City Staff or Police Staff or the hearing officers to impose proper nuisance abatement measures will hopefully reduce if not eliminate a future possible citation for the same underlying conduct. Alderman Moran said we've had problems enforcing this ordinance and asked Mr. Cox to comment on the difficulties in trying to enforce this ordinance when a proposed violation is being presented. Mr. Cox remarked we defined the relevant language that's been the source of most of that difficulty. The declaration comes from the Chief of Police's office. Once a property meets the ordinance defined definition of a nuisance premises the Chief can deem it to be a nuisance premises, send notice and the property owner can then be issued a citation, go to Administrative Hearing and go through the process there deeming a property a nuisance premises when we get to the hearings process. On page 4, of the Draft Ordinance, "Upon failure to Implement the corrective measures Identified In the notice or other corrective measures which successfully correct the nuisance within the thirty(30) day period fallowing the notice, the issuer of the notice may Issue a citation against the person who owns, controls, ormanages the premises fora violation of the subsection. The Chief of Police may, upon good cause shown, &Wend the time for implementation of a plan of correction." Mr. Cox clarified that anything in the ordinance that is not struck through is current; anything that is underlined is the new text. In this case Section Chas been replaced in its entirety. Section C, that is currently on the books and is structured on the draft and the portion previously described Is where we've had difficulty In administrative hearings. Some of the hearing officers have read and found this either to be ambiguous at best and sometimes very restrictive at the worst. The way this has been read by some of the hearing officers Is that if the property owner or manager implements nuisance abatement measures they essentially quiet the building for 3O days after then the building drops off the nuisance premises list immediately without any further action. The second sentence was thought to correct that In order to mean that the Chief of Police in the nuisance premises declaration letter that is sent to the owner would state that the property could remain considered off for the 30 days and would remain on the nuisance premises fora year or two years. However that particular sentence has been interpreted to mean that the Chief can extend the time granted to the property owner to implement nuisance abatement measures greater than 30 days, to say you have 90 days to implement these measures and that if your building Is quiet for those 30 days or after then it goes oif the list. Based upon those liberal readings of the ordinance text, hearing officers have regularly taken buildings off the nuisance premises list if a subsequent violation happens 31 days or more after the notice of violation is first sent. By eliminating that limit we eliminated the ambiguity and made the intent of the ordinance clearer. Alderman Bernstein asked if an offense is what you are arrested for or convicted of, it we're discussing arrests we should say arrests. Regarding nuisance premises the ordinance states, "the offense for which the premises Is used is punishable by Imprisonment," does that mean if a person is arrested and subsequently acquitted an offense has occurred. Mr. Cox, responded, yes, to which Alderman Bernstein asked, why. Mr. Cox said in order for the courts to have any effect in this at all given the fact that criminal proceedings can take months if not years to reach their conclusion. If the Chief of Police were to wait until such time that there was a conviction, the building may well have been the site of many more crimes or may be ideally self cured. Alderman Bernstein said that is why he is suggesting that we use the word *arrest" because that's what you're talking about. Mr. Cox noted some of the items an the violations list especially City law aren't arrest able. Alderman Bernstein's concern was either a finding of guilt in a criminal jurisdiction or a finding by preponderance by the administrative law Judge. If he was representing someone on these charges, there would be no offenses created because he was acquitted. What we're talking about is multiple arrests at a particular location which gives one the belief that things are going on at that location. Alderman Moran asked if this is the Chicago language. Mr. Cox responded if the committee would like to amend the definition section a motion can be made and the language can be amended. Alderman Moran said he has places in his ward where people are not behaving correctly, who know how to manipulate the system. Some of these issues have been outstanding for over a year and they proceed to continue to do these things. There has to be some way to move on these people. HSC Minutes — &0/07 - Page 3 of 9 j Omni Aldernan Bernstein suggested lessening the standard, we mean arrest, therefore we should put in arrest and how many arrests you decide should be in the ordinance. That in itself allows the Chief to constitute fining on nuisance premises. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested before we correct the language making this more effective, because the consequence of a promise being declared a nuisance also implies having other implications that can be undertaken by the Chief of Police or by the City even to take away these people's property. Alderman Moran remarked those are some of the consequences for this behavior. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said when we're trying to lower the bar for an arrest we subject ourselves to some legal action, i.e legal rights violation, civil rights violation, etc. Do we think. for an arrest, we aught to be able to declare a property a nuisance premises and implement a number of measures that includes taking away peoples' property. alderman Moran asked if this version has been challenged in court yet in Chicago. Mr. Cox did not believe it has but having worked for the City of Chicago knows these went through administrative hearings on a weekly basis and there were regular hearings, regular fines, and regular enforcement of the orders. Alderman Jean-Baptiste's example of an abatement measure which, as far as he knows, is seizure of the building was never attempted. If we're talking about the taking of property that is something our division of administrative hearings is not empowered to do. Such a hearing would have to be brought in Circuit Court and ordered by a Judge. Under those circumstances there would be Gear due process and protection of the rights of the property owner involved. Even seeking such a measure would be reserved for only the most absurd cases that one can barely imagine. The abatement measures that are imposed are things such new locks, new lights, putting up signs for no loitering or no trespassing and things of that nature. Also, if a person has been arrested multiple times, barring that person from being on site, or if they're a tenant seeking eviction, abatement measures have to be reasonably designed in order to abate the current nuisance not simply to harass or abuse the property. Alderman Moran thought using "arrest" is more of a lightening rod than an "offense". Maybe we are stuck between a rock and hard place as far as trying to be descriptive enough without getting ourselves into legal difficulty by using the word "arrest' in the absence of "conviction." Mr. Cox said this committee can make a motion for alternate language, it can arrest or citation because they elicited activity and because that is not a required conviction. Things such as building code violations are, In fact, illicit they are against the City ordinance which Is a form of law. Alderman Bernstein would like to create some language to that effect. We're talking about criminal violations versus code violations and for continued code violations we're going to have to get a Judge to take the property away, if they're egregious. His concem is enforcement, he wants to pass an ordinance that we can enforce. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked the ordinance has been enforced a few times if it's a serious consequence and the reason It's so difficult to get to, to which Alderman Moran said he is looking for something we can implement. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Alderman Moran what is the objective, to evict tenants or limit the rights of landlords. Alderman Moran responded he would ultimately evict and asked about the rights of the people living around these buildings. Mr. Cox noted you're talking about neighbors in adjacent buildings or on the block, their right isn't breached by a violation in a building next door, obviously the activities in the building next door can affect them negatively, henceforth the reason we're saying nuisance premise is the Chief of Police can deem this building as being a nuisance and then be abated through the enforcement of the ordinance. Alderman Holmes added she has met with landlords to talk about the number of calls coming to their building and to work with their tenants to make sure that doesn't happen because it is affecting the overall neighborhood. Alderman Moran gave an example of people repeatedly disturbing the neighborhood with parties at their house given by both themselves and their children. We have not been able to stop them, we can write them a ticket, but they have their lawyers delay by getting continuances and carrying it on for a year or more. In the meantime they have 6 or 7 more parties. We have no way of enforcing them. These are people with money so the fines mean nothing to them. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted this is a different problem than Alderman Holmes is talking about. Alderman Bernstein thought this should be addressed in stages. He knows we will get into problems if we try to take somebody's property away because their tenants have been arrested several times. Mr. Cox noted the expansion of the list of underlying offenses for which property can be deemed nuisance addresses in both types of situations. The noise ordinance violations of which Alderman Moran is speaking are included in here as well as much more serious criminal offenses which has to do with a reasonable determination by the Chief of Police. In Alderman Moran's case if we have a place where frequently, regularly, the peace of the neighborhood is breached by one particular property owner by allowing these noise violations to occur over and over again, the citations of peace are S75 to $200 which is very small. However, if the property is deemed a nuisance premises fines can increase and the failure to implement the abatement measures named in the notice can each bring a higher fine structure, can bring more and more citations, and allow greater leverage to bear upon what we might consider to mean a less serious nuisance premise ordinance. Given the fact that it still includes misdemeanors and more criminal acts within the City code it can also address buildings where we have multiple citations for drug sales or buildings that are falling down that are in violation of property maintenance code. The ordinance, as it is designed here, can address both citations effectively. Alderman Jean -Baptiste felt we have to mask the consequences to the offense. If we say the Chief of Police can declare a property a nuisance premises where certain things happen and he has a problem with a number of citations, when we get to the consequences he does not think we need all those consequences for somebody who parties too much. He does not want to see us having the option to take away the property to deny relocation assistance, we need to match the HSC Minutes — 816107 - Page 4 of 9 consequences to the offense so that property comas under close scrutiny by the Chief of Police. If somebody has been convicted of manslaughter and there are some other people living In the same house convicted of sexual assault he is going to move to do everything he can for those people not to be there because they represent some type of danger to the community, which is a different sot of consequences. Mr. Cox said that is also built Into the ordinance. Alderman Bernstein remarked what Alderman Jean -Baptiste is talking about Is getting out the people who are breaking the law. By getting the bad guys out we can minimize what we need to do that legally which is what he hopes we can do. An offense to him is still not a conviction until a court adjudicates it as such. We want to establish a standard for a couple of different violations. If somebody is dealing drugs or conducting a house of prostitution or something that is going to be problematic to other people in the building and/or in the community, he wants a way to get those people out. Mr. Cox said one of the abatement measures that can be imposed is the eviction of tenants if they are arrested or cited on site. Alderman Holmes noted sometimes the landlord is not responsible in terms of running their buildings right and maybe has not laid down the law in terms of what is and is not acceptable in that building. Alderman Bernstein added this ordinance also has to be a tool for the landlord because we have a very restrictive landlord/tenant ordinance that gives people 30 days within which to cure. We need the landlord to be able to evict these people, we can't evict them as we do not own the property, If the landlords are allowing loud parties all the time then they may be subject to it at the same time. landlords say they are powerless unless they have some teeth in an ordinance that they can use to create an eviction situation, which Is part of what we need to do. Mr. Cox noted, again, eviction is one of the abatement measures. Alderman Tisdahl remarked all parties are not created equal, there are some students parties that you do want to have every control over that you possibly can because the student parties are very different affairs and she does not want to lose any clout in the ordinance on partying. Alderman Moran said under Penalties in the ordinance, there's a gradation of penalties geared to the severity of the offenses. Mr. Cox noted in this case the monetary fine is equivalent to that which the arrestee would receive. This fine structure is based directly off of Chicago's ordinance which has been in effect for almost a year. Our administrative hearing system is based on the same administrative hearings law that applies across the State of Illinois, any home rule municipality can set up such a division. The only restriction on fines is that the grand total of fines cannot exceed 550,000. No where does it say that any individual citation or adjudication of liable for such citation Is limited to "X" amount of dollars. Alderman Tisdahl asked what was the Chicago conviction rate, to which Mr. Cox said he did not have the number for that but based upon the notice of violations and then negotiating a meeting with the landlord, In most cases actually did not go to a hearing and were resolved due to an agreed order. The property owner or manager would sign an order saying, "I will do abatement measures A-X and if 1 don't then you can bring the citations back and I will also pay a fine on top of that and I will fix up my building. If I fail to do any of that in a predetermined amount of time you can then reinstitute all of the underlying charges for which the complaint was originally brought plus on top of that the City could then allege that every single day for which those abatement measures were not in tact by a separate violation of the ordinance itself." It allows for a great amount of leverage and also flexibility so we can not only get desired results but can also be sensitive to the particular situation. Alderman Bernstein referred to penalties and said evictions appear almost as an afterthought. The only thing is says with respect to evictions is, "if you are evicted pursuant to this ordinance you're noi eligible forrelocation In the City." He does not care about fining the bad guys he wants them evicted and gone from the premises. If there are violations or concems of health and safety to the tenants then we can take away the propertywhich we have. Mr. Cox said in Section C of the ordinance, "Those measures may include, but are not limited to making improvements to real estate and Installing lighting to enhance security„ the hiring of licensed and insured security personnel, the hiring of a receiver, the Initiation and execution of eviction proceedings against tenants engaged in Illegal activity or, at the request of the City Manager or his/her designee...." Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought if you have somebody disturbing the peace the landlord can take independent action against them to try to evict them. If you have somebody who is arrested and is able to prove himself innocent why should he suffer the consequences of that? Mr. Cox noted the City of Evanston has had this for a number of years and the standard has always been arrest, it has never been conviction. Alderman Moran added that is why we use the term offense. Ms. Aiello remarked part of our Civil Enforcement Team is trying to get at some of these properties and the problem in some cases is the landlord is not doing what he needs to do. In some of the cases the City had to go in and literally take strong measures. We feel with these changes it will be easier for us to try to get to some of these problem properties where we are having a damaging control on the entire block. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said we would all agree with that, how we move on people depends on what the substance of our complaint is. Alderman Moran thought what this is about got lost in the discussion. This gives us a means by which these people can be drawn in to meet with the Chief to try to get things right and the way we can get it right is to draw up an abatement plan. It's not an adjudication of anything but somebody coming out having a rational discussion with the Chief, coming up with a plan, going back to the administrative adjudication center saying here's our plan where he agrees to pay a fine, if the problem doesn't stop there are consequences. With this you have the opportunity to make the situation better on a uniform basis. This Isn't just to hammer people but to get them to be good neighbors. In the case of property owners it is to get them to do what they need to do to. This has to have some teeth or it will not resolve anything. HSC Minutes — 616197 - Page 5 or 9 1, . Alderman Jean -Baptiste pointed out that we have lost track of our objective which is get the Chief to be able to have some leverage in trying to get the landlords to comply. We need to define our objectives much more clearly so that everybody who reads this nuisance ordinance sees that ultimately it is to achieve better compliance with City policies and regulations. Alderman Bernstein asked what it these people do not agree to meet with the Chief. There are two situations here, one of which is the tenant who is doing these bad things that we have to create some method which we as the City can get around. The other situation is does that now invoke our rights over the landlord's rights. We have two distinct reasons for this ordinance. We don't want any landlord to allow ongoing criminal activity or bad parties or numerous violations but we also want to get rid of the bad guy as quickly as we possibly can. Pressure can be brought on the landlord but we have to give the landlord the wherewithal to go beyond the Landlord/Tenant ordinance. He does not want it to be an offense because to him an offense means a conviction, and he does not necessarily want it to be an arrest because that's too little. Chief Eddington said one of the things he would ask is for your assistance on the current nuisance premise system. It has broken down because of the ad ministry of Judges' perception of this time limit. In the past it has been somewhat effective, we are now on hold and have not had a nuisance premise meeting since he's been here in Evanston. We're walling for this to be enacted so we can go forward, and therefore is asking for your assistance in moving this along in whatever direction you give the Law Department, whether its an additional preamble to articulate what we're attempting to do, or whether attempting to get this done through compliance or whatever. There is a frustration in the community that there Is no impact on something being declared a nuisance premise. Alderman Bernstein asked how the timeline is being Impacted by administrative adjudication can be defined. Chief Eddington said if it were outside that 30 day notice it's done and whatever we did before has gone away and will show up on the 31" day, then there is now another 30 days. Alderman Jean -Baptiste commented there are other modifications that came from the Chief being unable to declare a property a nuisance premise to enforce abatement measures. He does think the preamble helps out in terms of bringing greater enforcement power to the Chief to be able to set a process for correction. Once he has set the process for correction and the landlord violates that, our adjudication process should be able to take into consideration that these people are in a particular category and therefore fines can be escalated to a high level. The tenant issue is part of the corrective measure that the landlord will be asked to evict those people. If they don't they pay a certain amount of a fine, maybe even forfeiting the rent can be escalated to put pressure on the landlord. Alderman Bernstein noted, with respect to the involvement by the Chief that's criminal in nature, the Chief doesn't have any jurisdiction over multiple code violations which also should render the premises a nuisance premises which is why he's concerned about putting all this together. We should pullout some of these items for clarification of the violations that give the Chief full authority. Alderman Moran said that's the problem we're trying to cure with this ordinance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought we can proceed with this but with some preamble that establishes what we're trying to achieve, this just gives the Chief the authority to bring people in and to set an abatement measure. Mr. Cox explained the Chlef issues the notice of violation, unless in the unlikely but not impossible circumstances the property owner can reverse health is responsible for the violation; we will be talking to the tenants. Section C, on page 4 says, "Notice of violation must Include the opportunity for the property owner/manager to meet with the Chief within 30 days of issuance of the notice." They have to meet and discuss an abatement order. The Chief will draft an abatement order, which Mr. Cox Is working on with the Chief, which the Chief will reasonably determine to be appropriate, and at which point It will be presented to the property owner and the property owner can either ignore the letter or the offer and will immediately be cited after 30 daye has elapsed, or they can comply or sign the order. If they sign the order and fail to comply with any of the abatement measures included, or there is more activity on site that indicates the nuisance has not been properly abated, then we go to administrative hearings and seek fines against the propertyowner. That can include evictions, new locks, new lights, fixing the building, etc. Alderman Bernstein moved that Ordinance 52-"7 Amendlna the Nuisance Premise Section of the City Code be passed for review and discussion of the Human Services Committees' concerns. This will ba reviewed with Mr. Cox. Motion seconded by Alderman Tisdahi. motion unanimousiv accented f5-01. VII. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 59-"7 AMENDING THE CITY CODE TO CREATE A NEW SECTION ENTITLED "GANG LOITERING" Alderman Holmes moved approval, seconded by Alderman Moran for purpose of discussion. Alderman Tisdahl voiced the fact that she has a lot of trouble with this ordinance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste also noted he has trouble with the ordinance. Alderman Bernstein remarked when this was last discussed he had some concerns about the designation of people as gang bangers. The ordinance talks about a group that intimidates somebody. A group of kids might Intimidate some people regardless of their ages. Alderman Holmes did not want to see kids being labeled as gang bangers because of lack of recreation or places to go or places to hang. Alderman Bernstein remarked there seems to be a different kind of a kid out there now; they may not be gang bangers but just irreverent kids who don't listen to authority. He does not want every group of kids standing on a comer to be dispersed and Is concemed about labeling these kids standing on the comers. At the same time he wants police officers respected and to be able to tell people to disburse and have those people disburse. Right now they have a right to be on the comer and we're trying to get an ordinance to give the police the right to disburse these kids. HSC Minutes — &M7 - Page 6 of 9 Chief Eddington thought we are talking about multiple different issues. This Is something that was done before he came to Evanston and there doesn't seem to be much support to do it. He's a proficient technician and can implement it if you want it; if you don't want it he'll find another way to do this. Alderman Holmes said what bothers her is that in some areas you can have the right to be on the comer, but in other areas you don't have that right even though you're not doing anything. If you are on a comer doing something that you shouldn't be doing she certainly wants that element moved, as we all do and the neighborhood does. Alderman Jean - Baptiste remarked the police have the authority now to do that. Mr. Bennett Johnson, from the audience, said one has to understand about order and gang members. Gangs do not stand on comers. Gangs are organized, structured and disciplined, Kids standing and hanging around and talking, that's a problem. You cannot do anything with an ordinance like this, it has be done by developing trust and some way of communicating with these children to move along which can be done without a new ordinance. Ms. Krisdn Doll, resident, lives in the e Ward near the corner of Foster and Brummel, said she worked a good deal with Alderman Rainey and with help of her, this committee, and the Police Department got the camera on that comer. That comer is well known as a large loitering spot and once the camera was put in the loitering scattered. Obviously the people are doing something they don't want the police to see. She understands you are very sensitive to criminalizing innocent kids who have no where else to go, but the fact of the matter remains that many of these people are engaged in very Intimidating types of activities. She walks by some of them and smells pot smoke, she sees alcohol in their hands, she's been harassed just for being a white female and walking on the street, she's been called names she will not repeat. There needs to be something that the police can do because so often we are deeply frustrated and call the police because these kids are being loud, throwing things, starting fights or something like that. The police come, the kids scatter, the police leave, the kids come back and keep engaging in what they were doing before. The frustration that they feel is that the police have no teeth in the matter, there's nothing that they can use, nothing they can say. These people are not certified gang members but they're still engaged in activity that is disruptive and intimidating to members of the community. She thinks that needs to be taken seriously and addressed. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms. Doll if these kids are not certified gang members why do you advocate labeling them as gangs and why do you advocate moving on them because they've gathered. The reality is the examples you've raised, such as you walk past them and they have alcohol in their hands, the police officers can arrest them for that. The Police Department has laws that it can enforce, disorderly conduct. if the police come on the scene and find there is disorderly conduct taking place they can arrest people. He has heard people labeling kids walking together commenting that they looked like a pack of wolves and people had to walk two blocks out of their way to get away from all of that. About three years ago that same problem was dealt with at Idorthwestem University. We worked with these young people to try to Improve the situation there. In this instance there are all kinds of criminalization of intent. The ordinance says, "Aggressors comparing organization membership of person Is supposed to be some kind of crime." The ordinance also says, "anyongoing organization, association if fact or group of 3 or more persons, whetherformal or Informal, having one of its substantial activities the commission of one or more of the criminal acts enumerated In certain paragraphs." First of all if they had done those things they aught to be arrested. Are we saying because these people are gathered together and serve a certain profile they intend to commit a crime, are we getting to the point of some kind of fascistic treatment of some of these people. We are creating the kind of society where there will be a camera on every comer and will still not be able to address the issues. At some point we had some problems, worked with youth and did a number of things to try to change the behavior which Is what will address these types of issues. The City of Evanston is still small enough to be able to reach out to those youth who we think are not certified gang members but who may be behaving in a way that disturbs the community to try to work to change those things. Some would criticize him as being accommodating to that behavior, he is not. but he has been advocating trying to reach out and work with these kids, which is why we now have a Youth Initiative Engagement Division and Director trying to do something for the long term. This type of thing only gives the police more reason to move on folks in a way that is enforcement because they're gathered. In all of the neighborhoods, young people loiter. He knows the Chief has been to many meetings to clarify this to neighbors who are intimidated by young people who loiter. There is a truth to what you think is going on and then there's the truth to what is really going on. Loitering and gathering does not automatically mean that is a threat or danger to you as your fear now controls you. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he cannot support this particular ordinance. Alderman Bernstein thought the Chief was telling us he is not necessarily pushing this particular ordinance. Alderman Bernstein moved not to Introduce Ordinance 59-047. motion seconded by Alderman Tisdahl. Motion unanimously approved, (5-01. Alderman Bernstein noted with respect to Ms. Doll, if you see pot or alcohol call the police. Ms. Doll said she does call the police; the citizens need to be protected. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms. Doll protected from what, help us so we can help you. Ms. Doll said she deeply respects Alderman Jean -Baptiste but there seems to be more that can be done in a proactive way. Citizens in her neighborhood say they feel threatened, this is not a potential theory, she has witnessed violence and has not been personally attacked as yet, but fully expects for It to happen. Alderman Moran said they very HSC Minutes — 8/6107 - Page 7 of 9 much respect what Ms. Doll is saying and ask that she please not take this vote as disregarding her concerns. Your concerns arereal. The Human Services Committee, in conjunction with the Police Department and other divisions within the City, works hard to try to strike a balance. He very seriously takes the situations which Ms. Doll is describing and she is entitled to be outraged. Nobody should feel it Is a bad idea to go out their front door. The question is how we come to peace as a community. Sometimes you want to go with a more social approach and a more personal interaction approach. There is no doubt there is a social tension between doing what's right in keeping people safe and not coming down hard on people who do not warrant that treatment. He appreciated Ms. Doll's coming tonight and giving us her viewpoint. Having this discussion helps all of us hereto understand each other a little better whether or not we pass a law. Mr. Bennett said the problem is not the Police Department it is a community problem. These kids are not aliens, they don't come from Mars, they come from down the street, up the street, around the comer. This cannot be solved by over strict laws that put them in jail for raising their voices. We have to find away to cultivate, accommodate and develop some trust to change the behavior and we have to do that as a community of parents, leaders, and adults, not by constantly arresting kids and then letting them back out. That just does not work Unlit the community addresses the problem It won't go away. Alderman Holmes wanted to put in a plug for Partnering Toward a Safer Evanston because we as a community have to come together block by block to say what's acceptable and what we will tolerate in our neighborhood. We're going to work very hard to have that kind of partnership with the police because we certainly need them to do their part but there is a part that the community has to do and she's hoping that can be done through Partnering Toward a Safer Evanston. Alderman Bernstein thought what has to be done in Ms. Doll's situation is to get the neighbors together. He's not looking for vigilantes to run the streets but there used to be group in Evanston called Co -Moms. Co -Pops who personalized these kids. These are kids that are just hanging out sometimes they get a little goofy. The neighbors have to come out and take back the community. Maybe we can send Sol Anderson, the new Director of the Youth Initiative Engagement, to interact with these groups. He does not know how the Chief feels about walking patrolmen, police officers who became known to the neighborhoods and had a great impact which in his experience was one of our best programs. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted Ms. Doll to know that the problem she perceives is a problem that he has spent numerous hours on outside of everything else, because he thinks the crisis is in the home. There are a numberof kids who have not learned to be polite or considerate and we have a lot of work to do. These kids are also being victimized because they're left out there, In many cases they're not successful In any of the institutions we have, they go to jail and ultimately that life Is wasted. He agrees with Ms. Doll but thinks we have to be more creative. He's an advocate of Investment of more money to take advantage of the diversity that we have here in Evanston. Mr. Gordon Sotos, from the audience, a former Chicago school teacher, suggested that Ms. Doll contact the Guardian Angels, a New York City based organization, to see if they'll visit our fine City of Evanston and help with the situation. Vlll. FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS Alderman Holmes asked if people who attended previous meetings were informed this item was to be on tonight's agenda. Chief Eddington said he spoke to Judith Treadway who informed him there was a School Board meeting thatwould take a lot of attention of the NAACP from this evening's meeting. Chief Eddington said with the lack of representation we will have to revisit this again. It is his hope he can get his memorandum out to additional members of the NAACP so they can look at and comment on his Citizen Complaint Process. We're talking about better, faster, cheaper, the alternates to institute a civilian review board are extremely expensive. In his report to this group he has laid out the informal complaints which has not been seen In the past and will address a significant amount of issues brought to your attention by some of the citizenry in attendance tonight and some that are absent if we identify this as a pilot project and this group or the citizens are unhappy with this, after 12 or 18 months we will go back and do this again. Given the expense of the citizen review board if we utilize the talented brain power we have herein this room coming back with the complaints he thinks most of the issues can be addressed. That is the gist of his memo. Alderman Moran stated the decision of the committee is to come back and discuss this issue at next month's Human Services Committee meeting with a broader audience. The next Human Services Committee meeting Is scheduled for Monday. September 17"'. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked Schona Buranda, formerly the Chair of the Human Relations Commission, Indicated the Commission had discussions and did a lot of research on this subject and he wanted to know if the committee has been able to get any of their information. Alderman Holmes said Assistant City Manager Russell forwarded to her what they were able to find in the Human Relations office and will email this Information to the committee as well Chief Eddington. Alderman Holmes added there was not very much information found on this. HSC Minutes -- 8r6107 • Page 8 of 9 IX. DISCUSSSION OF DOWNTOWN PANHANDUNG Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the this item Is on the agenda because of a meeting downtown about the theater district with theater management, restaurant management, garage management, the Police Chief with a number of officers, and the President of the Cando Association at Optima Views in attendance. A number of concerns were raised about the general situation and the need to maintain civility in the area. Al that particular point in time the panhandling was perceived to be getting out of hand and becoming more aggressive than it had been in the past and a number of complaints were coming through. Sergeant Prieto who led that meeting and some other security personnel wanted to talk about the Panhandling Ordinance to figure out what it is, how is it being implemented, has it been implemented at a11, and are we enforcing anything, so they can better manage the situation. That Is the reason he asked for this item to be on the agenda for discussion. He is now going to ask that this item be held until the next meeting because Sergeant Prieto and his Problem Solving Team wanted an opportunity to be here. Also, some of the downtown security force wanted to be here for this discussion. Alderman Holmes said panhandling has extended itself particularly to the area of Green Bay and Foster by the carwash, and a resident on Wesley informed her they had actually been going up and down the street and knocking on the doors. It's coming westward now and is not just staying in the downtown area. This certainly needs to be discussed. Alderman .lean -Baptiste asked if we can get a report on the current status of the situation. Chief Eddington said they are tracking all the complaints and calls and found they are mostly coming from the downtown area and those areas immediately adjacent to downtown. Brochures from Skokie on Teenagers & the Law", were distributed to committee members by Alderman Holmes. She felt Evanston should have something similar because it concerns police matters. We don't have to reinvent the wheel but we can borrow from them as this would be a very helpful piece of information that could be offered to parents in terms of trying to help understand what can happen with kids and the law. Alderman Jean- Baptiste noted that from time to time when the Nation's Cities Weekly comes in the packets we should look at some them to try to take advantage of this Information as other communities and people are working on a number of the same problems we're discussing. X. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9: 27 p.m. Respectfully Submitted, Audrey Trotsky. Department of Health and Human Services HSC Wnutes - tlJ8/oT - Page 9 of 9 MEMBERS PRESENT: MEMBERS ABSENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: PRESIDING: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, September 17, 2007 Civic Center - Room 2404 7:00 P.M. Aldermen Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, and Moran Aldermen Bernstein and Tisdahl Police Chief Richard Eddington, Police Commander Barbara Wiedlin, Ken Cox, Nancy Flowers, Jay Terry, Audrey Trotsky Alderman Rainey, Alderman Wallin, Rosemary Jean -Paul. Evanston Township; Sharon Eckersall, Township Assessor, Joan Hickman, Commission on Aging; (See attached list of Attendees) Alderman Moran 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Moran called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. II. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE AUGUST 6, 2007, MEETING The minutes of the August 6. 2007 meeting were called and unanimously approved 3-0 . Ill. CONSIDERATION OF THE AUGUST 2007 TOWNSHIP BILLS Alderman Jean-Baotiste moved anoroval for discussion seconded by Alderman Holmes. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked for an explanation of the Assessor's bill for computer equipment Ms. Eckersall responded these bills were not received until March 27°i after the bill cut off and this was the only way this could be paid. This does not appear on her line items and will not appear until the end of this Fiscal year, the audit was adjusted to reflect this amount. She will show a deficit in next month's audit report. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Ms. Eckersall if she had the anti virus software installed not only in the computers but in the server as well as he thought computer anti virus software Is bought for and installed in the network. Ms. Eckersall responded the office has three computers on the server and each computer has the anti virus and according to Computer Bits each computer has to have its own separate software. Alderman .lean -Baptiste said he would need additional information regarding the software being purchased and why it is not installed on all the computers through one computer before approving these bills. Alderman Holmes asked when the fiscal year began. Ms. Eckersall responded April 1", the bills were Incurred in the month of March but this bill was not received until March 27". The cutoff for bill payment is the 23'O of 24"' of the month therefore those bills had to be paid In this fiscal year. Alderman Holmes questioned this because there Is a certain amount of time to clear up any old bills from the previous year before beginning the next year. This was only three days Into the New Year and you should have a certain number of days in which to include these bills. She understands this occurring an a monthly basis but this occurred closing out a year when there should be a time allowance before clearing out your year. Ms. Eckersall said she was told by the auditors the bills had to go onto the next year even though there is an adjustment on the audit. Alderman Rainey noted that is absolutely wrong because those of you on Administration and Public Works who read the bills list know that as the New Year begins you will always see two sets of bills. One set payable from the previous fiscal year which could sometimes continue until May. Alderman Moran stated these bills will be held for further clarification and asked Ms. Eckersall who closes out her books, to which Ms. Eckersall responded the Township. Ms. Jean -Paul said they pay Ms. Eckersall's bills according to her budget as she does not have a personal accountant in her office. These bills occurred at the end of the fiscal year because she continued to have computer problems and incurred additional expenses. Alderman Moran called of anoroval of the Auaust 2007 Township bills, Alderman .lean -Baptiste moved approval less S1.633.50. the amount of CommAer Bits. Inc. bills. and Alderman Holmes seconded the motion. Motion unanlmousI approved 13-0). Page 1. IMMINil III. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 52-0-07 AMENDING THE NUISANCE PREMISE SECTION OF THE CRY CODE Alderman Jean-Ba utiste motioned for avoroval of Ordinance 52-0-07 as amended, seconded by Alderman of es. Alderman Moran called for discussion of this ordinance. Alderman Rainey said there is no fine line between this ordinance and loitering and what goes on in the neighborhoods because it is problem people that are loitering. As an example of this she selected one building in her ward and also selected a single family home in Alderman Holmes's ward from the current Police Daily Bulletin. Her method of selection was blindly pointing to a name on the Police Daily Bulletin. One building that came up in her ward is a building that has lately been under a lot of scrutiny and the Chief Eddington has been very assistive in deploying personnel to watch it. There comes a paint where we have to say to ourselves how many resources can we devote to an individual property or to a block and ask ourselves how fair is that. in our community if we have an irresponsible contractor who sets fire to a roof or a plumber who sets the building on fire working in somebody's bathroom, the Fire Department charges them. Alderman Rainey maintains in order to get some of these landlords' attention we have to start charging them for extra police calls to their buildings. Under the Nuisance Premise Ordinance in various buildings we have seen the distinction between property standard issues and criminal issues. Over the years her ward was known for slum landlords and bad buildings. People who have moved into the neighborhood within the last 2 or 3 years are always asking Alderman Rainey when she is going to do something about improving the neighborhood. Of course, if we hadn't done started improving the neighborhood they wouldn't be living there now. The good thing is she can count the bad buildings, property standard wise, on less than one hand. However she can't begin to count the huge number of bad tenants. Her ward seems to be filled with problem people which are the ones who rise to the surface and cause problems that would make her want to support a Nuisance Premises Ordinance. We've talked about the number of violations, the number of police calls, whether they should be convictions or arrests. She frequently asks for police reports when she sees something happening in her ward that should not be happening. She has found that ninety nine percent, if not a hundred percent of the reports she looked at, where there were previous arrests, read as follows: "Arrest, drugs, burglary, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, etc., convictions one or none." When you have a person in your neighborhood who has a list of arrests for violent crimes against people and property that causes concern of people in the neighborhood even though they haven't been convicted. When her constituents come to this committee and say there are people hanging out on the comer, calling names and not letting them pass, standing in the streets, these are the people they're talking about. They're not talking about our nice youths who have nothing to do and are standing out on the comers joking around and making a lot of noise. They're talking about some pretty bad apples. Alderman Rainey proceeded to read the list arrests In less than one year from one small 9 unit building at 326 Custer. A woman aged 27, arrested at home for ordinance violation in interfering with police officers. Female black states that 3 unknown subjects approached in a vehicle, one subject jumped the complaining witness and the others soon joined In kicking and punching the complaining witness. • A young man, age 18 from Waukegan, arrested 326 Custer, for criminal trespass. • Another man, age 18 from 127 Custer was arrested at 326 Custer for unlawful possession of cannabis. • 326 Custer, 28 year old man was arrested for traffic, and this man was again arrested at 703 Brummel for possession of cannabis. Search warrant was executed end of March. Subsequent to the Investigation into the Illegal of controlled substances the Neighborhood Enforcement Team executed a search warrant at the residence. He was in the residence at the time the warrant was executed, no drugs or illegal substances were found at the time of the warrant execution, however 5 adults and 3 juveniles were in the vestibule and stairway that had to be temporarily detained prior to making entry to the apartment, this occurred at 5:00 p.m. when a lot of the action occurs. As indicated once making entry to the apartment no drugs were found. Two of the youths detained were found to be in possession of marijuana. One of these youths was approved for transport to the Juvenile Detention Center, Audy Home, which we know that was not just because of marijuana. The other was referred to Juvenile Court. The third juvenile was a reported runaway from Evanston and was also referred to Juvenile Court for criminal damage stemming from an unrelated investigation. It was learned that the subject of the raids, where they found no drugs, had an active bond forfeiture warrant out of DuPage County and was taken into custody on that warrant after being processed, made bond and was released. • A man from Skokie, arrested at 326 Custer for criminal trespass, failure to obey the police. • Resident of 326 Custer arrested at 200 Custer for possession of cannabis. • Juvenile arrested at 326 Custer for domestic criminal damage. • 24 year old man from another address, arrested at 326 Custer for unlawful possession of cannabis. Alderman Rainey stated those occurred in less than a year. Is this not the building you're talking about when talking about nuisance premises? How much more of a nuisance can you get? Every other day, a lovely, late middle aged woman that owns the 2 fiat next door to this building, calls Alderman Rainey, you can hear the tears in her voice and she can't take much of this any more. This is the kind of person we want living in our neighborhood; she's been living there for at least 20 years. The authorities have to enforce something that will allow people to live peacefully in their neighborhood. Nobody wants to criminalize good youth, these aren't those youth. You have to be open to the fact that not all youth on Page 2. the comer causing trouble are wonderful youth. We have to distinguish who is good is wtmo is not. We have to charge for police calls. The examples she stated are only the arrests in the Daily Bulletin but we know of crimes in this town that never make tho Daily Bulletin. When you look at a building like this that is not in that bad shape that we're not going to get on code violations. She believes the building went into foreclosure and we keep trying to get in touch with them but have not been able to. Therein lies the problem that they probably were responsible for renting the units which she holds them completely responsible for. Alderman Rainey said she is tired of blaming everybody else in this town for people's behavior and wanted to try to make you see the reality that people in her ward are seeing. This is just one building. The single family home selected in Alderman Holmes's neighborhood had 9 arrests in a single year. That's real life in the 80 Ward and unfortunately is the case all over. Betty Ester. of 2114 Darrow, said she was not present the meetings when this was discussed and most of the things Alderman Rainey talked about were things that Paula Haynes talked about In changing the LandlordrTenant Ordinance. One of the items was having the landlord deal with people causing problems in their building by getting them out of the building. That was dropped and is now going to be attached to the Nuisance Premises Ordinance. She thought it was a way of giving the landlord a little more authority in getting rid of bad tenants. One of the items was if the tenant complained to the landlord about another tenant, that landlord was to address that tenant and if they did not curtail or change their behavior that was grounds for eviction. Ms. Ester wanted to know if that was ever included In the LandlordiTenant Ordinance. Alderman Holmes recalled at the last Human Services Committee meeting Rafael Molinary of the Human Relations Commission came with an amended Landlord/Tenant Ordinance. The committee asked him to come back with revised language of the ordinance which we have not received. Mr. Terry noted that item should be on the October agenda. Alderman Jean-Saptiste noted a standard lease has the provision in it that a tenant cannot breach the quiet enjoyment of others in the building, On that basis a landlord can bring an action to evict that tenant. We are still considering the L-andlordrTenant Ordinance with some proposed modifications. Alderman Jean -Baptiste assumed that one of Alderman Rainey's modifications to the Nuisance Premises Ordinance is that we Include a paragraph that authorizes the City to charge the landlords for police calls. Alderman Rainey said she was not sure whether 11 should be in charged in some other fee schedule, which would need further discussion. