Commission on Family Services

Commission on Family Services Meeting Minutes – Skokie Village Hall May 3, 2023 7:00 pm Present: Commissioners Harold Primack (Chair), Michelle Friedman, Laila Iqbal, Shajan Jose, Daniel Mann, Peggy Molina (NC), Nancy Schwartz, Naadirah Shapley-Wells, Annie Shear, Phillip Shefren, London Summerville, Arnie Oskin, Melissa Ponce, Daniel Stalilonis Absent: Commissioners Marjorie Goran, Jo Hammerman, Linda Lara, Valerie Riley, Trustee Edie Sue Sutker, Melissa Versch (Staff Liaison) I. Approval of Agenda The agenda was approved by consent. II. Approval of March 1, 2023 Minutes There was not a quorum at the April meeting. We distributed notes from the meeting; however, there are no minutes to approve. We will approve the March 1 minutes. III. Chair’s Report: Harold Primack A. Introduction of guests Tina Vanderwalker, Director of Early Childhood Alliance and Astrid Suarez, Director of Collective Impact for ECA B. Melissa unable to make today’s meeting due to a sick child. C. We have a new commissioner, Peggy Molina. I would like to go around the table and have everyone introduce themselves, say how long you have been on the commission, what are your commission interests, and anything else that you would like to add. D. On April 24, Melissa and I attended the Village of Skokie budget hearings. The meeting provided us the opportunity to describe to the Village mayor, trustees and staff what our commission accomplished last year and what our plans are for this year. We expect to have $1,200 approved to cover costs supplies for the produce initiative and publicity. E. You all should have received an email from the mayor saying that because the public health crisis will be ending on May 18, future meetings cannot be via Zoom or hybrid. At least not until proposed State legislation is approved. Because our meetings have been in person for some time now, this should not affect us. However, it would be nice to have the option of Zoom or hybrid meetings. F. As you know, your attendance at commission meetings is important. The mayor’s office reviews minutes of the meetings and when they determine that a commissioner has been absent a number of meetings, they suggest that person resign. We understand that, at times, there will be conflicts and you will not be able to attend meetings. Please let us know when you cannot attend and we will note that the absence is excused. G. If you have suggestions on how we can be more productive or how we can improve our meetings, please let us know. We want your experience as a commissioner to be rewarding both to you and to the community. IV. Health and Human Service Report: Staff Liaison, Melissa Versch None. V. Old Business: A. Boomers and Beyond 2023 The next Boomers and Beyond Planning Committee is scheduled for the morning of May 17. If you are interested in being on the planning committee, please let us know. The B&B presentations and programs subcommittee is moving quickly to arrange for speakers and programs. They have lined up three or four speakers and have been in touch with a representative from Advocate hospital. Advocate will hopefully be able to provide health screenings. The vendor coordination subcommittee has set up a website and will start reaching out to prospective vendors this month. The publicity committee is a bit short handed. We lost one member, Johanna Jackson-Whitman from the Chamber of Commerce. A second member, Marilyn Miglore of North Shore Senior Center, may not be available until the end of May due to other commitments. We are in need of someone who can help with publicity. The Skokie Park District put a ½ page announcement for Boomers and Beyond in the Prime-Time Bulletin for seniors. B. Farmers Market Produce Collection and Donation Drive The Farmers market will be starting up on June 4. Usually, there is not much produce during the first several weeks. If we have volunteers, we can start collecting on June 4, otherwise, we should be able to wait until the third week of June. We should get the SignUp Genius volunteer sign up running ASAP. Once we get SignUp Genius running, we should get notices including a link to St. Paul Lutheran Church and to the library volunteer coordinator. If we have a contact at District 219, we should get a notice and link to them too. Action item: London will connect with Melissa and get the sign-up set up before the next meeting. C. Skokie Festival of Cultures Arnie reported that the Festival of Cultures is on May 20 and 21. We need two sets of volunteers to staff the table in the morning and afternoon for Saturday and Sunday. Arnie is available to help on Sunday. Volunteers would work in shifts 11am - 2pm and 2pm - 5pm. Interested volunteers can email Harold. We are finalizing the Commission brochure. D. Skokie July 4th Parade We will ride on the Beautification and Improvement Commission float. It will be necessary for two commissioners to walk alongside the float to pass out candy and brochures. This is a great way to publicize our activities, especially the food and clothes drives that were so productive last year. The parade starts at noon on July 4. Harold will try to locate the Commission banner. Otherwise, we