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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/11/1997 COW minutes MINUTES cOMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MARCH 11, 1997 I. CALL TO ORDER Mayor Farley called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m. Present at the meeting Were: Trustees George Clowes, Timothy Corcoran, Paul Hoefert and Arlene Juracek. Trustee Irvana Wilks arrived at 9:22 p.m. Absent from the meeting was Trustee Richard Hendricks. Staff present included Village Manager Michael Janonis, Assistant Village Manager David Strahl, Police Chief Ronald Pavlock and Problem Solving Officer ~Tony Halachoulis. Also present ..was Cheryl Pasalic of River Oaks .Consulting Group. II. MINUTES Approval of Minutes of February 25, 1997. Motion made by Trustee Corcoran and Seconded by Trustee Clowes to approve the Minutes. Minutes were approved. '111. CITIZENS TO BE HEARD Bob Scotese, 911 South Albert, spoke. He asked whether the Village Board should use the Franchise Fees for another purpose. He questioned whether there was a real need to bring in a consultant to perform negotiation duties with TCl when the Wllage Board recently approved the elimination of the position which would I~andle many of the tasks now being considered to be transferred to a consultant. Mayor Farley responded to the comments by stating that the Village Board has used the Franchise Fees to fund a studio and provide television coverage of public meehngs in order to Communicate with residents. Manager Janonis also stated that the Village Board has prioritized needs for on- street and service personnel and tried to maintain administrative personnel within parameters defined by the Village Board. He stated the Village has not added administrative bodies but have filled vacant slots and reconfigured part-time positions to accommodate needs of the Vdlage. He stated the Assistant Village Manager .would be 'the lead negotiator With assistance from the consultant . regardless of whether a consultant was available or not. Fred Kruf, 900 South William, spoke He stated he had a concern regarding flooding in his area and had some questions as to what Public Works did or did not do relating to Weller Creek He stated that during the most recent rain event, water came up very quickly in Weller Creek and went down just as quickly. Village Manager Janonis stated the rain event was caused by run-off and the water went d~rectly ~nto the sewer and creeks because of the frozen ground He stated the water feeds ~nto the MWRD system and the most recent ~nformation the Village has relating to the MWRD system stated that the system became surcharged very quickly w~th all the run-off and then once the locks were opened releasing the water into the Lake, the system capacity increased immediately. He stated that the new CUP site ~s designed to assist w~th 50-year storm events but is not yet operational. IV, TCI FRANCHISE RENEWAL DISCUSSIONS-CONSULTING SERVICES Village Manager Janonis stated that the Board has been talking with staff and staff has been preparing for negotiations with TCI for the last 12-18 months. Cu~'rently, the Village is under its second six-month Franchise extension and under Federal regulations, the Village must to through the negotiation process. Undoubtedly, the goal of negotiations is to create a favorable situation to encourage competition. The negotiation process had been designed to require assistance from a consultant even before Cheryl Pasallc left the Village's employ. He stated that the proposal from River Oaks Communications is somewhat unique because the main contact person is a former employee Which should strengthen the negotiation process greatly due to familiarity with the Village and TCI's performance. The goal is to complete negotiations before August 1 because that is the date the current Franchise Agreement is set to expire on. The costs quoted within the proposal are '-'") related to an informal renewal process. A formal renewal process would require Public Hearings and ~t is much more corhplicated; therefore, the cost of such a process would be increased. He stated that this proposal from a former employee does not pose any conflict of ~nterest problems defined by any Ordinance. He stated the estimate of 100-200 hours of work appears reasonable based on the complexities of negotiations. General comments from the Village Board members included the following items' Board members asked whether the original consultant who negotiated t~e first TCI Agreement or first Cable Agreement within the community had been contacted. Other members of the Board felt that it was ~mportant to get an RFP in order to compare costs associated w~th this task to ensure competitive pr!ces Village Manager Janonis stated that he did not solicit RFPs due to the unique ' knowledge th~s consultant could bring to the table and based on his estimate of priorities from the Board to get the process moving forward. Cheryl Pasalic, River Oaks Communications Corporation, Manager for Government Affairs, Spoke. She stated that River Oaks is a nation-wide firm with over ten years~of experience in Franchise renewal negotiations. She stated that most proposals typically include many up-front costs, however, this proposal does not include such costs due to the famiharity aspect. She stated that there is no need to review the performance information as other consultants would have to do and most of the hours quoted could be focused on the negotiation process itself. General comments by the Village Board members included the following items: A question whether there was a realistic possibility of moving away from TCI as the cable service provider was discussed. There was also discussion regarding the Combining of satelhte With local programming as an 'alternative source for Cable information. A question also arose concerning the feasibility of Mount Prospect taking over the TCI network and owning or purchasing the infrastructure currently residing in the right-of-way. Some Board members felt that the V~llage should minimize the amount of expenditures because the likelihood of getting much response from TCI is probably minimal. Other Trustees suggested a short-term Franchise term so that the Village could take advantage of any changes in technology which may occur in the near future. Cheryl Pasalic responded to a number of questions from the Board members. She stated that the current Franchise Agreement the V~llage has is not conducive to competition because the costs