Aurora COW focus on ward redistricting draws interest

By Jason Crane

Members of the Aurora City Council listened to Aurora residents and experts on ward redistricting at the Aurora city government Committee of the Whole (COW) meeting Tuesday, Aug. 16.

After the 2020 Census numbers showed Aurora had a loss of more than 17,000 residents, approximately nine percent of the population, the Aurora city government hired Ross Secler and Frank Calabrese to create several ward maps for the Council to vote on.

The law requires that districts have to be equally represented based on population.

The Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice has the responsibility for enforcement of provisions of the Voting Rights Act that seek to ensure that redistricting plans do not discriminate on the basis of race, color, or membership in a protected-language minority group.

Ross Secler is an attorney with Odelson, Sterk, Murphey, Frazier, and McGrath which has represented the City government previously and specializes in government representation and election matters, including county and municipal redistricting.

Frank Calabrese is a demographer for the City government of Aurora and has been a consultant on various municipal, legislative, and judicial redistricting projects.

Calabrese said, “In the three maps that I made, that’s been a guiding principle of mine, is to keep the wards as similar as possible because I do sincerely believe there’s a very serious problem with the Census in Aurora.

“According to the Census, there are certain Census tracks in the middle of the City that lost half their population in 10 years. That’s just not believable. There’s no Census track where half the people don’t live there anymore.

• There were several individuals seeking to use their voices for up to three minutes each: One of the speakers, Casildo Cuevas, expressed concerns about the proposed maps displacing communities, especially Latino communities.

• Placed on unfinished business for possible further discussion at the full City Council meeting Tuesday, Aug. 23 was an Ordinance Section 2-16 of the Code of Ordinances and providing for the redistricting of the city of Aurora. The Council agreed to allow more time to view the district maps.

The City Council gave consent to the following agenda items to be placed on the full City Council agenda Tuesday, Aug. 23:

• Consent was given to an Ordinance establishing the Aurora Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) Advisory Board Under Chapter 2, Article VI of the Code of Ordinances.

City government of Aurora documents show the purpose is to create an advisory board comprised of a diverse, knowledgeable group of members serving as an advisory board to the City Council concerning the needs of the LGBTQ community.

The creation of this board was announced earlier this year and will create a board dedicated to elevating the voices and addressing the needs of the LGBTQ community. Additionally, it will allow the City government to further a goal of citywide equity and inclusion.

The format, mission and goals of the Board will plan to align with other current city boards, commissions and councils.

This advisory body will be tasked with the following:

• Organizing, supporting and/or promoting events recognizing June as Pride Month in Aurora;
• Encouraging the education, advocacy and community involvement of the city’s LGBTQ youth;
• Help promote greater awareness and cross-cultural understanding;
• Serve as an advisory body to the City Council regarding issues potentially affecting the LGBTQ community or the LGBTQ community as a whole;
• Recommend to the City Council measures designed to enhance the health, safety, economic opportunity of the LGBTQ community;
• Coordinate and/or participate in educational programs to promote equal treatment, opportunity of the LGBTQ community.
• Work with other city boards, commissions and councils to address areas of common interest and concern.

• Consent was given to an Ordinance Abrogating a Drainage and Conservation Easement on the Property at the southern end of Wolverine Drive, in DuPage County, Aurora.

City government of Aurora documents show the Petitioner PT Land, LLC is requesting the Abrogation of a Drainage and Conservation Easement for the property at the southern end of Wolverine Drive which includes abrogating the current boundary of the easement to allow for a new boundary being granted with the Final Plat for Liberty Meadows Subdivision.

The Property is vacant land that was rezoned from ORI (C) Office, Research, and Light Industrial District zoning to R-4A(C) Two-Family Dwelling District and OS-1 (C) Conservation, Open Space, and Drainage District with a Conditional Use on May 10, 2022.

The Petitioner is requesting the Abrogation of a Drainage and Conservation Easement. The details of the request include abrogating the current easement to allow for a new boundary of the easement to be granted with the Final Plat for Liberty Meadows Subdivision. This will allow for the development of a 91-unit townhome community.

Concurrently with this proposal, the Petitioner is requesting approval of a Final Plat Revision for Lot 2 of Liberty Street Business Park Subdivision and establishing Lots 1-21 of Liberty Meadows Subdivision. The details of the request include a plat subdividing the property into 18 building lots, two common open space lots surrounding the buildings, and the stormwater detention and drainage and conservation easement lot.

