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HRC Minutes 2008 11-19-08 APPROVED United City of Yorkville Human Resources Commission Minutes I /a t /09 Wednesday November 19, 2008 City Council Conference Room Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 6:30 pm by Scott Gengler, Chairman. Scott remarked that he was proud to assume the chairmanship of the commission and hoped to get some work done for the city of Yorkville. Committee Members Present: Scott Gengler, Chairman Cecelia Sanders Barb McClish Joan Knutson Glory Spies Rose Spears, City Council Liaison Bart Olson, City Staff Liaison Mayor Valerie Burd, ex officio member Sgt. Barry Groesch Minutes for Correction/Approval: It was moved and seconded to accept the minutes of the September and October meetings, and questions and comments were solicited by Scott. Rose had some corrections concerning the addition of a paragraph that hadn't appeared in a previous draft. Joan commented that someone had told her that some material had not been included that should have been. It concerned the $1 charge. This was on September 17. (Inaudible) Rose also had transcribed some information from her tape of the meeting that she wished to have added to the minutes. There was some question whether the commission recommended that we take the food pantry off the bottom of the billing. Rose had typed what everybody said and she wanted this added to the minutes. Rose commented that people should be careful to speak one at a time since the tapes are difficult to transcribe with everyone talking at once. Mayor Burd stated that the chairman has to call for a vote and it has to be recorded as to how people voted. (Inaudible). Scott asked for an adjustment to add the new information to the September 17 minutes. It was moved and seconded to approve the addition. It was unanimously approved. Some discussion followed concerning certification of the amended transcription. Mayor Burd said that the Clerk's office doesn't want transcriptions on the minutes,they want the general thing. Perhaps we should add a paragraph stating that we discussed something. Scott then asked for a motion to approve the October 15 minutes. Some discussion was held concerning the $1 increment on the water bill. Scott commented that there had been no vote specifically on that water bill issue, so we moved it to the next meeting. Rose stated that she had asked everyone three times what we wanted her to recommend to the city council and we are all quoted in the transcript and Barry said that it was a council decision, that it didn't belong here. Rose offered to let people listen to her copy of the tape if they thought it was important. Scott asked if it had been discussed at city council, and if so it was out of our hands and a moot point. Rose pointed out that there was a discrepancy, the mayor had presented it in a different way to city council and said that it wasn't voted on, so it was in limbo land at city council, so it will probably come back to city council unless it's going to be eliminated from the bills. It was then pointed out that this issue would be discussed later in the agenda, and we needed to get back to discussing the minutes. Scott then called for a vote for the October minutes. It was moved and seconded to approve the minutes, and the vote was unanimous. Mayor's Report Mayor Burd told us that they were trying to be inclusive to all the mayors in Kendall County. She had talked to Judy Hines of Millbrook who was very excited about being part of this. She will go through the whole list and give us an update at the next meeting. She hoped they would come up with something for May. By that time we would know who the new mayor of Plano will be. Joan asked if she had talked to the mayor of Newark. Mayor Burd said she had met with him, but not about this event, so she will call him back. Staff Reports: None New Business: Scott reported that Maria wanted one of our board members to volunteer to be on the food pantry board. Scott asked if anyone at the meeting would be willing to do that. Barb McClish offered to do that since she knows Maria and Diane, and knew that they would be expanding, and through her affiliation with Caring Hands, she felt that she would be an asset, and could bring back information to the commission. Scott thanked her for offering. Scott called for a vote to approve Barb's appointment to the food pantry board. Joan moved and Cecelia seconded. The vote passed. Old Business: Scott brought up the sponsorship policy which was repealed by the city council on October 28, and the remaining money in the budget will be used by the historic street naming program. Since there is only about $1,200 left, after a brief discussion, Scott asked for a vote to recommend that city council use the money for street naming. Joan moved, Cecelia seconded. After a roll call vote, all approved. Mayor Burd asked Bart to explain some research he had done concerning donations to organizations, through sponsorships. Bart reported that he had studied Gold Star's request. He and Brendan called the academy to try to find out their not for profit status, and during