Industrial & Commercial Development Commission

1 Approved 2 MINUTES OF THE VILLAGE OF NORTHBROOK INDUSTRIAL AND COMMERCIAL DEVELOPMENT 3 COMMISSION 4 Village Hall Terrace Room 5 June 28, 2016 6 Members Present :, Tensley Garris, Dave Gottlieb, Mark Freeman, Larry Herskovitz, Brian Lee, Steve 7 Lewis, Richard Rushkewicz, Tom Washburn 8 Members Absent: Chairman Patrick Lederer, Dick Leopold, Curtis Wilens 9 Staff Present: David Schoon, Assistant Director, Development and Planning Services 10 Guest Speakers: Sarah Burns, HR Manager - Macy's; Lauren Levy, HR Manager - Lord & Taylor; Shaun 11 Nordgaarden, Vice President & Regional Planning Partner - Waterway; Phil Weber, People Services 12 Manager - Mariano's 13 Public Present: Jean Streeter, Communications Director - Northbrook Chamber of Commerce 14 Recorder: Sue Anetsberger 15 Call to Oder & Introductions 16 David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison stated that a temporary chairman was needed for today's meeting. A 17 motion was made and seconded to name Member Herskovitz as Chairman Pro Tem. The motion passed 18 by unanimous voice vote. ICDC Chairman Pro Tem Herskovitz called the meeting to order in the Terrace 19 Room of Village Hall at 7:30 a.m. Chairman Herskovitz welcomed the guest speakers and [public. 20 Review of Minutes 21 On a motion made and seconded, the May 24, 2016 ICDC meeting minutes were approved with a 22 correction stating that Member Freeman's name was omitted from the Member's absent list. 23 Comment-Hear from the Audience - None 24 Discussion Regarding Workforce Recruitment & Retention 25 David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison opened discussion by asking representatives to describe their efforts 26 to recruit employees, efforts made to retain employees, obstacles specific to Northbrook when 27 recruiting and trying to retain employees, and how the Village or the Chamber could be of more 28 assistance to the businesses. Four representatives from the retail sector were welcomed. 29 Shaun Nordgaarden, Vice President & Regional Planning Partner at Waterway stated he met with 30 Member Garris from the Chamber a year prior to opening Waterway in Northbrook and that he was 31 aware of challenges in recruiting for his business in Northbrook. He stated his company uses traditional 32 methods and also used Snagajob.com and Indeed.com plus other social media tools. Waterway also uses 33 other social media sites for internal promotion of their brand. Waterway takes pictures of other 34 employees having fun at work to create brand awareness. Employees are encouraged to post those 35 pictures and share with their own networks. A perks program is paraded throughout the schools that 36 offers teachers and students to register and receive a savings of 10 cents per gallon on fuel and 37 discounts on car washes. Waterway recruits directly from the high schools and local colleges. They 38 advertise in school newspapers and place posters where possible as incentives. Waterway was able to  ICDC Meeting Minutes – June 28, 2016 1 forge a good partnership with Glenbrook North High School a year before opening. They made the 2 necessary connections to be successful. They are a sponsor of the football scoreboard. They use on site 3 recruiting and have a referral program in place with perks. 4 Member Garris inquired about school schedules and work schedules. Shaun Nordgaarden replied that 5 Waterway is extremely flexible about building work schedules around students' schedules to encourage 6 employee job retention. He replied that it is worth the effort to keep good people around. Waterway 7 also offers tuition reimbursement and the company encourages kids to go to college and to continue 8 their education. Waterway employs 75 employees with 25 open positions. They allow high school 9 students to work not more than three days per week. Base rate is $5 but with tips, hourly wage is $10- 10 $12 per hour. Nordgaarden concurred with Member Rushkewicz that it can be difficult to recruit for a 11 small business to attract a good employee and that it can require due diligence to find the right person 12 for the job. 13 Lauren Levy, HR Manager for Lord & Taylor is a proponent of job fairs. She is eager and willing to 14 participate in any job fair whether it be held at Northbrook Court or a different location within the 15 Village and would love to have the Chamber and/or Village sponsor a job fair. She has found a few 16 employees via Craig's List. Individuals must be at least 18 years of age to work at Lord & Taylor per 17 company policy; therefore, she is more interested in college bound individuals. Her biggest challenges in 18 recruiting are inflexible work schedules, poor bus service, bus service that is not compatible with 19 employees' work schedules, affordable transportation from the train, and an unattractive hourly rate of 20 pay. Ms. Levy posts at the train station and participates in job fairs at Oakton Community College. 21 Employees receive a 2% sales commission above their base rate in some of the retail areas and 22 employees receive 25% off most everything in the store, with some exclusions. New credit card accounts 23 opened at time of a purchase net employees a payout. Lord & Taylor has an average employee base of 24 60 with 22 open positions added at the holiday season. Base rate of pay is $8.80 but higher earnings are 25 negotiable at time of hire. 26 Sarah Burns, HR Manager for Macy's has the same struggles as Lord & Taylor in trying to attract new 27 employees but Macy's recruits high school students 16 years of age and up. Transportation is an issue 28 for employees. Hiring is and will get harder as the City of Chicago increases its pay wage and will be an 29 obstacle in attracting employees. Macy's part time help is encouraged to come back and work over 30 school breaks to help with holiday sales. Ms. Burns stated that Macy's is moving towards hiring full time 31 associates. Member Garris suggested attracting the senior population as an alternative employee. 