All
» [music]
» right, everybody. Welcome to the Monday,
April 27th, city council uh meeting. Uh
I will be your DJ for this evening. I am
Mayor Pro Tim. Uh the way this works is
there's a rotating schedule that
determines who the mayor pro Tim is in
cases of absences from our mayor. And so
I believe the next person on the
schedule is council member Kelly. Just
for everyone's reference, uh we'll start
off the meeting with a roll call to
establish a quorum.
>> Council member Hakaris
>> here.
>> Council member Kelly
>> here.
>> Council member Harris.
>> Council member Isles
>> here.
>> Council member Nisma
>> here.
>> Council member Sufffordan
>> here.
>> Council member Davis
>> here. Council member Rogers
>> here.
>> Council member Burns
>> I am here.
>> All right. We've uh established a
quorum. Uh next up we have uh public
announcements and proclamations
which we have four.
Uh first up is the world migratory bird
day May 9th 2026.
I will read the proclamation and then I
believe we have uh Libby Hill in the
audience who will come up and take a
photo with our city manager. Uh whereas
migratory birds are a visible and valued
part of our community signaling seasonal
change and highlighting connections of
ecosystems. And whereas migratory birds
play vital ecological roles through seed
dispersal, pollination, and pest control
yet face growing threats from human
activi activity and urban development.
And whereas the city of Evston as a
designated bird city Illinois community
recognizes the importance of migratory
birds and has adopted bird friendly
policies. And whereas through ongoing
natural area stewardship and bird
friendly practices, hardworking
stewardship groups and city employees
have preserved and restored bird
habitats. And whereas the 2026 World
Migratory Bird Day theme, every bird
counts, your observations matter,
highlights the importance of individual
and collective action. Uh now therefore,
um as I guess Mayor Pro Tim of city of
Evston do hereby proclaim May 9th, 2026
as World Migratory Bird Day.
Libby Hill. [applause]
Have a still repeat.
smile.
And then I'll do a little bit closer.
Uh, Council Member Kelly.
>> Sure. I just want to um say thank you to
Libby Hill and the others who've worked
so hard to um be engaged to um provide
especially the Clark Street Birch uh
beach bird sanctuary. The work they've
done on that and how Libby Hill back
when Northwestern was expanding its um
visitor center and encroaching on our
using of some of our um parkland really
kicked into gear to work with city staff
to create this um to expand the san the
bird sanctuary. um this is really so
meaningful and such a wonderful place in
our city. So I just really want to say
thank you to Libby and the others. So
thank you.
Uh any other public comments? All right.
Uh next up we have International Compost
Awareness Week May 3rd through May 9th.
uh whereas composting is a way of
returning organic resources to the soil
to restore the health of the soil and
enable its essential function in the
carbon cycle. And whereas applying
finished compost is a proven method of
growing healthy food, conserving water
during extreme drought, providing
resiliency during flooding conditions,
reducing water consumption and non point
pollution, decreasing the dependence on
chemical fertilizers, decreasing erosion
uh uh carbon uh sequestration and
remediating fire damaged lands. And
whereas it is critical to recognize
composting as an effective form of
resource recovery, waste reduction,
reuse and recycling, and pollution
reduction. And whereas materials such as
yard trimmings, fruit and vegetable
cutings, ex acceptable food scraps and
organics are all able to be composted
and processed into a beneficial product
known as compost. And whereas
communities through their local
governments, highway departments, soil
conservation service and extension
offices, and public works professionals
can have significant impact on clean
water, soil, climate resiliency, and
landfill diversion by using compost for
projects at all scales. And whereas
international compost awareness week is
a publicly and education initiative to
showcase compost production and
demonstrate comp post use. And whereas
composting creates green jobs and
infrastructure for cities and states who
implement composting programs. And
whereas this year's theme is compost
feed the soil that feeds us. The 2026
theme was chosen with the goal of
highlighting the benefits of composting
in agriculture and food production and
its role in supporting healthy,
nutritious food and by extension healthy
people and communities. Beyond
responsible waste management, composting
recognizes the interconnectedness
between every person who eats and the
earth that provides all of our food, as
well as our agency in feeding the earth
our scraps so that the soil may continue
to provide for us abundantly. Compost
grows healthy soil, healthy food, and a
healthy Illinois. And therefore,
uh, um, as Mayor Pro Tim, we hereby
proclaim the first full week of May as
compost awareness week. That was a long
one.
I believe we have Brian Zimmerman, our
solid waste coordinator, here to take a
quick photo. I'm supposed to hand this
off to you. Thank you.
They gave me the long,
[clears throat]
» Council Member Kelly.
>> Thank you. Um, and thank you all uh for
your work on this. And I think we can't
uh kick off this week without mentioning
and and um and acknowledging Erlene
Howard um who started collective
resources back in 2010 and served over
3,000 Evston residents with composting.
She really was the one that got it um
people really committed and involved. So
Erlene Howard, I think she deserves a
big hat tip on this tonight. Thank you.
All right, two more. Uh, next up is NA
National Drinking Water Week, May 3rd
through the 9th. Uh, whereas water is
our most valuable natural natural
resource. And whereas drinking water
serves a vital role in daily life,
serving an essential purpose to health,
hydration, and hygiene needs for the
quality of life for our citizens. Our
citizens enjoy. And whereas Tap Water
delivers public health protection, fire
protection, support for our economy, and
the quality of life we enjoy. And
whereas the hard work performed by the
entire water sector, designing capital
projects, operators, ensuring the safety
and quality of drinking water or a
member of a pipe crew maintaining the
infrastructure communities rely on to
transport highquality drinking water
from its source to consumers taps. And
whereas we are all stewards of the water
infrastructure upon which current future
generations depend. And whereas the
citizens of our city are called upon to
help protect our source waters from
pollution, practice water conservation,
and give involved with their water by
familiarizing themselves with it. And
now therefore, I, Mayor Pro Tim, do
hereby proclaim the week of May uh 3rd
through the 9th, 2026 as National
Drinking Water Week in the city of
Evston.
I don't think we have anybody here to
collect this or do we? Oh, yep. Here you
go, Luke.
Okay.
[applause]
All right. And the last proclamation,
Evston Public Service Recognition Week.
Whereas a high quality and professional
public service is essential to Evston's
quality of life. And whereas employees
are our most important resource. And
whereas city employees strive to provide
the highest quality services within
available resources in a courteous,
responsive, efficient, and effective
manner. And whereas city employees
provide highquality performance striving
for the highest standards of personal
and professional conduct, integrity, and
innovation. And whereas city employees
serve citizens in hundreds of ways
through the city staff and all
departments. And whereas city employees
represent the city government in their
day-to-day interactions with citizens.
And whereas the citizens of Evston
deserve a highquality professional
responsive public service today and in
the future. And whereas to maintain a
highquality and professional public
service for future generations, the city
must attract and retain talented people
with the required skills and who will
use those skills in services to the
people of Evston. Now therefore, I,
Mayor Pro Tim, do hereby proclaim May
3rd through May 9th, 2026 as Evston
Public Service Recognition Week. Um, I
think it would be appropriate on this
one. This feels like for public
employees. So maybe everybody should
come up now and I will take the photo.
Let's go.
[applause]
» [laughter]
» I need a little guidance from our
communications director now. We going
horizontal, right? Okay.
>> I'm just getting ready.
» I think I need an angle. This is a big
group.
>> Welcome to being journalists, Bob. I
know, right? If I don't do it well, you
got us in the back.
>> No comment.
>> Very nice.
>> You getting a good angle there.
» Cuz it's hard cuz all of this stuff.
>> Yeah.
>> Like what do you think?
>> Or can we We can't move that.
» Yeah.
>> It's the podium.
is on wheels.
» The podium is on wheels.
>> That's what I was asking if we can move
it. But how far? Cuz it's got cords
underneath, too.
>> Don't tear nothing up. [laughter]
We won't be invited back.
» All right. All good.
>> It's just the podium anyway, but it's
good. It's the best we can do. All
right. Y'all ready? One, two, three.
Smile.
>> All right.
Got it. Thank you.
>> Sorry about that.
All
right, next up we have city manager
public announcements. Good evening,
Mayor Prom, Council members, and Clerk
Mendoza have a couple of announcements
tonight. Um, first up, we have some
friends here from the Illinois section
of the American Waterworks Association
to present an award to city staff.
Good evening.
>> Good evening. So, as you previously
mentioned, drinking water week next week
was established by the American
Waterworks Association to recognize the
essential role water plays in our daily
lives and to honor the professionals
like Mr. King here who work every day to
ensure safe, reliable drinking water for
our communities. My name is Laura Morgan
and I represent the Illinois section of
the American Waterworks Association and
I'm honored to be here tonight to
recognize and congratulate the city of
Evston's water department for its
ongoing commitment to educating and
engaging its community and for promoting
awareness of water conservation and
quality. The city of Evston is a
participate participant in the Illinois
section's water ambassador program, an
initiative designed to elevate public
understanding of the water industry
through education and outreach. The
program provides a unified communication
platform that helps utilities deliver
relevant, engaging, and consistent
messaging through tools such as website
posts. [snorts] Uh Mr. King was telling
me that they've given tours to
Northwestern students and local area
schools. They have shared links to their
water treatment
um procedures which are quite
interesting if you've never watched
something like that happen or don't
understand it. They've put out social
media posts, water smart messages, water
bill inserts to help people understand
their billing, and they've provided city
council staff with drinking water 123 to
help better understand the industry.
The program recognizes achievement at
three levels, bronze, silver, and gold
based on the quality, consistency, and
frequency of communication efforts. This
year, we are proud to recognize 36 gold
level water ambassadors and one bronze
across the state. And we are especially
pleased to share that the city of Evston
has achieved gold level status for the
third year.
So, congratulations to the city of
Evston
>> on this outstanding accomplishment and
thank you for your continued leadership
in educating the public and ensuring
safe and sustainable water for all.
Thank you.
[applause]
Then I'll do another one.
as uh as manager city manager Stow makes
his way back. Um, you know, we have a
former colleague of ours that is walking
around the country to raise awareness
around economic issues. And as he
travels through different states, I
won't say which states he's going
through because the next thing I want to
say, water is not as delicious as it is
uh everywhere as it is in Evston and and
so I think that's a testament to the
good work of our water department. Uh so
thank you.
>> Thank you, sir. So, um, next up, um, we
have friends here from Eff Cradle to
career to make a brief presentation
about changes to the SNAP program. So,
Kimberly Holmes Ross of Extra Willie,
thank you for being here this evening.
>> And we'll have Anderson ceue up the
short presentation.
>> Very short.
» May want to give it to the media. Want
to just start? We can just start. I want
to hold up.
Happy Monday. In the meantime,
while we wait
» No. That's We Can you start at the first
slide, please? That's the last slide.
>> I'm sorry.
>> The clicker.
>> Oh,
>> is this the clicker?
>> Yeah. Can you click? There we go. There
you go. Okay. So, good evening. Uh,
we're going to speed through this. We
did uh hand out a one pager for
reference for the council members and we
have some for the audience if you're
interested. Um, and we did also send
over the full presentation um for you to
look over at your leisure. I'm going to
stick to my notes so we can get through
this quickly. I am Kimberly Holmes Ross,
executive director at Evston Cradle to
Career. We're grateful for this
opportunity uh to have this important
community conversation strengthening our social safety net
today. It's about coming together with
honesty, urgency, and the hope to ensure
that no one in Evston falls through the
cracks. As we begin, I want to ground us
in the work of Evston cradle to career,
which is proudly celebrating 10 years of
impact and rising.
For those who may be new to the
organization, Evston Cradle to Career is
a collective impact initiative focused
on building a system that works for
everyone
from birth through career.
We bring together schools, nonprofits,
government, healthcare partners, and
community members to align efforts
around shared goals. In other words,
wraparound.
Our approach is datadriven,
community-led and system focused. And
because we know
And [clears throat] because we know
lasting change happens when people
and institutions work together. Today's
conversation reflects that same belief.
Strengthening our social safety net
requires collaborative
collaboration, accountability, and a
commitment to meeting the real needs of
our residents.
Thank you for being a partner in this
work and for helping us move our
community forward.
So, I'm going to pass it quickly to our
community impact director, Baxter
Swilly.
Hello and happy Earth month to everyone.
I appreciate all of the water and all of
the uh the the goodwill towards the soil
that has been expressed here today. Um
so re really quickly I want to say
something about the numbers. Uh Evston
has about 11,700
Medicaid recipients. About 10,000 Evston
ready residents are using SNAP benefits.
And it's estimated that there are about
4,000 undocumented residents in the city
of Evston. These are really big numbers
because the newly eligible ACA
recipients of Medicaid, there's about
3,100 of them. They are going to be
vulnerable to benefit cuts as early as
next week, as early as this week. May
1st is a um May is a critical cliff for
public benefits. SNAP is the cliff where
we expect the work requirements to begin
to push people off of their um off of
the roles of of SNAP benefits. If you
are not uh found eligible as a result of
not meeting those SNAP work
requirements, essentially what happens
is you'll get three months of SNAP
benefits over the course of 36 months,
over the course of three years. families
cannot incur that kind of uh breach of
trust when we're talking about money.
SNAP benefits are cash and the economy
is completely unaffordable right now.
