Campaign issues 1-2-3
Posted: February 12th, 2011A newspaper recently asked Naperville City Council candidates to list their three most important campaign issues. Here’s how I answered:
What is your No. 1 campaign issue? Keeping Naperville united while we undergo the process of dividing the City into 5 districts to be represented on the Council.
What is your No. 2 campaign issue? Restoring City employee morale that has suffered after 3 straight years of layoffs, diminished employee benefits, and non-union salary freezes.
What is your No. 3 campaign issue? Emergency preparedness. Naperville needs to upgrade its communications capabilities to keep residents and businesses informed and provided with instructions during natural and man-made disasters. If there is any one thing that residents expect of their elected officials, it is making sure that the City can keep them safe during a disaster. We are not prepared to do that at present.
I’ve been asked, “Why isn’t the budget one of your most important issues??” Because in my view, we’ve been successful in showing, in each of the past three years I’ve been on the Council, that we can cut spending to more than offset the decreases in revenues coming into the City from taxes and fees. As I pointed out in an earlier posting, we’ve cut City employee headcount by more than 12%, from 1070 to 940 employees. Your city portion of the property tax bill even went down slightly last year with the decline in property values and the Council majority’s vote (including mine) not to the raise the tax rate to make up for the decrease in property tax dollars. Continuing to deliver “Great Service, All the Time”: that’s what “stressing the system” can achieve!! And I’m confident that we’ve now got the fortitude, policies and tools in place to meet whatever economic challenges may come our way.
Learning the hard way: a lesson in dealing with unions
Posted: February 12th, 2011This is another topic that has been put to Naperville City Council candidates. Their answers should be in the Daily Herald soon, but here’s a preview of mine:
What can be learned from the furor over the city giving police officers 3 percent raises, then enacting layoffs? It was wrong for the City to enter into a collective bargaining agreement with terms that it offered to the police union, including 3 percent annual raises and a 15% employee health insurance contribution effective on 11/1/11, and then immediately dismiss a number of union employees to offset the projected cost increase. Public safety employees should not be dismissed when there are back-office positions that can still be eliminated. The immediate dismissal of police union members also subjected the City to an Unfair Labor Practice claim, which the Executive Director of the Illinois Labor Board just last week concluded should be adjudicated before an administrative law judge. There is a substantial chance that the City will lose the ULP action, which would seriously undermine the City’s bargaining strength in upcoming union negotiations.
How should the city deal with its unions? By following the law, sharing complete and accurate information as to the City’s finances and service priorities, putting fiscally conservative but fair offers on the bargaining table, and then engaging in a restoration of constructive working relationships once the agreement is in place. Unfortunately, that didn’t occur during the recent negotiations with the police union.
Should the city agree to raises when it knows layoffs will result? In the case of public safety union negotiations, the City is required under State law to participate in Interest Arbitration, in which an arbitrator will select from one or the other of the City’s and police/fire union’s best and final offers. If the City and the public safety union cannot come to terms on their own, and the arbitrator imposes terms that the City can’t afford, then layoffs will result. In the case of non-union employees, the City should not agree to raises when it knows layoffs will result.
A look into the future of Naperville’s city budget…
Posted: February 3rd, 2011During the recent economic downturn, and like everywhere else in the country, Naperville had to cut its spending on city operations. About 80% of the city’s operating budget consists of employee salaries and benefits. There were 1070 City employees when I took office in May 2007. There are 940 today, a reduction of 12%. Of the 130 positions reduced, 42 were from involuntary layoffs, which are always gut-wrenching to impose. The remaining 88 positions reduced were from the elimination of vacant positions.
To maintain our efficiency gains, we will have to continue to resist filling vacant positions until we see that core services like public safety would suffer if certain positions remained vacant. With the improving City revenue trends (sales tax receipts increasing, home value declines moderating), I’m hoping that further involuntary layoffs aren’t necessary in the near-term. But I’m proud of our progress in reducing the size of city government by constantly reminding my Council colleagues that we need to keep “stressing the system” while we continue to provide the level of service our residents and businesses demand and deserve.
