Community Relations Commission

1 DRAFT 2 Minutes of a Meeting of the 3 Community Relations Commission 4 Northbrook, IL 5 Thursday, September 3, 2015 6 7 Present: Chairman Ray Wehr, Commissioners Bruce Doughty, Safa Hamed, 8 Jason Han, Chris Kosla & Dr. Rochelle Singer 9 10 Representatives: Mary Hansen, Alice Lonoff, Ron Mantegna, John Martin, Nancy Stoddard, 11 & Susan Weil 12 13 Absent: Commissioners Elliot Bruckmann and Sharon Latek 14 15 Others: Staff Liaison, Erik Jensen & Recording Secretary, Gale Cerabona 16 17 Call to Order 18 Chairman Wehr called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. in the Civic Room at the Northbrook 19 Public Library. 20 21 Welcome 22 Chairman Wehr welcomed everyone to the CRC’s new meeting place. 23 24 Representative Weil introduced John Martin who will replace her at St. Norbert’s. Mr. Martin 25 briefly shared his background, and the CRC gave him a round of applause. Representative Weil 26 stated it has been a lovely experience being and working with the CRC. Chairman Wehr 27 thanked Representative Weil and welcomed Representative Martin. 28 29 Approval of June 4 & August 6, 2015, Regular Meeting Minutes 30 Revisions to the June 4th minutes were noted as follows: 31  Line 36 should be noted as “Ray” rather than Ron 32  Line 175 last word should be “encouraging” 33  Line 185 last word should be “precedent” 34 35 Commissioner Singer moved, seconded by Commissioner Doughty, to approve the regular 36 meeting minutes of June 4, 2015 as amended. 37 38 Revisions to the August 6th minutes were noted as follows: 39  Line 76 replace plentiful with “was well attended” 40  Line 90 add……regarding diversity programs 41  Line 101 reword as…… Commissioner Bruckmann be the lead, and 42 Commissioner Duda offered her consultation services 43  Line 188 add……since the Y agreed to do it again 44  Eyes/Ears reword as……a day of service is being held on August 30 (remove MLK) 45 46 Commissioner Singer moved, seconded by Commissioner Doughty, to approve the regular 47 meeting minutes of August 6, 2015 as amended. 48 49 50  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission September 3, 2015 51 Village Update 52 Staff Liaison Jensen distributed the “Be Informed” Guide and noted it is a good resource 53 (regarding general awareness and preparedness). 54 55 Representative Mantegna advised the Crime Map is excellent; Staff Liaison Jensen explained 56 same and noted it is also on the Village web site on the police page. 57 58 Commission Planning Discussion Finalization 59 Chairman Wehr reminded everyone of last month’s discussion; duties were assigned as follows: 60 61 1. Clergy Luncheon 62 63 Commissioner Kosla will be the Chair with no subcommittee. The event is typically the 64 first Wednesday in December. Staff Liaison Jensen reserved a room for December 12 65 and will inquire as to topics; Chairman Wehr provided background on this event. 66 67 2. Heritage Month 68 69 Chairman Wehr asked if Black History Month and Asian Heritage should continue. 70 Commissioner Singer stated she believes a celebration of Diversity (during a particular 71 month) should be celebrated. She suggested calling for participation of different minority 72 ethnic groups in Northbrook to help plan and execute an event Commissioner Doughty 73 suggested establishing a solid idea first; Commissioner Singer concurred and stated 74 criteria should be determined. Representative Mantegna suggested a communique to 75 the community. 76 77 Commissioner Singer suggested assigning 2 Co-Chairs and a Subcommittee. She 78 shared her vision (which would include Black History and Asian Heritage and others). 79 The following was established: 80 81 Co-Chairs: Commissioners Singer & Han 82 Subcommittee: Representative Mantegna & Commissioner Doughty 83 84 Chairman Wehr advised he was contacted by the Y. He suggested reaching out to the 85 Clergy Association. 86 87 An appropriate date/timeframe was discussed. Commissioner Singer recommends Staff 88 Liaison Jensen obtain other event information that may be taking place in March/April. 89 90 Representative Lonoff stated she would like to see a discussion about race. She noted 91 promoting understanding is a goal for Northbrook. Representative Lonoff advised that 92 beginning September 30th, on Wednesday nights, Houses of Worship are facilitating a 93 discussion on White Privilege. 94 95 Commissioner Singer stated she would form a Subcommittee to establish a meeting 96 date. 97 98 99 100 2  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission September 3, 2015 101 102 3. InterFaith Sunday with Houses of Worship Event 103 104 Chairman Wehr noted this event will occur every 3 years. Discussion took place on 105 planning events on in-between years. Commissioner Kosla volunteered to obtain 106 speaker recommendations and topics. 107 108 Representative Lonoff stated she remembers discussing an event with/at locations in the 109 Village. Representative Weil suggested an Open House event like Chicago offers with 110 docents. Representative Mantegna reminded of the former Treasure Hunt and explained 111 same (where locations of significance were visited). Chairman Wehr suggested posing 112 this to the Village leadership. Staff Liaison Jensen advised he will begin those 113 discussions. Commissioner Han recommended a Photo Hunt and explained same. 114 115 4. Welcome to Northbrook/Flamingo Fridays 116 117 To be determined 118 119 5. Other Events/Thoughts 120 121 Commissioner Hamed recommended having the Northbrook Public Library show movies 122 of different cultures, perhaps monthly. Commissioner Singer asked about Open Forums. 123 Representative Mantegna recommended multiple cultural events. 124 125 Chairman Wehr thanked everyone. Commissioner Doughty stated he likes the idea of 126 broadening the CRC’s scope. 127 128 News from Schools 129 Commissioner Doughty reported the following from District 225: 130  school is in session 131  sports teams, theatre are up and running 132  new principal is in place 133 134 News from Northbrook Clergy Association 135 Commissioner Kosla reported the following from the last meeting: 136  Howard at the Y wants to partner with the CRC 137  On 10/18, The Crop Walk will take place. 25% of revenue will remain local 138  Speakers talked about Affordable Housing, Immigration, Home Sharing, Open- 139 Communities (open-communities.org) 140  New Development -- Lifetime Fitness, Child Care Center, Luxury Apartments 141  On 10/11, Justice Summit takes place at Oakton Community College (topics include 142 safety, access to food, business, etc.) 143  On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, there will be a Thanksgiving Service at Temple 144 Beth El; speaker to be determined 145 146 Old Business 147 There was nothing to report. 148 149 New Business 150 There was nothing to report. 3  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission September 3, 2015 151 152 Eyes & Ears on the Street 153 Representative Lonoff noted: 154  4 Houses of Worship will be hosting movies and a discussion on Wednesdays beginning 155 September 30th for a 4-week period 156 157 Commissioner Singer noted that all lanes on Willow Road in Northfield are open. 158 159 Commissioner Doughty advised a presentation entitled “Victim No More” will take place on 160 October 24 from 9 a.m.-12 noon at Our Lady of the Brook. 161 162 Next Meeting 163 Chairman Wehr advised the next meeting is October 1st at the Northbrook Public Library. 164 165 Adjournment 166 A motion was made by Commissioner Singer, seconded by Commissioner Doughty, to adjourn 167 the meeting at 7:52 p.m. On a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. 168 169 Respectfully submitted, 170 171 172 173 Gale Cerabona 174 Recording Secretary 4