Make Your Voice Heard on Increased
Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave in Wilmette
Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave in Wilmette
The Trustees will not act without YOUR support
The trustees are counting the number of emails they receive and the number of people expressing support at meetings. At the last meeting, the audience was evenly split between those favoring opting in and those opposed. Your voice and your presence are needed! Email the Trustees at the addresses below and attend their next meeting on Tuesday, June 26 at 7:00pm.
Why should the Village Trustees vote to OPT-IN to the Cook County Minimum Wage and Sick Leave ordinances? Here are just a few reasons . . .
GOOD FOR WORKERS
1. Workers need more than $17,160 per year to live
A full time worker earning $8.25 per hour earns a pre-tax annual income of $17,160 by working 40 hours a week, every week of the year. This is not enough to provide for their basic food, shelter and healthcare needs.
2. More income for the 70-80% of low-wage earners supports families
The working group report indicates that 70-80% of low wage earners in Wilmette support families. The Cook County living wage for a ONE person household is $13.30/hour. Our workers need more than $8.25/hour to support others in their households.
3. Minimum wage in Illinois should not be "one size fits all”
$8.25 per hour is the minimum wage law in ALL parts of Illinois, regardless of a worker’s cost of living. Workers in Cook County must earn $13.30/hour to pay for basic food, shelter and healthcare needs vs. workers in a small, downstate communities.
GOOD FOR RESIDENTS
1. When they get sick, you get sick
More than 1/3 of our local workforce does not earn paid sick time. 43% of food-borne illnesses are caused by employees who come to work sick. Without paid sick time, workers must sometimes choose between their income and going to work sick or sending children to school sick.
2. As taxpayers, we subsidize low wage workers who are not paid a living wage
When workers do not earn wages to support their basic food, shelter and healthcare needs, we pay to support them. For example, Township services like the food pantry and child care funding generally support working families trying to make ends meet. A fair wage reduces worker dependence on government and community subsidies.
3. It's what Wilmette residents support!
66% of residents polled by the working group think minimum wage is too low. 2/3 support enacting both the minimum wage and paid sick leave ordinances in Wilmette.
GOOD FOR GOVERNANCE
1. Working group data clearly supports the ordinances
The Village Board formed the minimum wage and sick leave working group to investigate the local impact of the ordinances. Wilmette and Trustees should act in accordance with the findings of their study which support enacting the ordinances.
2. Chicago’s 2014 Ordinances Have Not Been Challenged
Chicago enacted “home rule” minimum wage and sick leave ordinances in 2014, affecting thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of employees. The City's ordinances have not been legally challenged since they went into effect in 2015.
GOOD FOR BUSINESS
1. Successful businesses continue to flourish when minimum wage is raised
Multiple peer-reviewed scholarly studies are included in the working group report. The most scientifically rigorous of these reports clearly demonstrate that raising minimum wage has no negative effect on local businesses or employees.
2. New businesses will continue to choose Wilmette
The working group report includes interviews with local real estate professionals regarding the effect of the ordinances on the local market. Those interviewed reported that the ordinances have no impact on a business owner's decision to locate in Wilmette.
3. Future Wilmette businesses should meet our existing employers’ standards
According to the Wilmette Chamber of Commerce, “most Wilmette businesses already pay their employees more than $13/hour.” The minimum wage ordinance ensures that future employers provide for their employees as generously as the current local businesses we support.
4. City of Chicago jobs have grown since enacting similar ordinances
The City of Chicago enacted new minimum wage and sick leave ordinances in 2015. Since then, job growth in Chicago has been 11% higher than in suburban communities without similar ordinances.
5. Thriving business communities have enacted the ordinances
Hundreds of businesses in Skokie and Evanston were impacted when the ordinances went into effect last July, but both business communities continue to thrive. Only one of our closest neighboring communities did not enact the ordinances when they went into effect in 2017.
