Community Relations Committee

Village Hall Village of Lombard 255 East Wilson Ave. Lombard, IL 60148 villageoflombard.org Minutes Community Relations Committee Trustee Dan Whittington - Chairperson Trustee Bill Ware - Alternate Chairperson, Pamela Bedard, Lisa Biegalski, Ahmed Ali, Michael Ledonne, Sharon Vish, Barb Ware, Gladys Piper and Jenny Swensen Staff Liaison - Bridget Doyle Monday, March 10, 2014 7:00 PM Trustees Conference Room 1.0 Call to Order and Pledge of Allegiance The meeting was called to order by Chairperson Trustee Dan Whittington at 7:02 p.m. The Pledge of Allegiance was led by Michael LeDonne. 2.0 Roll Call Present 8 - Trustee Dan Whittington, Bill Ware, Pamela Bedard, Lisa Biegalski, Michael Ledonne, Sharon Vish, Barbara Ware, and Jenny Swensen Absent 2 - Ahmed Ali, and Gladys Piper Also present: Communications Coordinator Bridget Doyle. 3.0 Public Participation None. 4.0 Approval of Minutes A motion was made by Michael LeDonne, seconded by Barbara Ware, to approve the minutes of the February 10, 2014 meeting. The motion passed by unanimous vote. 5.0 Old Business Village of Lombard Page 1 Community Relations Committee Minutes March 10, 2014 140055 Welcome Home for Veterans Formalize program, discussion. Bridget Doyle and Chairperson Whittington met with Lombard Police Sgt. Bud Marks and discussed the Welcome Home Veterans program and its rollout this spring. They shared that the program would remain as it has been in the past but will now allow residents to submit a request for a Welcome Home event for their veteran, family or friend. The Village is ordering flags to have on-hand for the event to create a path for the vehicles to travel. 130530 Youth Firefighter Program Wrap-up discussion. At the time of the meeting, the Village was still waiting on a waiver/release provided by the Village Attorney for applicants to complete. Once the waiver/release is received, the program is ready to begin in late May. Bridget will bring an update to the group at the next meeting. 130274 Youth Leadership Program Wrap-up discussion. Bridget Doyle told the group the Village is currently accepting applications and encouraged the committee to communicate with any high school students or parents of high school students and ask them to apply. 6.0 New Business 140090 Video Gambling Discussion of the position of the Village on video gambling. The Community Relations Committee was tasked with discussing the possibility of allowing video gaming within Lombard establishments. Some committee members remember discussing the topic four years ago. The group had paperwork supplied to them ahead of time with statistics about neighboring communities’ experience with video gaming. Trustee Bill Ware joined the meeting during this part of the discussion. Lisa Biegalski expressed hesitation in what allowing gambling could do to the community in the long run. Barb Ware and Pam Bedard expressed support for allowing video gaming. Michael Ledonne said, now that other communities are allowing video gaming, it would only hold back Lombard’s business community to not allow video gaming in Village of Lombard Page 2 Community Relations Committee Minutes March 10, 2014 Village establishments. It’s a competitive disadvantage for the Village, Ledonne said. Businesses may seek to open elsewhere if the Village bans video gaming after the state passed the issue, he said. Jenny Swensen said her neighbors were not interested in the idea of video gaming. The group discussed the funds the Village would gain from allowing video gaming. The group also discussed the Village’s ability to retract video gaming at any time, if desired. Barb Ware made a motion to approve video gaming in the Village of Lombard. Michael Ledonne seconded the motion. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. 7.0 Other Business None. 8.0 Information Only None. 9.0 Adjournment A motion was made by Michael Ledonne, seconded by Sharon Vish to adjourn the meeting at 7:34 p.m. The motion passed by a unanimous vote. Village of Lombard Page 3