Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Community Relations Commission 3 Northbrook, IL 4 Thursday, February 11, 2016 5 6 Present: Chairman Bruce Doughty, Commissioners Dr. Rochelle Singer, Mary 7 Hansen, Safa Hamed & Chris Kosla 8 Representatives: Alice Lonoff, Ron Mantegna & Nancy Stoddard 9 Absent: Commissioners Elliot Bruckman, Sharon Latek, Jason Han and Christine 10 Beeftink 11 Others: Park District Vice President Penny Randel, Village Staff Liaison Erik 12 Jensen, Director of Counseling Services Nancy Vaccaro and Imam Hazim 13 Fazlic 14 Welcome 15 Chairman Doughty called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. in the Civic Room at Northbrook 16 Public Library. He welcomed everyone and announced that Christine Beeftink had been 17 appointed as the newest member of the Community Relations Commission. He related that she 18 was not able to attend tonight’s meeting but would be attending going forward. He also stated 19 that she had been a large contributor to previous Commission events. 20 21 Hear from the Audience 22 Penny Randal stated that she was not at the Winter Carnival but announced it had gone well 23 and there was a large turnout. 24 Ms. Randel asked if anyone on the Commission had received a recent Park District mail survey. 25 She stated the survey was part of the Park District’s larger planning initiative. 26 Commissioner Hansen stated that she had received a survey and returned it. 27 Representative Mantegna asked how survey respondents were selected. 28 Ms. Randel stated it was done through random selection. 29 Ms. Randal concluded by stating that the Park District may be interested in contributing to 30 Northbrook Cares. 31 Approval of January 7, 2016, Regular Meeting Minutes 32 Revisions were noted as follows: 33  Absent Line: Add an as “s” to Commissioner 34  Line 43: Correct the date to read “December 3rd” 35  Line 59: Add a period at end of the sentence. 36  Line 78: “were” should be “are.” 37  Line 84: Change the sentence to read “asked how many members have memberships” 38  Line 96: Add “world language club including French, German and possibly Hebrew 39 groups.” 40  Line 97: Change the sentence to reflect that Representative Stoddard had provided the 41 contact information for a Russian choral group. 42  Line 153: Change “I’m OK Day” to “MLK Day” 43 Commissioner Kosla moved, seconded by Commissioner Singer, to approve the meeting 44 minutes of January 7, 2016 as amended. On a voice vote, all aye. 45 Village Update 46 Staff Liaison Jensen stated that President Frum’s annual State of the Village address was given 47 to the Northbrook Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday, January 27. He mentioned some of 48 the points of the discussion including the fact that Northbrook’s economy was doing well and 49 that the State’s on-going budget discussions made predicting future revenues more difficult. 50 51 Representative Mantegna asked if any revenues were currently being withheld by the State. 52 53 Liaison Jensen stated not at this time, but that various proposals at the State level could impact 54 the Village’s revenue streams. 55 56 Community Presentation 57 Nancy Vaccaro, Director of Counseling Services at the Northbrook Police Department, 58 introduced herself. She discussed her history and the general operations of the Counseling 59 Services Division. She stated that there are three full-time counselors, on-call twenty-four hours 60 a day to provide assistance to the police as well as fire or mutual aid calls. 61 62 Vaccaro stated that Counseling Services works with all age groups and that while there are 63 many mental health agencies in the area, Counseling Services exists to provide immediate and 64 often emergency assistance. She stated that Counseling Services works on 800 to 900 cases 65 per year and described the variety of cases they work in including geriatric and youth issues, the 66 immediate loss of family members and other cases that may require short-term support. 67 68 Vaccaro gave a brief description of a missing senior case, the Police Department’s role in that 69 case and how Counseling Services contributed. She also discussed how Counseling Services 70 may intervene in cases in various different ways. 71 72 Vaccaro also announced she would be participating in an upcoming seminar for seniors in April 73 that would focus on identifying and avoiding scams. She described how scams can target and 74 impact the seniors and strategies that can be used to combat it. 75 76 Chairman Doughty asked if there is a set limit that can be withdrawn from a bank account 77 before a bank must notify the Police Department. 78 79 Vaccaro stated that there is not, but the Department encourages banks to watch for large cash 80 transactions. 81 82 Chairman Doughty asked if Vaccaro could ever predict her day. 83 84 Vaccaro stated that she never can and described some of the resources available to Counseling 85 Services. 86  87 Representative Mantegna asked if Vaccaro sees any trends in the area and how that data is 88 used. 89 90 Vaccaro stated that they do monitor for trends and try to respond proactively where possible. 