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Alderman Rainey if she just wants to Introduce this as he is trying to enumerate the items brought to our attention to focus on. He asked if the suggestion is that a certain number of police calls should trigger such violation to enforce the Nuisance Premises Ordinance. Alderman Rainey said the point she was making about the police calls, in addition to charging a fee to the irresponsible contractor by the Fire Department, is because while these are arrests that she read there are also many, many calls for police service when the police go out calls and quiet everybody down without any arrests. Everybody is entitled to call the police a few times, but 20 or 30 calls a month, she does not think so. Alderman Jean -Baptiste just wanted to clarify the 2 categories in the ordinance that defines what offenses would lead to the premises being declared a nuisance premise: 1) The offense for which the premises is used is punishable by imprisonment for one (1) year or more or the premises Is used for two (2) or more such offense within any six (6) month period. 2) The premises is the sight of two (2) or more offenses which are misdemeanors under state or federal law or a violation of the Evanston City Code..... In this paragraph this person would probably have to be convicted but in terms of the police calls he does not think we have anything similar. He's open to some discussion as to how this can be incorporated in the ordinance because once that building is declared as a nuisance premise it then triggers oversight by the Chief of Police who then takes a course of action that the landlord is supposed to follow. It still doesn't lead to that person losing his/her building but merely employs more vigilant oversight. In that type of situation where there is frequent police calls we need to talk about what is a good threshold number to trigger this kind of oversight that would give the police more power to be able to do something. Alderman Moran thought we already have this, the operative word is offenses. The discussion we had at the last meeting related to the fact that as Alderman Rainey has pointed out per her examples, ant; social activity such as she described could lead to charges that would not be resolved for years. The situation is such that it calls for treatment, regardless of whether it takes years or a criminal case or a series of criminal cases to march through the criminal justice system and be fully resolved. That was the focus of our last discussion which he firmly believes is time correct approach. When you have a series of activities such as the lady Alderman Rainey referred to who has lived there for 20 years saying she could not take it any more, if you're taking it to convictions or to high numbers then the person, the neighborhood, the block, ultimately renders being powerless to help itself or to call upon the City's resources to help them have a peaceable situation. That is what he thinks this ordinance is about. We have the numbers we need; the numbers Alderman Rainey spoke about are out of control. He has this in his ward as we have in all wards. Alderman Holmes wondered about Alderman Rainey's examples, why hasn't a meeting been called with the property owners to sit down and talk about it being a nuisance property. Alderman Rainey responded there was the transition from one Police Chief to a new Police Chief, we had regular meetings with the other Chief and she knows Chief Eddington is beginning to resume these meetings. There was a 6 month time lapse where things started to get out of control. It would be a good idea to have some coordination on a building such as this because the Alderman can do just so much. Somebody needs to notify the Housing Authority as we don't know whether or not these are their tenants. If they're not Page 3. ' = ! their tenants do they you want their tenants living in a place paying subsidized tax payers dollars where this its going on, or if any of these are their tenants they need to make them shape up or take away their vouchers. There needs to be better communication. When Paula Haynes was here that was done, now Alderman Rainey does not think we have any process for that. Mr. Terry said one of the things that has made this task increasingly difficult is there is this growing trend, which is a national phenomena but Evanston has some, where gangs are using building ownership as an opportunity for money laundering and buildings are constantly getting flipped making the trail of who the actual owner is becoming very, very difficult. Aldfnnan Moran noted Ordinance 52-0-07 has been moved and seconded and called for the committee approval to forward it to Council for consideration. Motion unanimously approved (3-0). iV. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 81-"7 AMENDING VARIOUS SECTIONS OF THE EVANSTON CLEAN AIR ORDINANCE Mr. Terry noted since the City Council last amended our indoor Clean Air Ordinance the State of Illinois has passed legislation. Where our ordinance seems to mirror the state law there were a few parts, not many, where the state law Is stronger than local ordinances. The state law does not allow home rule communities to get a weaker ordinanca so this brings us in line with the state law. Alderman Moran added the point being the state law does control or preempt the force of law regardless whether we're home rule or not. Alderman called for a motion to approve the amending of various sections of Ordinance 81."7. Alderman Jean - Baptiste moved approval, seconded by Alderman Holmes. Motion unantmously approved 13.0). Mr. Terry noted he received a call today from a constituent of Alderman Hansen's, Ms. Flaherty, who talked to both Ken Cox and our department and is still concerned about the issue of smoke in condominiums reaching from unit to unit or getting into the ventilation system. We told Ms. Flaherty we were not entirely sure how much more municipal regulation in that area we can do. Ms. Flaherty was going to attend tonight to make a presentation but sent her written comments that we said we would pass on to the this committee and that we would took into and revisit that issue in the future. Judith Treadway, 226 Callan Avenue, commented on the issue of the citizen who was inquiring about smoking in condominiums. Until the City decides if they are going to inspect condominiums, which she has been before the committee and Council asking about inspection of condo buildings and asked how would that be enforceable. Mr. Terry responded we currently respond on a complaint basis but there are issues of knowing exactly where the smoke is coming from and witnessing the smoking. Should this issue come before the City Council there are enforcement issues that the staff would want to talk about. Ms. Treadway said she would also like property standards issues about some of these condominium buildings discussed. When you have condo buildings that don't maintain certain standards because they're not inspected where you have other property owners who have multi unit buildings or have rental single family dwellings that are subjected to inspections that's a more egregious offense in the community. If we're going to look at that particular ordinance she would encourage you to consider some kind of mechanism for reviewing property standards in these condos because we now have so many here. Some of them are rehab and converted properties but then they're in --mW violation of lot of things our City Ordinance promulgates to other property owners. In particular locks, certain kinds of doors, fighting, etc., some of the issues not even addressed when it comes to condominium buildings, especially old converted condo buildings. Thank you. Alderman Jean -Baptiste appreciated Ms. Treadway's suggestion and said we'll have some discussion as to what we can or will do, in our capacity to inspect condos and to what extent we see as a major problem. The clean air issue is a separate issue and he asked Ms. Treadway If she had any comments about that. Ms. Treadway said the clean air issue could also be extended to anybody's private residence. If she lives next door to somebody who smokes and the smoke is -- coming into her house is she going to file a complaint against that citizen? There is a right of privacy of property here that =a is being addressed especially in the situation of a condominium which is private property run by a corporation. It is a person's privacy and what they do in their homes is one thing. Usually condominiums have rules and guidelines that there Is not smoking in the common areas. Mr. Terry said our ordinance already prohibits smoking in all the common areas, it's a question of unit to unit and how we deal with that. Mr. Cox and our staff spoke to Ms. Flaherty today and we did not have time to digest what she wa- suggesting and suggested to her when we have a better sense of what she was asking us for we could amend th. ordinance if we thought it was a good idea. Alderman Holmes remarked listening to Ms. Treadway and in terms of a private home, a condo is someone's private home -- which Is something we have to look at very carefully as not to invade someone's privacy. She understands the common areas, but this is something we have to be very clear about. Alderman Rainey wanted to clarify Ms. Treadway's remark about inspecting condos and apartment buildings, all condos are exterior inspected, no condo is treated any differently than an apartment building or single family home when it comes Page 4. to exterior Inspections. We don't go into someone's private home to inspect unless it happens to be a rental with a problem. V. CONSIDERATION OF POLICE COMPLAINT REGISTER AND INVESTIGATION UPDATE Alderman Moran asked the committee if they have any questions or discussions regarding the complaints or do they want to move for acceptance of them, Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested asking the Chief about his process to better understand what is currently being done in terms of the review of these complaints. Chief Eddington said he would be happy to explain the process and noted present tonight is Corrrrander Barb Weidlin, the Commander Officer of the Office of Professional Standards (OPS) who handles these matters on a day today basis. A quick overview is there is an intake process depending on the nature of the complaint. It's handled by the OPS or sometimes at shift level, if it's something of a non serious matter it's reviewed by the staff and then a recommendation is forwarded to his office. In the more serious complaints, under state law there is a requirement of a signed affidavit if we are going to pursue the investigation and interview the officer about what occurred. There are other matters that don't rise to the level of an interview, for example, a referral came from Alderman Wollin's ward where someone didn't feel the officer handled the matter appropriately. We found there was confusion during traffic direction and the officer that was Involved was talked to by their Sergeant. Ali matters that come in and are entered in at a certain level and reviewed. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted Chief Kaminski had started to put the review process through an additional step for citizen revie�: to whicn Chief Eddington said that system is still in place. Alderman Jean -Baptiste brought up Chief Eddington saying some matters don't rise to the level of interview and affidavit and asked at what point does he use the Advisory Committee? The Chief said they are currently used on complaint registers; these are complaints that got up to the level of where we are doing interviews. in the history of the organization one of the things he thinks was problematic, that is addressed in his cover memo, is broadening what's reported to the committee. He's been in this business a long time and he knows what Sergeants do every day, they get complaints and they handle them. We need to document those and show how they are handled because there is this feeling that we're not showing you the whole picture. A lot of these community issues would go away when we do this. Whether it's a formal investigation is a term under Illinois law that requires the affidavit, the recording of interviews and those types of things. There are other investigations categorized as Informal that can be handled a different way, just conversations between subordinates and officers. His feeling is no matter which way we do it if we report back to the committee there is civilian oversight in this stream of information that is flowing to the decision makers of the City to see if the department is being well managed and well disciplined. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked haw the Citizen Advisory Board was used with the complaints. Chief Eddington said at the end of the complaint there is the department disposition and disposition of the citizen review lxard. Looking at these over a period of time you will find that more times than not the department is more critical in the discipline of its members than the civilians who review the cases. Once the case has reached the conclusion we present the information we've gathered, absence the names of the officers and the person who complained about the conduct, the tidy of our investigation, our finding, and ask what do you think. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if there have been instances where the advisory committee has suggested sanctions of the officers. Chief Eddington said he's not aware of this occurring in Evanston since the time he's been here. Alderman Moran called for a motion to accent the Chiefs complaint realster and Investlpation update report. Alderman Holmes moved for acceptance. seconder! by Alderman .lean -Baptiste. Motion unanimously accepted 3-0 Alderman Moran wanted to recognize the wonderful series of very positive letters, memos. reports, and emails about the good work our police department does. Thank you for those. VI. FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS Alderman Moran noted we now have further consideration of citizen review police complaints, an issue that has been discussed several times. This issue was held to be returned to as last month there was a School Board meeting and several people interested in this issue were not present. He is assuming that the people tivho are interested in the Issue have seen the Chiefs July 25" memo to the committee. Also, a memo was sent today to the committee by Judith Treadway. (See Attachment "A" for Ms. Treadway's Memo) Judith Treadway, 226 Callan, said a proposal was submitted by residents who attendee the other meeting regarding the consideration of a citizens review board of police complaints. Those residents are Madel}n Ducre, Betty Sue Ester, Peter Gibbs, Loretha Henry, Bennett Johnson and herself. They made some recommendations when they attended the first meeting hoping that some of those recommendations might be included in the document the Chief was going to draft. When they got the Chiefs document they reviewed it and did their own research on citizens review boards, civilian review boards, and citizens police reviews. They considered a couple of things that were preeminent that they wanted to make a counter proposal to regarding the citizen complaint process. They identified the fact that they felt there should not be any formal or informal complaint forms just one complaint form that would be handled by the Chiefs OPS determining whether or not the degree of the complaint would require an investigation, which was one of the things from the Chiefs proposal Page 5. they wanted to look at. They also added on some other issues that were not addressed in the Chiefs proposal in relation to the structure of the process. We wanted to have a complete resident, citizen only committee to review it by requesting the removal of the oversight from the Human Services Committee and have an ordinance executed that would give authority to a committee such as the other committee functions in our City government. Also, to create a position for a staff person to work with the OPS in relationship to the investigation of these complaints they've identified some component parts. They also wanted to have more citizen involvement in terms of reviewing of these complaints and did not feel there was enough citizen involvement in reviewing the complaints. Of course, they would like all documentation and have the citizen educated about the complaint process as well as recommending that complaint process be a confidential process. The forms and envelopes would be available to citizens at designated locations besides the Police Department, the Civic Center, and/or Community Centers where a citizen could file a complaint, put it in an envelope and it would be directed to the appropriate person from our proposal for a citizen' police advisory committee, to the OPS, or be designated as authorized. We also wanted to protect the confidentiality of the complainant because we feel that in some of the summary decisions made on the lower level of the police management information would go out and there would be the potential of harassment or changing stories and by the time the citizen gets involved in the complaint process it could be another story. That is why we wanted to try and put in mechanisms that would create an opportunity for the legitimacy of the complaint to be considered as well as to increase the opportunity for the Police Department to review of these complaints without having the bias of the officers interfering in how the complaint was being handled such as is that the complaints are handled right now. We do not know how much the process has been harmful to citizens nor do we know how beneficial this process has been for citizens. There is a perception that there is some mistrust in ourcommunity and we would like to increase the collaboration with our police officers by having this citizen review advisory committee so we can Increase the trust of our police personnel so that citizens will work better with the Police Department and also to minimize the incidents through internal education and training of police officers as well as educating the public about the whole process. In addition to that we would like more outreach to the community/community groups about the whole process. We want citizens to feel that they have a right to appeal a decision and want a process to be established for that. We want to work with the Office of Professional Standards (OPS) establishing these guidelines as well as give an opportunity for the Police Department to work with the police officers that might be in question of a complaint process. Ms. Treadway said all of the down issues related this process could possibly happen but they would eventually be eliminated. Sometimes because a person is a law enforcement officer they may feel they are above the law and we want to address the issue that they are acting to protect and serve the citizens of Evanston and they are not above misconduct or inappropriate behavior. The perceived pressure on officers may occur but we don't think it would last because the complaints against officers have been very specific officers it has not been the entire Police Department. There might be an increase in complaints but we feet that would wane off because to file a complaint you have to sign your name and if people are not going to be riling frivolous complaints against police officers those would be ameliorated immediately and would not be a problem. It would take care of the issue of people who are just critical of the Police Department. Citizens do not understand the procedures, protocol, and laws related to police actions and the public also needs to be educated about that. In addition to that we don't want to diminish the authority of the Police Department or the Police Chief because the Police Chief still has the final decision on any disposition of an investigation, nor do we want to give or support any kind of perception that we would undermine the Police Chief and his personnel. That is one of the issues we have thought about as we want to work with the Police Department. Also, we're not going to propose something that Is not doable for our City because the City Council has to approve everything that would be undoable for our Police Chief. We don't want to create animosity between the police personnel and the citizens because we have enough animosity already and we don't have crisis so what we want to do is nip this in the bud. It would be good to start the civilian review process so that we don't get to a point where we have the situation that Chicago or Cincinnati or California has where there are critical issues. We also do not want to give the perception that we're trying to take away the decision making authority of the Chief, we want to work with the Chief and not create a political situation. Whenever there are no guidelines for anything to be corrected in the community it creates a great opportunity for political issues to politicize the situation without dealing with the fact. The last thing we want to do is put an unfair burden on the City's budget as we know what your fiscal responsibilities are now. Even though we made a proposal we do consider that a legitimate proposal for a budget and operating expenses for an executive director but do not intend to put an unfair burden on the City of Evanston at this time. Ms. Treadway wanted to apologize for giving her memo re: Citizens Review of Police Complaints to the committee so late was because they were trying to give something as a complimentary proposal to enhance the framework of what we tried to present when we had the verbal presentation on June 18, 2007. Madelyn Ducre, wanted to give a little history about the civilian oversight board. Their committee has been doing a lot of research. This started in 1935 and 1945 and In 60's and 70's. We asked for some accountability far as citizens with the police and whether we got it or not is a difference of opinion. Ms. Ducre works with the group Africana Network for Equality and Fairness that has been trying to fight for something for the citizens here. Evanston Is small in comparison to Chicago, New York, Washington, etc., and they have big problems with shooting policemen, etc. We have a problem here with how people are treated by the police officers. Chief Eddington is new to Evanston and eventually there is a lot of stuff to be filled in that we're going to help him. We're not trying to hinder the Police Department; we want to work with the police officers. You can't exclude the officers from doing their duty, which she agrees, but at the same time when we as citizens in Evanston find that certain things are not being addressed, we're not being treated fairly, or harassed or whatever, it's not right. We must have Input into this complaint situation here. There could be a drop box set up right Page 6. outside the Civic Center to drop off complaints such as the one where you put your water bill, as long as the Police Department gets and puts it back to another board. This had been discussed with the Human Services Committee, but goes nowhere. When you look at the term informally or formally, if she doesn't kill somebody or shoat a policeman that's looked at differently, than somebody harassing her or her children or grandchildren or another citizen, but that also should be taken seriously, maybe not as important, but taken seriously because if it is not then you get animosity. In other countries the people have oversight views to make the policeman accountable to the citizens, they're serving us and she would like the committee to take this seriously and think about it that we can work together. Thank you. BennettJohnson, 708 Washington Street, said the premise for the concept of the civilian police advisory committee was established 220 years ago when the Constitution was passed. The premise in that as far as jurisprudence is concerned is the presumption of innocence and that presumption of innocence means that every person is innocent until proven guilty by being brought before the Judge or bar or by a jury of his peers. In the past few years there has been some erosion due to the Patriot Act and other things that have been done by the U.S. government. As far as our City is concerned we can still operate upon the Constitutional basis. One of the problems is the assumption is that black children, especially are gang bangers, engaged in anti social behavior, and a cultural trail is blacks are more expressive. more energetic, and louder based upon many things. There is no scarlet letter that says "delinquent or criminal' that can be wom by a child to distinguish the so called bad kids or the gang bangers and kids that are okay. Those who are involved in anti social behavior are a very small minority of all the children in our town. The same is true of the police officers. Police officers that engage in misconduct and brutality are a minority and the whole thing has to be set up not for the general rule not for the acceptance of the rule which is why it's so critical. In the matter of the budget there is always some concern about a budget because we asked for a budget. However when we consider the payments that the City has made for judgments based on police misconduct then it's a savings and a preventive measure rather than something costly. We're all for law and order, we want peaceful use of the streets, our houses, and the public areas, something everybody wants. However, the police cannot do everything and one of the reasons the police can't be as effective as they should be is because of the level of taut that exists between the average citizen and the police officers. The police officer is not looked at as someone to protect and serve but as someone who intimidates. He's not saying that is true but that is the perception. "therefore, there has to be some way to develop a better level of trust between the citizens of this City and the police force that will increase effectiveness of the police force and increase the level of law and order and tranquility in our City. The basic problem in all this is the police are being perceived as a protected class not the citizens, police officers because of FOB and other pressures from the organizations that say the police have to be treated and handled in a certain way. The police are not a protected class, they are public servants, they have a duty to serve the public, not to harass children, not to harass adults, but to serve the public. Meaning that their responsibility is to find a miscreant, arrest or apprehend that miscreant, make sure he understands what his/her rights are, take them to a detention facility until they can be adjudicated before a Judge. They're not the Judge, jury and executioner which is the problem with policemen who don't understand or get used to certain modes of behavior. As Ms. Treadway indicated what is needed is a level of training and development of lines of communication between the policeman and the people they serve in that way they are no longer strangers. The kids aren't aliens and neither are the police monsters. Mr. Bennett said when he was young they knew the officers, they were in and part of the community, they were friendly and never intimidating, they were admired and respected. Evanston Is too small of a town to feel that the policemen are hostile and apathetic to the people who live here. Thank you very much. Betty Esher, 2114 Grey, said she has been involved with the Africana Network for Equality and Fairness. She recelved a copy of Chief Eddington's report and found it had some good points and some that were not. On the second page of the report he mentions the general order which she found on the website. It was dated effective January 4, 1999. In comparing the two documents as Chief Eddington said this is already in place, but there is contradiction between the two. Ms. Ester proceeded to read from the Chiefs report, 'The department will provide the highly quality police service and integrity to the City of Evanston both foreign and civilian members are required to comply with all City and departmental directive orders and rules in performing of their assigned duty and will be held accountable for their actions. Foreign personnel are expected to maintain the high standard of official conduct in performing of their duty in order to protect the fundamental rights of all individuals and will be held strictly accountable to the proper use of their police authority in discretionary powers." It was interesting to hear that discretionary power was how police did it in the past and was something she thought needs to be changed because discretionary power can affect and challenge someone else's rights and deny 'people's rights. The community needs to understand what that discretionary power is. Ms. Esterwenton to read, -To accomplish these goals the department will accept and investigate all complaints from any system or department member regarding misconduct or wrong doing of any sworn or civilian member of the department. It will conduct a thorough, timely and impartial examination of available factual information. Will dispose with the appropriate finding and will fairly and appropriate discipline members of the guilty of misconduct." This has some good points and talks about OPS and an independent office of the OPS which is okay, we that can have an independent office. What happened in the past and what happens now is we're at a break point, the City has a chance to change their past practice and start into a new direction. We have young people who were not brought up in the 50's and 60's but are children of the 21" century of television and say they don't want to accept this type of behavior from someone thal is supposed to be protecting and - serving then. Looking through this document she found by listing what type of behavior that the City and community as a whole will not tolerate, one that cuts down on your frivolous complaints which there is no reason to file a complaint about as that is not considered as misbehavior. That is what we need to be looking at and trying to achieve. This has been an Page 7. ongoing concern In all communities in the United States, the Department of Justice thought it was such a problem that they have developed a special task force that spends our tax dollars for people to come out and look at these different complaints which Is called the Police Assessment Resource Center. They come to see if Police Departments are fairly treating complainants, how they complete complaints and are they being done in a timely manner. They found there were decrees that the United States Department of Justice says you have to create a community review board process. We have an opportunity to do this without having a lot people coming to tell us what we have to do that will put us in a reactive mode. It's best to be proactive setting up something that the community can live and grow with. There is a diagram of what the process is supposed to look like and there is a summary that says, Evanston Police Department final disposition of citizens complaints; Number 1), OPS will inform complainants of disposition followed up with a letter from the Chief. Number 2), the letter from the Chief explains the disposition and identifies there is an option to appeal to the Human Services Committee if the person is not satisfied with his decision. No. 3). all complaint dispositions are put in synopsis form and scheduled for review by the Human Services Committee. The synopsis is not the whole picture, which is where the review board can look at it the whole picture and find what you may need to do. We feel that is not quite adequate if you're going to want transparency which the Chief talks about and which we do want, fairness and that everybody is created equal. Number 4), if a complainant requests an appeal before the committee they may schedule a committee review with the additional information. The committee can either concur with the recommendation or ask for further review. The committee serves as an oversight of all dispositions regarding civilian complaints. In the past Chief Kaminski said we do not have that many citizen complaints. Chief Eddington said his protocol will be that all complaints, formal or informal, will be documented. In the past if the police staff or Sergeant taking the investigating information considered the complaint to be informal there was no documentation so there were less complaints. People are saying there are more complaints there just is no documentation on these complaints. Talking about being transparent with a body that has a great Impact on people in this community, especially people of color, we need to step back and take our time and do it right. If that is not what this committee or the Council is willing to do then what recourse are you telling us that we need to take? We've been asking for this for a long time, now is the time and it's a good time because we have a new Chief who is forthright and is bringing a lot of new ideas that we can sit down and develop a new police advisory committee to do the oversight, also at the some time update the Evanston Department General Order 4.1 Disciplinary Process, which contains the citizen complaints. We have a choice, stay status quo and wait until something big blows up or be proactive and sit down and work out a good plan. She urges that you be proactive, we all want a community that is lawful, law abiding, and one where we can tell our young people yes you do have rights, yes the police do respect you. When a 5 year old child is afraid the police will not protect them and might hit them there is something wrong in the community. Whether you want to believe her or think she is making this up, that is your choice. We now have the opportunity to change, implement and sit down and work out a good program that would be something that both the community and the Police Department can live with, that's a citizen advisory committee. Thank you. Chief Eddington wanted everyone to know that he is available and committed to listening to the community and is committed to changing the things that will make the department better. One of the overall issues in this matter is what exactly are we trying to fix. The first fix is make the system transparent and one of the things he has enjoyed about coming to Evanston is there is openness and interaction that you take for granted that doesn't go on anyplace else. The ability for a citizen to come to an elected body and say they don't like the decision the Chief of Police made has never happened any place that he has worked. When we talk about citizen or civilian review if you see a pattern or recurring issues that you're unhappy with you're going to call it to my attention or the next Chief of Police's attention. Some of the things that are expressed desires by the citizens who have spoken this evening are Inherently here. Also, regarding the rewriting of general orders, he appreciates that often what's written down doesn't match what goes on something that happens in every bureaucracy. One of the things he's stalling on Is coming to a decision here before he rewrites a bunch of general orders that we're going to have to change again because one of the things that's most frustrating in this process is when you go to the department and your or your neighbor's Issue is handled differently than the last time. We have to strive for consistency which he is looking to accomplish, once a decision is reached in this committee some direction comes out of that. In essence that's the heart of his proposal, that there is a rather simple form and format of how you do this. We have wrestled with the single complaint form issue and whether we check it off as formal or informal he thinks that's definitely doable. The closure loop in his proposal is that you come into make a complaint, the officer taking the complaint believes its informal, he writes it up and it goes up the chain of command, in short order you will receive a letter from the office of the Chief of Police saying we got your complaint. we've handled this matter and if you have any questions call OPS or the office of the Chief of Police. That way ,f we misunderstood what was happening and you thought it was more serious or don't think something was considered there's an incident review built in by your phone call. That Is a key component that there is a short loop back to the citizen to accomplish this. In context of this situation he appreciates the zeal and dedication the citizens who spoke tonight brought to this. This is obviously an issue that requires their attention and they want to participate, there are ways we can accomplish that already due to a degree by their presence here this evening. In his continuing Invitation for them to be here and present when we discuss the complaints he feels some responsibility to discuss the budget. They've made a reasonable request which he appreciates and in the context of what we're going to be talking about in the coming year is even current reasonable proposals are at risk. Current reasonable services are at risk and to authorize another position at this point in time is going to be extremely difficult in the context of the overall budget. One of his proposals included In this is a periodic review of this matter in B, 12, and 18 months and if the members of the Human Services Committee or members of the community feel that he has fallen short on his promises you can direct this in anotherway. Many of these things can be addressed In a quicker, more Page B. transparent effort he would like the committee to consider those. We can build better relationships with the community in otherways than a more formal citizen review board and thinks we get more mileage in more positive contacts out of our Problem Solving Team officers than we would out of this. If we want to authorize another position you'll get more mileage out of that than another layer of bureaucracy in how we manage officer conduct or allegations of officer misconduct. If there are questions he would be happy to answer them. Betty Ester, noted in the Chiefs proposal the lowestcost board In Flint Michigan had a budget of 5200,000 and wondered how many staff people they have for that, his. Treadway remarked 550,000 per staff person. they were allocating 2 to 4 staff people and most of the unit before interfaced with police personnel. Ms. Ester added she knows the officers go through cultural and sensitivity training and without looking at all the cases she's here to say they need to go through it again. She would like to know what they do and how they do it in problem solving, which she has not seen in print anywhere. She would like some examples and the results of their problem solving in the community, but if that hasn't happened since Chief Eddington has been here he does not have to worry about it. Chief Eddington said he always has to worry. The Problem Solving Team is lead by Sergeant Prieto, who has 5 officers working for him who spend most of their time dealing with tong term solutions to issues. For example the Nuisance Ordinance discussed earlier this evening, they attempt to bring properties into compliance without enforcement action. They're attempting to move forward toward solutions. They're assignments are different as they're engage in this activity. In your neighborhood Officer Tania Noble is the problem solving officer. You see her in different venues; you see her at the ward meetings and engaged in other activities than what you would anticipate an officer doing. Her primary mission isn't to write tickets, make arrests and make reports, she's engaged with different community groups, different neighborhood groups working towards solutions which have been an ongoing thing. That has been a tradition in this organization to look at ways of solving issues with a partnership community for which they have had multiple success stories of working with landlords bringing properties into compliance, working out neighborhood issues as they have that level of community policing that we all strive for. He would invite you come and ride along with them and meet the unit; he thinks you would be pleasantly surprised at the caliber of officers and their dedication. Bill Smith, Chairman of the Civil Service Commission, asked if the Chief could speak to the difference between a formal and an informal complaint if in fact there is a difference. Chief Eddington responded there is a significant difference. In Illinois there is the Officers' Bill of Rights, these are terms extracted from that statute. The quick version of this is if we feel there is a question of misconduct that wilt not result in more than a 3 day suspension we can handle it much more quickly by conversations and some written documentation at the end. If we feet that the risk of discipline exceeds 3 days, when we talk to the officer we have to serve himlher with a written notice of what we're going to talk about and also when we do have the interview the officer can be represented either by counsel or a Labor Attorney representative or both and we're required by law to have a transcript of that proceedings for them to review at a laterdate. Mr. Smith asked if he's correct in assuming once a complaint is designated as formal versus informal all the legal mechanisms start to kick into place, to which the Chief responded, yes. Mr. Smith said then when talking about all complaints being formal in the common vernacular there are legal ramifications of that. Madelyn Ducro, described an incident that occurred over the weekend that took place outside her home and unbeknown to her Involved her granddaughter and 2 young men in a car, Looking out her window she noticed the police pulled up behind this car and asked the young men for their license and pulled them out of the car. She went outside to see what was going on as she did not know at the time her granddaughter was also in the car. When Ms. Ducre came out of her house, she of course had her camera as she always has a camera ready in case she sees something happening, everything changed and the officers let the young people go. Ms. Ducre asked why the officers stopped them and was told they said something about the lights but it was broad daylight. Ms. Ducre asked if the officers told them their brake lights or side lights were out and was told he did not say anything like that. Ms. Ducre asked if the officer gave them a citation or something which they did not. She then told her granddaughter to call the young men and tell them to file a complaint. These young men were searched and the officer was going to search their car. Her granddaughter said is something the police always do that but what can they do about it. What hurt her most is she could feel the tension and anger from this young person and she herself felt helpless because she couldn't help them. The Chief is saying something about a complaint, put a box outside the Civic Center and make it as simple as possible for people to file their complaints. How can people get evidence to get something against officers which is what a civilian board can help do, wean out those people who aren't supposed to be there in the first place. We need the police cooperation and the committee to sit down, discuss and seriously look at this and don't tell her about not having any money. Northwestem can help; this town Is big on resources. We are losing many of our children but if we tum young people off they don't have any other recourse and she's not only talking about her grandchildren. Chief Eddington asked Ms. Ducre to see him after the meeting about the traffic stop. That's an issue he can address and look into and will be happy to do that. Let him check the data sheet to see if there is another version of these events that Ms. Ducre might find more acceptable. Ms. Ducre said she used to call her Alderman, but does not know what she can do. Bennett Johnson, remarked this is not a problem that can be dismissed by the police; it's the same issue of the fox Page 9. guarding the chickens. We're not advocating misconduct, or crime, or gang banging, on the contrary we can say categorically that if they work with the community the police will be more effective and more efficient. If you take the amount of money we the City paid out for judgments and so forth over the past 10 to 15 years and divide that into whatever number of judgments you have he'll bet you'll get more that $200,ODO a year for the next 10 to 15 years and that's enough for us to handle this thing. We need to cooperate, we're not here to tight this thing we want a community that's healthy but it's unhealthy for police to do these kinds of things that Ms. Ducre was talking about. It's unhealthy when the kids stand on the comer in front of this movie theater, they don't look cute but they're not doing anything wrong and there's another way to handle it. Have the community handle these issues that will make all the difference in the world and save everybody money. There are crimes that are real in this town and that's what the police can be doing rather than this harassment and kinds of things that cause the litigation and other problems that nobody needs. Judith Treadway said in the documentation Flint spend S173,000 on their civilian review board, they have 