Hello, welcome everyone to KubeCon and to this session. I am Uma Mukhera, CEO of Chaos Native. I am also a maintainer on the CNCF project, Likmas Chaos. Along with me in this session, we have a co-speaker, Samar Siddharth from Orange. Today, we will be talking about a case study of Chaos Engineering Project Likmas at Orange, how they are using to improve the resilience of the overall Kubernetes-based platform. So, we are going to talk the first challenges in general about reliability around Kubernetes ecosystem today. And I will be talking about how Likmas can help in incrementally tackling this challenge of reliability in Kubernetes and cloud-native environments in general. And Samar will talk through the challenges that they had seen for reliability in their Kubernetes environment and why they chose Likmas and how they are using Likmas. And of course, he will be doing a detailed demo of a couple of scenarios. So, let's talk about the resilience in general. We all know that cloud-native is mainstream IT and it's in deeper option phase. So, this also brings a couple of challenges as far as the resilience or reliability in production or in use is concerned. The reason why these challenges occur is there is proliferation of microservices. There are too many of them and they are shipping quite fast. They come to your environment faster than you would expect. So, this, even though they are all individually reliable, well-tested, when you all put together this microservices to form your application service, the dependency matrix increases a lot and any fault anywhere really means that you may have a problem of availability in your service. So, you need to be able to be resilient to all these faulty scenarios. That's really the reliability challenge. And the solution to this bigger problem is adopt chaos engineering. And chaos engineering has been on the rise for the last couple of years. We are seeing a lot of people using chaos engineering or project Likmas is an evidence to that. And we are expecting that chaos engineering will be a mainstream solution or a tool set in the very near future. And chaos engineering is being adopted for the overall DevOps, not just for ops, which is typically the case in the last decade or so. But now we see chaos engineering being used both in pipelines, QA environments, reliability testing, test beds, all that stuff, performance engineering. So chaos engineering is emerging as a greater tool set for developers and DevOps and children. So the whole idea of chaos engineering is to cover the unexpected. So think that anything can go wrong and you make sure that you test your system against all such possible failures and you reduce the chance of downtime of your service. And there are many tools available in the industry, especially in the cloud native space. They're easy to use. You can use them and put them to work and reduce the possibility of downtime at the production site. And how you do this is put the chaos experiments together in various forms, change them, build steady state hypothesis closer to your reality and go deeper, improvise your steady state hypothesis checks. And then start fixing your either configuration issues or software bugs or infrastructure tuning to your service to be highly available. And litmus is born out of clearly such a need and it's an open source project, which is part of CNCF for more than a year now. And we have developed a litmus about three years ago and donated it to CNCFS sandbox project last year. We're doing the incubation process right now. Hopefully will be an incubation project in the near future. It has got quite a good adoption with 1000 plus users and it's a pretty stable platform with 2.0 as the latest release. And we are seeing quite good installation rate of about 1000 installations per day. It's a complete tool set for anyone to do chaos engineering and it is a Kubernetes application and it can run both Kubernetes targets, attacks against Kubernetes targets and on Kubernetes as well. But it's a tool set for doing chaos engineering. And how it works is it has got a control plane where a set of team members can get together, collaborate and collaborate on tuning, developing, tuning the experiments.  And you can target them onto your Kubernetes resources, Kubernetes platforms, app Kubernetes applications and also a bunch of non-Cubernetes use cases as well. It could be any cloud platforms or VMware or bare metal physical infrastructure as well. So where do you use Litmus? Litmus, first of all, has got readily available chaos experiments to a large extent and for both Kubernetes as well as for non-Cubernetes such as VMware and other cloud platforms. So you just need to create chaos scenarios. You don't need to start from like writing chaos experiments for the basic scenarios. So what you would be doing is really construct this chaos scenarios called Litmus workflows. And Litmus also comes with a powerful feature called probes, which is to help you in creating a steady state hypothesis logic. You introduce a fault, you want to know whether my system is still working as expected or not. That's a difficult way to express is my system working properly or not. So Litmus probes really come here to help you to define exactly that problem. Declaratively, you can tune it, you can get it as close to as you would generally describe what your steady state hypothesis is. And then you can use this entire end-to-end chaos engineering idea for multiple use cases. It could be continuous chaos testing or it could be random game days to introduce chaos engineering into your system and also for service level objective validation and management. And you can also see if your observability systems are working well or do they need tuning, right? And also in your scaling and performance testing, right? You can introduce chaos while you do the performance testing and see if your systems can retain. So how do you get started? As I said, we have got a bunch of experiments already available. These are like Lego blocks. You just need to put them together and you install Litmus through Helm and you get Chaos Center.  