NIU’s Student Association has formed a new committee to better relations with the city of DeKalb.

The Community Affairs Committee serves as a tenant union “plus a whole lot more,” said Brian Subatich, committee adviser. The committee will deal with the city council and other city agencies, Subatich said.

“We’ve never had a liason between the SA and the city of DeKalb,” he said. “It’ll give students, especially the SA and the senate, something to work through (to be heard by DeKalb politicians).”

Some planned activities include interviewing candidates for recommendation to the vacated 7th ward aldermanship, dealings with landlords and tenants, taxing of Greek Row and construction of the planned civic center.

Subatich said the committee will deal with the possibility of landlords being able to “Denver Boot” tenants’ cars for parking in the wrong space or having late rent. They also will be concerned with forced interest on tenants’ last month’s (or last two months’) rent, which sometimes adds up to $500 or $1000, Subatich said.

DeKalb Mayor Greg Sparrow said “it’s important to have a liason and communications,” but he cautions that there needs to be a “careful, delicate balance.”

“You have to crawl before you walk and walk before you run,” Sparrow said. “They (the committee) just can’t walk in and lay demands at their feet. You need student aldermen leading the charge.

“They must consider how it impacts DeKalb, since there are four other (non-student) votes that control the council,” he said. “It’s a mistake to lay demands without touching bases with the three (student) aldermen. They need to work with, and not against, the aldermen.”

Sparrow agrees the committee “should have been there,” and expects a steady stream of student-related issues.

Subatich said he knows DeKalb politics and knows local politicians. “I’ve already started hashing out issues with (sixth ward alderman) Jamie Pennington.”

With Pennington, first ward alderman Christine Hoagland and the soon-to-be-appointed seventh ward alderman, Subatich said, “We’ve got three definite votes out of seven. We just need one more vote for things to go our way.”

uda Scheidelman, student association president, says the formation is “definitely” a good idea and overdue. Scheidelman said the SA used to have a city relations liason who worked under the tenants union performing a similar job. “It was a lot of work for one person,” she said.

“It’s a chance to get involved and forward the student viewpoint,” he said. Subatich said a few people have shown interest, and although mostly senators will make up the committee, he invites students to be a part. They also will work closely with College Republicans and Young Democrats, he said.

The first meeting the Community Affairs Committee is Tuesday night. Call the SA at 753-0482 for more information.