Concurrently with this proposal, the Petitioner is requesting approval of a Final Plan for Lots 1-21 of Liberty Meadows Subdivision for a Row Dwelling (Party Wall) (1130). The details of the request include developing 91 townhomes and associated detention. Wolverine Drive will be extended from its current dead-end south and east onto the site and ends with a circular turnaround. A westbound left turn lane will be added on Liberty Street at Wolverine Drive. The project includes the development of 18 buildings with rear-loaded garages containing a total of 91 units on 15.66 acres. The units range in size from 1,760 square feet to 2,220 square feet and contain three bedrooms. Each unit has a two-car garage and two-car driveway with visitor parking available on the street. The homes sit perpendicular to the extended Wolverine Drive with private drive aisles extending from the road to the rear loaded garages. A sidewalk will be added on both sides of the road within the development. To the north of the townhomes will be the stormwater detention for the site.

The Landscape Plan provides streets trees lining the new road, shrubs and understory trees all around the building foundations, and landscape beds scattered along the road, at the sign, and at the detention facility to provide some visual focal points. To provide buffering to the townhomes to the west and south, the development provides clustering of trees along the perimeters in those areas and rows of evergreen trees, a fence, and hedgerow at the end of the private drives leading to the rear-loaded garages.

The Elevations depict buildings that are 2 ½ stories in height in the front and 3 stories in the rear. The façade is varied through a slight height change in the main roof, cross-gables clad in a variety of material with a bracket in the gable center, and porches of varying roofs supported by columns on stone piers. The buildings are clad in stone along the first story with a mixture of horizontal vinyl siding, vertical hardie siding, and hardie shake siding, creating a diverse front façade. The rear façade feature balconies. The side facing the street includes additional stone along the bottom.

Staff members have reviewed the Final Plat Resolution petition and have sent comments back to the petitioner on those submittals. The petitioner has made the requested revisions to these documents and they now meet the applicable codes and ordinances, with the exception of the items reflected in the conditions listed in the staff members recommendation below.

The staff members’ evaluation and recommendation are based on the following Physical Development Policies:

12.1(9) To guide development and redevelopment into energy efficient land use patterns;

11.1(3) To encourage new development contiguous to existing development;

21.1(2) To promote a wide variety of housing type;

23.1(3) To encourage quality design and practicable innovations in both housing structures and site development.

Staff members would recommend conditional approval of an Ordinance abrogating a drainage and conservation easement on the Property at the southern end of Wolverine Drive, in DuPage County, Aurora, with the following condition:

1. That the Plat of Abrogation be recorded simultaneously with the Final Plat of Liberty Meadows Subdivision.

• Consent was given to a Resolution authorizing an agreement with TinkRworks LLC, 501 W Lake St Ste 106, Elmhurst, for the provision of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics (STEAM) project kits and curriculum to serve an additional 400 underserved youth in an amount not to exceed $75,000.00.

City government of Aurora documents show TinkRworks is a provider of K-8 STEAM projects designed to allow students to foster a love of creating, enhance problem-solving skills, reinforce, and expand on concepts & ideas taught in schools, inspire curiosity, and encourage self-expression.

The purpose of this resolution is to continue and expand upon the continued partnership between APS Training Institute (“APS”), City of Aurora and TinkRworks that has enabled the successful implementation of top-tier STEAM curriculum supporting the delivery of highly valuable integrated STEAM experiences to the students of the City of Aurora.

The implementation of leading-edge TinkRworks STEAM learning will allow City of Aurora students to develop and hone core 21st century skillsets while also bringing to life foundational elements of the APS mission of being committed to the highest standards of academic excellence, providing a high-quality education while developing the knowledge, values, attitudes, and skills essential for the unique challenges of the 21st century and beyond.

As a result of a successful and highly-impactful 2021, the Aurora STEAM Academy, a collective partnership involving city government of Aurora, TinkRworks Inc., and APS Training Academy, was provided approval by the Aurora City Council to expand the reach of the program from 625 1st – 8th grade student projects in 2021 to 1,600 student projects across the 2022 calendar year.

The goal of the program remains identical to past years, namely to spark an interest in children to explore STEAM opportunities in the future and assimilate knowledge around key STEAM topics.

