MINUTES
Moraine Township Board of Trustees
Thursday, September 28, 2006 7:30 PM
Highwood City Hall, Council Chambers
MINUTES OF REGULAR MEETING
September 28, 2006
The meeting was called to order at 7:35 PM, and upon roll call the following members were present: Supervisor Mari Barnes; Trustees Bryna Gamson, Margoth Moreno, Cynthia Plouché and Jeff Zaluda. Also Present: Chief Deputy Assessor Trish Lenzini; Clerk Ellen Gussin; Director General Assistance Tracy Coleman; Janet Freed, community member; State Representative Karen May; Glenkirk representatives John Manchester and Bill Fisher; North Shore Youth Sailing Coalition representative Jean Sogin.
Approval of Minutes
Regular Meeting Minutes of September 14, 2006 stand as distributed.
Approval of Bills
There were no bills to approve.
Public Comment
Karen May, State Representative for the 58th District, appeared to address the Township Board and meeting attendees, thank them for their hard work and accomplishments on behalf of the community, and mention the services of her legislative aide, Karyn Davidman, available and in touch with the community on day-to-day issues and concerns.
Agency Presentations
Glenkirk – John Manchester and Bill Fisher
John Manchester explained that Glenkirk serves people who are developmentally disabled, serving a wide range of disabilities of patients aged from birth throughout their lives. The agency was first established by operating a school for developmentally-disabled children up to three years of age. Respite Care, pioneered by Glenkirk, is now a strong program that strives to find a specialized ways to serve the needs of each patient. Glenkirk operates no institutional facilities but place patients in independent apartments and 85 group homes. They also manage sheltered workshops and place patients in work opportunities throughout the community. Providing choice to their patient population is a key component of Glenkirk’s philosophy; they offer many classes including computer skills, citizenship and intelligent voting, and nutrition. They are promoting Next Generation services, trying to extend educational opportunities as well as senior programs, for which they have won a national award. They take pride in being innovative and community based, receiving for the sixth consecutive year a maximum-accreditation rating. Bill Fisher, a Glenkirk patient for most of his life who lives in an apartment in the community with a roommate, told the Board of his work at Zenglers, how much he enjoys being productive, and how appreciative he is for the opportunities at Glenkirk. He uses Dial-a-Ride thru PACE to get to work. In response to a trustee question, most of Glenkirk’s funding comes from the State. These types of social service agencies have huge waiting lists – for residential services, the list is currently at around 1000. Because of the great need, there is heavy cooperation among the various agencies rather than competition. One of the big hurdles they face is transportation. Glenkirk operates 49 vehicles currently and needs more.
North Shore Youth Sailing Coalition – Jean Sogin
Mission of the Coalition is to teach kids how to sail and enjoy sailing on Lake Michigan. With the $250 grant received from the Township, the NSYSC purchased six life jackets. Jean stressed that Lake Michigan is an amazing resource to our community. The coalition acts as the non-profit equivalent of the Yacht Club. Entry fee is nominal -- $25 twice per year for the Highland Park High School students (compared to fees of over $300 for the season at other high schools.) Volunteers in the coalition teach kids how to sail and operate boats provided by the Yacht Club. First mission is to get the teenagers on the water and they have found that working through the high school is best. They are trying to encourage the Latino students to participate as well, and two of the volunteers are bi-lingual. They offer classes and scholarships for kids that take an interest in sailing and sponsor regattas and a Junior Olympic Regatta. Next month on October 21 they are bringing in Eduardo Cordero, a Venezuelan sailing expert, who will deliver a talk in both Spanish and English at the high school. Jean cited Lisa Frederick, Activities Director at HPHS, for the inspiration for the coalition. The coalition has had more than 30 kids enrolled, of which as many as eight have been Latino; the core group is about 12, up from four when it started two years ago.
Assessor's Report
Chief Deputy Assessor Trish Lenzini noted that the blue assessment cards were received by each property owner by mail this week. County Multiplier is up from 7.1 last year to 9.16 this year. Appeal deadline is October 30.
Supervisor's Report
• Supervisor Barnes read an amendment to the Employee Manual, which was adopted in June, and asked for a motion to approve. Trustee Gamson, seconded by Trustee Plouché, so moved. Motion carried by a voice vote.
• Voter registration closes on October 10; Early Voting begins on October 16, and the election date is November 7.
• Supervisor Barnes and Tracy Coleman attended a General Assistance Seminar today which was put on by the Township Officials of Illinois; it was quite productive.
• Treasurer’s Report for the past fiscal year has been filed.
Committee Reports
1. Food Pantry – Key Club wants to volunteer this year at the Pantry and they will be asked to come the third Monday of every month after the high school day ends. National City Bank, as part of their volunteer day, came in last week to volunteer at the Pantry. The numbers of community members served by the Pantry have been up, believed to be at least in part due to the positive word of mouth publicity.
2. Clothing Closet – We have a lot of stock and need volunteers. Volunteers are asked to call to express interest before coming in.
3. Human Relations Commission – Trustee Plouché shared with the Board the names of the agencies that have applied to HRC for funds. Each commissioner is participating in a Tolerance Program at the Firehouse Youth Services Department in Highland Park. The HRC is also co-sponsoring with the Library a program on October 26 when teacher Sandra Roberts of a small town in Tennessee who made the documentary Paper Clips will be in Highland Park to speak.
4. Transportation – Trustee Gamson gave an update on the Lake County Coordinated Transportation Services Committee. She believes our paratransit program is missing a key population group in need -- the economically disadvantaged (at every age) who need transportation to the new Health Clinic. She suggests we start to explore ways to expand the program to address this need. Community member Janet Freed advised the Board that there will be a Needs Assessment meeting sponsored by United Way from 8 AM to noon on Tuesday, November 28, at the Highland Park Community House. The Township Board will be receiving notice and an invite to attend, along with the questionnaire to be used for the group breakout sessions.
5. Newsletter – The Lake County Assessor’s Office was able to provide a list of addresses for everyone in the township and Trustee Gamson is working on the distribution method for this important communication.
Old Business
• Dates for next calendar year’s Township meetings will be adopted at the next meeting.
• Supervisor Barnes requested that the next meeting on October 12 begin at 4 PM instead of 5 PM.
• Trustee Gamson requested that we include more detail on the agenda, and Clerk Gussin agreed to provide any and all detail provided.
• Trustee Gamson expressed frustration in the problems she has experienced in accessing our website, provided to us by NorthStarNet.
• Trustee Moreno asked that we spend some extra time on Thanksgiving and Holiday Baskets at an upcoming meeting.
• Clerk Gussin announced that the time is finally upon us to discard out-of-date documents in both the Assessor’s Office and Township Office, as per permission granted by the State as part of a formal inventory and audit process. She asked to be called to review the documents when they have been assembled for disposal. Documents will be sent out for shredding to a local non-profit agency.
New Business
None
Adjournment
With no further business to conduct, Trustee Zaluda moved, seconded by Trustee Moreno, the meeting be adjourned at 8:55 PM. Motion carried.
Respectfully submitted,
_______________________
Ellen S. Gussin, Moraine Township Clerk
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