On the city’s recent purchase of the DuPage Children’s Museum property
Posted: January 31st, 2011The city recently completed a lease agreement with the DuPage Children’s Museum that will allow the Museum to continue operating on the property the city bought along the south side of the BNSF rail line late last year. In the deal, the city contributed $3 million to buy property with an appraised value of at least $6.5 million. How did the city get such valuable land so cheaply? By working with other public and private entities, like the State of Illinois, which contributed $2 million, DuPage County, which contributed $250,000, private donors to the Museum, who contributed $1 million, and Chase Bank, which took a write-down of $3 million to clear off its books the $9.5 million loan it held on the property.
Keeping the Children’s Museum in Naperville is a win-win-win-win for our city. #1 winners: Naperville kids, who will continue to learn in a fun setting that entire families enjoy. #2 winners: Naperville taxpayers, who now own strategically-located property worth twice what the City paid for it, and will be relieved from continuing to pay $250,000 in subsidies the city had been contributing to the Museum each year. #3 winners: Naperville commuters, who now have 57 additional parking spaces adjoining the downtown Naperville train platform. #4 winners: Naperville businesses, who will benefit from the many Museum visitors who patronize downtown retail stores and restaurants in substantial numbers.
I was recently asked whether I support leaving the Children’s Museum in place or freeing up the potentially valuable real estate at the city’s northern border for economic development. I support leaving the Museum in place so long as it complies with its obligations under the recent lease agreement with the city. If the Museum fails to comply with its obligations under the lease agreement, including the payment of rent beginning in year six, then I would not hesitate to dismiss the Museum from the property and consider how to best derive value of from the land, including by selling it.
Weekend overnight parking returns, this time for good!!
Posted: December 23rd, 2010The Council gave downtown restaurant and bar patrons an early Christmas present when it voted 5-4 to re-establish weekend overnight parking in the downtown parking decks. You’ll recall from my blog posting at the time that the amnesty program for overnight parking was defeated by a 4-4 vote of the Council on October 5, 2010, when a majority vote was needed to extend the program permanently.
Thankfully, Mayor Pradel, who couldn’t attend the October 5 meeting, joined with Councilman Furstenau and me to put the proposal to continue the program back before the entire Council. I’m proud to report that the Mayor’s vote resulted in a 5-4 majority of Council now favoring the program’s continuation. This means that patrons of our downtown restaurants and bars will no longer have the prospect of receiving a $15 parking ticket dissuade them from making the responsible decision to leave their cars overnight and get a ride home from a friend or take a cab. And that’s good news for all of us who want to keep over-served drivers off our roads.
Downtown overnight parking should be restored
Posted: October 10th, 2010I was disappointed in the vote that resulted in the City Council rescinding the overnight parking plan in the Central Parking Facility on Chicago Avenue. This plan seemed to provide a safe and viable solution to people who chose not to drive home after visiting our downtown restaurants and bars, without adversely affecting the available parking for our merchants on weekends. As a parent of college age and young adult children, I want to know that if they, or anyone else, chooses to take a cab or get a ride home, they would be able to do so without worrying about the status of their cars. I will urge that the Council reconsider of this decision in the immediate future. With the impending holidays I would feel more comfortable knowing the City was providing this option to our citizens.
What’s so Smart about the Smart Grid?
Posted: September 30th, 2010In a nutshell: The Smart Grid will provide equipment and know-how to give Naperville residents and businesses better choices so they can make their own decisions on how to use and how much to pay for electricity.
Naperville owns and runs its own electric utility. Most of the cities around us sold out years ago to private utility companies like Commonwealth Edison, and their residents and businesses have no choice but to use the equipment and pay the rates the utility company demands. Fortunately, our City fathers made sure that Naperville kept control of its own electrical system, and since 1899 we’ve been providing power throughout our City. Because we’re not a for-profit enterprise, our rates are low. And because we don’t have to maximize short-term, we can make longer-term investments in equipment and controls that give us some of the most reliable electric service in America.