91 She discussed recent hoarding cases and how Counseling Services aided in helping those. 92 93 Commissioner Hansen asked if a particular neighborhood in Northbrook would benefit from a 94 youth program. 95 96 Vaccaro said there was not as much a need at a neighborhood level, but there are many 97 organizations who reach different age groups with different services or programs. 98 99 Representative Lonoff asked how long additional suicides may occur after an initial event. 100 101 Vaccaro said that they generally happen immediately afterward and Counseling Services takes 102 an active role in identifying potential cases where possible. 103 104 Chairman Doughty thanked Vaccaro for attending. 105 106 Update on Activities 107 108 Celebration of Cultures 109 Commissioner Singer stated that the news was good for the Celebration of Cultures. She stated 110 that she added new groups and currently had representatives for the following groups: African, 111 African-American, French, German, Greek, Israeli, Korean, Latino, Persian, Polish, Russian, 112 Ukrainian and possibly Assyrian, Filipino and Chinese. 113 Commissioner Singer discussed the coordinator system and mentioned that the group 114 coordinator for the Russian, Polish and Ukrainian groups would advertise the event on the local 115 Russian radio station. She further said it was possible that hundreds could attend. 116 In regards to cost, Commissioner Singer discussed the form letter group coordinators had 117 received and that no agreement would be formalized until approved by the Commission. 118 Finally, Commissioner Singer discussed that the YMCA typically allows artists to come in and 119 sell their work. Under normal conditions, the YMCA would receive a 15% commission for each 120 sale. However, for this event, each artist would have cards with their contact information, and 121 sales would be considered independent of both the YMCA and the Commission. 122 Chairman Doughty asked about marketing and where it was at. 123 Commissioner Singer stated she hope to have a final flyer by Tuesday, March 1. 124 Commissioner Hamed asked if the Imam could be invited to participate. 125 Imam Fazlic asked what would be required. 126 Commissioner Singer stated she would forward the information to him, and that the next 127 subcommittee meeting would be held on Wednesday, February 17 at the YMCA. 128 Imam Fazlic stated he would be in contact with Commissioner Singer. 129 Commissioner Hamed stated that she spoke to the Muslim student association at Oakton and 130 asked if they would like to contribute. She said they might like to do henna. 131 Commissioner Singer asked that someone contact her directly so that she could connect them 132 to a team. 133 Commissioner Hamed stated she would pass along the information and that they would be 134 excited to participate. 135 Chairman Doughty complimented the subcommittee’s work to date. 136 Welcome to Northbrook/Flamingo Fridays 137 Chairman Doughty asked for a subcommittee update. 138 Commissioner Hansen stated that the subcommittee had met in the previous week and that the 139 event would be similar to the prior year. She stated it would be held on Friday, May 20 from 5:30 140 to 7pm. 141 Commissioner Hansen continued by saying that the various houses of worship would be invited 142 to attend this year as there would be no Interfaith Walk. 143 Representative Stoddard stated that she had begun contacting various individuals about 144 attending the event. 145 Northbrook Cares 146 Chairman Doughty explained the current status of the project, and that there was a meeting 147 between President Frum, Manager Nahrstadt, Liaison Jensen and himself on this topic. He 148 outlined what the group had discussed, and that the Village would support a new initiative on 149 this project. He continued by saying that a subcommittee comprised of Commissioners 150 Bruckman, Latek, Hamed, Representative Lonoff and himself would meet in the near future to 151 begin planning. 152 News from the Schools 153 Chairman Doughty reported that a new semester had begun at District 225. He also mentioned 154 that there had been a recent death that impacted the Glenbrook community and expressed 155 appreciation for all the assistance the community offered immediately afterward. He concluded 156 by mentioning that a new Board Member had recently been appointed, and that the Variety 157 Show had begun this evening. 158 News from the Clergy Association 159 No news to report. 160 Old Business 161 None 162 New Business 163 164 None 165 166 Eyes and Ears on the Street 167 Representative Lonoff stated that the MLK Day event had gone well and had roughly 170 168 participants. 169 Commissioner Hamed discussed a car accident she had been involved with and warned 170 everyone to be careful of black ice. 171 Adjournment 172 Commissioner Singer moved, seconded by Commissioner Hansen, to adjourn the meeting at 173 8:15 pm. On a voice vote, all aye. 174 Respectfully submitted, 175 176 Erik Jensen 177 Staff Liaison