Community Relations Commission

CITY OF WHEATON COMMUNITY RELATIONS COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES – WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 1, 2018 I. Call to Order by Chairman Gail Forrest at 7:10pm II. Roll Call: Commissioners Present: Commissioners Absent: Tony Asta Shayne Moore Gail Forrest Erica Nelson Leslie Day Erik Miller Vickie Miller Guests Present: Colleen Attwell Nicholas Garza Julie Kulovits Alex Mayster Larniecia Smith III. Citizens to be heard: Nicholas Garza, Wheaton North High School student, attended the meeting and is interested in joining the Commission. Introductions of Commission members were made and we gave Nicholas an overview of our mission and events. ACTION: Gail to follow-up on submitting Nicholas’ name to City for approval. IV. Approval of Minutes: Leslie moved to approve the June minutes and Julie seconded. The motion passed. V. Continuing Business: A. Finance: Erik reported on the balance which included the new fiscal year’s funds as well as the carryover. The entire FY budget will be depleted after Festival of Cultures, so we will be relying on past year overage from sponsorship sales and will need new sponsorship sales this year. B. Communication: Alex reported on the new Festival of Cultures logo. Also the save-the-date for the event is in City’s newsletter. More activities to come in September, such as press release, etc. He is also working on creating a new Community Relations Commission logo. ACTION: All commissioners to send Alex one idea for Commission logo/branding. C. Festival of Cultures: Julie reported that we have 2-3 food truck vendors who are confirmed. She has gotten a list of all food truck vendors who have permits with the Health Department and has been reaching out for participation.  D. Good Citizens: Colleen has drafted a post-event survey to send to attendees to get thoughts on what they liked and/or how to improve next year’s event. ACTION: 1) Colleen to work with Sharon to distribute surveys and collect responses. 2) Gail will coordinate a supply inventory/return time at Public Works. E. Make A Difference Day: Larniecia inquired as to what we have done in the past for this event. Discussion revolved around whether the Commission serves as a convener/enabler of volunteer events or if we choose an event to do ourselves. ACTION: All Commissioners to send ideas for projects to Larniecia. F. Military Project: Alex met with Midwest Shelter for Veterans to discuss a potential partnership. Further discussion pending. Nicholas suggested doing an “Angel Tree” type of activity so families can support gifts/needs for veterans at the holidays. We also discussed linking the military project to Make A Difference Day. G. Business Sponsorship: Leslie has completed the sponsorship packet for Festival of Cultures and will begin selling sponsorships. There will also be a poster printed and we will need the help of Commissioners to be distributed. Poster should be ready at end of August. ACTIONS: 1) Leslie will email copy of sponsorship packet to all Commissioners. 2) All Commissioners to send sponsorship leads to Leslie and also let her know which areas each can cover for poster distribution. VI. New Business: A. Larniecia is looking for volunteers to help staff a booth at Warrenville National Might Out on Tuesday, August 7th. Please let her know if you can help out. B. The group was reminded that the Festival of Cultures sub-committee will meet on August 8th at 7:30 pm. VII. Adjournment: Colleen moved and Vickie seconded a motion to adjourn at 8:24 pm. The motion passed.