VILLAGE OF NORTH AURORA
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE MEETING MINUTES
JUNE 5, 2017
CALL TO ORDER
Mayor Berman called the meeting to order
ROLL CALL
In attendance: Mayor Dale Berman, Trustee Mark Gaffino, Trustee Mike Lowery, Trustee Laura Curtis, Trustee Tao Martinez, Trustee Mark Guethle, Village Clerk Lori Murray. Not in attendance: Trustee Mark Carroll.
Staff in attendance: Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Finance Director Bill Hannah, Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth, Public Works Director John Laskowski, Police Chief David Fisher.
DISCUSSION
1. Electric Aggregation
The Village has had a program in place for residential electric aggregation since 2011. The Village goes out and secures an electricity price from an alternate provider that is lower than current ComEd pricing. Since that has been in place, residents have saved $2.1 million from the program. The Village entered into a 2-year agreement with Dynegy in September of 2015. At the time the energy rate selected Dynegy it supported 100% renewable energy credits and was just under the ComEd rate by 1/10th of a cent. The upcoming ComEd rate effective September of 2017 is going to be 7.12 cents per kilowatt hour. That rate is adjusted monthly by up to a ½ cent. It fluctuates from the base rate every month. Hannah stated that all of the rates right now are higher than the base ComEd rate. Besides ComEd, the lowest price is Dynegy with 7.244 cents. If the Board wants to consider 100% renewable energy credits, it would increase the cost to 7.437 cents per kilowatt hour. A decision is needed in two weeks.
Trustee Curtis asked how paying into the subsidies for renewable energy, how the Village is able to have a lower rate. Hannah explained that in the past, ComEd procured its power through the Illinois Power Agency. When the market was really high, they locked into these longer term contracts. A lot of cities were able to procure separate power contracts that were considerably less. As those expensive energy contracts rolled off, it has been harder to beat the default ComEd supply rate. Steve Bosco noted that a lot of people believe that ComEd generates power which it does not. It distributes power.
Curtis said that we need to keep the consumer’s best interest in mind. Renewable energy might be good in theory but not everyone will support it and therefore we should be going with the best price. Hannah said some of the suppliers try to solicit individual residents. Residents feel better with going with village aggregation. Berman said we have supported in the past, the renewable energy portion. Curtis said she was concerned since there is a trend with the Village spending money it does not need to spend and the Village needs to look out for the residents. Curtis added that there are citizens on fixed incomes who are having trouble paying their bills. The Village also has a very large senior citizen population who may not want to spend the extra amount for renewable energy.
Gaffino asked if renewable energy last time was a lower cost. Hannah said yes.
Hannah said that prices will be refreshed and brought to the Village Board for consideration in 2 weeks.
2. Collection Bins
At the May 15th Committee of the Whole meeting, there was a discussion on Collection Bins. A draft ordinance agreement was presented to the Board. Community & Economic Development Director Mike Toth noted the two changes that were being made:
1. Cleaning up time changed from every 30 days to every 14 days.
2. Item K references the location requirements. It mimics the accessory structure provisions and location requirements for accessory buildings in non-residential areas.
The Board was in agreement with the proposed changes.
3. Liquor Code Updates
Special Events Liquor license change. The Special Event license, for charitable organizations, limits sales to only beer and wine. For the concert in the park on the 3rd day of NA Days, there are food trucks interested as well as some local establishments interested in selling margaritas. To allow for this, the Village will have to allow BYOB to carry over to Special Use license where charitable organizations can sell beer, wine and spirits. The business with the actual liquor license would be selling the liquor. The second change is that the special events license is limited to 6 hours in duration. NA Days is more than 6 hours. The Village will make it equal to a special use permit to mimic the special use liquor license rules. There were no further questions. The Board was in favor of the changes.
ADJOURNMENT
Motion made by Trustee Lowery and seconded by Trustee Curtis to adjourn to executive session for the purpose of discussing Collective Bargaining. All in favor. Motion approved.
Respectfully Submitted,
Lori J. Murray
Village Clerk
