Smart meter health concerns causing ‘a buzz’
Posted: February 11th, 2011By Dan Cassidy, Naperville Sun
Feb 9, 2011 09:38PM
With the Naperville City Council set to vote Tuesday on the bill of rights for the smart grid initiative, some residents still are raising health concerns surrounding the project.
The proposal would put in writing the rights electrical customers in Naperville would have regarding information, privacy, options and data security under the new system.
Proponents of the smart grid say the project, which will upgrade the electrical infrastructure in the city, will lead to more efficient energy use and save money on customers’ monthly electric bills.
Some opponents have been concerned about the meter to be used to keep track of energy use at homes and businesses, saying there are still bugs to be worked out. Others have brought up potential health risks involved with the equipment.
Lisa Rooney of Naperville is concerned that the bill of rights “doesn’t address health concerns” and that is a “key component that needs to be added.”
“If the (meters) are installed and residents experience health concerns, such as headaches … there doesn’t seem to be any recourse,” she said.
She said some people seem to be “electro-sensitive,” and are affected more than others by the use of wireless technology such as cell phones and other devices. She believes the meters could aggravate those problems.
Sue Storm of Naperville said she has sensitivity to radio frequency transmissions. She said it is almost like an allergy. When she is around the transmissions she can get headaches, ringing in the ears and other symptoms. She is worried about what a new smart meter might mean to her lifestyle. Right now, she has to avoid Wi-Fi hot spots and has everything in her house hard wired. The new meter would make her life even more difficult, she said.
Proponents of the system, however, say the amount of radio frequency current generated by smart meters is relatively low, lower even than cell phones. They also point to several studies, including one from the California Council on Science and Technology, which say that the meters pose no health risk.
Rooney said she understands that there are “so many studies and opinions out there” on both sides of the smart meter issue.
“I think with any emerging technology (such as smart grid) that we should be proceeding with caution, and allow people choices on how much technology they use,” she said.
She would like to see residents able to opt out of the system for health and possibly other reasons.
City Councilman Robert Fieseler, who sits on the Smart Grid Steering Committee, said he takes health concerns about the meters seriously as well.
“It is generating a lot of buzz,” he said about the issue.
He said customers with health issues should have those matters addressed in some fashion.
“I think the prudent thing to do is to work on mitigation options” for those with concerns, he said. That doesn’t mean opting out of the system, he said.
According to Fieseler, the Public Utility Advisory Board may be a venue for people to bring concerns once the system is up and running.
However, although he said he is “open minded” to potential health issues, he believes the weight of evidence shows there to be no significant health or safety concerns from smart meters.
Despite that, he believes the health issue concerning smart meters needs to be discussed.
“I truly believe we need to have this aired,” he said.
Naperville councilman offers helping hand to resident in need
Posted: January 13th, 2011By JUSTIN KMITCH, Daily Herald Published 1/11/2011
It was the 10th day of Christmas, but lords a-leaping just didn’t seem like the appropriate gift for a Naperville woman and her children who fell on hard times and had their home’s water turned off.
Happily for the family, Naperville Councilman Bob Fieseler had the ideal solution.
Remi Kelani came before the city council Jan. 4 and told officials how she and her three children had been living in their home for nearly a week without water.
Kelani said she was struggling financially and couldn’t afford to pay both the $325 deposit necessary to reconnect to the water system and the nearly $450 she still owed for unpaid water bills. She could pay the back fees, she said, but not the reconnection fee.
Fieseler told her he might be aware of a revenue source that could help her out.
Soon after, he left the dais and came back without saying a word until days later when a reporter asked what happened.
“I left the council chambers to get her contact info and three people gave me cash, enough that we all were able to accumulate the $325 she needed and she was able to walk out of the building with the deposit,” Fieseler said. “I was at the dais wondering and praying how I could come up with the money and lo and behold it came about.”
All that praying may have helped, but Fieseler also had some more practical help.
“I do keep a portion of the money I’m paid by the city as a councilman in a separate fund so I can help people out as situations arise, but I didn’t have enough that day to cover all that she needed,” he said. “I’ve done things like this in the past and I’m happy to continue doing them under the right circumstance.”
