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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES-1990-10-06-1990z13 11 1 CITY COUNCIL October 6, 1990 A SPECIAL MEETING of the City Council was held on Saturday, October 6, 1990, at 9:10 A.M. ROLL CALL - PRESENT: Alderman Washington Alderman Wold Alderman Collens Alderman Rainey Alderman Lanyon Alderman Feldman Alderman Paden Alderman Rudy Alderman Wollin Alderman Davis Alderman Brady Alderman Esch Alderman Drummer Alderman Morton A quorum being present. ABSENT: Aldermen Juliar, Korshak, Nelson and Warshaw TARDY: Alderman Washington PRESIDING: Mayor Joan W. Barr. Alderman Feldman moved that the Council resolve itself into the Committee of the Whole for the purpose of discussion of budget priorities. Seconded by Alderman Brady. Motion carried. No nays. Alderman Collens briefly reviewed the process that the Council had been using to establish budget priorities. She said that this morning the Council would be asked to concur with the group priority rating and the rationale paragraph for each program element as established by the budget groups. The public will have an opportunity to comment on the budget priorities at the next Budget Policy Committee meeting on October 17 in the Council Chamber. Alderman Rainey, Chair of Budget Group One, shared committee comments on the following budget elements: 0147 - Employee Assistance. Alderman Rainey reported that the committee had spent a long time discussing this budget element. Those who had assigned it a C priority had based their rating on the variety of health services available in the community and the covecage available through city health insurance to pay for those services. 0405 - Analysis and Budget Bureaus. The committee felt this was a necessary function, but was concerned that the staffing was not justified based on the activity measures. She observed that this position was necessary to maintain the city°s accreditation, but only a piece of it was necessary to maintain the accreditation. 0422 - Victim Witness/Youth Outreach. Alderman Rainey explained that the concern with this budget`�element was not with the victim witness portion, but the youth outreach portion. She said that the Committee had requested more information on the credentials and the functions of the two youth outreach workers. 0424 - D.A.R.E. - This element had been given a low priority because the state and the school district had put it out of business. 0040 - Inspections and Internal Investigation. The committee had raised questions about the staffing. 9Z -2- October 6, 1990 0450 - Tactical Bureau. The committee had requested further explaination on how this bureau functioned. 0454 - Animal Control. The committee felt that this element did not serve the needs of the community as currently structured. The committee felt that it needed to be staffed seven days a week with rotating shifts. 1020 - Arts Council. Alderman Rainey commented that there was overwhelming support for this budget element because Evanston has become a community known for the arts. The committee had expressed some concern about maintaining the Noyes Cultural Center if it should become non -self sustaining. 1130 - Cable Communications Administration/Public Information. The committee had asked the City Manager to reorganize this budget element. At this time Alderman Washington was present. Alderman Brady commented that she had been the person to give an A priority to Employee Assistance and expressed her strong support for the necessity of this budget element. Aldermen Wold, Rainey, Brady, City Manager Asprooth and Aldermen Feldman, Davis discussed the victim/witness, youth outreach program and the concerns of the committee. City Manager Asprooth promised the Aldermen that he would respond in detail to the concerns of the committee. Alderman Washington said that the comments contained in the memorandum did not reflect her feelings about the foot patrol program. She expressed strong support for continuation of the foot patrol program. Alderman Rudy commented that the comments under the Employee Assistance Program also did not reflect his feelings. Alderman Rudy moved to change budget element 0147, Employee Assistance from C to and A. Seconded by Alderman Brady. Alderman Morton, Mayor Barr, Aldermen Rainey, Lanyon and Collens discussed the process the Council would use to amend the Committee report. Discussion on the motion. Alderman Feldman said it was clear to him that there were significant opportunities to obtain the counseling services supplied by Employee Assistance outside of the city government. He said that much of the function of the Employees Assistance Counselor was case management. He said that he realized that the cut would affect people's lives, but felt that the amount of change would not be so great. City Manager Asprooth disagreed with his assessment that it would be an easy adjustment. He pointed out that case management is a big part of this function and said that the Employee Assistance Counselor does a significant amount of direct counseling. He pointed out that there will be a significant impact within government if the city is not successful in connecting employees with services outside the city. Mayor Barr took a consensus of the Council on this budget element. There were three votes to make it an A priority, nine votes to make it a B priority and two votes to make it a C priority. Alderman Drummer moved to change budget element 0422, the Victim/Witness Youth Outreach Program from a C to an A. Seconded by Alderman Morton. Alderman Davis moved a substitute motion that the C apply only to the youth outreach portion of the Victim/Witness Program. Seconded by Alderman Wold. Mayor Barr ruled that a consensus would be taken on the two portions of the program separately. Discussion: In response to a question from Alderman Morton, City Manager Asprooth clarified that none of the staff in this program element are Police Officers, they are all civilians. Alderman Morton questioned how the Council could support the Youth Advocacy Program and not support the Youth Outreach portion of this program. Alderman Paden expressed her strong support for the Youth Outreach Program because she understood how it functioned and who it had helped. 