Community Relations Commission

1 APPROVED 2 Minutes of a Meeting of the 3 Community Relations Commission 4 Northbrook, IL 5 Thursday, August 7, 2014 6 7 8 Present: Chair Ray Wehr; Commissioners Elliott Bruckman, Bruce Doughty, Dale Duda & 9 Dr. Rochelle Singer 10 11 Members: Alice Lonoff, Ron Mantegna, Nancy Stoddard, & Susan Weil 12 13 Guest: Robert Lozaro 14 15 Others: Tom Poupard, Director of Development and Planning Services; & Recording 16 Secretary Julie Weldon 17 18 Absent: Linda Goldsher, Safa Hamed, Sue Huang, Chris Kosla, & Liaison Mike Strong 19 20 Call to Order 21 The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm at the Village Hall by Chair Ray Wehr. 22 23 Approval of June 5 Community Relations Commission Minutes 24 Consensus: Approve the minutes of the June 5, 2014 Community Relations Commission with 25 the following amendments: 26 - Line 10 Move Robert Lozaro from Present to Others. 27 - Line 37 add ‘to the meeting’ before ‘and the group’ 28 - Line 44 add ‘Committee’ to begin the sentence Committee member Robert Lozaro… 29 - Line 116 correct spelling of Melissa Early to Erley 30 - Line 117 change ‘stepping down as’ to ‘promoted to’ 31 - Line 125 remove Commissioner Bruce Doughty and replace with Lou Gross 32 - Lines 133-134 delete ‘no students will be forced to move and students who are entering 33 high school will finish their senior year in the same school’ and replace with ‘boundaries 34 will not be moved in the first two school years’. 35 - Carried. 36 37 Village Staff Report 38 Development & Planning Services Director Tom Poupard provided an update on various Village 39 issues including medical marijuana, skunk removal services, major development and 40 construction projects taken place this summer. 41 42 Northbrook Cares Update 43 Chairman Ray Wehr reported that there are ongoing web vendor discussions. 44 45 Sister Cities Update 46 Commissioner Bruce Doughty reported that he and Commissioner Elliott Bruckman will be 47 meeting with the representative from Highland Park. By mid-September they hope to have the 48 outline of the basic program, mission statement, etc. At that time they will report back to the 49 Commission. 50  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission August 7, 2014 51 They hope to bring on a younger member to help give ideas on how the youth can be involved 52 in this project. They are working on criteria for rating/scoring and deciding on choices for cities. 53 They want a system that will grow over time. By the fall, they want to be able to identify towns 54 that they can suggest to the CRC. Carol Wolf from Highland Park is willing to attend the CRC 55 meeting. 56 57 Member Ron Mangtegna commented that some places of worship have sister congregations. 58 59 Commissioner Rochelle Singer asked what Commission in Highland Park works on this. It was 60 mentioned that Ms. Wolf might be able to answer this when she attends the CRC meeting. 61 62 Northbrook Forum Update 63 No news to report. 64 65 Commission Match Game 66 Chair Ray Wehr stated that to be a chair of an event you need to be an appointed 67 Commissioner. The Commissioner chairs the event but a subcommittee puts on the events. The 68 following Commissioners volunteered to chair these events for the upcoming year: 69 70 Black History Month – Rochelle Singer 71 Sister Cities – Bruce Doughty 72 Flamingo Fridays – Dale Duda 73 Northbrook Forum – Bruce Doughty and Ray Wehr 74 Asian Heritage Month – Sue Huang 75 Welcome to Northbrook – Elliot Bruckman 76 NCRC Award – Linda Goldsher 77 78 The sub committees are yet to be determined. The chairs were asked to present a target budget 79 and an ideal budget for the next meeting. 80 81 Chair Ray Wehr asked if there was anything that we should be doing. There were no requests 82 for additional events. 83 84 Commissioner Bruce Doughty asked if there were parts of the community that are not engaged 85 and if the Commission should be doing something to engage them. 86 87 News from the Clergy 88 Commissioner Alice Lonoff reported on the Northbrook United Methodist Church’s mission trip 89 to Guatamala. She also mentioned that the church was doing a tomato project, growing 90 tomatoes on the property and that volunteers were making homemade tomato sauce, with the 91 proceeds going to a food pantry. Melissa Early is the new President of the Clergy Association. 92 Their official meeting will be held in September as they have taken the summer off. 93 94 Chair Ray Wehr was invited to break the Ramadan Feast at the ICC. There was representation 95 by the Park District and the Northbrook police. 96 97 Member Susan Weil reported that the St. Norbert Vaulker Cup golf outing was held at Chevy 98 Chase and Cardinal Francis George attended the dinner that evening. 99 100 Commissioner Dale Duda reported on the Blessing of the dogs. 2  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission August 7, 2014 101 102 News from the Schools 103 Commissioner Bruce Doughty reported that District 225 sports and other activities start next 104 week. Freshman will start school on the 26th the others will start on the 27th of August. 105 Glenbrook South took the National Debate Crown. The debate program at both schools is 106 outstanding. The last fiscal year, the schools had a positive budget and this year there should 107 be a balanced budget. The chrome book initiative will provide a tablet/computer combination for 108 freshmen & sophomores. 109 110 Old Business 111 There was no old business to report. 112 113 New Business 114 Chair Ray Wehr reported that on July 3rd Elliot Bruckman was appointed by the Board of 115 Trustees for a 3rd year term as Commissioner of Community Relations Commission. 116 117 Eyes and Ears on the Street 118  Commissioner Dale Duda announced that she is hosting a party to have people come to 119 listen to a presentation by Elevate Energy, a nonprofit organization that does an energy 120 evaluation of your house. They give a 90 minute presentation on energy efficiency. They 121 do not sell anything they just provide you with a report. They guarantee a minimum of 122 15% savings on energy bills. They also do air quality checks on your home. Members of 123 the Commission will receive an invitation to attend. 124  It was reported that the library construction is still on schedule and plans to be 125 completed by the spring. 126  Construction on Westmoor School is on schedule. Development & Planning Services 127 Dirctor Tom Poupard reported that public schools are exempt from local Village Codes 128 and that the building drawings were approved and inspected by the state. The Village 129 only has jurisdiction over stormwater and drainage work. 130  The Shermer Road underpass is now open. 131  Recognize the 90th birthday of Audrey Snyder. 132  Next Wednesday the Farmers Market will be hosting “Zucchini Day”. The sponsor has 133 donated $250 to the individual who gets the most tickets. 134 135 Next Meeting 136 The next meeting will be held September 4, 2014, at the Village Hall. 137 138 Adjournment 139 Motion: (Rochelle Singer – Bruce Doughty) Move to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 pm – Carried. 3