And if some families who are making up
to $940 a month on SNAP, if they lose
that money, they could find themselves
in dire straits. People are becoming not
just food insecure, but housing
insecure. Um so there are income
changes. When I began to talk about the immigrant issue, it's important to
know that violence against women, the asyles and refugees who are here
under the VAWA act, they are
categorically kicked off a snap. All of
the um so we got VAWA and we got VTTC
victims of trafficking, torture, and
other crimes. they are categorically
removed from the SNAP benefit roles.
Folks, this is going to be a very
difficult challenge for us to uh face
and I think that the only way we can
post it is by doing it together. And so
here are a few things that we need to
do. Access the no wrong door policy.
This is basically wraparound where we
have a digital system and no matter what
your problem is, you can access all of
Evston's resources through an online
system called EENS. It's called
empowering communities through
integrated networks. We need to align
all of the systems, all of the programs,
all of the we're talking about
reparations, we're talking about green
home programs, we're talking about um
emergency assistance, all of that stuff
needs to be integrated to ensure that
nobody falls through the cracks. We need
to help people keep their benefits.
Navigation navigating the public benefit
network or system is critical. Um, if we
had more time, I could really get into
that. Um, and then reducing the cliffs.
We want to make sure that as many of
these people who are exposed
to the SNAP benefit cliff are
undergurded with some kind of support.
There are some people no matter what
they do, they are going to lose their
benefits. the city of Evston, all of
your partners have to rally to ensure
that these people don't go hungry, that
they don't become homeless, and that
they don't put more pressure on the
social safety net. And then we need to
center community voices. You need to
hear from people who are experiencing
this. We are not getting good, real,
accurate data from the federal
government. We need to talk to people
who are filing for their benefits and we
need to learn from them exactly what
they are hearing from the federal
government. So, we're going to put
together something on that, too. And
then focus on prevention.
That's a little late. I mean, we really
are here at the point where um we can
focus on the pre preventing people from
losing Medicaid. That cliff doesn't
happen until January 2027. Lastly, we
got to make what we have work. And
that's what wraparound is all about. I
do believe that there's an opportunity
for us to raise up a wraparound program
even though Evson is a small community
for wraparound, but I do think that we
can get it done. Thank you. We
appreciate it.
This one pager will be on the desk out
with the security guard if anybody the
audience if you want it.
>> Any uh any questions?
Uh, one question I have is where it says
help people keep benefits, I know you briefly mentioned Medicaid, but when we think about how to help people
keep SNAP potentially, do you have any
response to that? What can we do to
help?
>> I do. Uh, there are a few things. Uh,
Mr. Mayor Prom, uh, is it pro Tim? This
prom, right?
>> Council member Burns, Mayor Pro Tim,
chair, uh, pick one. Um the first thing
is making sure that your information
with DHS, the Department of Human
Services, State of Illinois is accurate.
>> Okay.
>> The second thing is um we are working to
put up a notification system so people
know when these eligibility cliffs
happen. There's a new eligibility
interval cycle where it's not every 12
months anymore. It's every six months.
And a lot of people don't know that.
they're going to miss those
redetermination meetings. So, those are
two or three things that we can do with
the community of recipients here in the
city of Evans.
>> Thank you. Uh, Council Member Rogers.
>> Yeah, thanks. Um, this is something that
we've been working I work for a church
as my day job and so uh we have a meal
program and we've been working really hard with the people who come to
that program in order to try to find
work that meets the work requirements
for them which is a great way for people
to get involved and help people keep
their SNAP benefits because the biggest
challenge for lots of them is finding
the work. And so if you have
opportunities to provide work to people,
uh please reach out to I'm going to just
call out uh Cradle to Career since
they're right here, but any of the
social service agencies that we have and
try to find a place for these people to
actually get their work requirement in
so they can maintain their SNAP
benefits. And Governor Prrisker is
raising up a a mechanism, sort of an
initiative for people to volunteer with
the state and you can uh do community
service with uh the state of Illinois to
keep your SNAP benefits.
>> Um Council Rogers, I appreciate you
saying that because that that's that's
probably what I had on the top of my
mind is how can we
>> also the
>> how can we help people uh meet the work
requirements? Um and and so I'd love
manager Stow if between Joe Fields,
Director Obo, if if you can schedule a
meeting, you know, with Cradle to Career
to see and so for those who don't know,
Joe Fields is our workforce development
uh manager for the city and then um Ike
Obo is our health director. And so if we
could, you know, get a meeting together
to figure out what we can do in
partnership to help people uh meet those
eligibility requirements, especially as
it relates to to work, uh the minimum
work requirement, whatever it whatever
that might be, I think that would be a
important step. And then if there's any
information like a summary that you can
provide counsel as to what those
requirements are, what the new income
requirements are, work requirements, or
any other details to help us better
support our constituents. I think we'd
all appreciate that as well.
>> And we are working with our nonprofits
for volunteer and work um require so
work requirements can be met. Yeah.
>> Because they can be through volunteers.
So we are surveying all of our
nonprofits, all of our partners. Um and
we will share all of that.
>> Thank you. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. Uh Council Member Nusma.
>> Thank you, Mr. Mayor Prom. I was just
chatting with the city manager,
recalling a conversation we had a month
or so ago about um using potentially
using city resources to pair SNAP
recipients with volunteer opportunities
because that's another way of
qualifying. Uh what are we able to offer
at this point?
>> Sure. I just wanted to share the there's
a volunteer Evston web page where um
nonprofits and organizations can submit
uh volunteer opportunities. Um then we
post those opportunities and kind of
serve as a matchmaker service for uh
recipients.
>> Perfect. That's great. That's awesome.
>> That's great.
>> Yeah. And I think we can learn more
about what each other are doing during
that that meeting. So I'd love to be a
part of that. Uh thank you.
>> Thank you.
Kimberly Baxter. Appreciate
you being here tonight.
>> Appreciate it.
Um, I also wanted to share just briefly,
uh, remind folks that the Evston Chamber
of Commerce and the Northwestern's
Office of Neighborhood and Community
Relations is offering a free bus service
called Hop Around Evston to our business
districts um on Saturday evenings from
6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. Um, that service
continues started in early April and
continues through June 20th. Uh, the bus
route stops at 13 different locations.
It it loops counterclockwise around
Evston. Um, and you can learn more about
Hop Around Evston and the map uh at the
Evston Chamber of Commerce website. Um,
and then lastly, just very briefly, I
want to thank those who were able to
join us for the celebration um
celebration that we had at Robert Crown
about 10 days ago. Um, it's great uh
turnout from elected officials and staff
and other uh community stakeholders. I
just want to share a couple of um stats
about that system. The system output is
over 1.2 2 million kilowatts per hour.
The useful lifespan of the system is 30
years. Uh the consumption offset is 34%
of Robert Crown's electricity usage and
the life cycle savings over that time
frame is uh over $3 million. I just
wanted to share those stats and again
thanks uh for those that were able to
join us.
>> Um and real quick actually first uh is
still on council member please thing one
of the other stats. How much did it cost
us?
>> Zero.
>> How much is it going to cost us to own
and operate over the lifetime of the
contract?
>> Zero.
>> Thank you.
>> Um, on the on the the shuttle side of
things, so this is a a free shuttle,
correct?
>> Correct.
>> 13 different locations.
>> Correct. And um I I wanna I wanted to
emphasize this again because I I swear
I've been a part of so many community
meetings over the year years and I feel
like this is something that has come up
consistently in those meetings and so
often times I think people remember what
you know it's easier to remember what
the city is yet to do but I want to make
this a moment where we recognize that
this is one of the things that I have
heard many times and so I haven't looked
it up myself so hopefully it's the right
locations right time of day and all of
that, but please look into it and, you
know, let us know if this is meeting a
real need that we have in our community.
>> And the last thing I would add is that
um we're also there's data collection
that's occurring and so I think there's
already been a request to adjust the bus
route just a little bit. So, we're doing
some data collection to see if we can do
that for future bus routes and going
forward.
>> Uh thank you, city manager. Next up, we
have communications from the city clerk.
Um you guys received some emails in your
inbox regarding um the circuit breaker
program, the landmarking and I think
like one other that wasn't clear about
what program it was. Um, and then other
than that, I just wanted to let the
community know that um, the clerk's
office has been working to update our
under our office, the different tabs um,
in our
on the website. So, you can go on to the
clerk's tab and then find the city of
Evston document center now where you can
access laser fish and access a lot of
public documents. Um, just so the
community knows, with the new website
um, update that we did, the website
transition, we're still waiting for a
lot of documents that be to be um,
transferred over to the clerk's office
via web transfer. Once that information
is transferred to my office, we uh, will
then add all of those documents that
used to previously live on the old
website onto the document center. But if
you go under the city clerk's office,
you look at the document center listed
there, you will be able to find minutes
dating back to 1860 um and different
items and just like it's like total nerd
stuff. If you guys are into this stuff,
like I love it. But um and then we're
wait uh we're working on different ways
of indexing documents and just making it
easier for you guys to search. Um so um
it's there's a lot of cool features
coming to laserfish 2. Um, and I'll
update those as we um we have them.
There's also a new uh compliance
requirements tab for all boards,
commissions, and committees. So, you can
look at all the different types of
compliant metrics that uh volunteers,
staff, and um our council members have
to meet throughout the year. And um
there is also another tab where you can
see the city council agendas um and
minutes um and there's another tab where
you can see all the boards, commissions,
and committees. And with that, with the
um transition of our new meeting
management program, we also created a
public comment directory. So you can go
on to the boards, commissions, and
committees tab now and click on the
public comment directory or the or find
that link also in the public comment
guide where you can go to one simple
page and find every single link where
you can email and or sign up for public
comment if it's a available virtually or
via email. um there. So, you don't have
to be digging around on many different
sites to find that. So, it's pretty cool
stuff if you guys care about that stuff.
Um but that's all. Thank you so much.
Uh thank you, city clerk. Next up, we
have public comment. Everyone will
receive three minutes. Uh as always, we
will start with those who signed up
online uh to speak in person. If this is
your first time, you can sign up online.
Uh clerk, do you want to explain where
they go to do that? But you can sign up
online to make a public comment in
person or virtual if you didn't know.
And there is a link on the
>> in the public comment directory that I
just mentioned.
>> Thank you. Um next first up we have
Thomas Weber if I pronounced that
correctly.
Good. Good evening Mayor Prom, council
members. I just want to start off by
saying it's really great to hear about
all of the great work the city's doing
on migratory birds and water and uh
cradle to career helping keep SNAP
benefits. So, it was really great to
hear all that. Um, but my name is Thomas
Weber. I live in the sixth ward. I'm the
nominator for the Willard landmark
designation and I urge you to approve
the ordinance before you. Uh, it's
Willard's a beautiful public school more
than a century old and the preservation
commission unanimously found that it
meets the city's requirements for
designation and retains excellent
integrity. This was not a routine
recommendation. It followed careful
scrutiny and unanimous approval by the
commission. The commission described
Willard as a prominent visual landmark
and community anchor. And I think that's
exactly right. Its architecture reflects
not only the work of an an important
architect, Henry Rder, who also designed
landmarked Orington School, but a time
when public schools were built to embody
civic aspiration.
Approving this ordinance would also be
consistent with Evston's long-standing
practice of protecting distinguished
public school buildings. Six public
school buildings are already landmarked.
Washington, Orington, Oakton, ETHS,
Haven, and Nicholls. And several of
those were built after Willard. This
nomination fits squarely within that
tradition. And this nomination did not
arise from just me. More than 100
residents uh signed on to the landmark
nomination last fall, reflecting broad
neighborhood support for recognizing and
protecting this place. And because
council member Rogers raised a
thoughtful concern last time about
burdening future owners, I would note
that landmark designation does not
prevent future adaptation. If the
property were to ever change hands,
which may never occur given its
continued use as a public school,
designation can support thoughtful uh
adaptive reuse and make preservation
incentives available to help make that
viable. And this place carries civic
meaning beyond architecture. It's widely
understood to be the first public
building in Evston named for a woman
honoring Francis Willard, the famed
Evston suffragist and reformer. And it
was built just after ratification of the
19th amendment, giving women the right
to vote at a moment when naming a public
school in her honor carried particular
significance.
In the commission's words, the school's
structure and grounds that comprise
Willard are irreplaceable.
I also want to thank the Shorefront
Legacy Center for contributing research
and perspective to the record. In fact,
Shorefront's contributions here show how
preservation can help bring forward
previously untold or undertold histories
and stories that remain overlooked. And
I would simply say this, preserving a
place and acknowledging fuller histories
are not opposing values. In fact, they
reinforce one another. at bottom. This
is about stewardship, safeguarding the
civic's the city's historic, cultural,
and architectural heritage for current
and future citizens. I respectfully ask
that you approve the ordinance. Thanks.
» Uh, next up we have William Carter.
Good evening. Um, I am William Carter,
formerly of the fifth ward. I want to
speak briefly on the circuit breaker
program.
It's been worked on. It's been vetted.
It's been approved by people who are
knowledgeable in what's needed to help
the elderly.
in this city are the most
vulnerable. They helped build the city.
They've raised their families. They've
paid their taxes. They've contributed to
the building of Evston. And the way the
tax situation is right now, they can be
taxed out of their homes and ran out of
Evston.
To change the circuit breaker and turn
it into something that's like a loan
program is literally putting a band-aid
on a bullet hole because you're not
helping them. You're just covering up
the problem for a short period of time.
It's not helping them.
I'll move on to the Wesley situation.
You want to give them another year.
Again, that is a band-aid on a bullet
hole.
And if you think about it, you shot the
gun.
They need something permanent.
