Chambana Sun

City of Urbana Committee of the Whole met May 20

Here are the minutes provided by the committee:

ELECTED OFFICIALS PHYSICALLY PRESENT: Diane Wolfe Marlin, Mayor; Darcy Sandefur, City Clerk; CM Maryalice Wu, CM Christopher Evans, CM Shirese Hursey, CM Jaya Kolisetty, CM Chaundra Bishop, CM Grace Wilken, CM James Quisenberry

ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT:

STAFF PRESENT: Carol Mitten, Dave Wesner, Bourema Ouedraogo, Seok Hyun Cho, Tim Cowan, Breaden Belcher, Nick Olsen

OTHERS PRESENT:

Chair: Shirese Hursey, Ward 3

1. Call to Order and Roll Call

With a quorum present, Chair Hursey called the meeting of the Urbana City Council to order at 8:18p.m.

2. Approval of Minutes of Previous Meeting

a. 05-06-2024 Committee of the Whole Minutes

Motion to approve by CM Wu, seconded by CM Bishop.

Voice Vote:

AYE: Wu, Evans, Hursey, Kolisetty, Bishop, Wilken, Quisenberry

NAY: None.

3. Additions to the Agenda

None.

4. Presentations and Public Input

a. Public Input

Camille Cobb described the methodology behind BerryDunn’s process of recommending the hiring of additional officers to meet the recommended figure of 44 police staff members required to meet service load. Elaborated on the calculations behind finding the figures, constants, and variables used in calculating 44. Criticized BerryDunn’s use of the 30-30-40 model and the assumptions made within it. Noted that the figure of 44 officers is based on the additional assumption of unallocated time of 40% in the 30-30-40 model is added into the calculations when considering Calls for Service as it is assumed by BerryDunn that activities done in the unallocated time would have addressed things that would eventually have become a Call for Service. Stated that if the response times used by different departments are used, the number of officers required is already met by current police staffing. Ben Joselyn noted BerryDunn responses to questions that stated that the public should put trust in BerryDunn’s expertise and that BerryDunn displays a bias toward increasing police staffing, pointing to BerryDunn’s narrative bias within criminals using the City of Urbana as a stop between the City of Chicago and the City of Nashville to commit crimes. Disagreed with the inclusion of this assumption within the BerryDunn report as it displays fearmongering and narrative bias through imagined threats. Stated that escalation of police at the recent protest on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) campus was similar to that of other protests within other cities, but it uniquely deescalated unlike in other cities and did not end in violent arrests. Acknowledged that local police departments are better than those in other cities, but stated that they should not have to get so close to the escalation point of making violent arrests. Stated that the policing of infractions of UIUC policies by municipal police departments are a misuse of funds. Shared hope for public service and public safety to be centered around funding community resources before policing. Sana asked City Council what their expectations were from the community input segment within the BerryDunn report as more relevant questions were not asked to the community, and suggested questions be formed through a committee rather than solely by BerryDunn. Requested City Council frame questions for BerryDunn to ask the community to be framed by community concerns and requested for more transparency regarding the community surveying process. Written Public Input was read by Chair Hursey from Julie Watkins regarding the BerryDunn report and the original intent behind it from City Council. Written Public Input was read by CM Evans from Lilah Leopold requesting City Council and Mayor Marlin pursue alternative response resources and alternative response models to policing.

5. Staff Report

None.

6. New Business

a. Resolution No. 2024-05-028R: A Resolution Approving the City of Urbana and Urbana HOME Consortium (Champaign/Urbana/Champaign County) FY 2024-2025 Annual Action Plan – CD

Presented by Breaden Belcher, Grants Division Manager and Nick Olsen, Community Development Coordinator. The Resolution seeks to approve the City of Urbana and Urbana HOME Consortium (Champaign/Urbana/Champaign County) FY 2024-2025 Annual Action Plan. Breaden Belcher provided an overview of the Annual Action Plan and a summary of the information provided in the packet. Shared that the City of Urbana has been allocated $389,487 in Noted 21% decrease on HOME and CDBG funding and impacts from congressional budget decisions. Nick Olsen summarized the public input and outreach process for the FY 24-25 Annual Action Plan. Spoke on common public input topics and community priorities from survey results. Breaden Belcher reiterated the importance of the public input process to developing the Annual Action Plan and spoke on the next steps to submit it to HUD. Questions and Discussion followed.