For more information, please see the full report on the Village of Wilmette website at Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Working Group Report
Email the Trustees:
Village President Bob Bielinski [email protected]
Trustee Kathy Dodd [email protected]
Trustee Joel Kurzman [email protected]
Trustee George Pearce [email protected]
Trustee Senta Plunkett [email protected]
Trustee Daniel E. Sullivan, Jr. [email protected]
Trustee Julie Wolf [email protected]
The trustees are counting the number of emails they receive and the number of people expressing support at meetings. At the last meeting, the audience was evenly split between those favoring opting in and those opposed. Your voice and your presence are needed! Email the Trustees at the addresses below and attend their next meeting on Tuesday, June 26 at 7:00pm.
Why should the Village Trustees vote to OPT-IN to the Cook County Minimum Wage and Sick Leave ordinances? Here are just a few reasons . . .
GOOD FOR WORKERS
1. Workers need more than $17,160 per year to live
A full time worker earning $8.25 per hour earns a pre-tax annual income of $17,160 by working 40 hours a week, every week of the year. This is not enough to provide for their basic food, shelter and healthcare needs.
2. More income for the 70-80% of low-wage earners supports families
The working group report indicates that 70-80% of low wage earners in Wilmette support families. The Cook County living wage for a ONE person household is $13.30/hour. Our workers need more than $8.25/hour to support others in their households.
3. Minimum wage in Illinois should not be "one size fits all”
$8.25 per hour is the minimum wage law in ALL parts of Illinois, regardless of a worker’s cost of living. Workers in Cook County must earn $13.30/hour to pay for basic food, shelter and healthcare needs vs. workers in a small, downstate communities.
GOOD FOR RESIDENTS
1. When they get sick, you get sick
More than 1/3 of our local workforce does not earn paid sick time. 43% of food-borne illnesses are caused by employees who come to work sick. Without paid sick time, workers must sometimes choose between their income and going to work sick or sending children to school sick.
2. As taxpayers, we subsidize low wage workers who are not paid a living wage
When workers do not earn wages to support their basic food, shelter and healthcare needs, we pay to support them. For example, Township services like the food pantry and child care funding generally support working families trying to make ends meet. A fair wage reduces worker dependence on government and community subsidies.
3. It's what Wilmette residents support!
66% of residents polled by the working group think minimum wage is too low. 2/3 support enacting both the minimum wage and paid sick leave ordinances in Wilmette.
GOOD FOR GOVERNANCE
1. Working group data clearly supports the ordinances
The Village Board formed the minimum wage and sick leave working group to investigate the local impact of the ordinances. Wilmette and Trustees should act in accordance with the findings of their study which support enacting the ordinances.
2. Chicago’s 2014 Ordinances Have Not Been Challenged
Chicago enacted “home rule” minimum wage and sick leave ordinances in 2014, affecting thousands of businesses and hundreds of thousands of employees. The City's ordinances have not been legally challenged since they went into effect in 2015.
GOOD FOR BUSINESS
1. Successful businesses continue to flourish when minimum wage is raised
Multiple peer-reviewed scholarly studies are included in the working group report. The most scientifically rigorous of these reports clearly demonstrate that raising minimum wage has no negative effect on local businesses or employees.
2. New businesses will continue to choose Wilmette
The working group report includes interviews with local real estate professionals regarding the effect of the ordinances on the local market. Those interviewed reported that the ordinances have no impact on a business owner's decision to locate in Wilmette.
3. Future Wilmette businesses should meet our existing employers’ standards
According to the Wilmette Chamber of Commerce, “most Wilmette businesses already pay their employees more than $13/hour.” The minimum wage ordinance ensures that future employers provide for their employees as generously as the current local businesses we support.
4. City of Chicago jobs have grown since enacting similar ordinances
The City of Chicago enacted new minimum wage and sick leave ordinances in 2015. Since then, job growth in Chicago has been 11% higher than in suburban communities without similar ordinances.
5. Thriving business communities have enacted the ordinances
Hundreds of businesses in Skokie and Evanston were impacted when the ordinances went into effect last July, but both business communities continue to thrive. Only one of our closest neighboring communities did not enact the ordinances when they went into effect in 2017.