Kelani’s water was turned back on by 4 p.m. the next day and City Manager Doug Kreiger confirmed her bill was paid in full.
“I am very thankful to the councilman who assisted me that night,’ Kelani said Monday. “I will be sending him a card or some other token of my appreciation.”
Fieseler said he never expected to get paid for any work as a part-time local elected official, so he though the idea of using a portion of his council earnings to help residents in need was in keeping with his desire to serve the residents.
“I started to put aside money with the first monthly paycheck I received from the city in 2007, ” he said. “I get paid $789 per month after taxes and deductions, but I try to keep about $500 at any given time available for resident emergencies I become aware of.”
Since 2007, Fieseler said he’s dipped into the fund for such things as buying a needy family athletic passes so they could see their son’s basketball games and has donated funds for a local student to buy a used laptop computer.
“Every three to four months, something seems to come up that gives me a chance to donate to a resident who needs help,” he said. “I once met someone from another suburb who told me that his car had been towed from Washington Street one afternoon, and that he would never come back to shop or dine in Naperville. I bought him a gift card for a nice dinner at one of our high-end restaurants and he wrote me afterward to tell me how much better he now felt about Naperville.”
Several other councilmen said they give back to the community in other ways, but most were unaware of Fieseler’s emergency fund.
Mayor George Pradel said he was impressed with Fieseler’s actions.
“He’s a giving, loving kind of guy. I know he does it because he believes in always trying to help someone make it in life. I just love that big ol’ teddy bear Bob” Pradel said. “It really touched my heart.”
Councilman Grant Wehrli agreed.
“I had no idea that’s how Councilman Fieseler was doing what he’s doing. Good for him. That’s very nice of him,” Wherli said. “My practice is to give a portion of my overall income to charity and do that at my own discretion.”
Councilmen Kenn Miller gives to his church, and Doug Krause also said the gives to charities.
“I’ve made my own private donations to causes important to me and (Fieseler), on several occasions, matched my donation,” Krause said. “So we all do it, just in different ways.”
Copyright © 2010 Paddock Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
Naperville councilmen wince at giving up perks
Posted: October 27th, 2010By JUSTIN KMITCH, Daily Herald
If Naperville City Council members truly want to save money and send a cost-cutting message to employees, Councilman Robert Fieseler says there’s no time like the present.
Fieseler caused fur to fly during a late Monday budget discussion by suggesting all eight council members reduce their annual pay to $10,000 from their current salaries ranging from $11,413 to $11,687, as well as foregoing the $1,200 annual stipend for Internet and cell-phone costs and eliminating the health benefits package available to elected officials.
He also asked Mayor George Pradel to cut his salary from $28,533, including his pay as liquor commissioner, to $20,000, along with reducing his other benefits.
“Let’s resolve right now to change the salary moving forward to $10,000 and take away the (benefits and annual stipends) starting on May 1, 2011,” Fieseler said after promising to expose the elephant in the room. “That might get some people to come to council and speak on whether council should make a certain number of dollars and we don’t have this ‘Do I decide to turn it back?’ question every year.”
Ironically, Fieseler and Councilman Doug Krause were the only two members to accept the 2.4 percent pay increase offered to council members this past June, which put their salaries at $11,687.
“As I said at that time, I thought the giveback that several of my colleagues did was grandstanding and pretty much meaningless,” Fieseler said. “If you want to make a statement, roll back the increases and give up the other perks.”
The worst, he said, is the roughly $1,000 monthly cost for each council member who pays a 15 percent premium for the same health care package available to employees.
“We shouldn’t be paying councilmen health benefits. That’s a worse deal than the $11,000 we’re being paid,” he said. “I think we ought to be intellectually honest and take our pay back to $10,000 and have people pay for their own health care.”
Councilman Paul Hinterlong was Fieseler’s only vocal supporter, especially regarding the $1,200 annual stipend.
