Commission for Women

1 MINUTES OF MICHIGAN CITY COMMISSION FOR WOMEN MEETING Thursday, August 16, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. City Hall West Conference Room 100 E. Michigan Blvd., Michigan City, IN 46360 Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by Chair Kathy Dennis at 5:05 pm. Present were Commissioners Kathy Dennis, Faye Moore, Dalia Zygas, Jo Ann Engquist, Kay Hill, Bonita Schaaf, Sharlene Livesay, Kristine Isabelle, Albertine Allen and City Council Liaison Pat Boy. No absences. Approval of Minutes of the Prior Meeting: Minutes of the July, 2018 meeting were reviewed and motion to approve with changes by Engquist, second by Zygas. Motion carried. . Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Faye Moore reported a balance of $34,874.45 but a discrepancy was found between cash statements in disbursements made this year. Old Business: a. Women’s Access to Health Care in Michigan City. Zygas reported no progress in the past month but looks forward to taking action in the coming months. b. International Women’s Equality Day. Livesay reported that our annual luncheon to celebrate Women’s Equality Day will be held at Lubeznik Center for the Arts on Wednesday September 5, 2018. Dana Black is confirmed as our speaker, and Scartozzi will cater the lunch. Commissioner Livesay cannot attend the luncheon but Jo Ann Engquist will contact Scartozzi and Lubeznik Center for the Arts to confirm. Bonnie will contact Council Member Sharon Carnes for a mailing list and we are to distribute the invitations to our own lists of friends. Dalia Zygas will post it on FaceBook. Pat and Kathy will be greeters at the door and Bonnie will sit at the registration table. Kristina will greet the speaker and show her around. New Business: a. Request for Donation. Schaaf will pursue posting the Request for Donation guidelines on the emichigancity website on the first page of the Women’s Commission page. Nancy Smith, Director of Promise Scholarship, was unable to attend this meeting but will be invited to attend the September meeting to request a donation. Barbara Eason Watkins will also attend the September meeting to request donations for different programs in Michigan City Area Schools. Hill reported that Soul Steppers may request a donation for supplies and Lyn Isabel was also invited to present the request at the September meeting. b. Discussion of Homelessness Issues Dennis reported that Franklin Street businesses are concerned about the increasing population of the homeless in the downtown area. We discussed working with homeless service organizations and the Home Team to organize a meeting, conference or town hall meeting to  2 address the problem. Dennis will contact Mayor Meer for permission to pursue organizing a meeting. If this happens, Isabelle and Boy will help organize the meeting. Council Liaison’s Comments: Councilwoman Boy read a thank you letter sent to the Commission from Junior Achievement. Boy presented a proposed Resolution from the Women’s Commission requesting the Mayor and Common Council to join Northwest Indiana’s Shared Ethics Advisory Commission (SEAC). Motion by Allen to approve submitting this Resolution, with the addition of the names of cities that have already joined SEAC, to the Mayor and Common Council. Seconded by Livesay. Motion was approved. MICHIGAN CITY COMMISSION FOR WOMEN RESOLUTION NO. 2-18 REQUESTING THE MAYOR AND COMMON COUNCIL JOIN NORTHWEST INDIANA’S SHARED ETHICS ADVISORY COMMISSION WHEREAS,the Michigan City Commission for Women (“Commission”) believes that government must operate with transparency and accountability; and WHEREAS,although the Commission does not find fault with the administration or governmental activities of Michigan City, we believe that a shared vision of governmental ethics is a good thing; and WHEREAS,seven (7) cities (Crown Point, East Chicago, Gary, Hobart, Portage, Valparaiso, and Whiting); and fourteen (14) towns (Burns Harbor, Cedar Lake, Chesterton, Dyer, Hebron, Highland, Lake Station, Lowell, Merrillville, Munster, Ogden Dunes, Schererville, St. John, and Westville); and three (3) counties (Lake, LaPorte, and Porter) in Northwest Indiana have already joined the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission (SEAC); and WHEREAS,a city, county, or region that wishes to attract and keep new residents and businesses could have an added advantage in doing so, by publicly endorsing an ethics policy; and WHEREAS,SEAC trains the trainers so that all employees and elected officials of government understand and follow the same basic guiding principles; and all Commission participants promote ethical behavior in the workplace and have adopted the standards recognized by the Commission. WHEREAS,the Commission believes that joining SEAC could benefit Michigan City. NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVEDthat the members of the Michigan City Commission for Women are requesting the Mayor propose and the Common Council support a resolution to join the Shared Ethics Advisory Commission, and after careful consideration, to support an ordinance to do so. Passed by the members of the Michigan City Commission for Women this __16th_ day of __August_________, 2018. Kathy Dennis, chair Bonita Schaaf, secretary Commissioners’ Comments: Schaaf suggested that we invite Joie Winski, who is a member of the Indiana Commission for Women, to speak at our October meeting. Schaaf will contact Ms. Winski to extend the invitation.  3 Dennis reported that a meeting was held for residents to help plan programming for the City Plaza and that a meeting of 150 youth is currently being organized. An online programming survey for residents to fill out is available, and Dennis will send a link to the survey to the Commissioners. Hill announced that on August 29th, Stepping Stone Shelter will hold a step class event fundraiser at anytime Fitness. Information is available on the Stepping Stone FaceBook page. Isabelle announced the upcoming ‘Land Mass’ site specific performance in Chicago, and the October 7th Health Walk at Tryon Farms. Adjournment: Meeting adjourned at 6:15 pm. On motion of Allen, seconded by Hill. The next meeting will be held on September 20, 2018 at 5:00 p.m. at City Hall - West Conference Room. Submitted by: Bonita Schaaf, Secretary Michigan City Commission for Women