Aldermen Approve 2nd Round Of Robert Crown Center Funding

EVANSTON, IL — Aldermen Monday voted to raise the city's self-imposed debt limit to $160 million and issue $30 million in bonds, including the second and final set of general obligation bonds for the new Robert Crown Community Center.

The Robert Crown Center, Ice Complex and Library Center replaces the city's 1974-built recreation center. The new building is scheduled to be finished by the end of this year. Demolition of the existing structure and construction of surrounding artificial turf athletic fields will follow.

The final vote of the Evanston City Council was 7-2 in favor of the bond issue, with 5th Ward Ald. Robin Rue Simmons and 6th Ward Ald. Tom Suffredin the lone votes against it. Rue Simmons had moved for a delay on the final vote ahead of the scheduled May 16 bond sale to re-evaluate the city's options.

The anticipated cost of the project has grown with time, from a target budget of $30 million in response to a 2016 request for proposals to a $53.3 million estimate in June 2018 as construction approached. The city has issued $40 million in bonds for Robert Crown over the past two years out of a total of $50 million authorized by the Council. A nonprofit effort called Friends of Robert Crown, supported by a city-sponsored fundraising consultant, will donate $5 million toward construction costs by June and another $1 million by next March l, according to a staff memo.

Annual debt service payments will start in December at $1.3 million before rising to between about $2.5 million and $2.7 million every year from 2022 to 2043, according to the city's projections as of April 19. Those debt service payments do not include money borrowed by the Library Fund for a new Robert Crown Center branch or the Sewer Fund for sewer infrastructure work at the Crown Center site. The Friends of Robert Crown are expected to pick up a total of $9 million of the $67.75 million cost of the project, including interest. The city expends to pay more than $26 million in interest to borrow a total of $37.67 million in principal.

"There is somewhere in between a deteriorating building and $55 million. It's insulting to be told we have to do it this way or it's going to be a lawsuit," Rue Simmons said, citing concerns of families who are being forced to move away from Evanston by the rising cost of living and a lack of clarity about how the city plans to pay for the cost of the Crown center without another property tax hike. "The residents have questions about transparency with the agreements between the donors and what we're committing to there, I'm just asking that we take another week to look into what our options are."

After Rue Simmons made a motion to hold off on the vote, Ald. Cicely Fleming appeared to be about to second it, but Ald. Don Wilson called for a vote. The tally on that initial vote was 5-4. The Council had moved onto the next item before Clerk Devon Reid pointed out the vote had been done improperly. Such a vote required a two-thirds majority, according to the rules of the Council, Reid said.

"That is correct," said City Attorney Michelle Masoncup. "I apologize. ... You should go back to that item." Aldermen then spent about 45 minutes discussing Rue Simmons request. Fleming would later encourage the city manager to ensure the city's legal staff are following the Council's rules at meetings.

Wilson implored his fellow aldermen to support the bond issue, saying it would be risky to delay and jeopardizing the bond rating could have wide-ranging impact beyond the community center.

"It doesn't make sense to me. This is not the tax problem. This is not the pension deficit. This is not the cause of that. We are under-serving a large number of people in our community and finally after a long period of time we're going to get with that," Wilson said. "We are running the risk of having to give back some or all of the money that's been raised. So imagine how awesome that would be — we've got a half-built building and we've returned the money that was raised by the fundraising effort."

City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz pointed out a such a delay would risk increasing the interest costs of the bonds by adding to uncertainty just as the city began marketing their sale.

"We would have to stop. We would have to take the bonds out of the market as they were planned to be sold. We would have to explain to the rating agencies that were about to rate the bonds what has occurred, and we would have to reset another date. And so I don't know when that date will be. In the meantime, we have a project that is continuing that the city will not have the ability to pay for. And so we will have to make the decision, while there is this question, it will likely cause concern in the bond markets, which will mean that we'll still be rated but the rating will be in jeopardy — it'll cost us more to sell the bonds," Bobkiewicz said, telling aldermen the city would probably need to stop construction work on the project as well. "I don't know. I've never been down this road before, but we will have a $54 million project which we will not have the ability to pay for."

Ald. Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward, said the City Council had looked at every possible way to finance the project before realizing the city would have to pay for it themselves.

"Tonight is the night when we decide to build something that really is going to benefit our community for the rest of our lifetimes. And it will," Wynne said. "In all the ways, this is a true community center — that's what we've got the opportunity to go forward with now. We can't stop the construction right now, we'll end up with a shell. That's the last thing this community needs. This is our opportunity. This is going to improve the lives of so many Evanstonians no matter where you live."

Before the final vote, 6th Ward Ald. Tom Suffredin explained what just transpired.

"Ald. Rue Simmons wanted to vote on holding this a week. We could have had the vote. It was seconded by Ald. Fleming. Ald. Wilson jumped in, and then we decided that we weren't going to listen to what Ald. Rue Simmons wanted to talk about rather than vote on it," Suffredin said. "It would have lost. We would have had the same vote, the 6-3 vote, we would have been out of here, we'd be in executive session for the last 45 minutes. Instead, she gets condescended to — 'Look at the website, Robin, that's where your answers are.' She doesn't get heard out. That's the problem."

Rue Simmons explained she never wanted to stop the project. But she said she did want city officials to respond to concerns and inquiries from residents.

"The problem here that I have is the same one that the residents have: being dismissed, decisions being made by the most privileged in our community and not having a voice that is heard," Rue Simmons said. "I, right here on City Council, have been dismissed by my own colleagues. Sometimes it's like I'm speaking a different language because it's not what you want to hear."

Rue Simmons said the Council could avoid getting to the point where aldermen had to deal with residents bringing political signs to meetings and risk the city's credit rating if city officials would respect members of the community as much as pay lip-service to values of equity and inclusivity.

"All I'm asking is that we don't continue to treat our residents like this, and I'm demanding that you don't continue to treat me like this, because I work just as hard as everyone else on the City Council, I serve the residents that have the most need, and I should be heard. Our residents should be heard and that's all that I'm requesting," she said.

More about the Robert Crown Center project via City of Evanston »

Related:

• City Council Approves Memorandum of Understanding with Friends of Robert Crown
• Evanston Raises Debt Limit By $37 Million To Fund Robert Crown
• Robert Crown Project Moves Forward
• Firm Selected for Architecture of New Robert Crown Center