Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Community Relations Commission 3 Northbrook, IL 4 Thursday, December 1, 2016 5 6 Present: Chairman Bruce Doughty, Commissioners, Elliot Bruckman, Jason Han 7 Mary Hansen, & Grace Seo, 8 9 Absent: Commissioners Christine Beeftink, Sharon Latek, Helena Osorio & Dr. 10 Rochelle Singer 11 12 Representatives: Alice Lonoff, Ron Mantegna, & Nancy Stoddard 13 14 Others: Staff Liaison Erik Jensen & Recording Secretary, Gale Cerabona 15 16 Welcome 17 Chairman Doughty called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Pollack Room at Northbrook 18 Public Library. 19 20 Hear from the Audience 21 There was no audience. 22 23 Review & Approval of November 3, 2016, Regular Meeting Minutes 24 Revisions were noted as follows: 25  Line 11 add Nancy Stoddard’s name 26  Line 30 add quote symbol after “if 27  Line 45 replace is a voting location to is an early voting location 28  Line 53 replace is with will be 29  Line 68 replace onto with on to 30  Line 69 add Officer before Petka 31  Line 81 remove the word was 32  Line 85 remove the word an 33  Lines108-109 omit 34  Line 118 replace they with the Clergy 35  Line 133 remove verbage after it; add among other ways with continuing education 36  Line 142 add everyone after reminded 37  Line 153 correctly spell Dei 38 39 A motion was made by Commissioner Hansen, seconded by Commissioner Han, to approve the 40 meeting minutes as amended. On a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. 41 42 Representative Stoddard arrived at 7:05 p.m. 43 44 Village Update 45 Staff Liaison Jensen stated Officer Petka enjoyed speaking to the CRC. 46 47 Liaison Jensen stated that the Village Board had approved a contract for both an updated 48 Village website and a website for Northbrook Cares. 49  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission December 1, 2016 50 Liaison Jensen stated that the public comment period for the Hiawatha Amtrak proposal was 51 extended another 60 days (until January 15, 2017). He overviewed the Village Board’s 52 resolution on the matter. 53 54 Liaison Jensen stated that the Youth Commission would be hosting a presentation by the 55 Institute for Civility on Sunday, December 11. 56 57 Liaison Jensen stated that a public meeting on the Skokie Valley Trail extension would be held 58 on December 14, 2016. 59 60 Finally, Liaison Jensen stated that work had begun on the next fiscal year’s budget. He 61 explained he would ask for $8,000 to cover additional Northbrook Cares expenses and asked 62 for input from the Commission on any other costs. 63 64 Update on Activities 65 1. Northbrook Cares 66 67 Chairman Doughty stated that the Text-A-Tip initiative had been adopted by the school 68 districts and that each district would be entering into an agreement to bring the service to 69 their students. Chairman Doughty explained the history of the program and that the roll 70 out would occur in the next calendar year. 71 72 Chair Doughty stated a meeting would be held in the near future with the youth 73 volunteers on developing the website. 74 75 Chair Doughty explained that a senior component may be added to the Northbrook 76 Cares project. 77 78 2. Clergy Luncheon 79 80 Commissioner Hansen advised the Clergy luncheon will be held on December 7, 2016. 81 Staff Liaison Jensen took RSVPs from CRC members. 82 83 3. Celebration of Cultures 84 85 Commissioner Han advised progress has been made. An Indian station has been 86 secured. Coordinators are still being sought as well for Russian and Filipino stations. 87 88 Chairman Doughty advised Kate Hall, Executive Director, of the Northbrook Public 89 Library will assist in adding a film component for the Celebration of Cultures. 90 91 News from Schools 92 Chairman Doughty shared the following from GBN: 93  The football team is in the playoffs 94  A presentation focusing on prejudice and pre-judgment recently occurred. 95  A number of different performing arts activities are occurring at the campus. 96  Homework initiative (and student health) is ongoing 97 98 99 2  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission December 1, 2016 100 News from Northbrook Clergy Association 101 Commissioner Hansen advised the Thanksgiving Interfaith gathering was standing room only. 102 Chairman Doughty commended Commissioner Hansen for doing a nice job representing the 103 CRC. 104 105 Old Business 106 There was nothing to report. 107 108 New Business 109 110 1. Budget Update 111 112 Staff Liaison Jensen distributed the budget for CRC; he will provide updates on a regular 113 basis. The fiscal year begins May 1. 114 115 Chairman Doughty dovetailed on Staff Liaison Jensen’s request for CRC members to 116 continue thinking about new initiatives. 117 118 2. One Community, One Book 119 120 Commissioner Hansen advised that Commissioner Beeftink and she were discussing a 121 “One Community, One Book” project. This would include finding a book and holding 122 programming throughout the community to encourage others to read it and participate in 123 events. This would be in-conjunction with the Library. Commissioner Seo stated she 124 would be interested in assisting and overviewed the connection between the Korean 125 community and Northbrook. 126 127 3. Upcoming Youth Commission (YC) Forum 128 129 Staff Liaison Jensen advised a potential event may occur in April. The CRC may co- 130 sponsor with the YC. It was suggested that Youth Commission Chair Martens offer a 131 presentation to the CRC. 132 133 4. Commissioner Hansen suggested a component to Flamingo Fridays with photo sharing 134 on the Village web site. Staff Liaison Jensen stated they are considering the same for 135 Earth Day. 136 137 Eyes & Ears on the Street 138 Commissioner Martin stated the St. Norbert’s/Our Lady of the Brook community has embarked 139 on a capital campaign to help raise $3.9 million for the Chicago diocese for scholarships at 140 parochial schools as well as improvements at St. Norbert’s. 141 142 Representative Lonoff advised the Northbrook Justice Team and Open Communities are 143 hosting a training session on Tuesday, December 6, from 9 a.m.-12 noon at Northbrook United 144 Methodist Church. This will teach participants to have one-on-one sessions based on the 145 interests of others. 146 147 Representative Mantegna asked about construction at Dundee and Pfingsten Roads. Staff 148 Liaisen Jensen stated construction is being halted for the winter and will resume in the spring. 149 3  Minutes of a Meeting of the Community Relations Commission December 1, 2016 150 Representative Mantegna shared a story about Facebook scams and encouraged everyone to 151 be vigilant. 152 153 Next Meeting 154 A motion was made by Representative Martin, seconded by Commissioner Hansen, to alter 155 January’s meeting from January 5, 2017 to January 12, 2017. On a voice vote, the motion 156 carried unanimously. 157 158 Adjournment 159 A motion was made by Commissioner Hansen, seconded by Representative Stoddard, to 160 adjourn the meeting at 8:01 p.m. On a voice vote, the motion carried unanimously. 161 162 Respectfully submitted, 163 164 165 166 Gale Cerabona 167 Recording Secretary 4