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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES-2011-07-18-20111 1 Roll Call: Absent: Presiding: City of Evanston CITY COUNCIL MEETING CITY OF EVANSTON, ILLINOIS LORRAINE H. MORTON CIVIC CENTER 2100 RIDGE AVENUE, EVANSTON 60201 COUNCIL CHAMBERS Monday, July 18, 2011 7:00 p.m. Alderman Wilson Alderman Holmes Alderman Grover Alderman Rainey Alderman Burrus Alderman Fiske Alderman Braithwaite Aldermen Wynne, and Tendam Mayor Elizabeth B. Tisdahl Mayor Tisdahl opened the Regular Meeting of the City Council at 7:10 p.m. after Roll Call had been completed. Mavor Public Announcements The Mayor thanked Jeff Schoenberg, State Senator for helping the City of Evanston to obtain three new viaducts that he had been working on for years. Citv Manager Presentations and Announcements City Manager called for Police Deputy Chief Wiedlin to come forward. Deputy Chief Wiedlin extended an invitation to the Council and citizens to come and witness the deployment strategy in action. The dates & times for the event are 7 p.m. to 8 p.m.: 1. Saturday, August 13, 2011 at the Police Station 2. Saturday, August 20, 2011 at Fleetwood/Jourdain 3. Saturday, August 27, 2011 at the Police Outpost on Howard She also extended an invitation to the Council to visit their weekly Deployment Meetings, and will send dates and times if interested. She reported on the death that occurred on the weekend was noted as a homicide after the autopsy was completed, an investigation is underway and charges are pending. City Manager then called the Sustainability Coordinator give an update on this weekend activities. Ms. Hurley recycling fair this Saturday, July 23, 2011 from 9:00 a. Morton Civic Center. The recyclable items are as follows: • Computers & monitors • Cell phones • DVD & VHF players Catherine Hurley to come and announced the Public Works m. until noon at the Lorraine H. July 18, 2011 • Printers and scanners • TV's • Video game consoles • Hangers • Plastic bags • Prescription drugs • Batteries and ink cartridges Document destruction services will also be offered for the residents of five banker boxes of paper to be shredded and disposed onsite. The first two hundred fifty residents will be offered a 95 gallon compose cart that has no wheels, and will need to bring a vehicle big enough to get it home. A guide on how to compose will be available as well. There will also be a chance to win a year worth of free electricity. City Manager stated publicly his thanks for Mr. Stoneback's coordination with COMED during the outages in Evanston. He also recognized Mr. Gaynor, Director of Parks/Forestry/Recreation and his staff attending the down trees in the area. Commonwealth Edison: Review of Service Outages was presented by Commonwealth Edison representative Eric Durray to make presentation and answer questions. Mr. Durray introduced Art to assist in the presentation and questions. He reported there were two Tornado touch downs on June 21, 2011. Evanston was hit the hardest and that 800 crews were used over five days for this storm. He wanted the listeners to know every time there is a major storm that hits they will have to go back out and cleanup from the first storm which may take weeks. He stated their first priority is to repair the grid that will get the most customers back online, and if you have a line going straight to your home you are last on the list to be restored. For further details the COMED presentation is included in the minutes. Concerns and Questions from the Aldermen: • Where do residential areas rank up to business areas in the triage? Answer: COMED is not looking at whether these are residential or businesses, instead concerned with the largest number of customers they can get back online. • Will there be improvements in your text messaging system? Answer: Yes it will but sometimes we withhold information due to not enough info on hand. • What are you (COMED) going to do about making every day usage better? Answer: We do monthly reviews and the system can handle the heat that come on it. The whole system has to be reconfigured and placed back in normal range. • What