Ever. the city of Everson can start
looking towards vouchers that's going to
help these people stay in their homes
without having to worry about losing
their homes like they did two years ago.
We need that security back. That's all I
have to say for right now. Thank you.
Next up, we have Jamie Upkey
there. Jamie Upkey.
All right. Uh Vicky Proctor.
» Good evening, council members. I'm here
tonight from president of the uh I'm
president of the Friends of the Evansson
Farmers Market, an organization that was
started at the request of the city in
2010. And through those years, um I just
SNAP was brought up earlier. We've given
in excess of $160,000
to SNAP uh shoppers at our market. Um
and tonight we're here to ask for your
support in passing uh the amended
farmers market ordinance. And I want to
thank in particular the parks and recck
department working with them and in
particular Matt P who helped us to uh
make some significant changes in
improving our market. So, we're here
tonight to ask for your support and we
thank you for your hopefully continued
support of this wonderful organization,
this wonderful institution in Evston.
Thank you.
>> Thank you,
>> Frank Hill.
Hi. Uh, Frank Hill, seventh ward
resident and board vice president of
reasonzoning for a better Evston or RBE.
Regarding the landmarking of Willard
School, as to landmarking Willard, RBE
is agnostic. RBE is a nonprofit
organization founded in large part to
help stem the outigration of black
residents from Evston by working toward
abundant affordable housing and
anti-displacement.
As such, RBE is founded on the
principles of advancing racial equity
and working to undo anti-black racism in
Evston. Residents of Evston pride
themselves on diversity and in being the
first city in the US to adopt municipal
reparations. However, adopting a formal
program of municipal reparations is just
one step toward repairing the harm done
to generations of black Estonians
present here since at least 1855.
Tonight, city council considers the
landmarking of Willard School. There's
no need for me to repeat all the history
in Shorefront Legacy C Center's report.
I hope that you have all taken the time
to read it. Northwest Evston [snorts]
and Willard School exist on land that
was stolen twice. Once from Native
Americans and then then again from
people of limited resources who were
essentially undesired by the city of
Evston. The population of this area
prior to being annexed consisted of both
whites and blacks including a large
number of black households who had
purchased built homes on albeit without
indoor plumbing and lived on the land
that now makes up northwest Evston. RBE
is somewhat agn is is agnostic to the
landmarking as I said. However, should
the school be landmarked tonight, we
advocate for two interrelated things.
First, there needs to be a much more
rigorous and public acknowledgement than exists in the commission's report
of the history of the site that honestly
recounts the intersection of racism,
classism, and segregationist zoning that
led to the building of the school.
Second, if after Willard is landmarked
um [snorts] and D65 shutters the school
to make up for more of its budgetary
shortfalls, then the city of Evston
should use any tools at its disposal to
both acquire the site and develop
through adop adaptive reuse into dense
diverse affordable housing. That is the
true spirit of repair that should be
embraced by this first US city to adopt
municipal municipal reparations. Thank
you.
Angie uh
Angie Hammerall.
I don't know if I'm pronouncing that
right. Is there Angie that would like to
make a public comment? [clears throat]
Uh next up we have in Angela Penissi.
» Hi, good evening. My name is Angela
Wilson Pinei. I'm a resident of the
9inth ward. The purpose of the minority
women disadvantaged Evston Business
Enterprise Committee is to identify and
assess the needs of this community on a
regular basis and develop a program to
address the established needs. I served
on this committee for four years and
worked tirelessly, but I feel ultimately
ineffectively to support the committee
in fulfilling its purpose. I will agree
that the committee's input over multiple
meetings focused on the responsible
bidder ordinance did positively
influence the protections for local
businesses that were included in the
final ordinance. And I also understand
that in the year since my term ended
that the committee has made some
progress in supporting these businesses
in the procurement process and has some
momentum around the evolution of the
local employment program. The staff
working with this committee are
primarily tasked with managing and
reporting on the procurement process and
the LEP local employment program.
However, this committee continues to
utilize a work plan that is more than
three years old with persistent
challenges in achieving its objectives
particularly with businesses that are
focused on consumers. So BTOC type of
businesses. We discussed creating a
directory of MWDEBE businesses and made
recommendations to support the creation
of such a directory for four years. I
see it is still being discussed by the
new committee members. Yet, I'm not
aware of any progress made towards
achievement of this goal. For this
committee to materially progress towards
fulfilling its purpose, additional
resources or staff support outside the
current support and committee members
themselves will need to be engaged to
complete the work. With appropriate
support, the committee that should then
be held accountable towards achieving
its established objectives. My hope is
that this committee can avoid being a
paper committee making an empty promise
to our local minority, women, and
disadvantaged owned businesses. If the
council does not view these objectives
as a priority by the city, the purpose
of this committee should be amended to
accurately and transparently reflect its
activities. Finally, I believe it's this disconnect between the stated
purpose and the activities of the
committee that has contributed to
committee member turnover and low
meeting attendance. Thank you,
John Moore.
And and John, I think, is online. Is
there a John? Is there do you see a John
Moore online?
All right, John John Moore, would you
like to make your public comment?
>> Sure, certainly. Can you hear me?
>> Yes, we can.
>> Great. Thank you very much. Uh, I'm John
Moore. I'm a W one resident and farmers
market season is upon us now. Uh, it's
very exciting for me and it's a
highlight of the family here in the
summer months. I'm just wanting a
comment in strong support of the changes
to the farmers market ordinance to
improve the integrity of the market,
including especially the prohibition on
selling wholesale produce and goods. You
know, it seemed obvious to me in reading
the existing language in the ordinance
that that was prohibited given the
locally grown requirement. But given
that some of this must be happening, I
supported the I support the additional
clarification in the ordinance to
prohibit uh reselling wholesale produce
and goods. And I just also say that to
the extent the city is not doing this
already, I would urge it to occasionally
spot check farms themselves to ensure
they're growing most of the produce they
sell. Uh my niece actually used to work
until recently worked for the Fairfax
[clears throat] County, Virginia farmers
markets and regularly inspected the
farms in the region to be sure that they
were growing only what they were
selling. So, you know, in short, a
little enforcement by the city will go a
long way towards protecting the
integrity of the market, which is a real
uh distinguishing feature from some of
the other markets in the region. Thank
you very much.
» All right. And last, we have Renee
Peyton.
Is Renee online?
Okay, that concludes uh public comment
for this evening. Um has as has become
customary, uh each chair now before we
go to special order of business, uh will
read through uh the items that were
voted out of those committees to
council. And so we'll start with the
administration and public works items.
>> Okay. Um, first item is item A1,
resolution 84R26,
approval of the City of Evston payroll
bills list and credit card.
Item A2, resolution 85R26, approval of
Harris Amazon credit card activity.
Item A3, resolution 52R26,
approval of contract with Innovation
Landscape for the Chandler Totlot
Improvements Project.
Item A4, resolution 53R26,
authorizing the city manager to execute
an agreement with Compass Transportation
for the Parks and Recreation Department
uh summer bus transportation.
Item A5, resolution 56R26, authorizing
the city manager to enter into an
intergovernmental agreement with Cook
County Forest Preserve for collection of
refuge containers in Perkins Woods. Item
A26, resolution 60R26, authorizing the
city manager to execute an agreement
with Ample Group International
um for the Fleetwood Jordane Exterior
Renovations Project. Item A7, resolution
61R26, authorizing the city manager to
execute an agreement with Hard Rock
Concrete Cutters for the 2026 sidewalk
grinding program.
Item A8, resolution 62R26, approval of a
single source contract with a TLER
incorporated for the rental of a 200
kilowatt standby generator for an
11-month term. Item A9,
resolution 63R26, authorizing the city
manager to execute an agreement with
Boulder Contractors for the 2026 water
main improvements and street
resurfacing.
Item A10, resolution 64R26,
authorizing the city manager to execute
change order number three to the
agreement with Alliance Contractors for
the 2025 alley and sidewalk
improvements.
Item A1,
resolution 65R26, authorizing the city
manager to execute amendment number one
to the agreement with Schroeder and
Schroeder for sidewalk improvement
program.
Item A12, resolution 66R26,
approval for an agreement with Joel
Kennedy Construction Corporation for the
2026 annual lead service line
replacement project.
>> I'd like to pull that one, please.
>> Okay.
>> Which one is that again?
>> A12.
>> Okay.
» A2.
And I'll pull A6.
» And I should have said this, but you can
pull items as you hear them. You don't
have to wait till the end.
>> Okay. Item A13, uh, resolution 67R26,
approval of an agreement with the with
Okay,
>> that one was held over. So, A13
>> is pulled. It was tabled.
Um, item A14, resolution
69R26, approval of a contract with
Suburban Tree Consortium for the
purchase of trees and planting services
in the Channelside Parks for spring of
2026.
Um, item A15, resolution 77R26, approval
of the purchase and installation of five
dualport electric vehicle charging
stations for public use at the Levy
Senior Center and three dualport
electric vehicle charging stations for
municipal fleet use at 1800 Maple Self
Park Garage.
Item A16,
resolution 78R26, approval of a soul
source agreement with Spring City
Electric Manufacturing for the purchase
of 10 Talmage Street Light poles. Item
A17 is resolution 80R26, approval of a
contract for the National Bridge
Inspection Standard Engineering
Services. Item A18, resolution 82R26, a
resolution authorizing the city of
Evston to join cities and counties for
citizenship. Item A19, resolution 87R26,
authorizing the city manager to execute
an amendment to the professional
services contract with Passport Labs.
Item 820,
resolution 88R26, authorizing the city
manager to execute a one-year contract
extension with Canon Cochran Management
Services for thirdparty administration
of general liability and workers
compensation claims. Item A21, ordinance
37026, authorizing the sale of
city-owned real property at 1811 to 1815
Church Street.
Item A22, ordinance 39026, amending
Evston City Code Title 3, Chapter 3,
Farmers Market.
Item A23, ordinance 33026, amending City
Code Title 7, Chapter 10.
and item A24.
That's it.
>> Uh, Council Member Burns, did you want
to on A21
uh just been the rules to take immediate
action on A21?
>> Um,
>> which is the uh sale of property at 1811
to 1815 Church Street.
>> We just need to pull it then, right?
>> Yes. So, we'll pull A21.
Uh so I have uh a A2 A12
A13 was held in committee and and then
A21. So A2 A12 A21 A8
» was A6 pulled
>> A6.
» Pardon?
Um, was A6 held in committee?
>> I'm sorry. I just meant to pull it now.
>> You're pulling now. Okay. So, I have um
A2, A6, A8, A12, and A21.
Any others?
Okay.
Uh, what do we have next up after
PND?
>> Is this me? I can't.
>> Planning and development committee.
>> Who's planning and development? Is this
me? It's been a while since we've met.
All right. um for uh uh planning and
development committee P1 ordinance 23026
designating the property located at 2700
Herd Avenue commonly known as Francis
Willard Elementary School in Evston
Landmark.
>> I'd like to pull that one please.
>> All right. P1
and then human services committee. Is
that council member?
>> That I think that's me.
>> Um HS1 ordinance 35026 amending city
code title 10 to prohibit certain
vehicles from parking on roadways.
All right. And then next up we have is
this social services
resol uh SSC1 resolution 75R26
use of CB D I'm sorry CDBG funds for FY
year 2026 public services. I need that
one pulled.
>> All right. So that is SSC1.
>> Yes.
» Okay.
>> The mayor.
» Okay. Um and then we have uh resolution
70R26
approving what is
>> uh approving Deville. approving Deville
Evansson LLC's class C restaurant liquor
license application for Pizzeria Deville
1527 Chicago Avenue.
Uh we have
LB2 resolution 71R26 approving Night Ale
Productions LLC's Class E Entertainment
Venue small uh liquor license
application for local note Jazz Club
1716 Sherman Avenue. LB3 resolution
72R26
approving Fred's Bread LLC's class C
restaurant liquor license application
for Fred's Bread Bakery and Cafe 817
Noise Street. Uh LB4 resolution 73R26
approving Heritage Diners Inc. Class C
restaurant liquor license application
for Everest Indian Cuisine 630 Church
Street LB5 resolution 74 74R26
approving Bunny Concepts LLC's Class C
restaurant liquor license application
for the adult Bunny 1010 Church Street
LB6 resolution 76R26
Taste of Nepal LLC's Class C restaurant
liquor license application for Taste of
Nepal, uh, 610 Davis Street, LB7,
Ordinance 38026, amending city code
section 346, classification and license
fees to extend permitted hours of
alcohol service for class E2
entertainment venue medium liquor
license holders.
And then under appointments, we have
resolution 68R
26 appointing BCC members.
>> I'm sorry.
» Oh, and then all the way at the top.
Where is it at? And then we have M1,
approval of minutes of the regular
council meeting of April 13, 2026.
All right. So I have again
A2, A6, A8, A12, A21, P1, and SSC1.
Uh, Council Member Kelly.
>> So with regard to the liquor licenses,
are do those take two readings? Okay. So
those
» Okay. change now.
>> Okay. The one that's an ordinance is
» okay for Okay. Okay. But otherwise,
they'll all pass then tonight. Great.
Thank you.
>> All right. If I can have a motion to
approve our consent agenda items that we
just went over.
>> Uh, Mr. Mayor Prom, I will move the
consent agenda, which does not include
items A2, A12, I'm sorry, A2, A6, A8,
A12, A13, which was tabled in committee,
A21, P1, and SSC1.
>> Second.
