Community Relations Commission

COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES December 5, 2013 Persons in attendance: Steven Gorski – Chair Billy Haido Joe Kuffel Mary Marusek Family Services Director Tony Hollenback Trustee Rosemary Palicki Cathy Spadoni - Secretary Commissioner Gorski called the meeting to order at 5:00 p.m. Commissioner Gorski welcomed Brendan Saunders from Open Communities, a fair and affordable housing advocacy agency in north suburban Chicago, who explained Housing Choice Vouchers (aka Section 8) and answered questions from the group. The changes to the Cook County Human Rights Ordinance, which provides fair housing protection, do not force landlords to accept housing vouchers; there are many legitimate reasons to screen out potential renters. But a person cannot be screened out because they have a housing voucher. Niles, an extremely diverse community, has 98 or 99 housing vouchers at this time, which indicates that we are welcoming and open to all people. It was clarified that Section 8 housing is not the same as Public Housing, which is housing that is owned by the Housing Authority. Section 8 housing is for private housing. The County is required to not only enforce fair housing laws, but to make sure that there is an equitable distribution of vouchers throughout Cook County in order to avoid pockets of segregation based on race, economic levels and/or disabilities. The wait list for housing vouchers has been closed since 2001. There are currently approximately 15,000 people on the wait list for vouchers. Congress is not issuing any new funding for housing vouchers. Mr. Saunders will email a list of affordable housing throughout the area and additional resource information. Secretary Spadoni will forward the list to the commissioners. Commissioner Gorski thanked Mr. Saunders for his presentation. I. Approval of Minutes Commissioner Marusek made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kuffel, to approve the minutes of the July 18, October 10 and October 30, 2013 meetings. On voice vote, all concurred.  Community Relations Commission December 5, 2013 II. Reported Citizen Comments / Complaints a) Police Department Commission Gorski reported that no complaints were received by the Police Department. b) Other Village of Niles Departments Commissioner Spadoni reported that no complaints were received by other departments. c) Telephone Hotline Commissioner Spadoni reported that no complaints were received via the phone hotline. d) Email Hotline Commissioner Spadoni reported that no complaints were received via the email hotline. e) Other The commissioners reported that no complaints were received. (In the future, this agenda item will be called “Commissioners” rather than “Other”.) III. Report from the Commissioners Discussion of Community Relations Commission Flyer/Brochure Commissioner Gorski stated that this flyer will be disseminated to tenants, landlords and real estate offices but can also be used to inform the public about the mission of the CRC. We can talk to Village Manager Steve Vinezeano to see if we can include an article about the CRC in the Focus on Niles newsletter. Commissioners Gorski, Haido, Kuffel and Marusek will work together to develop the flyer based on the best of the brochure examples from Evanston, Wilmette and Morton Grove. The flyer should: take a positive welcoming approach; deal with the Commission’s role and purpose; include information about our ordinance and what people’s rights are when looking for a home in Niles; be substantive with appealing photos or graphics; avoid information overload and legalese; use bullet points rather than paragraphs; prominently display the CRC hot line number; be a promotional piece for the Commission; and be included on the CRC page on the website. It was suggested that the flyer include a paragraph about Niles Family Services and Senior Services, who can assist residents with mortgage/rent payments, unemployment issues and foreclosure prevention programs. The Village’s Communications and Multimedia Coordinator, Hayley Garard, will help format the flyer. We will invite her to our January 9 meeting. The goal is to have this flyer completed by the April 10, 2014 CRC meeting. Open Meetings Act Training Commissioner Haido will complete online Open Meetings Act training by the end of the year and will submit his certificate to the Village. All other commissioners have completed training and are in compliance. 2  Community Relations Commission December 5, 2013 *** Secretary Spadoni will find out if the CRC commissioners are required to take ethics training and will report at the next meeting. IV. New Business Cook County Human Rights Ordinance – Section 8 This topic was discussed at the start of the meeting. 2014 Meeting Schedule Secretary Spadoni distributed the 2014 meeting schedule. She will correct the schedule to reflect meeting days of Thursday rather than Tuesday. Commissioner Marusek made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kuffel, to accept the 2014 meeting dates of January 9, April 10, July 10 and October 9. On voice vote, all concurred. Commissioner Haido made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kuffel, to change the 2014 meeting time from 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. On voice vote, all concurred. Secretary Spadoni will amend the schedule. V. Next Meeting The next meeting is scheduled for Thursday, January 9, 2014 at 4:00 p.m. VI. Adjournment There being no further business to come before the Community Relations Commission, Commissioner Marusek made a motion, seconded by Commissioner Kuffel, to adjourn the meeting. The meeting adjourned at 5:58 p.m. __________________________ Catherine Spadoni, Secretary Community Relations Commission 2013-2014 Community Relations Commission Commissioners Ex-Officio Members Steven J. Gorski – Chair Trustee Rosemary Palicki Billy Haido Village Manager Steven C. Vinezeano Joe Kuffel Human Services Director Mary Marusek Police Chief Dean Strzelecki Bob Thomas Secretary Cathy Spadoni 3