333 sworn officers and a population of 134,000. In Orange County they have a population of 749,000.1,134 swom officers and only spend $20,000 a year on their civilian review board. Berkley has 107,000 population and only 198 officers and spend $277,000 on their civilian review board. Ms. Treadway asked the Chief how many officers Evanston has and was told 162. She thought we need to look at the community needs to correct some extenuating problems related to the community and the Police Department no so much the cost. Those communities that don't have as many people spend three Umes as much as a small community. In her earlier statement she said we're hereto prevent something from happening, as the Chief said we are not in a crisis mode but we have to realize that we are looking at accountability of our Police Department as well as cooperation and support from our citizenry. If there's a perception that the police are above the law then that's a negative perception for the citizenry and no one is going to see the police as protectors but will see them as advisories. Going back to her other issue, if you do not live in this community but are policing this community how do you feel about the people you're policing. She thinks if she lived in the neighborhood she would value and be more protective of her immediate geographic area than just coming here and saying this is just a job and they go home to their nice safe community. There has to be a feeling on the part of the officer as well as the part of the citizen that is a IitUe bit uncomfortable which is a fact we also have to deal with. Looking at the whole situation we're going to have transparency and accountability goes with transparency. We are requesting some very specific things and 5 or 6 of their 13 points are very doable, attainable and cost effective if we were to do them. Initially it should be a confidential process when a person files a complaint regardless of whether it's a formal or informal complaint. People are intimidated when they go to the Police Department to file a complaint and there is subsequent intimidation or harassment after they do it. We have to get rid of the perception that the citizen cannot go and get a fair review of a complaint with our Police Department. She does not think itwill cost us $200,000 to do that as we can put in some mechanism in less than 6 months thatwould initially cost the City $10,000 or $15,000. This is an ongoing process, we don't want it tomorrow we want a thorough consideration of a civilian review board. There are some things that can be done that are very cost effective as we create the perception thatyou as our elected officials have oversight of our City department of police are working toward resolving some of this negative perception that people cannot get fair treatment when they make a complaint and also make it accessible as most people do not feel it is easily accessible for those serious people that file complaints. There are complaints we don't hear about because they've been dealt with on such a low level that never get to the recognition of youths. We need to take some baby steps with the mechanism to create some change and have more dialogue about how we can improve things and move toward that civilian review process that makes both the police officers and citizens feet more comfortable. We need to rekindle the kind of relationship where we are protecting each other in our community. You can't keep putting police in a certain area because you think that will make the crimes go away other things are needed to come and help that community. She does not want a police state we have enough police states in America as it is, she wants us to have a community state where we all work together to resolve problems and change things. We don't have to spend S200,000 to start. Alderman Jean -Baptiste thought it was great that this committee got together to help us get some additional thoughts to fashion something that could help us along with the Chief and he did not hear the Chief reject the proposal presented tonight. He did not have a chance to read through this proposal but does not see it as being inconsistent to what the Chief has proposed. There is always the concern of how far do you go in terms of parental compromising police authority. They are not taking the police authority to have the final say but want to be able to intervene in the process and make the process one that is perceived to be fair and more open. What he got out of this proposal is wanting some effort to outreach to the community as to what process we have, to speak to community groups, to maintain some degree of confidentiality, to give people greater access to complain to a process, to be able to express their complaints, to increase the sensitivity of police officers to the community's needs. The discussion touched on everything and if we were to just focus on this as there a number of things that are workable. He'd like more time to be able to digest this and come back, review the minutes and again look at the Chiefs proposal. He would even propose further discussion on this specific proposal, the conflict and tension between police and the community and what can be done to better serve the community, which Is an ongoing concern, He would like us to come back for a more focused discussion as to what are the distinctions you're making, how we can integrate some concems, and what is still outstanding. The hiring of an Individual as an executive director doesn't make the process fair because you will have somebody hired by the City of Evanston to do this. Your elected officials are not beholden to anybody because whatever Is being paid to us makes verylittle difference in our lives so no one can say we are beholding to any particular interest group. We may have particular tendencies from either our background or method and style, but you will not find a hired person to be more neutral or more vigilant on those Page 10. issues. Some people would think the status quo on the Council is fine; there are some people who don't think so. He does not think the hiring of an executive director will solve this. The way he sees that proposal is to try to find some kind of staffing to help maintain records and bring people together. He would like us to come back to this for further discussion. Alderman Holmes had a point of clarification regarding something Ms. Ester said about what we had to approve tonight and she hopes she was not confusing what we had to approve with what we are discussing now. Ms. Ester said that is what she understood you were approving something else. Alderman Holmes said we get all the complaints that have been filed to be approved. Alderman Holmes noted the Chief already made the complaint forms available in the community centers in the City as well as at the Police Department. It wouldn't take a lot of effort to have those complaints, as it was suggested, be dropped in the box outside the Civic Center. We could find out how that could be done as long it is put in an envelope and marked confidential so they could be forwarded to the Police Station. That's a very simple thing that does not require us spending a lot of time discussing. A large piece of the research she did, looking at everything since this began in April, is there is a lot of training involved which unfortunately costa lot of money. Its not just a matter of having a board, there are a lot of pieces in between as well, looking at what might be involved with state statutes and unions. etc., for the police officers. We need time to investigate and look into and discuss all of that. Alderman Moran said that was fine with him and he appreciates everyone being here and expressing their thoughts about this process and he would like to thank Chief Eddington and Commander Weidlin for attending and listening to these concems. It might help us if Ms. Treadway's memo Is looked at by the Chief and Commander with a little more deliberation to give us some commentaries on it. He thinks we can come up with a formula that can be satisfactory to people. Alderman Moran said he's been doing this type of thing for 16 years, in 1991 when he was first elected to the Council was put on a Police Review Committee which is now abolished. He has a lot of experience with this and will say, which Alderman Jean -Baptiste referred to, he brings no prejudice whatsoever to this work and has sat and listened and has no bias with or for anyone. He feels good about the work he as well as the people on this committee has done. All of the people have been very committed to fairness in the administration of justice in Evanston, which does not mean that we have always succeeded. Also, on the other hand when there have been aberrations we've been pretty decisive on how we dealt these things and thinks we've dealt well with them over the course of time. He's happy to come back and continue to give consideration to these matters which we will do. We appreciate your submission and your comments and will continue to work on that. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested some discussions of meetings! ndepende nUy between the Chief and the committee, if the committee is acceptable. The Human Service Committee members agreed this item should be brought back to the November 5°' Human Services Committee meeting. Vlll. DISCUSSION OF DOWNTOWN PANHANDLING Alderman Jean -Baptiste gave some background of why this item is on the agenda. This issue was raised at a meeting of the theater and restaurant people primarily by Sergeant Prieto and some others. He did know whether the Sergeant passed his specific concern on to the Chief and thought someone would be in attendance tonight to put forth whatever the Issues are. The Chief said he was representing the department on this issue. in their meeting at Wolfgang Pucks some issues that we are looking at is a rewrite of the ordinance based on some experience in some other jurisdictions that have managed panhandling in a different manner. We're in the process of getting some sample ordinances from Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Orlando, Florida, that we will be sharing with Mr. Terry when we attempt to look at a betterway to manage the issues. One of things that was interesting to compare and contrast at the meeting we had with the business people downtown was their perceptions that things were pretty much in order. On the other hand we get a growing number of complaints that have come to the department via emails, letters, and phone in complaints expressing dissatisfaction with the number and aggressiveness of panhandlers not only in the downtown area but along the spine of the el tracks as far north as downtown and all the way south to Howard. We've noticed an increase in those complaints which is one of the concerns we have. Additionally, we have a monthly meeting as a directive of panhandling. At the conclusion of our next meeting it is our intention to make a decision whether or not to put that meeting into hiatus until we can develop a proposed ordinance on the best solution and that will be forwarded on an all City department basis rather than just the Police Department wanting to do this. We need to have a combined solution brought to the Aldermen for implementation. Alderman Moran said he has a long history of dealing with panhandling and there will be a lot of discussion if you chose to bring it forward and amend the panhandling ordinance. He's saying that as a cautionary notion. Chief Eddington said Mr. Terry has done his level best to educate him on the background of this. Alderman Moran said there are about 4 file cabinets full of memos on anti panhandling in efforts to deal with that problem. Mr. Terry added he received the assignment from the City Manager to look at what is going on nationally and at our local experience. Last week Sergeant Prieto shared with him our last 12 months experience both with the panhandling ordinance and also the vagrancy ordinance because a lot of that behavior gets folded In. The ordinance we currently have was written by Kathy Brenniman 5 or 6 years ago based on what she felt was legally permissible at that time. We are reviewing whether there have been are any recent court decisions. There is no question that certain communities in the country have gone to other measures, having particular areas in your downtown area that are designated panhandling zones versus no panhandling zones. Just last Monday night the City Council of Orlando, Florida banned panhandling from dusk to dawn, he does not know whether or not that will be challenged legally. We wilt do a comprehensive review of what is going on nationally, what changes we Page 11. can make in our local ordinance and what are we seeing in terms of the actual data and experience here in the community. He hopes to have something by the November meeting for the committee to look at. Alderman Wollin, wanted to say the calls she is getting on this is on the increase. She has attended every downtown charrette meeting and at every meeting everyone wanted to know what we are going to do about the downtown panhandling as it has gotten worse. She has received calls from business owners who when they open their stores in the morning rind people asleep in their doorway who won't move, especially when it's a single woman's business she feels intimidated. Alderman Wollin has told the woman to call the police non emergency number but the woman often goes to another store to get someone to help her move that person. Saturday night she went to a movie and dinner, just from the theater to a restaurant and back to the car was approached 4 times- She had a luncheon at a downtown restaurant for some friends that she had been bragging to about how wonderful downtown Evanston is and across from the library there was a man sleeping on the sidewalk, not panhandling. She quickly got on her cell phone and asked to please send somebody to remove this person from the restaurant. This afternoon a woman who lives at 807 Davis called her and said she went to the library, to Whole Foods and back and was approached 7 times. This was in the middle of the day. Alderman Wollin said she has talked to a lot students about not giving motley to panhandlers because they are the most softhearted among us; even some of them have been intimidated. Yesterday we had a picnic at Fireman's Park for all the new Northwestern students moving into the neighborhood and a number of the students asked what should the do if somebody comes up and asks them for money. Alderman Wollin told them to say no and keep going. If we're going to spend all this money on sprucing up the downtown area and encouraging people to move and live downtown we have to realize many people are finding the downtown area a turn off seeing this kind of activity. There have been all kinds of suggestions. She does not agree with the idea of a permit fee because they don't have money or they wouldn't panhandle. We have to come up with some solutions that maybe we could live, perhaps a certain number per block, but does not know how it can be done. She has heard about no peddling zones or panhandling zones but does not know if that would work. She does not have the solution. For people who say it's not a problem, it is a problem and she gets at least 3 calls a week from both business owners and citizens. This is something that is happening in the downtown area and is something we have to grapple with. She understands the free speech issues as she is teaches civil liberties, but this doesn't happen other places as much, and would like to know what we can do to discourage it from happening in our town. Alderman Holmes said its happening west as well, particularly Green Bay and Foster by the carwash. Last Saturday she was approached going out of the library. Alderman Wollin noted as an ex President of the Library Board we've had problems moving homeless people out of the library, using the library bathrooms for sponge baths and sleeping in the library. This is something we've always dealt with but thinks we have to take a more aggressive stand In our downtown area if we want that area to be attractive to tourists and people coming in from other communities. Ms. Ducre, said she gives money. If it's someone who needs drugs she does not contribute to that but how does one distinguish that. The homeless people have to be out of the downtown shelter at 7:00 a.m. and when they get out of the shelter they walk around downtown. Alderman Wollin noted there are free meats somewhere every single day atone of the churches in Evanston. The Chamber of Commerce prints cards listing where the meals are each day of the week. If you want to give money that's a decision you can make. Ms. Ducre asked if these people have jobs, is the money given them going for something else other than drugs. Alderman Wollin noted there is a lot of mental illness and with the changes In the mental Illness laws in the State of Illinois a lot of people were deinstitutionalized who were not capable of taking their medication or caring for themselves. Some of the panhandlers/vagrants are in that category. It's very difficult to make those kinds of decisions. Ms. Ducre asked if we should call the police, to which Alderman Wollin said the reason she called the police is because the man was sleeping In front of the restaurant where her guests were coming but she does not usually call the police she just says no thank you and keeps walking. Alderman Moran remarked we spent decades working on this network and Mr. Terry has done a lot of work on these cooperative efforts from a number of different groups. This is a very complex problem, with no easy answers to it, but we'll keep working on it. Joan Hickman, wanted to give her experience of working with the homeless in Cook County Hospital's Emergency Room as a Crisis Intervention Social Worker. The homeless were always referred to her and then referred to shelters which a lot of them did like and would not go to. Chicago has a place for them to go and socialize and get some counseling when they leave the overnight which she does not think Evanston has and is not saying this is something that we should necessarily set up in Evanston. It has been her experience with panhandling that in most instances the people doing the panhandling do not need the money to the degree that they are panhandling. Many of them gel checks and are not paying rent because they're staying In shelters, they have places to eat and get clothing su any money given them would be a surplus. Those not on drugs want the money for cigarettes and alcohol. Her personal choice is she does not give anybody anything because she had patients come into her office insisting they needed carfare to go home who drove thereIn a car. She has seen some with wads of money buying huge meals at restaurants. Her feeling is we should do as much as we can to discourage panhandling because one of the reasons It's on an increase Is due to people giving them money and the word gets out coming to Evanston to get money. Page 12, IV. ADJOURNMENT Alderman Moran thanked everyone for their attendance and participation tonight's discussions. The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 9:42 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trotsky, Department of Health and Human Services Page 13. -.wry+'IIM+w�.w ws.. ��.�'+.yx�'�'r'...r --'Y...�� �� .►•�wfti+..ww��r.Rw.�. �.�.�.r.+r..• v�'r/� T�.+Trw'..r.n.�..•�.r...U.M+•�v .�wa�.^- ::. SPZAKERSGN INSHE `_ HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Name: `r U Ct- �C� �o ✓1� aDWAl nctay - beptemDer i -i , ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Address/Organization: 114 q LA, JJ� �VI vL Topic Speaking On: q T' GUEST SIGN IN SHEET, -.- HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday eptem er 171,07 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Name: Address/Organization: N1v1 if* YO-73= t? --FOCI S� r (t, gr,10G-"N r Aw�vwewk A To: Human Services Committee, City of Evanston Date: Monday, September 17, 2007 } From: Residents, Madelyn Ducre, Betty Sue Ester, Peter Gibbs, Loretha Henry, Bennett Johnson and Judith Treadway '' 3 RE: Citizens Review of Police Complaints ; The following proposal is the result of ongoing consideration of residents of the City of Evanston based on recommendations at Human Services Committee meeting June 14,' 2007 and data presented to the Hunan Services Committee by the Chief of Police regarding the process by which the Office of Professional Standards has reviewed complaints from citizens related to inappropriate police conduct or behavior. Proposal: The City shall restructure the citizens review process as it currently.stands and establishment a Citizen Police Advisory Committee (CPAC) to review complaints against police officers: } S 1. The Citizen Police Advisory Committee (CPAC) shall be an independent citizen police advisory committee of the City of Evanston. The CPAC shall be ; made up of residents only. It shall consist of nine (9) members appointed under; the current process of appointing civilians to boards, committees and ! commissions for a six -year period. Committee members should not be, nor have members of their family, employees of the Evanston Police Department or city staff. In addition to a conflict of interest guideline, an ethics policy shall also be developed. f F ' 2. The City Council shall enact an enabling ordinance to change the current citizen `F review, establish the CPAC, and authorize a budget for one full-time position of-' an executive director and operating expenses. The CPAC and the executive director shall have the authority to audit and review citizen complaints and internal investigations. 3. The City Council shall also enact an enabling ordinance that establishes the executive director's Authority and functions. The CPAC shall interview and select the executive director, who will serve a term of four (4) years, subject to confirmation by the City Council. The executive director reports to the CPAC. The executive director shall provide oversight of police department accountability and risk management functions, and play a key role in the policy and outreach functions of the CPAC. Removal of the executive director during the four-year term should be only for cause, as determined by the City Council, and should require a vote of six (6) council members. I • , 4. The executive director would assist the CPAC in its review of citizens' complaint investigations, internal investigations from Office of Professional Standards (OPS). The OPS shall send the recommendation, in each case, to the CPAC before it goes to the Chief of Police. The CPAC then writes its report and recommendation, which is then forwarded to the Chief of Police. S. All complaints shall be documented and thoroughly investigated. Only one complaint form shall be developed. The protocol must be disseminated throughout the community so that the citizens will know what the protocol/procedures are for filing a complaint against a police officer (s) or the department. 6. The intake process for complaints shall be established 10 provide confidentiality regarding the filing of a complaint. All complaints shall be filed in a sealed envelope and submitted in person, or by mail to the CPAC office, OPS office, or a designate. Complaint forms shall be available with envelopes at the civic center, police department and community centers. 7. The new executive director, in conjunction with the CPAC members, shall develop an internal training program for new members that includes instruction on the policies and practices of the CPAC, the police department, and provide understanding of the role and importance of police oversight. 8. The Police Department must notify the CPAC and its executive director of all complaints that it receives verbally or in writing from citizens and internal investigations. 9. As part of their initial training, CPAC members should also meet with representative community groups. If a neighborhood does not have a representative community group, a survey of the neighborhood will be conducted to generate nominations for representatives. 10. The CPAC, in consultation with the executive director, shall develop and disseminate the complaint procedures and a tracking system that will document CPAC actions. The CPAC shall review the Office of Professional Standards (OPS) complaint investigations when a complainant is not satisfied with the disposition of their complaint. A complainant has a right to appeal the final decision of the Chief of Police through the CPAC. It. The CPAC and the OPS shall establish a protocol regarding responding to complainants while their complaints are being investigated. 04 -Lr,� -.��.. t - .. . _ � : I .. - - .. ._ pt•^,y. ,!';^ .r�yr r,-� s.• .f.. .,r„_�. .. ,yil ttl". �.X °lar F+ 12, The CPAC and the police department shall develop a mediation process for certain types of less serious citizen' complaints. In addition, The CPAC shall consult with the Chief of Police on professional development for police officers and educational outreach for citizens. 13. The CPAC will re -review all cases of misconduct or wrongdoing to determine if future training is needed for police officers to correct the misconduct or wrongdoing. These types of misconduct or wrongdoing must be spelled out for the public, so that the citizens will know when an officer's behavior is not appropriate. :. ". j _ ,.Ai� I M e MEMBERS PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: PRESIDING: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, October 1,. 2007 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. Aldermen Bernstein, Holmes, Jean -Baptiste, Moran, and Tisdahl Judy Aiello, Rolanda Russell, Raphael Molinary, Doug Gaynor, Bob Domeker, Allsa Dean, Beth Howlett, Jay Tent', Audrey Trotsky Pat Vance, Rosemary Jean -Paul, Evanston Township; Sharon Eckersall, Irwin Lyons, (Miller Cooper) (See attached list of Attendees) Alderman Moran 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Moran called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. It. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE SEPTEMBER 17, 2007, MEETING The minutes of the SeWomber 17. 2007 meeting were called and unanimouslv approved f5-01, Ill. CONSIDERATION OF THE SEPTEMBER 2007 TOWNSHIP BILLS Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved aooroval. seconded by Alderman Tisdahl. Alderman Bernstein inquired regarding the deal made with Mr. Hoover. He understands one bill was discounted but there now appears to be another S1,000 bill and moved to hold payment of this bill. Ms. Vance noted the bill in question was last month's bill and has been approved and paid. The Aldermen questioned the breakdown of the items for payment on the R. S. Hoover billing. Alderman Moran inquired about the status of this billing and wondered if anyone has talked to Mr. Hoover regarding this. Ms. Eckersall said she spoke with Mr. Hoover last Friday who told her he finally got a clerk that knew something about this case and there won't be an oral hearing as the briefs are very explicit and a rule will be made shortly. Alderman Moran questioned the 5 calls made about the status of the appeal billed at $200.00 an hour which Ms. Eckersall is saying that money was simply spent to find out there won't bean oral argument. Ms. Eckersall added that occurred over several conversations. Alderman Moran said Ms. Eckersall should tell Mr. Hoover to (ether know when finds out whether there is going to be an oral argument. Ms. Eckersall said all those calls were made in attempt to reach Mr. Hoover, to which Alderman Moran noted we are paying for all those caps. Alderman Bernstein questioned the different initials on the billing statement and also the call made regarding a Freedom of Information Request to the Evanston Newspaper. Ms. Eckersall could not recall that and assumed they wanted some information. Ms. Vance noted it was an Evanston Round Table FOIA request in regards to bills and amounts having been paid to Mr. Hoover. Alderman Jean -Baptiste did not recall this bill in the last Township bills packet. Mr. Teny said a detailed bill wasn't in the monthly listing there was just the $880.31 amount. Alderman Jean -Baptiste requested that any future bills have a note addressed to the committee's attention to avoid future confusion with these bills. He was under the impression all bills were to go through our Legal Department to be sanctioned before giving our approval. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to reiterate he would consider the number of calls made regarding the status of the appeal as being abuse. When Mr. Hoover told you he was finally able to get a clerk that is difficult to understand because anyone wanting to know what is going on in the appeals department can just walk over there where they will find about 12 clerks. We have to make sure any bills submitted to this committee have a cover memo requesting payment, the review, and then approval. Alderman Bernstein was going to talk to Mr. Hill about this because we were told we were going to pay Mr. Hoover a discounted amount, which was over some of our extraneous objections, and unless Mr. Hoover had to do more arguments, he was done. This is another $1.000 bill after the fact, which he thinks is wrong. Alderman Holmes noted Mr. Hoover was paid $30.000 the amount settled on after the discount. Alderman Bernstein added we've paid this man far more than he's worth. Alderman Holmes questioned Ms. Eckersall's item for Travel and Education from 9124 to 10124, to which Ms. Eckersall responded that was for classes she took for the Assessor's office that lasted an entire week. She did not stay there which was a savings. but for the 5 days had lunch and travel expenses. The other charges were for a Township Officials of Cook County meeting with Ms. Vance, Ms. Jean -Paul and Carlton, and another Cook County Assessors' Board meeting. Alderman Holmes said her question was If the travel connected to the education. Ms. Eckersall said the classes were held in Naperville. Page 1. Alderman Bernstein asked who is now running the Assessor's office and for how many hours a week, to which Ms. Eckersall responded Daniel, is there and is now full time from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Alderman Bernstein asked If he now knows what he's doing, to which Ms., Eckersall said he has abetter feeling for it and is doing a good job, She took Daniel to the Cook County Assessors' meeting where he found out he should be able to take a basic course next spring. Alderman Bernstein remarked you have somebody who does not knowwhat they're doing running your office for40 hours a week. Ms. Eckersall said no one can replace someone who has been with Cook County for 34 years as Diane Benjamin was. He does a good job for the amount of money he's making and the amount of time he's been in the office. Alderman Bernstein said he heard a rumor that Ms. Eckersall is now charging Ms. Benjamin with theft, to which Ms. Eckersall responded. no, she filed a Police report for some things taken out of the office that they had paid for. Ms. Eckersall said she would rather not discuss that here and could discuss it elsewhere. The information is on a Police report, to which Alderman Bernstein asked when that was filed. Ms. Eckersall responded, about two months ago she filed the report on Ms. Purze's advice. Alderman Jean -Baptiste stated when something like this occurs we should get a report right away as this is something we should know about. Alderman Moran recalled the motion that was moved and seconded for approval of the Sentember 2007 TownshlD bills. Motion unanimoustv accepted (5-01. 1V. CONSIDERATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF THE ANNUAL AUDIT OF EVANSTON TOWNSHIP FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDED MARCH 31, 2007 Mr. Lyons, of Miller Cooper & Co., Ltd. was called upon to give a review of the Township audit. Mr. Lyons noted the audit contains four (4) documents, the audit report and letters. The audit report is a prescribed format that has nothing but unqualified opinions which is the highest level of assurance that we can give on the statements. It has the required disclosures and information. There is more detailed information in the back of the report, the front is more summarized. The Township has two (2) funds that are combined together and the information an how they did was based on the modified accrual, which is your budgetary base is on page 11 of the audit. Both funds had an excess of revenue over expenditures. For a number of years there were comments that the fund balances were going down and the Township had to borrow money. This turned around, the fund balances were level because the Township is under tax caps and does not have the flexibility needed to increase and would be limited by what the tax caps are. It has been at the CPI fora number of years because that has been below the 5%. Another letter called the Management Discussion and Analysis letter is part of the new reporting model that has been in effect for a couple of years. If you want a summary pointing out a comparative between the years the easiest place to look is on pages 3 through 7. Mr. Lyons proceeded to explain the letters. The first letter starts out, 'This letter Is intended to inform the Township Trustees of significant matters...." this is a required disclosure to the Board and part of the standards thatwe're hired by the Board to do but we also work with the staff. Attached to this are our responsibilities for the audit that were some estimates in the statement where there were a couple of audit adjustments. There was one uncorrected misstatement, that is a small dollar amount, $8,800 that came up and wasn't adjusted but was let flow through the statements so It would clear itself out. That $8,800 amount is not material to the audit. When we do an audit we're looking at materiality something different than the statements, if that amount wasn't there somebody may make a different decision on the statements. The 58.800 amount is small enough that it wouldn't make a difference in what the statements fairly present. The five (5) audit adjustments made were in the statements and this one small amount that came up through the audit process which we didn't adjust for it was left there because the amount was so small. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if that was due to a mistake in accounting, and was informed it was due to a payroll calculation and because payroll Is normally paid on a regular basis they decided not to adjust it. It then goes through the statements or is included in another report thatwe need to be aware of. We didn't have any disagreements with management nor were there any difficulties in performing the audit. The last part of the letter is about the number of new audit standards that take effect for next year and how that will change the approach of the audit and all audits that will be done for March 2008. Two new standards took effect this year is mentioned In one of the other letters. These standards will have a major affect on changing the focus of the audits, with much more evaluation of assessment of risk. Also, the audit process is changing standards that have to be followed, they have to assess the risk and after doing the work and if you find some differences in your testing you have to go back and reassess, which could change what audit worts needs to be done. It's going back to the pendulum on audits from 25 years ago when you did a lot of testing and controls and then started going more towards risk based audits. In a smaller organization we don't need to test controls to understand how the entity works we would assess the risk at maximum and do other testing. Now you can't just assess you have to go through the entire process and still may come up with assessing it at that maximum, but you can't make that intuitive call up front you have to go through the process. While doing the testing you may have to go back and change it if you rind errors, where in the past if we found errors they were put in the manager's letter. You now have the manager letter, plus you have to go back and expand your test. There will also be a major change in the amount of time it takes to do the audit. That was the key part in the letter to the Board. The next letter starts out with planning and performing and under significant control deficiencies there Is the new terminology. Before there were material weaknesses in the management letters'which you now don't have, you now have control deficiencies and significant deficiencies and material weakness and controls. They have tightened up the standards of what has to be reported. The first item from the standards requires as an auditor the clients are supposed to Page 2. be drafting the financial statements, in most cases in Illinois government smaller entities are usually part of the audit engagement which includes accounting services for the firm to help draft the statements and we then have to make an evaluation. This year because of the way the Township and the staffing is set up, there isn't a finance director or CPA, the Township was not in a position to draft their own statements and we are drafting those statements. When we'd find a control deficiency in a client we used to be able to make a recommendation and because of the size of the organization if it was related to segregation of duties they may not have been able to address it. If the Board would sign off on it we would drop the point as we met our professional responsibilities by telling the Board about it and we'd agree that you wouldn't go out and hire another half Ume person just to get rid of the control deficiency. Now we cannot drop those points if they're there we have to keep repealing them which does not make a lot of sense. The public company standards are being set up to apply to the non public company. You will end up being a smaller entry with types of internal control things that a large public company would never have because they have hundreds of people in the accounting department and will not have a segregation of duties issue. They would address any significant control deficiency that was found at that level. Because of our letters, where there are concerns our resources will be put into addressing control issues rather than program issues in order to get rid of them, otherwise they won't go away. That will trickle out over the next few years because this is the first year of this. Ms. Vance said she and her staff have attended some basic workshops dealing with some of the changes and are meeting with their accountant who already knows they will probably have to start doing the financial statements. They are looking at these new auditing procedures and controls and will make a determination if they need additional resources in order to do that. Alderman Bernstein had a concern with respect to an auditor auditing his/her own work. He's not casting any aspersions on Mr. Lyons but the audit is supposed to be independent and overseen and you've had to help create the numbers you're now auditing. Mr. Lyons said they're not creaUng the numbers they're helping draft the financial statements that the staff reviews and signs off on. We're providing technical expertise because you don't have people that know what all the footnotes and disclosures are. We audit the numbers and put them in the format of the statements and some of the disclosures which are reviewed and accepted by staff before that's Issued. Alderman Bernstein thought Mr. Kent had been providing us with financial statements for many years. Mr. Lyons said this new terminology relates to the new standards that took effect this year. There are eight (8) other standards that change the way the audit aught to be done that take effect next year. Alderman Bernstein said we are now faced with the probability that we're not going to generate any money from Cook County for an extended period of time beyond the Ume we usually get our money in for the levy. Ms. Vance said their current fund balance could probably go to the end of this year. Alderman Bernstein noted we have been told Mr. Lyons' firm has a four (4) year contract and staff wants us to talk to somebody else to do this audit. He asked if we would owe money for the fourth year if we didn't use Mr. Lyons' firm for the fourth year, to which Mr. Lyons responded, no. Mr. Lyons went on to explain the third letter is a separate letterwe as a firm decided to have because of the severity of the significant deficiency. This letter and the letter that says observations and recommendations will help clean up and upgrade the accounting that wasn't at the level of control deficiencies or significant deficiencies. Depending on how they're affected and what happens In the following year they could end up being controlled, orwith significant deficiencies In the future, if there were problems from them. At this point we've determined that they're really recommendations to help with housekeeping type issues and tighten up the processing and financial information. Alderman Moran called for a motion to accent the Annual Audit of Evanston Township for the fiscal vear ended March 31. 2007. Alderman Tisdahl moved approval. seconded by Alderman JoamBaotiste. Motion unanimously approved f5-811_ Ms. Vance pointed out one of the things you try to have is at least 3 months of some fund balance in case you have an emergency and right now we have managed to do that. There's not a lot of money but there is 3 months of operating expenses in case of an emergency. Alderman Holmes moved the item of consideration of a reference and recommendation that the Township engage the firm of Virchow Krause to conduct the FY09 Township Audit cannot be discussed because that meeting has not yet taken place. Mr. Terry said the direction of his understanding was that we come back to this committee after that meeting, Alderman Bernstein thought this wasn't necessarily an audit of the Township but rather an audit of the Township Assessor's office relaUve to the worts product. Alderman Moran said that was a separate issue. Mr. Tent' added this reference was made at a City Council meeting and is noted In the May 29, 2007 City Council minutes, this item will be brought back to another Human Services Committee meeting. Alderman Holmes informed Ms. Vance the Rotary membership memo came up in the AP&W committee discussion and the committee had no problem with the Rotary membership if it was a government membership. Page 3. V. FURTHER CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 440-07 AMENDING THE LANDLORD TENANT ORDINANCE Ms. Russell noted the only difference in this revised ordinance is in Section 4, on page 2. Alderman Bernstein questioned the language under Rental Agreement, on page 1, as it did not make sense. -'Written Agreements (required) only and valid rules and regulations adopted ...... Mr. Molinary said the committee wanted everything in writing and suggested we put in the definitions section; this is our attempt to do so. We made sure it was clear to anyone who read this that a rental agreement by definition is a written agreement which was the main thrust of what was discussed. There were valid rules and regulations adopted by this Chapter that could be imputed into that agreement to be considered part of the written agreement. He understands the concern about "required" and 'only", one of them could easily be stricken out. Alderman Moran suggested saying, 'Required written agreements "and taking out the word `only" Ms. Russell's suggestion was to say, 'RENTAL AGREEMENT., A written agreement and valid rules—" The committee was in agreement with those changes. Alderman Holmes called attention to Section 4, "to read as follows", there should be a colon after the word follows and then continue on to sections A), B), C). Alderman Bernstein asked about the printing of the Evanston ordinance and leases. Mr. Molinary said it was agreed that the font would be increased to a legible size. Alderman Bernstein was also concerned when changing the ordinance the model lease form is supposed to include the entire ordinance and rather than changing it every time, which becomes costly and cumbersome, asked if we are going to replicate the model we're using now or are we going to go through that charade of changing it when it changes. Ms. Russell said we're going to continue using the model lease, however, when you look at the size of this ordinance there is no way we're going to be able to capture the entire ordinance on the lease. The model lease will have a larger font and capture some of the important ordinance highlights, but the landlord will get a copy of the entire ordinance. Alderman Bernstein asked what the cost to print the model lease is and how much we charge for the lease to which Mr. Molinary responded, we charge 40 cents. Alderman Bernstein said it's always a question of whether or a not a copy of the LandlordlTenant Ordinance was given to the tenant. For the people who use the Evanston form there's never a question if they received a copy of the ordinance its part of the lease. We are now going away from that and he questions why we need the model lease if we're allowing people to use the old form with this lease. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted that lease is generally known by people and they have come to have certain expectations. Alderman Bernstein was addressing the cost and practicality, there used to be a valid reason for us to prepare a model lease form. We told people it was better and easier for a landlord to use the lease so everyone was on the same page. We are now saying if you use the model lease form, don't depend on it because it may be modified like the old form was modified by whatever happens to be the current statute. We originally created this model lease form to preclude the possibility of the likelihood of people walking in and saying they didn't get it a copy of it. The rational for the model lease form was we wanted people to be sure they got a copy of our ordinance. Ms. Russell said this model lease has excerpts from the ordinance and if the excerpts happen not to be something that the tenant has an issue with they are still at a disadvantage. This is just a representation of what's in the ordinance, our original thought was not to have this any more but just make sure every tenant got a copy of this to know all of their rights and the landlord could give them whatever lease he wants them to have. Now that we're going to keep the lease we can still have excerpts from this ordinance on the lease butwill still say to landlord, whether you use this or your own form give each tenant a copy of the full ordinance. Alderman Bernstein added, Ms. Russell is saying that every tenant is going to get a copy of the ordinance but it's not coming from us, its coming from the landlord. How do we now solve the problem of landlords not giving all tenants copies of the ordinance? The reason we created this lease was so the tenants would be informed even to the extent that most of the material portions of this ordinance are contained in the lease, If they change then the model lease doesn't comply with It. He would still like to know the cost to print the leases. Alderman Jean -Baptiste wanted to separate the two issues; the old model tease did not include the entire ordinance. Alderman Bemstein understanding was it did, Alderman Jean -Baptiste said the situation would be the same today beyond this ordinance; we should make sure people get the ordinance or update people as to the new modifications of the issues. The cost is another thing. Alderman Bernstein asked if in addition to our ordinance where we mandate a landlord, in the written portion of lease, have people initial that they received a copy of the ordinance. No matter what form is used there has to be this acknowledgement that the tenant has been given a copy of the ordinance, which takes care of problems we have had. We should conceive of some language for that. Ms. Russell said in terms of cost they just had another batch printed which was slightly less than S300 for 1000 copies and they are printed every 3 years or so. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested charging S1.00 for a copy of the lease; we now just about give the lease away. Alderman Bernstein was not interested in making money but just paying for the cost of the printing. Alderman Moran called for the committee to vote on the motion to anorove consideration of the Landlord Tenant Ordinance 44-0-07 as amended to clarifv the definition "Rental Agreement: A written agreement and valid rules,..". and add a semi colon In Section 4: "to read as follows:. Motion unanimously auaroved 15-0). Page 4. ^fi Alderman Bernstein made a reference to this committee to further amend the Landlord Tenant Ordinance to include some mandatory language with respect to tendering and receiving a copy of the ordinance. Alderman Jane -Baptiste asked if we needed to Include that the leases be sold at $1.00 as opposed to .40 cents. Ms. Russell said they will make sure they recoup their cost. VI. REPORT ON 2007 UTILIZATION OF FREE BEACH TOKENS Mr. Terry noted our annual report to the committee on how the free beach program has worked was included in tonight's packet. The program has been in place for 2 years. Last year the program started with 700 tokens, in 2007 the number of tokens was increased to 840 tokens distributed, of which 753 were utilized based upon the reports we received from the agencies. As indicated in his memo this summer there were some operational questions raised related to publicity and access, also the policy question in terms of whether this program is to be capped at a certain point. We are recommending that the base line for 2008 be 1,000 tokens because the Recreation Department's 50% policy could be used for free tokens and would bring us up to about 1,000 tokens. We have received requests from some of the agencies for more tokens in 2008 and also requests that this be a wider ranged program. As indicated in his memo one of the operational questions that has policy implications is the question of when the program was set up we said the agencies best know their clients and it was never intended to be for someone to come in off the street and get a token. That creates the perception that it's a closed program, a perception we never wanted to create. In 2008 the publicity sales and free token availability will be synchronized and coordinated to happen on the same day. The participating agencies understand that a low income family that meets the income criteria can come in even if they're not necessarily known to them. The publicity in the community will let people know what agencies they can go to take advantage of the free token program, which we are suggesting as a change in the program for 2008. Alderman Moran asked if people will be able to come directly to the City as opposed to going to an agency, to which Mr. Tent' responded, yes, because the Recreation Department will also be a location where one can receive tokens. Alderman Moran added that will also address the question of whether or not the program is open; you don't have to be an agency client or familiar to the agency to get a free token. Alderman Tisdahl noted you can come to the City and get a token through the Latino Outreach, to which Mr. Terry added you can also go to the Police Youth Outreach Services. Rachel Heuman, said she and her husband John came to this meeting and wish to address this committee on behalf of many people within our community who would like to see the beaches become more accessible to everyone in the community. Ms. Heuman proceeded to read her comments to the committee (SeeAtfachment "A'9. Ms. Heuman asked if Mr. Terry suggested 50% tokens should go to free tokens and wondered if that Is losing money for the City that we might be able to maintain. Mr. Terry responded the staff recommendation is based on the experience of the last 2 years, this 50% Is only 100 tokens which Mr. Gaynor can speak to better than he can. We're acknowledging the fact that it is an income loss but in the interest of consistency with the free token program the Recreation Department uses the same standards. Ms. Heuman also asked Mr. Terry if people could walk into the agencies and receive a free token, to which Mr. Terry responded we are recommending that be one of the requirements of the participating agencies. Ms. Heuman said they strongly endorse that move because people who are not affiliated with the agencies tend to fall through the cracks q and there are quite a number of those. She would like to re-emphasize the program not be limited by the constraints of, "first come, first served." In the past few years the tokens ran out almost immediately, she noticed in the report just a couple of agencies didn't use all their tokens and one that did not use all tokens was smart to turn them over to somebody else. There were still many people who did not receive tokens for use this year. We are not unaware that there are cost concerns but we're here to serve the people of the community and these are taxpaying residents. It doesn't ring true that a person should be denied access to the beach based on economic limitations. There's enough hardship in someone's life without having to suffer in another way. We are urging an uncapped program; we don't know what that will cost. She went to the beach quite a bit this summer and thinks the beaches have always been underused even with the program. Granted the program wasn't advertised it was by word of mouth that people found out about it. Ms. Heuman received two brief emalls which she read. One was from Karen Allen of Metropolitan Family Services. Ms. Allen wrote, "Our Metropolitan Family Services staff report, report the families who received the beach tokens were very appreciative since it allowed even some large low income families to Tit in by getting their children out of the house and active at a place that their friends were also going to. in response to the memo it would be very difficult for most of our families to afford 50% of the standard price for tokens. If free tokens were readily available through the Parks Department rather than through social service agencies that would work for many of the families. The agencies could distribute flyers to our clients where to apply for tokens. Another email was from Mimi Broder, President of Evanston's Women's Club, who wrote as a member of the community I have long been concerned about the lack of access to free recreational opportunities for our youth. The fact that the beach use is fee based locks many kids further out of our parks system. The current system of providing some tokens to not -for -profit organizations takes too much time and debate to make it happen. Now we need to take the next step letting people know that the tokens are available, where they might found, and making sure that there is an adequate supply available to meet the needs of the community. i have long thought that Districts 651202 social workers should have the token to give the children and their families who fall under the state school subsidized lunch program. ff Page 5. Betsy Clark said her family moved to Evanston about a dozen years ago from Chicago and the first thing that struck her was the limited access to the beach. She was stunned at this public property. The other thing she'd like to mention is her work is in Juvenile Justice and one of the biggest problems for youths in our state is the lack of summer activities, it leads to all kinds of problems. One of the contributing factors to youths ending up in the justice system is the lack of programming. Ms. Broder works on that through the TED Fund setting up kids with programs through the school social workers. She's like to echo Ms. Broder's urging you to utilize District 65 to make sure the children have access. She'd like to go one point further and say right across the lake is the community of Holland, Michigan lakefront where residents that feel their children need to know how to swim. She thinks it's critical that our children have access to the lake but also thinks it's critical as a community that we insure that all of our children can swim. She urges this body to think about utilizing the Y's that do exist to set up some sort of free swimming lessons for our youth in the community as well as access to the beach that's for safety as well. An uncapped program is what she would urge you to have. Thank you for Indulging me. Alderman Tisdahl remarked one of the reasons this program has worked so well is we do not have tons of paperwork and families can come to agencies and not have so many forms to GII out which tends to make people shy away from doing the whole thing. She would not support any program that required agencies to have all kinds of documentation that we concoct because the beauty of the program is not having to till out a lot of intimidating forms. They can get the tokens because the agencies know who they are. If you want to have a lot of forms filled out here, that's fine, but it is helpful to a lot of families not to have to prove whatever it is you want them to prove. Alderman Moran asked if this means the agencies know whether or not a family's income qualifies them because they can confirm with existing documentation and the families are not required to fill out any other forms. Alderman Holmes said they have already done that by being enrolled in their programs, which is the beauty of this program and why we decided the way to go was with the agencies. She thought It would be wonderful to get the social workers involved particularly at the elementary and middle school level. However, school is out the beginning of June and she does not know how effective that would be. it could be tried this year to see how many we could accommodate but she would imagine those same families would be using one of the agencies listed or some of the other agencies requesting tokens this year. She thinks we could cover that without them but she is not opposed to trying. Mr. Gaynor said the beaches open the first weekend after school is out. After evaluating this issue they will be making a recommendation to Council to change that date to open up on Memorial Day. Chicago opens up Memorial Day; there have also been discussions about opening earlier in other communities. Alderman Moran asked Mr. Gaynor if he has a staffing Issue both in the front and back end of the beach season. Mr. Gaynor's response was that is correct, our managers indicated we probably could open 2 possibly 3 beaches on Memorial Day with some of staff coming back from college early. Then moving towards the middle of June when we normally open the beaches we'll have a full staff. We haven't confirmed that yet, it's soil in the works. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked how much revenue the first year of the program cost, compared to this year. Mr. Gaynor the program has been established for residents only and the cost would be $22.00, the pre season token sale cost. .Alderman Tisdahl commented we're not losing the money because these are people who would not have the money to buy the tokens. Mr. Gaynor said the cost of 800 tokens would be almost $18.000 based on the $22.00 cost. The cost is $22.00 for the pre season token and S30.00 once the beaches open until August i". The last day for the pre season token cost would be June 14Q1, on the 15"0 it goes to $30.00. Alderman Holmes asked if there were clients included in the sale of beach tokens last year. Mr. Gaynor said it is difficult for us to respond accurately because sales depend on the weather. Last year on June 213' it was raining and cold, this year it could have been hot and the beaches had a lot more people one day and not the next. This year was a very good year in sales. Alderman Bernstein noted the report states we allocated 840 tokens; more than 10% weren't used because they sat at agencies that didn't have a need for them. We gave away 95 tokens for Health and Human Services Outreach. Was there anyone who requested a token not able to receive one? Mr. Terry responded almost all requests in our department were met; there might have been 1 or 2 that were not met. Unfortunately the Salvation Army had a problem and did not distribute any tokens which explains the large unused number; everybody else's unused percentage was quite small. Alderman Bernstein said if we're going to open the beaches to people of low and moderate income all Evanston residents who income qualify should be entitled to use the beaches. Mr. Terry mentioned increasing the number of tokens to 1,000. which would add 160 to the number of tokens from last year. The 160 tokens plus the 87 tokens not given away Is an additiona1250 tokens. if we weren't inundated with people requesting tokens that we no longer had to giveaway we could probably do that. Alderman Bernstein asked Don Baker of Y.O.U., seated in the audience, about his being able to give out 137 out of 150 token and wondered if the 13 were left because nobody asked for them. Mr. Baker said that was because some of the site coordinators with scarce resources were not adequately aggressive in giving them out. We had more people who qualified financially that we would have liked to give tokens to but didn't feel we had enough tokens to do Page 6. that. Therefore we felt we had to be somewhat careful in our distribution. in fact we had a couple site coordinators who were too careU. Alderman Bernstein did not know how many people are out there who would like to have tokens, although those people could have come tc the City. Alderman Tisdahl said they couldn't have come to the City because they wouldn't have known to come unless they were part of the Latino community. Alderman Moran noted one of things we're talking about here is an expanded amount of publicity which may lead to a greater drawn down on the number of requests. He recognizes you're questioning whether 1,000 is required, but if the program expands along the lines we're talking about it seems 1.000 tokens would be a reasonable number. Alderman Bernstein thought if we're assuming people who can't afford them wouldn't buy them anyway, we're not losing any money. Are there kids who scrape money together with bottles/cans and come in and pay for a token. to which Alderman Jean - Baptiste remarked we don't have that in this generation that was a couple of generations ago. Alderman Tisdahl asked If the people given the tokens had previously bought them. Mr. Baker responded, no, we gave tokens to people who never before had tokens. Alderman Holmes added they never before were at the beach. Alderman Tisdahl thought that was typical of the agency's experience. Alderman Bernstein remarked as long as we don't quadruple the number of beach goers putting an additional burden on our lifeguards requiring additional lifeguards, there's no downside. Mr. Baker said his agency sees about 500 kids a year which varies a little, but something between 70 and 80% of them are on some assistance and lunch programs, that would be 350 kids. They do not all want a beach token nor is there any way we could give 350 tokens away. There is this substantial number of kids who have never had a token and would like to have one. He's sure those numbers are very similar at Family Focus. Alderman Moran asked Mr. Baker if he has any Idea how many of the 137 people that received tokens used the beach. Mr. Baker said they did not research it but heard from a lot of kids of how much fun it was to go to the beach. Mr. Terry also noted that Mr. Baker is also the Chair of the Steering Committee of the Child and Adolescent LAN which are the local agencies serving youth. At their last meeting they expressed concern about expansion of the program, and Mr. Baker is also here tonight representing them. Alderman Moran asked for the committee's decision on the number of tokens to be given away next year. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested increasing the number of tokens to 1,000 to which Alderman Moran added along those lines people could come to the City for tokens whether its to Latino Outreach or some other place, to which Alderman Jean - Baptiste interjected we don't have a Latino Outreach office we have an office that deals with all ethnic groups in the community and he's hoping that office is not just giving the tokens to Latino folks because he needs to know that others are also receiving the tokens. Mr. Terry assured Alderman Jean -Baptiste that Is not the case. Alderman Bernstein asked Mr. Gaynor if he has a sense of why we limit tokens to people who can't afford tokens at all, we're talking about the difference between limiting to any number and giving away tokens to those kids who can't afford to buy tokens who ordinarily wouldn't be buying them anyway. Mr. Gaynor said he did not have sense of that, we don't have a count of how many folks use or do not use the tokens that would be an entirely different program to establish. The tokens at pre season are $11.00 with the 50% off, we sold about 110 of those and based on some of this conversation they would be free. That would be $11.00 time 100, which is not a lot of money but it is real money. He would caution that by opening it up there are a lot of folks out there that can afford it and as well as a lot of folks who can't afford it. This program is a wash, it costs about a half million dollars to run and we bring in about a half million dollars in revenue. At this point we're very careful not to mess with that balance because of budget issues. Mr. Terry and I agree if we increase the number by 200 and there Is a greater demand we'll come back to the Human Services Committee. We don't have a listing of clients' circumstances that the agencies do, folks that are not affiliated with an agency have to fill out a two page form. We certainly could advertise in the program if you're coming in for a free token you will need to bring in the following information and will include a sample of the form to make it as convenient as possible. Alderman Holmes thought we would want to get some feed back from the agencies in terms of how many more requests they had than tokens that they used. Perhaps they could do a small survey to get feedback from the kids and their families in terms of usage, how many times they went o the beaches, etc. She does not think that's too much to ask from the agencies. Alderman Tisdahl said she would like to have 1,050 tokens if we're going to cap it as she is always putting Mr. Tent' in an impossible position calling him during the summer saying this or that group needs more tokens, then when a group does need more tokens and they run out early he would be authorized to fill the requests and it wouldn't put him in such an awkward position. She would like another 50 tokens. Ms. Heuman said once people start going into an agency and the agencies are told there are no more tokens word gets around and the requests don't come. She wanted to know what we do about the walk in people who say they would like a free token and the agency has no idea of knowing whether that person is qualified or not. Alderman Tisdahl said a walk in would have to go through filing out the forms but she didn't want everybody to go through a whole new set of forms. Mr. Baker said it would be his preference not to be involved with going through paperwork and forms with people we don't already know. The families we work with we know through the paperwork we already have to do, and we know their financial situation. Our staff Is already spread way too thin to ask them to screen more paperwork for people we don't Page 7. have a relationship with and thinks it's an unfair burden to them. Alderman Holmes said those people should be referred to the City. Alderman Moran called for the committee's aooroval of a decision to distribute 1.050 tokens next vear. anoroval unanimousiv accented (§:q1: Alderman Bernstein commented to the extent that there is more need expressed than tokens available he would encourage the agencies to call us and we could reconsider the circumstances. VII. ITEM FOR FUTURE CONSIDERATION Alderman Moran wanted raise an issue for future consideration that has come to his attention, the City of Chicago has unanimously adopted a resolution regarding immigration issues, "Resolution Calling for Escalatlon of Immigration Raised People Stations and Separation of Family." We as a Human Services Committee have not addressed to date any of the immigrant issues that have been significantly discussed in the country. He is asking if the committee would be interested in giving some consideration to a resolution that would address the immigration issue which at this point he has no specific language for. Alderman Jean -Baptiste remarked the wave going on in our country is one that puts restrictions on immigrant rights. At this particular point in time we would open up a can of worms for folks to come forward and advocate for greater restriction even though the resolution Alderman Moran just noted is progressive. it's protective. We have no power here that advocates for us to restrict anybody's rights, which he thinks is the status quo and what he would personally like to see. What problem would opening a debate on this issue fix? Alderman Moran did not know that we have a specific problem but thinks it's an issue to address that has a very strong and broad concern in the country. Alderman Jean -Baptiste may be right in the sense that if we were to propose such a resolution there would be people coming here opposing it but from his perspective we would be the ones thatwoutd have a say. Maybe if there would be a lot of people who came here and opposed it, it might be even more important to adopt a resolution so that the City fathers and mothers can take a position on this issue that would at least be reflective of what the democratically elected representatives of this City believe is just. It would be his own feeling that it would be a cold day in hell when the Evanston City Council would adopt a restrictive ordinance or promote a restrictive statement in a resolution in relation to immigration rights. He supposes he could be wrong which is why he's bringing this issue up tonight to see if there is Interest In addressing this, as he has an interest In addressing it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said his position is if it's not broken don't fix it The winds that are blowing are the winds to the extreme right. In Waukegan you have a community that is very divided on this Issue. He knows it would be a great statement to make but you would also fan the flames of a lot of different perspectives. This can be put on the table and his colleagues will certainly have to engage in it. Alderman Moran said if there isn't at least a majority interest in this, if people's minds are dosed to this he does not think that we should continue pursuing the issue. Maybe the biggest opposition is here, which he does not know. Alderman Bernstein's understanding was that the Chicago resolution resulted from a series of raids done on sweat shops where a lot of illegal immigrants were busted, which is what they wanted to stop. He does not know that we have a similar problem nor does he know how many of his constituents are illegal. He knows we have a large number of Hispanics and a lot of Island folks but does not know what their immigration statuses are. Alderman Jean -Baptiste noted the majority of immigrants in the City of Evanston are legal. Alderman Bernstein said he would not want to open this up and then take a vote that we become like Waukegan, which he does not think will happen on this Council. He's questioning why we need this; it's nice to state our opinion with respect to that. Alderman Holmes was also of the opinion if it's not broke and does not see whey we have to try to fix it, but has no problem discussing it. She has an open mind about this, as we went through that with Sanctuary City and we haven't heard of any raids or anything like that. She's concerned that when you stir the pot it boils over. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he hated to confront the hate to which Alderman Moran interjected, you have to confront it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said he will be on the cutting edge of the fight if the hate shows its ugly head, he's suggesting in the place we are now In it would hurt him to step into this. He's not talking about hurt in any way other than the emotions of it. Alderman Holmes added It we put this on the table aren't we inviting discussions from the overall community. Alderman Bernstein thought we should bring it out in the open and take a positive stand. Alderman Moran asked if it would be acceptable to the committee to reproduce that resolution and have a discussion of the issues. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said if we request it and people want to do it then we have to do it but he's not looking forward to it. Alderman Moran asked Mr. Terry if he could pull some material together on this issue. Page 8. being told of Incidents that happened in Evanston that wouldn't have happened before because this disease is contagbus. There are right wing haters, who there are probably not too many of here in Evanston, but it someone Is in power they can be as viclous as them. Many communities around the United States have made these kinds of endorsements to offer a different faith; we are not Hazelton, Pennsylvania, nor Waukegan, nor Carpentersville and should take a leadership position against this. Alderman Bernstein's recollection when the Nazis walked through Skokie was when you bring attention to a hate group that customarily increases the size of that hate group which he does not want to do. He knows people in this town who would readily join a hate group but they live in this community and can't say anything because they're outnumbered. Alderman Jean -Baptiste agreed with Alderman Semstein's position because he also thought about the Nazis when they wanted to march In Skokie. His position was, hell no. He has some Jewish friends who said that's their civil liberty and they have the right to free speech, etc,, etc., and they did their thing to profligate their hate. At this particular time he is not seeking to open the door for that kind of discussion, he's an immigrant himself, he's a U.S. citizen as well. He knows people will be here saying a lot of hateful things, it would not necessarily be right, but he does not want to hear It. We may want to reaffirm the fact that we are a progressive community and the things we stand for. He, personally, as well as others, does not want to go through that process, There are those who are similarly situated who may be less secure than him going through that discussion. Even as an elected official In this community he does not feel that we are at the crossroad where we need to be crossing that bridge. He understands what Alderman Moran is saying, we have been In the forefront of ending the war position, as well as other issues. His personal view is no, and its not just hate, its Ignorance because there are some people who have very close relationships with folks who are Immigrants, but whose perspective has been shaped by misinformation that will come here and say a lot of ignorant things that he does think is worth hearing. The minute we find any people begin to collaborate to try to bring this kind of perspective here as an organized movement to try to sway us to do something different, then yes, its time to go and fight that fight. There Is no need to Fight that fight now, that's his personal opinion. VFI. ADJOUNMENT The meeting was unanimously adjourned at 8:49 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Audrey Trots ,DepartmentjofaIth and Human Services it Page 9. I. "��:SIGN� IN: HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Name: TAng MArJ (� wI� Name: vk onday - October 1, 2 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Address/Organization: e-t, lleL Caole r-C,. Topic Speaking On: '�3 F�0-iA -r"o KE-�J. r SIR' I Rdn.OA) &C�l t SU01NI GUE$TN SfIEET, HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday - October 1. 2007 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Address/Organization: fat �n7. �u�S% C��' �11�a►r-c'�� - Jr My name is Rachel Heuman and I wish to address you in behalf of the many Evanston residents who believe, as John and I do, that the gift of our natural resource, our Evanston beaches, should be equally accessible to all the city's tax -paying residents without limitations due to economic disability. In that interest, we strongly endorse several recommendations made by the Department of Health and Human Services toward making the free beach token distribution program begun in 2006 more effective. --firstly that a broader public information program be initiated at the opening of the season when pre- season token availability is announced to the general public. However, we urge that this information go beyond the previous limitations of the single phrases "fee assistance/scholarships available" to include the following crucial information: A. a listing of the agencies or recreation department locations where free tokens may be obtained and B. a listing of the documents proving evidence of residency and income level required in order to snake application --secondly, that there be designed a consistent standard for dispensing free tokens. However, we suggest that such a standard also address cost concerns by reflecting a dual breakdown of income qualification, one which would award a half-price token and one which would award a free token. Further, so as not to overburden the agencies, we suggest the following scenario: A resident would approach an agency with the documentation required for evidence of qualification. Approval would take one of two fortes: either the agency would award free tokens or it would recommend that the resident go to one of the recreation centers to purchase a half-price token. However, the question of accessibility of free tokens still remains. That is, in par. S of his report, Mr. Terry implies that a qualified low income family can "walk in cold into a participating agency and get tokens." However, in City Manager Julia Carroll's email to us dated Friday, July 13, she confirmed that "I did speak with Jay Terry ... and learned that... you do have to be a client of the agency" in order to receive free tokens. In the interest of more equitable distribution of free tokens, we welcome Mr. Terry's implication that participation in an agency will NOT be a requisite in the :suture. Finally, we question whether cost concerns can be reliably assessed at this time since we do not have a valid measure of demand due to previous limitations on the number of free tokens available and absence of adequate publicity about the program. I would like to conclude by re-emphasizing the justice of a program that would make Evanston beaches accessible to all Evanston residents, and not be limited by the constraints of "first -come, first - served." MEMBERS PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: PRESIDING: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, January 7, 2008 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. Alderman Bernstein, Alderman Holmes, Alderman Jean -Baptiste, Alderman Moran and Alderman Tisdahl JudyAiello, Alisa bean, Audrey Trotsky, Evonda Thomas, Nicola Whyte, Harvey Saver, Elke Pruze, Adelita Hernandez Evanston Township: Sharon Eckersall (see attached list of attendees) Alderman Bernstein I. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Bernstein called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. II. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 1, 2007, MEETING The minutes of the October 1. 2007 meeting were called and unanimously aaoroved t5-01. III. CONSIDERATION OF DECEMBER 2007 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Bernstein had a couple of questions about the general fund, since Pat was not there they went unanswered for the short term. Alderman Bernstein said that the committee will get answers prior to the next meeting in which time this recommendation will be voted upon. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to accept the monthly bills and paying the monthly bills for the Township for December 2007. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested that since there are questions that could not be answered that the supervisor's bills be held over until they got answers to their questions. Alderman Bernstein had motioned for approval In the interest of expedience and to move the meeting along. Alderman Jean - Baptiste stated the bills will go forward without approval right now and Alderman Bernstein stated that the committee did not know if any of these bills are time sensitive. The Supervisor bills will be held until the next meeting. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to anorove the TownshID Assessors bills. Motion was unanimously, accented (6-0). IV. CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSAL TO ENGAGE THE FIRM OF VIRCHOW KRAUSE TO CONDUCT THE ANNUAL AUDIT OF EVANSTON TOWNSHIP Alderman Bemstein asked Judy Aiello if the City bid this proposal and was there an RFP sent out for this audit. Judy responded that Virchow Krause was doing the regular audit and we got a proposal from them and this was by direction of Council. Alderman Holmes slated that is was a recommendation to get a proposal from them mainly because of the other audits that we have had, Alderman Bernstein wanted to know if we had to get a bid and the response was it was professional courtesy. Alderman Bernstein introduced David Farmer and Michael Ley from the Firm of Virchow Krause. Mr. Farmer stated the report included in the board packet was a proposal for services. Virchow Krause started with the City Audit fiscal year 2007 and would like to help out the City by helping with the audit for Township beginning fiscal year 2008. Virchow Krause public sector group is over 200 people that focus strictly on audits of state and local government including the municipality particularly the Township. They planned out and engaged four staff members to oversee and complete the audit for 2008. The request they have is for the single year proposal for 2008. The prior audit firm indicated that there are audit changes which will impact the 2008 audit. The recent audit standards changes are going into affect for the current year and that includes a greater amount of planning for all audits. The auditors are now required to gain a greater understanding of the Townships internal control system and how they deal with the operation and daily reporting leading up into the financial statements and what respect that will lead to the presentation of the financial statement. The proposal is geared at the township and working with their other accountant to help prepare the financial statement and to oversee that the preparation as a control factor and will take that into consideration of the audit. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked how far back they would go to try and understand the operation. Mr. Farmer replied they will look at what the Township has already documented and part of that understanding is in terms of control, theywant to understand the control cycle, payable receivables, payroll and understanding what risks there are and how they impact the financial statements. They would look at what is called entity wide risk, information technology applied within the Township financial statement, general ledgers system oversight by the supervisor and this board. They want to gain a greater understanding of that documentation in order to learn more about effectively doing the audit. Part of that is gaining of audit process with full documentation, a lot of places do not have this prepared and Mr. Farmer inquired to the third party HSC Minutes 1/29/07 - Page. 1 accountant to see if they would be helping the Township out with this. He was lead to believe that they would be because documentation of control of the Township internal controls is not part of our proposal because that is not an audit step. It's not documented in the proposal and going forward they wilt try and use that internal control documentation by the Township and part of the information gathering would be using the Township resources. If the Township needs help in documenting how they process their intemal controls they would need to work together towards that. Alderman Holmes stated that there was an issue when we got the audit report there was a presentation from the previous auditors who stated that there needed to be someone at the site. Mr. Farmer said that was in relation to the oversight of the financial statement preparation. Government accounting is tricky, there are certain rules that apply to government and It's not the same accounting rules that would apply to a Ford or a General Motors. A lot of the basic concepts are the same but because they deal with funds, different types of revenue sources, real estate taxes and such having presenting those disclosures in such a way that it is fairly accepted and takes a certain amount of expertise. What the previous auditors commented on was the Township, by their observations, did not have a person on staff that could oversee that. Alderman Bernstein asked d we had one now. Mr. Farmer replied that he was not in the position at this time to answer that question. Alderman Bernstein said he saw the proposal and asked if they had conversation with the supervisor. Mr. Farmer did not speak with the supervisor but did speak with Jay Terry and third party accountant, Michael Kent. Alderman Bernstein stated Michael Kent did the statements foryears and when the previous accountants told us about the changes in the law one of which was the oversight. We were surprise that we did not have anybody on staff to do that and Pat assured us that she would get someone on staff. Your predecessors assisted in the compilation of the financial statement and I questioned whether or not that was the fox watching the hen house. How can you audit a document you created yourself? Alderman Rainey stated she knows they are brought on to audit but the issues presents themselves are manyand one of them is that we pay the accountant thousands of dollars a year to prepare the monthly statements that seems like hundreds of pages for very little; pages with one line on them pages with duplicated information. This month's packet contained very important information that would shed some light on what is going on. We pay a manager of finance, an in house person and so there needs to be some reckoning very soon if we don't have the right person based on these two positions. The accounting manager has been there for years and now is believed to be on board as a consultant but is paid as an independent consultant. This accountant is paid every month a lot of money to do what? She thought that the format and the method of presenting the material old and tired and it's the same since it started 15-20 years ago. Alderman Bernstein stated that with the new law it has to change, there is a new format. Alderman Moran did not know where they were heading with the discussion right now looking in an altered scope of work; he doesn't have a problem with that except that this was not the best time to come up with the scope of work. We do have in front of us this particular proposed thing that's the audit and if we do feel the need to work on the scope of work lets pick that up. So we understand what we think we need to be done. Alderman Bemstein acknowledge that clearly answers to questions are needed that no one here can answer so with respect to the proposal before us which is accounting audit, presumably the Township will present to you the required documentation. You will analyze it and determine whether or not it is in fact accurate and you will authenticate it, is that correct? Mr. Farmer stated the bottom line is the Township will present a financial statement, Virchow Krause will audit it and they will also give the report on internal control matters that they come across in performing the audit. Alderman Bernstein replied depending on what you see or don't see on the financial statement. Mr. Farmer answered that within the financial statements and going towards the preparation of those financial statements. Alderman Jean -Baptiste, had spoken to Jay Terry and to other staff members, when do you get to speak to the Township Supervisor? Mr. Farmer. Mr. Farmer did not get a chance to speak to the Township Supervisor. It was not directed to me as it came through it. The proposal was sent to both to Township Supervisor and Mr. Terry and was directed to Mr. Grady who requested this specific proposal at the time and there were also request for information on our part so that we could propose services to the proper detail within this packet. Those staff direction were again communicated through the City because the City Initialed contact and made the request for the communication on behalf of the Township. Alderman Jean -Baptiste believed that the committee will approve the proposal but it still has to go before Council and between now and Council time when Vrchow Krause is reporting to the Committee they should have spoken to the Township Supervisor because she will give them much more information about what is going on and what should be looked out for. HSC Minutes 1129/07 - Page. 2 Alderman Bernstein asked with respell to the questions that were asked did they receive sufficient answers by which to do their work, Mr. Farmer replied yes he did. Alderman Bernstein asked if they had the information to perform and audit to which Mr. Farmer replied yes. Alderman Bernstein stated this is only a recommending body to the City Council and it will come up next Monday. Alderman Bernstien asked for any more questions or comments there were none. Alderman Bemstein called a motion for approval of the proposal. Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded the motion. Motion was unanimousiv accented f5-0t V, CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSAL TO ENGAGE THE FIRM OF VIRCHOW KRAUSE TO CONDUCT A REVIEW OF THE TOWNSHIP ASSESSOR'S OFFICE Alderman Bernstein stated that this audit was an audit of a different sort Some time back there were concerns about and what was or was not being done in the Township Assessors office with respect to the work they are suppose to perform by law. Alderman Bernstein commented that he spoke to Michael Ley a long time ago about this audit which is not an accounting audit but rather a logistical audit, Michael Ley replied it's a fact finding review based on the three questions raised. That is (1) About the complaints and appeals, are they all getting through to the Cook CountyA ssessors Office (2) are building permits information that is suppose to go from the Community Development Department being sent by the Assessor to the Assessor's office (3) The real estate transfer payments, are the sales being correctly reported to the Cook County Assessor's Office. The fact finding methods are looking at manual records, interviewing the Assessor and talking to someone from Cook County Assessor's Office. Alderman Bernstein concern was with respect to the method; the first thing is to determine the number of complaints appeals filed by property tax fares received by the Township Assessor. The Township Assessor is only a repository and those are then forwarded on or not to the Cook County Assessor. "How will you know if complaints were filed, why the tax payers are dropping off the executed complaint for the assessor to file?" Michael replied 'that they would look for logs to see as they come in, how they are logged, are they kept track of. Either through a log, record keeping or do they keep hard copies of the rile, they look at those and then they would go to the Assessor to see if they match up and then secondly if Cook County Assessor gets word that some things were appealed.' Alderman Bernstein was hopeful that there is a log and or hard copies kept, he was skeptical and that is why Virchow Krause is being hired. Mr. Holland and I had a long conversation; he is going to give the City any assistance possible. If we decided to pay an analysis, then the Township Assessor would be compelled to cooperate fully. There is a creditability gap and as Township trustees we would so advise because it is very important,. Alderman Rainey asked the representatives from Virchow Krause if there were any questions that should be asked that were not asked. Mr. Ley replied that there was, the review was limited to the three items, and getting answers to the three Items will probably make way for further questions that the City may need to get answers for. This is not what we would call an operation review of the way that the assessor does their overall business. He recalled the City's Community Development department which was a detailed review of everything that they do. Mr. Ley continued by saying he expects the Committee would be the steering committee for the review and they would come back to the committee with a draft report and if there are other matters or issues that needed to be looked at then the committee can decide it they wish to go forward or not. Mr.Ley will be a partner on the project and will have one analyst with him. They will give the committee progress report as they get the information in a timely fashion. Alderman Tisdahl asked if theywere going to cover how the department operates, were they going to tell us the answers to the three specifics. Mr. Ley replies we will have other observations. Alderman Tisdahl asked will they include how the technology is utilized in the office. Mr. Ley replied that was not in the current scope. Alderman Tisdahl asked were they looking for a justification for the operation of the office dues, it duplicate anything that Community Development does, City Clerk etc. Mr. Ley said they will ask assuming that they are able to interview and get information. They will ask why certain things occur the way they do, they will look at the ordinances that set up the office and then they will be able to ask questions of why it is that way. They have a broad knowledge of assessor's offices at the municipal level at county level and they have done operation review so when things come up, they will ask why; it is not a through review. They will get answers to the three questions and the report call observations for questions for potential analysis. Alderman Rainey asked is this was a big operation in order to get to the bottom of this. Alderman Bernstein declared as a result this could have a fee for which we are charge but is not a big fee relatively speaking. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked would Virchow Krause be interviewing folks who are working there during this period of time. Mr. Ley responded yes, they hope to talk to the Assessor and if there is a staff to the assessor available and probably speak to those people or person; we will talk to Mr. Holland or someone he would designate. He stated if there HSC Minutes 1129107 - Page. 3 are members of the committee who would like to be interviewed they would be happy to do that. Alderman Bernstein stated that there is a former Deputy Assessor Dan Benjamin who he thought would be important to speak to and if they had any questions or comments with respect to needing to have people answer their questions or gaining access or anything else please come to this committee immediately. Alderman Bei nsteln called a motion for approval of the proposal. Motion was unanimously accepted (6-0) VI. CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSED RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUSTTREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES Alderman Moran began his summary of the proposal, 'what we are presenting to the committee tonight is the Resolution for Humane and Just Treatment for Immigrant and their Families'. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked who is we? Alderman Moran replied 'we' is the group that developed this proposal and advocated for it which Included me, Rachel and John Heuman, Martha Peirce, Christina Traina, and Father Robert Oldershaw, they were the principal participants. He went into a summary of the Proposal; we mean to present it to the Committee hopefullywith the recommendation from the Committee for adoption by the City Council. The idea of the Resolution has some similarities to a number of resolutions that have been proposed and passed by a number of local governmental bodies including several major cities including our neighbors the City of Chicago and also Cook County Board. He highlighted a few of the things that is in the Resolution, recognize that we are in fact '... nation of immigrants seeking political or economic refuge, freedoms is not attainable in their land of origin, and the ability to improve their lot in life that is not open to them elsewhere." Immigrants contributed greatly to the social cultural and economical success of our society. The issues is one of basic human rights and is exemplified by a great number of communities passing resolutions seeking to protect. Recently the coin statement of the American and Mexican Bishops included the statement that '_ all the goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot rind employment in theircountry of origin to support themselves and theirfamilies, they have a light to rind work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this right_"and the court should be free from them that they should enforce exportation. We are a nation that has embraced family values, part of the difficulty of having a broken immigration systems is that families are tam apart, they are mixes and shift families where children of the families are betroth with American citizenship where many times their parent or guardian are not able to achieve citizenship even though they are interested, it takes a long time to achieve that status. There has been a phase of antAmmigration rhetoric that I don't think reflects the values that the City of Evanston or that most Americans hold and Groups felt that it was important to make a statement that was representative of the climate in Evanston and to advocate for other governmental levels and jurisdiction to cure just and humane treatment for immigrants. We have a historyss a community for compassion and justice and I thought the Resolution is another effort to take a step in that direction. Based on those principals we are resolving a number of things done by the City to implement the resolution, *In fact, the resolve that acceptance as provided below or when otherwise required by law no City of Evanston Bureau, office, division, department employee or other agency or agent shall condition the provision of City of Evanston, benefits, opportunities or services on matters related to citizenship orimmigrant's status." Alderman Tisdahi asked for examples of incidents that have occurred that this proposal would solve, Alderman Moran replied that there are other people who will be speaking in greater detail on experiential basis; they can speak to that better than I can. The Resolution suggests that the Cityof Evanston Police Department would not undertake investigative efforts that would be based simply on immigration status. It does not suggest that people who are subject to legitimate criminal investigation for criminal activities will not be subject to those investigations but the police department will not investigate simply on the basis of immigration status. It will be suggested that all the department divisions within the City not condition the rendering of the benefits or services simply predicate on the question of immigration status. It begs to the question of identifications and it says '... where the presentation of an Illinois driver's license oridentification card is accepted as adequate evidence of identity presentation of a photo identity document issued by the person nation of origin orsome political subdivision thereof such as driver's license passport ormatricula consular (consular registration document) shaft be accepted and shall not subject the person to a higher level of scrutiny or different treatment.." the discussion will also include the notion where there are applications, questionnaires, forms related to the services and benefits from the City that those applications be reviewed by the respected departments and division within the City to make it clear that they will be neutral in terms of seeking out immigration status from people who are filling them out and filing them with the City. This resolve that the Mayor and the Evanston City Council urge Congress and the President of the United States for comprehensive immigration reform '... that would provide legalization and a road to citizenship for undocumented people in the City of Evanston and elsewhere in the nation; so that families can be reunified, especially those 'mixed status" families with children holding U.S. citizenship; so that polential contributors to our society may exercise the opportunity to HSC Minutes 1129107 - Page. 4 receive a college education or to perform military service; and that residents are not forced to We to fearordeportation, which prevents them from participating in programs and receiving services in which they are entitled regardless of legal status: and to finally resolve 'that suitable copies of this resolution be prepared and presented to the President of the United States, the members of Illinois Congressional Delegation, the members of the Illinois General Assembly that represents any represent any part of the City of Evanston, and both local and national officials of the Department of Homeland Security.' That is the nature of the resolution with some summary on his part and the basic foundation requesting the Committee approval of this Resolution. Alderman Bernstein called Rachael Heuman; my name is Rahcael Heuman. 421 Kedzie, Evanston Illinois. Our country's Immigration system is broken and when a system is broken at the top it cracks and variable appear below even In community long reputed to be as enlighten and fair-minded as Evanston. We see evidence of these cracks when a ramify applies for renewal of its reduced healthcare privileges and is asked for the first time about citizenship status or when a mother has to take off from work to stand in line to register her child for school with all the prerequisite listed in a letter she received she is then told she must return the following day with an item that was not on the list. She later discovers that it was not a required item for registration and that the employee was not authorized to demand its presentation. Historyhas shown us that rights which are not codified can be easily eroded or disappear. That is one motivation which fuel the formation of the Resolution, another was this is a larger issue than Evanston and although it is unlikely for things like ordinances which were passed in Waukegan, Carpenlersville, Hazetton Pennsylvania it is unlikely for those to be passed here but none the less a growing number of communities like ours that has long been reputed to be more open communities are feeling that they need to respond to some of this anti -immigrant ordinance with something more positive and are feeling a necessity to take a leadership role. We would like to join other community like Evanston to say that this is not our point of view and in so doing to encourage other communities to take actions as we have. As one of our endorsees put it so well if not Evanston, where, if it is not going to take place in communities like Evanston, where. Speaking in support of this Resolution are Ann Limjoco from Representative Schakowsky's office, Sister Cristina Fuller, reading a statement from Father Robert Oldershaw, Reverend Richard Mosley from Hemenway United Methodist Church and Fortino Leon from Organization of Latinos in Evanston. They join a long list of community members and there is an addendum (Attachment A) to that list which is included in your packet, which was passed out: I urging the committee to pass this Resolution calling for the .lust and Humane Treatment of Immigration and their Families. Alderman Bernstein called Ann Limjoco. My name is Ann Limjoco and I am the Suburban Director for Congresswoman .tan Schakowsky, I am here to represent the Congress women she apologizes she cannot be here herself to read a statement on the Resolution which she feels very strongly about and the statement are in your packets. A statement was read see Attachment B. Alderman Bernstein called Reverend Mosley. To the Alderman Persons and Chairman of the Committee my name is Richard Mosley I am the pastor at Hemenway United Methodist Church. A statement was read see Attachment C Alderman Bernstein called SisterCristina Fuller. I am a resident of Evanston 1020 Hull Terrace but I am hereon behalf of Robert Oldershaw, he is taking care of a family matter and apologizes for not being able to be here himself. A statement was read see Attachment D Alderman Bernstein called Fortino Leon. My name is Fortino Leon, I live on 1217 Dodge, Evanston, Illinois. A statement was read see Attachment E. Alderman Bernstein called Yolanda Salgado who resides at 1417 Pitner. She and her parents are immigrants and they have lived in Evanston for about 45 years. She supports the Resolution thinks it should be passed. Her family came to the U.S. to contribute; her father had a mule without a ear and a tail and he was very proud to be here in Evanston and he loves Evanston just as she loves Evanston. Her kids went through the Evanston school system attending Washington, Chute and Evanston Township. She believes in the Resolution because there are a lot of families that are going to be affected e.g. separation and that is not fair. They came to do well and ended up loving this country. She requested that they please consider passing the Resolution. Fortino added signatures supporting the Resolution. Alderman Bernstein accepted them to add to the Proposal. (Attachment F) Mr. Bennet Johnson suggested that the Resolution be sent to District 65, 202 and Oakton Community College. Alderman Bernstein stated that is one of the requests In the Resolution. Alderman Bernstein called Arizona Tuckwell, she resides at 739 Madison, Evanston and is a member of St. Nicholas Evanston area Black Catholics and Evanston Church Women United. She read a statement that was read by Yolanda Salgado at a group and it's an immigration scenario. It's as follows: Imagine with me how you would feel if you were Carlos HSC Minutes 1129107 • Page. 5 you have lived in the United States since 1990 you made a dangerous trip from El Salvador because your wife was being threatened by both gorillas and government troops when you refused to fight or kill on either side. You're hoping that the great free country to the north would hear your story and give you safe haven. When you crossed into the United States you are allowed to apply for temporary protective status and then asylum. But your asylum petition was denied by a judge who refused to listen to much of your story and accuse you of lying. You challenged the judge's decision, white waiting for the decision on your challenge the American Baptist Church went to court against the judge because all of his decision had been arbitrary and disregarded immigrants' solid evidence of their need for asylum. The church won the suit so you along with many other asylums from central America were given a change to re -file your application with your new work permit you got a job on a cleaning crew, your steady paycheck allowed you to pay for an apartment and food and you could send money to your family in El Salvador. What a feeling that was, you didn't hear from immigration about your asylum application but you continued to be granted a new work permit each year. You met a young woman, got married, bought a house, and had two children things were going very well but still you didn't hear from the immigration about your asylum application. As time went by you went to a comfortable routine almost like everyone in your neighborhood except for one thing, you always were afraid that one day your asylum would be denied and you would be deported. Now with a home and family you had much more to lose and the fear always lay heavily against you. One day you heard of anew law the Nicaraguan and Central Relief Act, which allows asylum from Central America whose application had been pending since 1990 to apply for lawful permanent residency by proving that they had been leading exemplary lives. Their hopes were raised and you went to an attorney for help but there you found that asylums from Ei Salvador had to have come to the Unites States before September 19°' 1990, you had arrived on October 1, 1990. So you continued your asylum interview then this year this year Congress passed a Real ID Act making it much harder to get permanent resident through asylum. Immigration is processing application more quickly you attorney advises that it might be better for you to withdraw your long standing asylum application and apply for temporary protective status which allow El Salvadorian to slay in the U.S. for another year. What do you do? You abandon your asylum and give up hope of staying in the U.S. permanently just to gain a year of permanent status. After sixteen years of working as an honorable man building a good life for your wife and children you know that there is a very good possibility that you are not going to be able to continue you life In the United States. What will happen to your wife, son and daughter 12 and 14 years old? Laws are arbitrary and complex we can help by speaking out for immigration reform. Alderman Bemstein called Joan Safford who resides at 1618 Wesley Avenue. She has lived in Evanston since 1966. She recalled listening to the Blair Report about the eight of the nine Little Rock high school students who had the courage to dream for themselves and their families and had the courage to face down state government, state troopers, and hostile crowd and was so stunned that was 50 years ago. Those young people had that thought that they could contribute and go on in the face of hostility. The immigration situation has been of interest for a long time because her husband is from El Paso. She thought of the ones who spoke of what they had done and the difference it made in their lives and as they described their contribution she thought about the many immigrants who she met while in Los A1mos, New Mexico; the Jewish scientists who had fled Europe who were contributing to the Manhattan Project. She was struck by those eight people who had been so courageous and thought about what immigrants have contributed and about her brother-in-law who is an Episcopal priest who described what happened in 1986 when there was a legal road for immigrants. That in his parish a Mexican, El Salvadoran, Nicaraguan, and Guatemalan and later Columbian parish in south Los Angeles that in that parish what happened when they allowed those people to gain legal resident alien status and to work toward becoming citizens. They became wonderful workers. gained and sustained employment but they also contributed without fear to the community, they became active in the church, active in the parent teacher associate and active in their communities. The largest portion of immigrants are Latin and our economies have been linked together since the 19" century with the railroad, mines, smelting, railroads to Chicago, wheat, com. cotton, the Braceros coming north all through the forties and the Mexican workers working in our factories because many of the young men had gone to war. We are linked by area, people, history, economies, and affection. She thought it was important for Evanston to participate in a way that allows people not to be afraid to report accidents, seek medical care, participants in parent teachers association all the different parents that makes a community a community, She urged the Committee to support this Resolution because A is right and it will strength our community not threaten our community. Alderman Bemstein called Adelita Hernandez a prior resident of Evanston and the Outreach Specialist for the City of Evanston. She voiced her support for this Resolution because the population that she works with is largely immigrants I and primarily composed of Hispanics from Evanston but there are other groups Jamaican, Haitians and Belizeans. Her position touches immigrants from Asia, Europe and all over the world and thought it is vital for the City to be able to build stronger ties with the community and inspire trust and feel that they are supported by the City and it is crucial that we realize that this resolution is more symbolic and that we are Just standing up for what we already as a community in Evanston which does embrace diversity. She urged the committee to pass the Resolution. That completed the list of speakers Alderman Bernstein called for anyone else who would like to speak on this issue. North Shore Coalition for Human Justice which is a group of twenty organizations In Evanston that are Human Justice Groups supported the Resolution. HSC Minutes 1129107 - Page. 6 Madeline Ducre came to support the resolution and she is hurt and knows that others are hurting also when the statement is made that Immigrants come to the U.S. and do the work that no one else will do. She stated that history shows that immigrants works very hard and should no matter your origin country whether they are Mexican, Jamaican, Belizean, El Salvadorian or any other immigrant that they would want to work cleaning someone's toilet the rest of their life. They do what they have to do and like everyone else try to move up. She felt the community as a whole should understand that and work together. She has Mexicans in my family and her heritage is Mexican, French, African American and she embraces every one of them, She heard an official of Mexico say the same thing and though that it was not right. She felt that the group were talking primarily about Mexicans and pointed out that there are Jamaicans, Haitian (where boats are turned around), Puerto Ricans, and Cubans (who are somewhere in Florida in jail). She urged Americans to do better and suggested that we start here. She does not want to see families pulled apart. Rose Francis works at Trilogy, which does work with mental health but he was speaking on the Latino community as the Chair of the Evanston Coalition for Latino Resources. He has had an interesting journey and thinks he is one of the few Latinos who belong to the Diaspora of Black the Americas. There are quite a few in places like Columbia, Panama, Costa Rica, and Nicaragua. One of his odd experiences of being in the U.S. is the question of what ethnic group does he belong to. He pointed out that Latino is not a race but rather where you were bom and raised. You can be Asian and Latino, black and Latino you can be of mixed Indian white heritage and be Latino and I wanted to throw that out because we confused quite often as if it's a race. He supports the Resolution for many reasons one being some immigrants come her under very difficult circumstances and are not given the correct information and they face the consequences of the misinformation. There are a lot of people who only look at people who look like Indian and white as the Latino a mixture of indigenous and white as Latino and every one passes under the radar as non -Latino and white Latino goes by as if they are not Hispanics to begin with. They all suffer the same consequences of the legal challenges of their looks, inconveniences of the fear that they won't be able to access services they can access and he thought a lot of people who are here illegally have to face a lot of those challenges of the anti -immigration bashing and that this resolution not only is about none undocumented immigrant but also to support those people who are U.S. residents who are from Latino background who have to deal with that stranger danger discussion that keep happening in American everyday and this is a way to stand up against that. Hans Chestageiser is a Swiss pastor and is helping for six months for world relief involved in immigration issues. He complimented the Committee for taking the time, having the patience to open up and actually listen to the people of Evanston In this kind of format, he was deeply impressed. He felt the culture was experiencing would ever happen in his country Switzerland. He met a person from Chicago who lived in Geneva who experienced similar treatments. In Switzerland during the 1970s and 1980s there was a big fear of foreigners at that time they were Italians and Spanish; the story about the Swiss police how they look at people who don't have the residency so clarified and how certain people got into Swiss residency. In places in his personal story there where people have gotten 400 signatures petitions to council and it was treated like nonexistent. He saw the movie Elizabeth before coming to the States and realized at the shore of England it's pretty much a matter of chance who is winning and in the end maybe the whole thing of history could have changed differently in the U.S. with the Spanish speaking nowadays instead of English speaking. He recently saw the Great Debaters movie staring Denzel Washington and recommended the council see the movie before deciding on the Resolution. He thought the U.S. was not in an easy situation on how to solve the issue of immigration but the fact of having people at the meeting who come out of their moral, ethical and Christian to ask a political body to make an ethical statement in support of the resolution. Alderman Tisdahl commented to Alderman Moran that she did not hear any specific examples of any problem with the City of Evanston Police or Department of Health and Human Services. what she did hear several times is that this is symbolic, she wanted to be clear has anyone either of these parts of the resolution that deal with the City of Evanston Police Department and Health and Human Services does this solve any problems that exists. Alderman Moran replied there are a lot of people who are residents in the Latino community who live in Evanston that he has work with who has reservation to access a lot of services or get involved because they are worried about deportation issues. Alderman Tisdahl asked 'but have they had a problem or is it a fear that they might?' Alderman Moran replied "it's more a fear.' Alderman Holmes stated that at the October meeting when Alderman Moran first brought this to the table and they had a conversation she made the statement that why stir the pot when there wasn't a problem. Someone wrote a letter to the Review wanting to know why that statement was made; she made that statement because being a minority In this country she understands a lot about the things that are not seen and is very concerned about that. There isn't any evidence of any issues of major problems like that of Waukegan or other communities and understands doing something to be symbolic HSC Minutes 1l29107 - Page. 7 but this is such a hot issue all over the country. Her concern is what kind of feelings it might generate in the overall community. Her comment doesn't mean lack of support to the idea. Alderman Holmes supports the idea and what is really needed in this country is some form of comprehensive immigration reform. Everyone knows that but that is not going to happen out of Evanston. it might certainly happen rf there are enough communities who will step forward to really try to influence the Federal Government. She urged everyone to realty listen to Mrs. Ducre statements very carefully. Immigration affects everyone in this country and we know that there are between one and a half million to two hundred million legal and illegal immigrants in this country every year, these are actual facts. It affectsjobs, health care, education, taxes, health services and something needs to be done about 0, Her nervousness about this topic in our community is due to the'haters' out there and what it will bring about in also unknown and that is a fear. 'That is what I meant for those of you who wondered when I said why stir the pot if it's not boiling over or some kind of statement I made that night. It is certainly not the fact that I would not support reform I definitely will support that and if we are going to do something symbolic then do itiust like we did Sanctuary City and the war but I think we need to understand that there might be some repercussion.' Alderman Moran stated that his statement is kind of an answer. I attended a meeting about ten years ago that was a social service meeting directed at Latinos, it was done at Family focus and there was an interpreter there and there were a lot of Hispanic Latino people who showed up and it was a dramatic event for me because previously I had realty not been able to be in touch and hear a community speak. To me it was a small representation and that theywere lost; theywere here in Evanston but they didn't have a pathway to access the services that the City had forthem. Ultimately I started working with Jay Terry and Audrey Trotsky and we suggested to the City Council that we have an outreach position in Health and Human Services Department and Adelita currently is the holder of that position. I have seen over the course of time how that community has become more connected to our larger community and I realize that was a positive thing to do. I go so far to say it pains some people lives and has maybe made us a fuller community. The thing that affected me were mothers, their children's were getting lost in school and they were not accessing services that were available to them and when they familiar are who could help them with language and culturally I think we have made a lot of progress as a community. If you are looking for examples of circumstances of developing sense of solidarity and connectiveness to the community I think they exist. I saw it as it was then and I think I see it as it is now. I think I see a stronger whole more holistic community and citizen as a result of that. Although this resolution is in many respects symbolic it's not completely symbolic but there are specific requests for actions, so its not purely symbolic. Even if you were to consider to it symbolic I think it is an important symbolism. Alderman Tisdahl stated there are specific requests for action and that was the basis for her question what is the specific request for action in response to any problem existed. She had an immigrant live at her house and he felt verywelcome in this community itwas a terrific experience and he now has a master's degree from MIT and it is an example and all that is best about America and immigrants. It can all work very well, it did for him and he felt welcome. Were there specific problems of which she was unaware? Alderman Tisdahl certainty supports the Resolution as symbolic and can certainly support R but if there were a specific problem it should be known. Alderman Holmes stated in several of the statement there was an elusion about schools and then Mr. Johnson mentioned that and I certainly would hope that the same resolution would be presented to those school system because that is a problem and also noted as past director of Family Focus they were in the forefront of trying to provide services to the Latino community. Her history at Family Focus and their tireless efforts to reach out to all immigrants stands on its own her hesitation has nothing to do with not wanting to support the Resolution. 'We just need to understand what we are doing.' Alderman Bernstein addressed Adelita Hernandez and asked her does the city discriminate or preclude people from accessing services based on lack of documentation. She could not answer for the entire City and their departments but she assured him that the Health and Humans Services does not. There are a lot of program that are in house and if they are not funded by State or Federal monies that prohibited assisting them we do not. She works with several program Including Affordable Housing for the homeless, AllKids that is a health care for children and mother and families and if they do not mandate that a person cannot receive the benefits because they are not resident or a citizen we do not, it has no bearing on the services we provide. Alderman Bernstein addressed the police chief asking is there a directive in the department to go after illegal immigrants from the status of lack of documentation. Chief replied that they did not. Ms. Ducre asked what role the police play regarding the Resolution; Alderman Bernstein answered that we are not going to target for the status. He had some proposed modification to the Proposal (1) move to introduce the Resolution (2) on page one to eliminate paragraph four (2) eliminate paragraph fire (3) eliminate paragraph seven, A motion was called to introduce the Resolution. Seconded by Alderman Moran HSC Minutes 1129107 - Page. 8 Alderman Jean -Baptiste reflected on one of the speakers and what they said about the proposed resolution as interpreting it as an ethical statement and he felt that it was an accurate description. In terms of the religious denomination supporting the resolution, they are major catalyst and advocates for comprehensive immigration reform. The people who did speak in support of the Resolution including the list of endorsers attached and the numerous representatives that came of almost every major religious organization in Evanston to endorse it. He felt that the fourth paragraph'....refigious denominations have issued statements and resolutions calling for just and compassion for immigrants..." would damage to the anti- establishment clause of the constitution. In fact it says that people look towards people of faith and leader of faith organizations as being representative of ethical. It has power to the statement, because looking at it to see who is endorsing it; he wanted that provision to stay in. The paragraph that makes reference to international commerce implication, he stated there are different points of view and it is important and people should pay attention to it. They have to understand that there is a cause and affect relationship between certain political consideration and the consequences of those actions on people. The document specifically says 'we as a nation can and should do better' and some of that has to do with work that people has to do in Springfield, Washington and in Evanston. But the notion that there is a cause and affect relationship and that some of the political activity can encourage people to flee their country of origin, he thought that is an important point. The last point regarding the hostile anti -immigrant it is out there and it's a disgrace. The politicians are trying to out nasty themselves during election cycle and repugnant to me, it is interesting that literature is proving that 0 does not worts. The harder people try to get elected by engaging in anti -immigration rhetoric the more they lose. The voters are starting to speak to that and he thought that we needed to start also. We have to show that we do not subscribe to that but in fact we stand for the opposite of what those people are saying. As a community, City, and political unit we need to say what we believe in and make it known that we do not believe in the negative, nasty, divisive things. He urged the committee to stand with this statement in its entirety and not accept the amendments and to accept the resolution in its entirety. Alderman Bernstein relied that the fact that religious leaders are in the forefront, is something that he would expect from every church, synagogue, and mosque and they should replicate this kind of resolution and send copies consistent with their entire parishioners to their elected representative. 'This document was given to me not as a religious leader but as an elected public official to put my ethics on the line and l don't care if there are clerks out there who don't want this." The fourth ward is the most independent in the City, and he is certain that he represents several who are exasperated by the anti -Immigration rhetoric. He wants the record to be clear that there should be no discrimination against people for the fact of status and that is the resolution that he is looking for. The amendments as recommended does not add anything to the message that an elected public official would want to send on behalf on his constituents, If some people and offended not others that is okay they elected him to use his best judgment and this is his best judgment. So he encourages the committee to pass the resolution because d is important even if it's symbolic. 'We have had a long history for standing for justice, compassion etc., we can talk about the patriot act, the transgender situation that this community has adapted as Evanston, as a community that purports to be one that believes that drive by diversity. I understood what was being said they are wonderful words but they don't add anything and in fact if it has to be a religious person to take this stand then we are missing the boat. The basic human rights precede all law all people should be considered to be equal.' Alderman Holmes posed a question to Alderman Moran; when the resolution was being developed did they look at any other cities department, she was uncomfortable with highlighting the Evanston police department and the Department of Health and Human Services since there has been no evidence of anything happening there. She wanted to know is there a possibility to collapse that. Alderman Moran responded that it was already done, but those two departments had the highest level of concern. Alderman Jean -Baptiste stated when this Proposal of Resolution was mentioned and as the most recent immigrant on the council and as a Haitian American he felt that it would heighten and discussed a lot more issues and he did not feel that they were at the bridge that was needed to cross at the time. He recalled Alderman Moran asking the committee why they don't take the initiative and three out of the five members did not think it was timely. His concern was the organizers have been Latino focus; there are many issues that are universal and the need to protect immigrant's rights from governmental entities and society biases. He felt the statement involving the police department should stay because they are the most pro -active, active agency in terms of acting with the citizenry and stressed the importance of investigations not based on immigration, He further stated the Health and Human Services at this time is being phased out so that is not a relevant department. ' It would be wise to broaden the call to other ethnic groups in the City of Evanston. By omission the City has not treated everyone fairly. Our outreach office is suppose to be an ethnic service office and it has gotten verycomfortable in providing services to the Latino community because it is easy to identify those members of the community apparently. Jamaicans have been here very early; Belizeans. Haitians and other ethnic European have been here and need service in order to mainstream.' He suggested that the coalition be broaden to include other ethnic issues, 'one of the things of the Haitian experience is the Inequality the overt racism the denial that the preferential treatment of certain groups over Haitians community and the incarceration of Haitian seeking to try to get refuge in this country and the kind of broad HSC Minutes 1r29107 - Page. 9 prejudice that goes on and the propagation of the defamatory kind of label such as Haitians being AIDS carriers'. He Is clear about the prejudice and the broad issues that need to be addressed, What he would like to see is that the Committee supports the Resolution but hold it in Committee and work at trying to deal with including those other ethnic groups that are part of the community who may be able to say to you that they have experience certain things. He supports the Resolution in its essence and there are many things in it that is not just symbolic but put us on notice on how to not discriminate. Alderman Moran replied that this Resolution addresses every member of every population that as a group individual or collectively are concern about including the population that Alderman Jean -Baptiste referred to. The resolution is ubiquitous in its application it ask for human andjust treatment for immigrant and their families whoever those immigrant are, There is no discriminatory aspect to it. Alderman Jean -Baptiste understands the intent and suggests passing the Resolution but hold it in committee In order to bring other ethnic immigrants groups into the discussion. He felt that the churches that were represented at the meeting did not represent the entire Caribbean community, there are also African American churches that have that population. He suggested that they hold it in committee and try to broaden the participation. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to delete from the Resolution. "Whereas numerous religious denominations have issued statements and resolutions calling for Justice and compassion for immigrants". Motion approved_(3-21. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to delete from the Resolution. "whereas American farm subsidies coupled with free trade agreements have sionificantty worsened the conditions of hunger and poverty outside the US, contributing..." Motion approved (3-21. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to delete from the Resolution. "whereas an Increasingly hostile anti- immiarant and racist atmosphere Is being promoted by a vocal minority that represents neither American values nor the maiority of our citizenry". Motion denied (2-3), Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to approve the Resolution as amended. Motion unanimously approved (5- 2h Alderman Moran preferred to move the Resolution forward. He fell the community is doing important work and the issues that were not addressed he would work on them. However he felt that to accomplish a broader perspective the Resolution should be moved it to the City Council, pass it and then address the section of the community that feels that they are not properly represented. He felt the pursuit would be more effective if they had the Resolution as an adapted tool of the City to say we are asking forJust and Humane Treatment for immigrant and those immigrant population should feel that they are not being treated they way they should. They would be encouraged to join in the crusade. Alderman Jean -Baptiste replied that five members of the Council has said yes to the Resolution and felt the Resolution should be held in Committee because the organizer and the participation in the discussion in the creation of the Resolution has been very focus around certain groups. He wanted to give other ethnic groups a chance and so he felt there needs to be more discussion and more participation. There is a question on equality of treatment for example black ethnic population feels that they do not get it. They need to come together and hear that and make it a part of the records so that when the committee moves forward to the Council it is done with a broad participation of those who comprise this community. The reason is to get people to come to the meeting and participate not just to hear the Resolution. There was a representative from Olay who talked about contributing by cleaning up Church and Dodge and I disagree with that kind of approach. There are other Latinos who come because they have a particular bent on how they see the situation and I am suggesting that there is a broader way of other folks. Alderman Bernstein supported holding the Resolution in Committee because of its inclusiveness and holding it over for one meeting is not going to be detrimental and if the group can be expanded now maybe they will come with additions. He pointed out that the members of the committees received the Resolution on Friday before the meeting and the community did not receive it at all. Alderman Jean Baptiste called for a motion to hold the Resolution in committee. Motion approved (4-11. VII. UPDATE ON DISCUSSIONS OF POSSIBLE CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS Alderman Bernstein began by saying the Police Chief has met with a group of neighbors and a draft that Is agreed and disagreed In part by the members of the committee and the Chief. Richard E=ddington the Chief of Police corrected the draft on the third to last bullet on the second page the phrase was added ... and of the police department towards the HSC Minutes 1129107 - Page. 10 community. The Chief forewarned the Commtee that the Citizens Committee will make a counterproposal because they would like a more coded ordinance driven system. The memorandum was summarized as follows 1) its inexpensive to institute 2) there is participation by the members of Human Service Committee; they would appoint members to the advisory board to the Chief of Police 3) over time you can see if the performance provided by this system is up to expectation of the committee and the City of Evanston. He suggested a minimal cost trial run verses a pricier endeavor. As it stands right now the Chief felt it offered several positives 1) the Human Services Committee would appoint members to the advisory board to the Chief of Police 2) the process of complaints review will not change 3) it is relatively low cost modest volunteer interaction between a group of citizens that the committee select to advise the Chief of Police in matters of discipline and interactions with the community. Other options are going to be more expense in regard to training the people involved and the continuity of the people involved would be much more difficult to maintain over time. It is in the context of the current budget situation. Alderman Tisdahl compared the difference vrth the other programs that were presented and that the others were in fact much more than this one. The Chief felt some places were outrageous the lowest being 2500 a case and that is personnel driven numbers. What he is hearing from the community is that they want input, to be informed, and seethe process and he felt he could provide that at a much more cost effective way. Alderman Bernstein had a question as to when the Advisory Committee gets involved. Do they come at the time of complaint is first made or the Chief comes to the committee with the decision and the committee will reject or accept and we understand ultimately it is the Chiefs decision that is understood. Will the Advisor Committee be In before you make your decision? The Chief responded that the Advisory Committee will see the decision before the Committee does. One of the things that is driving the Chiefs position is if we attempt to inject the Citizens Review Board prior to the decision of the Chief of Police we will now engage In litigation with the union, both the teamsters and FOP and based on the advise of our legal department primarily Elke Purze that if we review the facts of the names and the decision absents the names of officers in citizens complaints by the Citizen Advisory Committee just as we do here. Once names are brought up then this body goes directly into Executive Session, I think if you use the same format prior to this discussion and have those to be continuing discussion he thought we would get to our destination in a quicker less expensive fashion. if the more expensive route is taken his fear is that we would get bog down in negotiations with multiple unions on who can see what and when. His short answer to the question is they will see the information post decision but the point of having an Advisory Board is to ensue discussion of who, what, when, where, why. The give and take adjusts the next decision and the process to make sure it is transparent in response to the community. Alderman Bernstein spoke to Judith Treadway about the proposal and he stated that the proposal is viewed as an interim solution, i.e. as a bridge to an eventual fully empowered Citizen Review Board that is authorized by City ordinance. In the view of the Chief of Police this Proposal can be a permanent solution. He sensed that anything that is agreed upon has to be codified; it has to become an ordinance. Alderman Bernstein called Madeline Ducre and she spoke on the possible Police Review Board: I came to this committee to bring about change and I have to be honest, this is not the change I wanted to see. I wanted to see and Independent group of people, but you have to negotiate, comprise. I would hope that the council would take what the Chief has presented here with my comment, I feel that more can be done if this group is independent. Alderman Bernstein asked for clarification on what Ms. Ducre meant on an independent advisory board. Ms. Ducre responded we are pretty much agreeing on it but I have to say how 1 feel- how this started off. Alderman Bernstein felt she was going around her point and asked for further clarification. Alderman Jean -Baptiste interjected by saying that if we have evolved and this is the highest resolution that we have at this point and you may come later with additional negotiated kind of agreement. He suggested that we go forward not backward. Alderman Holmes wanted to know if Ms. Ducre was trying to remind the committee the original proposal was to have an independent citizen review committee. But understanding that funds are not available for that now and therefore the committee has worked with the Chief to reach a compromise, but you want us to remember what the original document said. Ms. Ducre agreed. Alderman Bernstein called Judith Treadway and she addressed the committee and stated she wanted to reaffirm why they requested this process because that there was a need for community input and participation for reviewing complaints. For one they would like to make sure they are legitimate and not frivolous 2) that they have follow up potential for the community for intervention and correction within the community 3) that ongoing professional development and training will increase the expectation of the highest quality of police services in our community as well as affirm the standards for the community to respect the laws and support law enforcement that does not diminish the well being of every resident regardless of their race, income or status in Evanston. Also reaffirming that this is a demonstration of responsiveness from the city government to address the long term perception of racial profiting and treatment of residents of diverse backgrounds; those background could include income status, ethnicity. They do not have a counter proposal and this is HSC Minutes 1/29107 - Page. 11 the agreed upon proposal. They know the Chief has taken on a great responsibility to be the key person for the review process to be successful. They wanted to move forward with the proposal in the form that it was presented with the singular amendment about the goal or respect. Alderman Bernstein called Betty Ester who confirmed that the proposal was an interim proposal and while it is being carried out that a study would be done to achieve an independent committee. If the committee accepts this as being the interim policy then a study would commence once it's put in place to formalize a permanent citizen policy advisory committee. Whether it's called a study group or a task force she hoped they would allow the community people that worked on it all or some to be a part of that group for studying an independent police academy advisory committee that would review police complaints. Alderman Bernstein called Bennett Johnson who resides at 708 Washington St. He complimented the Police Chief for putting up with the group. He also confirmed that the proposal was an interim proposal primarily because they think the police review committee should be independent. He addressed 1) the cost issue, it is not so much as having a committee that is budgeted and tried to put down the police conduct. 2) Discrimination that is faced with regard to the police department a comparison was made with the immigrants. 3) Training of police and citizens because citizens do not trust police and this would assist in getting rid of the anti -social activities. The same committee should do research and studies and investigation the various formation of police around the works. He felt one of the member of the committee should be deputize to sit in on the investigation from the beginning to prevent lack of clarity are minimized. Alderman Bernstein called Michael Green and he told the story of when he came home from school in 1981 on Church Street. A snow blower was stolen from across the street where he was sitting. He was confronted by the police as to why he was there on the street and because his response was not swift the police radioed in and another office sprayed him with mace. He was detained In the back of the squad car, Mr. Green mother was walking up at the time to see the police officer bite himself and was in the process of accusing Mr. green of assault. If his mother had not approach them when she did he would have been arrested for assaulting a police office which would have changed his life drastically. The assault and battery of a police office charge was not dropped he was given a year suspension and in a year his record was expunged. There was no one to go to for help and so he want to press upon the committee how important the proposal could be to the community. Everyone doesn't view certain people as being worthy of their patience of their respect. Accountability is needed. Alderman Bernstein asked if the committee pass the proposal and it goes to the City Council and its approved as it is outlined, modifications to come subsequently when its decided if its worth the paper its written on. The response was inaudible. Alderman Bernstein response that the document was toothless, not more than two can come from any one ward that is pretty much the only standard. You could have the first. seventh, the sixth. Evonda Thomas asked what is the time frame is that based on an ordinance being created or did they have a time frame in mind. The response was inaudible. Alderman Jean Baptiste felt that he would not characterize it as toothless; we don't have an advisory committee that Is some degree of independence chosen by a body outside of what the decision my chose now we have a group of people. He agreed that members from the committee should come from each ward and an initiative to make sure that they report formal and informal complaints. The discussion between the police and the advisory committee once the investigation has been done and the information is presented to the advisory committee for them to consider what has been presented. The advisory would be more rigorous than whatever the Human Services Committee could do. The other issues that came up about changes he felt it didn't necessarily had to come from this resolution. The training has been discussed and its exposure the new police officers need to be exposed to the community. Alderman Bernstein had concerns about getting things too specific now it is being discussed as one complaint form that is going to be disseminated from the Civic Center and the protocol is going to be talked about around town why did they decide to come to the Civic Center because some do not want to come to the Civic Center. Alderman Holmes responded that the Civic Center is one place that they will be but also they will be at community center, churches, police department and so they will be available all over the city. Alderman Bernstein requested assurance that it would be done. Alderman Holmes made a point about training in terms of the citizens an in terms of an independent review committee and that is where a lot of the cost come in. It was not just training for the police officers, some of the other examples of some to the programs that was looked at in other communities those citizens had different kinds of training that drove costs up. Concerns were brought up about complaints being dropped off at the police department some citizens would rather not go there. Alderman Bernstein staled that this would be an interim program so it would not codify until such time as the kinks out of it. In terms of deputizing someone that was not included in the proposal. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to approve the Qroposal. Motion approved 164). HSC Minutes 1r29107 - Page. 12 Vill. REVIEW OF EVANSTON MENTAL HEALTH BOARD PROPOSED FYOO-09 FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS Alderman Bernstein called Randy Walker to report on Evanston Mental Health Board, Ms. Walker gave a summary of the memo that was included in the packets (Attachment G). Alderman Tisdahl complimented the team on a wonderful job each year, she commented on the fact that several times different agencies were not filling out forms or were not responding to the processes and wanted to know how difficult were their forms and does all applicant have to fill out the same form regardless of the amount requesting. Ms. Walker responded if an agency is in need of money whatever the sum they fill out the forms correctly and it Is monitored. Another mental board member added that they have done things to increase paper efficiency 1) combined joint funding hearing 2) retooling the proposal that can be submitted online 3) doesn't change from year to year. Ms. Walker fell that there were a couple of changes in directors and some used the previous forms instead of the recently revised. But no one has been penalized for making a mistake on their forms. Alderman Tisdahl asked other question regarding the fifteen (15) percent property tax increase how would the increase affect the people that they serve. Ms. Walker responded that they are tax payers. Alderman Tisdahl further stated it would be a difficult she knows and even though the increase that is being ask is not a lot she cannot support the increase because it's a bad year for the budget, Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to approve the request to fund the Mental Health Board budoet as requested. Motion approved (4-11, IX. EXECUTIVE SESSION LITIGATION EIke Purze, legal council read a letter from the Assistant Director of Human Resources on the workers compensation proposed settlement for Paul McGee he was assigned to the City by the Township workforce program in 1998. (Attachment H) Alderman Jean Baptiste removed himself from participating in the voting because Mr. McGee went to Alderman Jean Baptiste initially and he referred Mr. McGee to Mr. MenchettL Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to apDrove the recommended settlement of $1,600. Motion approved (4- 91 X. ADJOURNMENT The Meeting unanimously adjourned at 9:30 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nicola Whyte, Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 1129/07 • Page. 13 y a.}.':,'�"'1�W" �gS`*'s . d..+A..i....'.+�: -r�;SL.s�.. ,up.rs:,,.r,-;.e'-i..�l. •-�--' r�wYfWf►I ����� '1',r HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday - January 7, 2008 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 F.M. PLEASE PRINT e ' Address/Organization: Topic Speaking On: ! nOzo244 LL Cl__ . . ,..Uloallc-lv 6 C-49iU?-- 1 , h2 Igbai HUIMAN.ISERVICES COO MITTEE taay - j anuary 7, 2 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT N e: Address/Organization: ummmlm� Topic Speaking on: i SERVICES COMMITTEE kday — January-- 7. 8 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRIVY Name. "Address/Organization: Topic Speaking On': q-,3 7 SERVICES COMMITTEE ry ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. /i PLEASE PRINT MNe • Address/Organization: a hj �-n ' LoLp q00 6y — 54. J j" din /a. c v LAP A 4ee !�. . � 'c C ln�►1 � � � J'�. f �' i+C� ��` -- 1:� i t� b;. ��in.�w�,. _ . _ �.._ -_ .- .__ . ! �0 5 Glia,��C�' 1�.. /SZ� _ �(Jrt�c►Gc�Sf.Raco r� %us1�.G - -. . V .,Y- O HUMAN COMMITTIEU0,11ME, Monday - -January 7,, 2008 ROOM 2402 - 7:00 P.M. PLEASE PRINT Name: Address/Organizatlon:duwl ATTACHN1=HT. ADDENDUM TO ENDORSEMENT PAGE (An individual's aIIiliation does not rc lcct the endorsement of their organization/agency unless otherwise listed.) State Senator Jcff Schoenberg Frank Kaminski,Chief of Security ETHS, retired Chief of Police, City of Evanston Evanston YWCA Loretta Line, Advocacy Director, Evanston YWCA North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice Dickelle Fonda, North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice Carmen Prieto, Associate Director Wieboldt Foundation Karen Cunningham, Evanston resident and secondary educator Frank LaPaglia, Evanston resident William Benjamin, Evanston resident Bill Geiger, Evanston resident Rev. Jaynes Halstead, St. Nicholas Church Joseph T. Monahan, Evanston resident Bill Sander, St. Nicholas Church Erica Granchalck, Evanston resident Joey Rodger, Evanston Friends Meeting Robert L. Hopper, Evanston Friends Meeting Marcia Bemsten, Evanston resident Andrew Lehman, Evanston resident Tom Lenz, Evanston resident Susan LeFevre, Evanston resident Verona Garcia, Childcare Network of Evanston Chris Murphy, Evanston resident and Director of University Ministry, Loyola University Christopher Hebein, St. Nicholas Church Peter Hebein, St. Nicholas Church Sheila Hebein, St. Nicholas Church ATTACHMENT B ' JANICE D. SCHAKOWSKY rasa a rno.aur. Wert a er oev, ruse afcreio. L Law OO."TM all Emma duo CO MWtg Cho tm.. rllW (finnalvits of tht I111t. h JM$fP8 asr onwis PPM,"M in WAN"Ok MUM son wi/ lDwwOWW lmAa orn=WOIIBt of RtPr>Itntlltaftims fd.P ►rr;./�1 `M TdMw�e atlt1L77ft • TTh lPit7L7rOt t1ElllRgltstr, i$a15-13tl9 IW=04Wld All. allll foe ►fat IeOa.Ledr/a T.ytrwl Off4ownip . ha 60JrLJ172 December 19.2W7 Rader and lobn "Curran 4211Kaide Sited Evanstaw, Illinois 60202-2361 Dear Ftieode Thank you for sharing with me the `lusat:sison CaIlurg far ii'amaaa and last Trnfment for Intmigraats aLd their Families." l strongly support you: effort, which call$ not OWY for . eve fodesai immigration reform but for bir and just treattaent of irtmliptmt$ in our own Co mumity of Evanston. I bave the privilege of represatting the 90 Camgres kag District, in which 32% of our residents m i=nigrauts ar ddidrm of cnmigraaL 1 oar ftx of them We live in oa of the most diverse districts in the country. with people coming from all earners of the globe, an with the tame goal of working had and providing opyart mities for their children. As your molutioo so correctly pointer out, immignatt have contributed so much to the culture and economy or our society. In Evanston and throughout the district, vas have a tradition of wckoming and embradag imtufgrants, regardless of their official num. It is important in this time of immigrant -arching and rxism dial we stand up for that traditioo rend for out deeply -held values. Merry of us cane from religious faiths that teach us to value the `stranger in our midst" rued treat than with respect and justice. Many of us wotk widr tmdoaaaerded immigrants and know that they are hard workem responsible employees and vahaad oollmgues. We also realize that it makes no sense from a moral. public health or coamoutic perspective to deny undocumerwd immigrants and their children the bmefrts that will keep them healthy, provide them with eduez600al opporumity, and help them become productive ta�tpayrss. Denying access to driver's lictnses a uxrtificmes won't keep undocumented immigrants fmro driving to work But providing licenses or certificates w91I keep our roads more wfc, allow drivers to get insured, and eliminate any incentive for leaving the scorer: oran aacideot or not reporting ome. I also appreciate this resolution's support for comprehensive reform at the federal level. refxwm that protects bonier security but also provides a path to eiftma hip. JU va d majority of undoarmenled immigrants want to become U.S. citiums They are willing to pay lees and fees, Iran English, and abide by the law. Under c==1 Law. tbo LpA they cannot They haver no &Wily to become C16=42 of this cotmuy and. hWcad, are fared to hide in tlx shadows and lint In fear of deportation. New proposals to turn local law caforcernm4 doctors and nurses and wraarLM�r...rLaKw.Lar►a,ne,r .�rrpa�.d,e...s+ 1•u�lx:r�.rr+e�»+fYr7Wrlw..ae+ s• I�i���!1._i11TTr errs ammonky se im puyWa pdo immigr>.tm o®cRs morsbs�a the +.u+N+++ti u tha aama i{= tW tlkydj Q .,,,,,S ■may frDm Occd d sCivitm jnstcA we occd to adopt . , .,1LfOmatrthgim undocumcnw tmmlgrmu a to earn Cid=nhtp and Crk +ww ibu6ng mmubem of our society. . Agate thmk you for year efforts and for rwiiiag oo suds an impOrtaot mwlud .. 1 look f . : forward to wfig with you on this issue. ? : ' Sinoerrir. .. , z t 1•t, Ian sch.kowiky Mespbc of Comm i i1 ATTAC1114ENT -C Hemenway United Methodist Church 933 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois 60202 . Phone. (847) 328-2600 Telefax: (847) 328- . 2662 hemenwayumc@gmail.com TO: Human Service Committee -City of Evanston FROM: Rev. Richard Mosley, Jr., Pastor Hemenway United Methodist Church DATE: January r, 2007 RE: RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES The United Methodist Church Book of Resolutions (2004), #266 reads in part, "Our Christian roots are centered among people who were sojourners in the land. Throughout history, people have been uprooted under conditions similar to that of Mary and Joseph, who were forced to flee to save the fife of their son..." With grace and concern, the church must address the legal, economic, social and human rights conditions of people who are legal or undocumented immigrants, and it must oppose the introduction of legislation by Congress or any State that would cause human suffering and a denial of such individual's rights as interpreted through our biblical understanding of God's grace to all peoples, but especially to the sojourner." As the pastor of Hemenway United Methodist Church, I support and encourage you to pass this Resolution Calling for Humane and Just Treatment for Immigrants and Their Families. Hemenway United Methodist Church is a multicultural church, whose membership represents immigrants from Haiti, Jamaica, Belize, Malaysia and other nations of the world. We are united by our faith and our commitment to serve everyone in our community, regardless of their status. WV prgyioe food for those who are hungry, we hpusc a pre-school for Hispanic children (Puerta Abierta), and we open our doors to Alcoholics Anonymous and other faith communities. Our shared values and our inherited belief ip the dignity of all per§p{ls qqmppls us to fight against fear, to protect the *oVept, and to provide an understanding that all of us are a vital part of what it means to be community. It was Ben Franklin who said "An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure". We cannot hold back the tide of fear and prejudice by ourselves. By the passing of this resolution (an ounce), we become community partners in extending mercy and establishing justice (the cure) to all the people of Evanston. It is by our example and our witness that others will know that responsible action creates a strong community. A "beloved community" where children can go to school without fear that they may be deported, where women who are ill can seek medical attention without fear of being arrested and where men and women can find decent and affordable housing without suspicion, Some members of my congregation are seeking citizenship, others are content to remain permanent residents. There are others whose status is unknown, but all believe that no one should be denied their human rights. Let us begin the New Year, with a new perspective that provides hope for all who live in Evanston, Illinois. -AT/ 11 ..:,l:f J} ,_ �, .. •. ., .ilk ... _. ! J .., i.i . .. .. ". - .. ,.,. l:'E ..:I .:. - •i� ,:. 1 1'' .I: .�!`..:!' -- .. - E: ii , ',-'tS.:l: :S# li' .ti.1. ,. • �. ? .: !'1 , f! J�`. ;_! •'r,. 'i,' -.. '•i _ ;1 r'li Ji':il fF! 1, �• .. i:• ! .. - ,i'. ..'� i✓ .,{:. :, 4:i }!i' 'i :i. ...,.,. :r' L .. .-, .. , -1 )' } :i 1: 'ii1!��r ' ..Ji r ,;la! -'•j , ._ .. ��.. ,. r.. .. i 11 .t' .. ., .{'r'- 'l!!:-. <-•: 1i J.3� �r#i:. r':1 .- , .-_'� .. .- '1 iJ� �, ... ..- r'f' �� � -, 1: L;, .L,. i ATTACHMENT 0 To the members of the Evanston Human Services Committee and the Evanston City Council: As a life-long Evanstonian and pastor emeritus of St. Nicholas Parish, I ask you to adopt the resolution for just and compassionate treatment of immigrants. For me St. Nick's is a microcosm of Evanston, a community that cherishes its diversity- During my 18 years as . pastor welcoming the stranger became a principle priority of the parish. In 1990 when Ascension of Our Load Parish was closed, we welcomed the Hispanic community to make their home at St Nick's, along with. Afro-Americans, Haitians and Asians who had arrived earlier. As many of you know, I have also invested myself in the larger Evanston community. Like you, I prize our extraordinary variety as a city of immigrants--frnm the Irish and Luxembourgers and Poles and others from the European continent, and African Americans who settled here beginning in the mid I9`s century to the more recent migrants from Mexico and Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. I am concerned that we not squander our rich gift by practicing drive -by diversity, especially in a time when we should be setting an example for other communities. I am deeply troubled by the harsh and demeaning anti -immigrant rhetoric and by local ; legislation that is targeting immigrants, as the debate moves from the halls of Congress into the neighborhoods, schools and homes of our state. I am deeply concerned when I think of the many families who continue to be ripped apart : ' or who live in fear in the shadows of our society because of a history of failed immigration laws and the moral failure of our legislators to pass compassionate, comprehensive immigration legislation. The majority of the 12 million undocumented immigrants living among us are hard workers who pay taxes and participate in our communities. Many own homes and arc rising children. 'They chose to risk coming here or risk overstaying their visas because the conditions in their own country of origin would not allow them the dignity of working, or if working, to cane a living wage to support their family. These are basic human rights that precede all positive law. Those conditions from which many have fled are due to economic forces driven by our own consumerism, by international laws that have given unfair advantage to first -world countries and by poor leaders in their own countries who have failed to honor their commitment to serve all of their people. Since we Evanstonians take pride in being an open a nil welcoming community, we must to embrace those who come here, not to take advantage of us but to work very hard for very low wages in jobs that few of us would want to do. They do this because they are desperate to provide the basic needs of home, food and clothing for their families. It is an irony, if not a contradiction, that a country that welcomes cheap immigrant labor refuses to grant official recognition to those "tired and poor, yearning to breathe free". These are folks who come with the very gifts of family and children that we so cherish. They seek to join us in building a community of justice, respect, love and peace, ATTACMIENT E December 28, 2007 i, Fortino Lean, came to this country on 1985 I had to leave my country because living in a rural area there were limitations and only with influences you can aspire to a good academic preparation for example to be admitted to a good college I had to pay a bribe to be admitted I did not know this and I was very disappointed of the systern, I have no problems blercng in with cultures only with those who want to do harm to others, I have here in the US half of my family brothers and sisters some live in Palatine, Des Plaines, Chicago they all have their own families, I chose Evanston to raise my own family, I loved the green, the beaches, the peace. However I want to state that throughout this time as community advocate for Hispanic community and co-founder of Organizacion Latina de Evanston I feel that the impact of our f1ispanic immigrants has been to improve the quality of fife of Evanston in particular the area of Church and Dodge. When I moved in to this area back in 1995 with my wife and children at that time my kids were a and S years old and after experiencing the first blockage of the street (I used to rent on 1730 Dodge) because someone had been shot at the 1800 block of Dodge, I was convinced that I had to do something about it, I did not want this kind of neighborhood to raise my kids in, I started by getting informed of what the city does for its residents and how to get involved in community policing my best approach was with the Evanston Police Department (through the Citizens police Academy) the partnership established with the police and all those officers assigned to support us was key to bring the participation of the residents on Dodge to Emerson, Darrow, Lyons and Church; although on the Hispanic side they were very skeptical whether if the police would really support the effort to fight drugs, violence and disturbances in the neighborhood, but indeed the Hispanics were part of the effort to bring down the crime existed for years on this neighborhood several drug houses were closed down with the information provided by this group of residents, we met month after month and we exchanged points of view and found the better solution to fight crime together as a group "call police whenever necessary and provide the description of what is you are reporting and not tolerate disturbances in front of our houses" so for those who think immigrants do not adapt or are a charge to this town instead should really think of what they can do on their part to continue to move forward to establish a real sense of cooperation and community so we can accomplish the mission established for this city "the most livable city in America". The city Council should pass this resolution for fair treatment of immigrants because it will promote positive community involvement by encouraging trust and cooperation within the immigrant community as it continues to work with the police and all of those groups engaged in improving our lives in this town. Approval of this resolution can generate greater confidence within the immigrant community to be pro -active instead of feeling an impulse to hide. Most immigrants come to country in search of a decent place to live and raise their families. Thank you. I.. ATTACHMENT F WHEREAS NUMEROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS HAVE ' ' ISSUED STATEMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS CALLING FOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMMIGRANTS, I HEREBY ENDORSETHE RESOLUTION TO BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EVANSTON CITY: COUNCIL CALLING FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES Essentially the resolution "resolves" that a person's immigration or citizenship status will not be a matter of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information by! law; and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprehensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy. Thank you for your support. n • o ����t C;�C� NAME ADDRESS E-MAIL grl Doe -tire (-c-i- h'C6 -;>6' �✓ .3� r • � l� ri�J•�L' �}t�' �'�i i� L/•4� � �7 � s � �►t�••�ti �.T ti� . 1�3 � �� IC ' 1 �f G �1 I n■ a WHEREAS NUMEROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS HAVE - ISSUED STATEMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS CALLING FOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMMIGRANTS, I HEREBY ENDORSE THE RESOLUTION TO BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL CALLING FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES Essentially the resolution "resolves" that a person's immigration or citizenship status will not be a matter of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information by law; and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprehensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy. Thank you for your support. NAME ADDRESS E-MAIL .o tT U - r �/ ✓r�`J' � lit'•" C-x % �; l �� r 4 113 6 k/�a-rA ll ! c''..4r Y. ' 1 : -1 .' J December 23, 2007 N ---7--_- WHEREAS NUMEROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMMATIONS HAVE ISSUED STATEMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS CALLING FOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMMIGRANTS, I HEREBY ENDORSE THE RESOLUTION TO BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL CALLING FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND TIIEIR FAMILIES Essentially the resolution "resolves" that a person's immigration or citizenship status will not be aratter of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information bylaw-, and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprehensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy. Thank you for your support. NA14M- ombre ADDRESSIDir=lon TeUemail (optional) .-... u-gatpll✓C-2 101 CLYD& CJ"1 )3' `/-Gj--3� - . ... 3-OS e- R a m i re f . j L, I Cl- y D tr C' Sx! 5>6 `t Wy ss' 7Squ� J'iC (773j ddv 731 �� � .11 t-1 t" » Z 7 `�" c3 if dG N' " fory e LEA/ OA I [ �r 2 9 lV J cA r v, "; C I i .. -77Z 7 n/ _.. �• r cc�r��•%-�-.�� cJG-'L� >�c=/., r �r..- /C/����Ktr�.r� JG L-c=�.�s AVId -i Gib//l .,tJ-Cfllt���91`,!1% h irr'ri rL.Z �1 %� �7G'r ► c2..Y.�l r =zw G� Lv�-.r_ 1. 1 � C;, < <�•,��rC�=�`�) "7���� � •._ `r_J_`�� , �,.� tiln ��i r t• r— fin 1 C' 't"C ;i K 'I? 9';�- (1 K � 1. �I urn CLt ('a,(0 t; Ylas i7c3 7\ AC q SO 6' ;1- tjt-r I F t, (f e; ,: r�r � c t ice/ � f 7 :,t ►' 'i y December 23, 2007 -3 ° WHEREAS NUMEROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS HAVE ISSUED STATEMENTS AND —RESOLUTIONS CALLING FOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMMIGRANTS, I HEREBY S� ENDORSE THE RESOLUTION TO BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL 'j "cS CALLING FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR fiKMIGRANTSAND TIIEIR FAMILIES Essentially the resolution "resolves" that a person's immigration or citizenship status will not be a matte of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information by law; and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprehensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy. Thank you for your support. NAMUNombm ADDRESSIM=ion TelJcn=il (optional) ( - 1�AU �clryll✓Cz ICt CLu9c- Y6`/- 45-3`? - Jose- ftar,irr_1 tc')l Ccyflc- tYe/?)R6e-1 �-7 - - - - oy ��s`� 7SQ U r � c. C 7 7.30 d W 73,19 f - - va-✓ T t1�1'�,� 2 5�� ii�; .{ rt rVa C iti I r 6110 V pir r.1xyI �f �(erif-f Uv r/!7 is?G'r 1e�{ « I 9,<- /, rYr-1 �1�e � �1�i �rt.�aCti r'� R 1 u n C e% i 7 c a 71 N( t/ So 6- :r- � CiI,toi ait—rlrL+lie, `: (I/ R447 -3--;� T )/el9 DoLt' /Li; Lie F� / f 'fir... c'tT �- - J s� f r,R 2lijlj A V ) 2 3 :3 FsS t1 0 �� k� ���� t• ?e� X�Ij vo- oy4 6 14 -� err v�• y�,- �� X � CA 14 CZ c I�Hfq-7 2, n t,� z� _�ah� n A PAnh 4L Qi/'i� iii t,�)dSA'r tl/V / � n!74 d'a - A i- LD 5> -,Y Z / _S7 December 23, 2007 — � WHEREAS NUMEROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS HAVE ISSUEi) STA'ITMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS CALLING rOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMMIGRANTS, I HEIZ DY ENDORSE THE RESOLUTION TO BE BROUQI IT BEFORE TIIE EVANSTON CITY COUNCII. ;cw t CALLING FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR WHIGRANTSAND TH IR Fi#W IFS Fsscntially the resolution "resolves" that a person's immigration or citizenship status will not be a matter of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information by law; and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprchensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy. Thank you for your support. NAME(Nombre ADDRESS/Dimcion TelAr ail (optional) L�3ll3S.Q Yri.. N a Yi a Q Ave �f3G9--sy.�2 i 1p-" 4tiv,) 9, Y6q--5-Y 4`1- 1��•P1C111 e Lute �]cao (� 2iianr/\ N �l'iLi, �I oc'j.VIi:�\tllilS �/l l 66r tI 6 Is c% o Idl 5-q -i � !�6'ii�'- �7 .�+ f %� rl4 ��nr�..4 / � �� �G�fT•'��'fi- dv Sa VVv , "7 �i�aN P. jcS'te--N N/}1 . AV4 2.- = ¢%rtvi�% /tit_. C� -v2 Vj t'6- �f '1 .l.rZK rK11�.1 r��l. l�LttlllSY T•1 f+�O/Y _�•J I_! 4r. I W, C C + c G%rr•ti GI1 C'i< mel-d k1 6#% l�l . �11 etlz 5joh 111•/ 7! 1� 1' .irr f wli t," . l c>a T! OQ /n }---T6V& N h `'rr -r c i '79- ZA s4? 6199 /2S4, r c 71 � _,.. Al.- &Vc t-, c 8' 2. G �CJJ .'r � �� � c�iG�C/�r.�Nh .�z�A �v3rclrJ 85�7•-SrG�/-<a�"/7 reh In, cv 4 t•- .tL n -4MC) s, K (PiUa-gsoy `k N 7 ':VZZ 5-,1- n,4 WHEREAS NUMEROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS HAVE ISSUED STATEMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS CALLING FOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMMIGRANTS, I HEREBY ENDORSE THE RESOLUTION TO BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL CALLING FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES Essentially the resolution "resolves" that a persons immigration or citizenship status will not be a matter of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information by law; and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprehensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy, Thank you for your support. NAME ADDRESS E-MAIL 7 / ef 7,11 ON f -�671V/ 9 q -;x 6 J)Ild 7 ZA 4 I. the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENP i FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. '. NAME (print) Address Signature F µ pApOY,CnS KIN .PAfYi{vS0w muins-CA VA C'U` 6-(,DA RW1ZZ CAtsrEA;Z 420 K0' . {C70A G ,Juw.,, Wdv, a PmI Ps Qw.eL V" OKI fatZ. 04" OR u Z u 4�j "y' u I, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES, NAME (print) Address Signature KqtJ� � o3Jt ca.� Fares�' %�� a'�e�t ••+��Tu e k �IE�.L �7�►mK,.G.eo�vj lit, r • z� a _ t .- 1 1, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Co6n'cil to' adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT'' FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. NAME (print) Address Signature A4 Moon 00VA7" a It WR44 C r eco �� I, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. NAME (print) Address Pplll, hNi�u�ih Signature I I - ffzw rllx� 3.W i1 t 4Vti r 1 34s. V g0 Z MA"Ih v' S PtlV1 d YOXin eS 9 O Z �Iq�i SGh I, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council ,to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT ; FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. l NAME (print) ,G�i�f/aMOk 1��1�;Q/1(�GZ 4ddress Signature 835� 7,,di,', `fie ��f C5p6 .1 20 0Sc ke evt 0i St E V &Atdv�,,a t, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT,: FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. NAME (print) Address Signature mikElk E • U20 2.U0 RIM- Apt- EVAjSVN THE EVANSTON RESIDENTS WHO ARE AFFILIATED WITH LAKE STREET CHURCH, BY SIGNING BELOW, ENDORSE THE Resolution Calling for Humane and .rust Treatment for immigrants and thtir Families. Essentially, this resolution affirms that except where required by law or specifically provided for under the resolution, the Evanston Police Department will not inquire about immigration status; benefiLS, opportunities and services of Evanston will not be conditioned on citizenship or immigration status; immigration status information will not be disclosed; and questionnaires and forms generated for City purposes will not include questions about citizenship and immigration status; and provides that a that copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and U.S. Congress, urging comprehensive immigration reform. The full resolution accompanies this signature page for your review, if desired. Thank you for your support. ADDRESS xvi_ f /,. &MAIL pip, Y1 g J�SCt �v? !�� [y� � �. �(� �L'i'C7 itUVoS� • i'n«1L"'>�:f l'r .a CxvttA f(A 3 ej UV*--9 h).- r L Gc z 1241 Mg%L ►,— r00%a L o - v THE EVANSTON RESIDENT'S WHO ARE AFFILIATED WITH LAKE STREET CHURCH, BY SIGNING BELOW, ENDORSE THE Resolution Calling ror Humane and •t Just Treatment for Immigrants and their Families. Essentially, this resolution affirms that except where required by law or specifically provided for under the resolution, the Evanston ;. Police Department will not inquire about immigration status; benefits, opportunities and services of Evanston will not be conditioned on citizenship or immigration status; immigration status information will not be disclosed; and questionnaires and forms generated for City purposes will not include questions about citizenship and immigration status; and provides that a that copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and U.S. Congress, urging comprehensive immigration reform. The full resolution accompanies this signature. page for your review, if desired. Thank you for your support. NEISIGNAT ADDRESS V= l s• 1 -Q.r /.32$ 4/,,-r` A- twoz-dz -PqA�41! �Jho��+nJrr."ark CAE19-A t(r�, �k naHL4_e col Una, ` �, Zp� �YA�.S r�,r,1L�)Z. .If 'f J 1 /50 3/ 6' eaWa e,341 A-Z)4" x ---rl & d xd Z, �tnli-�� i�-�•v�� i D �3 CJlr,�1 �c,[ r i;k- E-V,0 �j IL, W)UTz 2760 Hampiurl Pky4f VW Fvarlsfun, IL Bozo t� aalv�' a©� t'/iie-, ta S k & o aaein ova WHEREAS NUMEROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS HAVE ISSUED STATEMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS CALLING FOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMMIGRANTS, I HEREBY ENDORSE THE RESOLUTION TO BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL CALLING.FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES Essentially the resolution "resolves" that a person's immigration or citizenship status will not be a matter of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information by law; and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprehensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy. Thank you for your support. , NAME ADDRESS E MAIL 1^�ayccce► W,Vj6a e�dw UA" 44M&01A44e"1' WA A (�o� 7,�€ = 0�� l••�. _../{ram„ s �• �y �.` q - %U f,a 1 oZ.O ,•,ti, a !mod 1 sA4k,•e 1L 0077 WHEREAS NLYWROUS RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS HAVE '; i . ISSUED STATEMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS CALLING FOR JUSTICE AND COMPASSION FOR IMIVIIGRANTS, I HEREBY ENDORSE THE, RESOLUTION TO BE BROUGHT BEFORE THE EVANSTON CITY COUNCIL CALLING FOR JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS : } AND THEIR FAMILIES Essentially the resolution "resolves" that a person's immigration or citizenship status will not be a matter of inquiry unless a particular situation requires that information by law; and that a copy of the resolution be forwarded to the President and Congress urging comprehensive immigration reform. If you wish to see the ] document in full, your "signature solicitor" has a copy. Thank you for your. .: i, support. f _ NAME ADDRESS MAIL r ; C,vackG-moo, it- 6"t•6 ,)�AP . z-7 z3 w . A.V i S AV 6, d City- C rl t C A (v :a- c_ C06 it, i U U `r(1- CJ 3 f-a t� , C1 t E=1 c �1 rvr4 Cl lr �'��G� %-&% era F AY ' y SKokr TI .� 66 7 ? ja44 - _ r �4`'Lt.3��t yjP CAL [ems, a� -Vt TDT/st -5 EYn4nIS%DIJ RE3/G�+�115 �� . ClIIC/I�v 5/OE7�1� 6 I, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. NAME (print) Address Signatu - r Axe. 3b3a isteuA sr umi, � WE.. 14ems �4761o_ n &rov �4 �a►1,0) Mlehe jim qo(P A Saute+ R1�. �a•�o� Y�� u 1 ;oc" Soo 4w �7 4 ALL Mo� ?A N�� d'rrs.+ [.Aw Y EP, _.. t IGt- -e, J. i f-L7/ 94'. r1n.�R.� AOL I gs"v Al. C'��< �. !3' • ! b � sr�e C4L0 13,4 c. NE1 MeM,00S OF ST �Ilc�fpt fi5 Liw yp& e/P GE 4VE i �� EvA►� srn� �eFs �v�N� 2 SK°KID [.fit 1 ST NICHOLAS Ci(IRCH SOB RIDGE AVEME UVANIMN, IL OMP f. I, the'undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. NAME (print) Address �aturet ' -(�- k o�a�ole� Sua(P-?- r) uat��fom ur9 i sugrez 42-�Ai c. edw LK�k1� h5[Ci jv� . C,U� ►� R.•t.. L' 0.CL, ev:t} o tc M Luv Owe 6 c cam' �``'`a S. �hN ©'C'�► sz� PcPu��� P_v a4.► sue- . (� . �rQJ�1 cCtE. �+4i�" �. R`�°'"e �.tctw�.L'•.. !n v sv +- %�^...K..a. ��-• 7• �2�L R/cli � CLrl7tiAI, 7f rpc2tL PWMeCo<,,,A 0ygl•Cm + t kale RXe Jose, lel%a Si. �Y�us�an, SL doto � Sr NICHOI-AS CHURCH M RIDQE AVEMM fWANSTON, IL MW Jam. OX6 .7 �- f 7 PD. I, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. NAME (print) Address Signature av� Cori1� 71S F - Z yy� r �QJ?!lr{ieN�. %, 7Y��,-��%M�/ /j/7; iiii�L.,� �y�� •lit.,• ,�Ri.lw..• K., f / • Col��a.�-..� ,..K,�. /d I � t � �-sl � .ta �' � �a �� 1 f . • rn os \ro etct44— ra -r MoArjP 5i`, Goaad V AJQ �► S16h►ATu v o?A I A4197,0e' y r� �Q �lkar�• 150E r am- r2-1- 1��02u;" ru16r — ltr Aw 1 PESIOEOT UYA'*n'j Wive AYE ey�TON. It. GOW I, the undem4ned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR fIUh1ANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES, NAME (print) Address Signature . j. SIs�R ✓g�� (?RtC/16fr�7.: �i:1�/ ��+�.►a! IEP GtftCR�a �'i. � {� �j Pbr:ctc,hzr �. EbM .0fJlIjd L uPlf-12t 14'0 4 r21VJ6 Sr C V,4 NST-0 i � tuP�EQ Lr1G. V s jo'V�lj 130z Wi2s4'.sk" 51,vi�,ra, J1;/� ��• .[ [ Are. CaI'rnal�j/ v 4 ./jj Q� +ua+eld.,rf '� • � Y�Z��fiW �- )'� 4'Y 6 90��+� f �fiGZdt iaGJ K nrarna►�r.rr�C 1 .1 d)Ttbiq• Col. C6 ca VI AL Isar' �� /�,.,�,� •, �D�� ie � Pt G� ��►� ,Z`�r, Szl (per ZO �} [/rC/f /�/� l/yam/ �] / •M► �j� t S /%, (� (.�•� bp10Z. Z CAI G ba � 5 a 1 ON.11. Its 15 rm,16Too SIB �j I, the undersigned resident of Evanston, urge the Mayor and the City Council to adopt the RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES. NAME (print) Address Signature �•' �AM�S p. �3t t11��0 1032M 0040E � 2 c�A / f��/�l� doe 111- 41W I2 6ilIq AJrM � • Jm 61 ipo(K� 83)124 Are - &- .1, � t G C 7n_ 1 5- Kc6t S6� , qz-i kfeW 4t ��� L q1 nwr ,r/m --• i- XeAn4+e C,,mpL6 tLo-01"NAn S $ • Phi rri � h n� Nti b� !! � S t1 dr, �� i �+ f W�,,�1.,,,, �.�.✓ . ,Q M 6S M. L[APIW.A j 9z3 MrWs'qN -4vz or At �° �r�,►�k- �- G�,�r-� ►-,-�L qot &01G Avc. R � ©`�oole,, � 135 i&,p,,e. 6V -tea Qaoa #e� alfc-- RYA M501 l ,CAS IPEtj'5 ST AY@fga owPKW _ e 0TON, It ATTACHMENT 6 r s EVANSTON MENTAL HEALTH BOARD City of MEMORANDUM Evafistorr__ _____.. TO: Alderman Steve Bernstein, Chair and Members Human Services Committee FROM: Randy Walker, Chair and Members Evanston Mental Health Board SUBJECT: 2007 Mental Health Board Update DATE: Thursday, December 20, 2007 ACTION: For Your Information The Evanston Mental Health Board (MHB) is a public body established by state legislation and a local ordinance to administer local tax dollars for mental health services. In November 1968, Evans- ton voters approved by referendum the creation of an Evanston Mental Health Board empowered to levy taxes And expand mental health services. Evanston was the first Illinois municipality to pass such a referendum under the provisions of the IL Community Mental Health Act of 1967 The MHB's mission is to assure the existence of the best possible environment for the promotion of mental health and emotional well being in Evanston. The Board is pleased to provide you with an overview of its activities in FY07-08, and to submit its recommendations for allocations in the FY08-09 City Budget for Community Purchased Services. Included in this overview are the following: , _ . , 11 • Recommendations for FY08-09 Program Funding Allocations . • Review of FY07-08 MHB Activities and Accomplishments - • "`Projected Activities and Goals for FY08-09 Recommendations for FY08-09 Program Funding Allocations At its November 2007 meeting, the M1'lB adopted its recommendations for the allocation of . $859,000 for human services funding for 28 programs in 19 different agencies. 'Me Board is re- questing an increased amount of $15,000 over its current FY07-08 level of funding of $844,000. After the November Board meeting, we met with the City Manager to discuss with her the NIHB's proposed program funding allocations for FY08-09. Ms. Carroll indicated to us at that time that she would include the additional $15,000 allocation in her proposed Budget that she submits to the City Council. She said that she could not promise that the increase would be supported because of the problems in the City Budget. However, she added that the City Council demonstrated that it valued and supported human services agencies, as was evident in the 07-08 Budget, and that the increase was relatively small so it might have a chance of being; adopted. The MHB is requesting that the Human Services Committee also support the inclusion of the addi- tional $15,000 allocation for Community Purchased Services in the FY08-09 Budget. We would City of Evanslon + 2100 Ridge Avenue ;- Evanston, IL 60201 847.448.8053 f 847.448.8133 (fax) * Hsaver@cityofevansion.org r � appreciate your making this recommendation to your colleagues on the City Council wlica-the Budget is being considered. Enclosed in your packet is a comprehensive summary of the Board's FY08-09 allocation mdorn= i s mendations, and the MHB's assessment and rationale for its funding decisions (on white). Funding Environment Developing the funding allocation recommendations was a difficult and competitive process, as it is every year. This year, the Board developed its funding recommendations with several key factors in mind: Funding from the State for essential services was again tighter and more restrictive as the` State moves closer to full implementation of fee -for -service (FFS) for many of the Board's funded agencies. Programs are continuing to have to work harder and serve more people in order to cam the same amount of funding at a unit cost that was previously provided as a grant — in order to financially stay in place. A number of Evanston non -profits have con- verted their billing systems, record keeping, clinical tracking, interventions and case notes at considerable cost to each agency to prepare for FFS. There is less flexibility in how work is carried out «ithin an agency. Each direct service person must provide significantly greater therapeutic or direct service hours each month in order for the agency to receive re- imbursement from the State at their current level of funding. These are dollars that were previously provided as a grant. • This funding cycle the MHB received proposals from 28 programs at 19 agencies. (See in- formation in packet.) This total amount requested was $931,889, exceeding the MHB's cur- rently budgeted amount by $87,900 — a 10.4% increase. Proposals comprised the follow. ing: 0 20 programs requesting funding increases; 0 7programs requesting maintenance funding; o I new program that was not funded last year; • Last year the MHB proposed, and obtained support from the City Council, for a purchase. service budget of$844,000, a $15,000 increase in revenues. That was only the first increase in the Board's funds in seven years. . . , . , , , , , : , , , , . • The MH13 is requesting the additional $15,000 in the attempt to respond -- to some small extent -- to the increases in the funding requests, as well as to maintain funding levels for agencies that were previously funded. If this proposed funding recommendation is not in- corporated into the City's 2008-2009 Budget, the Board will need to review and revise its recommended allocations after the City Budget is adopted. Recommendations for Community Purchased Services Funding As we indicated in the previous section, the Board is requesting an additional $15,000, or 1.8% in� crease for FY08-09. A summary of the Mental Health Board's request of $859,000 for Community. Purchased Services funding comprises the following recommendations for the 28 program funding' requests: • Maintenance funding for 14 programs • :Increased.Wnding of S15,000 for 12 currently. funded programs Page 2 of 6 r` • A funding reduction for l program (Social Work Services of the Evanston Community De- fender). Even though both of that agency's programs arc ranked at the very bottom of the MHB's rankings, the agency provides an important function for the community. The Board shifted some of its funding from the Social Work Program to tite Legal Services Program in order to support the Defender's core services and to be able to maintain the same level of funding for the agency, • Funding for l new program request. This is a Collaborative Supported Housing Program that is a partnership of Trilogy, the McGaw YMCA, and Connections for the Homeless. The Mental Health Board has consistently urged and encouraged its funded agencies to increase their independence from City dollars by engaging in more active fund raising and the submission of applications for grants. However, in this period of more limited outside funding, MHB money con- tinues to be essential. Without an increase in MHB funding capacity, in order to provide any new funding to assist %vith increases in the cost of doing business, or fund any new initiatives the Board would need to take dollars from stable, excellent agencies and programs that truly count on local funding to make ends meet. The MHB is vitally aware of, and appreciates, the difficult decisions that the City Council and City Manager have to consider about the City's Budget this year. However, this would be only the sec and increase in the General Fund of any type for this budget element in 13 years, or since FY95-96. . The $15,000 increase requested by the Board for FY08-09 is 1.8% of the current funding level of $844,000. if the Board's request for this additional investment of local funds in the human services network is supported, it would provide a little more flexibility in the Board's allocation process this year. In the Health Department's most recent EPLAN Community Survey results, mental health problems were rated as the top health concern in Evanston. In looking at the total community health needs assessment, mental health was one of the top six priorities. These findings were supported in the August 2007 Evanston Health and Human Services Assessment Report from the Evanston Chapter of the United Way of the North Shore. The requested $15,000 increase is a small amount, yet it is enough for the Board to recognize and partially support some additional, valuable services for the citizens of Evanston. Approximately 7,100:Evanston residents were supported by services that the MI1B invested in and monitored in FY06-07; this is approximately 9.6% of the City's population. Approximately 85% of the indi- viduals and families supported were low-income. The Mental Health Board's allocations also align with the work that is projected in the City's Stra- tegic Plan. We arc attaching a summary that highlights how our proposed funding this year furthers specific goals in the Strategic Plan. Additionally, the Board's program allocations strongly support the Strategic Plan value area of "Strengthening Community" which emphasizes the need to develop partnerships with not-for- profts "... to provide a better life for our diverse population." The MHB is investing in programs whose diverse demographics include marginalized populations with a broad -range of disabling con- ditions that can limit them from participating in the community. Evanston's dollars are enabling' a number of people served by City -funded programs to remain a part of, rather than apart from the full -range of community life. Page 3 of 6 Funding Process After agencies submitted their funding proposals this year, the MHB. and Evanston Chapter of the United Way of the North Shore (UWay) met to implement a preliminary review of all the agency funding proposals. The Board has followed this process for the past five years. Specific areas of Board member interest, progress in attaining outcome objectives, pressing issues and/or problems were identified in each of the proposals. The questions were submitted to each agency prior to their funding hearing. In October the MHB convened two separate allocation hearings. One was held in collaboration with the UWay for those agencies that were requesting funds from both the MHB and the UWay. The other hearing was for agencies that were requesting funding from only the MHB. After com- pletion of the hearings, an MHB Allocation Sub -Committee reviewed all of the agencies' com- mcnts, input from Board members, and evaluative information about the proposals. The Sub - Committee's allocation recommendations were presented to the MI-ld at the November Board meet- ing for review, discussion, and modification prior to adoption. The MHB again used its funding Guidelines and Criteria to assess and rank all the program funding; requests. The Board's list of Final Scores for each program funding request is enclosed.71-:.;! r' The MHB's funding decisions this year were influenced by a number of factors, in addition to the . funding proposals: • The MHB Agency Liaison provided useful information about agency performance from' ' each of their respective agencies, as well. The Board members attended agency board meetings; made site visits; maintained contact with agency directors and other agency rep- resentatives; and worked on projects involving collaboration between an agency and the MHB; •` The MHB also considered information that was provided about each agency's contract compliance. While contract compliance was not a large factor in the decisions, it was an . issue that sometimes led to other issues. • .The Board's decisions were also influenced by agency performance on their outcome ob-, . . jectives reflected in their quarterly reports. The Board continued to place an increasing emphasis upon outcome reporting and the extent to which a program was making a differ ence in the lives of their clients, Funding Guidelines and Criteria developed by the MHB for the 1-Y07-08 funding allocation process were revised and used for this FY08-09 funding cycle. Each program was evaluated and rated using six weighted category areas, each of which incorporated a number of criteria. Each program re- ceived a score that measured how well it met the performance criteria and funding priorities of the Board (attachment on yellow). The individual category scores and the Final Score were used by the Board to: more objectively determine the degree to which an agency program met the M1413's pri- orities and criteria; rank order the overall performance of programs from across a number of critical areas; and, assist in making distinctions between programs. The MHB used the scores and the information above as additional tools in its decision -making - ° - - process,lor allocating funds. The definitions of the categories and die Funding Criteria are included: in this packet (attachment on green). Page 4 of 6 Review of FY 07-08 MHB Activities and Accomplishments Community Education In its mission and charter, one of the ways that the Board accomplishes its goals is to provide com- munity education and training about important mental health and other human service issues in its areas of responsibility. The MHB coordinated and/or assisted in the production of 8 conferences and forums: • Community Reinforcement and Family Training (CRAFT), a scientifically validated, community reinforcement approach to treatment to help significant others who are con- cerned about the alcohol/other drug use of their loved one who refuses to seek treatment. This was provided for professionals as a new intervention that might be helpful. A follow- up forma on CRAFT is being planned for families who are experiencing these issues. • A community training provided by the Illinois Council on Developmental Disabilities and Easter Seals for early child care workers about inclusion practices in early childhood classrooms, as well as techniques in dealing with serious behavioral and social -emotional issues, as well as autism. • The P Annual "Maximizing Children's Potential" to explore "the power of the brain" and raising emotionally healthy children. • In partnership with the Commission on Aging and a number of social service organiza- tions, the 91h Annual "Aging Well:' :. • A presentation by 3 community mental health providers about their local, aggressive men- tal health outreach, programs to help people stay out of the hospital, and enable them to develop shills for living in the community. In addition, in a long-standing partnership with the local Naomi Ruth Cohen Charitable Foundation, H the MHB collaborated on the following workshops that emphasized the reduction of stigma for peo- ple who need assistance with emotional and mental health issues, and the resources that are avail- able to help: • Promoted the 2"d "feeling Kinda Blue," a conference with Mt. Zion Tabernacle Apostolic Church on depression in the African -American community. *, Participated on the Steering Committee for the 6'h Annual Mental Health Conference -- "Someone You Love Has Mental Illness - Your Child, Your Parent, Your Friend: Support and Solutions" The workshops and presentations focused upon the needs and issues of the family members and individuals who support a person with mental illness. • Helped to coordinate "ff rfrte de .5entirse Bien Depresion err la Con unhad Latina" (The Art of reeling Good: Depression in the Latina Community), a workshop in Spanish that addressed issues related to depression. anxiety and stress as they are experienced in the Spanish-speaking culture. More than 200 people participated. MHB staff arranged for a production company that was developing a nationally syndicated program in Spanish on health -related issues in the Hispanic Community to film and interview some of the par- ticipants in the proceedings. They reported that this was the first time that they had been able to find something like this for the members of the Spanish-speaking populations. Page 5 of 6 3 Hoard Development The MHB has been involved in an ongoing, Board development process to gain broader knowledge and understanding about mental health/human services issues and programs in the community. The following topics were presented this past year: • Overview of Evanston's Local CommunityFunding Profile. MHB Staff Presentation; • "Evanston's Changing Demographics." Judy Yturriago, Bilingual Education Director, Evanston School District 965, Megan Kashner, Executive Director, Infant Welfare Society of Evanston; + "Evanston Community Foundation." Mary Beth Schroeder, Assistant Director; "Northwest Center against Sexual Assault." Elsie Mills, Executive Director; • Report from Center for Independent Futures about Progress on Collaboration with ETHS. Jane Doyle, Executive Director; • The MHB adopted its own policies related to Conflicts of Interest as they pertain to a local funder. This was followed up by an orientation and presentation by Elke Tober Nun, Assistant Corporation Counsel, on the City's Ethics Ordinance. Projected Activities and Goals The Mental Health Board's initial plans for thb coming year include the following: 1. In conjunction with Metropolitan Family Services, the plan and implement the 4 h Annual Power of the Brain Conference. 