>> All right, it's been properly moved by
Council Member Nusma, seconded by
Council Member Harris. Uh, any
additional comments? All those in favor
say I.
>> I. Any nays? Any abstensions? All right.
Uh on to special orders of business. If
someone can make a motion for SP1.
» Mr. Mayor Prom, I
move for action 81R26, a resolution
authorizing the continuence of the city
of Evston's guaranteed income program.
>> All right, it's been moved by council
member Hedikatis. Is there a second for
SP1?
>> A second.
>> Seconded by council member Harris
and we have Allison Lepinger who is
going to give us a presentation. Did you
want to say
>> Oh, wait.
» Good evening everyone. Allison Lifiger,
policy and intergovernmental affairs
manager. Um I don't have a presentation.
I'm happy to kind of give an overview of
where we are. um which is that we did
our second round of guaranteed income uh
for the most part. Um it was called
project 8092. It focused on families
with young children in the census tract
8092.
Um we
used census data, ACS data to figure out
how many people we thought that that
would cover. As we know, ACS data is
iffy at best, and the smaller the
location, like a census tract, the worse
the data is. So, we made our best guess.
We were only able to enroll 99 of the
150 families that this council allocated
ARPA dollars for.
So, we are we'd like to fulfill the rest
of that promise. We have $300,000 left
because that will cover 50 over 51
families. So that will cover 51
families. We have a little bit more than
300,000.
Um and so in order to spend that um and
finish up the rest of the program, we're
asking about how you want to tweak the
eligibility to finish up round two. Um
these funds need to be spent by the end
of the year. So, if we There are several
options. You could do it however you
want. One option is to um do $1,000 a
month instead of $500 a month, but for a
shorter time period.
That would personally be my
recommendation to to spread it out um I
think might be better for more community
members, but the more you spread it out,
the less the impact is. So, you could do
um 102 households and $500 a month. Lots
of options. Um the the biggest question
and what I've put in the memo that
you'll see is um and what the resolution
currently says. So with no amendments,
if you were to just pass it as is, it
says find 51 families with the same
eligibility requirements anywhere in the
city, like no um no census tract
requirement. And then um we would choose
by lottery. Um, another option that I've
put in the memo, um, and this would
require an amendment is to focus on the
next census tract that has the highest
rate of childhood poverty, which is
census tract 819 8102, which is in the
eighth ward. Um, so lots of levers at
your disposal. Um, and I'm happy to
answer any questions.
>> Um, just some real quick foundational
information. So when you say when you
allocated
the amount of um the participants the
participants we the 150 that was what
that was the amount of participants that
we thought might be eligible. We didn't
know for sure we just thought they might
be elig that's how many might be
eligible.
>> I mean what we what we did was we took
data from the e plan and and we based it
off of that and we said 8092 the census
tract has the highest level of childhood
poverty. So, let's try to guess how old
the child needs to be in order to get
150 families. We could only guess. We
went through district 65. We tried to
get data from them. We went door todoor.
We got 99 families. So, if we had done a
higher age, we would have gotten more.
>> Yeah. Um and only only say that as
foundational cuz I I think the way this
has been framed maybe mistakenly is like we failed in a sense. We didn't
necessarily I don't think the city knew
that there were 150 people or families
that would qualify. Um but I think it's
a success that we were were able to help
99 families. So I just wanted folks to
understand that. Um first up I have
council member Harris.
>> Thank you so much. So just wanting to
get some data I guess on the people that
did receive the money. Do we have we
seen
improvement? Has there been tracking?
Have we done um analysis of how money
was spent? So, I guess that's the first
question.
>> So, a foundational aspect of a
guaranteed income program and a promise
we made was that we don't track how each
person spends their money. That was
that's what guaranteed income is. It's
like you know what's best for your
family, how you need to spend your
money. And it's the idea is to take away
sort of the government overreach into um
dictating what people can spend their
money on like what food for example SNAP
is really restrictive or Medicaid. Um
they're all great programs but they're
very restrictive. And the idea with
guaranteed income is that it's not. And
so a promise we made to people was we're
not going to monitor or police how you
spend your money. We have aggregate data
um from the first round that says people
spent it on um housing, clothes, and
food. And that that's pretty consistent
across the research that we see um
nationally about how people tend to
spend their money.
» Council member Harris.
>> Okay. Um I'd still like to see the data.
I don't know if that's accurate, but
I'll I'll take your word at at this
point. Um, did we do financial literacy
with everybody who was partial
literacy training
to help alleviate to do?
>> No, we offered the existing financial
training that the Y does um for
anyone's. they've got a lot of really
good programs that anybody can take
advantage of. So, we let people know
about that, but kind of the same
principle applies that it we didn't put
restrictions on the use of like how you
could what you had to do um to get the
money or how many hoops you had to jump
through to participate.
>> I get it. Trying to provide funding, but
at some point there are hoops you have
to jump through. The city had to jump
through them to get this money. We had
to do homework. We [clears throat] had
to fill out paperwork. We had to
subscribe and do certain things. So to
ask somebody if you're receiving money
monthly
to me to say you need to do some
financial literacy, it only improves
that person and what they can should be
looking and how to figure things out.
So, it is my belief if we redo this
program that we do have some things that
people need to do and that would be some
financial literacy. Um,
that's just life and I get it. We're not
trying to restrict, but by forcing
somebody to get some literacy training
is not being restrictive, it's being
helpful. Um, the other thing that I
would like to see is that this go to
senior citizens. Um, I think more than
the younger population. I think um, our
seniors need it. We've talked about
that. We've talked about the housing
predicament and people are being um,
priced out of their homes. I think this
would bless you. I think that this would
be help. Um,
and I'd like to make sure that people
who live here, that we can prove they
live here are getting us funding. I have
more, but I'll come back.
>> Uh, council member Nusma.
>> Thank you. Uh, Mr. Mayor Prom, uh, I
have a few questions. Bless you again.
Uh, number one, exactly how much money
is left? There are two different numbers
floating around out there. If it's for
51 people at $500 a month, that works
out to $36,000
total. Uh but there was a number in uh
correspondence earlier today that said
we have $349,366,
which is not quite enough for another
whole person, but just
uh to be clear, how much do we have?
>> Yeah, it's the it's the bigger number.
3,449
30 349,000
plus some change. Um, and some of that
goes for admin costs. We have to like
buy the cards and hopefully we can pay a
little bit for Ike's staff to do this.
>> That answers my second question about
what if any overhead costs were there
going to be. So that would be included
in that larger.
>> Correct.
>> Okay, great. Um are we obligated to
spend this money on uh on this program
on extension of this program? What kind
of constraints do we have? Can it be
reallocated to different funds,
different programs, different
initiatives?
Uh if not, why not?
>> The deadline for ARPA to allocate where
the money was going to go has passed.
So, you'll remember there were several
um uh council meetings maybe I don't
know six seven months ago where we did a
whole bunch of IGAS and we sort of had
these contingency plans. If we're not
able to spend the money here, it'll go
to the water fund. We didn't do that
here. This council allocated this money
to this program.
>> Okay. If we don't spend this money,
>> we lose it
>> in this program. We lose it.
>> Correct.
>> We can't send it to the water fund.
Correct.
>> We can't even use it to fund a different
type of housing program.
>> Correct.
>> We can't use it for the Wesley Avenue
tenants.
>> That's right.
>> It has to be used for some version of
guaranteed basic income. Okay, good. And
we have to spend that money by the
>> December 31st of this year.
>> The year.
>> Correct.
>> Uh not just sign a contract that we'll
have it spent in January or February.
>> Correct. It has to be out the door.
>> Money has to be out the door by the end
of the year. Okay. So, we're really kind
of stuck with if we don't want to lose
this money, which I certainly do not uh
with one of these options that you've
put in front of us or if we can think
creatively
uh along those same lines, but we can't
get too creative because we're
constrained to guaranteed basic income.
>> That's right.
>> Okay. And I would um also mention we
don't want to get too crazy because time
is of the essence and so if we're
creating a whole new program that's
going to delay money going out the door.
>> Um all this being the case uh I would be
in favor of expanding eligibility
citywide going beyond just uh the
initial census tract and I think that's
what you've identified as option.
>> Okay. Yes.
>> That's what's in front of us. If we
wanted to do something different, we
would we we could modify it.
>> That's right.
>> Okay, great. Thank you.
>> Thank you.
>> Anyone else?
Oh, is it? Oh, Council Member Rogers.
>> Thank you. Um, yeah, I I would echo I
I'm much in favor of option one, making
this a citywide program. Um, the other
thing that I would like to see us do is,
um, Cook County did a similar program.
Um, and they recently have decided to
make it a permanent program, which
they're still trying to figure out the
details thereof. But the one thing that
was helpful, I think, was to get a
participant snapshot, which they've
posted on their website. So unlike um
and I don't know that council member
Harris's question was as pointed as
where did they spend the money, but I
would like to get a profile of who are
we giving the money to and some basic
information about them. Um you know
average median household income, maybe
>> some general behaviors, uh things like
that without getting into the
nitty-gritty of produce your receipts
and show me where you spent your $500
this month.
>> We can do that for both rounds. the
first round and this round
>> and so that that I think would be very helpful for us to understand the
success of this program. I mean
obviously giving people money um helps
their financial situation but by what
measure and and that sort of stuff I
think would be very helpful.
>> Great.
Council member Kelly,
>> thank you. Um, yes, I would also agree
to expand it and if it needs to, you
know, since we have to spend it right by
the end of the year to increase the
amount because I know it's hard. It
takes a lot of labor to actually get
it's allocated. So, I would support um,
you know, increasing that to a thousand.
And yeah, also I mean I don't expect
that all to happen this year, but maybe
after that gets done. I mean, if we can
collect that data, like you said, I know
the county promise or cook, they look at
like even credit scores to see if those
increased and things like that that
where we'd have some metrics to gauge
success. So, thank you.
>> Great. Thank you.
>> All right. So, we don't always do this,
but I think it's important to um to uh
solidify things with motions. And so, if
somebody can make
>> if somebody wants to clarify, I think
the motion on the table was for what's
in the pack. Option one. Well, I heard
some, you know, the financial I don't
know if the financial literacy piece is
something that we can easily weave into
it or if that would be an add-on or how
we're going to there was I believe
council member Harris also said um to
look at seniors. This obviously
>> is more about childhood poverty and um
>> have to make a motion to change the
eligibility.
>> So, I just want to make that clear that
to add any of that we'd have to make um
additional motions. Uh, Council Member
Kelly.
>> Yeah, I mean, I would like to see this subsidy paired with employment
support, but I don't think right now I
think we're under a deadline. So, I
would say as we look to continuing this
program in future years to see um about
pairing it up with that would be great.
>> And I will just anecdotally, what we
know about the research is that people
who participate in guaranteed income
programs typically have better
employment outcomes. There's a myth that
if you give people money that they'll
want to stay home. First of all, $500 or
in this case $1,000 a month for a short
period of time is not enough to live on.
That's people can't just like stay home
and rake in that money. Um, but what it
does is it gives people a cushion. So,
if your car breaks down, you're not you
don't lose your job because you can't
get to work. It it gives you that
cushion. Sometimes um they we the
research has found that people um are
also more um like entrepreneurial
because they have that cushion. So
there's like new businesses. So the
research is actually really good on
this.
» All right. Um so the motion is to expand
it
>> citywide with the with the existing
qualifications and guidelines. Um let's
do a roll call
>> and that's for a thousand, right?
>> Yeah. So we need to
>> one. Yeah, that's all. Okay.
>> Yeah, you can just vote. Yes.
>> Council member Rogers.
>> Thank you. Um, so I'm not in favor of a
thousand. I think 500 is is the right
amount because the program is going to
be going away. Even if we bring it back,
it will be gone for some period of time.
And so I think it's best to get it out
to people, but also not suddenly cut
their income by $12,000 for the year.
>> It would only be six. So um, because it
has to be out by December 30.
>> Right. Right. But it's it's but but by
paying $1,000 that would be
>> $6,000. $6,000 for this year, but it
would be like $12,000 for an annual.
>> You'd rather do 102 families.
>> I would 500
>> 500 and more families.
>> So, I guess I'm making a motion to
change.
>> Councilor Rugie, is it a substitute
motion or what? How do we handle that if
he wants to?
>> It's a regular motion.
>> I'm just amending the
>> Yeah. Yeah. An amendment
>> motion.
>> I guess is everybody
>> I don't know if everybody's in agreement
with that. So, that's what I'm saying.
How do we handle
>> thing if there's support for his
amendment?
>> Was I in there?
>> What's in here already? If we could
clarify that, I think that'd be
important.
>> And I'm looking at page
>> was the change in 500.
>> Yeah. The way it's written on page 34 of
1281,
» uh, you support an additional 51
individuals or families.
Yeah, there's I guess that's that's a
good point. The um
Hold on, let me pull up the
>> uh But
>> yeah, it doesn't say explicitly in the
resolution. So, why don't we why don't we do it by motion how much
um you want to give and how many
families.
>> So, C council member Hedkott has made
the motion, so I'm going to go back to
him. I didn't make
>> I didn't make the motion
>> or moved it. I mean, you didn't move it.
>> I've moved it. Yeah,
>> that's what I mean. So, do you want a
friendly amendment or what do you want
to what do you want to do as the mayor?
>> I we can I I think we should vote on all
the like I think my assumption when we
moved this was a was the thousand as it
was
>> how the math works out like the
resolution says 51 families and so to
spend the money just the math is that it
would be
>> like that's what you support. I think we
should because it's unclear. I think we
should all we should just vote on the number, but I have a question for
staff before.