Motion to approve to the consent agenda by CM Bishop, seconded by CM Quisenberry.

Voice Vote:

AYE: Wu, Hursey, Evans, Kolisetty, Bishop, Wilken, Quisenberry

NAY: None.

b. Resolution No. 2024-05-029R: A Resolution Approving Amendment No. 1 to an Urbana

HOME Consortium Subrecipient Agreement – Champaign County Regional Planning Commission – Housing Navigation Program – HOME ARP FT 2021/2022 – CD

Resolutions No. 2024-05-029R and 2024-05-030R were presented together by Breaden Belcher, Grants Division Manager. This item seeks to amend the subrecipient agreement with Champaign County Regional Planning Commission to extend the agreement terms from June 30, 2024 to June 30, 2025 while maintaining all other provisions of the original subrecipient agreement. Breaden Belcher stated that the purpose behind the extensions were to rollover funding to the next fiscal year so that they could be fully used.

Motion to approve to the consent agenda by CM Wu, seconded by CM Wilken.

Voice Vote:

AYE: Wu, Hursey, Kolisetty, Bishop, Wilken, Quisenberry

NAY: None.

c. Resolution No. 2024-05-030R: A Resolution Approving Amendment No. 1 to an Urbana HOME Consortium Subrecipient Agreement – CU at Home, LLC – Housing Navigation Program – HOME ARP FY 2021/2022 – CD

This item seeks to amend the subrecipient agreement with CU at HOME to extend the agreement terms from June 30, 2024 to June 30, 2025 while maintaining all other provisions of the original subrecipient agreement.

Motion to approve to the consent agenda by CM Wu, seconded by CM Quisenberry.

Voice Vote:

AYE: Wu, Hursey, Kolisetty, Bishop, Wilken, Quisenberry

NAY: None.

d. Resolution No. 2024-05-031R: A Resolution Approving an Intergovernmental Agreement to Share Cost for Use of a GPS Survey Base Station – PW

Presented by Tim Cowan, Director of Public Works. This Resolution seeks to approve an intergovernmental agreement to participate in a cost share for use of a GPS Survey Base Station predicated on a Memorandum of Understanding between the Champaign County GIS Consortium and the University of Illinois. Tim Cowan presented an overview of the purpose behind the purpose of the cost share, and noted that the cost has been lowered for the 5-year agreement for 2024-2028 to $481.74 per year from the original cost of $1,156.25 per year.

Motion to approve to the consent agenda by CM Bishop, seconded by CM Wilken.

Questions and discussion followed.

Voice Vote:

AYE: Wu, Hursey, Evans, Kolisetty, Bishop, Wilken, Quisenberry

NAY: None.

e. Ordinance No. 2024-05-020: An Ordinance Amending Urbana City Code Chapter 24, Section 24-49 (Reimbursement for Sanitary Sewer Repairs) – PW

Presented by Tim Cowan, Director of Public Works. The item seeks to add rehabilitation of a sanitary sewer lateral within City right-of-way as an eligible expense for the City’s sanitary sewer lateral reimbursement program. Tim Cowan provided summary on the 17-year long running program which helps residents offset costs of maintaining sewer lines in driveways and similar right-of-ways. Hoped to extend the method used within the Dr. Ellis Subdivision Sewer Lateral Lining Project as an alternative method to repairing sewers in a cost-effective manner. Elaborated on the cured-in-place pipe (CIPP) lining method and its benefits. Shared the potential fiscal and budget benefits the use of CIPP lining poses, sharing a hypothetical analysis of if the previous 10 replacement/repair reimbursements between November 2023 and April 2024 were done with CIPP lining it would bring the total cost down to an estimated $55,600 instead of the actual total cost of $116,646 with a hypothetical higher portion of the costs being reimbursed by the City and less by the Property Owner. Questions and discussion ensued.

Motion to approve to the consent agenda by CM Wu, seconded by CM Kolisetty.

Voice Vote:

AYE: Wu, Hursey, Evans, Kolisetty, Bishop, Wilken, Quisenberry

NAY: None.

7. Council Input and Communications

Mayor Marlin reminded the public of the groundbreaking ceremony for the fire stations is set for 06-12-2024 at 11:00 a.m. at the Goodwin and Bradley Avenue site. Stated that more details will follow.

8. Adjournment

With no further business before the committee of the whole Chair Hursey adjourned the meeting at 9:20 p.m.

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