this research he discovered some state codes in the Illinois Municipal Handbook, which said that except for a few limited purposes you're not supposed to give taxpayer money to outside organizations. Money should only be used for taxpayer services. They took this information to city council immediately because Honor Flight was waiting for information concerning a donation. They also told Gold Star about that policy. Bart explained that taxpayer money was not to be given to charities or other organizations. We would only be allowed to donate to senior services or some limited recreational activities. Glory asked about the Tri City Challenge which provided a service. Mayor Burd agreed that the area is murky. Cecelia asked about money that was raised from . Rose said that the money is still there. Madonna asked that the money be donated to some Alzheimer's charity that she was working on. Scott thanked Bart for his work involved in the decision concerning sponsorship. Scott brought up historical street naming. There is a huge binder covering the procedure. He asked if there was anything we needed to add or change to this. He mentioned some of the expenses involved. Bart said we needed to recommend to city council concerning expenses and presentations. He suggested that a form is available if someone wants to recommend a person to be honored. City council will review the form and get more information if necessary. Some discussion followed concerning applications. It was stated that the nominee should have done something voluntarily for the city, not just a person who did his job well. Rose pointed out that two city attorneys also reviewed this information. Scott asked what the commission wanted to alter any of the processes in place, and what to give to the people who are chosen. He wanted to appoint a couple of point people to do some of the background research sort of like we are doing with the volunteer opportunities brochure. He offered to volunteer his own services. Ceil offered to help. She mentioned that she didn't think miniature signs are necessary,just a certificate. Glory mentioned that families of deceased people like the recognition. Scott asked for a motion to withdraw the miniature signs and city flags from the memo. It was moved by Ceil and seconded by Barb. The motion passed. Scott clarified that a regular brown street sign and some sort of certificate be given at a presentation. Mayor Burd asked about what kind of presentation would be desired. Bart mentioned that a presentation be made at the event site, but he stated that Identa Road is rural, and it wouldn't be a good place to make a presentation. Scott suggested that the presentation be made at a city council meeting with the mayor presenting the certificate. Perhaps a small reception with hors doeuvres and punch before the meeting. He suggested that it be moved to the second council meeting in March. Bart made a suggestion that he make a list of the people that have been approved, and the commission could decide how much time would be required to contact all the people and set a date at that time. Rose asked how many people we would be talking about that we would be ordering brown signs for. She remarked that if there were 60 people,just the brackets and signs would cost $3,780, and there is only possibly $1500 in the budget if the council approves. Scott said $1250 is available. Rose suggested that this come back after an exact count is available so we can bring the dollar amount to the council. Scott suggested that we approve making the presentation at a city council meeting in the future and a date to be named later with a punch reception. Mayor Burd suggested that March would be a good time because it will be before the next city council is seated. Scott asked the commission to approve the commemoration of the street naming signs at a punch ceremony before the 2"d city council meeting in March which would be March 24`h. Scott moved, Barb seconded, and the vote passed unanimously. Scott also asked if we could approve him to be a liaison to Bart as point man for the commission. Joan moved, Barb seconded. All approved. Rose asked if we want her to not present this to city council until we get an exact amount because there may not be a presentation if the budget does not contain sufficient funds for the signs at this time. Scott suggested we use whatever funds we have to get the signs up that have already been in the works, and if we have to cut some names that are on the list we'll have to put them back to a later date. We should use the $1250. Rose said she would present to the council that we want their authorization to use that money into the historical street naming and if that's approved, then we will ask for their approval to order as many signs as we could. Mayor Burd asked Bart to put this on the city council agenda. Rose suggested a map for the families so they would know where the sign is. Bart suggested that a map be displayed at the commemoration. Glory said that maps can be printed with the name on it and given at the presentation. Greg will print them. Bart said if anyone called and asked about