Beautification and Improvement Commission — Skokie, IL
Date: 2023-03-02

Village of Skokie Beautification and Improvement Commission
 Meeting Agenda
 March 2, at 6:30 to approx. 8 pm (okay if you need to leave at 7:30)
  Village Hall, Conference Room A (DOWNSTAIRS NEXT TO CHAMBER)
 I. Approval of February 2, 2023 Minutes

 II. April Events, Bob Quane

 • Speaker, Native Plants, Library, Saturday, April 1
 • Awards Program, Village Hall, Monday, April 3
 • Native Plant Sale, Emily Oaks, Saturday, April 22
 • Arbor Day Observance, Meyer School, Friday April 28

 III. Report: Beatification Education Sub Committee: Chair, Rachel Rosenberg

 IV. Report: Beautification New Initiatives Sub Committee, Valerie Shuman

 V. No Mow May. Response to Public Works Messaging, Bob Quane

 VI. Report by Cathy Stevens, Staff Liaison

 VII. Report by James Johnson, Trustee Liaison

 VIII. Old Business

 • Beautification Commission Requested Expenditures
 • Weed Ordinance
 • Web site

 IX. New Business

 X. Adjournment

If you have an agenda item that you would like to be considered for a future meeting, just send
me an email. Thanks.

Bob Quane, quane@siu.edu
847-271-3868

SKOKIE BEAUTIFICATION MEETING MINUTES
 March 2, 2023
Time: 6:30 p.m.

Place: Skokie Village Hall

Commissioners Present: Vernell Ellison-Smith, Chuck Levine, Frederick Lisiewicz, Edward Potash, Rachel
Rosenberg, Mitchell Sandler, Ross Del Rosario, Robert Quane, Elizabeth Zimmerman, Lauren Grodnicki,
Valerie Shuman, Dalya Horowitz.

Commissioners Absent: Sherwin Ditlove, Ann Goldsha� (LOA), Bahram Khazni (LOA), Joseph Hasten,
George Hubchak, Brooke Sprague.

Staﬀ Present: Cathy Stevens

Staﬀ Absent: James Johnson

I. Approval of February 2, 2023, Minutes

Mitchell Sandler said the mee�ng minutes should be briefer and more general. Chuck Levine made a
mo�on to approve the mee�ng minutes for February 2, 2023. Mitch seconded the mo�on; The
commission voted to approve the mee�ng minutes.

II. April Events, Bob Quane

Rachel Rosenberg said that the Na�ve Plants Program on April 1 could be promoted on the Beau�ﬁca�on
website. Bob Quane brought up the topic of the Beau�ﬁca�on Awards Program. Bob men�oned that Ann
Goldsha� had resigned from the commission. Cathy Stevens said the Skokie Village Board Mee�ng
(started at 7:30 p.m. (before the awards program). Bob Quane went over the rough dra� of the Awards
Night Program. Mitch said that awards would be given out in alphabe�cal order. Mitch asked Chuck if he
would give out the cer�ﬁcates and Chuck agreed. Cathy suggested white and green as colors on awards
brochures; no one on the commission objected to the colors for the brochure. Mitch said that the
commission needed to get a box of decaﬀeinated coﬀee as well as a box of regular coﬀee for the
refreshments. Rachel requested that all paper goods be recyclable. Bob said he would put out a sign-up
sheet to ﬁnd out who will be there for the events such as the Beau�ﬁca�on Awards Program and Arbor
Day Observance. Rachel suggested a coupon be given out to awards winners for purchase of a plant. Cathy
said there was a na�ve plant sale on April 23, 2023 [corrected to April 22, 2023].

III. Report: Beau�ﬁca�on Educa�on Sub Commitee: Chair, Rachel Rosenberg

Rachel said there should be a message for Skokie: Hold oﬀ on mowing but be ﬂexible with the treatment
of lawns. Rachel said there were no pollinators in a pes�cide-ridden lawn. Rachel said that Skokie
residents should not be afraid to tell their landscapers that the landscapers do not need to visit their
homes at certain �mes. Rachel said there should be more discussion of the grass being mowed. The topic
should involve a much larger conversa�on. Rachel said the grass should be mowed very early in May.
IV. Report: Beau�ﬁca�on New Ini�a�ves Sub Commitee, Chair, Valerie Shuman



V. No Mow May. Response to Public Works Messaging, Bob Quane

Bob asked Elizabeth Zimmerman of Public Works to speak. Liz said that she was one hundred percent for
anything that was good for pollinators. There was a lot of pressure to treat ash trees from the Emerald
Ash Borer. She wanted the commission to think about the consequences of “no mowing in May”. Liz said
she reached out to the University of Minnesota Extension to ﬁnd out the longevity of “no mowing”. The
study by the Extension had problems. The study said that grass should be mowed a�er May. Liz said that
“no mow may” was a “catchy” slogan. Beneﬁts of it were ge�ng residents to move to the next level.
Vernell Ellison-Smith said that a team was needed to hand out ﬂyers [explaining the program for improving
lawns]. Liz said the Village Board would drag its feet on the project; they would not be ac�vely giving out
cita�ons. The [Minnesota] Extension had sent Liz a video [on lawn care]. Liz said she would try to get the
video for the commission members. CIAC would be a liaison to the Beau�ﬁca�on Commission.



VI. Report by Cathy Stevens, Staﬀ Liaison

Cathy said there were some very low ground plants for plan�ng on the parkway. People would need to
walk all over the parkway to get to the u�li�es. Cathy said that only the top three winners [of the
Beau�ﬁca�on Awards] were ge�ng yard signs.

Rachel proposed that people be given a free plant just for coming out. Mitchell said that milkweed was
very diﬃcult to grow from seeds. Bob men�oned that the Board discussion was shi�ing back to discussing
na�ve plants. Cathy said she could help with spring plan�ng, but it was diﬃcult.

Bob said that when the board considers or adopts a new program or ini�a�ve, Board members should
take ownership and not necessarily rely on our staﬀ liaison for the planning and implementa�on. He would
like to see people in the community join the board members for the fall plan�ng. Brooke suggested the
board should make the fall plan�ng a bigger event so the spring plan�ng in 2024 would be really big.

Cathy said a nice banner put on the Fourth of July Parade Float would be a nice thing.

Rachel made a mo�on to forward the budget request wish list to the Village. Dalya Horowitz said the
commission should make a mo�on to forward the budget request to the Village. The commission
approved the request.

VII. Report by James Johnson, Trustee Liaison
VIII. Old Business

Bob said they had talked about the possibility of customer safety vests for board members. It would easily
iden�fy the board member as working for the Beau�ﬁca�on Commission when they make rounds looking
for beau�ﬁca�on award candidates. They were $11 each. Bob said that everyone should go to the
Beau�ﬁca�on Website; there was a lot of content put out by a lot of people.

Liz said the commission would need to make two amendments for parkways and weeds. The height on
the parkways for na�ve plan�ngs should be 8 to 12 inches. Liz said they were strongly encouraging the
most ﬂexibility possible for parkways.

IX. New Business



X. Adjournment

Dalya made a mo�on to adjourn. Mitch seconded the mo�on. The mo�on to adjourn was passed by the
commission. The mee�ng adjourned at 8 p.m.