Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Community Relations Commission 3 Northbrook, IL 4 Thursday, September 1, 2016 5 6 Present: Chairman Bruce Doughty, Commissioners Christine Beeftink, Elliot 7 Bruckman, Mary Hansen, Helena Osorio, Grace Seo, & Dr. Rochelle 8 Singer 9 10 Absent: Commissioners Jason Han, Sharon Latek 11 12 Representatives: Alice Lonoff, Ron Mantegna, & Nancy Stoddard 13 14 Others: Village Staff Liaison Erik Jensen & Village Recording Secretary Gale 15 Cerabona 16 17 Welcome 18 Chairman Doughty called the meeting to order at 7:01 p.m. in the Civic Room at Northbrook 19 Public Library. 20 21 Chairman Doughty welcomed new Commissioner Helena Osorio who was instrumental at the 22 Celebration of Cultures event. Everyone introduced themselves and Commissioner Osorio 23 provided a brief background. 24 25 Hear from the Audience 26 There was no audience. 27 28 Review & Approval of June 2, 2016, Regular Meeting Minutes 29 Revisions were noted as follows: 30  Line 124 correct the spelling of Flamingo 31  Line 135 make communication singular 32  Line 173 make events plural 33  Line 175 delete “Saturday and”; correct South to say North 34 35 Commissioner Singer moved, seconded by Commissioner Hansen, to approve the regular 36 meeting minutes of June 2, 2016 as amended. The motion carried unanimously. 37 38 Review & Approval of February 23, 2016, Northbrook Cares Subcommittee Minutes 39 Revisions were noted as follows: 40  Line 43 make “design” past tense 41  Line 82 make “group” plural 42  Line 106 Correct to say: “Member Latek stated that students will listen to each other” 43 44 Commissioner Bruckman moved, seconded by Commissioner Singer, to approve the 45 subcommittee meeting minutes of February 23, 2016 as amended. The motion carried 46 unanimously. 47 48 Village Update 49 Staff Liaison Jensen advised the construction is slowing down; the timeline is being met.  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission September 1, 2016 50 After Commissioner Bruckman asked about the monitoring of Dunkin Donuts on Pfingsten & 51 Dundee, Staff Liaison Jensen responded he will review. 52 53 Staff Liaison Jensen advised water main replacements are happening and that the Wescott 54 Park project is almost completed. He further overviewed the net impact of the project and stated 55 that Western Avenue would be repaved in the coming year to coincide with the completion of 56 this project. 57 58 Staff Liaison Jensen noted the State’s budget situation is still unresolved but was currently 59 having no effect on operations at Village Hall. 60 61 Community Presentation 62 Staff Liaison Jensen spoke about the General Government Department broadly and discussed 63 his role as the Village’s ombudsman specifically. He stated that unusual issues or those related 64 to another agency or utility can be brought to him for review and possible resolution, depending 65 on the specific details of the issue. He further discussed how the Village interacts with other 66 agencies and utilities and how coordination can be accomplished. 67 68 For direct complaints, Staff Liaison Jensen explained different methods of resolution and how 69 questions or comments could be routed. 70 71 Update on Activities 72 1. Northbrook Cares 73 74 Chairman Doughty stated that the Subcommittee’s last meeting was August 4. He noted 75 a web site is forthcoming (reviewing bids) and will be linked to the Village web site. 76 77 Chairman Doughty discussed the Subcommittee’s discussions with Text-A-Tip and that 78 the group was reviewing feedback from other communities with the service. 79 80 Chairman Doughty stated the next meeting will be held on September 14. He stated that 81 the group would be exploring holding another meeting with the social service agencies in 82 the near future. 83 84 2. Celebration of Cultures 85 86 Commissioner Singer advised a note went out to the Subcommittee and that the next 87 meeting would be held on September 28. Commissioner Singer reviewed a previous 88 meeting with the Northbrook Public Library and Chris Laughlin, chair of the Village’s Arts 89 Commission, about partnering to hold events leading up to the Faire. She stated the 90 event will be called Celebration of Cultures and would have three components under the 91 current discussions: 92  Fair 93  Films 94  Concerts/Performances 95 96 Tentative dates are April 23 or 30 for the Fair. The Films will take place on Wednesday 97 evenings throughout April and will be provided at no cost. A speaker may be included. 98 Regarding art, concerts (from various musical groups) and dancing are also possible. 