locations of these commemorative signs, he would be glad to help. Scott suggested that a link be put on the web site. He then asked for a motion that the remaining $1250 be used for street naming signs for the people that we have already chosen. Bart mentioned that we had already approved this. The next item to be discussed was the utility bill donations. $1.00 donations can be added to the water bill. Mayor Burd that she is the chief executive officer of the city and she can expend some dollars on her own initiative without going through city council. If the city council has a problem with something she does, they have their own forum and they don't need to come to the human resources commission to ask us to pass something to reprimand the mayor. She felt that we weren't aware that that was what we did. It came back to the city council that we recommended taking that the mayor take that $1 off the city water bill. The city council as a whole did not have a problem with that being on the water bill. Through this program we raised around $250 for the food pantry. Maria had stated that $1 is worth$6. She was confused why this commission would not want to do something good for the food pantry that didn't cause the staff any inconvenience, and that she had the authority to do. If the city council wishes to make a policy to set up who or what organization they want on there, but this one is a fantastic one that serves a lot of people in the community. This is a good way of getting donations, not taxpayer money. People decide to give $1 of their own money. She felt that it was a very good cause and the majority of the city council agreed with her and she recommends that in the future the HRC not get embroiled in council wars, that we let the city council handle those kinds of policy issues. She felt that we do want to support the food pantry, and she didn't know why we would take a vote to take the money away from the organization. Until the council sets up a policy, she makes those kinds of decisions because the way the government is set up the mayor is in charge of the administration and the city council oversees the budget and passes laws, and without anybody passing any law to restrict it, she does get to make some decisions like that. She mentioned that the expenses in administering this donation were minimal, involving only about '/z hour of a staff member's time. Apparently this decision does not belong in the HRC. Rose asked that this be put on the agenda for the city council meeting. Some discussion followed about legalities. Scott introduced Robyn Sutcliff, 2nd ward alderman. Glory then gave an update on the volunteer brochure. Barb did some research for phone numbers, and other information. Glory did the design for the brochure to be handed out at the Holiday Under the Stars event. Mayor wanted to green committee to be separate, because it is open to any volunteer who wants to be on it, rather than appointed by the mayor. Glory tried to save space, but she can pull it out. A discussion followed about the green committee. Scott asked if we could hand this brochure out at Holiday Under the Stars, and make amendments in the future. He complimented Glory and Barb for their work. Some more suggestions were made for revisions. Robyn stated that she is pleased to hand out a brochure like this when people ask her about opportunities in Yorkville. Scott moved to accept the brochure with revisions in mind to pass out at Holiday Under the Stars. It was seconded, and approved. Scott mentioned that we have a volunteer sheet for members who signed up to work at the Holiday Under the Stars booth. Glory has handouts that we can distribute in places such as the library. She has signs already made up for the booth, and all the members have to do is come for their shift. Scott will find the list and e-mail Ceil and Joan concerning their time. We will be at booth#2. Scott then asked about items for the next meeting's agenda. Mayor Burd had received a phone call from a resident of Grand Reserve who is upset about how the building hasn't progressed and people are using empty lots as dumps. She also mentioned a single mother who had four kids and she had to farm them out to relatives because she had to work and didn't have money for a sitter. She thought our commission could look into this to see if there is a need for scholarship money to send some children to day care. Maybe some local business people could help. Barb mentioned that Loving Arms Day Care accepts children with minimal fees. There may be others as well. Scott suggested that the commission be a little more proactive in the community. We can figure out how to be helpful to people struggling with the economy. Maybe we should invite someone to our meeting to talk about problems. Mayor Burd asked if we would meet in December. Our next meeting will be on the P Wednesday in January, the 21". Barb moved to accept this date, Ceil seconded. Motion carried. Rose asked if anyone had volunteered to fill the empty seat on the commission. Mayor Burd will ask Robin Fritsch to return as a member. Joan moved to adjourn, Ceil seconded. Motion carried.