Consumer Affairs Commission — Skokie, IL
Date: 2022-09-14

CONSUMER AFFAIRS COMMISSION AGENDA
 September 14, 2022
 Meeting Room A


1. Intro topic

2. Approval of minutes

3. Farmers Market
 Manager update
 Market fees (per season, per week)
 Vendor location

4. Business of the Year
 Selection committee: Joanne Haeberlin, Howard Meyer, Sam Pratap, Jeff Schvimer, Biju Krishnan,
 Davorka Kirincic, Trustee Khoeun. Meeting September 29, 7:00. Presentation at Board Meeting
 October 17
 BOY selection guidelines

5. Media Literacy Education
 Website Village of Skokie, Skokie Public Library

6. Follow up on consumer complaint issues and Beat Meetings.

7. Miscellaneous




 Sec 2-812 Duties

 It shall be the duty of the Consumer Affairs Commission to coordinate consumer affairs activities, carry
 on educational activities on consumer matters, supervise the preparation of consumer affairs reports
 and recommend to the Mayor and the Board of Trustees ordinances, rules and regulations and
 methods of enforcement in relation to consumer affairs activities.

Consumer Affairs Commission
 Minutes
 September 14, 2022

In attendance: Trustee Khoeun, Joanne Haeberlin, Biju Krishnan, Anil Pillai, George Mathew, Jerry
Kirkpatrick, Sam Pratap, Jeff Schvimer, Ted Lavine Davorka Kirincic, Justin Malone.
Phone: Gary Merrill
Excused: Howard Meyer, Jennifer Engel

Meeting called to order at 6:31.

Intro topic: If you were given a million dollars and could only keep 20%, what would you do with the rest.

Minutes: Moved by George and seconded by Jeff to accept minutes. Accepted.

Farmers Market: E-mail manager report. Attached. Sign up sheet for CAC members to attend market.
September 18 is second redemption day for the loyalty cards. Port a potty feed back …. under discussion by
Village. Question is where to put it the rest of the week. Discussed the need for map and/or list of vendors.
Discussed easy children’s game at CAC tent. Joanne mentioned that a couple of the vendors asked about the
possibility of a winter market. First mention to CAC. Broadly discussed possible venues VFW, park district,
etc. How often? Fees? Also tried to discuss if market is making money, losing money, or breaking even.
Discussed difficulty in exploring market questions with no market management present.

Business of the Year: Nominations closed August 30. 83 nominations received for 44 different business.
Questionnaires have been sent out to all the business and completed ones have started to be returned.
Justin forwarding them to selection committee as they are received. Selection committee: Howard Meyer,
Joanne Haeberlin, Sam Pratap, Jeff Schvimer, Biju Krishnan, Davorka Kirincic, Trustee Khoeun. Meeting on
September 29 at 7:00. Davorka to confirm presentation at Board meeting on October 17.

Media Literacy Education: Ann Tennes, Village of Skokie, and Mariah Cherem, Skokie Public Library, are
interested in making information available on media literacy education and scam fact checking. Jeff shared
that he and Michael Spikes have compiled a list and would be interested in further helping with this project.
Joanne to pass information to Ann and Mariah.

Miscellaneous: Davorka reported that no consumer complaint issues have been received by the Village to be
shared with the CAC. New communications manager, Meredith, has been hired to work with Ann. Discussed
the possible need to issue a reminder to Skokie households that any solicitor ringing their door bell should be
registered with the Village. Discussed the possible need to make a list available of electric charging stations.

Next meeting October 19.
Meeting adjourned at 7:31

Joanne Haeberlin
Chair
,
It would also be helpful to know booth fees for year and per week. If they sign up for occasional Sundays, do they pay in
advance and give you dates they will be there?

Do you have any idea if the market is breaking even with fees and costs?

Thank you,

Joanne
On 09/12/2022 8:03 PM Farmers Market <farmersmarket@skokie.org> wrote:



Hi Joanne,

Again, my apologies for not being able to attend this week's meeting.

Here are a few updates.

I am still working on a location for a possible Winter Market. Emily Oaks Nature Center will not work but I am
looking into other area Skokie locations. The hopes is to do 2 markets before Christmas - 2 in January and 2 in
February. All of our current vendors know this and most of them have asked for space.

We have a very hearty lineup for fall entertainment including additional bands, more kids activities and more.

I have been in contact with the director of the Niles Food Pantry. They have been blown away with the
donations that have come out of our once a month donations - I might look into hosting these more
frequently next season.

I am not currently looking for additional vendors at this time for this years market but we do have a few guest
crafters coming.

This coming weekend, I will be doing a vendor appreciation day - buying hot dogs, chips and sides for all the
vendors. These farmers are working so incredibly hard and have been so loyal to the market this year - this is
the least we can do. Mark from M & D Farm is helping me with this.

Please let me know if you have any additional questions.

Regards,

Jennifer Engel
Market Manager - Skokie Farmers Market
C: 312-307-1812