Board of Aldermen 07-13-2021 Page 28
amend this process so that if someone has not paid their dog fees that that essentially gets tacked on to another
bill like their car registration if they have one or property taxes to make it a little bit more of an efficient process.
| think there are a lot of issues with it. | think the $7.00 cost of service fee part cost doesn’t cover the cost of an
actual service of the Police Department. So | would hope maybe we can look into that; the State can look into
that moving forward. Again it is not really a big issue but something that comes up every year and bothers me so
| thought | would bring it up.
| also wanted to congratulate the Mayor of getting the support of all the public comment tonight. | think it’s a first
for the people coming in so congratulations.
Alderman Lopez
First | just wanted to express my condolences to the family, friends and the community on the passing of
Reverend Perkins. She has attended a lot of events over the years, particularly vigils and faith gatherings. She
is a very inspirational part of the community and | just wanted to acknowledge her passing. | wanted to - we
brought up the upcoming resolution to adopt Juneteenth; | just wanted to communicate that last year we had
talked about adopting Indigenous Persons Day as a substitute for Columbus Day and | have been in coordination
with Alderman Kelly and with the Cultural Connections Committee, the Library and the Mayor and doing some
due diligence on that and making sure that we are actually coordinating the Indigenous People and are making
sure that they are represented in our history and how we would celebrate that day.
| wanted to bring the Board’s attention to the Board of Health Meeting tomorrow at 12:30. | had emailed them
and let them know that we had tabled the motion to expand the Board. | didn’t hear any specific concerns about
the size about, the scope of it or that it would interfere, just that there was a preference on the part of the Chair
not to. So | wanted to have that discussion at the Committee Level because he has expressed that he had not
heard of it prior to that and had not gotten any emails. | did double check and our Legislative Assistant did
forward that to the Board of Health when it was passed and | do personal recall (audio feedback) bringing it up at
past meetings. But | think either way the Board of Health should have the opportunity to discuss it. How that is
reflected in their minutes | am not entirely sure because they don’t take verbatims which is why | am inviting other
Aldermen to attend because | don’t intend to contradict a Board with regards to a recommendation on how it is
structured but you won’t be able to hear the arguments or see the arguments unless there is an audio record kept
or the meetings are done verbatim which has not been the case for the last several. So, again, that would be
tomorrow at 12:30.
And then finally | wanted to draw the Board’s attention to the Your Choice Your Voice initiative that the
Community Development Office is doing. The futsal court that Alderman Klee mentioned and has really been a
huge addition to Ash Street was created at the behest and with the support of local residents. Some of the
children at the PAL Center particularly identified that as a possible use for resources and that’s how participatory
budgeting works. You let people living in that immediate area and in that neighborhood identify what kind of
amenities or what kind of resources or what kinds of supports they would like to use $40,000.00 for. So it is a
great educational experience for people in the community, it’s a great opportunity for them to feel like they are
heard and they are actually involved, even the name Your Choice Your Voice kind of communicates that. So |
would encourage Aldermen to attend to that. | am planning a local town hall meeting two weeks from Wednesday
on July 28" at 9:00 a.m. in Palm Square and | am expecting the Community Development Division to present at
that point. So if Aldermen would like to attend for that, you are definitely invited. Thank you.
President Wilshire
What day is that Alderman Lopez?
Alderman Lopez
Wednesday July 28" at 9:00 a.m.
