Brown Protests Pushing Agenda Items with Same-Day COW and Council Meetings

First Ward Adlerman Charles Brown is asking a simple question.

Why is it necessary to push agenda items through with a special committee meeting just prior to the scheduled City Council meeting?

"More and more we’re getting a Committee of the Whole hearing and council approval on same night," he said. "I think this is a bad trend."

On Monday night, the city held a special Committee of the Whole meeting prior to the regularly scheduled City Council meeting. 

The Special COW agenda had five items on it that became action items at the immediately following City Council meeting.

Those items included:

• A special use to allow Chef James Place to continue to operate a restaurant on  Stevens Street, an area that's zoned I1, light industrial.
• A draft resolution approving the site plan for the at Williamsburg Avenue and West State Street.
• A draft ordinance that would allow professional offices as a special use for below-ground spaces fronting South Third Street between Campbell and South Streets.
• A draft resolution for a agreement with Metra.
• And another resolution authorizing a professional services agreement with Walker Parkinig Consultants for work on the third level of the commuter parking garage.

Brown voted in favor of those measures but expressed concern that the special Committee of the Whole meeting was rushing the process.

He especially was concerned about the said some neighbors in that area had contacted him saying they wished they'd had more information about the project.

"What’s going on?" Brown said. "Is there a particular reason this has to be approved?"

Mayor Kevin Burns said the special meeting was called at his request. He responded to Brown's questions twice. The first time, he said that the petitioners had followed the city's approval processes efficiently, "and we feel it is in the (city's) best interest that we provide an equal amount of efficiency."

Burns also pointed out that the Plan Commission had held open hearings on the Living Well site plan, the B-3 business zoning and the other agenda items. He said those meetings were published and also noted that Fourth Ward Alderman Ron Singer had personally met with many of the residents whose homes surrounded the Living Well site.

"It is incumbent on residents to know what’s happening in their back yards," Burns said. "We feel it’s best to move this forward" so that the people who are served by Living Well would be able to make use of the new facility as soon as possible. 

The Committee of the Whole is a recommending body made up of the full City Council and meets every other week. Typically, it's the place where agenda items get a little more conversation and scrutiny.

Brown said the format is set up that way for several reasons—to allow aldermen to digest the discussion prior to final vote, to give residents an opportunity to comment, to give the press time to get the word out on topics of interest prior to the City Council meeting.

Brown's concerns were echoed by other aldermen.

"I think matters should be handled in separate meetings," Fourth Ward Alderman Dorothy Flanagan said "I think we should take that into consideration somewhere along the line."