Public Safety Commission

SKOKIE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2024 PRESENT: Michael Anderson, Police Chief Jesse Barnes, Marcie Claus, Connell Collins, Fire Chief Jeff Hoeflich, Avron Kahn, Kimani Levy, Ibriham Mansuri, Senior Engineer Samantha Maximilian, Fred Moore, Paul Pitalis, Vice Chairman Dennis Rizo, Howard Rosenburg, Jeffrey Schvimer, Trustee Edie Sue Sutker and Chairman Melissa Villegas EXCUSED: Fire DC Op Nicholas Eschner, Deputy Chief Denise Franklin, Deputy Fire Chief Stephen Jagman, Paul Kruszynski, Leslie Post-Weissinger, Deputy Chief John Oakley, Director of Engineering Russ Rietveld, Trustee Alison Pure- Slovin, Director of Public Works Max Slankard, ABSENT: Scott Ford, Mark Penning and Bryant Smith CALL TO ORDER AND APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES Chairperson Melissa Villegas called the meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. Quorum was established. The minutes of the October 15th meeting were approved. FIRE DEPARTMENT REPORT Fire Chief Jeff Hoeflich presented the October Report. Recruiting is ongoing for remaining six vacancies. Lieutenant Mike Schey was honored at the Monday night Board Meeting for his service in Ashville, NC to help with response to the natural disaster. QA discussion followed. POLICE DEPARTMENT REPORT Chief Barnes presented the Police Department Report. The citizens police academy has completed and the graduation ceremony was held earlier in separate space at the police department. The Chief acknowledged the citizens commitment to the program and encouraged any commissioners that were interested to reach out to the Chief for next year’s program. Overall group A offenses are down but burglaries seem to be on the rise. This is a regional issue. Members of the Skokie Police Department are part of a regional Burglary Task Force to help come up with solutions on mitigating the issue. QA discussion followed. ENGINEERING REPORT Samantha Maximilian provided an update on current construction projects. QA discussion followed. Samantha presented on the Oakton Street Project being proposed by the County. Samantha provided a timeline review since the proposed project was presented to the commission about a year ago. The proposed changes include modifying the existing lane configurations on Oakton Street to provide one travel lane in each direction, a center left turn lane, on street bike lanes, on-street parking along the majority of the corridor, and spot changes such as curb extensions, pedestrian refuge islands, and others. This project will also include roadway resurfacing, updated pavement markings and improvements to CTA bus stops. QA discussion followed. UNFINISHED BUSINESS None NEW BUSINESS None ADJOURNMENT At 8:40 p.m. a motion to adjourn was made and was seconded then passed unanimously. THE NEXT MEETING OF THE SKOKIE PUBLIC SAFETY COMMISSION WILL BE HELD ON WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 18, 2024 AT 7:00 P.M. AT SKOKIE POLICE STATION 17 AT 7300 NILES CENTER ROAD PLEASE CALL ENGINEERING DIVISION AT 847-933-8232 IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND THE MEETING Document Number: 508651 Document Name: Public Safety Commission Minutes Version: 75