North Cook News

The Park Ridge City Council met Sept. 26 to establish a stormwater utility fee.

Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the council:

CITY OF PARK RIDGE

505 BUTLER PLACE

PARK RIDGE, IL 60068

TEL: 847-318-5200

FAX: 847-318-5300

TDD: 847-318-5252

www.parkridge.us

DRAFT MINUTES

THE CITY OF PARK RIDGE will provide reasonable auxiliary aids or services necessary to afford an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to

participate in all services, programs and facilities. Persons requiring assistance are requested to notify the City of their needs well in advance to provide

sufficient time for the City to make an accommodation. Requests for accommodation should be made by calling 847-318-5200, TDD 318-5252, or in the

Administration Department at City Hall, 505 Butler Place.

COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING OF THE PARK RIDGE CITY COUNCIL

FINANCE AND BUDGET, PROCEDURES AND REGULATIONS

CITY HALL

COUNCIL CHAMBERS

505 BUTLER PLACE PARK RIDGE, IL 60068

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2016 AT 7:00 P.M.

I. Roll Call

Acting Mayor Maloney called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m.

City Clerk Henneman read the roll call; the following Elected Officials indicated their presence at the

meeting: Ald’s. Moran, Knight, Mazzuca, Van Roeyen, Milissis, Shubert and Acting Mayor Maloney.

There was a quorum.

Staff Present: Acting City Manager Joe Gilmore, Acting Finance Director Andrea Lamberg, City Attorney

Adam Simon, Acting CP&D Director Jim Brown, and Senior Administrative Assistant Julie Zarlenga.

II. Citizens Who Wish to Comment on a Non-Agenda Item

None.

III. Procedures and Regulations

A. Action Items

1. Public Hearing to allow for the issuance of a Certificate of Operation for Park Ridge Dispatch

Inc.

Ald. Mazzuca opened the public hearing.

Applicant Ivelin Dinev, Park Ridge Dispatch said his father Dean Dinev sold the business to him, then

(Park Ridge Taxi). He said he has been working for the company since 2007. He said that everything

concerning the business is the same aside from the change in ownership.

Ald. Mazzuca closed the public hearing.

2. Approve Certificate of Operation for Park Ridge Taxi and Livery Ltd. for a 4-year period and

place on the October 3, 2016 City Council Agenda for final action

Ald. Mazzuca made a motion to approve. Ald. Milissis seconded the motion.

Motion carried, by voice vote, 7-0.

Minutes for the Committee of the Whole meeting (Cont.)

September 26, 2016

Page 2 of 6

IV. Finance and Budget

A. Action Items

1. Approve placing of an Ordinance Authorizing the Issuance of General Obligation Refunding

Bonds, Series 2016, for the City of Park Ridge, refinancing Series 2006A, on the October 3,

2016 City Council meeting for first reading

Ald. Knight made a motion to approve. Ald. Milissis seconded the motion.

Acting City Manager Gilmore said this item was discussed at the September 12 Council meeting. The

discussion included two scenarios; level payments and optimal savings which would use either a private

or public sale of the 2006A bond series.

Acting City Manager Gilmore explained that the level payments scenario creates relatively level total debt

payments for all outstanding debt that is levied until the year 2023. This provides an approximate savings

of $1,102,636. The optimal savings scenario is structured to provide the maximum savings through the

levy year 2020. The approximate savings is $1,219,457.

He then went onto explain the public versus private sale option saying that the private sale has lower

fees, which would be roughly $50,000 less than in the public sale, while a public sale would result in

higher savings. The size of the bonds are around $10 million. He said the only way they would explore a

private sale is if the net savings was greater than the public sale. Council consensus favored the level

payment scenario, which could be applied to either private or public sale.

Ald. Moran asked if they had to decide now whether to go the private or public route.

Acting City Manager Gilmore said no, that the ordinance is generic enough to allow for a decision to be

made later.

City Attorney Simon said that the bonds the City is planning on refunding exceeds $10 million. In order

for the bonds to be bank qualified, they have to be less than $10 million per year. He asked if the

Parameters Ordinance provides authority to issue both of the bond series, or just the first bond series.

Acting City Manager said he believed the ordinance was broad enough to include both series, however

he said he would let Kevin O’Kelly with William Blair confirm the answer.

Kevin O’Kelly, Financial Advisor with William Blair, said they have the series split up in case the proceeds

to refund the bonds were over $10 million, the City would have an option to create a taxable series to

maintain the rest of the bank qualification on the exempt bonds or if there is enough left over for more

bank qualification. If there is enough left over we would do a second resolution. We will however monitor

were we are in regards to the $10 million.