>> Okay. No, go ahead.
>> Yeah. So, um this question is just for
any staff who's worked on this. How
confident is are you that we can
>> um and my brain is is fried with the
math part. So we need 15 150 families
then
>> we need
>> So
>> if we're doing 500
>> 102
>> how confident are we that we
>> if we can do 99 families in one census
tract we can do 102 over the whole city.
>> Okay. So um in that case
we'll get the I don't know I will take
that as a friendly amendment.
So,
>> okay. So,
>> 102 families
>> currently amendment has been accepted.
>> Yeah, I'll accept it.
>> Um,
council member suffered in
>> Yeah, I I just want to make sure we're
clear. So, it's 102 recipients at 500 a
month citywide
>> for 6 months.
>> Okay. And does anybody want to make
amendments to the eligibility or we are
confident that with the existing
eligibility we will find 102 recipients
citywide for 6 months? Okay. Thank you.
>> So, but I have a question.
>> Council member Harris.
>> So, what is the eligibility? Let me be
clear.
>> It's 185% of the federal poverty line
living in Evston with children second
grade or younger.
185% of the federal poverty line, not
coincidentally, is
um the same eligibility for free and
reduced lunch, which is why we picked it
so that we could work with the schools
to figure out who was on those lists.
Um, and we used um income tax returns as
proof. So that has somebody's
address on it. It has their dependence
and it has their income.
>> Council member or Harris, did you have
another question?
>> I I wanted I don't know how we do it,
but I wanted seniors in there. I didn't
just want grade school. So
yeah. Council member Kelly and then um
I'm going to entertain after this
motions. Let's let's make motions.
Council Kelly.
>> Yes. So, I'd like to see it just opened
up to um so that we can include seniors
as well. Um I know they are impacted
with the SNAP cuts also. So, um I would
move to expand it to anybody who's
eligible at that income.
>> Um and Coun Council Rugie again, do we
have to vote on this first? I can't
remember. Or if somebody has another
idea, can they substitute or we have to
vote on what we have before us first?
>> My recommendation would be that this be
an official amendment and then we go
through amendments one at a time.
>> So we would go through this first,
Council Member Kelly, for example, we go
through that amendment first to see if
there's support for it. Okay. Yep.
That's what I thought.
>> So I'll re um ask a question.
>> Uh Council Member Isles and I'll go back to you for a motion.
>> I want to clarify with staff. We're
we've got a very short runway to spend
this money before the end of the year.
If we change the requirements from what
they are now, which has sort of been
established over the course of the last
couple years, and we start messing
around with requirements and who's
eligible, are you still going to be able
to deliver before the end of the year,
or is that going to make it really
difficult?
When we did this program the first time
around and we had those three very
distinct groups,
um, we got
over 2600
applicants
and a lot of them were applying from
like Brazil and India and the UK. Like
we had a lot of
spam and it took a long long time to get
through that. um working through the
schools is like a little bit different.
You're not you don't have the spam. Um
and it's a lot more targeted. Um opening
it up to anybody at 185% of the federal
poverty line is nothing we've ever dealt
with before because we only the first
time we did it, we had those three
distinct groups. And so um I am not
It will add administrative burden. I
have no idea what that's going to look
like.
>> Um, my gentle suggestion to my
colleagues is that we get through this
as simply as possible by the end of the
year. And if we're looking to create
a subsequent program, then we start
talking about who would be in it and
whether it would include seniors. But
I'm concerned that if we add seniors,
it'll add some complexity and we won't
distribute the money by the end of the
year. But don't we have an um budsman
that can help us do that? Somebody on
staff
this question?
>> Um I can take that. So the arms budsman
um is actually a state of Illinois
employee and then she helps the city. So
I don't know that she would be um able
to help with that.
>> Yeah, she's limited to what the state
allows.
>> Um I'm going to sneak in a question. The
first time we did guaranteed income, did
that include seniors? Yes, I did.
>> Can you um remind us all what the uh
criteria qualifications were for that?
>> Sure. We did um three different three
different groups. We did um individuals
18 to 24 year old. Um we did
undocumented folks and then individuals
65 and older and they all had to be in
Evston and be at 250% of the federal
poverty line.
>> Do you know how many participants who
had
>> 50 5050? It was 50 5050 which would have
been although 50 be okay. Um I only say
that because I know this you know it was
there was an intent intentional decision
made to make an impact on this group.
And so I guess at this point we've
helped 99 families that fall within this
uh eligibility criteria. 50 seniors so
far. Um,
you know, and how many participants are
we saying we can help again with
>> if we if we do $500 a month, it'll be
102 households.
>> 102 households. Um,
>> okay. Um, Council Member Kelly and then
we're going to Somebody needs Oh, yeah.
For an for an amendment. You have an
amendment?
>> Yeah. But first, I just want to comment
on Sean's comment. Yeah. That was why I
originally said $1,000 because I
understand that what we're under to try
to move this along and make sure that we
are able to actually pay this out. Um,
so
>> thank you.
>> So I mean we had an issue with getting
them all getting getting the money out
there. That's why I thought expanding it
for citywide and then also to expand the
eligibility. My question is what is do
we have like a five-year residency
requirement? No,
>> we don't have any. So someone could move
here and correct tomorrow.
>> Yes.
>> Okay. I would like to just add a
fiveyear. Can we
>> Okay.
>> That's
>> No,
>> I just administratively that's uh it's
that's tricky for for us to verify
>> residency. Okay.
>> Um
>> Okay. So at this point I'm I'm really
going to encourage amendments. So do you
have an amendment?
>> So um well citywide. So is that in
number one that it's citywide? Correct.
>> That is there. So, it's restricted to um
families with children under a certain
age.
>> Correct. Yeah. And and it doesn't have
if you're a grandparent and you're
that's your dependent, you're still
eligible. There's no um age
>> requirement for the head of household.
It's just if whoever um is taking care
of the child.
>> Okay. Um, I'd like to expand that to
include I won't say everybody, but to um
residents over 65. I just want to show
that we get it out since we've lowered
it to 500.
>> Is that just you can make Yeah, just
make the motion.
>> Well, I just want to say really quickly,
um,
about those 65 and older, I think one
thing to consider is that 55 to 64,
those are the folks who are going to be
losing SNAP
and have the work requirement. So, just
something else to consider.
>> So, do that 55.
>> Do you want to change or 65 and up?
>> Um,
uh, no, I'll just leave it. That's fine.
Unless somebody else wants to amend it,
but
>> All right. So, the motion has been made
or amendment has been made by Council
Member Kelly. Is there a second?
>> No, I didn't actually make it. I
withdrew it.
>> Oh, you withdrawn it.
>> I just as long as it's citywide. Um,
yeah.
>> So, no aid. We're not increasing the
age.
You're not doing it. Okay. All right.
Anybody else have any amendments? Seeing
none, let's do you do?
>> Yeah.
>> Council member Harris,
>> I I'm gonna go back to what I said
originally. Seniors I'll take the 55 to
64. So, I'm I um I'd like to amend it to
include 55 to 64 with the two. You said
a number for um
AMI 210.
>> You do you want it to be different than
what everyone else is?
>> No, it can be.
>> Okay. It's 185 for everyone.
>> Okay. 185.
>> And I'll second that.
>> And so 55 and up or 55 to 60?
>> 55 and up.
Okay. So a motion has been
made to amend the guarantee program. Is
there a second? It's been seconded by
Council Member Kelly. Um, Council Member
Manusma.
>> Thank you. I I'm 100% with you in spirit
uh and in theory, but I'm going to side
with Council Member Isles because we
have an existing program and we're in a
time crunch to get this money out the
door. I think we need to focus on
simplicity and adding the uh if if we're
going to do this program on an ongoing
basis, absolutely, let's talk about
increasing the age uh requirement. But
for right now, uh, I'm going to, um,
suggest we keep it as it is.
>> But we already had a program. She said
we had three programs that had seniors.
Correct. You said we had seniors,
undocumented.
» Yeah. For the first round, right?
>> Yeah. So, we So, they're out there.
>> Uh, Council Member Rogers,
>> everybody that would be involved in this
round would have to reapply, correct?
or would have to apply under these
conditions. We don't have a pool of
people that we're waiting to give money
to outside of the original group of
people.
>> Correct.
>> So whether we make a requirement that
they be over a certain age or anything
else, you're still going to have to
screen these people from the very
beginning. Correct.
>> Yeah, that's right.
>> All right. Thank you.
>> All right. Um,
roll call, please.
>> Council member Haragaris.
>> No. Council member Kelly,
>> I.
>> Council member Harris,
>> yeah.
>> I,
>> Council Member Isles,
>> no.
>> Council member Nusma,
>> no.
>> Council member Suffford,
>> hi.
>> Council member Davis,
>> hi.
>> Council member Rogers,
>> hi.
>> Council member Burns,
>> hi.
>> What does that leave us with?
>> 63.
>> Give me one second.
>> 63.
>> That was 63.
>> 63.
>> Okay. Um, and then now the underlying
motion, correct?
Um,
unless we have any other comments, we'll
take a roll call on it,
>> which is what 500
>> citywide
>> 500 102.
>> I just want to be clear
>> citywide. So to 102 people
>> all right. Y
» um and just to clarify, we okay 500 um
102 participants um
with 185 AMI
>> okay
>> of of not AMI 185% of the level.
Allison, could you just uh wouldn't mind saying it one more time,
» 102 families
>> in two what?
>> Never mind.
>> You sure?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Two different groups.
>> And I assume there's no distinction
between them. How many people in each
one? Like
>> correct.
>> Okay. um people for both groups 185% of
the federal poverty line not ami 100%
185% of the federal poverty line living
in Evston one group with second graders
or younger and the other group 55 and
older. Okay, perfect. Thank you.
>> All right.
>> Okay.
>> Roll call, please.
>> Council member Heracaris,
>> I.
>> Council member Kelly,
>> I.
>> Council member Harris,
>> hi.
>> Council member Isles.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Nusma. Hi,
>> Council Member Suffered.
>> Hi,
>> Council Member Davis. Hi,
>> Council Member Rogers.
>> Hi,
>> Council Member Burns.
>> Hi.
>> Um, all right. We have SP1 approved.
Next up, uh, if I can have a motion for
SP2, please.
» Mr. Chair, I would move um item SP2,
resolution 86R26,
additional financial support for the
Wesley tenants.
>> It's been properly moved by council
member Rogers. Is there a second?
>> Oh, second. Seconded by Council Member
Hedikatis.
» Um, you want to go first? Yep. Council
member Rogers, you have
>> Oh, I guess I was reaching for my light.
You caught me off guard. Um, yeah. So,
this is something I think is something
the city has to do um to support people.
We we um
I as a newer council member don't know
the whole history behind all of this.
Um, I'm trying to learn it, but I want
to make sure that we do not repeat
something like this again. Um, I think
there's blame to go around for
everybody. Um, but I do also want to
apologize to these tenants because we
did relocate them, um, through no fault
of their own. And, um, I think we need
to, uh, figure out what lessons can be
learned here. Um there's a bunch of
questions in my mind about uh whether
inspections were done on time and in a
timely manner. Um
about um you know sort of the the the
money that we're spending. Could that
have been spent rather than relocating
people to put towards repairs um and
finding other sources of income for
that? Um, so but I stand fully behind uh
making uh Council Member Burns request
for additional funding for the people um
that we have displaced.
>> Uh Council Member Harris,
>> thank you. Um so I just have a number of
questions and I don't know who can
answer, but I I I'm looking at these
rents and they're really high. I don't
remember the families being this many
people. So can I go through? I don't
know who I'd be asking if that's Sarah.
Um about the households
in general.
Um so household one um the current rent
is 2600. How many bedrooms is that?
>> I don't have all that detail on these. I
can try to answer what I can, but my
expectation is it's a two or maybe a
threebedroom.
Okay. Would somebody have that
information?
>> Who is this? I got to go between a few
different things, but what what
household is this again?
>> Household number one. Household of four.
>> Okay. Give me one one moment.
>> So, I have a set of standard questions
that I'm going to ask for every
household. So, I need somebody to have
some answers.
>> Um, Ike Agbo is on line, too. and um our
social services group was directly
involved with some of these. So I don't
know if I can answer questions on the
individuals. I'll answer the ones I can
and we'll try to get other people in the
ones that I
>> somebody will need to answer them. So if
it's you that would be great. If it's
somebody else that will be fine, but I
do need answers. So household number
one, household of four, that's how many
bedrooms
do we know?
>> I don't know. I believe
real quick. So, let me let me let me uh
try to handle this first cuz I think I
can get answers quicker. So, we're
talking household I got everything
pulled up now. You talking about
household one?
>> Yes. I'm going to go through each one.
>> Yeah. Yeah. So, household one.
>> I thought somebody online also
>> I don't think they have access to I mean
council member I director Ike. Was that
you?
>> Yes, I'm I'm here. Good day members of
the city council. This is Ike Health and
Human Services Department. Um yes, we
work closely with Connections for the
Homeless uh regarding this this matter.
Um Connections for the Homeless pretty
much took the upper hand in assessing
the the families and where to to locate
them and the rent. Uh but we have some
information that we can relay. I don't
have that right in front of me. Uh, but
we do have our human services specialist
Maurice Wilkinson who can
>> Thank you. Maurice
>> our number it's again if I can now
>> I'm here. Hello.