will you do the next time from what you learned? Answer: to get on top of it quickly. • How did Evanston staff assist you? Answer: Communication was the most important. • Varying information from COMED representatives about what the real problem is when an outage like this occurs. • Misdiagnoses of power outage. • The delay of restoration of the outage. • Need advancement in technologies for power being delivered to customers. • What can the City do to assist you with improving power outage on a regular basis July 18, 2011 Citizen Comment: The followina persons spoke concerns of the Wind Farm: • Kimberly Grey, 935 Ridge Ct. endorses the Wind Farm proposal. • Ron Fleckman, 1657 spoke in support of the Wind Farm Committee report. • Fred Moore, Off -Grid Technologies wanted to be allowed to give a detailed presentation to both Council and the Wind Farm Committee. • Joe Jaskvlski, 2309 Grant • Fred Wittenberg, 1726 S. Blvd. • Linda Whittenberg, 1726 S. Blvd. asked Council to remember what was important when they were kids and she is counting on them. • Tom Cushing, 2305 Hartrey spoke of the business area of the Wind Farm Program. • Ed Colgate, 2210 Asbury support further investigation of the Wind Farm. • Mark Knepper, 1030 Sheridan believes a Wind Farm should be embraced by the City. • Jack Darin, 525 Sherman had served on the Wind Farm Committee and encourage the Council to accept the report. • Joel Freeman, 2151 Hartrey stated the City will not bear any financial costs. • Andrew Irvin, 2008 Keeney strongly encourages the Wind Farm proposal. • Drina Nicola, 2008 Keeney read a letter from a member of the Wind Farm Committee. • Mimi Peterson, 748 Wesley spoke against the Wind Farm in the Lake. • Nieolai Schousboe, 1139 Elmwood Ave. • Jeanne Lindwall, 625 Library spoke against the Wind Farm's proposed electricity supply. • Steve LeVan, 1738 Chicago Ave. stated the need for alternative sources of power, and encourages the Council to continue going forward with the Wind Farm. • Jeff Smith, 2724 Harrison encourages the continue research into Wind energy. • Kevin Glyn, 2119 Sherman stated we should continue with the Wind 'Farm initiative. • Lyle Harrison, 1027 Ashland Ave. stated he had invited three companies to Evanston who would possibly invest money into the Wind Farm Project. • Elliot Zashin, 715 Asbury stated Evanstonians donated their time and energy, with no cost to the City. He encourages the Council to continue the research. • Steve Perkins, 1127 Hull Terrace stated the Wind Farm is a future play that may or may not materialize. • Nate Kipins, 1905 Central Park, stated the project will probably be built in 2019 or latter, and strongly recommends the Council to accept the Wind Farm Committee report and move ahead. • Carl Bova, 1322 Rosalie St. encourages the rejection of the continuation of Wind Farm research and a decision should be made tonight. • Ginny Rosenbaum, 1133 Judson Av. requested a thorough geological report of the Lake and urges the Council to be very cautious. 3 July 18, 2011 Speakinq on COMED outaqes: • Jim Wolinski, 2242 Lincolnwood Dr. stated he and his neighbors were out four different times, and he stated COMED is responsible to its stockholders and not their customers. • Carl Bova, 1322 Rosalie St., asked Council to work with COMED in placing electrical wires underground replacement program. • Dave Olson, Speakinq on the Golf Course • Debbie Weixl, 1221 Central St. was hoping for some type of protection if this proposal goes through, to allow parking and prevent the horrors of the past night games. • Carl Bova, 1322 Rosalie St., agrees with the previous speaker's remarks. • Kevin O'Connor, 1227 Y2 Isabella commented on the budget and how the funds could be used elsewhere, including the $350,000.00 contingency plan for Ms. Earl. Speakinq on the Kendall re -subdivision • B.K. Rao, 2246 Sherman spoke of the Ash tree in Wilmette that was destroyed by the storm and the various ways the residents were immortalizing their connection to the tree. She stated the Aldermen had no love of trees as the Wilmette community has for their trees. HUMAN SERVICES COMMITTEE I (H1)Frank Govern Memorial Golf