So it's fairly easy to start at the same time. It's highly scalable, a powerful SDK is there and you can go very deep describing your complex fault scenarios. So let's actually go through the case study on how Orange is using the Litmus. So the environment that they have is a large open stack system which is now being moved to being managed by Kubernetes. So it's a very large system and very critical system and Kubernetes has to manage that pretty well. And the entire challenge and use case is how can I ensure that my Kubernetes is really reliable while managing this open stack application or the services. So the solution is to really apply Litmus into that Kubernetes system and keep executing various different experiments and continue to verify your open stack continues to run and Kubernetes is behaving as expected. So with that, let's welcome Samar who will be talking about why Litmus and how and he'll be taking us through a quick demo. Hello everyone, I'm Samar Siddharth and working as a lead software engineer in Orange, which is one of the leading telecom companies. And today I'm here to present a use case on improving resiliency of KTES applications. But before we begin, let's have a look at the complexity of Telco Infra in comparison with General IT Infra. Telco has a complex workload that is tightly coupled with hardware and there are many proprietary vendor applications running on it. In telco sector, migration to cloud native is happening at a rapid pace and many operators and vendor are embracing cloud native technologies. If you look at the complexity scale, Telco Infra requires to be highly secured as it is hosting user data and with the technology now moving towards 5G, it also requires ultra low latency and high throughput. Also, telco apps have different requirements in terms of network and bandwidth, which requires acceleration techniques like SRIV, DPDK, CPU pinning. To add to these complexities, Telco Infra hosts different type of applications from domains like OSS, VSS and it can be in form of a VNF or a CNF. Now let's talk about why do we need chaos and resiliency testing. As you all know that Kubernetes is a dynamic and a complex system and there are a lot of activities happening under the hood, which means Kubernetes component can interact in a number of unpredictable ways, causing emergent behavior. As deployment grows in size, so does the number of possible interactions between these components. And with the traditional testing, these scenarios are hard to uncover. In the real world scenarios, we have resources that are customized and required focus testing to cover these scenarios. Coming to the architecture of the system under test, here we are using two most widely used technologies, OpenStack and Kubernetes. As you can see in the diagram, Kubernetes is serving as an underlay for the OpenStack services where one Kubernetes node is hosting the control plane services and the other node is the OpenStack compute host, which have compute related services running on it like Nova, Neutron, etc. So there are clear segregation of services based on the type of Kubernetes node. Additionally, if you see we have applications like VAL for secret management and Y for enabling TLS communication, these are being used by OpenStack services and now it requires some additional testing so that we don't end up with a single point of failure with respect to integration of these applications with OpenStack services. As we proceed, we will cover few such scenarios in the demo. Let's see why Litmus comes into pictures. Litmus is a Kiosk orchestration framework that focuses on Kubernetes workload and offers out-of-the-box generic test cases that covers both Kubernetes workload and infrastructure, example PodDelete and Node CPO. Additionally, Litmus has a pro feature that enables to run customized validation and it is highly configurable wherein we can configure the time between the two pro executions and the particular instance where we want to execute the pro, like at the start of the Kiosk injection or during the Kiosk injection or towards the end of the Kiosk injection. This gives the required flexibility to run the validations. Also, it is easy to integrate with our existing automation framework. Litmus also has a great community support which is really good for an open-source project. Now in this slide, I will be covering another open-source tool that is cross-testing which we have used for writing custom validations for Litmus probes. It is a very good framework for writing containerized test cases which are highly usable and easily integrated to CI-CD chain. It also offers multiple drivers for writing test cases like Python, Unitest, Vast and Robot framework. So towards the bottom of the screen, you see a sample outward from the cross-testing test case which includes list of test cases along with projects to which these test cases belong and the tier of the test cases like Hell Chip. It also contains the duration of each test case along with the final verdict of each test case. So in this slide, I am going to cover the cross-testing workflow. We start with the identification of application which is called application under test. This is identified in Kubernetes based on the labels and selectors. Then we move on to the pre-validation step wherein we perform pre-validation checks using Litmus probes and cross-testing which we are going to see in the demo. Next, we move on to the chaos injection phase wherein we inject the chaos to the identified application and also run the on-cause probe. So basically we are going to check the functionality of the application using Litmus probe at the time when the application is under stress and finally the post-validation step. So apart from the validating the final state of the application, it should be up and running as it was during the start of the experiment. We can also have some additional post-validation probes that can perform the custom check for the application along with the other actions like cleanup of the resources that were created during the pre-validation steps. Coming