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Historical Preservation Commission backs three-year MOU with train volunteers after lengthy negotiations
Summary
Members of the Historical Preservation Commission said they reluctantly approved a three-year memorandum of understanding (MOU) with volunteers working on a city-owned steam locomotive; HPC members said they worked since March to reach a unanimous recommendation and thanked the council for passing a supporting resolution.
A representative of the Historical Preservation Commission told the Evanston City Council the commission had worked since March to negotiate an MOU with volunteers restoring the city-owned steam locomotive and ultimately agreed unanimously to the three-year document brought to council.
The commission representative described the process as difficult and iterative, saying the commission “patched it over” and “started over” several times in an effort to balance the city’s interests with those of the volunteers. She thanked council members for passing a related resolution and said the commission hoped the MOU and council guidance would allow it to work productively with the volunteers going forward.
The commission speaker said the HPC did not get everything it wanted but felt the agreement provided sufficient protections to work under for three years, with the expectation the parties would revisit the arrangement later. She also emphasized that the commission seeks broader work beyond the engine and would welcome training and support from the city to improve its capacity.
Council records and the transcript show the HPC speaker addressing the council and expressing appreciation that the matter had been taken seriously; the transcript contains no roll-call vote on the MOU in the provided excerpt but indicates a council resolution supporting the arrangement was passed earlier in the meeting.