may need to have a new one printed. E. Subcommittee reports Dan reported for the Seniors Subcommittee which has been working on Boomers and Beyond. The group working on programs has secured 3-4 speakers for the event. One will be speaking on preventing winter blues. We’re pretty sure Dr. Gettleman will present about avoiding memory loss. Officer Richard Wilkens with Skokie Police Department will present on scams that target seniors. We also have an attorney who will talk about the complexities of Medicare. We’re also working to get a mobile medical unit to do on-site screenings. If you know someone who would like to be a vendor, there are open slots. London reported for the At Risk Youth and Families. Members of the group met with Tina and Astrid to learn about the role of the Early Childhood Alliance. The subcommittee is looking for ways to support the community. Possibilities include advocacy and publicity for ECA events, helping with staffing. The second annual Fun Fair is coming up. Their goal is to get more kids ready for kindergarten. Michelle reported for the People with Disabilities subcommittee. We wanted to know more about the demographic in Skokie and their needs. We looked at census data, but it may not be reliable. A recommendation from the Chicago Mayor’s Office is to do town hall meetings to ask about needs, accessibility, employment, health care and issues that relate to the disabled population. We are recommending that a town hall meeting be held in Skokie and then determine what needs to be addressed. The library may be a good venue. It is important for people with disabilities to represent themselves. Michelle will follow up with Melissa. Harold suggested including the Park  District. F. Commission publicity materials Arnie passed around a draft of an updated Commission brochure for review. We hope to pass out the brochure at upcoming events. Commissioners were invited to make any corrections or changes on the draft copy. VI. New Business: A. Future Commission Meeting Dates: Jun 7, Sept 6, Oct 4, Nov 1, Dec 6, Jan 3 (?), Feb 7, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5 A number of commissioners were not able to attend the April meeting due to religious observances. Our commission has a more diverse makeup now then we had in the past. We should try to schedule future meetings so they do not interfere with religious observances. We listed the proposed dates for commission meetings. Please let me know if any of these dates cause a conflict. It is not easy to move a meeting because often the new date results in conflicts for others – but we will try. B. Rules and Regulations It has been several years since anyone from the public who was not an invited guest attended our commission meeting. However, other Village commission meetings have been attended by the public. Guests are allowed to speak near the end of a meeting. There is always a chance that a guest will be non-cooperative or that they will go on too long when allowed to speak. This has happened in other towns. The Open Meetings Act allows attendance and comments by the public. I don't believe the Act dictates the amount of time allowed for public comments, how long someone can speak, the appropriateness of comments, the behavior of the public at the meeting, etc. I also don't believe the Standard Code of Parliamentary Procedure (Robert's Rules) specifically addresses these issues. The Village rules are as follows: Public attendance and participation at the meetings is always welcome. Each Village Board meeting agenda includes time for public comments, and individuals wishing to speak on an issue will be allocated three minutes to address the Village Board. Also, public comments may be submitted to publiccomments@skokie.org; comments received prior to the meeting or during the meeting will be provided to the Village Board and will not be read aloud. It may be good practice for us to develop and approve similar rules. The rules could allow the Chair to request that someone who is loud, rowdy, threating, uncooperative, etc. to leave the meeting. Hopefully, we would never need to apply these rules. Harold entertains the following motion, “Public attendance and participation at commission meetings is always welcome. Each commission meeting agenda includes time for public comments and individuals wishing to speak on an issue will be allocated three minutes to address the commission. The total time allocated for public participation shall not exceed 30 minutes.” Motion to approve the statement (Michelle/Annie). Discussion supported the rules, which reflects those of the Village Board. 14 in favor/0 opposed. Motion Carries. C. Welcome Packet  At the last meeting, it was suggested that our commission develop a Welcome Packet for new commissioners which would describe what the duties and obligations of a commissioner are and what our commission does. Discussion supported a welcome packet that includes commissioner’s contact information. Any commissioners who would like to work on a Welcome Packet should email or call Harold. VII. Citizen Comments: None. VIII. Adjournment. Next Meeting: June 7, 2023, 7:00 p.m. at Skokie Village Hall