2. In conjunction with PEER Services and Metropolitan Family Services, plan and implement the follow-up training in the CRAFT intervention model for families of individuals with substance alcohol -related problems who are refusing to seek treatment. 3. Continue to assist funded agencies in honing measurable impact objectives that are client - centered and that illustrate how services provided make a difference to clients, families, or the community. 4. The MHB will continue to focus on quarterly Board development activities; maintain ongoing Agency Liaison relationships to monitor funded agencies; and, develop community -wide educa- tional presentations on topics of interest in the Board's Areas of responsibility. The members of the Mental Health Board will be available at the January 7 Human Services Com- mittee meeting to answer your questions, and look forward to discussing the information in this.re- port'with the Committee. Enclosures: + Mental Health Board Funding Categories and Criteria for 2007 Allocation Process (green) •. ' 2007 MHB Purchased Services Program Allocation Recommendations and Rationale for FY08-09 • 2007 MHB Funding Criteria Scores: Sort by Final Score (yellow) • FY08-09 MI-IB Program Allocations -- Organized by Strategic Plan Goals (legal size) Page 6 of 6 CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, February 18, 2008 Civic Center - Council Chambers 7:00 P.M. ROLL CALL- PRESENT: Alderman Bemstein, Alderman Holmes Alderman Jean -Baptiste Alderman Moran A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT: Alderman Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Evonda Thomas, Nicola Whyte, Herb Hill, Lisa Woods, Adeliita Hernandez OTHERS PRESENT: See attached list of attendees PRESIDING: Alderman Bernstein 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Bernstein called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. IL APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE JANUARY 7, 2008, MEETING Aldfrrnan Moran moved for approval of the minutes of the January 7, 2008 meetfnp: Alderman Holmes seconded, liMion unanimousty approved 4-0 Ill. CONSIDERATION OF DECEMBER 2007 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved for Approval: Alderman Holmes seconded. Motion unanimously approved 4-0 W. CONSIDERATION JANUARY 2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Jean -Baptiste called for a motion to approve the Townshlp Assessors bills. Alderman Moran seconded. Motion unanimously approved 4-0 Alderman Bernstein had a few questions 1) regarding the list for the Payroll processing report Township and Assessor Payroll there was a coversheet but no report 2) clarification on the name of an education organization. V. UPDATE ON DISCUSSIONS OF POSSIBLE CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to accept as presented: Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded, Motign unanlmousiv approved 4-0 Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked the Chief of Police about CRft07-01. What procedures the officers are following regarding that context? A reprimand was issued to the officer involved. The Chief replied that the reprimand was for the Juvenile investigator who was the lead officer on the investigation. He failed to provide a second juvenile officer while interviewing a juvenile which is required by state law. The second officer does not interrogate they are there to safeguard the rights of the youth. Due to the officers inexperience the Chief felt the reprimand was appropriate in a progressive discipline setting. One change that has occurred in the department due to this situation is a redistribution of supervision to ensure proper coverage on each shift. Alderman Holmes wanted to know if it was the lead officers duty to inform the family that the juvenile would be interrogated. The Chief replied that the environment at the time was confusing and that is why a supervisor is needed to calmly sit and discuss the situation, there was a miscommunication between the youth and his parents and the parents and juvenile officer. The officer who interviewed the youth was not there when the parents told him not to speak. The miscommunication led to the confusing and mislaid information and that is why a supervisor is needed to be the central information point to prevent anything like this happening in the future. Alderman Holmes asked if it is common practice for the youth parents to be notified so they can be present when the youth is being questioned. The Chief responded yes, the parents are given a chance to be with the youth when they are being interrogated and if they are not present a second officer is present. Alderman Bernstein asked the outcome of the robbery charge. The Chief said the victim did not identify the offender and the charges were dropped. He further stated because of the budget cut at the county level the information on case status HSC Minutes 1129107. Page. 1 is not going to the community quickly and he has asked the court officer to check if we need to assume that burden to reduce the confusion In the community as to the case status of their kids. Vi. UPDATE OF CITIZENS POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE INTERNAL. MEMORANDUM Judy Treadway a member of the Citizen Police Advisory Committee said they are in the second review of the proposal and the committee hopes to have a final proposal by at the April 7, 2007 Human Services Committee Meeting, Alderman Bernstein thanked her for working on the proposal, ns going to be very beneficial. VIi. CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSED RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUST TREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEiR FAMILIES At the January7, 2008 meeting a Resolution was proposed and it was kept in committee to broaden the group that spoke on the Resolution. An alternative Resolution was submitted by the people who submitted the first Resolution, Alderman Jean -Baptiste submitted an amendment, so there are three copies of the Resolution, The third Resolution submitted by the Resolution group is a combination of Resolutionll-R-08 (approved January 7, 2008) and Alderman Jean -Baptiste amendment, Alderman Jean Baptiste move to substitute the Resolution calling for Comprehensive Immigration Reform as the Resolution. Alderman Holmes seconded. Alderman Moran suggested that the meeting should focus on resolutions related on the issue and he reminded the committee that they unanimously vote in favor of the original resolution. He suggested that they hear what the speakers had to say and then take it to Committee discussion. Alderman Jean -Baptiste clarified the difference between the three Resolutions; 1) called for the City of Evanston not to discriminate against immigrants documented or non -documented in providing services and the Police Department not to investigate immigration status when someone is being charged. We do not discriminate in Evanston and the Police Department does not go out of their way to investigate immigration status 2) this Resolution calls for temporary protective status; protection of family separation due to deportations of undocumented parents to separate them from their American children. It asks for a faster process to extraditing qualifying applicants who are eligible to receive their legal papers. Redirect public resources from deportation to providing safe entry, end to discriminatory treatment of applicants for immigrations relief on the bases of race, national origin, gender, and economical class status 3) Integrates the first by calling for Evanston not to discriminate with the comprehensive reforms that is in the second proposed resolution. Alderman Moran reiterated the importance of the resolution and putting it on record to eliminate confusion as to what the practices would be there will be a formal policy and procedure on record. Alderman Jean -Baptiste voiced a warning as to advertising Evanston as a sanctuary city; the residents would be subjected to greater danger, it would be safer to keep it under the radar keeping under the radar it would be safer, Alderman Moran disclaimed the term sanctuary city; it is not or ever was the intent. it is a resolution calling for Humane and just treatment of immigrants, all Immigrants in Evanston. Loretta Line, 1425 Howard speaking on behalf of the YWCA please see Attachment A. John Drennan, 400 Main St.: Mr. Drennan thanked Alderman Moran on his availability; he was concerned about the original resolution stating it could potentially put the City at risk for litigation and jeopardize the safetyof some citizens. He felt when efforts to protect one group of people could potentially put the City and its citizens at risk for harm it losses its purpose. Mr. Drennan received a statement from the Immigration Law Institute which stated the Resolution is unlawful, he also went on to say that a matricula consular (consular registration document) could be obtained fraudulently and does not satisfy as form of identity. He urged the Committee to keep the Resolution in Committee until these four things are met 1) the Resolution should support, compliment and cooperate existing law 2) remove the hate language 3) define the group of people the Resolution is to protect 4) consider removing any inferences that the City supports any specific immigration platform . He offered his time to reshape the Resolution if needed. Linda LaFianza, 1616 Thelin Ct.: Ms. LaFianza highlighted the fourth paragraph on the approved Resolution and felt the Committee should reexamine it. She urged the Committee not to rush ahead on the Resolution and also suggested to put the Resolution up as a referendum to truly get the voice of the people. Fr. Bob Oldershaw, St. Nicholas Church: Agrees with Ms. Line, he believes a public statement on what position Evanston will take on immigration status is needed. He `believes that all immigrants documented or undocumented need to know Evanston is a place that respects them as human beings, a place where they can get services and assistance without placing themselves or their families in jeopardy.* Dawn Marie Mueller, resident of Oak Park representing Illinois Citizen Security Network; Ms. Mueller read a paper published by the Center for Gender and Refugee Studies at the University of California, Hastings College of Law and its entitled Justice for Pepe, Justice for Guatemala Campaign, October 15, 2007. Signatures also on the documents were two Evanston Residents Rachael Heuman and Martha Pierce. Ms. Mueller felt we need to respect the rule of law; she is a HSC Minutes 1129l07 - Page. 2 poverty advocate working with sexual assault and domestic violence. As a survivor herself she felt that d was harder on her at tunes because she was turned away from shelters due to immigrants filling them up. Rosanna Pulito, Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) out of Washington DC; tots. Pulito is of Mexican decent and is very offended by the language regarding increasing anti -immigrant and racist atmosphere. She felt the media ignores the people of Mexican decent who want to see the law enforced. She differs from Alderman Jean -Baptiste where he wants comprehensive immigration reform and Hispanics from You Don't Speak for Me are calling for comprehensive immigration enforcement. Ms. Puldo hopes that to ensure the security of the citizens here the laws should be enforced. Lastly, she felt that Mexico is exporting their poverty into the U.S. and allowing the American tax payers to foot the bill, Judith Treadway, 226 Callan Ave, Member of NAACP of Evanston/Citizen; Ms, Treadway has handled the legal redress for seven years for the NAACP and has not gotten any complaints from a person with a Spanish last name regarding any discriminatory practices in Evanston, however 5 African American have complained about termination of their jobs due to hiring of Hispanics. Evanston has made every attempt to accommodate anyone who needs services. She felt the population is diverse and the Resolution should support the immigration reform that would help with some of the problems we are having regarding illegal immigrants making the U.S, their home. The proposed Resolution may give the perception of preferential treatment to one group of people in the community. That would be harmful to the overall diverse efforts of the community to be open arms to everyone who becomes a resident. Ms Treadway has not noticed any profiling of people with Spanish names by the police department and law enforcement practices. We have harassment across the board that could happen to any citizen in particular citizens of color. She urged support of the legislators to change the immigration laws to be able to accommodate people coming to the U.S. She further stated that we need to be fair to all citizens and there is no need to legislate it, we don't need a Resolution. Margaret Felt Clarke, member of St. Nicholas Church. Spoke on behalf of the immigrants in her church, there are kids who come here as a babies and they are forced to return to their country of origin at 18; or paperwork that Is still being process for 17 years, they want to do the right thing they want to be legal; A father refused a promotion because he did not want to bring attention to himself. Ms. Fed Clarke agrees with a lot of the comments already said especially Loretta Line and Fr. Oldershaw. She supports the Resolution and urges the community to also support it, Madelyn Ducre, Evanston resident; Ms Ducre believes we do not need to pass a Resolution because people should be treated like human beings. There is a law that is against illegal immigrants In America, and Arizona is passing a lawthat is reallyinhumane. Ms. Ducre believes we do not need a Resolution like this in Evanston, and immigration issues should be left to the U.S. government. Citizens should push their legislator to make laws for each state to follow and enforce those Laws. Betty Ester, 2114 Darrow Ave; Ms. Ester wanted to know if the Resolution is going to be a law in Evanston. If its passed are we going to change the ordinances to reflect how the police department should conduct there duties? In hervoluntary work one of the requirements of assisting people is to ask their immigration status and if theyare undocumented then she has to refuse assisting them due to the requirements. Ms. Ester does not want the Resolution to cause confusion in the case of refusing a client; she doesn't want the client to say a taw was passing in Evanston but really it was a resolution. If it's not a law but a wish list she would like it to be clear to the community that it is not a law but a statement. She is not in favor or against the Resolution just want clarify for the community. Manuel Castor, 431 Callan Ave; Mr. Castor feels that the community has many productive immigrants and the Resolution would build trust and build bridges. If a decision can be made right now then we can move forward to make a better Evanston, Kathy Chiwah, 942 Ridge Ct a member of St. Nicholas; She moved to Evanston because of the justice, diversity, human rights and its safe. If the police are redirected to checking on immigration status then that will take away from providing safety to the citizens; in communities were police are checking immigration status, citizens are afraid to participate In assisting or seeking help from the police. The Resolution is about standing up for what Evanston believes, It's a human rights issue, human rights to Immigrants does not preclude it for others because we give human rights to all groups. Let the federal govemment handle the immigration issues and let Evanston continue to build a just and safe community. Rick Jones, 1717 W. Wallen; Mr. Jones was attacked on by two illegal aliens some years ago and he felt if the Evanston City Council passes a Resolution or law that prevents the police department from identifying illegal aliens that is a violation of federal law. Arizona Tuckwell, 739 Madison Ave, member St. Nicholas; Ms. Tuckwell agrees with some of the things said tonight. She read a story about an immigrant trying to achieve asylum in the U.S. and contributing while her papers are being processed. HSC Minutes 1r29107 - Page. 3 Diego Bonesattl, Illinois Coalition Immigrants Refuge Rights; Mr. Bonesatti was invited by St Nicholas and he supports the third version of the Resolutions. He addressed two items 1) the need for change to the immigration laws, resolutions are a way to speak to the Federal Government 2) public safety, and 'the resolution as stated does not require anybody where state and Federal law mandates that citizenship status or immigration be requested does not change it is where it is not required that it is not to be listed'. He brought up the statement made by Ms. Line about the activities happening in Waukegan and he clarified by saying they have taken an optional provision and further slated that municipalities may engage in a Memorandum of Understanding under section 287G. Regarding Matricula Consular the State passed a law making it an acceptable document unless a provision of law requires a different document. He also address the issue violence and stated that there is a Violence Against Women Act that permrts victims of domestic violence at the hands of U.S. citizens or permanent residents to apply for a Visa. There are numerous examples within the law that deals with the ambiguity of people being here without status and being victims. He hopes the Evanston will go the right way and to protect its residents. Fortino Leon, 1217 Dodge. Mr. Leon stated Evanston benefited from immigration by new initiative, cooperation, ownerships that benefit a lot of citizens. The Mexicans have tried to live a good life for their families and he was asked 'what do Mexicans really want' and his reply was 'hopefully the same as you do, a place to live to raise my family% He is afraid that Evanston might break the law because of the government. He reflected on a comment made by a presidential candidate; the welfare should not be subjected by one person but from all of us working together. He felt the Resolution would give immigrants a chance to participate more, Mr. Leon wants to work together for the better of Evanston. Benett Johnson, 708 Washington: Mr. Johnson fells that the immigration taws should be looked at. They were passed to primarily exclude racial groups. Its economics that drive immigration and the reason that the Hispanics and other immigrants were brought here was for cheap labor. We as a community need to stick together. It's a moral law and we should treat people as human beings. Jose Choco, 2104 Cleveland Ave; Mr. Choco felt Evanston needs to decide what happens here not others who are promoting against immigration in the country. He pointed out that immigrants are from all over the world not just from Mexico, and criminals are not just immigrants but also people that were born here. Willis Francis agrees with Mr. Johnson and felt he summarized what he wanted to say. He felt that we need to do a better job supporting each other struggles, J. Lewis, 740 Mulford Ave; Ms. Lewis is an immigrant and felt a person doesn't know about what it Is like unless you have experienced it. She asked the Committee to pass the Resolution. Mario Vanegas, 330 Ridge Ave; Mr. Vanegas is in favor of the Resolution and did not think that Evanston could function without immigrants because they are contributors. He asked "do we not have a responsibility to the people of other countries because of the American government Involvement?' Mr. Vanegas stated Immigrants are here to contribute to society and they come here because the situations in their own country make it unsafe, Nicholas Miles, 2306 Colfax St: Mr. Miles stated that Evanston is a community that is not afraid to take action and sticks its neck out to make a statement. Evanston set and raises the bar for other communities and feels the Committee should pass the Resolution for fair treatment and send a message to the Federal government. Alderman Bernstein stated that the Resolution approved at the last meeting was modified and there were several amendments made to R. Someone questioned why an Alderman gets to submit a version of the Resolution without attributions to other groups that are in favor of it. The alderman has the opportunity to accept, reject or modify and Alderman Jean -Baptiste did just that. He asked Herb Hill (City Counsel) is the City violating any statute of the U.S? Mr. Hill replied that it depends what resolution and the contents passed. With respect to the Resolution Alderman Jean - Baptiste or the second version it is most consistent with federal and state law and meets all legal requirements. The law department did locate two federal statutes which preempts local or state action and prohibits the municipality from directing its employees not to comply with federal legislation; that is 1996 legislation. Mr. Hill felt the Committee needs to take the Resolution that is developed by the Committee and analyze each provision and how it impacts with the 1996 legislation. He further gave history on Sanctuary City and explained that the City is a "Sanctuary City" for refugees; the Resolution was passed ten years ago and applies to a different category of individual. The resolution under consideration now pertains to illegal immigrant or alien in this country and so the resolution that was passed in the 1980's is not applicable. The City when it enacted its actions in the 1990's did take a position contrary to the federal government. The research shows that the federal government did not take any action against a municipality that became a sanctuary area. Alderman Bernstein asked with respect to the first and third resolution that contains the same language with regard to Evanston action or inaction does the fact that it indicates that the Police and other agencies shall not violate any laws? Mr. HSC Minutes 1/29/07 - Page. 4 Hill responded that the phrase was wonderful but not violating a law is not the same as providing assistance of cooperation as needed by the federal agencies, there is a policy perspective and the law department tries to cooperate with the county and state official to accomplish goals. By asking the police department to abide by or not act is not consistent with the laws and is not the same thing as asking them to take an affirmation action not to take an action. Alderman Bernstein explained to the audience that the Committee is a recommending body to the City Council and any action taken will be passed onto the Council and as it stands right now it's not going until the second meeting in March due to the budget. Alderman Moran spoke about the third proposal and felt that it does not contain any wording that any individual should not comply with federal laws. There are provisions in the Resolution that explicitly state it is not advocating disregard of compliance to federal laws but it is suggesting that federal law would preempt any suggested activity if outside of the law. He spoke to the Police Chief and understood his point that it would be reckless of the City to adopt a resolution that suggested that our police department would not act in a way that would be supportive or consistent with other law enforcement agencies including federal. Because of that discussion Alderman Moran refrained from going in the direction that would suggest that the police should not comply with request by other agencies in a supportive manner. He addressed concems that the Resolution would give the police department direction not to carry out their normal law enforcement duties and he reaffirmed that the resolution contradicts that; it would not restrict the officers in their duties. He strongly enforced his advocating for this Resolution. He felt that if Cook County is not retaliated against with the passing of their resolution then he doesn't feel Evanston will be retaliated against if the Resolution is passed. A mistake would be made if we made a statement without incorporating Evanston's own personal formal commitment. He advocates that we give just and humane treatment to everyone be kind to each other. Alderman Jean -Baptiste said if Evanston tells the world that the police do not investigate anyone on the basis of immigration status and that various departments in our City do not discriminate against giving services, he felt that was too much spotlight on this 'underground railroad stop'. The Immigration Custom Enforcement (ICE) did not target Cook County probably because of their vast population. ICE does not have the capacity to round up the County but within the City of Evanston he felt the right situation was being created for immigration to come to Evanston seeking to arrest individuals. Evanston does not discriminate so why put it on the map to become a target. Reform is needed so that American children with immigrant parents can have protection. He left we should not use the resources to deport immigrants who have committed no crime but instead uses those resources to assist individuals whose paperwork is tied up so they can be with their children. Evanston can let individuals know that they have access to services, they will not be Investigated, they can come out of the shadows but we do not have to declare it because the more we declare it the more we insight opposition and demand that we do otherwise. He advocates for the second Resolution because Evanston cannot protect individuals against the federal government if they come to investigate the undocumented immigrants. Alderman Bernstein wanted to know if we+ pass the resolution confirming that Evanston does not prosecute on status is that realiy going to impact the immigrants who are afraid to come forward. Will they understand the degrees of what is being said? He does not believe that if Evanston becomes a `Sanctuary City' that the City will be inundated because nothing happens in a vacuum and Evanston does not have affordable housing to bring poor people into Evanston. If we did and there was a pool then immigration would come to fish. He gave his email address for anyone who has an answer ald 140aol. corn, and felt Evanston should not created a target on its back because that is not going to be beneficial in the long term. Alderman Moran took a stab at answering Alderman Bernstein question; he felt that what the Committee does will send a message out. Alderman Holmes motioned for the committee to hold the Resolution until the Information is received from the legal department, Alderman Bernstein seconded. Vlll. ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 10.00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 1l29/07 - Page. 5 i ROLL CALL- PRESENT: A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: PRESIDING: CITY COUNCIL HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Monday, March 3, 2008 Civic Center - Council Chambers 7:00 P.M. Alderman Bernstein, Alderman Holmes Alderman Jean -Baptiste Alderman Moran Alderman Tisdahl Carla Bush, Nicola Whyte, Herb Hill. Usa Woods, Adelita Hernandez, Doug Gaynor See attached list of attendees Alderman Bernstein 1. CALL TO ORDER Alderman Bernstein called the meeting to order at 7:10 p.m. If. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE FEBRUARY 18, 2008, MEETING Alderman Bernstein moved for approval of the minutes of the February 18, 2008 meeting: Alderman Holmes seconded. Motion unanimously approved 54 III. CONSIDERATION OF FEBRUARY 2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes moved for Approval: Alderman Moran seconded. Motion unanimously approved 5-0 Alderman Holmes asked about the cost of the housing on the YMCA; why is there a difference in price? Rosemary from the Township responded that the YMCA monthly rates are broken down into weeks so the rates are different per month depending on the rooms rented. Alderman Holmes stated that the rates were different on 443.446,448 and she assumed that they were all on the same floor. Rosemary replied that residents could have made partial payment on their rent. Alderman Holmes asked if the Township pays the difference. Rosemary responded they pay when the residents are behind after a ten day notice. Alderman Holmes asked about the medical bills; she noticed that there were bills for the same procedures and asked If they were for the same person or different people getting the same procedure. It was clarified by indicating the case numbers and the bills were one case. Alderman Bernstein had questions on the Assessors bills, two checks 1) 2185 City of Evanston Health Life insurance in the amount of S446 who was being covered and the 2) Illinois Property Assessment. Alderman Bernstein called a motion to accept the bills with the excention of the two Assessors bills in auestion. Alderman Moran seconded. Motion unanimously approved 5-0. IV- ORDINANCE 38-0-08 AMENDING SECTION 8.21-5 OF THE EVANSTON CITY CODE "PROHIBITION OF SMOKING" Consideration of Ordinance 3843-08 Whereby the Evanston City Council would amend the City Code to prohibit smoking at all City Beaches, Playgrounds and Tot Lots Alderman Tisdahl moved for approval. Second by Alderman Holmes, Doug Gaynor said the amendment was made due to calls from citizens who felt it was Inappropriate to smoke on playground, tot lot and on the beaches; It does not prohibit smoking in parks. Mark Sloan, 2512 Hartzell Ave. Recreation Board member; its is the Boards Intention to minimized second hand smoking especially to children and the additional cost to dean up cigarette butts and the Board supports outlawing smoking In these areas. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if a tot lot was in a park would the entire park be smoke free. Mr. Gaynor responded that tot lots areas In parks are usually separated from the general park area and only that section would fall under this ordinance along with beaches and parks that are designated as tot lots only. Alderman Jean -Baptiste also asked If you cannot smoke at the beach but can smoke at the park how do you isolation the second hand smoke from floating over to the tot lot area. Mr. Gaynor replied that it's not just the smoking on the beaches but the cost to clean up the HSC Minutes 3-3-08 - Page. 1 cigarette butts off the beach, children have stepped on cigarettes that were not extinguished, it's a safety and health issue; Chicago Park District have adopted a similar ordinance and they felt is was a positive move towards safety. Alderman Holmes asked can you smoke on the outside of the beach fence. Mr. Gaynor responded yes. Alderman Bernstein pointed out that there is an ordinance that prohibits smoking within 25 feet of a prohibited area. He also asked to define a playground. Mrs. Gaynor responded where there is play apparatus. Alderman Bernstein called for a motion to pass the ordinance. Unanimously approved 4-0 V. PROPOSED CALENDAR OF 2008 SPECIAL EVENTS Alderman Jean Baptiste move for aoorovat. Alderman Tisdahl second, Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Mr. Gaynor on the lakefront policy. Did the Park, Forestry, Recreation department reject any applicants due to the City of Evanston policy change. Mr. Gaynor responded that we are in compliance with the policies, before a permit is sign off on they have to have complete compliance. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked what extent are all the groups complying. Mr. Gaynor said that we are to capture all city costs and each dept has a representative on the committee, the cost is complied and an invoice is sent There are only three organizations the City Council has waived the fee for the 4th of July, First Night and the Garden Fair everything else that has a cost has to be recapture. Alderman Bernstein moved to aourove the vrorsosed calendar of 2008 special events. Motion unanlmouslir approved 5-0. Vl. CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSED RESOLUTION CALLING FOR HUMANE AND JUSTTREATMENT FOR IMMIGRANTS AND THEIR FAMILIES Wesley Thorne, 1623 West Farragul, Chicago: Mr. Thorne brought up a few points,1) the Resolution puts the City at risk to lose hundreds of thousands of dollars for earmarked projects 2) If you forbid the police to cooperate with Immigration investigating what would prevent the committee from passing a resolution preventing the police cooperating with federal investigations also 3) Its not about hate or discrimination the law should be supported 4) Chicago has illegal immigrants living there and taxes are increasing and its because of kids of immigrants flooding the schools, public health care system, incarceration and felt if the resolution is passed the City will be open to possible litigations. Alderman Bernstein clarified that the resolutions does not state that the police should not cooperate with federal government Investigating immigration what it does say is that the Evanston Police will not profile far immigration status. The police will comply with all lawful authority. Rick Blesada, lives in Lindenhurst, he referenced the Immigration National Act 1996 Section 274 and felt it nullified the council members. If the members pass the resolution and if an illegal immigrant attacks a citizen the committee members open themselves for legal action, "consider yourselves yarned, you people are getting yourselves into something I don't think you understand, illegal means illegal." Dan Maloney,1516 Brummel St. affiliated with St. Nicholas Church: Mr. Maloney wanted to raise a question concerning drawing attention to Evanston. He wanted to know if Alderman Jean -Baptiste if he had something in his experience that he is not free to say that would make him concern about bringing unwanted attention to Evanston. Mr. Maloney did not feel that Evanston would be singled out by immigration because other communities have passed similar Resolution without issue. Jerry Bromley 128 South Staffire Drive, Schaumburg he represents the Fire Coalition which is the Federal Immigration Reform Enforcement Coalition. Regarding the protection of immigrant's rights, he forwarded the dissenting opinion by the citizens from Lexington Kentucky it finds sanctuary cities violate Federal law. Laws should be followed he asked the committee to abandon the resolution. Emily Romas, 2220 Washington St; r grader at Pope John; Ms, Romas stated that immigrants are human beings, working hard to survive and should be treated as such. Dawn Mueller, 43 South Boulevard, Oak Park; a lawsuit was filed in her home town against the town and police officers and the action filed was a civil rights complaints concerning wrongful death and other serious charges. During the pursuit of an Illegal immigrant who had killed an elderly citizen a police officer shot and killed the murderer. Ms. Mueller felt the lawsuit was filed because of her advocating against the resolution at the January Vh committee meeting; the lawsuitwas filed February 4, 2008. She asked the alderman and members of the committee to consider whether or not it would be appropriate for those aldermen with a potential ethical conflict of Interest remove themselves from further consideration of these matters. She pointed out Alderman Jean -Baptiste because of his advocacy of civil rights, Alderman Bernstein because he is an attorney and his wife a judge and Alderman Moran because he handles constitution and civil rights law. In her opinion she has connected the dots and found a correlation between the committee members and the lawyers behind her hometown lawsuits, Ms. Mueller urged the members to reconsider the resolution HSC Minutes 3-3-08 - Page. 2 I John Drennan, 400 Main St; wanted to know what public inclusion has been put into the drafts? He was concerned about 1) hate language and it was not a humane and just way should not be included, 2) remove any endorsement of specific Immigration platform, 3) distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants In resolution 4) matricula de counselor form of Identification be removed it is not a reliable form of identification 5) the third draft was not available on the website and if public inclusion Is important it should have been available to the public. Guillermo Grua is a resident of Skokie; he is an engineer and a citizen and when a person sees him they automatically think that he Is an illegal immigrant. He felt the resolution will help with the public perspective to see immigrants as human beings not illegal or legal, Lawrence McCarthy 1104 Harvard Terrace; is upset about the negative talk and feels the Federal government should do their jobs. He supports the resolution. Diego Juanisati of the Illinois Coalition Refugee Rights feels that minor changes in the resolution would solve the issues. He read a statistic from the US Dept of Justice bulletin on people incarcerated 1.5 million people in jail and of that number 91,117 are foreign bom may 2006. Immigrants are not here to cause trouble but to reunite with their families, work or find refuge. Mr. Juanisati supports the resolution. Bennett Johnson what would Martin say about the border fence or border parole, families are broken up kids are left here orphaned, employees are punished but not the employers, burden on the prison system highest prison population in the world. The resolution says it's the Federal government to solve the problem and Evanston has the responsibly to support and be kind and live together in peace. This land is your land this land is my land and it should stay that way, Usa Woods, legal staff attorney focused on the third resolution and gave it a detail review of the legalities. "Essentially there are two key federal laws that are important in this situation 8. U.S.0 1644 and 8 U. S.C. 1373,1373 Is the broader of the two and prohibits local government from preventing employees or department from sending or receiving information regarding immigration status through the Immigration and Naturalization Service. The City cannot prohibit voluntary disclosure of immigrants' status information." There are two sections in the third resolution that do prohibit voluntary disdoser and on that basis and it Is her opinion that it those sections are preempted by federal law. The remainder of the resolution does not preempt the federal law. Alderman Tisdahl asked if the Resolution calling for comprehensive reform is completely. Ms. Woods replied that it contains calls to action and policy statement and upon review Is completely legal. Alderman Moran asked if the language was change in paragraph 5 that states ..,police department to not assist... if the wording was removed and replaced with do not inquire about or record any information related to.... And the following line ... such Inquiry or investigation... remove the word investigation and replace with such Inquiryormcordation... if those changes were made would it be sufficient to remove the concerns raised in the legal memo. Ms. Woods agreed it would. Alderman Moran motioned to amendment Resolution three with removal of ...Police department to not assist In the Investloadon of... and replace with do not inaulre about or record anv Information related to ...and remove.,. unless such Inoulry orinvestiaaflon ....reolace Investloallon with recordation. No Second. Motion failed. Alderman Moran motioned to delete the 6"' oaraoraah from the Resolution. No Second. Motion failed, Alderman Moran motioned to recommend to City Council that the third Resolution calllna for Humane and Just Treatment of Immigrants and their families and for Comarehensivo imminration Reform for adoption. No Second. Motion Failed. Alderman Tisdahl motioned for the second Resolution catlino for Comorehenslve Immioration Reform Is recommended to the Cltv Council. Seconded by Alderman Jean-Baotiste. Alderman Moran commented about the memo from Ms. Woods and the changes that he suggested to the Resolution that was not accepted by the Committee and felt the changes he suggested would have removed any potential legal shortcomings listed in the memo. The compiled documents included a compilation of resolutions similar to the third proposal and it show that 80 local and state jurisdictions have adopted similar proposals and have not encountered any legal difficulties due to it. He also asked Chief Eddington about the particular characteristic of this community, the Chiefs replied In a memo stating that Evanston does not have characteristic that ICE would target and also he is unaware of ICE raids based on the passage of the resolution. Alderman Moran felt that what Alderman .lean -Baptiste Is urging in his proposal Is critical Important to all the resolution namely comprehensive immigration reform however he felt it was thin because it doesn't signal to the residents that we are making an expressions of support fair and humane treatment to the citizens. He fell what was happening was that the committee did not want to adopt a resolution that requires action of OUR people in the City so that it would signal to Washington that Evanston Is serious about this issue. That Is why the HSC Minutes 3-3.08 - Page. 3 third resolution calling for Humane and Just Treatment of Immigrants and their Families and for Comprehensive Immigration Reform should be adopted. Alderman Jean -Baptiste commented that in Evanston we act in a way that Is fair and humane and the resolution has to target the national policy. If fair and humane treatment is the criteria then Evanston Is already there. If there Is a departure from that practice then at that time it will be addressed. The resolution calling for Comprehensive Immigration Reform asks for the federal government to provide a path for legalization for illegal immigrants living in the U.S. and that has not committed crimes against society. He felt that all is not lost if the third resolution is not adopted because Evanston already does humane and fair treatment. The perception is that Evanston can protect people from ICE but that is not so and the second proposal targets the federal government. Alderman Bemstein motioned on Resolutlon two calling for Comorshensive Immigration Reform to recommend to Cttv Council. aoDroved f4-11. ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 9:03 P.M. Respectfully submitted. Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 3-3-08 - Page. 4 ' M ALDERMAN PRESENT: A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: OTHERS PRESENT: HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of April 7, 2008 Civic Center - Room 2402 7:00 P.M. S. Bernstein, D. Holmes L. Jean -Baptiste C. Tisdahl Alderman Moran Nicola Whyte, Elke Purze, Alisa Dean, Doug Gaynor, Evonda Thomas See attached list of attendees PRESIDING OFFICIAL: Alderman Bernstein CALL TO ORDER Alderman Bernstein called the meeting to order at 7:31p.m. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH 3.2008. MEETING Alderman Bernstein moved approval, Alderman Tisdahl seconded. The minutes of the March 3, 2008 meeting were unanimously approved 4-0. CONSIDERATION OF MARCH 2O08 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS, Alderman Holmes moved approval, Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded. The Evanston Township monthly bills were unanimously approved (3-0). CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 43-0-08 PROPOSED BUDGET AND APPROPRIATION, ORDINANCE FOR TOWN PURPOSES. FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31, 2009 Patricia Vance summarized the budget by stating it is comprised of the general assistance (raised by only 2%) and the Town fund. no increase this year. A catastrophic insurance policy was purchased to help with health claims. Last year the Township contributed to different organizations and will do the same this year with an additional $15,000 to the 50150 Summer Youth Employment Program, and S5.000 to the Youth Summit. Alderman Bernstein had a few questions for Sharon Eckersall, the Assessor regarding the budget:1) travel and education S5000; Ms. Eckersall stated her assistant needs to take classes that are not cheap and gas prices are high and she attends monthly meetings in Joliet. Alderman Bernstein recommended that she take only the two classes necessary to maintain her certification and a wanted a breakdown of the most recent trips. He commented on the report from Mr. Michael Ley, Partner at Virchow Krause & Company on the Assessors office and stated it showed Ms. Eckersall does not do a lot in that office and so he does not want to fund the Assessors office a lot of money. 2) Legal $3000; Ms. Eckersall replied it is for a carry over of the bills not received from Hoover. 3) Contingency S1.000, mentioned not discussed. HSC Minutes 3.3-08 - Page. 1 4 4) Dues and Subscription S2,500 which is S1, 941 increasefrom last}vars actual ofS559; Ms. Eckersall offered to give him a breakdown. Alderman Bernstein felt that the Committee deserved a breakdown of each line item from her office. 5) Equipment Purchase S3,500; Ms. Eckersall, they need new computers and software and they have not purchased any new equipment for the last 4 or 5 years, last year a printer was bought. Alderman Bernstein pointed out that there arc three (3) computers in the office; {his. Eckersall replied one is not working. Alderman Bernstein asked if the S3500 is approved for equipment purchase; then the $3,000 requested for equipment maintenance won't be necessary. Ms. Eckersall replied that she does not know. Alderman lean -Baptiste suggested that the City of Evanston could extend their IS department to help with maintenance of the Assessors office equipment. 6) Supplies S5,500 actual of last )-car was S 2,,17.3; Ms. Eckersall replied because they have not bought any supplies in a Ions time like paper and computer ribbon. 7) Postage- last year actual $240, the hudget this year is S1000; Ms. EckersalI, reassessment notices are no longer sent out and the office mail out kits that the residents bring in. Alderman Bernstein felt that the funds requested was large since postage is .41 cents. 8) Printing and Duplicating; Ms. Eckersall stated there were business cards coming in to get out, stationary, envelopes, and cards were redone because the fax number was incorrect. 9) Contract Service S 2,500; Ms. Eckersall, contracts for printers are being renewed, and security monitoring of the doors were added. Alderman Bernstein asked if she was requesting $6,000 (equipment maintenance ($3,500) and contract service ($2,000)) to service new machines; Ms. Eckersall, yes. Alderman Bernstein felt that a reduction of $20,000 is necessary and the final cuts will depend on what is in the detail summary. He also went on to state that money was spent on a survey because of the questionable practice of the office and hundreds of thousands spent on lawsuits because of the practices of the Assessors office. The Assessor's office budget was held in committee until the requested breakdown is supplied to trustees. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved approval, Alderman Holmes seconded. The Township Supervisor and General Assistance hudget was unanimously approved (3-0). CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 19-R-08 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP INVESTMENT POLICY Ms. Vance stated that this is a new law that requires each governmental body to have an investment policy that guides how the funds are used. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved approval, Alderman Holmes seconded. The Supervisor's bud c� t was unanimously aunroved (3-01. CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 20-R-08 AUTHORIZING THE TOWNSHIP SUPERVISOR TO TRANSFER ACCOUNTS FRO1f J.P. MORGAN CHASE TO FIRST BANK AND TRUST Alderman Bernstein asked why approval is needed to change bank accounts. Ms. Vance stated that the law requires it and that the change is necessary because Chase bank charges a fee to cash a check for non members which her clients are not. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved annroval. Alderman Holmes seconded. The Resolution Authorizing the Township to Transfer Accounts from J.P. Morgan Chase to First Bank and trust was unanimously approved (3-0). CONSIDERATION OF RESOLUTION 25-11-08 CALLING FOR OPPOSITION TO U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTION OR USE OF FORCE IN IRAN Item was not discussed held in Committee until the May 5, 2008 meeting. HSC Minutes 3-3-08 - Page. 2 UPDATE OF CITIZENS POLICE. ADVISORY COMMITTEE The police and the CPAD committee have unanimity on the Citizens' Police Advisory Committee Proposal. Alderman Bernstein stated that the proposal is a structure and a mission statement, what it doesn't have is how it will function; an advisory committee has to be. created he will leave the final decisions to the City Council. Alderman Jean -Baptiste mentioned to Elke Purze, City's legal counsel that this committee should be handled in the same way as other ad hoc committees. Alderman Jean-Bantiste moved annroval. Alderman Holmes seconded. The Citizens Police Advisory Committee Pr000sal was unanimousiv approved (3-01. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 3-"8 AMENDING THE. CITY CODE BY ENACTING A NEW TITLE 9. CHAPTER 5. SECTION 32 "FIGHTING" This Ordinance is being held in committee until legal counsel can take a look at it. Alderman Jean-Bantiste moved to hold in committee. Alderman Holmes seconded. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 50-048 AMENDMENTS VARIOUS SECTIONS OFTITLE 9, CHAPTER 4 OF THE EVANSTON CITY CODE. "DOGS, CATS, ANIMALS AND FOWL" Linda Teckler, Chief Animal Warden requested 1) an increase in fees; license, pick up fee and boarding impoundment 2) amend the neutering and spay sections 3) dangerous dog criteria 4) anyone with a dangerous dog should have insurance not adjacent to homeowners insurance S) dangerous dogs holding/pen structure 3) dangerous dogs should have a microchip. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked if the City Managers office was given notice about the potential revenue with the increase of the fees during the budget process. Ms. Teckler did not know. Alderman Holmes would like an update in the future about the other animals i.e., raccoons how do you get rid of them and how to prevent them from entering your property. Alderman Bernstein suggested that the proposal be approved and should go to the Citv Managers office and LEgal for review and forward to Citv Council. The Committee did not vote, held in Committee. CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 51-0-08 AMENDING VARIOUS SECTION OF 9-6-1 OF THE EVANSTON CITY CODE. ENTITLED "CURFEW" Alderman Rainey reported that the City of Chicago shares a city limit with the City of Evanston and that their curfew does not coincide with ours; the south side of Evanston which is part of her ward is experiencing people crossing the street after Chicago's curfew in order to not be in violation. She is asking the Committee to make the City of Evanston's curfew ordinance comparable to the City of Chicago. Alderman Jean-Bantiste moved approval, motion seconded by Alderman Tisdahl. The Ordinance 51- 0-08 Amending Various Section of 9-&1 of the Evanston Citv Code Entitled `CURFEW was unanimously annroved (4-01. CONSIDERATION OF FY2008-2009 EMERGENCY SHELTER GRANT FUNDING RECOMMENDATIONS Alderman Bernstein asked Alisa Dean what is the process in arriving at the dollar amount and how do you HSC Minutes 3-3-08 - Page. 3 solicit the agencies. Her reply stated that allocation depends on the amount requested; number of agencies and the amount of dollars that is available and soliciting is done by sending out requests to agencies that fit the guidelines. Alderman Bernstein requested copies of past years recommendation submitted to the City Council to see the trend. Alderman Jean Bantiste moved annroval, motion seconded by Alderman Holmes. FY2008-2009 Ernereencv Shelter Grant Funding Recommendation was unanimously annroved (3-01. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION: I. Farmers Market Emily Guthrie coordinator of the Home Grown Artist are Evanston residents and people that have an affiliation with a studio or gallery, it has to be the artist own work. The first year there were 25 artists and 45 last year. Their location last year posed some barriers; they felt removed from the market and were limited in the number of tents. They would like to be placed on the north side of the garage this year. Alisa Dean reported on the How We Are Cooking, Alderman Holmes was concerned about how the food was going to be cooked and if there was a charge for the food. Evonda Thomas mentioned that How lVe Are Cooking will use the foods from the farmers and that the Health Department has already approved the equipment. Alderman Jean -Baptiste was concerned about the liability to the City if someone sets sick from the food and if we allow one entity to participate how do we polite who can or cannot cook at the market. Alderman Bernstein recommends holding it in committee until liability and sponsors can be established. 2. Indoor Recreational Needs Assessment 1 Future of Robert Crown Center Doug Gaynor stated the Evanston Township High School (District 202) is in the process of remodeling their field house and he spoke to Bill Stafford and it was suggested that the City of Evanston could collaborate with District 202. The goal of the Recreation Board is to renovate Robert Crown Center and to have an indoor facility for i.e. soccer and tennis. The high school would use it during the day and the City would use it at nights and on weekend. They are requesting that the Committee revise the hiring of the consultant so that the Board can move forward with District 202. Mr. Gaynor wanted direction from the Committee and they will return in a few months with more information. COMMUNICATIONS: Report of Township Assessor's Office Review ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 9:03 p.m. Respectfully submitted. Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 3-3-08 - Page, 4 SPEAKER SIGN IN SHE EvacanysoftOrr HUMAN SERVICES,, Monday- April 7--29-08,.�� ROOM 2402 0 0 r►. Nanie: %J U&rri TAF-AOLL 1011 Address/Organiz A'R c- A, 0— X opic Speaking On: .- Z.��Zmm- A= tj x 00 r e: GUEST SIGN IN SHEE. �,, City of,,:� T (MEvanston HUMAN- SERVICE pM � MITTEE Monday- Apri ROOM 2402 Ad r id :0 r' `_o T ivy �" •v �-�jnw,' y� HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of ,%May 5, 2008 Civic Center - Council Chambers 8:00 P.M. ALDERMAN PRESENT: S. Bernstein L. Jean -Baptiste C. Tisdahl D. Holmes E. Moran A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT: STAFF PRESENT: Nicola Whyte, Evonda Thomas, Alisa Dean, Carla Bush, Linda Tcckler, Chief Eddington OTHERS PRESENT: Sharon Eckersall, Rosemary Jean -Paul (see attached list of attendees) PRESIDING OFFICIAL: Alderman Jean -Baptiste CALL TO ORDER Alderman Bernstein called the meeting to order at 8:12p.m. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MARCH 3.2008. MEETING Alderman Jcan-Baptiste moved approval, Alderman Holmes seconded. The minutes of the April 7, 2008 meeting were unanimously approved 4-0. CONSIDERATION OF APRIL 2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes moved aonroval. Alderman Tisdahl seconded. The Evanston Townshin monthly bills were unanimously annroved (4-0). ORDINANCE 56-0-08 AMENDING TITLE 3. CHAPTER 16 OF THE CITY CODE "CIGARETTES AND TOBACCO PRODUCTS" BY ADDING SECTION 3-16-13 "SALE OF IMPROPERLY PACKAGED TOBACCO PRODUCTS PROHIBITED" Alderman Holmes moved aonroval. Alderman Tisdahl seconded, The following amendment was suggested, in Section 1: "Sale of Improperly Packaged Tobacco Products Prohibited" ...It shall be unlawful for any person... amended to read... it shall be unlawful for any retail establishment... Bettv Sue Ester. 2114 Darrow Ave. suggested that the sale of loose cigarettes sales should be reported to the Federal Government instead of the City of Evanston patrolling and changing laws for everything. The Amendment was anoroved (4-0). Alderman Bernstein moved aonroval as amended. Alderman Holmes seconded. The Ordinance as amended was unanimously approved (4-0). HSC Minutes 5-5-08 - Page. 1 RESOLUTION 25-R-08 CALLING FOR OPPOSITION TO U.S. MILITARY INTERVENTION OR U5 E, OF FORCE IN IRAN Diekelle Fondrt.1220 Darrow Ave, representing the North Shore Coalition for Peace and Justice; the resolution is a collaborative effort and No War Iron Coalition. She introduced the resolution and asks the committee to continue the quest for peace. Richard Fholan, 824 Ridec Terrace, stated that it is %%gong for the people to say that the City Council should leave the war to the Washington. He urged the Committee to pass this resolution. Bill Irons 2604 Pavne St. has traveled and lived in Iran and so he has a feeling for the country. He advocates for the resolution. Irving Barr, 2400 Noves Avenue, does not want Evanston to sit and not do anything regarding the War, and so urges the Committee to support the resolution. Michael Lynn represents No War on Iran Coalition, mentioned that Chicago is proposing a similar resolution and urges the committee to pass it. Janet Afary, 1866 Sherman Ave, a professor of Iranian History; asked the committee to pass the resolution. Marcia Bernstein, 1213 Manic Avenue, spoke in favor of no attack on Iran; urges the committee to pass the resolution to the City Council. Betty Sue Ester, 2114 Darrow Ave, is not against the resolution and urges the committee to leave the decision to the City Council and stick to matters that pertain to local residents. She asked the committee to put items that does not pertain to city government at the end of the agenda. Alderman Tisdahl asked how they came up with the dollar amount in the resolution. A speaker replied that it was taken from the Non Patrician National Priority Project website. Alderman Bernstein moved approval. Alderman Tisdahl seconded. The Resolution was approved (4-I1. ORDINANCE 343-08 AMENDING THE CITY CODE BY ENACTING A NEW TITLE 4. CHAPTER51 SECTION 32" FIGHTING" Alderman Holmes moved annroval. Alderman Bernstein seconded. Alderman Holmes asked why this ordinance was needed, Chief Eddington replied that it would address specific issues that the police face in the neighborhoods. They arrive at scenes that indicate that individuals were fighting and if they elect not to sign a complaint then the police are unable to do anything legally. They are crafting this ordinance as a tool to intervene. Alderman Bernstein asked, if no one wants to press charges who is the complaining witness. If the ordinance is passed then the police would be the complaining witness replied Chief Eddington. Alderman Bernstein voiced some concerns regarding the potential waste of time if the case is taken to court and the case is tossed out because none of the participants are willing to testify. He further stated that he would like the responding officer to actually view the altercation. Alderman Holmes asked if officers approach a scene and views signs of a fight i.e. black eye, tom clothes would that be cause to make an arrest. Chief Eddington stated that the officers would assess the scene and if the participants are disbursing then no, there wouldn't be any arrests but if the situation shows that the fight would continue after the officers leave then the ordinance would be enforced. Alderman Tisdahl voiced concerned about any persons who did not participant in the fight but during the process got a black eye would that be fair to arrest a non -participant. The Chief said the group would be interviewed first. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked why the department couldn't use the code that prohibits battery, mob action.... The Chief responded that without a complaint it could not go to court Aid. Baptiste further asked, but in this situation there would not be a complaint, in which the Chief replied that an ordinance ticket would be issued. The fight would not be observed just an indication that something did occurred. HSC Minutes 5-5-08 - Page. 2 Alderman Jean -Baptiste was concerned that this ordinance would not protect an individual from being arrested without a complaint against them. Alderman Bernstein voiced his concern about the proposed ordinance that it would violate a person's civil rights by giving the police the right to arrest a person for no reason without a complaining witness. Chief Eddington offered to take it back to Legal so that no rights are violated. Bennett Johnson, 708 Washington 5t.. felt the proposed ordinance is unconstitutional vague and violates the presumption of innocence. Madelyn Ducre, 1929 Foster St. does not support this proposed ordinance. Betty Ester asked if the proposed ordinance is referring to public or private property. Alderman Bernstein stated that it was both. Ms. Ester felt that we should try to uplift the young people instead of putting them down with criminal charges; she does not support this proposed ordinance. The Ordinance was held in Committee for the Legal Department to review. ORDINANCE 50-0-08 AMENDING VARIOUS SECTIONS OF TITLE 9. CHAPTER 4 OF THE EVANSTON CITY CODE. "DOGS. CATS. ANIMALS AND FOWL" The proposed fees were tabled until the next budget year. Alderman Holmes moved annrovai. Alderman Tisdahl seconded. The Ordinance was unanimousiv approved (4-1). CONSIDERATION OF ORDINANCE 43-0-08 PROPOSED BUDGET AND APPROPRIATION ORDINANCE FOR TOWN PURPOSES. FOR YEAR ENDING MARCH 31.2009 Alderman Tisdahl moved annrovai. Alderman Holmes seconded. Alderman Bernstein made some suggestions to the Assessor's Budget; eliminate the Part-time contractual assistant, reduce the travel/education to S2,500, contingency S3,000, dues and subscriptions to $750.00, equipment purchase 52,500, supplies $2,500, postage S200.00 printing and duplicating S500.00 and contract services $1,000.00, Sharon Eckersall. Townshin Assessors stated that contracts exceeds S 1,000.00 per year, this is a qualifying year and the budget for travel/education is needed S5,600 is a legitimate amount, duplicating is needed because cards has to be reprinted, the phone went over budget and the increase is needed; the other costs the extra staff is needed for the reassessment. Alderman John -Baptiste moved annroval for the amendments presented by Alderman Bernstein. no second, motion failed. Alderman Tisdahl moved atproval of the budget as presented. no second. motion failed. The Assessors budget was held in Committee. UPDATE OF CITIZEN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE Alderman Holmes moved approval. Alderman Tisdahl seconded. Alderman Moran stated that the process to investigate police misconduct works. — Bennett Johnson stated that the CPAC made the procedures more relevant. The Concept Outline of the CPAC was amended the first page second line from the bottom of the page... selected and appointed by the Human Services Committee.... Now reads ...selected and appointed by the Mayor tvith approval by the City Council. The amendment was approved (5-0). HSC Minutes 5-5-08 - Page. 3 The CONCEPT OUTLINE for the CPAC was avoroved (4-1). Alderman Holmes moved annroval. Alderman Bernstein seconded. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION Mary McMann, Culinary Directory 1601 Main, stated that they are covered for liability insurance. Potential sponsors wanted to know what kind of presence would they have and must the sponsors be local or nationwide with a local presence. The committee decided to leave the decision of using local or nationwide with local presence to the City Council. Alisa Dean stated that Now We Are Cookin could have a table with information adjacent to their demonstration. The pilot program for Farmer's Market "Now We Are Cookin" was approved and forwarded to the City Council. ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 1.0:24 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 5-5-08 - Page. 4 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of July 7, 2008 Civic Center 2402 7:00 P.M. ALDERMAN PRESENT: S. Bernstein L. Jean -Baptiste D. Holmes E. Moran A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT: C. Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Nicola Whyte, Evonda 'fhomas, Alisa Dean, Chief Eddington, Doug Gaynor, Bob Dorneker, Elite Purze, Walter Hallen OTHERS PRESENT: Rosemary Jean -Paul (see attached list of attendees) PRESIDING OFFICIAL: Alderman Jean -Baptiste CALL TO ORDER Alderman Jean -Baptiste called the meeting to order at 7:34 p.m. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE MAY S. 2008 MEETING Alderman Moran moved approval, Alderman Holmes seconded. The minutes of the May 5, 2008 meeting were unanimously approved 3-0. CONSIDERATION OF JUNE 2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Moran moved approval. Alderman Holmes seconded. The Evanston Township monthiv bills for June 2008 were unanimousiv approved (4-0). Alderman Holmes questioned why R.S.Hoover Limited sent an invoice; she thought all invoices were already paid. Elke Purze, I st Corporate Council clarified that the invoice is the final bill for services from R.S. Hoover Limited and the dollar amount was negotiated by Herb Hill, recently retired I` corporate council. The aldermen had further questions for the Assessor's Sharon Eckersall, but she was not present. UPDATE OF CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS Alderman Bernstein moved approval, Alderman Holmes seconded. The committee reviewed ten completed Citizen Reviews and acknowledged that the Department received 61 complimentary letters from citizens. C.R. # 07-10 was held in committee. The aldermen requested that Chief Eddington review the specifics of the case and time line of events and come back with a detail report at the next meeting. Nine Citizens Review of Police Complaints was unanimousiv approved (4-01. HSC Minutes 7.7-08 - Page, t I�ONSIDFRATiON OF A PROPOSED GREFti., ' UILDING ORDINANCE BY THE FVANSTON ENVIRONMENT BOARD FOR DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION FROM THE HUMAN SFRVICFS 4 COMMITTEE. .Side Now: Please rrote mane, romm ents shared during lJr� rf.� rrr,rlinrr n 1 r me�rlinu it-rre• lrturrdible. E lizabcth Kinney gave a history of how the Environmental Hoard got involved in the proposed green building ordinance. Len Sciarra, Chair of the Evanston Environment Hoard stated the proposed ordinance have seven components; commercial building, new construction, renovations, penalty clause, fund, roofs, leadership (training/encouragement). He gave a summary of LEEDS and that there are: 69 things that can be done to make a building green and that there are three forms of certification silver, gold and platinum. If you get 33 points this is typically basic certification. The goal for Evanston's new buildings to be gold certified, 10,000 sq would be the minimum size for a green project to be cost effective and private homes would have the silver status. A payback between two to ten years would be the return time period to The money spent to make a building green we would see. A contractor cannot sell a building as LEED certified instead it should be listed as LEED certifiable. Mr. Sciarra commented that when a developer finishes a project it takes approximately 4 months to become LEED certified. Andrew McGonigle an Evanston resident who happens to be an architect at northwestern stated that he felt the plan needed a smaller threshold. Alderman lean -Baptiste requested that Ms. Kinney and Mr. Sciarra research and bring to the HSC September 2008 meeting a spreadsheet of the increase cost, what is proposed for the downtown area and to look at the carbon footprint, the scale of building from the standpoint of LEED certification, what can be done to have a cumulative impact over time. Alderman Bernstein suggested that the sustainable coordinator should be involved in this process; at the time of the meeting she was on vacation. The nronosal for a Green Building Ordinance was held until the September Human Services Committee Meetine for further studv. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION Undate of Free Beach Take Proeram Bob Dorneker gave a summary of the attached report. Free beach days on Monday at Clark Street beach and August V the tokens are reduced to half price. COMMUNICATIONS Undate on The Talkina farm The summary of the attached report was given. A letter of consent for the Talking Farm has to be written by the City of Evanston to the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District. Doug Gaynor stated for the record that his instructions were staff participation on the front end to get it up and going but there is to be no cost for the City of Evanston. Undate on the Mason Park Proaram Doug Gaynorand Mr. Domckcr gave a summary of the attached report. Not only do they have drop in activities but also scheduled activities i.e. instructional swimming at the YMCA. Younger siblings have been tagging along to the park and so they have found activities to also engage them. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked about the outdoor activities if they are sponsored by local organizations and arc the kids cross participating at Mason Park and the structure activities i.e. baseball. Mr. Gaynor responded that the baseball/softball is sponsored by the Evanston Softball Baseball Association and soccer is sponsored by AYSO. There are scholarship programs for both these sports. There are some cross participation but not to the extent that they would like it to be. Mr. Gaynor noticed that there is a greater participation in the organized HSC Minutes 1-7.00- Pago. 2 activities if the games arc held within the neighborhood that the players are from instead ofalways going to the big parks like James Park. ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 9:30 p.m, Respectfully submitted, Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services Ip HBQ Minutes 1.1-08 • pape, 3 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of August 4, 2008 Civic Center 2402 7:30 P.M. ALDERMAN PRESENT: S. Bernstein L. Jean -Baptiste D. Holmes E. Moran A Quorum was present. NOT PRESENT: C. Tisdahl STAFF PRESENT: Nicola Whyte, Evonda Thomas, Chief Eddington, Carl Caneva, Kenneth Cox OTHERS PRESENT: Rosemary Jean -Paul (see attached list of attendees) PRESIDING OFFICIAL: Alderman Jean -Baptiste CALL TO ORDER Alderman Jean -Baptiste called the meeting to order at 7:39 p.m. APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE Julv 7, 2008 MEETING Alderman Holmes moved approval, Alderman Bernstein seconded. The minutes of the July 7, 2008 meeting was unanimously approved 4-0. CONSIDERATION OF JULY 2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes moved aDDroval. Alderman Bernstein seconded. The Evanston Township monthly bills for July 2008 were unanimously approved (4-01. The invoice received from Johnson Greene LLC was approved for payment. Alderman Bernstein commented that this company was reasonable and that the Assessor is going beyond her office in the Castenada case and over the past three years the Assessor's office has had a lot of legal fees paid out. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION Ordinance 81-0-07 Enforcement of Indoor Clean Air Act Held in Committee Alderman Hanson brought this topic to Committee but had a prior engagement and could not attend. COMMUNICATIONS Fallow up on Complaint Register 07-10 of the Citizen Review of Police Complaint Chief Eddington gave a summary of the attached report. Alderman Jean Baptiste commented to Chief Eddington that if the Evanston Police Department had HSC Minutes 8-4-08 - Page. 1 acknowledged their mistake with the defendant this case would not have gone as far as It did. The mistake was compounded by the officers giving the defendant a ticket. He suggested that in the future if a mistake is made by the EPD do not compound it with a ticket but instead acknowledge the mistake and move on. Alderman Bernstein asked if a vehicle In lockup can be released without notice from the EPD and does the person picking up the vehicle have to show proof of insurance, Chief Eddington replied that a vehicle cannot be released without consent from the EPD and all persons picking up a vehicle has to show a drivers license and a valid proof of insurance, ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 8:04 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services H5C Minutes 8-"B - Page. 2 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of October 20, 2008 4-b- ryCivic Center Council Chambers VdI1Sto 7:00 P.M. ALDERMAN PRESENT: S. Bernstein L. Jean -Baptiste C. Tisdahl D. Holmes E. Moran A Quorum was present. STAFF PRESENT: Carl Caneva, Jill Chambers, Carolyn Collopy, Bob Domeker, Chief Eddington, Doug Gaynor, Commander James Picket, Elke Purze, Evonda Thomas, Nicola Whyte. OTHERS PRESENT: Rosemary Jean -Paul, Alderman Hansen (see attached list of attendees) PRESIDING OFFICIAL: Alderman Tisdahl CALL TO ORDER Alderman Tisdahl called the meeting to order at 7:09 p.m. ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE August 4, 2008 MEETING Alderman Bemstein moved approval of the minutes of the August 4, 2008 meeting, Alderman Holmes seconded. Alderman Tisdahl stated the motion was moved and seconded to aonrove the minutes of the August 4. 2008 meetino: unanimously approved 4-0. CONSIDERATION OF SEPTEMBER 2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Bernstein moved approval of the September 2008 Evanston Township monthly bills, Alderman Holmes seconded. Alderman Tisdahl stated the motion was moved and seconded to aoorove the Evanston Township monthly bills for September 200: unanimously approved 4-0. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked are the bills that are incurred for accounting a monthly bill; and if the accountant is on retainer. Rosemary Jean -Paul, Executive Director for the Township of Evanston states that the accountant is billed per assignment. ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION UPDATE OF CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS Alderman Jean -Baptiste motion to accept the update of Citizen Review of police complaints, Alderman Bernstein seconded. Alderman Tisdahl stated the motion was moved and seconded to acceot the update of citizen review of police complaints: unanimously approved 5-0. HSC Minutes 10-20-08 - Page. I There were 33 complimentary letters and 10 pending citizens review (C.R.'S) and 41 completed C.R.'S. Alderman Jean -Baptiste raised questions regarding DI#08-08 the complainant was stopped three times in his own neighborhood and the alderman mentioned that he informed the previous police chief that there should be more police interaction with churches and the community so that the officers would be familiar with residents and visa versa. Alderman Jean - Baptiste asked what was the reasonable standard for addressing a situation like this where a resident is stopped repeatedly in their own neighborhood. Chief Eddington replied he met with the young man and his parents and the issues were 1) the young man lives in an area that was under surveillance due to a recent outbreak of burglaries 2) multiple officers were working the neighborhood which attributed to the complainant being stopped so many times. To alleviate one of the issues the same officers are assigned as consistently as possible to the same beat, same time of day so that they will become familiar with the neighborhood and who lives there. Alderman Bernstein commented on DI#08-27 and DI#08-50; "the Police Department has a young force and the department has to be much more vigilant with those young officers because the presents or absence of crime in a city does not justify the abuse of civil rights and a lot of the cases are on the cusp of doing that." Alderman Holmes inquired as to when the Citizens Police Advisory committee will function in their appointed rote. The Chief stated that currently there are 6 of the 9 set for training. Alderman Tisdahl recommended they proceed with the 6 member of the Citizen Police Advisory group and not wait until all 9 members are appointed. INDOOR RECREATIONAL NEEDS ASSESSMENTIiFUTURE OF ROBERT CROWN CENTER Mark Sloan and Marts Katz from the Recreation Board gave a summary of the attached PowerPoint presentation (attachment A). Mr. Katz stresses that this has to become a priority; money is in the budget and ways to fundraise for this project would be lobbing to the government for money, fundraising, or talking to private parties for financial assistance. Carl Bova voiced his support of the collaboration with District 202. Roxanne Lox, Robert Crown Advisory Board spoke in support of the proposed recreation needs assessment. Alderman Bernstein gave background on Robert Crown and drop in programs that do not exist anymore. He felt without proper accommodation for parking the neighborhood could not handle a larger facility. Alderman Moran felt a new and bigger Robert Crown could be built that would/could pay for itself. Mr. Katz reiterated that District 202 will be renovating the field house even if the City does not partner with the project. District 202 wants to know as a community do we want to participate because that would weigh in on how their structured is built. An agreement would be made between both parties. The Recreation Board recommends that the City Council form a committee to negotiation with District 202 and the committee would bring the recommendation back to the Council for consideration. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved to form a committee that is lead by the Director of Park/Forestry HSC Minutes 10-20-08 - Page. 2 ♦'Y'ti- Recreation that would explore with District 202 their plans and how the Recreation Board could support and assist. Alderman Bernstein seconded the motion. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved that the committee get a detail plan of the finances and to put together the best ideas the Board has for Robert Crown include the revenue stream and expenditures and also include the time line on completion. Alderman Holmes seconded the motion. Alderman Tisdahl moved to insert that the committee would talk to Congresswoman Schakowsky and Representative Senator Durbin and Senator Obama's office to see if there are federal Infrastructure money for the project." Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded the motion. The motion to form a committee that is lead by the Director of Park/Forestry Recreation that would explore with District 202 plans and how the Recreation Board support and partner. The committee would also qet a detail plan of the finances and put together the best ideas the Board has for Robert Crown which include revenue stream and expenditures and also include a time line of completion. The committee was instructed to talk to Congresswoman Schakowskv and Representative Senator Durbin and Senator Obama's office to see if there are federal infrastructure money for the vroiect was unanimously approved 5-0. Doug Gaynor gave a deadline for 60 days of completion of this request. CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSED GREEN BUILDING ORDINANCE BY THE EVANSTON ENVIRONMENT BOARD FOR DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION FROM THE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE. Held in Committee Elizabeth Kinney from the Environmental Board summary is attached. (Attachment B) Leonard Sciarra Chairman of the Environmental Board stated if the 10,000 sq ft is undue burden on a project then something can be worked out to achieve the sustainable intent. To alleviate the LEED overhead, staff in-house could review the plans. Small LEED projects can pick a category to certified LEED; the environmental board can work with the building department to reach a strategy for small buildings. The document on cost of Green Building is enclosed. (Attachment C and D) Section III of the proposed Green Building Ordinance was revised to read ...failure to do so may shall result in a penalty and may result in the revocation of the Certification of Occupancy Alderman Bernstein asked if a building's certificate of occupancy is revoked what happens to the building and are the buildings being audited throughout the building process? Mr. Sciarra answered modifications can be made to the building if a point or two is needed but any large gaps in points was due to lack of effort. The United States Green Building Council has a two stage process for evaluation; points can be assessed before the project begins or half way through and at the end. Jill Chambers stated currently the inspectors are in the process of training and implementing new HSG Minutes 10-20-08 - Page. 3 n=� process i.e. solar, geo-thermal and the inspectors are trying to keep up-to-date on the codes which are constantly changing to be able to inspect a LEED building. The energy code that Is currently being used by the City is LEED certified. Carl Bova asked are there any City's ordinance ramifications for a construction that is LEED certified but then does not meet performance in the future; he would support the green building ordinance with the requirements for architecture appearance approval. Alderman Moran voiced his preferences 1) favors the incentive over the penalty approach, 2) instead of a revocation of occupancy permit there could be a clause that would bar a contactor from building in Evanston if they do not follow the rules, 3) favors the 20,000 sq ft threshold 4) City building would be best adopting the Silver certification 5) Clarification in the ordinance, does it apply to multi family residential projects of three units or more 6) Provision that were suggested by the housing commission would not apply to affording housing projects. Mr. Sciarra replied that "multi family housing would be addressed because it falls under the commercial code three stories, three fiats if it's a townhouse two houses together that would be residential code then it is not be." Alderman Tisdahl remarked that if affordable housing is to be affordable then it would be beneficial to become LEED Certified because energy bills would be less expensive. Elliott Zashin felt the Certificate of Occupancy provision Is a worst case scenario and supports the 10,000 square feet threshold. Alderman Bernstein felt that both incentives and penalties are needed, an incentive to get the developers to justify the construction numbers and penalty if they choose not to comply. Dick Whitaker of 1400 Chicago Avenue felt that energy efficiency should be the main concern not LEED certification. Alderman Jean -Baptiste suggested that 1) the new costs should be calculated 2) developers that have done building that are LEED certified should come to the next meeting and share what It would mean for them if the ordinance was passed 4) Invite other member of the City Council to sit in on the December meeting 5) hold in committee to have further discussions with developers. Alderman Jean -Baptiste moved that developers should be invited to the meeting in December so they can hear their opinions and concerns, Alderman Holmes seconded the motion. Alderman Tisdahl stated that the motion was moved and seconded that developers should be invited to the meeting in December so their ooinions and concerns can be shared. unanimouslv approved 5-0. ENFORCEMENT OF INDOOR CLEAR AIR ACT. Alderman Hanson of the 9`' ward 2017 Seward St. was concerned that the Clean Air Act (2005) amendments that were made a year ago were not being enforced. The sentiments from the Evan^ton Health and Human Services Department (HHS) are that there is nothing that can be done about the unit to unit infiltration except provide the condo association with a copy of the clean air act. Alderman Hanson felt the memo from Staff of HHS on the cost of enforcing the unit to unit infiltration was unrealistic. After review only 28 complaints were made this past year. Twenty seven were all resolved by giving the condo associations a copy of the ordinance and amendments and directing Hsc Minutes 10-20-08 - Page. 4 them to the City's website for the Clean Air Act. Alderman Hanson asked the committee to direct staff about how to enforce the amendments. Carl Caneva stated that the calls received regarding Clean Air Act violations have been mostly regarding the common areas. Prior to the issue brought by Ms. Flaherty and Alderman Hanson the priority in the HHS department has been enforcing the common area that is how the ordinance was interpreted. Alderman Moran asked if the current ordinance allow HHS to site condo association if the smoke is in the common area. Mr. Caneva replied that the problem would be addressed by the person who is creating the problem if they can be identified, citing the condo association has never been done. Elke Pruze, Interim First Assistant Corporate Counsel stated under the current ordinance section 8- 21-5: PROHIBITION OF SMOKING: Smoking shall be prohibited in the following places: Lobbies, hallways, and other common areas in apartment buildings and condominiums, and housing cooperatives... according to this passage you are able to cite the condo or co-op board. As a rule the City does not get involved in private property matters. If it is a unit to unit infiltration it would be hard for the HHS to prove in an administrative ticket where the smoke originated and what devise would be used to detect the level of smoke and its origins. It would be difficult to prosecute that ticket in an administrative hearing, Ms. Purze shared her condo association monthly newsletter that reminds residents not to smoking in public areas. Alderman Jean -Baptiste felt investigating door to door is not necessary and education is the key to moving this process along. The condo and co-op board should be informed of the ordinance that they could be fined if they do not enforce the ordinance. it makes condo associations accountable as a body. Ms. Catherine Pelech of 1326 Washington St. has a neighbor that smokes on his back porch and his smoke travels into her home. Her children should not have to inhale the neighbors smoke and the smoke stresses her illness. Mr. Caneva pointed out the ordinance states that if a building is declared a non-smoking building and smoke infiltrates it then the ordinance can be applied there. Chuck Heisinger of 1328 Washington St. said "he smokes in the middle of the lot which Is 25 feet from the lot lines and then there is an additional feet to the setback." Ms. Thomas, HHS Health Director stated from previous conversation and pictures viewed sent by Ms. Flaherty it was her understanding that the ventilation system was the smoke carrier but after hearing what was said tonight she is now understanding that the smoke is coming from apartments into the common area and HHS was unclear on how to enforce smoke coming from a ventilation system. Ms. Purze informed the committee that the City's smoking ordinance is consistent with the State Smoke Free Illinois Act which became effective January 1, 200B that bans smoking in public places in pursuant to section 35 of the State Act smoking is permitted in all private residences. Alderman Bernstein reiterated that the ordinance as written "all places" the 25 ft radius would apply and the 25 ft was put in to preclude people from smoking within 25 ft of public places or places of employment. HSC Minutes 10-20-08 - Page. 5 r'�'4�r'�__ .. .. '! .. iA .'i l' - - _ •_.r _F r r_.fs-; �y�i� ll l The ordinance did not fit the issues oresented and so the committee's recommendation was to educate the condo associations and if necessary cite the condo associations and co-op boards. Leaal corporate counsel identified that she is the CiWs mediator. Alderman Tisdahl suggested looking at the National league of Cities has a prescription drug discount program for member cities because there is a savings of 20 percent. ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 9:54 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 10.20-08 - Page. 6 HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE Minutes of December 1, 2008 QOf Civic Center Council Chambers �ValiStoir 7:30 P.M. ALDERMAN PRESENT: D. Holmes C. Tisdahl L. Jean -Baptiste E. Moran ALDERMAN ABSENT: S. Bernstein A Quorum was present. STAFF PRESENT: Carl Caneva, Carolyn Collopy, Joellen Daley, Alisa Dean, Bob Domeker, Chief Eddington, Walter Hallen, Jo McRae, Elke Purze, Carlos Ruiz, Elke Purze, Karen Taira, Sergeant Dan Russell, Evonda Thomas, Nicola Whyte, OTHERS PRESENT: Rosemary Jean -Paul, Sharon Eckersall (see attached list of attendees) PRESIDING OFFICIAL: Alderman Tisdahl CALL TO ORDER Alderman Tisdahl called the meeting to order at 7:46 p.m. ITEMS FOR CONSIDERATION APROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF THE OCTOBER 20, 2008 MEETING Alderman Moran moved approval of the minutes of the October 20, 2008 meeting, Alderman Jean - Baptiste seconded. Alderman Tisdahl stated the motion was moved and seconded to acorove the minutes of the October 20. 2008 meetina: unanimously aonroved 4-0. CONSIDERATION OF NOVEMBER 2008 EVANSTON TOWNSHIP MONTHLY BILLS Alderman Holmes moved approval of the November 2008 Evanston Township monthly bills, Alderman Jean -Baptiste seconded. Alderman Tisdahl stated the motion was moved and seconded to approve the Evanston Township monthly bills for November 2008: unanimouslv aooroved 4-0. Alderman Tisdahl asked Elke Purze Interim First Assistant Corporate Council if there were any comments about the legal bill for the Castanada case and a refresher on the allegations. Ms. Purze stated that Mr. Castanada is claiming defamation and wrongful termination. A new allegation has been filed also covering similar accusation of defamation of character and wrongful termination. Alderman Jean -Baptiste requested that Ms. Purze review the merits of the case and come back at a later date with a report. HSC Minutes 12-01-08 - Page. 1 ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION UPDATE OF CITIZEN REVIEW OF POLICE COMPLAINTS There were 10 complimentary letters, 7 pending citizens review (C.R.'S) and 25 completed C.R.'S. Alderman Holmes raised questions regarding DI#08-71; a non Evanston resident alleged a police officer when asked a question about panhandlers outside a local bank snapped at her and the complaint alleged the officer "may need help". The officer was exonerated after investigation. Alderman Jean -Baptiste requested Chief Eddington review the Panhandling Code. UPDATE OF CITIZEN POLICE ADVISORY COMMITTEE The four Police Advisory Committee volunteer members have started training and will be ready to review the next list of police complaints. Betty Ester wanted to know what happens after a person's name is submitted from an alderman for the committee and they are not selected can there be a backup person just in case something happens? Are the forms available at the various recreation centers and the link on the internet for the form cannot be printed out. The alderman responded that the names are given to the Mayor for her approvalfselection; there is a process in place in case the appointed member fails to complete their tasks; yes, the forms are available at the various recreation centers; Chief Eddington stated he will put in a BPAT service request to fix the form. BUSINESS CERTIFICATE REGISTRATION PROGRAM Held in Committee Alderman Holmes suggested that staff investigate the potential revenue for authority to license businesses because when a resident is in need they call the City not the State to investigate. Elke Purze stated that the Illinois Constitution permits licensing for regulatory purposes if the amount of the license fee is related to the cost of regulations, and licensing for revenue or the other prohibited purposes in section 6 (e). The City may not, however, license in areas where the State has expressly preempted it from doing so. Licenses of occupation could not conduct or be done it would have to be a license of the facility. If the purpose is to maintain safety and inspection, this could possibty be a challenge. The alderman directed legal to review what and how the City of Chicago licenses businesses and their use of home rule and requested that staff continue to find ways to monitor staff resources as it relates to complaints. FARMERS MARKET -"NOW WE'RE COOKIN" Allsa Dean the Market Manager felt that Now We're Cookin brought a lot to the market, the farmers contributed food and the patrons enjoyed sampling the market produce. Alderman Tisdahl asked about the sponsor's role and would they participate if it becomes a permanent fixture. Mary McMahon responded that the sponsors did not generate any revenue but covered basic cost of being at the market and yes they would participate if "Now We're Cookin" stays at the market. Alderman Jean -Baptiste motion to allow "Now We're Cookin" to operate on a permanent basis HSC Minutes 12-01-05 - Page. 2 with all the necessary precaution that were discussed previously. Alderman Moran seconded. Alderman Tisdahl. the motion was moved and seconded to aonrove "Now We're Cookin" as a aermanent oars of the Farmers Market with the necessary precautions as previously discussed', unanimousiv aanroved 4-0. CONSIDERATION OF A PROPOSED GREEN BUILDING ORDINANCE BY THE EVANSTON ENVIRONMENT BOARD FOR DISCUSSION AND DIRECTION FROM THE HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE. Leonard Sciarra Chairman of the Environmental Board provided a short PowerPoint presentation with the changes to the proposed ordinance. I. That ail newly constructed commercial and multi -family buildings over 10,000 square feet in the city and all city -owned or city -financed building over 10,000 square feet shall employ the version of the LEED ... a. For City -Owned or City -Financed facilities over 10,000 square feet; Geld Silver Rating or higher b. For all commercial (non -single -far+3iiyFesideatiaq and multi -family building over 10,000 square feet in the City: Silver Rating or higher 11. That all interior renovation or build -out improvements for all commercial and multi- family buildings over 10,000 square feet and all city -owned or city -financed facilities over 10,000 square feet shall employ the... b. For all commercial and multi -family buildings over 10,000 square feet: Gold Silver Rating or higher Ill. All penalties monies collected from defaults, in whole or In part, will be deposited in the Sustainable Evanston Fund. V. That design and construction of all new or replacement low sloped roofs over 5000 square feet for City -Owned, City -Financed reef; commercial, or multi -family buildings in the City shall be Energy Star compliant. VI. That the -City Fequife-and; , . Landmark or historic structures shall be exempt from the requirements of this ordinance Carlos Ruiz requested the insertion in Section VI. Landmark or historical structures and building within historical districts shall be .... Mr. Ruiz also gave a brief history on historical buildings and Green. The penalty is now a performance bond, amount to be determined by the City Manager or his or her designee. A bond is needed for the storm water detention, however the percentage is unknown. Alderman Moran asked if they thought about exempting structures that would be considered affordable housing or funded by City funds. Ms. Elizabeth Kinney of the Environmental Board responded that they spoke with City staff and that the City should use products such as windows MSC Minutes 12-01-W - Page. 3 and installation during construction. There is no reason to exempt affordable housing because the cost for operating would be less. Mr. Sciarra mentioned to assist with accumulating points green power electricity could be purchased for two years. Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked does the City have the training to enforce compliance. "There Is an independent third party that would assure the City of compliance as the project goes along and issue reports" replied Wafter Hallen. Bob Horner from Winthrop properties read his written letter of support "based on our experience and research we enthusiastically support and encourage the passage of the Green Building Ordinance as another positive step toward making Evanston "the Most Livable City in America". Alderman Jean -Baptiste asked Mr. Horner his opinion on the penalty Issue; he agreed with Walter Hallen on the performance bond and encourage before going down that route to confirm the dollar amount. The dollar is an unknown liability that the insurance company would be taking on. Carl Bova wrote in a statement that the proposed ordinance over -reaches In certain area such as 1) preservation of landmark and character -giving building 2) approval process should be removed from the City 3) LEED timeframes conflicts with City timeframe 4) LEED provision conflict with other ordinances 5) LEED certification of design performance and 6) punitive fees should not be approved at this time. Held in Committee ADJOURNMENT The meeting unanimously adjourned at 9:46 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Nicola Whyte Department of Health and Human Services HSC Minutes 12-01-08 - Page. 4