City Council Approves 2018 Budget, Library Tax Levy, FOIA Policy

EVANSTON, IL – Aldermen approved a final budget for fiscal year 2018 at the Monday meeting of the Evanston City Council, as well as next year's property tax levy for the Evanston Public Library's operational budget and a new FOIA policy.

In order to close what had been projected to be a budget hole more than $6 million, the city's overall $335 million budget includes baseline cuts of 4 percent, a reduction of $4.3 million in spending from the general fund and a variety of new taxes and fees.

"I think it's a good budget for 2018," Mayor Steve Hagerty said, thanking all who contributed to its formation. The city's portion of the property tax levy will go up 1.45 percent.

Library Levy

The council voted 6-2 to approve a 5.1 percent increase to the library's tax levy. After aldermen were hesitant to approve an 8.6 percent increase at the last council meeting, the library board decided to reduce the request to $6.76 million. The $278,000 reduction in the request for operating included the cut of a mobile library van and the elimination of a hospital library book lending machine due to be placed at St. Francis Hospital. Most of the increases were due to labor negotiations with AFSCME, Karen Danczak Lyons told the council. She said she recommended keeping the recently hired equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) consultant in the budget.

"We need to maintain this library service that we have. We need to be smarter and strategic about what we're doing, and we will report back to you on the results of our work with the EDI audit to show you what we're doing, how we're doing it and how we hope to move the needle," Danczak Lyons said.

Ald. Ann Rainey said she was "thrilled" to see that the library had reduced its budget request, but she was not satisfied with what was cut.

"I was just so disheartened when I saw that you did this," Rainey told the library director, "That you have library board members that allowed for this cut when it was really an effort to reach out, I just am so surprised that this happened."

Rainey said the Rev. Dr. Patricia Efiom, the city's full-time equity and empowerment coordinator, should be able to help out and the library should not be spending more on consultants.

"On the one hand, you're going to have an equity consultant, and on the other hand you're going to thumb your nose at going into the neighborhoods with the mobile van that everybody was very excited about," she said.

The mayor-appointed library board has increased spending 62 percent over the past six years, according to an analysis by Evanston Now.

FOIA Policy

The council also voted to changes on proposed revisions to the city's policy of handling requests under the Freedom of Information Act. Both the office of the city clerk and the city's law department submitted divergent FOIA policy proposals, with the main difference relating to publishing information online.

Clerk Devon Reid proposed posting all records and requests online 72 hours after the city fulfills them, except those involving police reports, while the law department said the city's online NextRequest public records portal must be used "in a way so that records responses and responsive documents released can only be viewed by the requester."

The law department's version of the policy was adopted, with one modification, as Ald. Don Wilson, 4th Ward, asked to remove a clause allowing for financial disclosure filings for members of the city's boards and commissions to be made public.

The city adopted the online public records system last year, and under the previous city clerk and the first months after Reid took office, all requests and many responses were posted publicly.

"I do not like the option that was in here of things automatically going public," Ald. Cicely Fleming, 9th Ward, said. "I don't want to put the responsibility on the person to remember to opt-out, I also think the people maybe want to look at the documents before they decide."

The council voted 8-0 to adopt the law department's version of the policy. Ald. Judy Fiske, 1st Ward, introduced a motion to designate the law department as a fellow FOIA officer alongside the elected clerk, but it did not receive a second and was not adopted.

"I think in this age of lack of trust of government, I think it's better to put what we can online," Fleming said.

The change in policy reflects the position of Mayor Steve Hagerty, who has repeatedly expressed his concern that constituents who contact him in his official capacity may have their privacy compromised if his emails were posted publicly.

"It's OK, you can FOIA us, but the question is should that be available and put out publicly to the whole world," Hagerty said. He said he supported allowing the public to see requests that have been received by the city but not the responses to them. However, the city currently does neither and the policy aldermen chose to adopt includes no mention of it.

No requests or records have been publicly visible online since the council voted in September to remove the responses to more than 1000 public records requests following concerns over privacy issues. FOIA requests have only been visible to the person who sent them.

Other Notable Business

The council voted to approve mayoral appointments to the equity and empowerment commission, with Fiske and Fleming voting against it. Aldermen were unanimous, though, in approving Hagerty's picks for a committee to examine the city's inclusionary housing ordinance.

A special use permit for a special education school at 1233-1235 Hartrey Ave. was approved 7-1, with Rainey ("They're intruding on our zoning, and you all supporting it is more than I can hardly tolerate.") the only member of the council opposed.

And after a lengthy debate over whether the reduction to the city clerk's budget was fair, aldermen were divided 4-4 (Ald. Melissa Wynne, 3rd Ward was absent) on whether to provide his office with an extra $8,000 for software and other expenses. Reid had asked for a larger budget increase to allow him to restore two deputy clerks to the office. Hagerty cast the tie breaking vote in favor of more money for the office.

"Clerk Reid has some plans and ideas in terms of citizen engagement," Hagerty said. "I was supportive of it. I think it's a fine $8,000 adjustment in his office."

_{Top photo: Evanston City Council, Dec. 11, 2017 | Via City of Evanston}