7/8/08 CoW and Council

[OakParkSpartan]

Layoffs are a topic again.

I don't get I-1... Nona states that "We must obtain the dollar amount of the newly created departments and positions.  We must determine the dollar amount saved by laying off 15 union employees , versus a breakdown of the expense for the Mayor's authorizing the hiring of two more outside contractors to complete the collection of debris".

Now, I read that as saying that somehow the deficit is related to hiring two outside contractors and we should therefore halt all layoffs.  Makes ZERO sense to me.

Ald. Weiner introduces a motion for removing aldermatic health insurance for the next group of aldermen.  Wonder if it will even get a second in these tough financial times...

Ald. Lovero watching out for the unions.  What is the alternative plan to reduce expenses and close the budget gap?  If council won't raise taxes or fees, and won't reduce expenses...how do you close the gap??  As far as laying off management, who will supervise the employees???  Who here has ever worked in a business without management?  Pretty unrealistic.  Pretty amazing to even suggest it.

Last council Nona asked if it was legal to layoff only union employees.  Per the city attorney and case law, it is.  You just need to have a legitimate business reason (such as a big budget deficit).

Oh boy, visitor parking passes.  Should be interesting up north where there are hardly any on street spaces.  Will be interesting to see how/if this works out.

I am not clear on the other ordinance being passed regarding resident parking (484.08).  The ordinance states that resident parking from 3AM to 9AM applies throughout the city.  They then reference a resident parking permit...is that the same as a city sticker?  It is confusing.  Hopefully someone else can make sense out of it.

The 2007 audit will be approved (to be discussed in COW).

A recap of the Centennial.  We should figure out whether it was cost or revenue center.

[Bonster]

"We must determine the dollar amount saved by laying off 15 union employees , versus a breakdown of the expense for the Mayor's authorizing the hiring of two more outside contractors to complete the collection of debris."

You beat me to it.  You can only count 5 of those positions if you want to put that argument up, as the other 10 had NOTHING to do with cleaning up the debris.
Their "dollar amount" is not applicable.

Those 5 were still on the job for a week after the storm, which was how long we were told it would take to clean up by Patrick Ryan.
Hiring of outside help for an emergency was inevitable regardless of whom was employed. 
If not, the Berwyn sissies would have pissed their pants.


Does anyone remember all the bitching about the snow removal when they were at full force? 

[Bonster]

While the Democrats have their panties in a bunch over Alderman Erickson (suuuurrrrrre....now that he's not on "their" side, beatin' up da mare!), someone is making a bit of sense, here...

[Bonster]

Will someone be videotaping tonight?  I cannot attend.  Was hoping to be off for it.

This needs to be presented to the citizens, spin or none.

[Nazerac]

Is there any type of benchmarking the staffing required for a PW and other departments for a community the size of Berwyn ?

One would thing that you should be able to compare city to city when you correct to:


1.  Size
2.  Population
3.  Population density
4.  miles of roads
5.  Apt Units
6.  Single family homes
7.  Size of park areas
8.  Climate
9.  Age of community


Is there a Municipality Manager Journal or something like that?

[OakParkSpartan]

I've asked the same before Nazerac.  I think the normal thing to do (in most of the world), would be to compare to other communities and see what industry best practices say.

But here in Berwyn, the "leaders" seem to work from the "20 years ago we did it this way..." method of staffing.

[Rizzo]

The PD has "FBI" standards.  We hired 10 or more additional police officers because the city was short handed on police persons.  So, in this case, a standard was applied.   

[Nazerac]

and what are the FBI standards?  Are you looking at a ratio of officer/population, officer/sq miles?  Or we found out we needed more cops only AFTER we found out that the current police staff is overwhelmed?

[OakParkSpartan]

Hiring more PD was one of the first things this administration did, just as Rizzo said.

[Rizzo]

and what are the FBI standards?  Are you looking at a ratio of officer/population, officer/sq miles?  Or we found out we needed more cops only AFTER we found out that the current police staff is overwhelmed?

It is a ratio of Officers versus population.  55000, in an area less than 4 sq miles is quite a dense population.  With the extra officers we seem to see more police vehicles on patrol. 

