City Council is exploring a new rule proposed by Mayor Daniel Biss that would require referrals — actions introduced for City Council and its committees — to receive at least two co-sponsors for guaranteed committee placement.
Evanston residents spoke against Biss’ proposed rule at the Oct. 10 City Council meeting, saying it would suppress out-of-the-box ideas.
“While I’m sure we all want council members to work together and support each other’s ideas, I believe firmly in giving creative ideas every chance at being heard,” activist and resident Darlene Cannon said.
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Current rules assign all referrals to a committee, usually by the Referrals Committee, for discussion prior to reaching City Council unless it’s considered a special order of business. Biss’ proposed rule would still allow sponsors to introduce a referral without co-sponsors and would still appear before the Referrals Committee for initial consideration and possible committee placement.
Biss’ proposed rule was initially greeted with hesitancy from alderpersons but passed the rules committee 9-1 with Ald. Devon Reid opposed on Sept. 19.
Reid said he opposes the idea because it creates a barrier in the legislative process.
“Our sole power as council members is our legislative authority so to create a barrier for legislators to do their job doesn’t make a lot of sense,” Reid said. “There are items that have come up in this term — and historically — that may not have always had (support in) the beginning.”
Reid said a group of referrals aimed at revisiting potentially unconstitutional ordinances, including the burglar’s tool ordinance and an ordinance concerning public nudity, are examples of that.
“I made the burglar’s tool referral and (a local news organization) covered it in a way that was misleading so some of my colleagues were wondering ‘what is this,'” Reid said. “I was able to refer it and it got a hearing at the Human Services Committee. Because of this, our law department looked into it and determined that this ordinance has been found unconstitutional.”
The burglar’s tool ordinance originally made it illegal to carry items that could be used to execute a burglary. Reid said he questioned what defines a burglar’s tool considering something as simple as a credit card could be used.
Under the original ordinance, Evanstonians had to prove to law enforcement officials that the item they were carrying wasn’t being used for burglary but as an everyday item, Reid said. The law’s language was eventually tweaked to be in line with state law.
At the Sept. 19 Rules Committee meeting, Biss said the Referrals Committee believes it wouldn’t be constructive to move some referrals forward — that it eats up time and staff resources to eventually go nowhere. Biss said he would like to give the Referrals Committee the power to kill referrals fitting this category but he still wanted to provide referrals guaranteed committee placement if it has enough support. Other communities have policies similar to this, according to Biss.
“One proposal I’ve heard from a lot of people, which is what is done in a lot of other communities, is that you have to get some statement of support from the majority of City Council before significant staff time is put into something,” Biss said. “That would be four co-sponsors. That felt like too much. To me, it felt like there should be some intermediate stage (so that’s why it’s two).”
The proposed rule was tabled until November so the Rules Committee can discuss further.
Corey Schmidt is a freelance reporter with Pioneer Press.