Some Naperville residents might remember the early-1980s, when the electricity would regularly go out, because there were just too many homes and businesses drawing power from our aging system of overhead wires and too few substations to handle the City’s growth. At that time, the Naperville City Council made the wise decision to invest more heavily in its electrical infrastructure, and the City began burying its wires underground (in an arrangement that resembles a grid), so that storms couldn’t knock them down (neighborhoods also look better without overhead wires).
Naperville also started modernizing the equipment that directs the electricity from the moment it comes into town via high-voltage lines to the time it enters our homes. As a result, the reliability of our electrical system has improved dramatically: in 1996 we experienced a total of 90 minutes without electricity; in 2009 the total outage time was less than 25 minutes.
We were on track to do even better because we planned to continue updating our equipment and controls with planned investments of about $2-3 million per year. In 2009 the opportunity came to apply for a grant the U.S. Department of Energy offered to cities like Naperville that ran their own electric utilities. To get the grant, the City had to agree to match the $11 million amount the DOE was offering to help Naperville finish building an electrical system with the most advanced equipment and controls. The City also had to agree to complete the project by the end of 2012.
The City already had plans to invest $9 million of its own between 2010 and 2012 to make the periodic updates to its electric system. And the City had plans beyond 2012 to continue those infrastructure upgrades to improve reliability even more, including buying and installing new electric meters to replace the old meters, some dating back to the 1950. So the City Council decided in late 2009 to accelerate its investment plans, and put an additional $2 million into its 2010-2012 modernization program so the City could qualify for the $11 million federal grant. We now had $22 million to accomplish the things we didn’t expect to do for years, including the installation of Smart Meters.
A Smart Meter measures the amount of electricity entering a building and then sends periodic signals to tell a control center that electricity is flowing through the building the way the owner wishes.
The old meters had just one purpose: to measure the amount of electricity entering a building between the first day of the month and the last day of the month. Smart meters will still measure the amount of electricity entering a building, but more frequently than just once per month. In fact, Smart Meters will take and store measurements every 5 or 10 minutes, and send signals to a control center that’s making sure electricity is flowing smoothly to every one of Naperville’s 57,000+ residential and business customers. If a disruption occurs, and no electricity is flowing through it, the Smart Meter will send a signal to the control center so that corrective action can be taken immediately, unlike old meters where the customer would have to call the utility to report a power outage.
At the same time, Smart Meters can connect up to appliances within the building. Once electricity is delivered to a building via the Smart Meter, it’s used to power various pieces of electrical equipment, like appliances (dishwashers, televisions, microwaves), as well as air-conditioners and heaters in outdoor pools and hot tubs. The electricity can also be used to charge the batteries of vehicles. If you choose, specific equipment in your home could be connected to the Smart Meter to send signals about how much electricity the appliance is using. Your Smart Meter could be configured to send signals to turn the equipment on or off, or make adjustments to the way the equipment is operating, enabling you, the customer, to be in control of when and how electricity is used.
What about Risks You’ve Heard Talk About?
You might ask, with all the signals being transmitted between the Smart Meter and the control center and the electrical equipment being powered, isn’t there a possibility for mischief? If customers can use Smart Meters to turn equipment on or off or adjust it in some way, can’t the control center or even hackers take control of the equipment? The answer to those questions, of course, is yes and yes. Just as eavesdroppers could illegally tap into phone lines, and hackers can illegally disrupt a computer network, Smart Meter technology can be misused. That’s why a large portion of the $22 million project is being spent to install safeguards upon safeguards to protect the privacy and security of our residents and businesses, so that Smart Meters can’t be used in a way that’s contrary to customers’ wishes.
And while we’re on the subject, with all the measuring of electricity usage that’s going on within the Smart Grid, isn’t there a possibility that those running the utility will find out when people are using electricity the most and try to jack up the rates at those peak times to make more money? That could be a possibility. However, it is the responsibility of the City to provide reliable and affordable power to businesses and residents, and any Council that engages in rate gouging can, and I would say should be voted out of office.
