Category Archives: City Council

City Council, City of Peoria, Redistricting

City redistricting process gets started

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The five council districts in the City of Peoria are going to change. After each decennial census, cities are required by law to redraw their district boundaries so that each district has an approximately equal number of residents. The process for redrawing those boundaries got started Thursday night in City Council chambers.

The City’s redistricting committee is made up of the five district council members: Clyde Gulley, Barbara Van Auken, Tim Riggenbach, Bill Spears, and Dan Irving, with Spears acting as chairman since he’s the longest serving of the five. Their first meeting lasted about an hour and consisted primarily of establishing the criteria for redrawing the district map. Some of the criteria are required by law (each district must have nearly equal population and be compact and contiguous), and other criteria were added by committee members (don’t split neighborhoods between multiple districts, use major thoroughfares as boundaries as much as possible).

Keeping these criteria in mind, the committee asked the staff to come back with some proposed maps for the next meeting. They’d like to see several different possible configurations: one that has all districts running east to west (layered), one that has all districts running north to south (columnar), one that has districts one through four laid out as quadrants with the fifth district across the top of it, and one that preserves the current districts as much as possible (West Bluff in second district, East Bluff in third district, valley in first district, etc.).

Senior urban planner Josh Naven is in charge of creating these map proposals. Unlike the old days when these maps had to be created by hand, Naven will have the use of ESRI Districting software. The software comes preloaded with political maps and all the 2010 Census data down to the block level, and has some interoperability with the County’s GIS system. When Naven draws a district boundary, the software will tell him the total population count, minority population, voting age, etc., within that boundary. He can use this information to ensure the new boundaries meet federal and state requirements as he draws the maps to the committee’s specifications.

All redistricting info is being posted to the City’s website at http://www.ci.peoria.il.us/redistricting. This is where the proposed maps will be posted within the week before the committee’s next meeting, which will be Tuesday, June 21, at 5:30 in City Council chambers.

While the committee doesn’t legally have to complete its work until nearly the end of 2012, the City’s Election Commission would like to see the new maps adopted by Labor Day of this year, if possible. Executive Director Tom Bride said the Commission has to redraw all the precincts in the City and send out new voter registration cards, and the council district boundaries impact this process. Precincts cannot be split across district boundary lines, and voting districts are printed on the voter registration cards. The Election Commission’s deadline for completing these tasks is earlier than the City’s deadline for establishing new district boundaries. Establishing the new district boundaries early will keep the Election Commission from having to redo its work later next year.

City Council, City of Peoria, Streets

Can’t maintain the roads we have. Let’s build more!

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On the City Council agenda Tuesday night is a request to spend another $87,369 toward the Pioneer Parkway Extension project.

The extension of Pioneer Parkway is a planned, new, major arterial roadway that will support projected development of the area identified for coordinated, beneficial growth management by the City of Peoria, Peoria County, and the Greater Peoria Sanitary District. The proposed roadway extension will begin at the intersection of Allen Road and Pioneer Parkway and continue west to intersect Trigger Road.

The project has been in the planning stages since 2001, and over $2 million has already been spent ($1 million of that came from a federal grant secured by Ray LaHood). The $87,369 is to cover more “bridge, intersection and environmental engineering studies” to complete the Design Report.

While we continue to pursue building a “new, major arterial roadway,” our existing roads continue to deteriorate as they are starved for maintenance funds. According to the City’s website, Peoria has 450 miles of City streets, and “the majority of these streets have a chip sealed surface.” They go on to say Peoria has “approximately 63 miles of asphalt surface, 36 miles of concrete pavement, and 5 miles of brick streets.”

If you do the math on those numbers, that comes out to 346 miles of roads that have a “chip sealed,” also known as “sealcoat,” surface. Yet the City has not done any sealcoating of residential streets or any overlay of arterial streets since 2009. Any road work you’ve seen here lately is for state routes or interstate highways which are not maintained by the City. The reason we haven’t been doing sealcoating or overlays? Budget. The 2010 budget has a big “0” for this maintenance. The 2011 budget has $750,000 in it for “arterial streets overlay,” but still no sealcoating of residential streets. I honestly think they need to start utilizing project management tools.

Keep in mind that sealcoating itself is a cost-saving measure, since it’s cheaper than doing an asphalt overlay of all residential streets and is considered “preventative maintenance.” The Federal Highway Administration finds that $1 of preventative maintenance when roads are in good to fair condition “will cost $4.00 to $5.00 or more for rehabilitation … to get the same pavement condition from [preventative maintenance]” when roads are in poor to failing condition.

In 2007, the City sealcoated 65 miles of streets. In 2008, they sealcoated 66 miles. And in 2009, 59 miles. That’s an average for 63 miles a year. That means Peoria is about 63 miles behind on their sealcoat plan after skipping 2010. And after putting off preventative maintenance this year, too, the City will be 126 miles behind. How much money will we really have saved once we have to rehabilitate poor and failing roads as a result of this neglect?

But, you may object, we simply don’t have the money to budget for it. As necessary as sealcoating is for preventative maintenance, if we can’t afford it, we just can’t do it.