For more information, please see the full report on the Village of Wilmette website at Minimum Wage and Paid Sick Leave Working Group Report
Email the Trustees:
Village President Bob Bielinski [email protected]
Trustee Kathy Dodd [email protected]
Trustee Joel Kurzman [email protected]
Trustee George Pearce [email protected]
Trustee Senta Plunkett [email protected]
Trustee Daniel E. Sullivan, Jr. [email protected]
Trustee Julie Wolf [email protected]
Click on the graphic to see it as a PDF.
Letter sent to the Wilmette/Kenilworth Chamber of Commerce by the League of Women Voters of Wilmette, June 6, 2018
Dear Executive Director, Board, and Members of the Wilmette/Kenilworth Chamber of Commerce,
As the Wilmette Village Board of Trustees considers whether to opt back into our county’s minimum wage and paid sick leave ordinances, the Wilmette League of Women Voters recognizes that the arguments for and against have become emotional. Fortunately, the Village Board acted to remove emotional bias by appointing the Working Group of residents and business owners, including three members of the Chamber. Their thoroughly researched report, produced with the assistance of the Village’s excellent staff, provides a strong factual foundation on which to base the decision.
We appreciate that there is some fear of the unknowns that might occur as a result of opting into the ordinances but believe those fears can be allayed by looking at the Working Group report (Report of the Working Group on Minimum Wage and Sick Leave). This report systematically identified questions to be answered, then gathered and assessed extensive data and expert studies to address those chosen questions. The gathered research and data of the Working Group’s report provide a basis for distinguishing speculative concerns and identifying real outcomes. The results reveal that fears related to opting back in are not supported by the data.
The following important facts in the report are particularly critical:
The Working Group report shows that the great majority of Wilmette businesses already pay their workers at least $13 an hour and already offer paid time off. The Village Board can help maintain this standard of decency set by our Wilmette businesses by repealing the opt out, ensuring that all businesses in the future meet these standards for the people who work in our village.
We believe that all of us who live and work in our Village do not want the people who work in our Village to live in poverty or be unable to take time off to care for themselves or their family. The questions asked and answered by the Working Group report clearly establish that the specific concerns and speculative negative outcomes of the county ordinances do not exist and the anticipated benefits are real.
Wilmette is a community of neighbors; we all live, work, learn, shop, play, dine with our friends and neighbors here in Wilmette. We all share the same goals for individuals and our collective community. Our community wants and supports a thriving business community, and we greatly appreciate all that Chamber of Commerce members contribute toward making Wilmette a wonderful place. We support opting in to the minimum wage and paid sick leave ordinances to maintain the high standards that Wilmette already sets, to be a leader in Chicagoland and to invest in all aspects of the future of our community.
Regards,
Kate Gjaja and Allyson Haut
League of Women Voters of Wilmette
Dear Executive Director, Board, and Members of the Wilmette/Kenilworth Chamber of Commerce,
As the Wilmette Village Board of Trustees considers whether to opt back into our county’s minimum wage and paid sick leave ordinances, the Wilmette League of Women Voters recognizes that the arguments for and against have become emotional. Fortunately, the Village Board acted to remove emotional bias by appointing the Working Group of residents and business owners, including three members of the Chamber. Their thoroughly researched report, produced with the assistance of the Village’s excellent staff, provides a strong factual foundation on which to base the decision.
We appreciate that there is some fear of the unknowns that might occur as a result of opting into the ordinances but believe those fears can be allayed by looking at the Working Group report (Report of the Working Group on Minimum Wage and Sick Leave). This report systematically identified questions to be answered, then gathered and assessed extensive data and expert studies to address those chosen questions. The gathered research and data of the Working Group’s report provide a basis for distinguishing speculative concerns and identifying real outcomes. The results reveal that fears related to opting back in are not supported by the data.
The following important facts in the report are particularly critical:
- When Village staff interviewed three commercial real estate brokers with listings throughout the North Shore, none said the existence of the County ordinances would discourage tenants from locating in Wilmette. All three brokers said that the price of rent, physical location and access to parking were more important factors (p. 27).