Your Rights Spelled Out From the Start
From the outset, Naperville’s Smart Grid Initiative Steering Committee has been developing a Smart Grid Customer Bill of Rights. The Bill of Rights sets out privacy, security and rate-charging standards that will be binding on City Councils now and in the future.
Once the Smart Grid components are in place, including the Smart Meters, Naperville will be also be able to offer its electric customers the option of time-of-use and flat rate pricing. Right now, Naperville electric customers pay for their service at a flat rate that doesn’t differ according to when the power is being used. With Smart Meters continuously measuring and monitoring electricity usage, customers can make choices about whether to stay on a flat rate or to switch to time-of-use rates. Just as with cell phone packages, some customers’ usage patterns will make flat rate the less expensive alternative while for others who might use a substantial amount electricity at non-peak times, a time-of-use rate will be the less expensive alternative. Either way, it’s the customer’s choice.
Imagine being able to choose to power down the heater to your hot tub when you won’t be using it for some time, or plan to charge your car during the least expensive rate periods. You will choose to control how your electricity budget works best for your needs. I think it’s a great step in a long line of great and beneficial technology firsts Naperville can be proud of.
Thanks for letting me share my views with you on this important topic. All the best, ~Bob.
On the Possible Purchase of the DuPage Children’s Museum
Posted: September 30th, 2010Here are some of My Answers to Questions being brought up regarding the Possible Purchase of the DuPage Children’s Museum, as is being reported by the Sun and Daily Herald:
(1) The total encumbrance on the property, in the form of a note held by Chase bank, is approximately $9.4M. The City will hold clear title with no exceptions and no encumbrances upon closing, with the entities indicated on the chart each contributing the indicated amounts. The $1M private contributor amount is approximate. I’m supportive of the arrangement for the following principal reasons:
(2) It’s a good deal for the City at $3M. We’re acquiring a strategically important piece of real estate along the train line, originally bought for $4.6M in Sep 1997, and last appraised at $9.5 – $10.5 million in early-2008. $1M of the City’s contribution will come from the commuter parking fund (Burlington fund) for the acquisition of approximately 60 commuter parking spaces now being reserved for museum visitors during the week. The remaining $2M will be from already-available bond money, which is paid over 20 years at low interest rates.
(3) It’s a good deal for the City’s retailers and restaurants. The recent economic impact reports show significant patronage of Naperville restaurants and retailers by museum visitors.
(4) It’s a good deal for our kids and their families who will continue to learn in a fun setting, and it also preserves an important cultural amenity that enhances the quality of life for Naperville residents.
(5) The City will also have controls in place to make sure that the museum operates with a balanced budget and doesn’t require support from the City in the form of SECA allocations or other operating subsidy.
(6) I’ve been asked whether this was a deal done behind closed doors. Well, yes – whenever the City is considering whether to buy land, we can’t tell the current owner what our price point is. It would be like buying a home and telling the seller how much you’re ultimately willing to pay before you even try to convince the seller to come down in price. Without that kind of arms-length bargaining, I doubt the bank holding the mortgage on the museum property would have agreed to take a $3+ million write-down so they could get the $9.4 million loan off their books.
The City’s New Administrative Tow Fee
Posted: September 28th, 2010As you probably already know, the Council at its September 7 meeting agreed to begin imposing an administrative fee on owners of cars towed away because their drivers have been accused of a crime. This is a fee that’s above and beyond what the owner would have to pay the private company that tows away and stores the car. Depending on the severity of the “crime”, the owner will have to pay the City from $150 – $500 to get their car back. Even if a driver is eventually found not guilty, the car owner will not get that fee back unless they show up later and prove to the court that the police didn’t have probable cause to make the arrest. Our police are good, but they’re far from perfect in making arrests.
As I predicted, there has been widespread press coverage of this bizarre new law. A Naperville Sun editorial urged the Council to repeal the new law and agreed with my position on its lack of due process and heavy-handed imposition of government police power on citizens simply accused of some sort of wrongdoing. I’ve also received a number of emails passionately supporting my position and demanding that the Council repeal the new law.