>> It's three bedrooms.
>> I'm here.
>> It's three bedrooms.
>> Yeah.
>> So
>> what's the next one?
>> I've told it was three bedrooms.
Everybody there. So the three bedrooms
it's household of four. Are there people
over the age of 18
in household
>> that are contributing or just there?
>> Okay. Um, as I stated, I have our human
service specialist, Maurice Wilkinson,
who's here, I believe.
>> Hello. Hello, city council. I'm here.
Ike. Hello, council. Good
evening, council. Um, yes, that
household has uh from my information,
they have two adults over 18.
Okay. And are they helping contribute?
Are they part of the
income we're considering?
>> No. The only income that was reported on
there is from the uh head of the
household.
>> Okay.
Number two, household of one. So that is
one person. Their current rent is 17. Um
and how
that's good. That's good. That's a one
bed for one bedroom.
>> Okay, thank you. One bedroom. Household
number three, household of three. How
many what? One or two bedrooms? Probably
two.
>> That's a twobedroom and both I think um
if I'm correct, those she that no one in
that household is um over 18.
>> Okay.
Um household number four, household of
four.
Um, how many bedrooms?
» That's a three bedroomedroom. And they
have one they have one um family member
over 18, but he's in college.
>> Okay. So, he's in college. And then
there's one other adult contributing.
That's where the income is from.
>> Just Yeah, just one adult. Yep.
>> Okay. Household number five. How many
bedrooms? How many adults?
Um five is household of two uh two
bedrooms. One adult, one one one uh
just a Yeah, a child.
>> Okay. And then household number six. How
many bedrooms? How many adults?
>> Two adults. The income is from one adult
and uh two bedroom.
>> Okay.
is um are any of these a reason why if
there's more than one adult there isn't
more than one income listed or asked for
or required?
>> Um yes. So whoever yeah it's only one
income. Well we when we um from our
research we the information we gather
whenever we we we tried to verify income
only the income you see is is from the
individual in the household. So the
other individual doesn't have any
income.
>> Okay.
>> For house I mean if I know for household
six for sure
>> for six and the single one as well.
>> Yeah. But we didn't I didn't we we
didn't get a chance to um run the adults
in that household um
to see if they you know anyone was
working in there.
I just know for sure the household 60
ramp both of those individuals
information.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> Uh, Council Member Kelly.
>> Thank you. So, I also support this and
again I I agree with Council Member
Rogers and at some point um taking a
hard look at how this happens so we can
avoid this was very upsetting um to many
families and and seniors especially
senior citizens. So I guess my question
is I thought so we gave connections for
the homeless 800,000 what I understood
to be for this that so are you saying
that only 417,000
of that 800,000 went to support? No.
>> Um this was not exclusively for the
Wesley tenants. It was the first group
that we helped. Council member Burns
made it very clear that he did not want
the money to be used only in 8092 even.
Um and it was opened up and there are
additional households that are helped
with the rest of that money.
>> Okay. So somewhere there's an accounting
of that other 400,000.
>> Yes.
>> For Okay.
>> Okay. Well, thank you. That's all.
>> Council member Anusma,
>> uh how much does it cost to administer
this program? So, what are the overhead
costs and and who pays for those?
>> Um connections gets some of the money
for of of that 810,000 for the case
management. That's the bulk of it. Um
we actually Maurice is doing a great
deal of work with this group and um we
have um we had some
funding that is in our ARPA
administration that we have used to pay
for some of um Maurice's time on this
and the other um rent assistance
programs but it's only like 45,000 for
both of them over the period of time.
So, the request in front of us tonight,
$63,229.50
is direct for the tenants. That does not
include correct. Yeah,
>> we're absorbing that or connections is
absorbing that.
>> Um, well, no, Connections is getting
some of that paid for out of the because
they have a Yeah, but we are absorbing
most of our staff that's been working on
it.
>> Okay. I support this. Um, you know, I do
think this is special treatment for a a
select population. Uh, but as some of my
colleagues have pointed out, uh, it's a
unique uh, situation. So, special
treatment is, uh, is called for here.
Um, [clears throat]
but we can't let this kind of thing
happen again.
>> Council member Harris,
>> thank you. Um,
this is a hard place to be. And my
understanding, somebody told me today
one of the other porches collapsed
within the past week. I don't know
>> that's true.
>> Well, not know it's true, but yeah. Um,
so
financial literacy, I'm going to keep
talking about this because we're giving
money and and we should, but at the same
time, we shouldn't without
some parameters to make sure, what do
they say? If you feed somebody fish,
they're going to be they're good. If you
teach them how to fish, they can do it.
So, we have to teach people,
self-inccluded. There was a time where I
needed some financial literacy
because I just was spending money like I
had it. So, is there some financial
literacy tied up in this? Be it through
the Y is is there some at this
point because we've gotten almost half
off of it. Is there some something we're
going to do with some literacy?
um all of the households if they were
cooperating got wraparound services and
some of the households were more able to
cooperate and were more cooperative but
it's very difficult to force people to
take services um and they
[clears throat]
>> stop
>> uh
it's
I'm frustrated I'm I'm very frustrated
>> so it's hard for us to make them do
something but it's going to hire for
them take this money
is that
okay that's what I thought
>> people are in very different situations
>> I get it I get it I I totally get it but
I need to know so for this round I would
like for anybody on this list to be
mandated to do some kind of federal
financial literacy
because what changes in a year if it
hasn't changed now what changes what's
going to be different in a year
was different if the behavior or things
haven't changed and you're saying
cooperating. So if somebody wasn't
cooperating, I almost want to know
because maybe they're not eligible. If
you're not cooperating with what we're
saying you need to do so that we can
move on and maybe figure out how to fix
the problem we found ourselves in
because this was not initially our
problem. it became our problem because
maybe CO messed up our time frame of
checking things, but this wasn't our
building.
>> Correct. Um originally the um what was
the promise that was made um upfront was
that all the tenants would get at least
a year of rent support.
>> Mhm. um those who were income eligible
whose incomes were under 80% of the area
median income would be qualified for a
second one but that was the end of the
initial promise.
>> Okay. So I'm just again trying to
understand why we're still here, what
would change in a year. Um
>> I'm not a case manager. maybe um Ike and
his uh group would be better able to
respond to some of those questions.
>> Right. Uh good day everyone. Uh it is an
item that we can incorporate in case
management this time around that it be
some financial literacy in order for
individuals to qualify for an extension
of a year. And I I think if we put that
we will make the individuals more
successful in transition of of the
program in the subsequent year.
>> Uh C
council member Rogers.
>> Thank you. Um I don't think financial
literacy is the thing that got us here
to be quite honest. Um were these people
at risk of being of losing their homes
before we moved them out? Do we know
» the property was not being managed by
the property owners?
Leases weren't being rewritten. They had
a superintendent managing the buildings.
>> Were they at risk of losing their homes
because of financial issues from them?
>> Um well, a number of them were not
paying anything. we don't have
background on they weren't income
qualified and various other things to
the best of our knowledge during that
period of time.
>> Okay. Um I think it's a little um
frustrating for me that we're going to
uh ask people that we've relocated out
of their homes to um go through
additional steps. This is we we we are equally responsible for these
people being gone. And I know you and I
have talked about that, Miss Flax, and
we have a difference of opinion on um
people's uh level of responsibility, but
I've heard from a couple council members
up here that we do need to figure out
what happened. And I do want to make
sure that once we vote on this tonight,
we just don't forget about this and not
come back to it. Um so that is something
that I really want us to do. Um but I
think again people who who we have we
have moved out of their homes um to
start uh
saying well they're being uncooperative
with us. Um
I I just I just don't think that's the
best approach. I think that these people
we have we have put them in a situation
it's our responsibility to take care of
them for at least one more year.
um and do what we can to move them into
permanent housing. It sounds like we've
been successful with a number of those
people already. Um and my hope is that
in the next year we can get the
remaining few um back onto their feet um
so they're able to support themselves.
>> Council member Kelly, I think you had
your
>> Thank you. Um I concur with Council
Member Rogers. I think I'm more
concerned about um I'm glad to hear that
wraparound service were offered and we
have records so we know how many people
were either offered or took wraparound
services.
>> Everybody was offered
>> right. So I guess my question is how is
that and I know for HIPPA we can't
obviously um don't get identities but I
so I I'm curious as to how were those
records like how those are documented.
Case managers have regular files that
they keep track of. They keep track of
the meetings. They keep track of the
progress. They keep track of understood.
But it's a third party. So, how do we
provide the oversight to en to to know
that the money we've given out and if
it's I think to council member um
Harris's concern about you know the
support needed. I'm just curious. I'm
not I'm wondering how does the city
monitor when we give out $800,000 for um
to a third party to provide services
that they are in fact I know we don't
have they have the case manager so how
do we verify that the services are in
fact delivered
we do on-site monitoring sometimes and
sometimes we review some of those files
I have not done it with these personally
um the other thing is we look at the
successes um when you have people who
are very low income. And of 18,
well, first of all, there were um two,
you know, there's outcomes for each one
of these groups. The first one is stable
housing was secured for five households
within a year of being evacuated. Two
were moved into subsidized senior
housing. They had very low incomes, but
they accepted subsidized senior housing.
Um, one received a permanent housing sub
subsidy and one was not eligible for a
second year of assistance based on their
income and took over their rent. 10
households in addition are stably housed
after completing or nearing completion
of two years of rent.
>> Sorry, if I may. So, yes, I understand
the housing piece and we're glad um they
got housing. I was just dovetailing a
bit on Council Member Harris's question
regarding supports and I and it sounds
like we don't have documentation on it,
but that's all I wanted to know. Thank
you. But every household gets different
services based on their needs. I'm
>> just right. We just don't have any
records or to verify is what you just
said that in this case
>> I said I haven't personally verified
them.
>> Uh council member Harris.
So, just going back to the memo. Um, I I
remember when I sat in on the Wesley
conversation,
a a tenant mentioned that they had a
hole in their roof and they could not
sleep in their bedroom when it rained
because rain came into their homes. Um,
[clears throat]
didn't HOCC take were they in charge of
this property? Who owned this property?
The Evston Housing Coalition is the
owner. The Evston Housing Coalition is a
nonprofit that um lost its capacity to
manage these buildings,
>> right?
um
they
got HODC or contracted with HODC to try
to get the property under control, you
know, get them um and HODC found that
they did not many of the people had not
had leases renewed. they had not had any
number of other things done including
income certifications probably all the
sort of stuff that you normally do with
this kind of housing. Um and um there
was um one of the residents who had been
given responsibility for managing the
actual property.
>> Okay.
So, I was just trying to
understand the finances, but um I'm just
go I'm going to struggle with a person
is being evicted for non-payment of
their share and they've already received
24 months of rent assistance and a
six-month extension. What changes? What
is different? Then we have a senior that
has an adult child that doesn't
contribute towards the rent, but we now
have to what
those are things that are just causing
me pause.
>> But I get it. We're We are partially
responsible, but are we done in a year?
If if this comes back, Council Member
Burns, are we done in a year?
>> My question to you. Yeah, I'm gonna go
to Council Member Kelly next and I was
going to speak at the end. I I'm I'm
pretty confident that all the questions
that I've heard I can answer. Um and so
um I will do that after everyone uh
speaks their mind. Council member Kelly,
>> thank you. So um you know there were
many I don't know upwards of 25
residents living there mostly for the
most part doing fine. Um maybe there
were one or two that were having some
financial issues.
So I just asked about the sports in
general. I think on a broader discussion
about you know how we ensure that you
know a lot of tax dollar that's provided
to third parties um this would be for
another day but I would like to
encourage that we do look at that how
much goes to overhead how much how do we
verify um that appropriate and
sufficient services are in fact being
delivered so that's all thank you
» um
the first thing I want to start off by
saying that that um we have one person,
one of the six households is on social
security. The other five have full-time
employment. I just want to make this
very clear that these are hardworking
people who had um who were living in
affordable units and they had no reason
to believe that they wouldn't be able to
continue to stay there as long as they
remained income eligible. Which is why
when HOCC came in, one of the first
things they did in addition to trying to
renew leases was to income qualify
everybody so that they could they might
be eligible to um for grants that
require income eligibility. These are
hardworking Everston residents. Um
probably some of the hardest working.
The issue as we all know is that
salaries are not keeping up with cost of
living which is why affordable housing
units like these exist. Not because
people aren't working hard enough. Um,
now if we want to I would not support
financial literacy requirements, we
should offer that anyway to anybody that
feels like they need it. Um, we should
offer that and I think people um, you
know, if they feel like it would benefit
be a benefit to them, they would receive
that information. For example, I
literally refinance my vehicle because
of information I got from First Bank
Northern and Trust. I just randomly went
to one of their meetings. They just
wanted me to go as a council member. I
went also for myself cuz I was I had
just purchased a vehicle. And so I think
if you make the information relevant to
people, um they'll use it, you know, as
I did. And so um and so for that reason,
I wouldn't support mandating uh it, but
I think it's something that should be
offered. Um, I I I just I don't want
this to get lost that that out of the 18
or so households that we started off
with, if they're not on this list,
through their own a mix of their own
efforts, connections for the homeless,
our health and human service department,
um, especially Maurice who's on the
line, and hopefully I'm not missing any
everybody. They are in housing they can
afford. They are stably housed, and I
don't want that to get overlooked. There
was a comment earlier during a public
comment that suggested, "Oh, well, this
is we're not doing enough. We're not
getting them in stable housing. This is
just kicking the can down the road."
