Minutes of the Barrington Hills Village Communications Committee Meeting Number 42, August 22, October 17, 2005Final – approved December 19, 2005 Draft Chairman Beth Mallen called the meeting to order on October 17August 22, 2005, at 5:356:06 p.m. in the Barrington Hills Village Hall Training Room. 1. Roll Call of Members
Present: Beth Mallen, Chairman Nicky Nikki Panos, Vice ChairmanLucinda Hanover, MemberBarbara Kemp, Recording SecretaryMaureen Prettyman, MemberVicky Kelly, Member Dan Mjolsness, Member Bob Kosin, Village Administrator, Sponsor Walter E. Smithe, Village Trustee Sponsor Absent: Walter E. Smithe, Village Trustee SponsorLucinda Hanover, Member Invited Guests: Chief of Police, Fred ClauserJournalist, Linda Fox 2. SPECIAL PRESENTATIONDan Mjolsness, Member Bob Kosin, Village Administrator, Sponsor S Guest Speakers: OLD BUSINESS
i. Fred Clauser, Chief of Police
Chief Clauser provided extensive background on his educational and career background leading up to his tenure as the Barrington Hills Chief of Police. He referenced his standing in NENA and participation in the E911 Wireless Technical Standards Committee. The Chief mentioned that Bob Kosin has been a member of the NENA E911 VoIP Standards Committee and between them they are well recognized in the USA and abroad for their knowledge and leadership with respect to E911.
After accepting his position in Barrington Hills, Chief Clauser conducted a Community Survey and received a 27% return which is unprecedented, and the results led to the changes and affirmation of the program for the Village. He said Barrington Hills is unique in its volunteerism, desire for privacy, and spirit.
The Department’s Policy and Procedure Manual and the Village’s Accreditation. Re-accreditation takes place every three years and the next date is 2007. He stressed the “equal protection under the law” commitments and the quality of and consistency of training of all officers and staff and the high caliber of technology available to the village. He talked about the Village’s Disaster Recovery and Reliability strengths, referencing the Village Hall building as a hardened site and the nearby back up site, and the three (3) deep redundancies in communications technology. The Chief mentioned the departmental staffing requirements for a typical town with the land mass of Barrington Hills and how he manages with a focused small force given the village’s resident and the transient population. He said there are 4000 living residents and between 30K and 40K transients who use the roads and trails of Barrington Hills daily. He has the luxury of being able to manage risks efficiently given the profile of the community and its history.
Top Successes: 1. Rebuilding the Communications Center
2. Development and Training
3. Traffic Safety – Holistic and Systematic Approach – results in 1st in the State Award. Focus on car seats saving lives, St. Mark’s program
4. Accreditation – 1st in McHenry County
5. Lock Up Improvements – facilities overhaul to meet State Standards
6. Wireless E911 Implementation
Major Programs:1. D.A.R.E
2. Crime Prevention
3. Block Captain
4. Home Security
Assignment1. Check out Mapquest – inaccuracies in BH – reason the Village uses 70 mile radius maps. Find 112 Algonquin Road.
Beth thanked the Chief for his detailed presentation and indicated his office and officers will be the major subject in the fourth Quarter Barrington Hills Newsletter. Linda Fox will be doing the in depth interviews and the article will include pictures of the Department and Officers.
ii. Linda Fox
Linda Fox is a resident of Barrington Hills and has past experience as a journalist and feature writer with a newspaper in North Carolina. She volunteered to serve as a consultant to the Communications team, and to provide proof reader services for the Village Newsletter. Her first assignment will be the feature article on Chief Clauser.
Linda’s reach information: (847)381-5438 –home (847) 344-0068-cellular,lfox@active-elec.com
Beth thanked Linda for her offer and the whole team looks forward to working with her on future Projects.
3. OLD BUSINESS 2.Minutesof Prior Meetings
The minutes of the prior meetings, August 22 9, 2005 Draft and September 26, 2005 Draft, were emailed with the Aagenda Beth prepared for the OctoberAugust 22, 2005 Meeting and they were printed for review. Corrections were agreed upon: the spelling of Bob Kosin’s name, and removal of duplication of Nikki Panos’ name on the August minutes from the roll call. No other corrections were suggested. Lucinda made a motion to approve the minutes as amended, seconded by Maureen. Motion Approved. (6-0-1)Barbara will ask Bob Kosin if the minutes are to be uploaded to the Village website and ensure they are loaded if required. Dan made a motion to approve the set of minutes as amended, seconded by Vicky. Motion. Approved. (6-0-1). Newsletter 3Q 05
Beth received detailed comments on the Newsletter from Penny Horne, and subsequently invited Penny to the October 17 meeting if she wishes to volunteer her services. All comments are appreciated in the interest of continuous process improvement.