- Chicago, which passed similar minimum wage and paid sick leave laws in 2014, had as robust job growth in 2015-16 as its suburban neighbors that did not have the same laws. It enjoyed 2.1% higher job growth in 2016-17 over its suburban neighbors without similar laws (p. 17).
- Wilmette has 1,347 workers who earn less than $1,250 a month ($15,000 a year) at their primary job (p. 7). This is well below a living wage for a single adult in Cook County, which is $13.30, according to an MIT study (p. 12). At least 70 percent of the workers are working to support families, and 250 live in the village (p. 7).
- The current state minimum wage has remained at $8.25 (p. 5) an hour since 2010 and has been losing value to inflation for 8 years.
- Parents with paid sick days are more than 20% less likely to send a child with a contagious disease to school than parents who did not have paid sick days (p. 38). Flu rates decrease after workers gain access to paid sick day (p. 36).
- Providing paid sick leave adds only 0.7 – 1.5% to employee compensation costs (p. 30).
- The scientifically conducted telephone survey of 303 randomly selected adults commissioned by the village found that 66.4 percent of residents want Wilmette to adopt the higher minimum wage ordinances (p. 26) and 67 percent support the county’s paid sick leave ordinances (p. 43).
The Working Group report shows that the great majority of Wilmette businesses already pay their workers at least $13 an hour and already offer paid time off. The Village Board can help maintain this standard of decency set by our Wilmette businesses by repealing the opt out, ensuring that all businesses in the future meet these standards for the people who work in our village.
We believe that all of us who live and work in our Village do not want the people who work in our Village to live in poverty or be unable to take time off to care for themselves or their family. The questions asked and answered by the Working Group report clearly establish that the specific concerns and speculative negative outcomes of the county ordinances do not exist and the anticipated benefits are real.
Wilmette is a community of neighbors; we all live, work, learn, shop, play, dine with our friends and neighbors here in Wilmette. We all share the same goals for individuals and our collective community. Our community wants and supports a thriving business community, and we greatly appreciate all that Chamber of Commerce members contribute toward making Wilmette a wonderful place. We support opting in to the minimum wage and paid sick leave ordinances to maintain the high standards that Wilmette already sets, to be a leader in Chicagoland and to invest in all aspects of the future of our community.
Regards,
Kate Gjaja and Allyson Haut
League of Women Voters of Wilmette
May 15, 2018 Village Board Meeting
On May 15th, 7 pm, the Final Report of the Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Leave Working Group was presented to the Village Board at a special Committee of the Whole meeting at Village Hall. The LWV-W supports reversing the Village Board’s decision to opt out of the Cook County ordinances that raise minimum wage and mandate paid sick time for hourly workers.
Click HERE to review the Working Group's final report.
On May 15th, 7 pm, the Final Report of the Minimum Wage & Paid Sick Leave Working Group was presented to the Village Board at a special Committee of the Whole meeting at Village Hall. The LWV-W supports reversing the Village Board’s decision to opt out of the Cook County ordinances that raise minimum wage and mandate paid sick time for hourly workers.
Click HERE to review the Working Group's final report.
Background:
In 2017 two new ordinances raised minimum wage and mandated paid sick leave for employees of Cook County businesses. As a Home Rule municipality, the Village Trustees voted not to comply with the ordinances, citing a need for more data about local impact. A working group of citizens began meeting in January to collect information to inform the Trustees decision. The data will include published studies, results of a business survey, information about business conditions in surrounding communities that have complied with the ordinance and a resident survey. The Village will begin a phone survey of residents in early April.
How League members can help:
Please help your fellow citizens be informed about this local issue and encourage them to participate in the phone survey. Click HERE to download this infographic
For more information about the Village working group visit www.wilmette.com and type “Working Group” in the search box.