The total number of learners served/kits utilized, and locations served as of July 25, 2022:

Total learners served: 1,375

Unique student’s served: 776

ASA Courses Completed: 1,375

Statistics: Grades: K-2, 560 students, 41%; grades: 3-5, 558 students, 41%; grades 6-8, 256 students, 19%; grades 9-12, 1 student, 0%; Adults, 0 0%.

Serving location: APS Training Institute, 105 E. Galena Boulevard, Aurora, 870 students, 63%; schools, 255 students, 19%; community centers/church, 250 students, 18%; church, 0.

The program has exceeded expectations in terms of demographic targets, AMI (area median income) targets, and overall reach. In just the first half of 2022 (1H2022), child participation has been comprised of the following:

• Enrolled learners through June 30: 1,375,
• Hispanic or Black/African American participation: 69%,
• Female participation: 45%,
• Participants below 100 AMI: 95%,
• Aurora resident participants: 95%.
• As a direct consequence of the high demand for the Aurora STEAM Academy, they have already made their way through the bulk of the annual-allocated 1,600 student project kits through just the first half of 2022 and are in danger of pausing their efforts to provide additional opportunities to children as they cannot fulfill their current demand profile with the limited number of kits that remain.
• To ensure continuity of access and opportunity for children across the City, the Aurora City Council is being asked to support a resolution to procure an additional 400 student project kits that will directly provide opportunities to children across the second half of 2022; in total the total STEAM project kits delivered in 2022 is anticipated to be 2,000 (1,600 original kits plus the 400 kits now being requested).
• The cost to procure these additional 400 project kits is $75,000 which is the amount requested in the resolution. This monetary amount is the volume of additional kits sought (400) multiplied by the same unit-pricing ($187.50) listed in the original proposal spanning the 2022 year.

In accordance with City of Aurora Code of Ordinances, Section 2-335 (c), Council may award with a simple majority vote.

Funding for the program will be provided from the City government’s allocation of American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funding. Funds have been set aside in the 2022 City Budget for the program. The Fund Account number to be used for this expense is 287-1280-419.50-30.

Outcomes empirically highlight that the ongoing goal of sparking student interest in STEAM activities was both met and exceeded by participants.

• Consent was given to a Resolution to approve the replacement of the Central Fire Station boilers from F.H. Paschen S.N. Nielsen & Associates, LLC, in the amount of $220,957.87.

City government of Aurora documents show the purpose is to authorize the purchase and installation of new boilers, plumbing, and electrical, at Central Fire Station. To replace the older less reliable and efficient boilers in Central Station.

Central Fire Station was built in 1979. The boilers are the original boilers which are not very efficient and parts for repairs are getting harder and harder to find.

Replacing the boilers at Central Fire Station will ensure that come wintertime they will have a reliable source to heat the station and the new boilers will be much more efficient than the old boilers.

Using the Job Order Contracting program (R20-221) F.H. Paschen, S.N. Nielsen & Associates, LLC submitted the proposal and scope of work to replace the boilers, plumbing, electrical, etc. They will be using local vendor, Artlip and Sons, Inc.to replace the boilers.

As part of the 2022 Capital Improvement Plan, the fire department has $140,700 available in account 354-3033-422.38-05. Due to price increases they are short $82,257.87 and a budget transfer/amendment will be submitted.

The replacing of the boilers at Central Fire Station will make the heating system more reliable and much more efficient.

• Consent was given to a Resolution authorizing the director of Purchasing to enter into an agreement with Volunteer Supply Industries, Ltd., 105 E Galena Blvd, Suite 806, Aurora, in an amount not to exceed $375,820.00 for the purchase of lighting materials for various locations throughout the City.

City government of Aurora documents show the purpose is to obtain approval to authorize the director of Purchasing to enter into an agreement with Volunteer Supply Industries, Inc., 105 E Galena Blvd, Suite 806, Aurora, IL 60505 in an amount not to exceed $375,820.00 for the purchase of lighting materials for various locations throughout the City.

Annually, the City government purchases and installs various light fixtures and associated components to upgrade or supplement existing fixtures throughout the City. To purchase the equipment, the City obtains competitively bid pricing from suppliers which are then installed by the City’s Electrical Division.

Based on an estimated quantity of materials needed, a request for sealed bids was published and three bids were read aloud on June 15, 2022. Of the three bids received, Volunteer Supply Industries, Ltd. was determined to be the lowest responsible bidder in the amount of $375,820.00. One of the bidders, Pure Light Company, was disqualified for submitting pricing for an unapproved alternate brand (Holophane) that is inconsistent with the City’s existing inventory of bollards, fixtures, and spare parts.