In America, we are presumed innocent until proven guilty. I don’t care that the City needs to find new revenue sources, as some of my Council colleagues insisted, or if the recordkeeping would be too much of a burden if the City had to get a guilty verdict before getting its money. Regardless of the financial straits the City may find itself in, people’s fundamental rights as U.S. citizens need to be respected.
I’m hoping that the outcry from residents will motivate at least one of my colleagues to move to reconsider this wrongheaded decision. Unfortunately, being in the minority when the Council voted I can’t move to reconsider the decision under Council rules. One of the 6 Councilman in the majority (Councilman Brodhead was absent) will need to move to reconsider the decision. I’d like to hear from you as to whether any of my Council colleagues who voted in favor of the towing fee tells you that they’re willing to have the entire Council reconsider this decision. Thanks for letting me share my views with you on this important topic.
All the best, ~ Bob.
Naperville’s new towing fees get mixed reactions
Posted: September 9th, 2010Originally appeared on www.dailyherald.com
September 8, 2010
By Marco Santana, Daily Herald Staff
Under sharp criticism from some Naperville city councilmen – including one who likened it to extortion – a three-tiered towing fee program that will fine the owners of any car that is towed because of its use in a crime, wasapproved on Tuesday.
The crimes covered in the new ordinance range from warrant arrests from failing to appear at a court date tofelonies such as homicide, sexual assault and possession of cannabis.
Councilman Robert Fieseler said the law will essentially kick people when they are down in an effort to makemoney. In the proposal put forward by police Chief David Dial, a reason cited for the ordinance was to create anew revenue source for the city.
“I was surprised at the lack of support there was for going easier on people,” Fieseler said. “Does this mean, ifthese were good times, we would say we don’t care that somebody used the cars in the commission of a crime?It is a form of extortion.
“Dial said the administrative fees involved in processing the tows justified the fines. He said the proposal wasnecessary to avoid any staff cuts.
“Instead of cutting staff to make up for revenue, or increasing taxes, we will let the criminals do it,” he said.
The measure passed by a 6-to-2 margin, with councilman Richard Furstenau joining Fieseler in the objection.
The new ordinance will fine the owners of the cars $150 for each warrant arrest, $300 for misdemeanors and$500 for felonies.Mayor George Pradel said he was pleased with the new law.
“I think if you are going to commit a crime, you have to realize you are going to pay the price,” he said.In a sometimes heated exchange during the meeting, Fieseler said the fines were essentially punishing someonebefore they had gone through their due process.
After Dial brought up the O.J. Simpson case, saying his wrongful acquittal indicated that perhaps cause should beenough to determine whether a fine sticks or not – defending the line in the proposal that makes anybody proveninnocent go through a court hearing to get a refund – Fieseler said the wrongful convictions of Rolando Cruz andAlex Hernandez in the Jeanine Nicarico murder case could be used as an example that police departmentseverywhere also sometimes make mistakes.
“We have overlooked the presumption of innocence,” he said. “We’re going to impose towing fees based on thearrest, and we are not perfect in making arrests.”
Towing fee will stick to car owners, guilty or not
Posted: September 9th, 2010New law intended to get criminals to pay up
Originally Appeared on NaperSun.com
September 9, 2010
By JENETTE STURGES
A new ordinance passed at Tuesday night’s council meeting imposes an administrative fee on vehicles that are towed after being used in the commission of felonies, certain misdemeanors, and during warrant arrests.
But while the new fee is targeted at making criminals pay up, the ordinance leaves little recourse for those who are arrested and then released, or who are later found not guilty in court.
“The standard for this is probable cause and whether or not there was probable cause for the arrest,” said Police Chief David Dial. “A lot of people are found not guilty, such as O.J. Simpson. I don’t think any of you doubt his guilt. I don’t. But he was still found not guilty and I would hate to give him his car back.”
Under the ordinance, Naperville police would have the right to have a vehicle towed during the course of an arrest and impose an administrative fee of $150 for warrant arrests, $300 for Class A misdemeanors, and $500 for felonies in addition to the cost of the tow and the daily storage fee.
