The City Council Workshop and Meeting on Feb. 6 were...well...long.

Monday, February 6th was the first regular meeting of our new Highland Park City Council and they had a whopper of an agenda to tackle. There were several items on the Workshop agenda informing Council of upcoming projects. After a 15 minute break, Council tackled another20 agenda items awaiting Council decisions.

Council has a learning curve.

There was some initial back-and-forth as to the manner of amending the agenda for the Council Meeting. There was also a long discussion about whether or not the current Council body is supposed to approve the December minutes of last year's Council.

Since all five members of City Council are new, they asked those of us who were observing the meeting to be patient while they work through their learning curve. Highland Park's new City Council President Jamal Thomas facilitated a combined six hours of public meetings with an optimistic demeanor, characteristic grace and diplomacy.

Highlights from the marathon meetings of our new City Council.

Here are the highlights of City Council's discussions and decisions from February 6th.

Note: You can read about Mayor Glenda McDonald's Executive Report at the council meeting in a companion article entitled, Mayor McDonald Updates City Council on Her First Month as Mayor.

Chief McMahon goes to bat for Highland Park Pets.

At the 5:30 workshop, Council heard details from Police Chief McMahon regarding research he has done about the possibility of strengthening animal protection laws in Highland Park. The Chief proposes that animal ordinances might be changed to prevent animals from being chained outside overnight during cold weather, among other measures. The Chief's suggestions are aimed at ensuring Highland Park pets are treated humanely and that interactions between animals and Highland Park residents are generally safe. Council is interested in looking more closely at the Chief's research and seemed open to considering some of the ordinance changes he proposes.

Vacant lot sales put off until Council has more information.

There were a number of items on both agendas in regard to the potential sale of vacant lots owned by the city. None of the lot sale proposals before Council were approved as of February 6th. The Community Economic Development department is currently understaffed and Council would like to study the proposed lot sales with CED input in relation to Highland Park's Master Plan.

Lots with sales pending before Council include 126 Florence, 373 Elmhurst, 288 Moss, at 238 Ford, 142 Colorado and 15 Victor. Lots that were brought up for possible future sale at the 5:30 Council Workshop included 18 & 30 West Grand, 25, 29 and 33 Tyler, 244 Church street, and the building and lot at 12024 Woodward Avenue.

An RFP will go out for a firm to assist the city with Community Economic Development and Urban Planning.

City Administrator Cathy Square made a case for soliciting an RFP to hire an urban planning consulting firm. Highland Park administration has been generally pleased with the work of Metro, the firm that has been handling Highland Park's water department for a few years. Ms. Square's idea is to find a firm to do for our CED department what Metro has done for our water department. Ninety percent of Highland Park water customers are now up to date on their bills, thanks largely to the efforts of Metro.

Ms. Square says that Highland Park used to have a large Community and Economic Development Department and that our residents are still paying their pensions. In the meanwhile the city has more need than ever for CED services, and a lot less money to pay for it. We currently employ one part time person in the CED department, Mr. Ty Hinton, but the work is much more than one part time professional can handle. A small urban planning firm could come into Highland Park with a fair amount of energy and expertise, bringing their combined contacts and resources to the job of re-developing the Highland Park community. Council voted to approve the proposed RFP for CED/Urban Planning services.

Grant activity approved for neighborhood enhancement and fire equipment.

Council approve some grant-related activity that will help Highland Park to beautify and update our community assets. A resolution was passed to accept the Round 8 Neighborhood Enhancement program (NEP) grant. Also Council approved a request by the Highland Park Fire Department to apply for a grant distributed by FEMA which would pay for new fire equipment and possibly a fire truck.

Board of Review for Tax Assessments will change soon.

Council tabled until their next meeting a motion to set a new Board of Review for Highland Park property tax assessments. A slate of candidates were set to be appointed and re-appointed, but there were some procedural issues having to do with certifications and vetting rules.

The Board of Review handles appeals regarding property value assessments. Assessments are conducted by Doug Shaw, our licensed city assessor. Every March the Board of Review hears appeals for property tax relief due to financial hardship. In July and October of each year they meet to review possible corrections to the assessment rolls as well as to hear financial hardship appeals that were not made in March.

Soul Harvest Ministries request for street renaming appreciated but not likely at this time.

Members of long time Highland Park community hub, Soul Harvest Ministries requested that Council re-name the block of John R. between Ferris and McNichols for Bishop Lewis E. Evans, long time leader of Soul Harvest Ministries. Council accepted the proposal but noted that Highland Park ordinance says streets can only be renamed posthumously.

Mixed decisions on timing of solicitations for city services.

Five items before Council had to do with soliciting Requests for Proposals (RFP's ) or Requests for Quotes (RFQ's) for city services. RFP's for tree trimming services and for cutting grass on more than 1400 city owned lots were referred to the next Council Workshop agenda. Council voted to issue an RFP for street sweeping without delay. A resolution was approved to enter into a temporary snow-emergency contract for snow removal and salting on major roads. A resolution to create an RFQ to solicit bids for snow removal in the future was also passed.