The bid was structured to indicate that the City may not purchase the full amount of any of the specified fixtures, but to establish the unit prices for the items that may be needed. Accordingly, the City only intends to open the initial purchase order in the amount of $166,870.00.

The funds required for this purchase will be paid from account 340-4020-418.65-07 (which has a current balance of $173,076.00). Should additional funding above and beyond the initial Purchase Order amount of $166,870.00 be required, a budget transfer will be required. In that event, the overall amount of $375,820.00 as authorized in this resolution will not be exceeded.

The bid was subject to the Local Bidder Ordinance, but that did not impact the bids as the local vendor was the low bidder.

• Consent was given to a Resolution authorizing an agreement with Burwood Group, Inc. for a SharePoint Discovery Assessment in a total contract amount not to exceed $25,000.

City government of Aurora documents show the City government is seeking to replace its outdated on-premises SharePoint platform that is losing maintenance support in summer 2022. The City government’s goal is to find a partner to perform the discovery of its data environment and then migrate relevant data to SharePoint Online.

The city of Aurora government (CoA) is replacing outdated and underperforming systems through its Technology Strategic Plan. Presently CoA file shares reside on SharePoint on-premises servers and this platform will not have Microsoft support moving forward causing a risk of exposure.

The advantages of migrating from SharePoint on-premises to SharePoint online are as follows:

• Minimizing exposure by not having critical data on an unsupported platform;

Increasing efficiencies by not having to maintain/update anything locally, it would be done automatically;

• Increases functionality by being available on all mobile devices;
• Increases transparency via Co-Authoring ability – same-time editing, no check-in/check-out process;
• Increases Security by leveraging functionality with 3rd parties.

The City engaged the Marketplace.city website to find a SharePoint migration partner to complete SharePoint migration in two parts:

1) Perform discovery of its data environment (discovery phase).

2) Migrate relevant data to SharePoint online (migration phase).

Process Overview:

• Created Market Landscape with 25+ companies;
• Created RFQ document based on city government of Aurora needs and industry best practices;
• Based on the market landscape and City stakeholder review, publicly posted and distributed the Opportunity and Scope Document https://secure.procurenow.com/portal/marketplace-city/projects/18002https://secure.procurenow.com/portal/marketplace-city/projects/18002 for vendors to complete in order to be included in the reporting and selection process. It was posted and distributed on 3/16/22 and closed 4/6/22.
• Based on the two-part nature of the project, first discovery and then migration, vendors were asked to price these components separately.
• There were 14 responses completed by the deadline.
• Based on the team’s review of the comparative data by Marketplace.city, four vendors were chosen for further meetings:
• Burwood Group
• Communication Square LLC
• Orbis Solutions
• Sentinel Technologies

After these demonstrations, Marketplace.city circulated scoring templates to the team, which were returned on May 18th.

The compiled scoring data selected Burwood Group as the chosen vendor.

Burwood Group, Inc. will be engaged to assess the data in the City’s current environment, identify what needs to be preserved, migrated, and provide a deliverable mapping the steps to do so by creating a timeline:

1. Analyze the current SharePoint on Premise configuration and content;
2. Deliver Project plan and migration timeline;
3. Outline dependencies, risks, and mitigations;

Deliverables:

1. Mitigation Plan for custom artifacts;
2. Migration timeline and plan;
3. Formal Proposal for full migration;
4. Recommendations for legacy features in SharePoint • Site Map for future state;

Estimated Fees – Burwood Group, Inc..

Note: This was not a budgeted item for 2022.

Services Estimated Time Estimated Fees

============================

Burwood Group Consulting 4 weeks *$25,000

Formal scope Identification.

Formal Scope Reduction Recommendations

Open Consulting (questions)

Funding is available in account # 101-1280-419.64.-10, the IT General/Software Applications account.

Upon satisfactory completion of the Discovery Phase, Burwood Group will be asked to provide an estimate for the Migration Phase of the project. Costs for the Migration Phase will be brought to Council for approval. As both phases of this project will ultimately exceed $50,000, staff members decided to bring this phase to Council.

Presently city government of Aurora file shares reside on SharePoint On-Premises and this platform will not have Microsoft support moving forward causing a risk of security exposure.

