General Government & Information Technology

GENERAL GOVERNMENT/IT COMMITTEE MEETING SUMMARY Monday, January 19, 2015 The following voting persons were present: Chair George Alpogianis, Steven Vinezeano and Bill Shaw. Also present were Joe Annunzio, Kathy Thake, Kathy Barnat, Hayley Garard, Mary Anderson and Hadley Skeffington-Vos. Absent voting member was Cammy Fortuna. The meeting was called to order at 1:38 p.m. I.Approve Meeting Summary: Meeting Summery of Wednesday, March 19, 2014 a. Mrs. Preston mentioned that she was present at the last meeting but was not listed in the minutes. Chair Alpogianis noted that only committee members and voting members are listed in the attendance, not members of the public. II.Old Business: None III.New Business: a. Employee Handbook and Spring Holiday i.Chair Alpogianis requested that “Spring Holiday” be changed to “Good Friday” in the Employee Handbook. Bill motioned to approve the change. Unanimous vote to approve the change. b. Reposting of Job Positions i.Chair Alpogianis questioned why two jobs were reposted when the first candidates did not work out after only a few weeks. Alpogianis suggested calling back the top candidates from the previous hiring cycle. Barnat agreed that reposting costs the Village money and time. Barnat suggested a 30 day window in which a job would not need to be reposted. Shaw noted that we may lose out on good candidates by reposting and wasting additional time. Vinezeano suggested adding promotion language in the future. Shaw made a motion to approve. Unanimous vote to approve. c. Arts and Cultural i.Chair Alpogianis gave an overview of the Arts and Culture Council and asked for the committee to start brainstorming about arts and culture. Vinezeano gave an update on membership for the Council. Once members are in place, the first meeting can happen and the Council can focus in on specific items. The recommended first step is to develop an Arts and Culture Master Plan. Shaw noted that the Plan must take into account the Niles 2030 Plan. Shaw volunteered to be a participant in that Council. d. Budget Discussion www.vniles.com  i.Chair Alpogianis suggested a contingency account for unpredictable expenses in General Government/IT (for incidents such as painting, appliances, mechanical or carpeting). Vinezeano noted that SCRAM was an innovative idea that came up during the year but was not budgeted. Shaw noted that a “general purpose” account is not unheard of. Alpogianis noted the importance of balanced budgets. Hadley suggested finalizing an amount to work into the budget before moving on. The title of the account was designated as “special initiatives” and $20,000 will be budgeted in 1010. Steve made a motion to place $20,000 in a special initiatives account in 1010. Bill wanted to make sure the account was monitored closely. Unanimous vote to approve. IV.Open Discussion: Shaw brought up the new phone system and due to staff recommendations, decided to eliminate seven lines to save money. V.Public Comment: Igor supported the change of the name of Spring Holiday to Good Friday. Mrs. Preston asked if the Arts and Culture Council was separate from the General Government/IT Committee. Alpogianis and Vinezeano noted that it was a separate Council. Louella noted there are no residency requirements for the members of the Council. Vinezeano said great measure will be taken to ensure that the members of that Council will live in Niles, work in Niles, or have a connection to Niles. VI.Next Scheduled Meeting: TBD Meeting adjourned at 2:35 p.m.