Ald. Moran asked if there was $3 or $4 million left over and the City paid it off, if it would negatively impact

the City’s credit rating.

Acting City Manager Gilmore said he didn’t think there would be any negative impact to the City’s credit.

Ald. Mazzuca asked how many bidders they might get if they took the private sale route.

Mr. O’Kelly said that they would see a list of the banks they will reach out to.

Motion carried, by voice vote, 7-0.

2. Approve placing of an Ordinance of the City Council of the City of Park Ridge Amending

Article 11, Chapter 5 of the Municipal Code of Park Ridge Regarding the Establishment of the

Stormwater Utility Fee, on the October 3, 2016 Council agenda for First Reading

Ald. Knight made a motion to approve. Ald. Moran seconded the motion.

Minutes for the Committee of the Whole meeting (Cont.)

September 26, 2016

Page 3 of 6

Acting City Manager Gilmore said on September 6 they talked about challenges surrounding the fee to be

implemented to January 1. It was decided to push the fee back until after the stormwater master plan had

been established and we are now amending the date, as directed by Council from January 1 to

September 1, 2017. The fee will also be amended from $2.75 to $0.

Ald. Mazzuca said he wanted to make sure they had enough funds to pay for any stormwater master plan

projects. He asked if they had enough surplus in the sewer fund to pay for the projects.

Acting City Manager Gilmore said yes, that they have around a $2 million surplus in the sewer fund.

Ald. Milissis asked Acting City Manager Gilmore why there was a lack of analysis in the memo about what

the short-term fix might cost.

Acting City Manager Gilmore said they talked with Tyler Technologies, the Finance Department’s

software provider about building an interface into the system to calculate the Stormwater Utility Fee rates.

Tyler Technologies said it would be more expensive to go that route than it would be to have someone

manually keying in each resident’s rate per bill. He added if they went this route they would have to

temporarily bring someone in to key in the information for several weeks as the workload would be too

great on Finance staff.

Ald. Shubert asked when they first found out from Tyler Technologies about the implementation issues.

Acting City Manager Gilmore said it was 1-2 months ago.

Ald. Shubert asked why they didn’t have the conversation with Tyler sooner so that they could be ready to

implement the stormwater utility fee.

Acting City Manager Gilmore said they probably should have asked Tyler sooner. He said that it is not

impossible to key in the data to get this done, but that it would be costly and inefficient.

Ald. Milissis said he is disappointed that Council didn’t get more of an analysis in the memo. He asked

for analysis to be included in the memo when the item comes back. He said that they should not have to

wait another year for an itemized bill, and that they should start charging the $2.75 fee now. He felt that

by delaying the Stormwater utility fee, it sends a message to residents that they are not serious about

fixing the flooding problems in Park Ridge.

Ald. Mazzuca said that the Mayfield project was budgeted and that for this project, they are millions of

dollars above their target. He said that by delaying this fee until they have a plan for it is in the interest of

the taxpayer.

Ald. Shubert commented that if they have millions of dollars lying around, then they should use the money

to make the system changes to get the stormwater utility going by January 1.

Ald. Knight said this topic somehow became fixed on the billing aspect instead of the reason we should

wait to bill, so that the residents pay a fee that is based on a plan.

Ald. Moran said that he too wanted to have a plan in place before implementing the fee.

Motion carried, by roll call vote, 4-3 (Ald’s. Milissis, Shubert, and Van Roeyen were the nay votes).

B. Discussion Items

1. Ticket/Citation Collection

Acting City Manager Gilmore said that IDROP collections have slowed down, but that they are getting

municipal tickets in.

Minutes for the Committee of the Whole meeting (Cont.)

September 26, 2016

Page 4 of 6

2. Uptown/Summit Parking

Acting City Manager Gilmore said that staff will have a kickoff meeting with Gewalt Hamilton next week.

C. Human Resources

1. Review/update on each union body, labor negotiation(s), grievance(s)

? Local 150 (Public Works) held a negotiation session on July 26.

2. Review/update on the non-union body

? No report.

3. Staffing Changes

? Jim Testin, Community Preservation & Development Director has accepted a new position after

4.5 years with the City of Park Ridge.

? The City hired the following people:

o Jim Brown, Acting/Interim Community Preservation & Development Director (ft) starts on

September 26.

o Michael Becker, Pump Station Operator (ft) starts on September 26.

? We are currently in the process of receiving applications and/or interviewing for the following

positions: School Crossing Guards (pt) and Plans Examiner/Inspectors (pt/on-call).

