Community Relations Dept. Survives Yorkville Budget Session

A proposal to cut the Yorkville’s entire $54,950 community relations department budget failed Saturday at a marathon City Council meeting that at times disintegrated into sharp comments about past issues.

Mayor Valerie Burd and aldermen hadn’t finished reviewing the proposed budget and accompanying policy decisions when the meeting ended after about six hours. About 4:15 p.m., Alderman Robyn Sutcliff (Ward 3) announced she needed to leave and not enough aldermen remained to legally hold a meeting.

Aldermen plan to continue discussing the budget at their March 8 meeting and hope to pass the spending plan for the fiscal year starting May 1 at their April 26 meeting.

Alderman George Gilson Jr. (Ward 1) suggested cutting the city’s community relations department. When the meeting began shortly after 9 a.m., Gilson said he wanted to “shrink some of the bloatedness that we’ve incurred over the last few years of growth.”

Mayor Valerie Burd opened the meeting by commenting that several cuts had been made to city expenses in recent years. Community relations officer Glory Spies' hours were reduced from full- to part-time a few months ago during a round of layoffs.

About $110,336 in the city’s general fund had been budgeted for the community relations department in this fiscal year, but city leaders are projecting the actual spending will be closer to $91,000, according to the Fiscal Year 2012 budget proposal. They proposed spending $54,950 next year, down from $134,378 in the fiscal year that ended April 30, 2009.

Alderman Diane Teeling (Ward 4) defended the community relations department as promoting open government and communicating directly with Yorkville residents.

“This department directly affects our residents,” Teeling said. “This is the department they can come to if they have questions.”

But Alderman Rose Spears (Ward 4) suggested aldermen could provide the majority of that type of information to their constituents.

“I don’t think this department is a need,” Spears said. “I think it’s a want.”

Sutcliff said other city staff members wouldn’t be able to pick up community relations duties if the department was cut.

“Nobody else has time to do all that stuff because everyone else is still doing two jobs,” Sutcliff said, adding the Spies issues e-mail blasts and updates the city website, among other duties.

“Most residents don’t know who their alderman is, let’s be honest,” Sutcliff added. “When they have a question, they call City Hall.”

For her part, Spies said much of her job focused on answering residents’ questions and concerns.

“I think this whole department is being misrepresented,” Spies said. “I’m looked at as the party fund, but 98 percent of what it do is with the residents …  In the day when communication is the key, we have Facebook. We have Twitter. I’m doing all that. If we were cut that, it’s like cutting off your right arm.”

But Gilson pointed out that cuts needed to be made somewhere.

“You have to draw someplace,” Gilson said. “I don’t see anyone drawing large dollars from anywhere.”

After prompting from Alderman Joe Plocher (Ward 2), Gilson made a formal motion to cut the department, which was defeated when Burd broke a tie vote.

Voting to cut the department were Aldermen Gary Golinski, (Ward 2) Gilson and Spears. Aldermen Marty Munns (Ward 3) and Wally Werderich (Ward 1) were absent from the vote.