The vehicle owner, whether the arrested person or not, would have to pay all of the costs to have their vehicles returned.
But while the ordinance may seem unfair to those later found not guilty, it’s also legal, according to Marc Falkoff, law professor at Northern Illinois University, who specializes in criminal proceedings.
In criminal cases, said Falkoff, the governmental body must prove guilt of the original arrestable offense, say possession of cocaine, beyond a reasonable doubt, but in civil matters like the impoundment of a vehicle, that burden of proof is lower.
“The government’s burden is only a preponderance of evidence,” said Falkoff. “That’s why it’s OK and the Supreme Court has said that’s OK any number of times.”
Councilman Robert Fieseler, one of two dissenting votes on the council, argued that the ordinance puts an undue burden on the families of violators, and on those who are later found not guilty.
“We’re far from perfect, and there’s an adage, better to let a hundred men go free than to put one innocent person in prison,” said Fieseler, echoing Blackstone’s formulation. “Well, this isn’t prison, but we can do something about it. And we just did something pretty heavy handed.”
Fieseler said that he would be in support of the ordinance if the administrative fee were imposed after an offender is found guilty in court.
Other members of the council argued that such an arrangement wouldn’t be cost-effective.
“If we’re trying to cover some of our costs, if you do it after the fact, you’re not going to make any money. You’d be lucky to break even because you’d have to keep records and deal with the court and follow that, which could go on for some time,” said Councilman Kenn Miller.
Councilman Richard Furstenau cast the other dissenting vote, calling the amount of the administrative fee and compounding daily storage fees burdensome.
“They find out the fee is going to be $300 or $500 and they’re back to the well trying to figure out where they’re going to get the money, and five days later it’s gone up another $200,” said Furstenau.
The cost of the tow is $140, and the daily storage fee is $25 for cars, and slightly more for larger vehicles, according to Dial.
Still, the council voted in favor of the ordinance, which is estimated to generate more than $300,000 in revenue for the city annually.
“Yes, occasionally there may be an incorrect arrest or one that’s later found not guilty for some technical reason,” said Miller. “It doesn’t mean that it didn’t happen and that there wasn’t probable cause at the time.”
The vote to impose administrative fees on unlawful vehicles was 6-2, with Fieseler and Furstenau voting against and Councilwoman Judith Brodhead absent.
Clean Energy and Jobs
Posted: August 16th, 2010Let me tell you why Clean Energy has been my most ambitious initiative on the Naperville City Council. It’s got the potential to help our citizens reduce reliance on foreign oil, reduce harmful airborne pollutants, and create good, high-paying jobs.
Naperville is in the center of a Clean Energy industrial hub. Our area is already home to Clean Energy technology developers Argonne National Laboratory, Navistar, Nicor Gas, Broadwind Energy and Packer Engineering.
Among the big strides I am supporting is the Green Fuels Depot, a project in which landscape waste will be converted to usable energy in the form of electricity, hydrogen and ethanol using technology developed by Packer Engineering and Argonne. Once proven in Naperville, the GFD will create thousands of new jobs as farmers and communities install, operate and maintain their own systems to squeeze energy out of plant material that would otherwise be discarded.
Last year, the City was also successful in acquiring a Hydrogen Fueling Station for $1. Hydrogen is used to fuel zero-emission vehicles and material handling equipment. Naperville will be an obvious location for car companies and businesses looking to deploy those vehicles and equipment.
Naperville is the largest Illinois city that provides its own electricity, and we’re the only Illinois city to receive federal funds for equipment and control systems to improve reliability. The Smart Grid Initiative will further enhance our City’s world-class electric system. Smart Meters will give residents and business customers the technology to measure, monitor and manage their electrical energy usage, and to take advantage of off-peak pricing if they choose. And lower electrical energy costs give Naperville an edge in convincing businesses to locate here.
I’m really proud of the strides we’ve made since I’ve been on the Council to establish Naperville as a clean energy magnet community. I will continue being a leader to ensure Naperville’s clean energy future, and the jobs, business and federal grants that come with it. For more info click here.