4. Pension Update

? The next Police Pension Board quarterly meeting is scheduled for October 26 at 10:00 a.m. in the

2nd Floor Conference Room at City Hall (505 Butler Place).

? The next Fire Pension Board quarterly meeting is scheduled for November 8 at 10:00 a.m. at Fire

Station 36 (1000 N. Greenwood Avenue).

D. Department Head Report

Acting Finance Director Lamberg said the audit is still in process. She said they had an IMRF and a

Motor Fuel Tax Audit as well. Director Lamberg said they will present a Capital Project plan to Council at

the October Finance and Budget meeting. The bid opening for the water and sewer rate study was

already underway.

V. Citizens Who Wish to Comment on a Non-Agenda Item

Ald. Knight gave Resident Tom Nazar a chance to speak since he arrived at the meeting after open

comment was over.

Tom Nazar, 16 N. Lincoln, said he was disappointed that they increased the parking meter rates, saying it

was impractical to carry around the amount of quarters needed to park all day. He also mentioned that

there was no notification given to commuters about the rate increase. Mr. Nazar suggested having a

resident and a non-resident parking section to charge the residents less. He also suggested replacing

the existing meters with new meters that took credit cards.

Acting Mayor Maloney addressed Mr. Nazar’s concern’s saying that there was a parking study underway

and they were looking into possible options. He said that they were looking into replacing the old meters,

however, if the cost out-weighed the revenue, then it would not be done. He mentioned various

alternative places around Park Ridge where Mr. Nazar could park.

VI. Procedures and Regulations

A. Action Items

Minutes for the Committee of the Whole meeting (Cont.)

September 26, 2016

Page 5 of 6

3. Approve placing Council Policy Statement (CPS) 35, regarding allowing Council members to

vote when participating by electronic means, on the October 3, 2016 City Council agenda for

first reading

Ald. Mazzuca made a motion to approve. Ald. Moran seconded the motion.

City Attorney Simon said there was debate around whether or not the Chair should be able to decide who

can or cannot vote electronically.

Ald. Moran referred to the memo saying he would like to see the section limiting no more than two

members participating electronically taken out. He said if there are only three members present, then that

sentence would not apply. He suggested that the sentence be replaced with the rule “if you have a

physical quorum.”

Ald. Mazzuca asked if there is anything that prohibits the number of times someone uses electronic

voting.

City Attorney Simon said there is nothing in the law that prohibits the number of times a person

participates electronically.

Ald. Moran said he wanted to strike section 14.

Ald. Mazzuca made a motion to amend, and strike section 14, Ald. Shubert seconded the motion.

Motion carried as amended, by voice vote, 7-0.

B. Discussion Items

1. Discussion of Liquor Code Article 12 Chapter 6 - Modification for beer wine service

only with license fee adjustment

City Attorney Simon said he spoke with the Liquor License Review Board and their recommendation was

not to make any changes.

Acting Mayor Maloney said he received conflicting information regarding insurance information from

Deputy City Clerk Peterson and a business owner.

Ald. Shubert said the original intent in establishing a fee structure was to simplify the number of classes

and to reflect the fee structure around the effort put forth by the City into a license class. He said he

wanted to have one restaurant class, then apply an add-on as necessary.

Ald. Mazzuca asked for consensus to move forward. There was no consensus and the item was left as

is.

2. Update on Planning and Zoning Commission Zoning Ordinance Amendments

Acting City Manager Gilmore said the minutes from the P&Z meeting had been included.

3. Discussion of an Ordinance amending Article 3 Chapter 2: Rules of Order

City Attorney Simon said this ordinance will clarify the two-reading practice. This ordinance would require

a minimum of two readings, one read at the committee level, and one at the council level.

Acting Mayor Maloney said that as of now it is 4 readings, and with the ordinance they can go to 2

readings. He said he liked the cleanup, however, he felt uncomfortable going to 2 readings.

Ald. Shubert said he supports the 2 reading minimum. He suggested they extend the reading to 3

readings for larger topics with the Chair’s discretion.

Ald. Mazzuca said it is the discretion of the chair as to how many readings they have and that he

preferred having a discussion before it went straight to action.

Minutes for the Committee of the Whole meeting (Cont.)

September 26, 2016

Page 6 of 6

There was consensus for the item to move forward.

C. Upcoming P&R Items

1. Future P&R agenda recommendations

Ald. Mazzuca said he will work with Acting City Manager Gilmore on the list that former CP&D Director

Testin left.

VII. New Business

None.

VIII. Adjournment

The meeting was adjourned at 8:32 p.m.