BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
Monday, October 16, 2023
CALL TO ORDER
Village Administrator Steve Bosco called the meeting to order at 6:01 pm.
Attendance
Al Broholm, Norma Yario, Colleta Hines-Newell, Edoardo Tabasso, Rose Harding, Mayor Mark Gaffino, Village Administrator Steve Bosco, Public Works Director Brian Richter and Community and Board Relations Coordinator Natalie Stevens | Not Present: Ann Hosler
APPROVAL OF MINUTES
Al Broholm made a motion to approve the minutes dated July 17, 2023. Norma Yario seconded. All others were in favor.
NEW BUSINESS
1. Halloween and Fall Property Recognition Programs
Community Relations Coordinator Natalie Stevens informed the Committee there were so far a total of nine entries and all for the Halloween part of the contest. She noted one house in particular had six individual nominations. Administrator Bosco said there were a number of well decorated homes in his neighborhood and he was surprised more people hadn’t nominated. The nomination period had a little over a week left. Stevens said she would send out the scoring rubric once the nomination window had closed.
2. Holiday Lights Recognition Program
The Committee confirmed the dates of the holiday light decoration program and Stevens said she’d send out all information and scoring rubric at that time. The Committee had no further questions or concerns about the upcoming holiday program.
3. General Discussion / Project Updates
Administrator Bosco provided an update regarding the situation of the ditch along Route 25 that
Al Broholm had brought up at the previous meeting. He said the Village has had conversations with BNSF and Public Works Director Brian Richter reached out about the rocks. Richter informed that they removed the rocks on purpose due to water building up and tripping their signals. Bosco said it didn’t mean there wasn’t another solution, but rock is not able to be used to fill the ditch.
Bosco also provided an update on the banners. He said there hasn’t been much progress forward yet as there is concern about locations and the type of poles at each location. The banners have to be affixed to poles the Village owns and also have to be the right material as wooden brackets will “eat” the bolts. Coletta Hines-Newell suggested holding a contest for someone to design a new banner. Bosco said Batavia had done something similar with a “community flag” and staff would talk internally about options.
Broholm suggested in addition to banners the Village purchase another community sign. He suggested an intersection at Randall Road and seeing if a business/land owner there would donate the land to the Village for the sign. Bosco provided some traffic count numbers on roadways and said that would need to be a discussion to see what the best location would be. He said he would bring it up at the upcoming strategic planning workshop for the Trustees in 2024.
Regarding art installations in the park, Bosco said the Village was still waiting to hear results from IDNR about the dam removal. He provided some background on the history of the dam and what IDNR had originally said would happen, but said right now they are having to do a sediment study.
At North Aurora Riverfront Park, Mayor Mark Gaffino said he liked the idea of keeping one gear but would like to see art, maybe rotating exhibits. He also said he’d like to see the flowers that are planted at the monument and community signs changed out as they are the same every year and it would be nice to freshen it up.
Rose Harding brought up the decorating of the pine tree at Slaker for the Christmas holiday. She said she and Ann Hosler generally headed that up and worked with the local Scout troops. Administrator Bosco said he would talk with her further about options. Rose also said the NA Garden Club would be interested in volunteering to help with some beautification projects and Bosco said they would look into that and possibly using their help at the Police Department.
Hines-Newell said for the Green Thumb program it’d be nice to offer participants the chance for a ‘garden walk’ where residents could go during a certain time to tour all the properties and the owners could show off their work. The committee liked that idea and Stevens said it would be easy enough to add to the form when people nominate.
The Committee also discussed putting up ‘no littering’ signs along the roads to encourage people to keep the area clean. Members reported Airport Road was very rough looking.
Hines-Newell suggested planting more annual flowers at the parks, to which the Committee was reminded that the Village only manages North Aurora Riverfront Park. Broholm said the FVPD has 167 parks and something like that would be difficult to manage. The Committee also discussed wanting to put coupons in the Village newsletter for a local business selling plants to encourage people to beautify the community, but Stevens informed the newsletter is not for commercial purposes and in any case it would be difficult to feature a single business. Norma Yario brought up the idea of having a type of historical walk and Stevens said that sounded like a project the Messenger Public Library may be interested in.
With no further business, Norma Yario made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 7:21 pm, which was seconded by Edoardo Tabasso.
Motion to Adjourn: All in Favor
Respectfully submitted,
Natalie Stevens