There were five (5) requests for email versions of the Newsletter. Nikki Panos will manage the future distribution with the help of the Village Clerk. Note: Bob Abboud stopped by to informally address the Communications Committee before the meeting and he thanked the Committee for the fine efforts. He said the Trustees agree the Newsletter efforts were much easier for them and they would like the process to continue. 4. NEW BUSINESS3.Mission
Lucinda Hanover led the team through the discussion of a revised Mission Statement which she prepared and sent to Beth ahead of the meeting. Lucinda suggested linking the five (5) Projects to the Mission calling them the Five key focus areas to accomplish the Mission. The Mission Statement was agreed upon with one minor change, the term PR was changed to Promotion. Lucinda will make the changes and email a copy to be attached to the minutes. See Attachment 1.Vicky made a motion to approve the Mission Statement as amended, Maureen seconded. Motion Approved. (6-0-1)Trustee Reports Gohl – Vicky
The Village was quoted in a Chicago Tribune article, October 13, 2005 regarding the request to bring all of the students from Barrington Hills into School District 220. The Village is meeting with District 300; the initial meeting was held on October 17. Bob Abboud indicated the primary issues are financial, historical and the bureaucratic challenges faced by such a plan per Dr. Arndt. Discussion continues. The article is inserted as a reference.
District denies
secession bid
Barrington Hills
wants single school system
By Tim Kane
Special to the Tribune
Published October 13,
2005
Barrington Hills wants to transfer 1,000 acres of the village from a financially struggling Carpentersville-based school district to a Barrington-based district that serves most of the community.
But the request is running into stiff opposition from Community Unit School District 300, which would lose about $600,000 a year in real estate tax revenue if the property were disconnected.
Barrington Hills
Trustee Fritz Gohl raised the issue at a
District 300 board meeting this week because he said school officials had
refused to consider the request. The McHenry County portion of Barrington Hills
is in District 300.
The change would affect about 13 pupils, Gohl said
Barrington Hills approached District 300 Supt. Kenneth Arndt with the request several months ago and Arndt said no, Gohl said
"Since 1948 when
the district was formed, it has been the practice not to seek the addition or
disconnection of land from the district," Arndt said Wednesday. "It
would be a financial loss to us. Property values in Barrington Hills are higher
than most land in District 300, higher than most land in the Chicagoland
area."
The owner of a $1 million property in the McHenry County portion of Barrington
Hills pays about $12,180 a year in real estate taxes to District 300. The same
property would pay about $11,200 to School District 220 if the disconnection
were approved, said Donald Robinson, an assistant superintendent for District
220.
Robert Abboud, village president of Barrington Hills, which sprawls over 19,000
acres in the northwest suburbs, said the reason for the request to disconnect
was more about community identity than money. He said village trustees want
students in Barrington Hills to go to the Barrington district. He also said
schools in District 300 are overcrowded and the district has $26 million in
debt.
John Court, president of the District 300 school board, said he would meet
with Barrington Hills trustees but reiterated that district policy is to oppose
disconnections.
Remainder of Trustees – Nothing to report at this time; no responses to the requests for information; the next Newsletter is due in December.
5. Website
Vicky and Dan
The Newsletter is constrained by the rules affecting .gov sites. Illinois standards are in place and the Barrington Library handles the Newsletter for the Village. North Star Net is the free host, a not for profit organization. They are aware of the restrictions and compliance standards. Dan is setting up a meeting with Terry Mills at the Barrington Library to address changes. They will report back to the Committee on or before the next meeting.
Focus:
· Prioritize the top areas people want to see
· One Click to Resource Center
· Look at other Municipalities
· Reduce download requirements – currently 40 to 50 items to download
· Evaluate use of graphics files and time to download since some residents do not have broadband services
· Balance Graphics and Text
· Add in a FAQ page
· Reference Professional Sites
· Speak to the lowest common denominator
· Ensure the Newsletter can be located.
· Plan to ask Terry Mills for a demonstration of sample pages
The Focus areas below were adjusted to show Dan Mjolsness as a secondary on the Website. 4.1.Specific Efforts
Vicky addressed the alignment of the Projects, now Focus Areas with Specific Efforts list from the last meeting. Vicky’s recommendations were mailed with the meeting agenda. They were entitled, Specific Efforts of the Communications Committee. The document was open to discussion and agreement was reached on the changes. The titles were aligned with the Focus areas in the Mission Statement. Specific changes were agreed upon for the sections under Public Meetings and Special Events Item 2, External Promotions Items 1 and 2, and Technology Item 2. Vicky agreed to take the document to edit and share it for final approval at the next meeting. An email copy of Draft 2 will be attached to these minutes. See Attachment 2. The team agreed to align primary and secondary team members to begin working on the Five Areas of Focus. The order or items does not represent priority. At any given time priority may change.