• Consent was given to a Resolution to award the City of Aurora Emergency Management Agency Storage Yard Expansion & Mitchell Road Drainage project in Ward 1 to Fox Excavating, Inc., 1305 S. River St., Batavia, in the bid amount of three hundred fifty-seven thousand eight hundred forty-five dollars and zero cents ($357,845.00).

City government of Aurora documents show the purpose is to expand the storage area adjacent to the City of Aurora Emergency Management Agency facility, improve the drainage of Mitchell Road and improve the site access to the water treatment plant.

The City of Aurora Emergency Management Agency (EMA) has a small inefficient gravel outdoor storage yard north of their building at 1100 Mitchell Road. Their current site doesn’t function efficiently with the small storage yard and minimal internal storage for the existing equipment inventory, so a decision package was approved in the 2022 budget for the expansion of the outdoor storage yard north of the facility onto a portion of the water treatment plant site that is unused. The existing north gravel entrance to the water treatment plan will be widened and paved which will benefit both the EMA site and the water treatment plant.

Mitchell Road between the south water treatment plant entrance and the rear entrance to the strip mall at the southwest corner of W. Indian Trail does not have curb and gutter has some drainage issues. There is an existing gravel shoulder along that section that washes out several times a year and requires frequent maintenance. The installation of storm sewer with curb & gutter on the west side of the road will control the flow of runoff eliminating the maintenance requirements and roadway hazard that occurs when the shoulder frequently erodes. The shoulder on the east side of the road does not experience the same erosion and safety issues. Storm sewer will be provided to pick up the ditch flow on the east side of Mitchell Road but curb & gutter is not proposed at this time. There will be some cost savings with combining these projects due to their proximity, the need for storm sewer/pavement patching on both and the balancing of the earthwork.

Three bids were received, opened, and read aloud on July 27, 2022. The lowest responsible bid in the amount of ($357,845.00) was submitted by Fox Excavating, Inc. The Emergency Management Agency site improvements ($113,792.00) will be funded with account 340-3033-422-38-05 (C134) which has a 2022 budget amount of $115,000.00. The storm sewer improvements ($223,435.00) will be funded with account 280-1852-512-81-23 (B037) which has a 2022 budget amount of $885,000.00. The water treatment plant site improvements ($10,618.00) will be funded with account 510-4058-511-38-05 which has a 2022 budget amount of $365,000.00.

This project was subject to the Local Preference Ordinance, however no local contractors submitted.

There will be lane closures of Mitchell Road during the duration of the project. Impacts to traffic and local residents will be kept to a minimum.

• Consent was given to an Ordinance amending Chapter 2 of the Code of Ordinances, city of Aurora, pertaining to the duties of the City government’s engineer.

City government of Aurora documents show the purpose is to update various provisions of the City Code that do not reflect the current duties of the City engineer as the ex-officio director of public works; to authorize the City Engineer to designate agents on behalf of the City to perform work on public improvements in easements.

The City Engineer serves ex-officio as the head of the Department of Public Works. This was not always the case, and in the past the City Engineer, though a city officer, was under the direction of the director of public works. While the Council has amended the City Code to reflect this change, there are still a few provisions that require the City Engineer to perform duties under the direction of the director in order to perform his duties. Sections 2-217, 2-218, and 2-219 are three examples of provisions that retain this vestigial language.

In addition to removing obsolete language, this ordinance also clarifies that the City Engineer possesses the City’s authority to authorize work on public improvements performed in easements dedicated in favor of the City – work that the City Engineer is already charged with supervising.

This is essentially a housekeeping/clean-up provision measure to make conforming changes to areas of the code not specifically amended following the reorganizations of the Public Works Department and the consolidation of the position of Public Works director and the Office of City Engineer.

This Ordinance further refines the Code of Ordinances to reflect recent amendments.

• Final approval for items on the consent agenda are set to be made at the August 23 Aurora City Council meeting.

• Information is on the agenda for a charitable solicitation application for Knights of Columbus 12005 Annual Tootsie Roll Drive from September 16, 2022-September 18,2022.

• Information is on the agenda for a charitable solicitation application for Knights of Columbus Council 14825 Annual Tootsie Roll Drive from September 3, 2022-October 2, 2022.

• Information is on the agenda for a charitable solicitation application for Knights of Columbus Council 4849 Annual Tootsie Roll Drive on September 9, 2022-September 10, 2022.