Course Parking Changes during Northwestern Home Football Games It is requested that City Council approve the extension for two more years to the parking and tailgating policy at the Evanston Wilmette Golf Course (Frank Govern Memorial Golf Course) during 6 Northwestern home football games. This request includes adding a fourth parking area (the 10th hole) and permitting wavier of the alcohol prohibition on the 17th and 18th holes only for 3 hours before game time. This request was approved by the Human Services Committee at their July 6, 2011 meeting. For Action Alderman Grover motioned to approve the request and it was seconded and passed with a 6-0 vote to approve. Comments from the Condominium Association will be included in the agreement between the two parties. Alderman Burrus vote was recluse. SPECIAL ORDER OF BUSINESS (SP1)Review of Wind Farm Committee Report Staff recommends City Council consider the information provided by the Mayor's Wind Farm Committee, and that City Council provide direction regarding next steps. Recommendations from the Mayor's Wind Farm Committee for next steps can be found on page 4 of Attachment 2. This item was previously discussed at the June 20, 2011 City Council meeting. For Action 4 July 18, 2011 The Mayor congratulated the Committee's work and their report. Final motion was to amend Alderman Burrus' motion to include having a meteorological report on wind currents in the Lake and to appoint someone to the Springfield Committee. A Roll Call was taken with the result of 5-2 and the motion passed. Aldermen Wilson and Fiske voted nay. (SP2)Neiahborhood Stabilization Proqram 2 (NSP2) Update Staff recommends that City Council members review and discuss the Neighborhood Stabilization Program 2 (NSP2) Marketing Plan update. For Discussion Ms. Joelen Saul NSP2 Specialist p-esented her update on the progress of the first phase of the program. After hearing and viewing the advertisement for NSP2, the following concerns came up: • The marketing strategy • The focus of the adds (whether inside or outside of Evanston) • The message "Live Evanston" appears to be inviting people to come to Evanston • Why contract a marketing firm from Chicago? • Need to focus on how to keep Evanston residents in Evanston • The number of Evanston applicants on the wait list • Getting applicants HUD certified (SP3)Evanston Proiect for the Local Assessment of Needs (EPLAN) Staff recommends that City Council review and accept the Evanston Project for the Local Assessment of Needs (EPLAN) document for the years 2011-2016. For Action This item was pulled off due to the lateness of the hour and will be presented at a Council Session on September 1, 2011. (SP4)FY2010-11 Year-end Financial Report Staff recommends that City Council accept and place on file the FY2010-11 4th Quarter Financial Report. Mr. Lyons written report is included with the minutes as an attachment. (SP4.1)Mav 31, 2011 Financial Report for FY2011 Staff recommends that City Council accept the FY2011 May 31, 2011 Financial Report and place on file This report will be included as an attachment to the minutes. (SP4.2)Resolution 38-R-11: Approvinq Amended FY2011 Capital Improvements Proqram Staff recommends City Council adoption of Resolution 38-R-11 approving the amended FY2011 Capital Improvements Program, increasing the FY2011 CIP funding request by a total of $1,022,513, from $31,415,446 to $32,437,959. . For Action (SP4.3)Resolution 39-R-11: Amendinq the FY2011 Budqet Staff recommends City Council adoption of Resolution 39-R-11 authorizing the City Manager to increase the total FY2011 appropriation by $9,600,984 from $198,910,258 to $208,511,242. For Action 5 July 18, 2011 (SP5)FY2012 Proposed Budqet Calendar Staff recommends City Council adoption of the proposed FY2012 budget calendar. For Action The above three items were motioned to be held over until August 1, 2011 for further discussion by a unanimous voice vote by Council. Alderman Wilson motioned to convene into an Executive Session and was seconded. A Roll Call vote was taken and the result was 7-0, and the meeting ended at 11:08 p.m. Submitted by: Rodney Greene, City Clerk 1 1 M