Community Relations Commission

1 Minutes of a Meeting of the 2 Community Relations Commission 3 Northbrook, IL 4 Thursday, January 12, 2017, 7:00pm 5 6 Present: Chairman Bruce Doughty, Commissioners Christine Beeftink, Jason Han, Mary 7 Hansen, Sharon Latek, Helena Osorio, Grace Seo and Dr. Rochelle Singer. 8 9 Representatives: Ron Mantegna, John Martin and Nancy Stoddard. 10 11 Absent: Commissioner Elliot Bruckman and Representative Alice Lonoff. 12 13 Others: Village Staff Liaison Erik Jensen and Library Representative Tracy Gossage. 14 15 Welcome 16 Chairman Doughty called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the Civic Room at Northbrook Public 17 Library. 18 19 Hear from the Audience 20 There was no audience. 21 22 Review and Approval of the December 1, 2016 Regular Meeting Minutes 23 Revisions were noted as follows: 24 25 Lines 7, 8 and 10: Correct comma errors. 26 Line 10: Correct Commissioner Osorio’s last name. 27 Line 95: Add “on” after “presentation” 28 Line 97: Correct to say the initiative is ongoing 29 Line 121: Add “that” 30 Line 152: Change “Commissioners” to “everyone” 31 32 A motion was made by Commissioner Han, seconded by Commissioner Hansen, to approve the meeting 33 minutes as amended. On a voice vote, all aye. 34 35 Review and Approval of the Minutes of Various Northbrook Cares Subcommittee Meetings 36 37 Chairman Doughty explained that the Northbrook Cares Subcommittee had approved the submitted 38 minutes the prior evening without any amendments. He asked if there were any changes. There were 39 none. 40 41 Chairman Doughty asked if the minutes could be approved in omnibus fashion. Liaison Jensen replied 42 that they could be. 43 44 A motion was made by Commissioner Singer, seconded by Commissioner Han, to approve the 45 Northbrook Cares Subcommittee minutes of February 23, 2016; April 6, 2016; April 27, 2016; June 29, 46 2016 and August 6, 2016 as presented. On a voice vote, all aye. 47 48 49 Village Update 50 51 Liaison Jensen thanked the Commission members who had recently participated in the Village’s 52 website survey and reminded the group of the survey deadline. 53 54 Liaison Jensen stated that the Village was working on the FY 17/18 budget and discussed the 55 Village’s budgeting process. 56 57 Finally, Liaison Jensen mentioned that President Frum’s State of the Village address would be held 58 on Monday, January 20. 59 60 Representative Mantegna asked what would be done with the website survey results. 61 62 Liaison Jensen explained the process going forward. 63 64 Update on Activities 65 66 1. Northbrook Cares 67 68 Chairman Doughty explained the Text-A-Tip program and overviewed the agreements signed 69 by District 225, the local elementary school districts and the Villages of Glenview and 70 Northbrook. 71 72 Chairman Doughty reviewed the Northbrook Cares website design session held on 73 Wednesday, January 11 with the teen group and discussed the timeline for the website. 74 75 Chairman Doughty then discussed the possibility of collaborating with the Senior Services 76 Commission to expand Northbrook Cares in the future. He discussed potential ways to do this 77 and stated he would reach out to his contact again to set up a future meeting. 78 79 Finally, Chairman Doughty reiterated the importance of the work that the Commission does in 80 light of a recent death. He stated that programs like the Celebration of Cultures and projects 81 like Northbrook Cares all contribute to the enhancement of the sense of community and are 82 very important. He thanked the Commission for its work. 83 84 2. Celebration of Cultures 85 86 Commissioner Singer stated that coordinators for two new groups (Filipino and Indian) had 87 been recruited. 88 89 Commissioner Singer stated that the Subcommittee had lost the French and Israeli Glenbrook 90 North student groups but that the Hellenic group would be joining again this year. She then 91 reviewed the 10 groups who had currently committed to participating. 92 93 Commissioner Singer further stated that the owner of the Pavilion was interested in 94 participating and could contribute Russian food to the event. 95 2  96 Commissioner Singer then discussed recent meetings that Chairman Doughty, Commissioner 97 Han, Liaison Jensen and she had had with the Northbrook Public Library and the film festival 98 that would be held. She stated that foreign films would be shown each Wednesday during the 99 month of April at the Library leading up to and culminating in the Celebration of Cultures on 100 Sunday, April 23. 101 102 Lastly, Commissioner Singer stated that two meetings would be held in the near future: (i) a 103 publicity meeting on Wednesday, January 25 at the YMCA to discuss the promotion of the 104 Celebration with the YMCA and Library and (ii) a Subcommittee meeting on Monday, February 105 13 at the YMCA for the coordinators. 106 107 Commissioner Han stated there would be some logistical items covered at the February 108 meeting and that the Subcommittee would focus on the entertainment and layout following 109 the February meeting. 