Infographic Sources:
Data in the infographic comes from the following sources:
In 2017 two new ordinances raised minimum wage and mandated paid sick leave for employees of Cook County businesses. As a Home Rule municipality, the Village Trustees voted not to comply with the ordinances, citing a need for more data about local impact. A working group of citizens began meeting in January to collect information to inform the Trustees decision. The data will include published studies, results of a business survey, information about business conditions in surrounding communities that have complied with the ordinance and a resident survey. The Village will begin a phone survey of residents in early April.
How League members can help:
Please help your fellow citizens be informed about this local issue and encourage them to participate in the phone survey. Click HERE to download this infographic
- Attend the May 15 Committee of the whole meeting
- Tell the trustees you support opting in to the ordinances (send email to mail [email protected] and ask him to forward to all trustees)
- Email the infographic to friends and neighbors or send a link to this page
- Share the infographic on social media
- Talk to friends and neighbors about the survey and encourage them to participate
- Bookmark this page for updates
For more information about the Village working group visit www.wilmette.com and type “Working Group” in the search box.
Infographic Sources:
Data in the infographic comes from the following sources:
- Minimum wage: https://www.dol.gov/whd/minwage/mw-consolidated.htm
- Annual pretax salary calculation: $8.25 x 40 hours per week x 52 weeks
- Date of last minimum wage increase. Note: legislation was passed in 2010 raising the minimum wage to $8.25/hour in 2011. https://data.illinois.gov/dataset/307idol_illinois_minimum_wage/resource/a288abda-51e7-44bb-8066-361bb5f50ab0
- Food borne illness data cited on the website of the Centers for Disease Control: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/ehs/ehsnet/docs/jfp-mgr-practice-ill-workers.pdf
- The Village of Wilmette working group provided:
- Number of low wage workers
- Percentage of workers who support families
- Number of workers without access to paid sick time
- Average age of minimum wage employee: https://www.epi.org/publication/wage-workers-older-88-percent-workers-benefit/
Cook County Minimum Wage and Earned Sick Leave
Ordinances:
Reply from John Jacoby, Chairman of the Working Group
January 12, 2018
Office of the Manager
January 12, 2018
Ms. Allyson Haut and Ms. Kate Gjaja
Co-Presidents, League of Women Voters of Wilmette
Dear Ms. Haut and Ms. Gjaja,
Thank you for your January 10 letter. As the Working Group proceeds with its information-gathering task, I hope you'll continue to participate and make suggestions. Please allow me to offer a few comments regarding the points made in your letter.
Your letter makes the entirely valid point that "the will of the village residents" should be sought and considered. This point is recognized in the December 27 memo from Village staff to the Working Group. It states that the Village Board's Finance Committee is asking the Working Group to consider "input from residents regarding the Cook County Ordinances". The memo goes on to identify "residents" as one of the key sources of information, and it suggests a "resident survey" as an option. I understand how you may have come away from our January 8 meeting feeling that this source didn't receive the attention and emphasis it deserves. However, I assure you that information will be eagerly and aggressively sought from residents before the process is over. Speaking for myself, I believe that residents will have the greatest opportunity to provide the most meaningful information if the Working Group first obtains information from other sources and then gives residents an opportunity to provide input in light of this information and even to challenge this information. (Of course, residents are welcome to provide input at any time.)
Your letter makes a similar point regarding Wilmette employees. Again, the December 27 memo recognizes the importance of soliciting information from employees. You'll soon see that one of the questionnaires being developed by the Working Group is directed to employees and is designed to obtain information from them.One of our concerns is how to distribute the employee questionnaire to elicit the maximum number of responses, and if you have any ideas in this regard, they'd also be welcome.
I'm very sensitive to the matter of "bias" raised in your letter. I frankly didn't see the basis for this concern a the January 8 meeting. However, I view it as one of my principal roles as Chair to make sure that the information-gathering process is balanced and thorough, and I'll continue to remind myself and the other members of the Working Group that our job is to impartially obtain and transmit an unbiased package of information relevant to the underlying issues and to suppress any proclivity we might have as individuals to favor one side or the other. Making a recommendation, either expressly or by slanting the information presented, would be exceeding the scope of our charge and entirely improper.
