General Government & Information Technology

GENERAL GOVERNMENT/IT COMMITTEE MEETING SUMMARY Wednesday, February 11, 2015 The following voting persons were present: Chair George Alpogianis, Steven Vinezeano, Bill Shaw and Cammy Fortuna. Also present were Trustee Palicki, Marlene Victorine, Joe Annunzio, Cathy Spadoni, Kathy Barnat and Hadley Skeffington-Vos. The meeting was called to order at 9:01 a.m. I.Approve Meeting Summary: Monday, January 19, 2015 a. Unanimous approval. II.Old Business – Update on Arts and Cultural Advisory Council a. Letters were sent to possible candidates for the Council. Susan Lempke, Lindsay Brubaker, Michael Crisci, Debi Gajewski, Carol Luc and Jim Kozak have confirmed their membership on the Council. Still waiting to hear from some other organizations and artists. III.New Business – Employee Recognition Program for FY2016 a. Steve noted that this program was an effort from Administration to improve employee morale and encourage great customer service. b. Hadley described the program and noted $2,300 was budgeted. c. Bill Shaw suggested two modifications: the winner of one month would be involved in the next month only (optional) and the yearly award would involve input from the monthly winners. d. Hadley will bring the suggestions back to the employee committee and let them decide if they want to change anything. e. Unanimous vote for approval. IV.Open Discussion a. Cammy wanted to see if there was any follow up on customer service in the Village. Steve noted there was customer service training after the last discussion, name tag distribution, after-action meetings, and phone greeting training. Kathy Barnat noted VueWorks tracks all the complaints and calls that come into Public Services. Steve shared his own experience shoveling snow in Niles and noted that resident expectations need to be realistic. b. Discussions on snow removal from the previous storm. Bill Shaw noted the Village should try to get more organizations and volunteers involved in helping seniors in Niles during storms. The senior volunteers and TeenTask volunteers couldn’t be utilized for this program due to the enormity of the storm and tasks.  Rosemary Palicki noted that the Human Services Committee department is working on creating a list of ready volunteers like Evanston and ensuring the Village has no liability in that effort. Rosemary suggests promoting the order of snow removal in the Focus on Niles during the summer months (ie: alleys, major roadways, sidewalks). V.Public Comment a. Rosemary had two questions regarding the Employee Recognition Program and last meeting’s discussion of the Special Initiatives Fund. Hadley answered the Employee Recognition Program questions and George and Steve responded to the budget questions. b. Louella Preston asked whether the confirmed members of the Council are residents of Niles. Steve mentioned at least five of the confirmed members are residents and the goal is to find people who are passionate about art and culture, not necessarily Niles residents. Louella questioned why Sister Cities hasn’t met or sent out information since George became president. VI.Next Scheduled Meeting – TBD Meeting adjourned at 9:49am.