110 111 Representative Martin asked for clarifications on the times. 112 113 Commissioner Singer clarified. 114 115 A brief conversation occurred on coverage for the event, and Commissioner Singer stated 116 Cheryl Fayne would be providing assistance again this year. 117 118 Marla Morgen joined the meeting at 7:26. 119 120 Another brief conversation occurred on the logistics of the event. Commissioner Singer stated 121 Commissioner Han would again be emceeing the event. 122 123 Chairman Doughty overviewed the conversations with the Library on the film festivals. 124 125 Representative Martin asked if the Library would be selecting the films and managing the film 126 festival. 127 128 Ms. Gossage confirmed. 129 130 3. Welcome to Northbrook/Flamingo Fridays 131 132 Commissioner Hansen overviewed some discussions the Subcommittee had held on the past 133 in regards to changing the day of the event and Flamingo Fridays but stated the group had 134 ultimately opted to keep it on a Friday. She further stated neighborhoods could hold it 135 whichever day they would like. 136 137 Commissioner Hansen stated this year’s event would be held on Friday, May 19 from 5:30 to 138 7pm at Village Hall. 139 140 Finally, Commissioner Hansen explained that the Subcommittee would be looking to have a 141 social media component added this year. 142 3 143 Liaison Jensen asked Commissioner Hansen if she knew that the Farmers’ Market had 144 expressed interested in giving out vouchers at Earth Day that could be exchanged for 145 milkweed plugs at Welcome to Northbrook. 146 147 Commissioner Hansen confirmed that she had heard that. 148 149 Chairman Doughty asked if the Subcommittee would invite the popcorn wagon to attend 150 again. 151 152 Commissioner Hansen confirmed that they would. 153 154 News from the Schools 155 156 Commissioner Latek discussed the upcoming referendum on Maple School. She stated a question 157 would be placed on the April ballot regarding issuing debt to cover upgrade costs. She also 158 discussed a project her students completed to write letters to a veteran who had been attacked in 159 Chicago and the positive response she received back. 160 161 Representative Martin stated that 2017 would be the 100th anniversary of St. Norbert’s School and 162 that Catholic Schools week would be held during the week of Monday, January 29. 163 164 Chairman Doughty stated that the rehearsals for the All-State Musical were being held at 165 Glenbrook North. He also overviewed new coursework at Glenbrook North including yoga and 166 interior design as well as programming designed to promote engineering at the high school level. 167 Finally, he discussed the on-going discussion regarding homework and student health. 168 169 Carla Slawson-Martens, Chair of the Youth Commission, joined the meeting at 7:45. 170 171 News from the Northbrook Clergy Association 172 173 Commissioner Hansen reviewed the most recent Clergy Association meeting and stated that the 174 group had moved its meeting time to promote more involvement. She also stated that the 175 Association was interested in looking into more interfaith programming. 176 177 Commissioner Hansen stated that while the Interfaith Walk would not be held until 2018, the 178 Association may be interested in an Interfaith Picnic during the summer. 179 180 Old Business 181 182 There was no old business. 183 184 New Business 185 186 1. Budget Update 187 188 Liaison Jensen discussed the latest budget report. He stated that the Clergy Luncheon had 189 come in under budget, and that the Northbrook Cares Subcommittee had spent some funds to 4 190 cover dinner for the website design meeting. He stated he would provide another update in 191 February. 192 193 2. One Community, One Book 194 195 Chairman Doughty stated that members of the Commission had expressed some interest in 196 creating a “One Community, One Book” initiative and overviewed some history to date. 197 198 Commissioner Beeftink stated that she had reached out to Kate Hall, Library Director, and that the 199 Library seemed excited about the possibility of working together on the project. 200 201 Commissioner Beeftink reviewed some of the discussions to date and that the discussions had 202 included the possibility of focusing on an intergenerational and/or multicultural book. She 203 concluded by saying that there was a lot of potential for this type of a project. 204 205 Commissioner Singer stated that Commissioner Latek had originally discussed Character Counts 206 when joining the Commissioner and suggested that the book may want to be one about 207 cooperation and building community. 208 209 Chairman Doughty stated that this type of a project would need some lead time and asked Ms. 210 Gossage about her opinion. 211 212 Ms. Gossage stated it would require some lead time and gave some possible scenarios for how the 213 event could occur. 