Focus Area |
Primary |
Secondary |
1. Newsletter |
Nikki Panos |
Vicky Kelly |
2. Website |
Vicky Kelly |
Nikki Panos, Dan Mjolsness |
3. Public Meetings and Special Events |
Lucinda Hanover |
Maureen Prettyman |
4. External Promotion |
Maureen Prettyman |
Lucinda Hanover |
5. Technology |
Barbara Kemp |
Dan Mjolsness |
Vicky made a motion to approve the change of titles and position of the Focus areas to align with the Mission Statement, and the Focus Areas relationship to primary and secondary team members as discussed. Maureen seconded. Motion Approved. (6-0-1) 5.8. Public Meeting/Special EventProjects Newsletter Trustee Alignment
Lucinda could not be at the meeting. She volunteered to plan the first special event, a Holiday Party at the Village Hall in mid December. She received concurrence from Walter E. Smithe on the plan for villagers to meet the Trustees. The Committee agreed to set the date aside ASAP. Beth will communicate the priority to Lucinda so she can proceed with date confirmation and let us know what we need to do to prepare. The planned party time is 7:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. The party will be mid week and before school is out December 19. Date Choices:1. December 14, Wednesday
2. December 13 Tuesday
3. December 15, Thursday
9. External Promotion Barbara offered to contact Lisa Stamos, the editor of Quintessential Barrington to see if they are interested in an article promoting the Village in a future magazine. Beth indicated a coffee is one idea to get us started without waiting for a future meeting. Investigate getting external promotion. Dan so motioned, seconded by Maureen. Approved (6-0-1).The Trustees and the Communications Committee alignment were discussed. The primary reporter names were confirmed and secondary names agreed upon. The reporters will gather information by taking turns attending the Village meetings in a rotational basis and sharing information with each of the key reporters. That means each Communications Committee member will be attending 2 Village meetings a year each at a minimum. The schedule will be a topic for the next meeting. Nicky Nikki made a motion for approval of the alignment, seconded by Vicky. Motion Approved. (6-0-1)
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10. 6.Technology Report
Barbara presented status of the Technology research and handed out a document called the Technology Report August 22, 2005. See Attachment 3. After discussion, Beth Mallen requested that the Technology recommendation be tabled until after a Newsletter can be sent out asking for members of the community to step forward and volunteer. Beth has specific concerns related to bringing in “insiders” only for any Communications Committee work effort and she feels not everyone shares the sense of urgency. Walter Smithe who initially suggested the topic for Technology, and Bob Kosin who has experience with the topic, were not available for the discussion due to preparations for the Board of Trustees Meeting. There was no vote taken on the Technology Report which is tabled until after a Newsletter is published inviting residents to participate. NEW BUSINESS 7.Newsletter
Beth addressed the plan to get the Newsletter out within a month to allow for other work to go forward. News articles announcing the new Communications Committee and its Mission, Focus Areas and Specific Efforts will be part of the first edition of the new newsletter. Articles on each of the Focus Areas will be prepared and published, encouraging residents to participate. ·NickyNikkiand Vicky are responsible to meet with Bob Kosin to get the details of how the Newsletter is published. They will recommend a due date and plan including budget.
·We each have to obtain the reports from each Trustee.
·There is a new Equestrian Committee and the Newsletter will introduce them to the residents.
·Beth brought a recent newsletter from another community which was reviewed for ideas. Barbara brought a copy of a McHenry County Environmental newsletter which has no mention of Barrington Hills' activities.
·The research by Nikki and Vicky will start the activities.
·The Committee recognizes the need for rapid communications to succeed in preparing a Monthly Newsletter and gaining Trustee approval before the next formal Communications Committee meeting.
8.Meeting Date and Time Re-Visited
Day and Time of Meetings: In general, the 4th Monday of each Month at 5:30 p.m., new start time to complete the agenda and allow for at least one person to attend the Village Trustees meeting that follows. The next meeting will be held on in Septemberr , 2005 in the Village Training Room; date to be determined. . After much discussion, the meeting dates and times are still aligned with the Trustees Monthly meeting schedule. See Attachment 4. 9.Dismissal:
Beth Mallen entertained a motion for dismissal at 7:558:15 p.m. The next meeting is on Monday, in November 21September , 2005, at 5:30 p.m. Date to be announced. BarbaraLucinda so motioned and MaureenVicky seconded. Motion Approved (6-0-1). Meeting Adjourned Approved: _____________________ ______________________Communications Committee Meeting 4 1October 17, 2005August 22, 2005