The village of Northbrook Community Relations Commission met Jan. 12 to discuss website designs.
Here are the meeting's minutes, as provided by the commission:
To foster and promote understanding, mutual respect, cooperation and positive relations between and among all residents of Northbrook to the end that a sense of shared community among residents is strengthened, the value of each individual is affirmed and the constitutional rights of all are realized.
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.
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
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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
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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
Representative Martin stated that 2017 would be the 100th 161 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
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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
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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
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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.
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