to the use cases, Resiliency realizes the motto of this cubecon and as you see that Resiliency is also at the center of our use cases. We can utilize the open-source tools for building chaos and resilience test cases around KITS workload and infra. What you can see here are the different scenarios such as validating Resiliency of the containerized control plane. We can also use this to simulate issues and works that come in production and fix it properly in the pre-prod or development stages as it can be simulated easily through automation. Next, we can improve the monitoring and alerting system based on the observations of the chaos experiment by timely and meaningful alerts. We can also use this for validating HEE of different control plane services as we are integrating additional applications like Vault and Y and others to the existing control plane services. It can also be used for end-to-end automation and testing interdependencies among different applications. In the first use case, we will be targeting Vault application pod. In this experiment, the scenario is we will delete the Vault application pod that is deployed in HEE. That is, we have three Vault application pods running. You can see it here. I will just quickly go through the Chaos Engine experiment file. If we see that we have the application identifier here, that is the label of the Vault pod. If we go down below, I will cover the important parts. If we go below, we have the probe section wherein we have the first probe which is related to unsealing of the Vault. That is basically done once all the Vaults go into sealed state. It becomes unserviceable. We will have to unseal it once we delete or restart all the Vault pod. It automatically goes into sealed state. It has to be sealed manually. First is the unseal Vault probe which is running at the EOT, that is end of the test. The second probe is check front-end access. This is basically checking the access of the Vault endpoint. This is running in the mode edge, which means that it would run at the starting of the experiment and towards the end of the experiment. As you can see, there are different parameters which covers the gap between the two probes or the timeout parameter for the probes. Similarly, if we go towards the end, here we have set pod effect percentage as 100 and the sequence as parallel. It will delete all the pods parallelly applying this chaos engine manifest. As soon as I apply, we can see that the litmus pod is getting created, that is, driving this experiment. If we go to the logs, we can see that the first probe is passed that it was able to get 200 response codes from the Vault endpoint. Similarly, we can see, as per the chaos engine, all the pods are getting related at the same time. By now, our Vault is in a sealed state and it has to be unsealed towards the end of the experiment which has been taken care by the unseal Vault probe. Now, the unseal Vault probe has started and we are towards the end of the experiment so it will take some time to execute. Now, the EOT probe that is towards the end of the experiment, it is completed and we have passed all the probes. As you can see in the chaos result, we see that our experiment is passed, the final verdict is passed and we can also see the status of different probes and probes pass percentage as well. So this is 100% and status of different probes is also good. Since we have this check, you frontend URL probe as edge, so it was first checked at the beginning of the experiment and towards the end and the unsealed part was only towards the end so it is the post chaos probe. Moving to the next experiment, it is again related to Vault but with a slight difference in this, we will be deleting the Vault pod severely instead of parallely which means that a single pod will be deleted at a time and we can see if the failover is happening properly or not. So the Vault URL or the end point should be reachable till the time all the Vault pods go into a serious state. So in this case we will see a failure scenario where all the pods get sealed and the URL validation will be failed towards the end. So that is expected and for this reason we have configured the Vault probe to proceed on failure, so we will still continue with the experiment and unseal the Vault towards the end rather than failing and exiting. So this is also an option, we can fail the experiment in case a probe fails and exit it. So I will quickly go through the chaos engine manifest for this one also. Again same label and in this case the only difference that we can see is the check front end access URL is in continuous mode which means that it would be tested from starting till end. So basically it would check at the start of the experiment if it is accessible and during the chaos injection phase and towards the end. So towards the end it would fail since we will be deleting all the pods sequentially. So it will pass for two pods and towards the end when the third pod is deleted which means that all the pods go into a serious state and the endpoint is no more serviceable. So the sequence we have selected here is serial. So the probe has passed and we are deleting Vault 1. So this has already been deleted and it has recovered. Similarly we will cover Vault 0 and Vault 2. So now Vault 2 is deleted. So it is continuously pooling the Vault URL, the endpoint and we will see a failure towards the end when the last Vault pod is deleted. So I have intentionally added a 30 second delay between consecutive chaos injections so that the pod can recover. So now the connection has lost as soon as we deleted the Vault 0 pod so now the probe has started to fail and finally it will mark this probe as failed and proceed with the final probe execution that is unsealing of the vault. Since all the application is up and running all the pods are up and running so it proceeded and it failed the front-end access URL pod which was expected since all the pods went into sealed state during the continuous probe evaluation and now it is running the unsealed Vault probe. So now we can see that the final probe has completed successfully