Consumer Affairs Commission

Consumer Affairs Commission Minutes September 14, 2022 In attendance: Trustee Khoeun, Joanne Haeberlin, Biju Krishnan, Anil Pillai, George Mathew, Jerry Kirkpatrick, Sam Pratap, Jeff Schvimer, Ted Lavine Davorka Kirincic, Justin Malone. Phone: Gary Merrill Excused: Howard Meyer, Jennifer Engel Meeting called to order at 6:31. Intro topic: If you were given a million dollars and could only keep 20%, what would you do with the rest. Minutes: Moved by George and seconded by Jeff to accept minutes. Accepted. Farmers Market: E-mail manager report. Attached. Sign up sheet for CAC members to attend market. September 18 is second redemption day for the loyalty cards. Port a potty feed back …. under discussion by Village. Question is where to put it the rest of the week. Discussed the need for map and/or list of vendors. Discussed easy children’s game at CAC tent. Joanne mentioned that a couple of the vendors asked about the possibility of a winter market. First mention to CAC. Broadly discussed possible venues VFW, park district, etc. How often? Fees? Also tried to discuss if market is making money, losing money, or breaking even. Discussed difficulty in exploring market questions with no market management present. Business of the Year: Nominations closed August 30. 83 nominations received for 44 different business. Questionnaires have been sent out to all the business and completed ones have started to be returned. Justin forwarding them to selection committee as they are received. Selection committee: Howard Meyer, Joanne Haeberlin, Sam Pratap, Jeff Schvimer, Biju Krishnan, Davorka Kirincic, Trustee Khoeun. Meeting on September 29 at 7:00. Davorka to confirm presentation at Board meeting on October 17. Media Literacy Education: Ann Tennes, Village of Skokie, and Mariah Cherem, Skokie Public Library, are interested in making information available on media literacy education and scam fact checking. Jeff shared that he and Michael Spikes have compiled a list and would be interested in further helping with this project. Joanne to pass information to Ann and Mariah. Miscellaneous: Davorka reported that no consumer complaint issues have been received by the Village to be shared with the CAC. New communications manager, Meredith, has been hired to work with Ann. Discussed the possible need to issue a reminder to Skokie households that any solicitor ringing their door bell should be registered with the Village. Discussed the possible need to make a list available of electric charging stations. Next meeting October 19. Meeting adjourned at 7:31 Joanne Haeberlin Chair , It would also be helpful to know booth fees for year and per week. If they sign up for occasional Sundays, do they pay in advance and give you dates they will be there? Do you have any idea if the market is breaking even with fees and costs? Thank you, Joanne On 09/12/2022 8:03 PM Farmers Market <farmersmarket@skokie.org> wrote: Hi Joanne, Again, my apologies for not being able to attend this week's meeting. Here are a few updates. I am still working on a location for a possible Winter Market. Emily Oaks Nature Center will not work but I am looking into other area Skokie locations. The hopes is to do 2 markets before Christmas - 2 in January and 2 in February. All of our current vendors know this and most of them have asked for space. We have a very hearty lineup for fall entertainment including additional bands, more kids activities and more. I have been in contact with the director of the Niles Food Pantry. They have been blown away with the donations that have come out of our once a month donations - I might look into hosting these more frequently next season. I am not currently looking for additional vendors at this time for this years market but we do have a few guest crafters coming. This coming weekend, I will be doing a vendor appreciation day - buying hot dogs, chips and sides for all the vendors. These farmers are working so incredibly hard and have been so loyal to the market this year - this is the least we can do. Mark from M & D Farm is helping me with this. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. Regards, Jennifer Engel Market Manager - Skokie Farmers Market C: 312-307-1812