1 1 1 -3- October 6, 1990 Mayor Barr took a consensus of the Council on the Victim/Witness portion of this budget element and Council unanimously supported it at the A priority level. Further discussion on the Youth Outreach portion of the budget element. Alderman Feldman said this is an example of the kind of questions that need to be raised regarding other programs. He said he had come to realize that there is a significant difference between having a program -designed to'accomplish a given end and one that accomplishes a given end. He emphasized that the Council must begin to vote for programs that are accomplishing the goals that have been set forth. He said that he had questions about staff qualifications and their effectiveness. Alderman Collens said that between now and the budget preparation process there will be time to examine programs and address various questions. She said that we don't have to have all the answers now. She suggested that the Council vote for this as a C priority with the idea that it may become something else later. Alderman Drummer says each of us has our own opinion about how these programs work. He said everyone should realize that this program makes the highest contact with at -risk youth and has a high degree of contact with other youth agencies in town. He said that he was aware of the job these Youth Outreach workers were doing. In response to a question from Alderman Morton, City Manager Asprooth explained that the staffing in this budget element was fluid and at some of the time all five of the staff members could be involved in youth outreach or victim/witness activities. However, there were two staff members who are identified primarily -as outreach workers. Alderman Paden asked for a report that would amplify the function of the outreach program and give the Council more information on how it functioned and who it helped. Mayor Barr took a consensus of the Council on the youth outreach portion of the program element. Five Aldermen assigned it an A priority, four voted for a B priority and five voted to assign it a C priority. Alderman Morton reported on Group Two priorities. She reported that the committee had raised questions about the number of full-time equivalents, part-time and seasonal workers in some recreation programs. She reported that the committee had been rather divided on the Youth Advocacy Program, the Dental Clinic and the Disease Prevention and Health Program. Alderman Feldman commented about his concerns about the Youth Advocacy Program. He pointed out that the report on the program, which was included in the Human Services packet for this week, indicated that drastic changes had to be made in the way the community delivers social services to this population. He said that without these changes, the Youth Advocacy Program would have little or no effect upon the population it was designed to serve. Alderman Morton shared Alderman Feldman's concerns and said one of her ongoing concerns had been that this program was not adequately staffed. Alderman Washington expressed her reservations about this program and said that she would like the Council to look more closely at this program. She said that perhaps it was necessary to change the way it functions, but she emphasized that she did not want to lose this program entirely. Alderman Davis -raised questions about the family planning program and said that the cost per visit had risen dramatically even though the numbers of people served had dropped off significantly. She said that she understood that the Health Department wanted to do outreach work for this program. She pointed out that the Human Services Committee had expressed some concern about how this program was structured and wished to see that structure changed. In response to a questions from Alderman Rainey, Jay Terry, Director of Health and Human Services, said that no other suburban community had an emergency assistance program on the same scale as Evanston had. He reported that Mt. Prospect had a small emergency assistance program. Alderman Rainey said that we should consider an alternative way of providing the service and suggested that perhaps the City could give money to the Salavation Army to administer, with the proviso that the money go only to Evanston residents. Alderman Collens suggested that the Human Services Committee take this suggestion as a reference to study the possibility of providing the service in an alternate way. Alderman Wold said she would also like the City Manager to consider this possibility in his budget recommendations. In response to a statement from Alderman Washington, Alderman Rainey clarified that . she had no interest in reducing benefits, just administrative costs for this program. 19 -4- October 6, 1990 Alderman Rainey raised questions about the park security program and City Manager Asprooth clarified that the program had one full' -time equivalent (FTE) staff person and four seasonal staff persons. Aldermen Davis, Brady, City Manager Asprooth and Alderman Rainey discussed the following: park patrolmen act more.to prevent problems and keep them from blowing up; the $19,000 for electricity in the program element is for security lights for various parks; suggesting that there was not enough information available to evaluate this priority. Mayor Barr took a consensus on the Council on this program element. Nine members voted to assign this program an A priority and five members voted to assign a B priority. City Manager Asprooth suggested this as a reference to the Planning & Development Committee, with comments requested from the Police Services Committee. Vote to accept Group Two recommendations. Motion carried. No Nays. Alderman Collens reported for the Group Three Chair. She reported that the notes and the comments reflect what the committee had done. Alderman Rainey questioned why the majority of the committee had prioritized the James Park Tobaggan Hill as a B priority and asked for a Council vote. Ten members of the Council voted to classify this as an A priority and four classify it as a B priority. At this time Alderman Rudy assumed the Chair for five minutes. Aldermen Feldman, Collens, Morton and Davis discussed the committee rationale for assigning the Arts & Recreation magazine an A priority. In response to a question from Alderman Esch, City Manager Asprooth clarified that "services billed out to other departments" also included grants.that the magazine receives: Alderman Morton clarified that today the Council was only voting to prioritize budget elements, not was voting to accept the budget of any element. Alderman Collens further clarified that in services billed out, "money billed back to the program" sometimes showed a net revenue because of participation generated by advertising it in the magazine. City Manager Asprooth added that if we did not use the money earmarked in this program element for the magazine, money would still be required to market certain programs. Arts & Recreation magazine allows the City to consolidate the marketing efforts of recreation department and arts programs.. Vote on Group Three Priorities. Motion carried. No nays. Mayor Barr announced that Budget Policy Committee would be meeting in the Council Chamber at 7:45 P.M. on Wednesday, October 17 to hear public comment on budget priorities. Alderman Washington requested that the City Manager inform the Council as to the functions and duties of the Director of Recreation. There being no further business, Alderman Collens moved to adjourn'the meeting. Seconded by Alderman Wold. The meeting adjourned at 10:46 A.M. KIRSTEN F. DAVIS CITY CLERK 1 WE