and it has unsealed the Vault but the overall result is a fail because the probe that was validating the URL failed towards the end. So we can check this in the end as well. So in this result, chaos result we can see that it was failed during running the probe and the probe success percentage is 50 since it was able to pass at the beginning but was not able to pass towards the end so it was partially successful so that's why the success percentage is 50 and it also lists which probe got failed so this is the check front-end access URL probe that got failed So moving on to the reuse case where we are going to target one of the open stack service that is NOVA scheduler quickly going through the chaos engine manifest for NOVA scheduler So here we are identifying the application by the namespace and by the label of NOVA scheduler Here we have three probes that are running out of which two are running on-cures and the last one is running towards the end of the test case So the first on-cures probe is create resources which is basically creating open stack resources at the time of chaos injection and similarly we have check ping which is checking the reachability of the VM created during the create resource So here we have adjusted with the timing since there is some time that is taken to create the resource so this probe would get triggered after a delay of a certain amount that is 180 seconds and similarly towards the end we are running another probe that is cleaning up all the resources So here the pod effect percentage is 20 which means that a single pod would be targeted at a time since we have four pods that are running in an HM out So these are the pods I will quickly apply this manifest file to start the experiment Let's follow the logs for this pod So this is the first pod that is getting deleted So since we have selected the selection of the pod random so it will select any pod randomly and delete it and would continue to do that till the total chaos duration is completed and will be waiting for 30 seconds between every chaos injection so that we get time for the previous pod to recover So this we can see that the resources are getting created and here we can see that randomly a pod is getting deleted So the first one was this one based on the uptime So now this is the one that was deleted last So we have kept multiple iterations of this chaos injection for Nova scheduler pod so that we make sure that it is overlapping with the on chaos probes So we want to make sure that the resources that are being created is overlapping with the chaos injection time so that we can actually test the availability of the services to the end user if there is any degradation of the services or any impact in creation of the open stack resources with respect to the Nova scheduler pods So this is the log of the cross testing container that created the services So this has passed Now it has proceeded to the second on chaos probe that is checking the connectivity of the VM that was created So one thing that needs to be taken care here is aligning the timing of the chaos experiment So we do have options of aligning the time between the probe running of the probe and the chaos injection so that has to be taken care So now the connectivity check has also passed So there was no packet loss observed 100 and the final verdict is also passed All the probes passed without any issues So we can now say that the Nova scheduler is resilient to pod delete experiment This is a sample output of the cross testing based probe containers So resource validator is basically the one that created the resources Checkping was a connectivity check Resource deletion was a cleanup part And this is another probe with which we used to run the ensemble roles and take corrective actions during the chaos injection phase or post-caus injection phase Similarly, this is the litmus result which I just showed you which captures all the details and makes it easily integratable with the CICT chain So that's all from the demo perspective Thank you all, thank you for your time and thank you for joining this demo Welcome back I hope you liked the demo by Summer where he actually showed two scenarios by injecting chaos into his running open stack system and he was able to verify that the system continues to function and he was able to check the steady state hypothesis at various instances using litmus probes So the summary is you will be able to do deep chaos and you should be doing deep chaos in an operating environment to validate the functioning of your application the functioning of your Kubernetes and Summer and his team at Orange is able to do that successfully and I hope you will be able to do something similar if your needs are similar Use litmus for your reliability needs You can get started with docs of litmus at docs.itmuscares.io and if you need any help with litmus we will be available at the Litmus channel on Kubernetes Slack community and with that thank you very much folks you all have a great KubeCon Cheers


these two roles are merging very very soon right because if you do realize that if the bedrock of any business is technology essentially what you are saying is that the raw middle of the business is driven by tech and made on tech at the end of the day marketing is new sales right and the marketing and the marketers are the guys who are going to bring in the traffic understand the entire user journey look at the retention cohorts acquisition cohorts look at it from ROI perspective and a customer acquisition cost perspective the tech plays a very very important role you cannot alienate the two so I think as we will evolve as we will go further right these two roles are going to merge and which is why the entire world is talking about a CDO role which is a chief digital officer role right where the marketers are expected to bring on board certain tech strengths and abilities


