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HomeMy WebLinkAbout08/24/1999 COW minutes MINUTES COMMI'I-rEE OF THE WHOLE AUGUST 24, 1999 CALL TO ORDER The meebng was called to order at 7 32 p m by Mayor Gerald Farley Present at the meebng were ~Trustees T~mcthy Corcoran, Paul Hoefert, R~chard Lohrstorfer, Daniel Nocch~, M~chaele 'Skowron and Irvana W~lks Staff members present included Assistant V~llage Manager Dawd Strahl and Pubhc Informat~on Officer Maura Jandr~s II APPROVAL OF. MINUTES Approval of M~nutes of August 10, 1999 Mobon made to approve the M~nutes by Trustee Lohrstorfer and Seconded by Trustee Corcoran M~nutes were approved Trustee Nocch~ abstained Ill .. CIT ZENS .TO BE HEARD None IV. EMPLOYEE COMPUTER PURCHASE REIMBUI~SEMENT PROGRAM Assistant'V~llag~ Manager Dawd Strahl prowded a general overwew of the Program He stated that this Program has been offered twice before and has been extremely popular among the V~llage employees Staff is requesbng the V~llage Board consider renewing the Program for the parbclpabon period of September 1 through November 30, 1999 He stated that the previous two opportunities for which the Program loaned over $120,000 each time to employees to assist ~n the purchase of computers and computer equipment Part of the reason the Program has been so successful is the fact that It allows employees the opportumty to learn and train themselves at their pace in their own home and then apply that knowledge as part of their job at the Vdlage Anyone who w~shes to participate must get prior approval for the purchase and once the purchase has been undertaken, the employee is reimbursed for the purchase and makes repayments to the Village through payroll deducbon ' Employees are required to submit a ~ ~ promissory note to repay the loan to the Vdlage as part of the procedure for reimbursement In the previous two ~nstances, the Village has never had any trouble rece~wng complete payment from any employee who had a computer loan outstanding at the bme of term~nabon or retirement The Program is open to all ehg~ble employees, however, temporary employees specified as typical summer employees are not ehg~ble to participate As long at the employee can repay the loan w~th~n the two-year t~meframe, they may participate General consensus of the Village Board was to renew the Employee Computer Purchase Reimbursement Program for the period of September 1, 1999 through November 30, 1999 VILLAGE NEWSLETTER OVERVIEW Pubhc Information Officer Maura Jandns provided an electromc tour of the Vdlage Web page to h~ghhght various p~eces of ~nformat[on that are currently available to the users of the Internet Assistant Wllage Manager David Strahl prowded a summary of the actw[bes, which have been underway to ~mprove the general appearance and readab~hty of the Newsletter Trustees were offered a sample of Newsletters from other commun~bes and encouraged to offer comments concermng the Newsletters The comments were summarized and a general consensus of the Vdlage Board was to pattern a new Vdlage Newsletter after the V~llage of Glencoe's Newsletter Once the Pubhc Informabon Officer was brought on board ~n April, the mformat~on was passed on to the PlO for ~mplementabon of the Vdlage Board recommendabons The Newsletter ~tself ~s a cnbcal element m the comprehens~e commumcabon strategy of the Vdlage The Newsletter wdl be designed to work ~n concert w~th the Vdlage Web Page and MPTV so that various p~eces of informabon can be overlapped and expanded depending on the type of medium for which the message ~s provided Vdlage staff ~s ~n the process of implementing a commumty information hne. which would allow residents, and other interested persons access to general Village information w~thout actually having to contact a Village staff member Staff is also planmng to ~mplement an automated call system, which would nottfy targeted groups of residents of upcoming meetings or other relevant mformabon concerning Vdlage operabon A bi-weekly supplemental mformabon p~ece ~s expected to debut next year also to give t~mely updates on various projects throughout the Village between pubhcat~on dates of the Village Newsletter The Public Information Officer will be ~n charge of the majority of these projects to ensure a consistent message is prowded The Newsletter itself has been provided to the V~Ilage Board members th~s evemng fashion Staff ~s requesbng the Vdlage Board rewew the appearance of the various components of the Newsletter and offer any comments they may have The Public Informabon Officer also undertook submitting an RFP for pnnbng services for a one, two, three and four-color version of the Newsletter Costs associated w~th each color opbon ~s included for the Vdlage Board to consider as part of their dehberabons regarding the recommended color scheme ; General comments from the ~ViIlage Board members ~nc!uded the following items Ther~ was a general desire to ~mprove white space ~f possible and ~ncrease the type s~ze There was also a concern raised regarding the number of pages and the posslblhty of a more frequent pubhcabon schedule The overall preference of the Vdlage Board members was pos~bve to the four-color mock-up, which was prowded as part of the rewew packet · General consensus of the Village Board members was to alter the appearance of the ~, Newsletter beginning with the January/February 2000 Issue to a four-color version and review the Newsletter appearance after one year to determine whether the frequency of publication should change to twelve times a year from six times. , Assistant Village Manager Strahl stated that the proposed Vdlage Budget for 2000 regarding the cost of producing the Newsletter is expected to be approximately $52.000 With the add~bon of a four-color Newsletter version, the add~bonal cost is expected to be $4,000-$5.000 beyond the current budgeted amount ~, ~,, ~ ~~ , , VILLAGE MANAGER'S REPORT None . AN¥OT,ER .US~NES ~ None VIII ADJOURNMENT S~nce there was no further bus,ness, the Committee of the Whole meeting was adjourned at 818pm Respectfully ~bm,tted, ---'~"' I ~ DAVID STRAHL Assistant V~llage Manager DS/mc H ~GE~Co~nutes~82499 COW Minutes doc