“You could cut my pay and I would probably vote for it but benefits are available to me just as they are for every other city employee,” said Councilman Grant Wehrli before also declining to give up the annual stipend. “Part of what this job is all about is being available and accessible to the residents. They can call me on my cell phone. It’s on my business card. They can e-mail me because my e-mail address is on my business card.”
Councilman and likely mayoral candidate Kenn Miller also scolded Fieseler and called his timing inappropriate. “I work for this city about 50 percent of the time so excuse me if they want to offer me benefits,” Miller said. “I appreciate that.”
Councilman Dick Furstenau questioned why councilmen get paid at all if it only amounts to $1.25 an hour but said he learned the hard way how good the benefits package can be.
“When I first got here, everyone was complaining that the benefits were no good and the only way to figure that out was to get on the plan,” he said. “So I got on the plan and I found out the benefits are the best around. And we started charging people, at this council’s instance, about eight or nine years ago.”
Before Pradel sent everyone home to “cool off” from the heated 12-minute debate, Furstenau said things got out of hand.
“I don’t think an issue exists,” he said. “You put the kind of time in that we put into this place, a few extra bucks to buy dinner afterward isn’t going to hurt anybody.”
The city’s next budget workshop is scheduled for 5 p.m. Nov. 30.
Copyright © 2010 Paddock Publications, Inc. All rights reserved.
City should reconsider new towing fee law
Posted: September 14th, 2010Originally appeared on www.suburbanchicagonews.com
September 12, 2010
The city of Naperville generally is a pretty well-run establishment, but every once in a while, the City Council and staff seemingly feel compelled to do a tap dance on the heads of residents and visitors.
A recent case in point is the towing fee ordinance that the City Council adopted by a 6-2 vote in the absence of Councilwoman Judith Brodhead at Tuesday night’s meeting.
The law comes into effect when a vehicle has to be towed — such as after a DUI arrest or other situation where an arrested person can’t drive home. The city contracts with private towing companies to take the car.
At the meeting, the council jacked up the city’s charge to tow a vehicle, ostensibly to make sure it covers its cost.
The fee is variable — $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.
In other words, the city is nicking those it arrests for the supposed costs of its paperwork and the seriousness of the alleged crime in addition to the cost of the tow.
We don’t have a problem with the basic premise, that when someone is arrested for DUI or on some other serious charge and is taken to the city’s lockup, his or her vehicle needs to be towed for safe keeping. In that case, the arrested person should pay for the service of towing rather than having the cost fall on Naperville taxpayers.
It is the other fees for the city’s expense at arresting someone that give us pause.
It’s appropriate to our mind to levy fees and fines if the person is truly guilty, and judged so in a court of law, but the city doesn’t want to deal with the legal nicety of a person being actually convicted.
However, when one looks at the court disposition record published in The Sun, it is apparent that a great many serious charges, such as DUI, are often plea bargained down to something else or dismissed entirely.
Just because someone is arrested doesn’t mean he did what he was charged with doing, and for the city to essentially fine people “up front” whether they are convicted or not does not sit well with us.
We agree with Councilman Robert Fieseler, who voted against the ordinance along with Councilman Richard Furstenau, when he said, “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. Well, this isn’t prison, but we can do something about it. And we just did something pretty heavy handed.”
Fieseler said he would support the ordinance if the administrative fee were imposed after an offender is found guilty in court, but the council members in favor of a “heavy handed” law dismissed that as not being cost-effective.
Councilman Kenn Miller said the city would be “lucky to break even” if it had to “keep records and deal with the court.”
We guess the city wouldn’t want to have to “keep records and deal with the court,” though it seems to us that should be an obligation of a municipality that wants to take your money.
Way to go, guys.
The accused may be found innocent, but take his money anyhow.
Naperville OK’s financing for Navistar
Posted: September 9th, 2010Originally Appeared on www.NaperSun.com
September 8, 2010
By JENETTE STURGES
In anticipation of a Wednesday morning announcement from Navistar, the Naperville City Council signed off on a deal Tuesday night that will secure low-interest financing for the manufacturer of heavy trucks and diesel engines. But not before a little fortune telling on what the company’s relocation to Lisle might mean for the future of Naperville.