[Rizzo]

Berwyn is a not so small city that in the past thought of itself as a small community.  This train of thought led to its "make due" attitude.  So, we made due with a smaller police force packed into a small building. 

[Nazerac]

Thanks Rizzo.  BTW, I totally support the additional police officers, as well as the Citizen Police Academy.  I am glad that the decision was made proactively rather than retroactively.

[OakParkSpartan]

Interesting meeting.  Recap to come tomorrow.

COW to discuss alternatives to layoffs on July 15 I believe.

[Bear]

Interesting meeting.  Recap to come tomorrow.

COW to discuss alternatives to layoffs on July 15 I believe.

Geez...I hope they don't cut the City Czars health insurance instead, I am
getting up there, I might need it one of these days.

[Ted]

  Here are my notes from the meeting.  OPS or anyone else can add on or correct if needed:

  Alderman Ramos and Alderman Day were absent.

1. Layoffs - Alderman Lovero cited a Berwyn law that he said allowed the city council to vote on hirings and layoffs. Lovero then made a motion to stop the 15 layoffs.  The motion passed 5 to 1 with Alderman Erickson voting Nay.  Mayor O'Connor stated that he planned on vetoing the motion. Tom Pavlik, the city clerk, then asked if the mayor was allowed to veto a motion that had passed by 5 to 1 and also asked whether Ramos or Day would be allowed to vote to sustain or override the veto at the next meeting. The mayor replied that he had not yet vetoed the motion and that the city council would have the right to override that veto at the next city council meeting.

  During the vote, several statements by several of the alderman. Alderman Chapman stated that she had long ago (in 2005) requested that each department cut their costs by 10%. She requested a public meeting to discuss the issue. Alderman Phelan talked about how a resident of his ward had requested tree trimming 4 months ago and it still had not been done but that he also realized the city was having financial issues that needed to be addressed. He talked about the fact that the city had implemented a hiring freeze in 2005 but never really followed it. Alderman Weiner stated he was voting Aye because he wanted the dialogue to continue to see what alternatives there were.  In this statement during his vote, Lovero criticized the mayor, making a statement to the effect that the mayor believed everyone was wrong except himself.

  A union lawyer named Maggie Lawrence spoke during the open forum and stated that she was "disappointed" about the layoffs and the lack of a new contract given the old contract had expired 8 months ago.  She stated that 13 PW workers had filed grievances about the layoffs and that the grievance would then go to an arbitrator to decide whether the layoffs were in accord with labor law and the union contracts. She claimed that the arbitrator could decided that the layoffs were in violation of Illinois state labor law. She also claimed that some city workers were being paid poverty level wages. She also presented "petitions" to the mayor and council.  The petitions were on large pieces of cardboard and were signed all over the place over graphics on the cardboard. It sort of reminded me of the way teenage kids give a birthday party to a friend and present a large Happy Birthday card with their names signed all over it.

  Workers then spoke in open forum. One woman who worked in the water department said that the water meter reader was being layed off, so how would the city be able to read meters.


2. Budget problems - There was much discussion and debate about the budget problems. Ultimately, the mayor and council decided to hold special Committe of the Whole meetings next Tuesday, July 15 and Wednesday, July 16, starting at 7:30 to discuss the budget issues.  Alderman Chapman requested that all department heads be present, to which the mayor replied that only department heads involved in the budget discussions should be present and that it was a waste of department head time to invite all department heads if their particular budgets were not involved in the discussion.  Alderman Chapman attempted to call a joint Budget/Administration/Public Works committee at the same time as the COW meeting so that the council would be able to require the department heads to attend. When Alderman Chapman attempted to do this, the mayor pointed out that she was not chairman of any of these committees and that the committee chairs should call the coincidental meeting. The mayor agreed to have half of the department heads attend Tuesday's meeting and half attend Wednesday's meeting.

  The mayor made a statement on the budget that referred to the audit that had been presented to the city council in COW. The mayor stated that the audit showed there was only $700,000 in reserve, which is less than the city's current monthly payroll of $800,000.  The mayor claimed that the audits have shown that the city has lost $20 million dollars since the year 2000 and that the maor claimed that the auditor had stated that the city should have $10 million dollars in reserve right now rather than only $700,000.

