Chambana Sun

City of Urbana Cunningham Township Board met May 6.

Here is the minutes provided by the board:

The Cunningham Township Board met in Regular session Monday, April 1, 2019 at 7 p.m. in the Council Chambers at the Urbana City Building, 400 S. Vine Street, Urbana, Illinois.

ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT:

Chair: Diane Wolfe Marlin

Trustees: Bill Brown; Shirese Hursey; Eric Jakobsson; Jared Miller; Dennis Roberts; Dean Hazen; Maryalice Wu

Town Clerk: Charles A. Smyth

Supervisor: Danielle Chynoweth

Assessor: Wayne Williams

ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT VIA TELECONFERENCE: None

ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT:

OTHERS PRESENT: Fred Grosser; Deputy Assessor William Harris, and Members of the Media

1. ROLL CALL

Chair Marlin called the meeting of the Cunningham Township Board to order at 7:41pm, following a meeting of the City Council.

2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING

Trustee Miller made a motion to approve minutes from April 1, 2019, regular meeting seconded by Trustee Hursey. With no corrections, the motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

3. ADDITIONS TO THE AGENDA There were none.

4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION There was none.

5. COMMITTEE TO VERIFY BILLS

The Town Bills for May 6, 2019 were presented in omnibus fashion by Supervisor Chynoweth:

1. Town Fund = $67,285.36

2. General Assistance Fund = $99,480.50

Trustee Miller made a motion to approve the Town Fund for $67,285.36 and the General Assistance Fund for $99,480.50, seconded by Trustee Roberts. The motion carried by unanimous voice vote.

6. REPORTS OF OFFICERS

Township Supervisor Danielle Chynoweth provided the board a written monthly report. She gave a summary of her statement, noting that GA is tapering off with 106 participants, down from 112. She stated that there are mixed reasons for cancellations due to non-participation and some moving into jobs. She is looking at issues of those dropping out related to mental health and homelessness, and has started discussions with Rosecrance. She noted homeless assistance at six including helping one individual who has been homeless for 10 years and described helping individuals get housing at Steer Place where there was a recent opening. She recently spoke at the Fair Housing conference in Chicago and announced the launching of Township garden events (May 25), including developing container gardens for people to take home.

Assessor Williams reported that his office is busy valuing properties and that they are about to let people know if their assessments are going up or down. He is expecting 2% increase for homeowners; larger for commercial properties. He noted that commercial property values have not changed in 8 years. He will be having an informational meeting at the City Building May 29 from 11:30 to 1:30pm. He also spoke about the yearly process of recertifying seniors who get a property tax exemption and is looking at ways to minimize the need and cost. He stated that they are almost finished installing new assessment software and that tax extensions were finally received from the County Clerk.

7. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was none.

8. NEW BUSINESS

a. Resolution No. T-2019-05-007R: A Resolution Authorizing the Cunningham Township Supervisor to Sign a User Agreement with SocialServe.com for Access to the Statewide Referral Network

Supervisor Chynoweth spoke to the resolution describing the statewide SocialServe.com network, beneficiaries, and training. It will allow the township to access lists of housing for individuals in vulnerable situations. Training will be in conjunction with the Housing Authority. Every property who receives tax credits is required to set aside a certain number of units to the statewide referral network. She noted that many local properties are unaware of this requirement and she will be working to correct this noting that there are many empty units that could benefit the homeless population.

Trustee Roberts made a motion to approve Resolution T-2019-05-007R, seconded by Trustee Hursey. Questions and Discussion followed. Trustee Brown asked how this network overlaps with the 211 network and what other townships are doing. Supervisor Chynoweth explained the 211 process as related to housing needs, which includes centralized intake and case management. The referral network bypasses this while working with centralized intake. Ms. Chynoweth explained that the case management aspect is a broken piece of the system so the township tracks and supports clients to qualify participants in the statewide system. The township is tracking all homeless clients with the goal of finding them subsidized housing in one of the networks. Ms. Chynoweth described the process being developed in her office to track all of their activities related to assisting township residents. The SocialServe network provides access to housing statewide should family and other connections lead to relocation elsewhere in the state or to bring someone into the community.

With no further discussion, the motion passed by roll call vote (7-0): Brown – Aye, Hursey – Aye, Jakobsson –Aye, Miller – Aye, Roberts – Aye, Hazen – Aye, Wu – Aye.

b. Ordinance No. T-2019-05-001: An Ordinance Approving the Annual Budget and Appropriation Ordinance (Fiscal Year 2019-2020)

Supervisor Chynoweth introduced a draft FY20 budget and is looking to present it in June. She noted that additional information from IMRF needs to be added and the actual levy extension figures need to be inserted. She stated that she is doing performance reviews so salaries are tentative with cost of living increases used. She asked Trustees to begin examining the budget but that updates will occur over the next couple of weeks. Social Service allocations will be coming to Trustees next week as well and will be entered into the budget. Questions and discussion followed. Trustees Wu and Brown asked for clarification of GA allocations for the current and next year.

Supervisor Chynoweth indicated that she had projected fewer GA clients at higher monthly stipends but could only afford $265 in the current budget. However, she has just received a memo from DHS suggesting that the minimum GA stipend be $304 so she may need to revise these numbers in the upcoming budget. She stated that she is using $280 for the coming year to match Champaign and is projecting 115 individuals and will be clarifying DHS requirements. In response to Trustee Wu about Personal Allowance projections on pages 5 -6, Ms. Chynoweth noted a typo in the budget narrative. Trustee Jakobsson stated that if $304 is a statewide recommendation, it does not take into account cost of living between communities noting that our housing cost is less than Chicago and overall 30% less. Trustee Brown asked about the level of SSI reimbursements noting the low reimbursements actually received versus those reported to be applying for SSI. Ms. Chynoweth said that it is usually close to half of the clients but the process can be very long taking 6 to 8 years stating that she was overly ambitious for the current year. As it is a labor intensive process to make the application, her office is looking at lower bar methods to help with putting in good applications. Ms. Chynoweth provided additional explanation of process and her reasoning for her estimate of SSI reimbursements for the upcoming budget. Folks sit waiting for SSI for a very long time even with very clear medical documentation. Trustee Brown asked why health insurance expenditures in the Assessor’s Office are expected to be much higher next year. Assessor Williams explained that he wasn’t fully staffed last year and now has more people with a different mix of needs.

With no further discussion, Trustee Miller made a motion to place the FY20 Budget on file and schedule a public hearing for July 1, 2019. The motion was seconded by Trustee Jakobsson and passed by unanimous voice vote.

c. Resolution No. T-2019-05-008R: Resolution Authorizing Request to Intervene in Formal Hearing with the Illinois Property Tax Appeal Board

Assessor Williams provided background on the resolution noting that the Assessor’s office is already intervening in the 2017 case and the case is proceeding through appeals. Trustee Roberts made a motion to approve Resolution T-2019-05-008R, seconded by Trustee Jakobsson. With no further discussion, the motion passed by roll call vote (7-0): Brown – Aye, Hursey – Aye, Jakobsson –Aye, Miller – Aye, Roberts – Aye, Hazen – Aye, Wu – Aye.

9. ADJOURNMENT

There being no further business to come before the Cunningham Township Board, Chair Marlin declared the meeting adjourned at 8:21pm.

https://www.city.urbana.il.us/_Cunningham_Township/Agendas_Minutes_Videos/2019/05-06-19/05-06-19_Minutes.pdf