And that brings us back to the Pioneer Parkway extension. If our budget is so tight that we have to neglect necessary maintenance of our existing streets, what is the warrant for spending any money on planning or building a new arterial road? How many streets would $87,369 sealcoat? If we have that money in the budget, we should put it toward maintaining streets, not building new ones.

An extended Pioneer Parkway would be nice. It might cut five minutes off a drive from Allen Road to Route 91. But it’s a want, not a need. It’s been estimated that this new road will cost $50 million to complete. Is your driving convenience worth $10 million a minute? Is it worth keeping the rest of the City’s streets (maybe even yours) in a perpetual state of disrepair?

When funds are tight, the Council needs to make “tough decisions,” as councilman Eric Turner reminded us frequently during the campaign. I hope he and the other council members make the “tough decision” to vote “no” on the Pioneer Parkway extension, and put that money instead toward maintaining our existing streets.

City Council, City of Peoria

Council to meet Saturday for strategic planning (UPDATED)

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There’s a special meeting of the Peoria City Council on Saturday, May 7. The “leadership and strategic planning” session will be facilitated by consultant Lyle Sumek, who has been meeting with individual council members during the weeks leading up to the planning session. Here’s the time, location, and agenda for the meeting:

SPECIAL MEETING
PEORIA CIVIC CENTER, 201 S.W. JEFFERSON, ROOM 135
10:00 A.M. TO 3:00 P.M.

ROLL CALL
INVOCATION AND PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
PETITIONS, REMONSTRANCES & COMMUNICATIONS

ITEM NO. 1 New Realities for Cities: Leadership During Turbulent Times
A. National Trends and Their Impacts on the City of Peoria
B. Realities for Peoria, Illinois

ITEM NO. 2 Strategic Planning for the City of Peoria
A. Document
B. Process

ITEM NO. 3 City of Peoria’s Successes for 2010 – 2011
A. City Achievements and the Values for Residents
B. Actions by the City to Reduce Costs/Respond to Service Demands and Requirements
C. Departmental Successes

ITEM NO. 4 Looking to Peoria’s Future
A. Mayor and City Council View: Success in 2016, Major Challenges, and Action 2011
B. Departmental Perspective

ITEM NO. 5 City of Peoria’s Mission

ITEM NO. 6 City of Peoria’s Core Beliefs

EXECUTIVE SESSION

CITIZEN’S OPPORTUNITY TO ADDRESS THE CITY COUNCIL/TOWN BOARD

ADJOURNMENT

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UPDATE: All the council members were in attendance except Barbara Van Auken (who reportedly “didn’t feel well”), Gary Sandberg (who had a previous engagement), and for the most part Chuck Weaver (who also had a previous engagement, but was able to attend the last 45 minutes or so of the meeting). John Sharp of the Journal Star has some initial reports posted on his blog here and here.

If you’re interested in seeing the strategic plan from the last time Lyle Sumek and the Council did some strategic planning (about eight years ago), it’s still available on the City’s website here.

City Council, City of Peoria, East Bluff

EBNHS not in good standing with state, but it’s not a big deal

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The East Bluff Neighborhood Housing Service’s (EBNHS) status as an Illinois corporation is “not good standing,” according to the Illinois Secretary of State’s website. That means the not-for-profit corporation is past due in filing their annual report and paying the related filing fee. The report was due March 1.

EBNHS Board member Tom Stone said he believes there has been a delay in filing the necessary paperwork due to the organization’s annual audit being conducted, but referred me to the group’s Executive Director, Peggy Shadid, for an official comment. Shadid said the accountant has finished preparing the annual report and she (Shadid) will be sending it in to the state.

What’s interesting is that the state doesn’t appear to require an annual financial report, but rather this form, available from the Secretary of State’s website, which simply asks for the names and addresses of the corporation’s officers and directors, and can even be filed online. The filing fee is $10. The EBNHS has been incorporated since 1986 and, presumably, required to file these annual reports for up to 25 years.

City Attorney Randy Ray said that the EBNHS’s failure to file their annual report with the state in a timely manner was “not a big deal,” but did add that they should remedy the situation as soon as possible. Both he and the Secretary of State’s office said that, once the report is filed, the organization’s status will be restored to “good standing” once again.

Missing this deadline might be a small matter except for the fact that this organization has a history of poor record-keeping and lack of transparency, which resulted in quite a bit of controversy when its revenue source came up for renewal a year ago. Since then, the group has been trying to improve its image and regain the trust of its East Bluff neighbors.

The EBNHS gets its funding from an extra tax that is levied on properties within the EBNHS Special Service District area. The annual levy amounts to roughly $67,000. Starting in 2010, the City Council decided to vote on collection and distribution of that tax revenue on a year-by-year basis, “to assure all required reporting was complete,” Councilman Tim Riggenbach explained at a March 23, 2010 council meeting. Riggenbach did not immediately return a call for comment.

City Council, City of Peoria

Weaver picks up Montelongo’s mantle

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One Thursday morning a month, councilmen Eric Turner and Jim Montelongo would hold a breakfast chat at City Hall where all citizens can come and talk about their concerns. It appears newly-elected councilman Chuck Weaver is going to continue that practice. A city press release states that Weaver and Turner will be in City Hall Room 112 this morning, May 5, starting at 7:30 a.m. All citizens are invited and encouraged to attend.