involved with competing head to head with the current proYider. She also stated that it is unlikely the Village would sustain a Franchise denial without extended Court proceedings. Cheryl also stated that there are some technical issues relating to combining local programming with satellite dish feed. She stated that Ameritech has expressed interest in coming into a number of towns in the area, however, in order for a competing service provider to take advantage of the customer dissatisfaction with TCI, the system would have to be operational and that is unhkely to take place within the next three to five years. She stated that it would be extremely expensive for the Village to take over the TCI network within the community..She stated that the Village 'has' some options to force some changes and create a favorable situation for competition through this Franchise renewal process. V!llage Manager Janonis stated that he apparently misread ihe Board's desire to get this process moving quickly by bringing in a single quote without comparative costs. Consensus of the Village Board was to contact the previous consultant who drafted the original Agreement fifteen years ago and to solicit competitive bids from other negotiation providers. 3 Trustee Clowes stated the Vdlage Board needs {o define what it wants as a course of action as part of the Franchise renewal process V. DEPLOYMENT OF THE SPEED MONITORING AWARENESS RADAR TRAILER (SMART) FOR SELECTIVE TRAFFIC ENFORCEMENT DETAIL Police Officer Tony Halachoulis provided a general overview of the speed trailer and its capabilities He stated that the trailer would be located in various neighborhoods throughout the community and the Police Department.would solicit cooperation from area residents to monitor vehicles who are identified as speed~ng by the trailer. He stated the focus is to slow people down without having to issue bckets but will issue tickets if necessary. ,General comments by the Village Board members included the following items: A suggestion was made to utilize the trailer on busy roads with a squad car present to reinforce the speed limit. Also, it was felt that the trailer would be helpful in comparing actual speed with the perceived speed. This was an informational item only and it was not necessary for a consensus of the Village Board. VI. SUGGESTED CREATION OF A YOUTH COMMISSION Mayor Farley stated that the suggestion to set up a Youth Commission came through TAP Mount Prospect.. He stated that he has some reservations about the adult assistance and would suggest that adults assume a leadership role of the Commission if ~t remains inactive for a period of time In order to keep the program operating. Trustee CIowes stated that he has reviewed similar Ordinances from other comparable towns that are used to get young people involved in such Youth Commissions. He also stated that he had the schools and students review the proposal before coming to the Village Board and the function of the group is only as an advisory group to the Vdlage Board on ~ssues relating to youth w~thin the community. Feedback from the schools was extremely posibve an8 numerous students have expressed an ~nterest ~n becoming a member of the 11-person group. Participants would be recommended by schools or churches and their term would be approximately one year He stated that the adult part~cipabon would be primarily as ex-officio w~th no vobng power. He then showed a v~deo of a Commission d~scussion ~n another town as an overview of how the Commission m~ght operate within Mount Prospect 4 He stated he is not supportive of the Mayor's suggestion requiring adults to take over the group if no meeting took place for a period of three months as suggested. He stated he is confident that there are effective leaders among the Village's youth population to maintain such a Commission without adult intervention as suggested by the Mayor. General comments of the Village Board included the following items: It was felt that this Commission should be able to operate and act as any other Commission recognized by the Village Board for advisory purposes. Meetings should be public. It was suggested that the burden be placed on the participants to keep the Commission going which would give the group every opportunity to succeed without intervention. Some members of the Board were concerned that adults would dominate the group. There was also discussion as to what the staff support might be to the Commission as to the Budget for the Commission. Trustee Clowes responded to a number of the questions. He stated that he would assume the Commission would follow the TAP model and start without any funds but may need some start-up or seed money. The Commission would operate closely with TAP Mount Prospect. He also stated the Youth Commission would take over some of the TAP duties and admitted he is not sure what could happen to TAP once the Commission is in place. He stated there would undoubtedly be a review of TAP services for consideration of transferring it to the Commission. Consensus of the Village Board was to support the Ordinance as drafted and move it to the Village Board for consideration at its March 18 meeting and the Ordinance should remain virtually in the current form as presented for review this evening. VII, MANAGER'S REPORT None. VIII. ANY OTHER BUSINESS Trustee Corcoran stated that he received a Call from a resident about frequent power outages. Trustee Juracek stated that if the customer has a problem, they should call ComEd and ComEd is set up to respond to many of the questions posed by customers who experience frequent outages. ('"t Trustee Clowes stated that he has found that some towns are using tapes of Board '----,-~ meetings from neighboring communities as a tool to steer economic development away from the town which may have a contentious meeting recorded on video tape. 5 Trustee Hoefert stated thatla question arose out of the recent Candidates' Night. He stated that Prospect Heights has under consideration an Arena near the northern border of Mount Prospect and he has requested that staff, along with elected officials, ensure that a Public Hearing is held for discussion of the possible impact on the V!llage Manager Janonis stated that he has already met with Prospect Heights' representatives and advised them of numerous concerns about the Arena already, but will continue to follow up. IX. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:58 p.m. Respectfully submitted, DAVID STRAHL Assistant Wllage Manager DS/rcc 6