The Naperville City Council took several actions at this past week’s meeting, from revisiting previously denied consultant services to tweaking the city’s system for communicating with elected officials. Here’s a roundup of the highlights:
Energy consultant services back out for bids
A contract for energy consultant services that the council voted down three months ago is going back out to bid, elected officials decided Tuesday.
First sought in June, city staff requested the council approve bringing in consultants to help chart a path forward for the future of Naperville’s electric supply. The city’s current electric provider is the coal-heavy Illinois Municipal Electric Agency (IMEA), its contact with the city set to expire in 2035.
The request was unanimously rejected by the council because of concerns over necessity.
A key qualm was it was too early to broach the subject. Members worried that pressure from IMEA — which has requested that the city decide whether it will extend its contract past 2035 by next year — was unnecessarily speeding up the council’s window to make informed decisions.
Councilwoman Jennifer Bruzan Taylor brought the matter back to council during the new business portion of the meeting. Though wary of the consultant work in June because of IMEA’s possible influence, Taylor said that over the summer she had come to understand that the services are needed.
“I have since learned that the timing with the IMEA pushing their contract renewal was coincidental,” she said. “That no matter what … we need to start as a city looking at all of the potential options we can.”
She asked for a show of support to direct staff to reissue a request for proposals for an energy consultant to analyze the market and provide the city with options regarding potential energy providers. Not everyone on the dais was sold but ultimately four other council members supported her request.
Brian Groth, the city’s electric utility director, welcomed the help, noting that staff in recent months have been trying to do the energy procurement planning work themselves.
“Luckily, now I am able to rerelease the RFP (request for proposals) and hopefully hire a consultant to really take a look,” he said after Tuesday’s meeting.
Asked how long he expected the process to take, Groth said, “I really don’t know what the timelines will be.”
Wrongful conviction settlement approved
The council Tuesday approved a $25.5 million settlement and release agreement to resolve a 2018 federal civil rights lawsuit filed by a Naperville man over his wrongful conviction, a case the city recently lost in court.
Last month, a federal jury awarded $22.5 million in compensatory damages to the estate of William Amor, who spent 22 years in prison for the 1995 murder of his mother-in-law — a crime he was later found to have not committed.
In settling, the city agreed not to appeal the jury’s findings.
With the agreement now approved, parties will file a motion with the federal court to enter a stipulation dismissing the case pursuant to the settlement. They will also ask the court to vacate the jury’s judgment entered last month.
Tweaks sought in council communication system
At the council’s request, staff will be reviewing how the city’s system for the public to contact elected officials can be more user-friendly and accessible.
In March, the city launched a new way for community members to connect with the mayor and council. Rather than submitting inquiries to officials by using their city email addresses, any request, question or feedback now gets routed through the city’s Help Center.
Council members’ emails are no longer listed on the city’s website.
When the new system was announced earlier this year, city officials said the change would help ensure inquiries are responded to more effectively.
As part of new business discussed Tuesday, the system’s efficiencies were acknowledged but concerns raised over with the ease of use for council members and constituents as well as the difficulty people are now having in reaching them directly.
With a unanimous show of hands, council members directed staff to look at ways to improve the system.