I'd like to call the 11th regular meeting of the 2020-21 Common Council to order. Would the clerk please call the roll? All the person born? Here. All the person Donahue? Here. All the person Feldy? Here. All the person Ackley? Here. All the person Phillips? All the person Phillips? Okay. All the person Decker? Here. All the person Sorensen? Here. All the person Savagliel? All the person Salicky Paneski? Here. All the person Mitchell? Here. There are nine present. Would the clerk please read the quote for the day? Thank you, Mr. Mayor. We cannot become what we want by remaining what we are. Thank you very much. Please stand and join me in the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the play of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Next move on to the approval of the minutes from our 10th regular council meeting held August 17th. All the person Sorensen. Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Move for approval of our minutes. Second. Thank you for that motion and support. Is there any discussion on the minutes? Seeing none. All those in favor, please signify by seeing aye. Aye. Opposed? Aye. Opposed? Aye. Motion passes. Next item on the agenda is the Board of Water Works Commissioners election, which will be held on September 21st of 2020. This is a term beginning October 1st of 2020. So some of you have a letter of intent for one of our candidates before you. If these will probably be emailed to the ones that are not in attendance. We're accepting other applications. If anyone's interested, please contact the clerk's office. Next item is Mayor's appointments, city attorney. The mayor submits the following appointment for your consideration, Gerald Jones, to be considered for appointment to the Board of Police and Fire Commissioners, to fill the unexpired term of Henry Young, whose term expires on April 21, 2025. Thank you. And that appointment will lie over till our next meeting. Next item on the agenda is public forum, City Clerk. The first person tonight is Deidre Martinez. He would come up to the middle podium. Can I take this down? Pull it down a little. I don't want to touch that. If you could just state your name and address for us, please. Deidre Martinez at 1405 North Avenue, Sheboygan, Wisconsin, 53083. And you have five minutes to speak. All right, awesome. I will not take that much of your time. So that's the good news. Thank you. And yes, I am a resident of the city, but really I'm here on behalf of my position at the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce to advocate for one of our businesses and chamber members. So, you know, I'm so pleased a few weeks ago I came and attended a meeting at the, I think it was licenses hearing and public safety. And after years of Cheryl and house divided, otherwise known as GGI or got to get you in, I was able to find some potential for resolution in a request that she and her business have had for a number of years with the city. So I just want to first of all say to the Alders and to the mayor, thank you for your continued collaboration with our businesses and the Sheboygan County Chamber of Commerce. I think it's really important, especially amidst a pandemic, that we are supportive of our small businesses. They are the livelihood. They provide jobs. They provide tax revenue. They provide entertainment and hospitality, which encourages and increases the economic vitality of the city of Sheboygan and the Sheboygan County as a whole. So I would just like to share in my support and I'm hopeful that tonight you guys will decide to give house divided an opportunity to have a outdoor or a temporary outdoor seating opportunity available to them to prove to you and their neighbors that this is a wonderful choice and it's an opportunity to strengthen their business, but also to strengthen their relationships with their neighbors as a whole and to show us what they're able to do in that space. So that's why I'm here to say thank you to ask you to continue to support your local businesses, pandemic or not. I think it's important that we work to remove the red tape that can be both disheartening and debilitating to our businesses in the area and when we work together we can certainly make really positive things happen. So tonight as you take that vote, please consider these words and I ask that you give Cheryl and house divided an opportunity for temporary order for outdoor seating. Thank you. Thank you. Bob Osborn. Hi Bob, if you could just state your name and address for us please. Bob Osborn. I am Becky Kessler Vianci and I go up, well not live up here from the bar every Friday night for the last 16 months. I have no complaints whatsoever. I can sleep, watch TV, none whatsoever. So any other questions I said? I have no complaints whatsoever. We can do it with everyone. We don't have no complaints at all. Thank you. How does that go? Becky Kessler. Kessler? Could you state your name and address for us first? My name is Becky Kessler, 840A Wilson Avenue, kind of upstairs from the bar. Okay. And I'm here because I heard there was complaints about at a different meeting. And I don't, I never hear people, there's never a voice or noise or anything. So I don't think there would be outside. So it's actually pretty. I do hear music because I'm only, I'm right above, but it doesn't interfere with my life in any way. And the people are always, like I say, calm. It's not like a boisterous crowd or anything. So I don't think that that would happen outside where it would interfere with the neighbors. I'd like to see Cheryl have a chance. And this day and age outside seating is kind of important right now. That's about all I got to say. Okay. Thank you. Robin Oppenheimer. Hi, Robin. Can you state your name and address for us? My name is Robin Oppenheimer. I live at 2721 South 7th Street. And I am speaking on behalf of Cheryl. I am a previous employee. I worked for her for approximately a year and a half. It is a very, I guess considering the current social distancing that's going on, I think that everybody should be allowed to have outdoor sidewalks. I go down 8th Street every week. And I don't understand why all those restaurants are allowed to be on the city egress and have tables right up to the curb. I have to walk out in the street to get around those restaurants. Whereas