Finally, I agree that the Working Group, as you suggest, should seek credible and relevant quantitative analyses.
Thank you again for helping us work our way through this challenging process.
Yours truly,
John Jacoby
January 12, 2018
Ms. Allyson Haut and Ms. Kate Gjaja
Co-Presidents, League of Women Voters of Wilmette
Dear Ms. Haut and Ms. Gjaja,
Thank you for your January 10 letter. As the Working Group proceeds with its information-gathering task, I hope you'll continue to participate and make suggestions. Please allow me to offer a few comments regarding the points made in your letter.
Your letter makes the entirely valid point that "the will of the village residents" should be sought and considered. This point is recognized in the December 27 memo from Village staff to the Working Group. It states that the Village Board's Finance Committee is asking the Working Group to consider "input from residents regarding the Cook County Ordinances". The memo goes on to identify "residents" as one of the key sources of information, and it suggests a "resident survey" as an option. I understand how you may have come away from our January 8 meeting feeling that this source didn't receive the attention and emphasis it deserves. However, I assure you that information will be eagerly and aggressively sought from residents before the process is over. Speaking for myself, I believe that residents will have the greatest opportunity to provide the most meaningful information if the Working Group first obtains information from other sources and then gives residents an opportunity to provide input in light of this information and even to challenge this information. (Of course, residents are welcome to provide input at any time.)
Your letter makes a similar point regarding Wilmette employees. Again, the December 27 memo recognizes the importance of soliciting information from employees. You'll soon see that one of the questionnaires being developed by the Working Group is directed to employees and is designed to obtain information from them.One of our concerns is how to distribute the employee questionnaire to elicit the maximum number of responses, and if you have any ideas in this regard, they'd also be welcome.
I'm very sensitive to the matter of "bias" raised in your letter. I frankly didn't see the basis for this concern a the January 8 meeting. However, I view it as one of my principal roles as Chair to make sure that the information-gathering process is balanced and thorough, and I'll continue to remind myself and the other members of the Working Group that our job is to impartially obtain and transmit an unbiased package of information relevant to the underlying issues and to suppress any proclivity we might have as individuals to favor one side or the other. Making a recommendation, either expressly or by slanting the information presented, would be exceeding the scope of our charge and entirely improper.
Finally, I agree that the Working Group, as you suggest, should seek credible and relevant quantitative analyses.
Thank you again for helping us work our way through this challenging process.
Yours truly,
John Jacoby
Letter from LWV-Wilmette to the Minimum Wage & Earned Paid Sick Leave Working Group
January 10, 2018
Dear Chairman Jacoby and Members of the Working Group,
Thank you for convening the Minimum Wage & Earned Paid Sick Leave Working Group. Our LWV-W Observer Report for Monday evening’s meeting will be posted on our website soon. In the meantime we would like to share feedback that we hope will be helpful.
We appreciate your important charge to the group to set aside bias and seek information. We also appreciate the willingness of the working group to engage with the community in attendance at the meeting. The atmosphere was thoughtful and the discourse civil. We hope this practice will continue.
During the meeting, it was striking that there is not a clear commitment to seeking and considering the will of the village residents who, after all, are the people who elect the trustees. The perspective and wishes of the Wilmette voters, who the trustees represent, should be of primary importance in trustee decision making.
The mandate itself, as expressed in the memo of December 27th, places inordinate emphasis on determining the impact of ordinances on businesses in Wilmette and omits the effects upon residents and workers. It states “...the impact on businesses, employees, and the Village as an overall economic engine.” We all know the community is much more than just an economic engine. It is also a place that expresses the values, perspectives, goals and hopes of residents.
A few additional comments:
1. While this work needs to be done as expeditiously as possible, the number, timing, and frequency of meetings should be determined by the work that needs to be accomplished. Schedule should be determined by measures of output and should not already be finalized.
