Minutes of the Barrington Hills Village
Communications Committee Meeting
August 18, 2008
5:30 p.m.
Training Room
VILLAGE HALL
112 Algonquin Road
Final
1. Call to Order
Chairman Nikki Panos called the meeting to order August 18, 2008 at 5:43 p.m. in the Barrington Hills Village Hall.
Roll Call
Present
Nikki Panos, Chairperson
Barbara Kemp, Vice Chair
Pamela Cools, Recording Secretary
Maureen Prettyman
Linda Fox
Absent
Laura Ekstrom
Beth Mallen, Trustee (Absent)
Robert Kosin, Village Administrator
Lt. Joe Colditz, Police Department
2. Reports from the Village
Lt. Colditz
· The Police Department is continuing to investigate the home invasion and robbery which took place in the early morning hours on Saturday, August 16th. When any additional information can be released, it will be.
· Lt. Colditz asked if we would include front-page reminders both in the newsletter and on the website for residents to sign-up for CTY, and keep CTY contact information updated.
· Residents are also reminded to keep doors and windows locked, and alarm systems armed.
· Tomorrow (August 19th) a banner advertising Picnic With The Police will be posted on Village Hall grounds. The VBHComm.info banner will also be posted at the same time.
· Presentation of the Illinois State Traffic Safety Challenge Award took place last week in Rosemont.
Robert Kosin
· CTY has expanded its service offerings to permit SMS/text message alerts. This allows the Village to customize a 64-character text message. There are now six contact methods available.
· Eighteen months after implementation, there is still only 84% participation in CTY by village residents. Bob recommended that the Committee continue to remind residents of the benefits of CTY notifications for such things as emergency road closures, weather announcements, and police alerts.
· Bob distributed two flyers – one from ComEd, the other from McHenry County College.
· ComEd offered tips on going green, and saving money. They are offering a cash incentive for customers who turn in non-Energy Star qualified working refrigerators and freezers, as well as working window air conditioners. ComEd will pick up these items for free, and recycle them. The flyer also listed disposal/recycling locations for compact fluorescent light bulbs.
· McHenry County College, in association with the Lou Marchi Total Recycling Institute has published the Green Guide ’08, which lists recycling, disposal and reuse information. Recyclables include batteries, used motor oil, paint, outdated electronics, etc. The guide can be downloaded at www.mchenry.edu/recycling.
· The members discussed the local recycling centers available to residents. Algonquin Township operates a large facility on Route 14 near Route 31 in Crystal Lake for McHenry County residents only. The other counties’ facilities tend to be located closer to their respective county seats, making it a bit more difficult for BH residents to utilize. However, many electronics and appliance retailers offer in-store recycling programs.
· Linda Fox raised a question concerning the proper protocol for listing “utilities” and services available to residents on the .INFO website on the Resident Information Page. Bob explained that ComEd and Nicor qualify as true utilities, which possess certificates of public necessity, and are permitted to work in public rights of way. He provided some history of the various waste removal companies in the area. The members discussed the issue at length and unanimously decided to remove any reference to a particular waste removal service from the website, and instead encourage residents to consult the Yellow Pages or Internet for information.
· No action on the Oakwood Farms Cease and Desist ZBA Appeal took place at the August 13th ZBA Special Meeting, because there were not enough members in attendance. Tonight’s ZBA meeting will address Cricket Communications’ application to add two antennas to the Otis Road silos. Cricket Communications is a pay-as-you-go wireless provider which requires no long-term contract
3. Approval of Minutes
Approved July minutes as amended. Motion made by Linda Fox, and seconded by Barbara Kemp.
Approved 5-0-0 (Ekstrom absent)
4. Newsletter
· Linda and Pam reported that the Fall issue is coming along well, with most articles already completed and submitted to Dundee Press for preparation into draft PDF form. They are still waiting to hear back from Dundee about layout and number of pages filled so far.
· As discussed previously, another feature story about CTY sign-up will be included.
· The members discussed the lap-drop insert, and Nikki agreed to call Dundee to find out the cost comparison of full vs. half page. She will also ascertain the status of the newsletter draft.
· Linda agreed to work on an announcement of the Ignite The Night event to be held by Friends of the Forest Preserves on Saturday, October 11th.
5. Website
· Nikki updated the committee on the printing of website marketing materials. Banner printing and four 24”x36” posters were printed by Kinko’s. The posters are displayed in the MacArthur Room, Training Room, and in the lobby of the Village Hall. Take-away flyers have been printed in-house, and are available in the meeting rooms as well.
· Laura submitted the PowerPoint slide of the website announcement to the Barrington Area Library earlier this month, and it will continue to be on display on the flat-screen monitors there for a total of three weeks.
Process document
· Barbara informed the committee the document is now on version 0.5, and she has made modifications to it per Nikki’s recommendations. The document was distributed to the membership again for review and comments.
· A table describing maintenance issues, management and protocols for dealing with problems has been added, along with assignment of website duties currently shared by Barbara, Laura and Maureen.
· Barbara is still seeking more assistance with editing and proofreading tasks, as the posting of new items to the website can be overwhelming at times.
· Discussion among the members took place about redefining the categorization of “village news” items and those which are general interest stories with less direct applicability to residents.
· Pam recommended a more streamlined look to the stories which are included on the home page. Currently, most items posted consist of long paragraphs, causing the reader to have to scroll down the page numerous times to find other content that might be of interest to them. She suggested limiting home page features to a bold headline and only 2 or 3 sentences of text, concluding with links to the complete story on sub-pages of the site.
· Also, she suggested that the practice of beginning each home page story with the date that the story was posted is confusing to site visitors who might misconstrue that date as the date of the event which the story is describing. Members agreed that this is unclear, and we should either explicitly write “Posted August 18….” or we should eliminate this date completely.
· Nikki also discussed some possible changes to the clickable headings on the main menu buttons, and their drop-down menus – features that might not be apparent to some users. These might be changes which the web designer will charge for, and the committee will have to find out if the costs will be within our budget.
6. Other potential matters of business
No discussion took place.
7. Technology Committee
No discussion took place.
8. Adjournment
Given there was no new business, Nikki Panos entertained a motion for dismissal at 7:35 p.m. The next meeting is on Monday, September 15, 2008. Motion to adjourn made by Maureen Prettyman and seconded by Linda Fox.
Approved 5-0-0 (Ekstrom absent).
Meeting Adjourned
Respectfully submitted,
Pamela A. Cools
Recording Secretary