   The mayor is estimating a budget shortfall of $2.2 million dollars  with the main reasons for the deficit coming from decreased property taxes, decreased real estate transfer taxes, decreased collection of police fines and increase in gasoline prices.  One example the mayor gave was that in October of 2007, the city's monthly gas bill was $31K and in June of 2006, the monthly bill for gasoline was $47K.

  The mayor pointed out that the city had improved its bond rating to A- from what it had been previous to him taking office. The mayor stated that laying off 15 workers to save $250,000 would not come close to covering the expected $2.2 million dollar deficit but that the banks would not consider more debt unless the city was showing it was trying to cut costs.


3, Mike Adams banned from future building permits - Alderman Phelan brought up an item about trees that developer Michael Adams had promised to plant on 21st street in exchange for diagnol parking spaces. Phelan pointed out it was 3 years later and still no trees have been planted. Alderman Phelan claimed that he had contacted MIke Adams and stated that Adams had told him there was nothing in writing. Alderman Phelan made a motion to withhold releases of restoration deposits from Mike Adams and that the city of Berwyn should withhold all future permits from Michael Adams.  The motion passed 5 to 1 with Erickson voting Nay. During his statement, Alderman Phelan stated that Mike Adams was the mayor's largest fund raiser. The mayor took exception to the statement, saying that Mike Adams was not his (the mayor's) largest campaign contributor. Phelan stated that he had not said campaign contributor but had said campaign fund raiser.


4. Rats and garbage - In the open forum, two people spoke about overflowing garbage and rats in their alleys. One resident stated that her neighbor across the street continually violated the garbage law and was continually being ticketed but that it had no effect. The neighbor was not paying the tickets and the city stated that its only recourse was to put a lien against the house and collect the fines when he sold the house.  The speaker pointed out that this was a useless thing for the city to do because it did not address the health issue of so much garbage in the alley. She suggested that the city should put people in jail if they are fined 3, 4 5 or more times and never pay their fines.  Another woman also complained about rats in her alley.


5. Salerno's noise problem - The president of the condo association at 34th & Grove (who came after the garbage and rat statements) started by saying she came in peace and everyone laughed. She and another gentleman spoke about noise problems that had been occuring since last November when Salerno's became an after hours nightclub that closed at 3 PM. She stated that the noise from the club was bothering the peace and quiet of the neighborhood and that the people leaving Salerno's after it closed were noisy. She also claimed that Salerno's had had a knife or gun incident in the last month.

  The condo owner president stated that at first Salerno's was sympathetic but that for the last few months, Salerno's had ignored their phone calls.  Alderman Chapman stated that this was another example where a restaurant had used its restaurant liquor license to become an after hours dance club. She stated that the city needed to look into this issue. The mayor agreed to meet with the condo association and would try to mediate something.


6. Garv's - The city approved the use of BDC funds to give Garv's a loan of $105,000. Alderman Weiner asked what was the fallback if the loan was defaulted on. The BDC director stated that a lien would be placed against the property and building if the loan was defaulted on.


7. Misconduct referral to States attorney's office - The council voted to approve the release of the tape that Alderman Chapman alleges proves Alderman Erickson engaged in misconduct in documenting the notes of a hearing.  Every alderman voted to approve the release of the tape, including alderman Erickson.


8. Aldermanic health insurance - Alderman Weiner's proposal to cut aldermanic health insurance was referred to COW.


9. Non partisan referedum - The referendum to change Berwyn's election format to be non-partisan was referred to COW. The mayor stated publicly that he supported the referendum to which Alderman Lovero replied "this is a joke"


10. Clinic at 3245 Grove - The council approved the opening of a clinic at 3245 Grove, which the mayor stated was against the retail overlay law. The vote was 4 to 2 with Aldermen Weiner and Erickson voting no.  I thought it was stated that this would be a methadone clinic??  But I might not have heard it right?


11. Centenniel report - Carl Reina gave a report on the centenniel. The centenniel will break even financially, with both revenue and expenses expected to be in the neighborhood of $275K.  Compliments to everyone involved.

[Ted]

  Correction to the above statement in #2.  The monthly gasoline cost of $47K is in June, 2008,  not June 2006.