2. While there have been several mentions of setting aside bias, based on the information shared when committee members introduced themselves at the beginning of the meeting, it was clear that some members of the working group consider themselves as representing small business. If members are to represent constituencies, it was not clear who was representing minimum wage workers.
3. There seemed to be a hesitation to consider peer-reviewed quantitative analyses due to concern about potential biases, conflicting results, and applicability to the unique attributes of Wilmette. While of course there may be studies that demonstrate bias, there is a large body of analyses that are credible and relevant. There are also metaanalyses and literature reviews that examine bodies of studies and address issues relevant in apparent conflicting results. In order to obtain the necessary information, we recommend the working group seek and consider these types of analyses.
4. It appears that there continues to be a reliance on anecdotes and speculation as evidence. We urge the committee to rely on data for decision making.
These comments and recommendations are intended to to strengthen the process and perception of the working group and we hope the comments will be received in that spirit. In a separate communication, we will submit the LWV-W suggestions of specific questions for investigation by the committee.
Sincerely,
Allyson Haut and Kate Gjaja
Co-Presidents League of Women Voters of Wilmette
Thank you for convening the Minimum Wage & Earned Paid Sick Leave Working Group. Our LWV-W Observer Report for Monday evening’s meeting will be posted on our website soon. In the meantime we would like to share feedback that we hope will be helpful.
We appreciate your important charge to the group to set aside bias and seek information. We also appreciate the willingness of the working group to engage with the community in attendance at the meeting. The atmosphere was thoughtful and the discourse civil. We hope this practice will continue.
During the meeting, it was striking that there is not a clear commitment to seeking and considering the will of the village residents who, after all, are the people who elect the trustees. The perspective and wishes of the Wilmette voters, who the trustees represent, should be of primary importance in trustee decision making.
The mandate itself, as expressed in the memo of December 27th, places inordinate emphasis on determining the impact of ordinances on businesses in Wilmette and omits the effects upon residents and workers. It states “...the impact on businesses, employees, and the Village as an overall economic engine.” We all know the community is much more than just an economic engine. It is also a place that expresses the values, perspectives, goals and hopes of residents.
A few additional comments:
1. While this work needs to be done as expeditiously as possible, the number, timing, and frequency of meetings should be determined by the work that needs to be accomplished. Schedule should be determined by measures of output and should not already be finalized.
2. While there have been several mentions of setting aside bias, based on the information shared when committee members introduced themselves at the beginning of the meeting, it was clear that some members of the working group consider themselves as representing small business. If members are to represent constituencies, it was not clear who was representing minimum wage workers.
3. There seemed to be a hesitation to consider peer-reviewed quantitative analyses due to concern about potential biases, conflicting results, and applicability to the unique attributes of Wilmette. While of course there may be studies that demonstrate bias, there is a large body of analyses that are credible and relevant. There are also metaanalyses and literature reviews that examine bodies of studies and address issues relevant in apparent conflicting results. In order to obtain the necessary information, we recommend the working group seek and consider these types of analyses.
4. It appears that there continues to be a reliance on anecdotes and speculation as evidence. We urge the committee to rely on data for decision making.
These comments and recommendations are intended to to strengthen the process and perception of the working group and we hope the comments will be received in that spirit. In a separate communication, we will submit the LWV-W suggestions of specific questions for investigation by the committee.
Sincerely,
Allyson Haut and Kate Gjaja
Co-Presidents League of Women Voters of Wilmette
Updates:
At the Village Board meeting on Tuesday, August 22nd, Village President Bielinski announced that the Board Finance Committee has been tasked with further study of the Cook County Minimum Wage and Earned Sick Leave Ordinances.
You can read President Bielinski's full memo to the Board on this matter on pages 292-295 of the Packet for the 8/22/17 meeting on the Village Website, https://www.wilmette.com/…/…/agendas/2017/Agenda-8-22-17.pdf
You can read President Bielinski's full memo to the Board on this matter on pages 292-295 of the Packet for the 8/22/17 meeting on the Village Website, https://www.wilmette.com/…/…/agendas/2017/Agenda-8-22-17.pdf