Daily Archives: March 14, 2008

City Council, City of Peoria

Search firm for city manager to be replaced Tuesday

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A special meeting of the Peoria City Council has been called for Tuesday, March 18. Other than a proclamation, there is only one item of business on the agenda: choosing a new search firm to assist the city in selecting a permanent city manager.

Consideration of a MOTION to RESCIND Prior Action Authorizing the HIRING of PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION ASSOCIATES LLC and EXECUTIVE SEARCH, INC. AND Consideration of CITY MANAGER SEARCH FIRMS’ PROPOSALS from FRONTIER PARTNERS, INC. and THE MERCER GROUP, with the Possibility of Taking Action to HIRE ONE OF THESE FIRMS, and Authorize the Interim City Manager or Mayor to Execute a CONTRACT with that Firm.

Ironically, on March 3, Councilman Nichting (5th Dist.) moved to hire City Manager Search Firms, The Mercer Group, Inc., and the motion was seconded by Councilman Spears (4th Dist.), but everyone else on the council wanted to hire the other firm, so Council Member Van Auken (2nd Dist.) made a substitute motion, which was approved 7-2 (Councilman Turner was absent).

Reportedly, upon the first meeting with the search firm, a majority of the council and the search firm felt that the relationship wasn’t going to work out, and so the search firm withdrew their offer. Here’s their letter of withdrawal:

Dear Mayor Ardis:

As you know, we submitted a proposal to assist the City of Peoria in the recruitment of a new City Manager on February 21, 2008.

We were honored and pleased when the City Council selected our firm for this task on March 2, 2008.

We quickly started preparations to fulfill our commitments to the duties as outlined in our proposal.

Yesterday it was a great pleasure to meet personally with you to discuss the fundamental aspects of our recruitment process before entering into binding commitments to fulfill the tasks. Thank you for your hospitality.

During the six-hour drive back to Oshkosh last evening, Denise and I discussed the advisability of proceeding. As you know, we have no employees and the three partners perform all of our work. With the Peoria project, we were hopeful that a local associate could perform much of the on-site tasks.

However, our local associate, while experienced in the private sector is unfamiliar with municipal government. It became clear that as such we would need to commit significantly more time and travel than we had anticipated fulfilling the duties associated with the Peoria project.

Given the commitments we have already made to other Wisconsin municipalities and counties, doing the Peoria project would be a very burdensome task. We therefore respectfully request that our proposal to assist the City of Peoria for the recruitment of a City Manager be withdrawn from further consideration.

We are letting you know of this request as soon as possible to minimize the delay in your proceeding on this vital, local task in the City of Peoria. We Wish you all the best, both in recruiting a new City Manager and all future endeavors in your city.

Sincerely,
William D. Frueh
Partner, Public Administration Associates

It’s interesting that one of the reasons Van Auken stated she liked Public Administration Associates better was because “the representative from Executive Search, Inc. was local,” according to the March 3 minutes. But it turns out, according to this withdrawal letter, that their local representative/associate was “unfamiliar with municipal government.” Anyone else find it odd that someone with the firm of Public Administration Associates is only familiar with the private sector? Sounds like that came as a surprise to the council; I can see why they might have been disappointed.

A special meeting was called instead of waiting until the next regular meeting so that the council won’t lose any more time finding a new city manager.

Bradley University, City of Peoria

Don’t we employ people to ensure this doesn’t happen?

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As you’ve no doubt seen in the Journal Star, the new parking deck at Bradley University is being built a little too close to Main Street:

The parking deck’s concrete base – which already is in place – is anywhere from 2 to 9 feet closer to the city’s right-of-way property than allowed. “They [the local contractor] found the error and immediately informed us,” Second District Councilwoman Barbara Van Auken, whose district includes Bradley University, said.

My question is, shouldn’t this have been caught sooner? Say, by Peoria’s building inspections department? Aren’t they supposed to make sure that a building is being constructed in compliance with city codes and the approved site plan?

Here’s another example. Take a look at 819 E. Fairoaks (corner of Fairoaks and Illinois). This is a new house being built in an older neighborhood — in fact, it’s within the Heart of Peoria Plan area and falls under the regulations of the Land Development Code. The site plan that was submitted to and approved by the city was in compliance. But the house that’s constructed there — and almost completed — is different than the site plan, and decidedly not in compliance (The attached garage was supposed to be “set back 6′ from longest plane of street side facade,” but instead it was built 12′ in front of the facade, a difference of 18′). Once it came to the attention of the Planning & Growth Department, a stop work order was issued, and now the contractor will either have to comply with the approved site plan or seek a variance.

In both cases, the construction progressed to an advanced stage before non-compliance was discovered. And in both cases, the non-compliance was not discovered by the city, but by someone else (contractor, citizen) who reported it to the city. So my question again is, why isn’t the building inspections department catching this sooner in the construction process? According to the City of Peoria’s website:

The City of Peoria has six full time building inspectors who inspect all construction requiring a permit. These inspectors verify that the construction or alterations specified in the permit are carried out at the construction site.

