Mount Prospect youth panel on the way out?

Mount Prospect's Youth Commission, which has been on hiatus since 2013, could be reaching the end of its run, or it may be reborn in a different form.

The youth commission started in 1997 in the wake of the death of teenagers in an alcohol-related auto accident. With the help of adult advisers, the commission was run by village youth, who were its only voting members.

But while there have been as many as 19 members on the panel at a time, the commission was shelved after it had difficulty finding enough participants for a quorum. It will dissolve by 2016 if not revived.

The Mount Prospect village board last week debated what to do.

Trustee Richard Rogers suggested collaborating with local schools and combining community service with fun activities.

“The kids want to have some fun. They go to school all day. They want to goof off a little bit, in a good way,” he said. He mentioned one successful program in Mount Prospect's Boxwood community.

Trustee Michael Zadel also backed the idea of collaborating with other agencies.

“My vision would not be as structured of a commission as we currently have,” he said, adding that the commission could offer young people a forum for expressing opinions and learning about government.

Trustee Colleen Saccotelli suggested mentorships involving the village staff, inviting students to the village's Coffee with Council events, and a live Twitter session with the board or village staff.

“I just think that it's really important that we engage younger citizens now, so that they will participate more in the community,” she said.

Trustee John Matuszak suggested that the village promote youth activities built around specific events.

Matuszak, who has two teenagers, said his daughter suggested a bowling tournament.

He expanded upon that idea, saying such an event could raise funds for the local food pantry.

Mayor Arlene Juracek said the discussion was spurred by one of the commission's adult advisers, former village Trustee George Clowes, who noted that the Mount Prospect library has a successful teen advisory board.

Acting Village Manager David Strahl, however, said the library's group is made up of drop-ins.

“It's never the same people all the time,” he said, adding that the members are mainly seventh- and eighth-graders, rather than high schoolers. Strahl suggested that if the village wants to talk with teens on a topic, it could use the teen advisory board at the library, rather than have a standing commission.

Trustee Steven Polit, a former commission adviser, said the youth commission was set up like a leadership internship.

“At the beginning there were a lot of student council members,” he said, adding they learned the basics of meeting procedure — Robert's Rules of Order, what a quorum is, how to make a motion.

Clowes said the idea behind the commission was that it be youth-driven, providing an opportunity for youth leadership.

“It is a cliché to say that the youth today are the leaders of tomorrow,” he said. “But they certainly are. They are also going to be the taxpayers of tomorrow and they need to wake up earlier rather than later to the fact that they do have a huge responsibility because of the debt that's been racked up on their behalf,” he added.