214 215 Commissioner Beeftink stated that that Ms. Hall suggested fall as a potential time. 216 217 Commissioner Hansen reminded the group that a Korean book had been previously discussed and 218 would be very appropriate given Northbrook’s large Korean community. 219 220 Ms. Gossage stated that she was attending the meeting larger to do some fact-finding and to 221 better understand the scope that the Commission was considering. She stated she would report 222 back to the Library. She also asked the group about an author visit. 223 224 Commissioner Beeftink stated it may be a nice component to the project. 225 226 A brief conversation occurred on next steps. 227 228 3. Upcoming Youth Commission Forum 229 230 Chairman Doughty stated that the Youth Commission Forum was scheduled to be the next topic of 231 conversation, but as Ms. Martens was present, he felt it would be appropriate to simply move 232 forward to the Community Presentation and have it be discussed there. 233 234 Community Presentation 235 236 Chairman Doughty introduced Ms. Martens. 237 5 238 Ms. Martens introduced herself and briefly discussed the history of the Youth Commission as well 239 as some of their past projects. She stated that the Commission had been exploring different 240 projects and initiatives it could be involved in. She also overviewed how instrumental the 241 Commission’s youth members had been in seeking out a new mission for the Commission. 242 243 Ms. Martens reviewed the Mission for the Commission and discussed the upcoming Institute for 244 Civility training, which will be held on Sunday, February 26 from 1 to 5pm at Village Hall. Further, 245 she stated that a Youth Forum may be held in the near future. 246 247 Ms. Martens also expressed interest in the One Community, One Book initiative and the possibility 248 of collaboration between the Commission and the Youth Commission. 249 250 Commissioner Singer asked about how the schools were engaging in the Institute for Civility 251 Training. 252 253 Ms. Martens stated there currently isn’t an incentive from Glenbrook North for attendance but 254 there may be one in the future. She overviewed the messaging efforts undertaken by the 255 Commission to Glenbrook students. 256 257 Representative Mantegna stated that he thought there were plenty of good opportunities for 258 intergenerational communication and that seniors were interested in hearing from youth. 259 260 Representative Martin asked about current RSVPs for the training. 261 262 Ms. Martens stated that many students and community leaders were attending but some slots are 263 still open. 264 265 Representative Martin asked who should fill those slots. 266 267 Ms. Martens replied it would be a roughly equal mixture of students and adults. She asked if 268 anyone was interested in attending. 269 270 Commissioner Han stated he was already signed up and Commissioner Beeftink stated she would 271 like to attend. 272 273 Ms. Martens thanked the Commission for inviting her to attend. 274 275 Eyes and Ears on the Street 276 277 Representative Mantegna stated that Village Presbyterian Church would hold a Festival of 278 Spirituals on Friday, January 13 at 7:30pm with all proceeds benefitting PADS (Providing Advocacy 279 Dignity Shelter). 280 281 Commissioner Osorio shared that she had learned so much about the Village since being on the 282 Commission and suggested that the Commission could record the Community Presentations from 283 each meeting and make them into a podcast series. 284 6 285 Representative Mantegna suggested that Cheryl Fayne could be very helpful if the Commission 286 decided to pursue this. 287 288 Ms. Martens asked Commissioner Osorio to explain what a podcast was for the Commission’s 289 benefit. 290 291 Commissioner Osorio explained. 292 293 A brief conversation occurred on podcasts, and Commissioner Han mentioned that the Library 294 would have an upcoming program on it. 295 296 Liaison Jensen stated he would connect Commissioner Osorio and Ms. Fayne to discuss further. 297 298 Chairman Doughty stated he liked the idea and asked if Commissioner Osorio could bring back 299 more information for the next meeting. 300 301 Liaison Jensen stated that Representative Lonoff had given him advertising materials for the 302 Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service and passed them out on her behalf. 303 304 Next Meeting Date 305 306 Chairman Doughty explained that the next meeting date would not work for some of the 307 Commissioners and suggested rescheduling for Thursday, February 9. 308 309 A motion was made by Commissioner Han, seconded by Commissioner Hansen, to reschedule the 310 regular meeting of Thursday, February 2 to Thursday, February 9 at 7pm in the Civic Room. On a 311 voice vote, all aye. 312 313 Adjournment 314 315 A motion was made by Commissioner Hansen, seconded by Commissioner Singer, to adjourn the 316 meeting. On a voice vote, all aye. 317 318 The meeting closed at 8:42 pm. 319 320 Respectfully submitted, 321 322 323 324 Erik Jensen 325 Staff Liaison 7