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Council to consider bond refinancing ordinances, hold special meetings on CPS board, ShotSpotter contract
Mayor Brandon Johnson presides over a City Council meeting in April 2024. [Don Vincent/The Daily Line]
The City Council will meet on Wednesday at 10 a.m. to consider final approval of two major bond refinancing ordinances recently passed by the finance committee that are key to the city getting its budget shortfall under control.
Alderpeople have also called for two special meetings in the afternoon — one that covers the shakeup at the Chicago Board of Education and another that represents the latest effort to save the city’s recently decommissioned acoustic gunshot detection technology ShotSpotter.
The two bond transactions, both approved by the Committee on Finance last week despite some dissent on each, are aimed at reducing the city’s debt service and increasing cash flow savings as it faces a nearly $1 billion budget gap for 2025 and a nearly $223 million end-of-year deficit for 2024.
“The City of Chicago is committed to finding innovative and responsible ways to meet our financial challenges while prioritizing the long-term stability of our budget,” Mayor Brandon Johnson said in a news release Tuesday. “This refinancing plan represents another important step in creating a stronger financial foundation for our city — one that benefits all Chicagoans.”
One ordinance (O2024-0012441) authorizes the city to refinance $152 million in Wastewater Transmission Revenue Bonds, and the other (SO2024-0012442) authorizes up to a $1.5 billion refinancing through a sales tax securitization corporation set up by the city in 2017. Under the second measure, the city would refinance $980 million in General Obligation Bonds using a mix of general obligation and sales tax securitization corporation bonds and would execute a $500 million tender by purchasing its own debt on the open market and canceling it.
Additionally, the council will consider final approval of an ordinance (O2024-0012425) that would end the process of submitting acquisitions, dispositions and changes-in-use of city-owned land and land owned by sister agencies to the Chicago Plan Commission and Community Development Commission.
The measure, which was approved by the Committee on Housing and Real Estate last week, is aimed at speeding up some development projects in line with the mayor’s “Cut the Tape” initiative.
Alds. Nicole Lee (11), Gilbert Villegas (36), Marty Quinn (13), Maria Hadden (49) and Andre Vasquez (40) called for a special council meeting at 2 p.m. following the regular council meeting to hear from the seven outgoing Chicago school board members that announced their resignations last week, as well as the six nominees announced by Johnson Monday.
The notice for the special meeting states the City Council intends to convene as a Committee of the Whole to hear testimony on the challenges facing Chicago Public Schools (CPS). The notice also includes a resolution that will be considered if the outgoing board members or any proposed appointments do not attend the hearing. The resolution formally calls on the outgoing board members and new appointees to appear before the City Council.
Though the council typically doesn’t have subpoena power, Villegas told The Daily Line that he’s working with the Legislative Reference Bureau to see if there’s a mechanism by which the council could compel them to appear. He said it has happened before, such as when the council compelled officials to testify about disgraced Police Cmdr. Jon Burge.
Forty-one alderpeople signed a letter that called for a hearing before any of the mayor’s new appointments to the board are seated, though the mayor has noted he has the authority to seat board members without a council vote. On Monday, the mayor announced six prospective appointments but said they were still undergoing vetting.
Villegas said he wants the outgoing board members to address the CPS budget approved this past summer, the district’s new five-year strategic plan, their communications with the administration and their opinions on securing more funding from the state and federal governments. As for the new members, he wants to hear their vision for the district.
“This is not a gotcha, we’re talking about people who are in charge of a $9.9 billion enterprise,” Villegas said.
The 36th Ward alderperson also said he hopes the hearing inspires the state to amend the state law that established the elected school board to require council confirmation of mayoral appointments, noting that he doesn’t think the General Assembly would ever be OK with the governor unilaterally appointing people. All appointments to state board or agency leadership positions by the governor require Senate confirmation.
The board will become completely elected in 2027. For the first two years, it will be a partially appointed board.
Finally, alderpeople have also called for a second special meeting focused on ShotSpotter at 3 p.m. or immediately after the CPS board-focused meeting.
At that special meeting, Alds. Silvana Tabares (23), Peter Chico (10), Raymond Lopez (15), and Anthony Napolitano (41) intend to hold a vote on an ordinance they sponsored that would require Office of Public Safety Administration Executive Director Annastasia Walker, Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling and the city’s corporation counsel to enter into a two-year ShotSpotter contract to ensure no interruption of gunshot detection services while the city completes its ongoing search for a replacement.
At a press conference at City Hall Tuesday, Alds. David Moore (17), Chico, Stephanie Coleman (16) and Ronnie Mosley (21) were joined by representatives of the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago and anti-violence advocates to announce that the Civic Committee had raised $2.5 million to pay for a new ShotSpotter contract until a replacement is secured.
Last month, the council approved an ordinance that would allow Snelling, a supporter of the technology, to override the mayor’s decision to cancel the contract.
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