“This is the future of jobs,” said Councilman Robert Fieseler, who placed Navistar on his map of Naperville as a center of clean energy employers. “The kids and grandkids of people in this room will be happy with the decision. Those kids are going to find good, productive, fulfilling jobs here at Navistar.”
In a deal struck last week between city staff, the Naperville Development Partnership and Navistar representatives, the city agreed to allocate $11.9 million in Recovery Zone bonds to the Illinois Finance Authority for use by Navistar.
In return for the bond allocation, which does not give money directly to Navistar, but instead would allow it to borrow, tax-exempt, at a lower rate than through private loans, the city would receive about $14,000. The city is hoping that Navistar’s ability to secure low-interest financing will keep the employer’s feet firmly planted near Naperville, and that this morning’s press conference will bring a commitment to establishing its world headquarters at the Alcatel-Lucent site in Lisle.
It is without question going to be a big economic boom,” said Councilman James Boyajian, who cited an influx of people moving to and shopping in Naperville. “It would be short-sighted on our part not to support them. While it would be wonderful for them to locate in Naperville, if they’re not going to be in Naperville I’m glad we’re going to have them in Lisle.”
About a dozen other Illinois communities have been in talks with Navistar to return their Recovery Zone Bond allocations back to the state, but the company has not disclosed the names of those communities, other than Rockford. In any case, that bond allocation would likely be pooled with those from Naperville, in an attempt to keep the employer in state.
Lisle, the proposed site of the headquarters, has no Recovery Zone bonds to allocate.
Recovery Zone Facility Bonds are a type of private activity bond created by the Recovery Act that allow local governments to pass along tax-exempt financing to private borrowers to expand their businesses and accommodate job growth.
“It is not city debt,” said City Manager Doug Krieger. “It is not debt that is repaid by the property tax payer. It is not debt that sits on the city’s books. It is a mechanism that allows the state of Illinois to have an economic vehicle that allows communities to issue low-interest debt.
“There has been a lot of frustration around the Navistar issue, and this is what we can do to help to assist in keeping a great employer in this region,” Krieger said.
The vote to reallocate the city’s Recovery Zone Bond allocation to the Illinois Finance Authority for use by Navistar passed unanimously with Councilwoman Judith Brodhead absent.
Naperville to allow parking overnight during
Posted: March 4th, 2010Published: 3/3/2010 12:01 AM Daily Herald
Naperville hopes to keep drunken drivers off the road by allowing overnight parking in the downtown. City councilmen on Tuesday approved a six-month trial period for easing the overnight restrictions on weekends. Overnight parking will begin March 12 in designated areas.
“I hate to tell someone whose kid gets hit by a drunk driver we decided we didn’t want to allow them to have that opportunity (to park),” Councilman Doug Krause said.
Currently parking is prohibited from 2 to 5 a.m. There is a fine of $15 if paid within 15 days, otherwise it increases to $30.
The new rules will allow overnight parking on Friday and Saturday nights on the interior levels in three downtown decks – the Central Parking Facility on Chicago Avenue, the garage on Van Buren Avenue and at the municipal center.
Councilman Robert Fieseler said he doesn’t mind not collecting money from the occasional parking ticket. “I can’t imagine how much revenue is involved when somebody gets in a car to avoid a ticket and ends up hurting somebody,” Fieseler said. “That cost is incalculable.”
In addition to bar-hoppers, residents’ overnight guests will also be able to make use of the new parking allowances. Councilmen voted 6-3 in favor of allowing overnight parking. Fieseler, Krause, Kenn Miller, Judy Brodhead, Richard Furstenau and Mayor George Pradel voted in favor. Grant Wehrli, Paul Hinterlong and Jim Boyajian voted against the six-month trial.
Hinterlong said he is concerned about people not moving their cars the next day and taking up downtown parking spaces.Wehrli called the measure an example of big government and said people need to take responsibility for their actions.
“This is absolutely a solution in search of a problem,” Wehrli said. “It is encouraging behavior I don’t think we should be encouraging.”