Here’s a recap of our live coverage of Tuesday evening’s Evanston City Council Administration and Public Works Committee meeting
The meeting is scheduled to start at 5 p.m.
A packet with information on the agenda items is available online.
Meeting called to order at 5:03 p.m.
Ald. Jonathan Nieuwsma (4th) chairs.
Consent agenda
Consent agenda
A1, A2, A8 off consent. With those exceptions, consent agenda approved.
A1 – Bills list
Ald. Devon Reid (8th) moves to amend bills list to add payment up to $2,100 for an intern from back when he was city clerk.
Nieuwsma says council voted previously to decline making that payment.
Assistant city attorney says the motion appears to be out of order.
Approved 3-1-1. Nieuwsma votes no. Harris abstains
Bills list as amended approve 4-1. Nieuwsma abstains, because his wife’s business has an item on the bills list.
A2 – Refuse containers purchase
Approved.
A8 – Contract to investigate cracks in floor at Robert Crown Center
Ald. Clare Kelly (1st) moves to amend the proposal to just authorize phase one of the work at $12,800 (rather than the full proposal from the consultant of $46,400).
Ald. Bobby Burns (5th) says he’s not an expert so talked to a concrete contractor who said there likely are some deeper issues with the work.
Reid agrees.
City Engineer Lara Biggs says the warranty period on the project has passed, so it would be more complicated to get compensation from contractor on project if serious flaws were discovered.
Nieuwsma says cracks in concrete floors are normal and to be expected, quoting from industry documents. Says has no reason to second guess the city’s professional staff, the architect and contractor.
Approved 4-1. Nieuwsma votes no.
A12 – City to cover private sewer repair costs in excess of $15K.
Kelly moves to table the measure until Oct. 10. Says Chicago covers all the cost under the public way. Plans to have someone from Chicago’s water department speak at that meeting.
Motion to table approved.
A13 – Fee reduction for Class C liquor licenses
Would remove premium charge for liquor licenses downtown. (T.J. Callahan, owner of Farmhouse, spoke in favor of this change during public comment.)
Nieuswma says liquor licenses have raised $400K in revenue for the city so far this year. Says it would be irresponsible to generally cut the rates, but he favors this change because of the pressure on downtown restaurant owners.
Approved unanimously
A14 – Artist Book House lease amendment
Audrey Niffenegger, of Artist Book House says benchmarks for fundraising were “optimistic.”
Says amended proposal is “quite achievable.”
Ald. Eleanor Revelle (7th) says she supports the amendment. Says Audrey and her board have done a lot of work so far. Had a successful book sale a weekend or so ago.
Approved unanimously.
AM1 – Minutes … approved.
Meeting adjourned at 5:47 p.m.