99 Commissioner Singer advised everything is flowing well. Chairman Doughty concurred 2  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission September 1, 2016 100 that there is a great deal of enthusiasm. A separate subcommittee would discuss Films 101 and Concerts/Performances. 102 103 Commissioner Singer asks that other ethnic groups that were not involved last year be 104 recruited by everyone. Following this meeting, Staff Liaison Jensen emailed the CRC on 105 groups that are/have participated……i.e. African, African-American, Arabic, Assyrian, 106 French, Greek, Israeli, South Korean, Latino, Persian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. 107 108 109 News from Schools 110 Chairman Doughty shared the following from District 225: 111  School opened on August 22 112  Football has begun 113  Little Shop of Horrors’ theater performance is playing September 29-October 1 114  Various GBN and GBS students and alumni participated in the 2016 Olympics. 115 116 News from Northbrook Clergy Association 117 Commissioner Hansen advised the Clergy Association would be meeting next week. The group 118 briefly discussed the Clergy Luncheon and a tentative date of Wednesday, December 7. 119 Commissioner Hansen stated the head of the Association is yet to be determined. 120 121 Old Business 122 There was nothing to report. 123 124 New Business 125 126 1. Review & Approval of Expenditures 127 128 Staff Liaison Jensen reviewed the history of a supplemental request to purchase more 129 flamingos following the last Commission meeting. He explained the process Chairman 130 Doughty and he used to approve the purchase and stated that the Commission would 131 need to retroactively approve the purchase. 132 133 Commissioner Hansen moved, seconded by Commissioner Bruckman, to approve this 134 expenditure ($47.54). The motion carried unanimously. 135 136 2. Discussion of Approval Spending Authority & Future Approvals 137 138 Chairman Doughty and Staff Liaison discussed that while this incident was isolated, it 139 was certainly possible that similar situations could arise in the future. The Village’s 140 purchasing policies were discussed, and Chairman Doughty discussed the conversation 141 the Commission had previously in August about potentially allowing expenditures up to 142 $100 with Chair and Staff Liaison approval. 143 144 Staff Liaison Jensen gave some potential examples of how this authority would be 145 helpful or necessary. 146 A brief conversation followed on other potential scenarios in which this authority may be 147 necessary. 148 3  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission September 1, 2016 149 Commissioner Hansen moved, seconded by Commissioner Beeftink, to approve 150 authority of $100 to be spent between meetings by the Chair and Staff Liaison with 151 retroactive Commission approval at the next Commission meeting. The motion carried 152 unanimously. 153 154 3. Discussion of a Formalized Budget 155 156 Staff Liaison Jensen discussed that with the Commission’s events and projects 157 becoming larger in scope, the Commission should consider formally adopting a budget. 158 He explained the uses of the budget, and the Commission generally agreed it would be 159 advantageous. Liaison Jensen promised to bring a rough draft for discussion to the next 160 meeting. 161 162 4. Other Projects for CRC Consideration 163 164 Chairman Doughty raised the subject of resurrecting a Forum concept. He described 165 various ways of projecting same (could be a collaboration, etc.). 166 167 Commissioner Singer suggested a Forum involving youth and Northbrook Cares. 168 Representative Lonoff concurred. Commissioner Bruckman shared a similar 169 presentation was provided at Temple Beth El. 170 171 Representative Mantegna stated that roughly 23% of the Village’s population are 172 seniors; perhaps a related subject could be a possibility. 173 174 Staff Liaison Jensen advised student Youth Commissioners are attending other 175 Commission meetings. 176 177 Eyes & Ears on the Street 178 Staff Liaison Jensen advised that the Darchai Noam Synagogue had recently relocated to its 179 new location on Techny Road. 180 181 Next Meeting 182 The next meeting will be Thursday, October 6 at the Northbrook Public Library in the Civic 183 Room. 184 185 Adjournment 186 A motion was made by Commissioner Singer, seconded by Commissioner Hansen, to adjourn 187 the meeting at 8:05 p.m. On a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. 188 189 Respectfully submitted, 190 191 192 Gale Cerabona 193 Recording Secretary 4