Evanston Mayor Steve Hagerty Calls Emergency Meeting To Block Minimum Wage Increase

EVANSTON, IL — Evanston may become one of the last Cook County municipalities to see its local elected officials vote to exempt employers from ordinances requiring them to provide higher minimum wages and earned sick leave to their workers.

With just hours to go before the new law takes effect, Mayor Steve Hagerty called for an emergency meeting of the City Council to take place Friday at 10 a.m. The meeting will consider an ordinance to address the changes to wage and sick leave rules scheduled to take effect with the start of the new fiscal year on Saturday, July 1, according to the City of Evanston.

The Cook County ordinance was sponsored by a county commissioner from Evanston, Larry Suffredin. It would raise the minimum wage to $10 immediately, then annually to $13 in 2020, after which it would be tied directly to inflation. Another ordinance taking effect simultaneously would require certain businesses to offer paid sick leave to some of their workers. Public sector workers have been exempted from the ordinances. (Sign up for our free daily newsletters and breaking news alerts for the Evanston Patch or another local community.)

On Wednesday, City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz told a committee the ordinance to be presented to alderman to block the wage hike and sick leave mandate would automatically expire, Evanston Now reported. It was intended to allow the City Council time for more extensive debate on the matters at its next regular meeting, scheduled for July 10. There were signs from the Economic Development Committee meeting that some Evanston City Council members will support blocking the wage increase after the Independence Day holiday.

Alderman Don Wilson, 4th Ward, said he has not yet made up his mind but cited a recent University of Washington study showing a negative economic impact to a minimum wage hike to $13 in Seattle.

"What I don't want to do is find ourselves in a situation where we've done something that's a pay yourself on the back, feel-good thing that's actually not going to make any difference," Wilson said. "If it actually makes it worse for them and lowers wages and causes people to implement more automation and you have fewer people employed and making less money, then that's just ridiculous."

"It's putting the feel-good over the practical reality," Wilson told Patch. "You're hurting the people that you're trying to help. I think it requires a more thoughtful approach."

Why is Evanston waiting until the last minute?

According to a memo from Bobkiewicz and acting City Attorney Michelle Masoncup, none of the villages bordering Evanston had opted out of the legislation prior to Monday. But this week's vote by the Wilmette Village Board to keep minimum wage at the state minimum of $8.25 and a potential vote in Skokie to opt out next week seem to have spooked Evanston officials and business leaders, who have only sought to pass a minimum wage opt out ordinance at the final opportunity.

According to City Manager Wally Bobkiewicz, the ordinance was drawn up Thursday morning by the Evanston Law Department based on a draft ordinance that has been prepared by the Village of Oak Park. Discussion of the issue began Wednesday morning, he said, and city officials decided to put forward an ordinance to extend the time to consider the the matter. As a result, the Evanston ordinance (posted below) will only block the County rules from taking effect until July 11 to allow the City Council time for a longer debate on the issues.

In his emergency declaration, Hagerty said actions of neighboring communities this week "may now endanger the businesses of Evanston by providing unequal working conditions in villages that directly compete with Evanston businesses." It said he "supports the concepts" of the ordinance and that the council has not yet had any discussion of the issue, but allowing the ordinances to take effect Saturday would be dangerous.

"I believe the potential economic impact of these inequalities presents a fiscal danger to Evanston's businesses and the City of Evanston's future tax revenues," it said.

Hagerty did not respond to a phone call and emailed message seeking comment.

Some members of the Evanston City Council sought to stop the meeting. Ald. Judy Fiske and Ald. Ann Rainey sent an email to the mayor and city manager requesting the meeting be canceled "so that we retain our position of opting in to Cook county's minimum wage ordinance."

Skokie Mayor George Van Dusen has not responded to repeated questions on the matter. Skokie's director of marketing and communications, Ann Tennes, declined indefinitely a request for an interview on behalf of the village manager.

Top photo: Steve Hagerty | via City of Evanston