City Council, City of Peoria

No live blogging tonight

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I’ll be at the council meeting tonight, but will not be live blogging the event. My wife and I were invited to attend tonight’s swearing-in ceremony as guests of newly-elected council member Beth Akeson, so I’ll blog about the event afterwards. If you want live coverage, I recommend WCBU (89.9 FM), Comcast Cable channel 22, or the Peoria Journal Star (pjstar.com) which will be live-streaming the event this evening.

Of course, the big news tonight will be the return of George Jacob to the horseshoe for the first time since his motorcycle accident. This is also his last meeting as a councilman, as his term expires this evening. Godspeed, Councilman Jacob.

City Council, City of Peoria

Deadlines? What deadlines?

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From today’s Word on the Street column in the Journal Star:

The mayor, meanwhile, said the hotel project – which has yet to begin – could be finalized by the Fourth of July. He said Marriott representatives were in Peoria a couple of weeks ago. He said progress is being made toward demolition work on the existing parking deck and the businesses attached to Big Al’s later this summer.

The City Council has to vote on changes to the redevelopment agreement, which are likely to take place in July.

That quote, of course, is about the downtown hotel project that City Attorney Randy Ray dubbed a “wonderful development” during the time the city was suppressing public information about it. It was rushed through the council in December 2008 with only one business day of public disclosure. The information was released on a Friday afternoon, and the council voted for it the following Monday evening. The timing was so crucial, they couldn’t wait a couple of weeks, or one week, or even a few days extra. It had to be passed that night — December 15, 2008 — or else the whole project would have fallen apart.

Interim City Manager Henry Holling (during his first interim appointment) explained, according to the council minutes, “although the proposed development would not be completed until 2012, the timing of the project was critical because convention and meeting planners were making decisions for events three to four years from now.” Councilman Spain said, “time was of the essence.” Mayor Ardis said, “as soon as the Agreement was signed, the hotel could begin booking events
as many events were booked two to three years in advance.” It was all so … urgent.

And now it’s Monday, May 2, 2011, and nothing — zero, zip, nada — has happened to the site. The original deadlines were never met, so the developer, Gary Matthews, returned to the city council on May 25, 2010 — nearly a year ago — to get those deadlines extended and make some major changes to the design and scope of the project. The council obliged.

One of those new deadlines, from section 3.1 of the agreement: “The Redeveloper shall commence construction of the Project not later than one (1) year from the date of the execution of this Agreement….”

That means construction is supposed to commence before the end of this month. But now Word on the Street tells us the Mayor says the project won’t be finalized until July. And Matthews will be coming back to the council for more changes to the redevelopment agreement.

That’s right. The Mayor has essentially announced that the second agreement’s deadlines will also not be met. Instead, a third redevelopment agreement will have to be drawn up and approved this July, more than two and a half years after that time-critical first vote.

One wonders why the council ever bothers writing deadlines into these agreements when they are never, ever enforced.

City Council, City of Peoria

Peoria City Council 4/26/2011 (Live Blog)

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Hello, everyone. Tonight is the last full meeting of the current City Council. Next week, we’ll be saying goodbye to Jim Montelongo and George Jacob, and saying hello to Beth Akeson and Chuck Weaver (Weaver is here tonight in the gallery). The rest of the players will remain the same. All the current council members are here tonight (except for Jacob, of course, who is still recovering from a motorcycle accident). Also enjoying his first council meeting is our new City Manager, Patrick Urich.

Well, you all know the drill — I’ll be giving you the live play-by-play for tonight’s council meeting. I’ll be updating this post frequently throughout the evening, under the agenda items listed below, so be sure to refresh your browser occasionally if you’re following along in real time. The city posts its agenda and almost all supporting documentation online here, so if you want additional information on a particular agenda item, be sure to check out that link. Here’s the agenda for tonight, April 26, 2011:

Continue reading Peoria City Council 4/26/2011 (Live Blog) →

2011 Election, City Council, City of Peoria

How much the candidates spent per vote

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The latest financial reports are in for the City Council race. Here are the totals, along with how much that works out to per vote (i.e., total spent divided number of votes cast for that candidate):

Candidate 7/1/10-
12/31/10		 1/1/11-
3/31/11		 Total $ Total Votes $/Vote
Chuck Weaver $9,241.18 $46,980.83 $56,222.01 14,785 $3.80
Ryan Spain $3,611.43 $40,409.68 $44,021.11 10,072 $4.37
W. Eric Turner $2,176.16 $14,470.73 $16,646.89 6,911 $2.41
Beth Akeson $0 $10,445.37 $10,445.37 6,040 $1.73
Charles V. Grayeb $0 $11,729.60 $11,729.60 5,559 $2.11

The other candidates (Gary Sandberg, Jim Stowell, André Williams, C.J. Summers, and George Azouri) did not file reports because they neither raised nor spent more than $3,000. The city council position pays $14,000 per year, or $56,000 per four-year term.