where I used to work at, well, I call it GGI because that's what it used to be called. We wouldn't even be on the sidewalk. So I don't understand why it's an issue. The only noise complaint I ever heard about, I was there and witnessed it. The police officer that came in looked at me and said, what noise? He said he didn't hear any noise till the interior door of the bar was opened. So I don't understand why residents complain about the noise there at all. I've walked up to these residents' house that are complaining. I hear their TVs, not the bar. So I just don't think it's fair that they should be allowed to control Cheryl's income and stipulate whether or not she can have outdoor businesses when all of you are wearing masks and isn't it safer to be outside than in an indoor environment? That's all I'm going to say. I'm just speaking as a concerned citizen. That's all. Thank you. Gary Bus. State your name and address for us, please. My name is Gary Bus. I live at 840 Meade Avenue, Sheboygan 53081. Thank you. Five minutes. Five minutes being now. What I would like to say is a lot of things that I was going to say have already been covered with this and I don't know how they do it. Did they go through the same process that Cheryl is going through? Or were they granted just an over the counter? Go ahead and make some money, which is what every business is trying to do right now. I would like to see this put away, cut and dried. Give Cheryl the opportunity to share in the spoils of her neighbors and, of course, the general public. And if anybody has any questions about what we're talking about, please stop in. This is what we're looking at here. So that's basically what I have to say about the thing, but I would like to see this thing put to bed. Let her make some money and enjoy what life we have left. Thank you so much for your attention. Thank you. That's it for this evening. Thank you very much. Thank you to everybody for your comments. Next we'll move on to a presentation of the operations improvement progress update by our Finance Director Marty Halverson and Deputy Finance Director Tara Dewey. Thank you, Mayor Van der Steen, members of the Common Council, Administrator Wolfe, and guests. In 2019, the City of Sheboygan contracted Clifton-Larsen Allen to perform an operational assessment of the Finance Department, and earlier this year they presented their findings. This evening, the Deputy Finance Director and myself are here to provide you an update on the progress made on those items. Some of the focus areas of improvement, which assisted us in creating our priorities and were included policies and procedures, which these were fairly non-existent, or those that we did have were quite outdated when we began. Internal controls, these relate primarily to our setups and structure and tend to be key risk areas, as well as staffing and tools, the resources which are key in accomplishing all of these improvements. The tools tend to be software related. Now what I will do is I'll hand it off to our Deputy Director Tara Dewey as she speaks in more detail about some of these items. I'm going to start off by going over some of the items that we have completed so far. First off, we've been working on those procedures that Marty just mentioned that were identified in the CLA assessment. To date we have created 70 written procedures and those are needed so that staff can be cross-trained and we've been able to create some efficiencies as those procedures have been reviewed and a new set of eyes get to look at them that can lead to questions, investigation, and then we've been able to make some of our processes more streamlined as the check-run process being revised as an example of that. Next, we've looked at all of the position purposes in the Finance Department and we've updated those while creating the Accountant 3 position purpose. So we've shifted some of the responsibilities between the position purposes. So that's why these tenured staff will be using the written procedures now because they're going to have to learn processes that they hadn't been doing in their previous time here with the city. Also, it was identified that a journal entry approval process needed to be created and that was mainly for a separation to keep a segregation of duties. So right now I am approving the Accountants Journal Entries and the Director is approving my journal entries. We've also worked on expanding our P card program and we've closed some of the store charge accounts because the process of reconciling and tracking those expenditures was very inefficient. So we've created an Excel spreadsheet that is able to improve the departmental and summary tracking. So we have other staff that are working on improving that process still to make it work even better. Then we have hired the Accountant 3 position because the finance department, it needs more horsepower, as Todd mentions, to address the items in the CLA assessment, our audit findings, and also to prepare for staff transitions as we have some very tenured staff that will be looking at retirement over the next coming years. We've also been providing Munis training to the library and municipal court staff so that they're able to perform daily receding which helps maintain that segregation of duties. And then lastly we've been working on the budget book spreadsheet. So there's a Word and Excel component that we've merged for each of the orgs and all the files have been uniformly formatted and that allows for us to be able to make mass changes to the files, such as this year we had added some accounts and we're able to do that addition in one fell swoop instead of having to go into each of those documents to do that. And I'm going to move on to our items that are in progress. So we're currently reviewing the procurement investments and capital asset and depreciation policies and we're reviewing those and updating them. Earlier this year Marty and I had attended a CIVMIC training on writing policies and procedures where we were given a recommended policy template from CIVMIC and we intend to implement and use