What that individual
may have intentionally ignored, but
ignored is the fact that everyone else
that is not on this list through the
efforts of all those organizations and
people involved are stably housed now.
Um, and so all we're trying to do with
and and I've I've went over how they're
stably housed. I won't go through
everybody, but it is a mix of Prim
Towers, Jacob Blake. They're paying 30%,
no more than 30% of their income there.
Some are in HLGC units, um, where
they're paying a similar amount in rent,
um, others have been able to find
naturally occurring affordable housing
that they can afford, and so on and so
forth. I don't want that to get lost,
not by the media, not by this council,
everybody else. If they're not on this
list, they are now stably housed because
of the efforts of the city of Evston,
Connections for the Homeless, and and in other in efforts of their their
own will as well. I I I disagree with
how some of the tenants are
characterized in this. I'm not going to
air that out today, but that the one
person that's saying they didn't pay
their rent, it was it was one month from
what I understand, and Maurice can speak
to this if we really need him to. I'd
rather not, but he can. And there was an
issue with the landlord. the landlord is
trying to evict them. They're counters
suing because they feel like the the
landlord is evicting them because they
file property standards compl complaints
against them and the most of the rent
that wasn't collected outside of that
one month is because anybody knows how
evictions work. Typically, the attorneys
um encourage uh landlords to stop
accepting the rent if they're filing for
eviction. There's a lot of information
that's that's not in this memo. Again, I
don't think it's necessary to ear all
that out um at council. I'm happy to
provide more detail um offline and and I
know Maurice can as well, but everybody
that's here is because we've looked at
their socials. We've we've we we
understand what their household incomes
are. Um we um in order for them to even
get on this list, we made it clear that
by this time, you have to provide
information. People provided some
information to us now that they hadn't
before. we we require cooperation in
order to even be considered um for
additional subsidies. So, everybody here
has shown cooperation. Everybody here
other than the one who's on social
security is fully fully um employed
full-time. And um in terms of I I'll
close with never happening again. Th
this council had an opportunity to look
into this deeply. We've had many
discussions about it. Uh uh, Director
Flax has answered many questions and so
if if you were on this council last
term, I would have hoped you would have
gotten all your ans answered because
there was an opportunity to do that. For
council member Rogers and those who are
new, I understand cuz you know, you
weren't on that council and so hopefully
staff as will continue to make
themselves available to you and those
who were on it. But I just want to make
clear, we looked into this so much so
that I understand that there was I don't
remember exactly the policy change, but
there was a policy change that came from
this. Um there was um I also mentioned
and I talked to Councilman Rogers about
this because I felt like this was unique
in that if it was not a oneway in one
way out buildings, if they had a back
stairwell, a option may have been to
shut down the the the front and allow
traffic to go through the back.
That's that's only an issue with these
California style walkups. One way in,
one way out. And so this is a very
unique situation that I don't think will
likely happen again outside of the
California walk up style buildings,
which is why when we were having this
conversation, I asked staff if they
could um u um if they could um inspect
all the all the California style walkups
in Evston. They did and determined at
that time that they were all in in good
condition. So, and I can go on and on
about things that we talked about when
we looked into this. So, again, I just I
want this council to understand, the
public to understand, we did look deeply
into this. Uh, I think Councilman Rogers
obviously is new to the council and
wants to explore this in his own way,
which he should, but I just want to be
clear. There was a lot that came out of
this discussion. Um, I'll hold that for
now. Um, oh, and actually last thing is,
um, what I've said is is that because
we've there's been such success in
finding stable housing for a for most of
the households that we started with,
it's reasonable to believe that if given
another year, especially with the 90s
something affordable units coming
online, right, we what was done before
was done without really any new
affordable units, the inclusionary
housing program can't help them because
it really only supports towards
households that are about 60 to 80% AMI.
And so we did this without the
inclusionary housing program being able
to support these residents without any
new affordable units. And so it's reason
to believe with 90 something new units
available plus continuing the efforts
that we've uh that connections and staff
has done that at the end of this to
council member Harris's question, where
do we go from here? We're con, not only
have we been successful, we're confident
given that time, given the units um that
we'll come back in a year and say um
happily that everybody has is in units
that they can afford. That's the goal
and I think we're realistically on
track. Um Council Member Kelly,
>> thank you. Um, so and we don't have to
uh interrogate this this evening, but I
did have questions from last term
regarding inspections and proper notice
in terms of urgent repairs that were
urgently needed and the time frame given
before residents received a letter to
vacate immediately their homes. So, I
did still have some questions remaining
and but I am glad um to move forward
this evening to help um to help these
residents. But I just want to say like
I'm glad they're stably housed, but it's
not the same. Many of these residents
had lived there for over 20 years and
that was their home and their
neighborhood. So, it's a big difference
um to remain in your home. And I know
there were several estimates of the
repairs to the stairs, which was the
urgently needed item um that came in
around 1.2 million, I believe. And so I
guess, you know, those are all questions
that I think I think every time there's
a a tragic incident like this or where
it's such upheaval, we want to say it's
unique. Um, and maybe it is, but
nevertheless, there are elements in
there that I think we should um look at a separate time to really make sure
that um
whatever we could improve um from how
that happened, what could have been
improved is is acknowledged. So thank
you. Um,
there was something you said I wanted to
comment on. I can't remember, which
probably means I need to leave it alone.
Um, [laughter]
uh, anybody else.
>> All right, that's roll call.
» Council member Harakaris.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Kelly.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Harris. Hi.
>> Council member Isles. Hi.
>> Council member Nusma. Hi.
>> Council member Sufffordan. Hi. Council
member Davis. Hi.
>> Council member Rogers. Hi. Council
member Burns.
>> Hi.
>> All right. Uh,
you start off with A2. If someone could
make a motion for A2, please.
>> Mr. Chair, if I could actually make a
recommendation. I think we have two
people who are kind of waiting. Um, I
know one of them is waiting for
something I pulled off the agenda. Yes.
I don't know if the other woman is
waiting for a particular item or not,
but if so, I would ask that we
[laughter]
she just wants to hear us. Um,
>> she actually has a wonderful newsletter
that I subscribe to, so she might be
here trying to get the news uh first
maybe.
>> Um, I I would ask that we rearrange the
agenda and pull um item P1 forward so
that the gentleman who's waiting for
that particular item.
>> Yeah, with no objections, Councilman
Rogers, if you want to move item P1. Um,
I would uh actually ask someone else to
do it since I will
>> I'll move item P1 uh
which is landmarking of the property at
2700 Herd Willard Elementary School.
>> All right.
>> It's been moved by Council Member S and
seconded by Council Member Harris, uh,
Council Member Rogers.
>> Thank you. I just want again want to
reiterate um this the landmarking of a
school does not prevent the school from
being able to do anything while it
operates as a school. it actually
imposes the uh changes upon the next
property owner. Um I have a question. Is
the land being landmarked as well
or is it just the land the the lots that
have the building on it?
It's primarily the lot that has the
building on it. We've separated out the
parcels to the north which are not built
on. I've got Kate Sterling online if you
want any more specifics about that.
>> All right. No, that that's fine. I I
couldn't remember because I'd heard both
ways and and I wasn't sure where it
finally netted out. Um I do understand
how adaptive reuse can work in many of
these situations. Um but I also know
that that does require going through the
preservation commission um which can be
um sometimes fraught for a property
owner. Um and so with that reason I uh I
cannot support this. Um, I think what
ends up happening is we are going to
landmark all of except for about three
schools. And when it comes time to
closing schools, the district 65 is
going to be faced with the challenge of
closing the schools that are not
landmarked versus closing the ones that
are. And if they're looking for top
dollar, um, obviously an unlandmarked
property is um, in my opinion probably a
more attractive um, site for them. So, I
will not be able to support this.
» Uh, council member uh Davis,
>> I want to confirm. Has D65
given any communication or direction as
to what they would prefer for this
building?
>> I'm going to let Kate address that. They
have been involved.
>> Hi, council members. Kate Sterling,
preservation planner with the city. Uh,
the school district has been involved
from the start. um they have recommended
that the property be designated a
landmark that was with some um mutual
agreements that were made in terms of
the specific um parcels to council
member Rogers question.
» I don't understand anything that D65
does. So like if that's [laughter] if
that's what they've said they want to
do, then I'm going to go ahead and
support. It is more so their
jurisdiction than ours. and I'm in
support of, you know, intergovernmental
cooperation. But,
» uh, council member Hottis,
>> I just want to thank community members
for their work there did they did, um,
uncovering some of the history of, um,
black displacement, um, that led to the
forming of the school. Um, I'm going to
be voting yes tonight because um based
on our um current rules and standards
for um historic preservation, it does
meet all the standards. Um, but I would
like um us to think um in the future of
how we can um maybe take steps to um
formalize our recognition of
displacement and how that fits into our
um history for our neighborhood. So,
Anyone
else,
Council Member Harris?
>> I think um I think Shorefront had a
little bit to do with that as well and
covering some of that information. So,
thank you.
>> Uh Council Member Kelly.
>> Yeah, I think Sharon for that work and
um our librarians who worked on that as
well. So, will there be like a um part
of this will include a public
acknowledgement of the history? Okay.
Wonderful. Wonderful. Thank you all.
Okay.
» All right. I think we're ready for the
roll call.
» Council member Herakaris.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Kelly.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Harris.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Isles.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Nusma.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Sephan.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Davis.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Rogers.
>> No.
>> Council member Burns. All right.
Um,
next up we we have uh A6. If someone can
make a motion
>> uh A2
>> or A Oh, sorry. That was P1. Um, are we
good with the order
moving forward? We're good. Okay. Yes.
So, we'll we'll uh if someone can move
A2, please. So I move approval of
resolution 85R26 approval of Beimo
Harris M Amazon credit card activity.
>> Second.
>> It's been properly moved and seconded.
Any
uh comments? Seeing none. All those in
favor say I.
>> No. Roll call. Roll call.
>> Oh, we got one to abstain. I forgot
about this. Um roll call, please.
>> Council member Heracaris.
>> I.
>> Council member R Kelly.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Harris.
>> Hi. Council member Isles. Hi.
>> Council member Nisma.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Suffered.
>> I'm stand.
>> Council member Davis.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Rogers.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Burns.
>> Hi.
>> All right. A2 is approved. A6.
» Uh Mr. Mayor Prom. My move item A6,
resolution 16, R26, authorizing the city
manager to execute an agreement with
Ample Group International for the Fleet
Jordanian exterior renovation project
26-22.
>> Properly moved by council member Nusma
and seconded by
>> second council member Harris, council
member Kelly.
>> Thank you. I just pulled this to we had
requested verification of compliance
given some concerns with the RBO.
>> Thank you, Council Member Kelly. So, I
did speak with uh Tammy Nunes, the
purchasing manager. She reached out to
the Amool um owner. The the owner was in
the car. He said he would provide all
the documentation in the morning,
including all the employees union cards
with the proper apprenticeship program.
>> Okay. Thank you.
>> As soon as I receive those, I will send
them to the council morning.
>> Council member Rogers.
>> Thank you. Um, can we please start doing
this earlier because I think this is the
second one in a row that we have um
said, "Oh, we'll approve it and we're
going to wait on some information." So,
I don't know if there's a problem with
getting information. I don't know if we
can request that earlier so that when it
comes to us and I'm not faulting anyone
here in in the process. I'm just saying
um there seems to be a little hiccup
when it comes to getting uh especially
apprenticeship seems to be the the
issue. um so that we we don't have to
approve things without all the
documentation. I don't doubt that we
will get the documentation, but again,
just trying to close up that little gap
um in the process.
>> Thank you, Council Member Rogers.
Understood. Um I think the issue here is
that oftent times when we're getting a
bid in, the contractor doesn't know
exactly all the subs they're going to
hire. Um so they may not have that
information at the time of bid. Um but
based on the project once they hire all
the subs the doc the documentation is
given to the city on a rolling basis. Um
but we will certainly work to have that
documentation ahead of time. We do have
the proper certifications that are
required under the ordinance. Um so we
do have that and that's what we check
off as we go through.
>> Council memberis
uh council member suffer.
>> Yeah. Um, I just want to confirm if the
documentation is not forthcoming,
regardless of an affirmative vote
tonight, the award will be invalidated.
>> Absolutely. Because it does not comply
with the RBO if we don't get the
documentation.
>> Thank you, Council Member Kelly.
>> Yeah. So, the subs are subject to the
RBO also. So, I feel like we need to
>> and I know we do have we do have a
referral for procurement and hopefully
we'll get that um finalized. But until
then, if there's anything that can be
improved so that we are basically
vetting um figuring out the sub piece
also.
>> Yeah. And as the contractor goes, if
they don't hire compliant subs, they
have to find different subs. So that's
what it is.
» All right.
Um
we don't need a roll call for this. All
those in favor?
>> I nays. Any abstensions? All right. Um,
a who?
If someone can make a motion for AA,
please.
>> I move for the resol resolution 62R26,
approval of a single source contract
with Alur
Incorporated for the rental of a 200
kilowatt standby generator for an 11th
month term. It's
>> been properly moved by council member
Harris, seconded by council member
Nusma. Would anybody like to speak to
this? Council member Kelly,
>> I just had a question maybe um which I
meant to ask to APW about the be the
best um the I guess it's battery energy
services systems. Um if there's ever if
we'd ever do like a hybrid rental so
we'd have you know partial green um
backup is that with the best system BSS
is that I know we're waiting to purchase
2,000 watt generators. Correct. So, we
need these temporary ones during
construction.
