The city will inoculate all its 3,400 elm trees over the next three years, but city officials haven’t decided how to pay for it.

The outgoing Evanston City Council approved a contract Monday to inoculate elm trees against Dutch Elm Disease, but delayed a decision on funding until May 23.

The council meeting was followed by the new council’s inauguration, a ticket-only affair in which three aldermen with almost 50 years of combined experience yielded to a new leadership.

The inoculation plan will likely involve $25 total in charges added over three years to Evanston water bills. An early proposal called for homeowners to pay for half the inoculation cost for trees in front of their property, but some aldermen said they felt that this would fall unfairly on residents who have many trees near their homes.

“People had concerns about the 50-50 program and we are now making it less onerous for our citizens,” Ald. Lionel Jean-Baptiste (2nd) said. “I think it will get the support from our citizens.”

During the Administration and Public Works Committee meeting that preceded the City Council meeting, Ald. Ann Rainey (8th) said she regretted voting in favor of the 50-50 program in February. She said she had received several e-mails from residents of her ward who complained that they were not warned about the payment program before council voted for it.

“I think the fair program in my mind is the signature elms should all be inoculated at the city’s expense,” she said. “All the taxpayers should pay for the signature elms. Any others could be on the 50-50 program.”

Outgoing Ald. Gene Feldman (9th) said that the elms are as vital to Evanston as the lakefront, and are “like everything we experience both consciously and unconsciously as we walk through this world.”

But Rainey said the council should give special attention to the funding for the inoculation plan and encouraged “everyone out there in Treeland to come to city hall in two weeks” for the council’s next meeting.

Inoculation will cost about $757,000 over three years, and the city only has space in its budget for about half of that, aldermen said in committee.

“I am not interested in paying for an elm tree in northwest Evanston,” said Rainey, whose ward is in south Evanston. “To inject every single elm in town is not what the experts recommend, it is what the passion suggests.”

Rainey still voted for the inoculation plan, which passed 7-2, with Alds. Edmund Moran (6th) and Elizabeth Tisdahl (7th) opposing.

Injection of the city’s 3,400 trees might start by next week, City Manager Julia Carroll said. Evanston loses 4 percent of its elms every year to Dutch elm disease, according to city documents.

During the Planning and Development Committee meeting that also preceding the full council meeting, aldermen delayed voting for the second time on allowing outside tables and chairs at Chipotle Mexican Grill, 711 Church St. Property Standards Inspector Cheryl Jones-Scherbaum presented the committee members with photographs of trash receptacles behind the restaurant, which she said violate the law because they don’t have locks.

Ald. Steven Bernstein (4th) said Chipotle’s trash bins might cause the “city’s rat infestation” to worsen.

“The frustration that we have is we cannot allow this condition to go on,” Bernstein said. “We have to maintain cleanliness in downtown.”

The committee also introduced a 90-day extension on the moratorium on new construction permits for Central Street between Bennett and Marcy Avenues. The moratorium was first adopted on March 14.

Tisdahl said she was interested in extending the moratorium east into her ward.

“Central is a charming area,” she said. “To have four-story buildings going up would change it dramatically.”

James Wolinski, director of Evanston’s community development department, said that at the May 23 Planning and Development Committee meeting, city lawyer Jack Siegel will discuss inclusionary housing, a plan by which new residential developments and condominium conversions of more than five units will be required to include affordable units. The three aldermen-elect have expressed interest in affordable housing, but the council has not acted on an ordinance.

At the end of the meeting, retiring Alds. Arthur Newman (1st), Joseph Kent (5th) and Feldman received commendations for their years of service. Feldman praised Newman’s dedication and ability to convince other aldermen to vote with him.

“I learned from him that voting is very important, but what is more important is shaping the agenda so we vote for the things we want,” Feldman said.

The new council’s aldermen also made short speeches after they were sworn in, thanking their constituents and campaign staff and expressing hope that the new city council would be civil and effective.

“Our city has such a rich and beautiful history,” Ald. Cheryl Wollin (1st) said. “We have an even more dynamic future awaiting us.”

The new council has a majority of women for the first time in years. Jean-Baptiste said he had been brought up with five sisters and knew what to expect.

“I expect to be taken care of very well on this council,” he said, adding more seriously that “women hold up more than half their skies.”

Mayor Lorraine H. Morton was visibly excited throughout the evening, grinning widely as she swore in the new and returning aldermen. As she gave the final speech of the night, she said more citizens than ever approached her after this year’s elections, excited about the makeup of the new council.

“They expect a lot, but they think well of you, and I know we will not let them down,” she said.

Reach Greg Hafkin at [email protected] and Tina Peng at [email protected].