HomeMy WebLinkAboutYouth Commission Minutes 041422
Parks and Recreation Department
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Youth Commission Minutes, April 14, 2022
City Hall, Galesburg, Illinois
Meeting was called to order by Joy Bososa-Nzumba at 4:33 P.M.
Roll Call: Present: Members: Courtney Wallace, Jennifer Foubert, Precious Dortch, Eciel
Burns, Zakary Warfeild, Chantiara Jackson, Joy Basosa-Nzumba and Director of
Parks & Recreation-Tony Oligney-Estill, City Council Member Jackie Smith-Esters
Absent: Deion Crider, Mia Haneghan, Brother Shabazz, Paula Johnson
Minutes: Minutes from the March 10, 2022 meeting were approved with the correction of
Zakary Warfeild’s spelling of his last name.
Recreation Division Report:
• Director Oligney-Estill informed the commission that the City Council has given staff
direction to repair Hawthorne Pool. Hawthorne Pool is set to close on May 21, 2022
until the first phase of the repairs are complete. The first phase of the repairs will
include fixing the steel beams, replacing the roof and replacing the windows and doors.
After these repairs are made, the pool will be safe enough to open again. The next two
or three repair phases will include adding HVAC, humidity control system, fixing the
concrete and bricks and ADA upgrades. Director Oligney-Estill also mentioned that
District 205 approved the sale of Churchill School to the City. The City will have its first
reading on accepting Churchill School at the April 18th City Council Meeting.
Old Business:
• Director Oligney-Estill is scheduling an Open Meetings Act training for all the youth on
the Youth Commission for May 12th right after the Youth Commission Meeting.
• Commissioner Dortch said the Churchill surveys are still being collected.
• Commissioner Wallace said the Downtown Community Partnership has taken the lead
on this project and they are working on creating a committee. One of the first
challenges is finding a date that works for all the people on the committee. Council
Member Smith-Esters said they wanted to make sure that whatever is planned is both
inclusive and addresses the inclusivity of any future projects. Commissioners Haneghan,
Warfield and Dortch were selected to represent the Youth Commission at the meeting
on March 10th. Commissioner Dortch is no longer able to serve. Commissioner Burns has
volunteered to replace Commissioner Dortch.
Parks and Recreation Department
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• Director Oligney-Estill will email the commissioners the Mobile Playground schedule.
Commissioners have been asked to identify which dates and locations they would like to
pick to clean various parks. Commissioners were also asked to pick one recurring day a
week starting in May and going through October to clean HT Custer Park as part of the
Adopt A Park Program.
New Business:
• Council Member Jackie Smith-Esters The next several meetings that Youth
Commissioners need to attend is listed below with the Youth Commissioner who
volunteered to attend the meeting.
o 4/25/22 Work Session – Commissioner Burns. (UPDATE: Director Oligney-Estill
was informed on 4/18/22 that there would not be a Work Session open to the
public in April)
o 5/2/22 City Council Meeting – Commissioner Dortch with Commissioner Warfeild
giving the presentation.
• No Youth Commissioner attended the March 21st City Council Meeting.
• Commissioner Basosa-Nzumba attended the March 28th Work Session. City Council gave
City Staff direction to repair Hawthorne Pool. The first phase of the repair will cost
approximately $1.3 million. City Council also discussed the possible acquisition of
Churchill School.
• No Youth Commissioner attended the March 21st City Council Meeting. Commissioner
Wallace remembered that the Council discussed public transportation, replacing a
section of sanitary sewer on South Street and how to pay for City employees to get their
CDL license as the state is requiring everyone to take a class to get their CDL and the
cost of the class is over $4,000 per person.
• There was more discussion about creating a student tour of both Knox College and Carl
Sandburg College. The commission talked about a campus tour, possibly sitting in on a
college class, seeing the dorms (residence halls), the cafeteria and meeting with college
students. Commissioner Foubert is taking the lead on this program. The commission will
also reach out to Anthony Law to create a similar student tour of Carl Sandburg College.
• City Council Member Smith-Esters discussed possibly getting shirts for the youth
commissioners so they can wear them at school and possibly on meeting days to
possibly get other students to engage with them and ask them questions or bring up
concerns they may have.
Citizen Comments:
• Anthony Law mentioned a program that the City helped partner with in the past called
Save Summer Day. It was a program that members of the community put together. The
Parks and Recreation Department
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program eventually ran its course because there was no one to keep organizing it. Mr.
Law suggested that the Youth Commission could possibly revive this program.
• Molly Miller said the Save Hawthorne Pool group is looking to create a Thank You event
for the community for helping save Hawthorne Pool as suggested that the Youth
Commission could possibly help organize this program.
Meeting adjourned at 5:12 P.M.
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Tony Oligney-Estill, Director of Parks and Recreation