that template. Also a very important process that we're working on right now is a cash and bank reconciliation. The development of a full reconciliation process is critical so that we can start to have a month-end close which has not been happening in the past. We've been able to make some small changes that have made a big impact on streamlining that process and I've been working with our consultant to fully establish the process and document the procedure. Next we've been doing vendor cleanup. Our system has many vendors that are duplicated for various reasons. The IT department was able to extract the vendor list into Excel and then one of our accountants determined the vendors that need to be updated, vendors that can be merged and verify 1099 filing requirements. We were also able to delete several hundred vendors that had no activity. Next is the purchase order process. We have created a centralized city purchasing email so that we're not using an individual's email because when there's staff turnover then you're left with the problem of having to get those emails forwarded. We'll also be working on merging vendors and then creating unique PO addresses which will improve our process and allow for more POs to be sent automatically and electronically. Next is the sidewalk assessment process and conversion from AS 400. We're working collaboratively with the DPW and we just recently met with them to identify a timeline of when assessment details are needed from DPW for the finance department to bill out the assessment, allow time for payments and payment plans to be set up before that's being put onto the tax roll. And lastly the electronic file organization as COVID hit and people were working from home it was called attention to the fact that we really need to be able to find files efficiently and clean up our naming conventions of folders and files so we're actively working on cleaning that up. I'll hand it back to Marty. Thank you Tara. Definitely some progress being made there but I'm sure your next question is what's next? Certainly we had some already pre-identified focus areas to take as our next steps. As Tara had mentioned one of those key steps is to test and review those procedures that were created. When you create 70 brand new procedures you're bound to find some tweaks and modifications that are necessary and our newly hired accountant three is going to be performing some shadowing of the coworkers within the department and as they perform the tasks she can review the written procedure and identify areas that either are missed, omitted, incorrect or even possibly recommend some modifications for more efficiencies. We'll also be putting some greater emphasis to our AS 400 to Munis conversion. That's definitely something that I know many of you have already heard about. Some of the steps that have been taken is we've identified what we call our Munis super users. Those super users will be forming teams and certainly in finance we have several super users identified. Those super users will dig into the Munis modules that are necessary for continuing the improvements. We've identified certain key areas that the Munis modules need to be converted from the AS 400 into Munis. Those would include loans, special assessments, capital assets, personal property and then there are also others out there. Certainly those align well with some of the other items that we've talked about with our policies and procedures. So these tend to be linked together which then continues a unified approach of completing a full task. As we work through many of these new module setups we'll also be looking at correct mapping of accounts in the background and while we do that we can review and look for opportunities to modify our fund structure and chart of accounts. Those various improvements include merging of funds. Currently we've identified several areas of fund cleanup where we have for example tax incremental districts. We have debt service and capital funds and we're looking to merge that into one tax incremental district fund that will minimize the cost transferring and or adjustments made between funds. It also keeps a cleaner full picture of each tax incremental district. This was something that we did have a phone conversation with our auditors to kind of vet the pros and cons of that. They actually have, you can do it either way but they certainly see it more often with it being a single fund rather than split between the two. Also while we're reviewing some of those objects within the funds, each of the funds or accounts as we like to call them, we're gonna be reviewing for any redundancy so that we can clean up and remove some, maybe not as useful accounts but also be able to identify areas where we're missing some key and intuitive type accounts that will help department heads as they code their expenses. We also will be looking at some of the account structure setups such as how we utilize our due to due from accounts. Sometimes the software we found has a better purpose for certain types of accounts the way that they were structured than how we've been using them so it'll create a more effective and efficient workflow as well as month end and year end close. We're also gonna be working collaboratively with our IT department regarding munis user roll setups. This really gets at the internal controls and enhances and improves our approval process both on transactional basis but also when creating new funds, new accounts and transactions or even new vendors. On our next slide, it's key to have all of these initiatives but in order to show progress and keep tabs on all of these you certainly have to have a good tracking mechanism in place. Following the CLA assessment there was a summary document that was built with key areas of assignments of who the staff member is to lead the project, who's all involved, what are the other departments involved, what are the key deadlines both from a starting point and a deadline to complete the project. This document is being currently merged with a previously defined and built action plan for the department as