>> Uh, Mayor Pro Tim Burns, members of the
city council, Daryl King, water
production bureau chief. Um, so yes,
there there's currently an electrical
upgrade project. Our current generators
have been demoed and the contractor
brought in a 750 to replace them. Right.
This generator will serve a couple
things in, you know, to provide power to
the filtration plant if something was to
happen to the power, but also if the
contractor 750 didn't work, we would be
able to use this generator to back feed
the 480 system for critical equipment.
Now, in terms of uh our current hookup
is natural gas and and well, actually
this temporary generator um is is
diesel. Uh the generator [clears throat]
that will be
that was recently approved that will
replace this one is natural gas. Uh
that's the hookup that we have uh at at the the water plant. Now, in terms of
uh renewables and different things like
that, there there may be options or
something for that, but that's not what
we're recommending in terms of uh
reliable redundancy
>> uh for backup power uh with with this
type of application.
>> Okay. I just someone brought to my
attention that you can get these BSS the
battery um energy and do like a hybrid
even when you rent you can do a hybrid
but when we purchase if we had one of
those that you can actually save cost
during peak hours by actually using that
one instead you can actually save this
save money if you in and to actually use
the backup best system
not when you don't even need backup but
to use it instead of the peak hours. So
just putting that out there
>> there. Yes, there are battery systems
and and so forth and um that that's not
part of this. We we have looked into
that and you know maybe in the future
that would be another redundant uh
source that we could use at some point
but that's not where we are now but we
have looked into that and thank you for
that that information. Thank you,
>> Council Member Nusma.
>> I'll second what Daryl said. Like,
that's a great idea. Thank you for
bringing that up. Makes a lot of sense
to consider moving forward. The purchase
in front of us tonight is for a
short-term backup generator uh just to
be there just in case. Hopefully, we
never have to turn it on. So, yeah, the
battery thing is really more long-term
and there's KMED money available to for
that kind of thing. So, let's move
moving forward. Let's consider that. uh
doesn't mean doesn't have to be part of
this uh purchase tonight or this
approval tonight.
>> Yep.
>> All right. All those in favor of
approving A8 resolution 62R26 say I.
>> I.
>> Any nays? Any abstensions? All right. On
to A12.
If someone could make a motion, please.
>> Uh Mr. Chair, I move item A12,
resolution 66,R26, approval of an
agreement with Joel Kennedy Construction
Corporation for the 2026 annual lead
service line replacement uh project,
which is bid 2618.
» It's been properly moved by council
member NMA and seconded by council
member Harris. Council member Roger,
>> thank you. Um, I had pulled this off
just because there is a cost to overrun
on this and I understand that and we'll
be discussing that in finance and
budget, but I wanted to make everyone
aware of that. Um, in case they didn't
get through all the details of the
packet. Um, so we have a uh the the bid
that we're accepting is and I'm just
going to look to staff to nod yes to
answer my question. Um, exceeds it by
about a little over 1.5 million.
Yes, they're nodding their heads yes. So
that is an acknowledgement that it
exceeds it by about 1.5 million. Um so
finance and budget we will have to
figure out what we're doing um
financially in order to get that
additional money or potentially cut um
something. Um and they're kind of
rolling their eyes at me on that one. Um
so I don't know if they want to respond
to that. Um
>> and I hate to make Miss Bigs come up. Um
for a simple question.
>> Hello everyone. My name is Laura BGS.
I'm the city engineer. So yes, [snorts]
we are also looking at that and we are
fortunately able to miticate some of the
million and a half dollars with
additional loans that we can take out
and that ultimately results in
additional principal forgiveness which
helps quite a lot.
We can look at how we're doing it, but
we are required to replace all the lead
service lines within a specific amount
of time. So, there's a limited amount of
value engineering to some extent. We
just have to kind of keep going.
>> Okay. Thank you,
» Council Member Kelly. Um I have a
question regarding um and I don't know
if this is common but how we publicize
and since we have I know in this one
this is for Kennedy I think Kennedy
contract and Boulder was the other
bidder u responded to the bid and then
in another the other second highest
contract that we have out tonight it was
flipped it was you know Boulder and then
Kennedy that we're just getting two
responses I see we advertise in Demand
Star and through Pioneer Press and I'm
just wondering if that standard such
like limited. I mean, could could we go
broader? And
>> we we advertise this one uh the lead
service line one in the Chicago Tribune
because of the EPA requirements,
but we send out uh invitations to bid to
a variety of contractors. But our work
does have um a lot of very specific
requirements that um that we need to
follow. and Evston is a difficult place
to work just because of the limited um
places to stage and how you do not have
space to work in. So there's there's a
variety of things we have working
against us. These are two contractors
we've worked with number of times and so
they feel pretty comfortable meeting all
of our program requirements.
>> Okay. Yeah, it seems like it would be I
mean for that it's a large contract 13
million that you feels like we would be
getting more um more respondents.
>> And Daryl King, water production bureau
chief and and just some additional
context I'd like to add is starting next
year
everybody in Illinois is going to be
required to start replacing lead service
lines according to law. Um, the lead
service line replacement notification
act in Illinois currently allows 20
years to do that replacement, but the
lead and copper rule improvements have
been accepted by the Illinois Pollution
Control Board, which once that goes into
effect,
um,
November 2027, I believe, and it would
actually,
uh, activities ities would occur January
1 starting 2028.
That time frame across the state could
go to 10 years. Some uh utilities
depending upon how they score could get
a longer deferred
uh time to replace uh Evston could
possibly get 17 years instead of 10
years. Um, but now you're talking about
a bunch of work that's got to get done
in the state of Illinois all at one
time. So that could become an issue for
how many bids utilities, municipalities
are getting on these contracts.
» Council member Nusmo.
>> Thank you, Mr. Chair. Daryl, as long as
you're here, there's a mailing that just
went out about lead service lines. Can
you tell us what that is in case we get
calls?
>> Yes. So, uh, annually,
uh, we're required to submit a service
materials inventory to IEPA telling them
how many lead services we have, how many
galvanized requiring replacements, and
so forth. So, we did that on April 14th
or so. um within 30 days following that,
we have to notify the community
uh where lead service lines are believed
to be galvanized requiring replacement
service lines are are believed to be.
So, we recently uh mailed out roughly
just under 10,000
um
uh uh lead service line notices, couple
hundred uh galvanized requiring
replacement notices. People have gotten
those notices. These notices don't
require any action. They're
forformational purposes only. But
they're notifying those locations. Hey,
we believe you have lead. Hey, we
believe you have galvanized requiring
replacement. Here's uh uh the risk of of
having lead service lines. These are the
programs the city currently owns. Um if you have currently provides if you
have questions, uh you know, there's
contact information and so forth. That's
a required mailing that we have to send
out every year. It happens around this
time every year and we're required to
send those out until they're all gone.
There is a
>> the lead service lines are all all
replaced.
>> All lead service lines, all galvanized
requiring replacement service lines,
those are those are galvanized service
lines that have been uh downstream of
lead service line. And so for, you know,
the next 20 years, 17 years, 10 years
until they're all gone, we have to keep
sending them out. And if we ever run
into situations where we're having
difficulties, let's say at the end of 17
years, and we we've had a hundred
locations that either we can't get in,
they've refused,
or or whatever the situation is, we got
to keep sending them out until they're
all gone.
Thank you.
>> All right, we'll roll call this one.
Council
>> member.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Kelly.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Harris.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Isles. Hi.
>> Council member Nusma.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Suffford. Hi.
>> Council member Davis.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Rogers.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Burns.
>> Hi.
>> All right. Next up we have 821.
Mr. Chair, I believe you are requesting
that we suspend the rules to take
immediate action on this tonight.
>> You want to make that motion?
>> So, yeah, I I will make the motion to
suspend uh the rules so that we can take
uh final action on this item tonight.
>> All right. Uh second
>> 21 has been properly
>> um well, it's 22.
>> This is we treat this like a motion is
on suspending of the rules and then I'll
make the next motion. Um, so that's that
amendment has been properly moved and
seconded by council member Rogers. Um,
>> roll call.
>> Yes.
>> Uh, council member Hakadis.
>> I council member Kelly.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Harris.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Isles. Hi.
>> Council member Nusma.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Son.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Davis.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Rogers.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Burns.
>> Hi.
>> All right. And on to the underlying. Um,
>> so the rules have been suspended. So, I
will now make the motion on item A21,
uh, which is ordinance 37026 authorizing
the sale of city-owned real property at
1811 to 1815 Church Street. And this is
for final action this evening.
>> Second.
>> All right. It's been properly moved by
Councilman Newsmith, seconded by Council
Member Harris. Any questions, comments?
Uh, seeing none, all those in favor? I
>> Any nays? Any abstensions?
All right, 821 is approved. Moving on to
SSC1.
>> I move for the resolution 75R26
use of CDBG
funds for FY2026
public service.
>> I'll second.
>> All right. It's been moved by council
member Harris, seconded by council
member Hakatis.
Council member Isles. I pulled this
because some of these funds go to my
employer interfaith action. So I need to
recuse myself.
>> All right. Seeing other comments, we'll
do roll call.
>> Council member Heracaris.
>> I.
>> Council member Kelly.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Harris.
>> I.
>> Council member Isles.
>> I abstain.
>> Council member Nisma.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Suffford.
>> Council member Davis.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Rogers.
>> Hi.
>> Council member Burns. All right,
» last we have call of the wards. I had an
order somewhere, but starting off with
council member Hedicottis.
>> Um, I will have to move my office hours
this week. I will be out of town. Um, so
I will be sending out a newsletter with
the new hours and um, we'll talk to
people soon.
>> Yep.
Uh,
>> no report.
>> Council member Kelly, Council Member
Harris,
>> Council Member Isles,
>> I have uh office hours a week from
Thursday on the 7th from 7:30 to 9:30 at
brothers K.
>> Uh, Council Member Nusma,
>> no report.
>> Uh, Council Member Suffford,
>> Council Member Davis,
>> no report. Council member Rogers.
>> Um yeah, just real quickly, um we had a
gathering of the Howard Street Business
Association and our colleagues from the
Chicago side, the Rogers Park Business
Alliance, um at Peckage Pig last week.
We had about 30 people show up. It was a
great event. Um the city manager came
down um and and met with the group. Um
it was just kind of a casual cocktail
hour and they plan on doing several of
these. So I will share information with
my colleagues as those come forward and
invite you to those as well. That's it.
>> All right. Um, and so I I need to make a
motion to
move the the conversation about the
emergency assistance expanding the
emergency assistance program
um to allow for property tax relief
funding to the June 8th meeting because
we have our health department uh members
of our health department will be out of
town and of course what it's important
that they're here to participate in that
discussion.
It was scheduled to be May 11th, but I I
talked to Director Ogbo and he asked if
we can move it to June 8th. And I asked
him if at that time he could have an
actual program for us to look at. And
just to be clear, it's not a new program
that he's just going to explain us how
he would how they would expand it to
include property tax relief. And he'll
have that ready by the ETH. Um so I
think I can make that motion. Second,
>> it's been um moved and seconded. All
those in favor or unless Okay. All those
in favor?
>> I
>> Any nays? Any abstensions? Um, only last
thing I I wanted to make a few more
comments on the assistance to the Wesley
tenants, but I forgot to to mention um
is in in your memos, you'll see that
there's a a bullet point that says if we
had if they hadn't received the subsidy,
how much of their income would be going
towards rent if they did not receive the
subsidy? And this is one of the um this
is really the primary reason why I asked
council to support this extension. And
so remember that 30% or more is housing
cost burden. 50% or more is severely
housing cost burden. And so one
household would be at 86%
uh without the subsidy. Another at
172.5%
that's the individual that's on social
security. Um, one would be on would be
36.7%
another 42.6%
61.4%
and 67.7%.
Um, I did also want to comment on there
was a suggestion earlier that we could
have allocated funding for the steps and
I've said this and I'll say it every
time I hear it. we would have been
giving millions of dollars to an
organization that had already shown that
they not only could not keep the
building safe by making sure that the
steps and balconies were repaired, but
as as director Flax mentioned, we also
had reports of other issues with the
building. So, we will be giving funds to a organization that has shown they
couldn't take care of the balconies and
steps, hadn't took taken care of other
issues. Unfortunately, they weren't
reporting a lot of those complaints to
the city, but we found that they were
reporting them directly to uh by to the
owner. Um, and it wasn't it was unlikely
that the that the um board was still
organized, that they were meeting on a
regular basis, that's who we would have
been giving money to. And I don't think
a majority of council up here would have
supported doing that. So, every time
people bring that up, that's what I'm
going to bring up. And if you want to
say, "Yep, that was still a good, you
know, we should have supported them,"
then say that. But that's that's the
money we would that's the organization
we would have been given the money to.
What we decided to do instead is to
still support these households as we've
done today. Um, but to try to get them
to more stable quality housing. I also
think we need to be careful speaking for
people because there are some people
that actually prefer their new units to
the old ones. And I'm not saying that
they don't miss the community that they
had there, but let's be careful to speak
for people. Um I think they can speak
for themselves. Uh I know that they're
really looking forward, the six house
owners are looking forward to um to
these extensions and I appreciate that
support. Um that's all I have. Seeing no
matter additional matters before us, I
call the city council meeting adjourned.
Thank you everybody.