32 Macy's offers many of the same employee perks as Lord & Taylor. The payouts are for Macy associates 33 only and can net an employee an added $40-$90 per month. Macy has an average employee base of 100 34 but would like to operate with 114 and has a total of 30 open positions for the holiday season. Macy's 35 has increased their rate of pay for new employees. 36 Phil Weber, People Services Manager at Mariano's has many of the same struggles but has a unique way 37 to attract potential employees. He set up a kiosk at the front of his store where folks enter and egress. 38 The bus system is a major struggle for potential and existing employees. Mariano's receives 6-7 39 applicants through internal postings and some from Indeed.com. He stated finding part time help from 2  ICDC Meeting Minutes – June 28, 2016 1 April until September is difficult. He feels their starting pay is competitive. Most of their employees are 2 travelling to Northbrook and represent all ages with the average age being 35 years. Mariano's offers 3 employees 10% off all merchandise except liquor and pharmacy. Exemplary employees are identified by 4 their co-workers and those individuals receive monetary compensation in the amounts of $10 and $50 5 and are identified and recognized in the company newsletter. Mariano's has an average employee base 6 of 229 but their total profile calls for 290 employees. They currently have 60 open positions. Team 7 members start off at $9.65 per hour. 8 Member Freeman asked the panel if they actively measure Obama health care rates and turnover rates. 9 Most panel members felt that it was a corporate issue. Member Freeman also inquired if the panel felt 10 the "Fight for $15" media coverage was hurting employers with their recruitment. Most panel members 11 did not have an available answer. 12 Member Garris asked if hosting a job fair would help the panel meet their hiring challenges. The panel 13 felt a job fair would be productive and were very interested in participating. The panel agreed that the 14 end of July or August would be the most desirable time to host a job fair for seasonal hiring and that 15 Northbrook Court was the best location. Liaison Schoon asked for suggestions on how to target 16 perspective employees. The panel and the Commissioners agreed that perspective employees should be 17 targeted by geographic areas surrounding Northbrook. Northeastern University and Oakton Community 18 College should be included as well as Waukegan and North Chicago. Most perspective employees do not 19 use public transportation and will come by private transportation. 20 Member Lewis stated that the Pace Bus System is an issue for employers. He inquired if any of the panel 21 businesses have contacted Pace to discuss bus scheduling. The panel has not contacted Pace. Member 22 Garris stated that Pace offers ride sharing options but that there is an expense for service. 23 Shaun Nordgaarden, (Waterway) requested that the ICDC Committee and Chamber of Commerce 24 continue to forge a better partnership with schools and local colleges in our area. He stressed that there 25 is a lesson to be learned for students regarding time management and budgeting and asked for help 26 with job boards in GBN and GBS. 27 Community Planning & Economic Development Coordinator Report 28 David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison provided information on the current status of development projects; 29 Ceisel Masonry located on Melvin Dr. received approval of a special permit renewal located on; (2) 30 Board heard request to rezone a property located on Janke from I1 to ICS District. Board was receptive, 31 public hearing will take place next week; (3) Board certified the TIF eligible expenses for NorthShore 770 32 project. Village can start reimbursing developer once increment is generated from the district; (4) Board 33 approved special permit to allow AMC theater renovation; (5) Board reviewed new proposal for an 34 assisted living proposal on southwest corner of Techny and Shermer, Board is open to consideration; (6) 35 Joint meeting with Plan Commission and Board on June 21 discussed Downtown zoning and form based 36 codes. Board is interested in considering some elements of a form based code but not nearly what the 37 Downtown Zoning Committee recommended. List will be amended and resubmitted to the Board; (7) 38 Janke project is on Plan Commission agenda next week; (8)Property owner wants to redevelop at 3  ICDC Meeting Minutes – June 28, 2016 1 Dundee and Anthony Trail. At last public hearing, the Plan Commission questioned the layout of 2 property and homes to the north. 3 Update Regarding Pace Bus Shelter in Sky Harbor 4 David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison stated that Pace stated they are trying to justify putting in a shelter at 5 Academy and Commercial and are in the process of exploration. They will determine if there is sufficient 6 right of way and or if they would have to enter into a relationship with the adjacent property owner. 7 Adequate right of way needs to be determined. 8 Update Regarding Business Visits 9 Member Freeman shared that he has seen significant similarities in his business visits. The businesses 10 reported that services are great, they like doing business in the area, the Village received good remarks, 11 but they all offered that they have difficulties in recruiting employees. David Schoon, Village Staff Liaison 12 reported that the business visits will pick up again in September. 13 Member Garris shared that W.W. Grainger located on Shermer Rd. is increasing their employee 14 numbers from 125 employees to 400 by condensing their other facilities and is in the process of turning 15 their front lawn into more parking spots. 16 Old Business 17 None 18 New Business 19 The next discussion regarding Workforce Recruitment and Retention (manufacturing and trades) will 20 take place at the July 26th meeting. 21 Adjourn 22 On motion made and seconded, the meeting was adjourned at 9:00 a.m. The next meeting is scheduled 23 for Tuesday, July 26, at 7:30 a.m. 24 Respectfully Submitted 25 Sue Anetsberger 4