  Some other facts from last night that I heard:

+ The administration expects a decrease in property taxes this year in the amount of $700K
+ Two years ago, real estate transfer taxes brought in $3.1 million; the administration is expecting real estate transfer taxes to be as low as $800K this year (not sure I heard the $800K number correctly. OPS, Terri or anyone else, is that what you heard?)
+ Collections on fines by the police department have decreased by $440K
+ Gasoline costs have increased by $17K per month (which is $200K per year)

  Also, city attorney came back with the opinion that the city could lay off city union workers and that was in accordance with labor law as long as the layoffs were deemed necessary for financial reasons.

  Finally, 2 hours diagnol parking was approved for 16th & Wesley and lots and lots of block parties were approved.

  Ted

[OakParkSpartan]

  Correction to the above statement in #2.  The monthly gasoline cost of $47K is in June, 2008,  not June 2006.

  Some other facts from last night that I heard:

+ The administration expects a decrease in property taxes this year in the amount of $700K
+ Two years ago, real estate transfer taxes brought in $3.1 million; the administration is expecting real estate transfer taxes to be as low as $800K this year (not sure I heard the $800K number correctly. OPS, Terri or anyone else, is that what you heard?)
+ Collections on fines by the police department have decreased by $440K
+ Gasoline costs have increased by $17K per month (which is $200K per year)

  Also, city attorney came back with the opinion that the city could lay off city union workers and that was in accordance with labor law as long as the layoffs were deemed necessary for financial reasons.

  Finally, 2 hours diagnol parking was approved for 16th & Wesley and lots and lots of block parties were approved.

  Ted

Those numbers are what were stated last night.

Overall, the meeting was surprisingly civil. Who here is shocked that the AFSCME members signed a petition stating they did not want any of their jobs eliminated.  HELLO!  Any who works at a company experiencing layoffs would express the same damn sentiment.

I've still not heard one suggestion beyond "layoff the managers" and Nona's suggestion to reduce departmental spending across the board by 10%.  As OC said last night, the largest portion of the budget is salary's and debt service.  Which really doesn't leave you much else to cut.

[Berwyn Patsy]

The approval of the drug/rehab/meth clinic at 3245 Grove, is in my opinion some thing
that should NOT have been passed.
I read the last proposal on this clinic and unless it's changed it would be a worry for me if I
still/or now did live in that area.
The hours of the clinic were very early in the morning (including Sat).  These are hours that
children walk to school, adults walk to trains. 
Parking is bad enough in front of that building, and on that block which by the way houses a Peds office.
Private Police security will be hired along with the 3 doctors, who I believe were more into
counseling and psch treatment then medical.
This business is privatley owned, not affliated with MacNeal.  This scenario in Berwyn in the DD,
is not going to be a pretty sight.
So now within 1 block of the DD, trains , beautiful old houses we now have a Drug/Meth clinic
and the rowdy nothing but trouble spot of Salernos bar.  That's really going to sell Berwyn!!

[Terri]

If I remember correctly the clinic at 3245 Grove was passed by ZBA yet the fact it was to be a methadone clinic was not brought forth by the clinic.  I was very surprised this passed, #3 and # 8 voted ney.  Patsy, my kids docs are in that building. 

The Mayor said the City has lost 20 million dollars since 2000, need I say that is huge.  Why didn't the City "plan" for reserve monies like other municipalities?  

Council voted to file its annual financial report on time, that hasn't been done in 10 years.  

Excellent reporting job, Ted.

[ZORBA]

The approval of the drug/rehab/meth clinic at 3245 Grove, is in my opinion some thing
that should NOT have been passed.
I read the last proposal on this clinic and unless it's changed it would be a worry for me if I
still/or now did live in that area.
The hours of the clinic were very early in the morning (including Sat).  These are hours that
children walk to school, adults walk to trains. 
Parking is bad enough in front of that building, and on that block which by the way houses a Peds office.
Private Police security will be hired along with the 3 doctors, who I believe were more into
counseling and psch treatment then medical.
This business is privatley owned, not affliated with MacNeal.  This scenario in Berwyn in the DD,
is not going to be a pretty sight.
So now within 1 block of the DD, trains , beautiful old houses we now have a Drug/Meth clinic
and the rowdy nothing but trouble spot of Salernos bar.  That's really going to sell Berwyn!!

Well, #'s 1-2, and #'s 4-7 voted yay, no?