So, how did they miss these two properties? And how many other properties are out of compliance that haven’t gotten caught?

City of Peoria, Peoria Public Library

Peoria Library History and Organization

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This week’s Issues Update from the City Manager’s office had this interesting review of the Peoria Public Library’s history. Fifth District Councilman Patrick Nichting had asked staff for this review at the last council meeting because “several citizens had requested information regarding the history regarding how the City Council became the authority over the Library versus other Libraries being under a Library District,” according to the council minutes. Nichting went on to say that “other Libraries under Library Districts had a mill rate and increases were voted under public referendum and voters decided increases in budgets.” Here is the report back:

The Peoria Public Library is organized and governed by the Illinois Library Act, 75 ILCS 5/1-01, et seq. As a Local Library, it is part of the City, in the sense that as the City annexes more property, that property is automatically served by the Peoria Public Library and is de-annexed from any library district it may have been a part of. As a Local Library, the Peoria Public Library is managed by a Board of Trustees, consisting of nine (9) Trustees appointed by the Mayor, with the approval of the City Council. A review of the City’s ordinances reflects that even as early as the 1940 Code Book, the ordinance establishing the Library was in place.

Under the Local Library Act, it is for the City to levy taxes for Library purposes. 75 ILCS 5/3-1 provides that in a city of 500,000 or fewer inhabitants, the corporate authorities (the City Council) shall levy a tax for library purposes of not to exceed .15% of the value of all taxable property in the City. There is also a provision in that section for an increase in that amount by referendum.

Historically, the City of Peoria, as a home rule municipality, has far exceeded the .15% limitation provided for in the statute. Currently, we are at .34%. Occasionally, there has been some discussion between the Library Board and the City over the question of whether the City has a duty to levy amounts requested by the Library Board. Section 75 ILCS 5/3-5 provides that the library taxes provided for “in this Act” shall be levied by the City Council in the amounts determined by the Board. This Section requires the City Council to levy the not-to-exceed .15% amount in an amount determined by the Library Board. The City Council is not required to levy whatever the Library Board wishes, based on the City’s home rule authority, because there has never been a referendum increasing this amount,. The City’s home rule authority is not a tax provided for “in this Act” within the meaning of Section 3-5.

A review of the history of the library levy reveals that in 1968 the library levy was .12%, which continued until 1971 when the rate became .1505%, then raised to .1708% in 1978. In 1986 the library levy went up to .2256% and in 1989 it went up to .4094%. In 2006, the amount was .3398%.

The referendum conducted last April was an advisory referendum. It could have been mandatory had the question been:

“Shall the annual library tax for maintenance and operation in the City of Peoria be increased from .15% to .50%?”

If such a referendum passed, then the City Council would have to levy any amount requested by the Library Board up to the .50% figure.

There is another type of library district which is organized under the Public Library District Act of 1991, 75 ILCS 16/1-1, et seq. In this second type of library district, the district itself levies taxes and the members of Board of Trustees are elected.

The statutes provide three separate ways for a Local Library such as ours to become a Public Library District under the Illinois Public Library District Act. The first, found in 75 ILCS 16/10-10, provides that the Board of Trustees of the Library adopt a resolution calling for the conversion and certifying the question of the conversion to the Election Commission who shall submit the question to the voters at the next regular election.

The second method of conversion, under 75 ILCS 16/10-15, which provides for the conversion upon the resolution of the Library Board and requesting the approval of the conversion of the City Council. If the City Council approves the conversion within 60 days after the resolution is adopted, the Board of Trustees shall convert the Local Library to a Public Library District. That statute goes on to provide that library in a home rule unit converted under this section shall have a maximum tax rate not to exceed the greater of 0.15% or the last rate levied by the municipality for library purposes for the most recent year before the conversion and that rate shall not be subject to any rate limitations or referendum requirements imposed by the Act. An increase, however, would require a referendum.

Finally, if the Library Board of Trustees does not initiate the change by adopting a resolution, the change can occur through a petition signed by 10% of those voting in the previous election and a referendum.

City of Peoria

Race Relations Commission created

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From a press release:

At the Mayor’s State of the City Address this year, he announced the formation of the Peoria Race Relations Commission to focus on race issues in the community, and positive means to deal with them. Dr. Amir Al-Khafaji, [Chair of Civil Engineering and Construction] at Bradley University, has agreed to serve as the commission chairperson.

Persons interested in participating on this Commission are asked to send a brief resume and their reason for serving to the City Communications Director, Alma Brown at abrown@ci.peoria.il.us or City Of Peoria, 419 Fulton Street, Suite 207, Peoria, Illinois, 61602, no later than Wednesday, March 19.

Dr. Al-Khafaji intends to have the commission named by March 21. Meetings will be open to the public with community input welcome.