well as staff task workloads. The staff task workloads also will then be able to have identified procedures linked to it so that we can follow through where the previous procedures were built. As Tara had mentioned, a lot of the procedures that were created definitely have to be in a workable system and so we also will be building a table of contents and a structure so that we can find these whether you're the primary staff member or a cross-train staff member so some organization of these procedures will be key. And then we'll also be looking to provide quarterly updates at our finance and personnel committee and then also be able to come back to the Common Council with any updates and questions. So with that, I guess I turn it back over to the mayor if there are any questions this evening for us. Well, thank you very much for that presentation. Are there any questions of the Alders? Mayor, I have a question. Alderman Bourne. Please go ahead. Thank you, Mayor. Marty, as part of your budgeting process for 2021, have you been able to look back at the revenue streams for 2019 and compare them with this difficult year because of COVID with our revenue streams compared to 2020? Alder Bourne, that's a very good question. Certainly we're monitoring our adjustments in revenue. I know the mayor has been in contact with other state and federal legislators providing updates. What we've been identifying up to this point, certainly the impact on the sales tax from the county, that will have an impact. We've had some reduction in our licensure and permits being issued. Many of these are, I wouldn't say as significant as maybe the media has portrayed in other parts of the country. I would estimate around $220,000, I believe was the number that the city could be impacted by on sales tax. And we also have room tax to reductions.  At this point, there's belief that the water utility could have half a million dollars of reduction in revenue. Wastewater though has not seen as significant of a reduction in revenue because where some businesses might be down, others are up. So they're at this point projecting not as big of an impact. So then when we get into the budgeting process in early October, when the proposed budget goes to various committees, you will be able to kind of provide where we stand with all those revenue streams and how they're going to affect your plans for 2021? That's correct. We will again provide a projection as we have always done in previous years. So at that time is where we'll have a more accurate projected number. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions? Seeing none, thanks again for the report. We appreciate it. Next we'll go on to Mayor's announcements. Unfortunately, during the last few weeks, we lost some people who served quite a long time in city government. Leonard Becker passed away on Sunday, August 30th. Leonard served as a city older person from 1972 through 1986. During these years, Len was elected City Council President. He also served on many committees, the Public Protection and Safety Committee, the Streets Committee, the Board of Park and Forestry, the Public Works Committee, and the Industrial Development Commission. Leonard was 96. And we also lost Henry Young. Henry Young passed away Wednesday, August 19th. Henry was a longtime member of the Police and Fire Commission and the Capital Improvements Commission. Our condolences go out to these families, of these individuals who serve city government. Please stand with me and observe a moment of silence for them. Thank you. We'd like to ask our residents to consider being a poll worker. Poll worker positions are needed for the presidential election on November 3rd. You can contact the city clerk's office if you're interested. Polling is essential to conduct an open, accurate and fair election. And we hope that you will consider participation in one of these positions. To be a poll worker, you must be a qualified elector of the county in which your municipality is located, be able to speak, read and write fluently in English, have strong clerical skills, be able to solve problems and be an effective communicator. The polls are open from 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. You can be working from 6.30 until 9 on election day and the clerk does offer a split shift so you can work a half day rather than a full day. Next, I'd like to give an update on the COVID-19 situation in Sheboygan County. The numbers for today show that we have 1,160 active cases overall. That's up 75 from last week. We have 98 active cases that's down 9 from last week. We have 1,052 cases that have recovered and that's up 83 from the previous week. And at this time we have 8 individuals in the hospital and that's up 2 from last week. And unfortunately we had one additional death so we've gone from 9 deaths previously to 10 deaths this week. And overall we've had 30,042 negative tests and that's up 1,672 from last week. Sheboygan County health officials released a safe start recommendation plan to reopen and included strong controls for businesses and residents and we continue to be in phase 2 of that plan that says that businesses need to follow the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation's sanctions for their specific type of business. The Mead Library and other city buildings have instituted mandatory mask policies to enter the public areas of city buildings. Masks are provided if needed. And then recently Governor Evers declared a public health emergency and signed emergency order number one relating to preventing the spread of COVID-19 and required the wearing of masks in indoor and outdoor spaces where people congregate. Sheboygan County law enforcement agencies including the police department will utilize this order as an educational tool as they're asking citizens and visitors of Sheboygan County to voluntarily comply with the order. Remember to wear your mask and slow the spread of the coronavirus in Sheboygan join the mask up Sheboygan campaign. Thank you very much. Next move on with the consent agenda that will include items 2.12 Alderperson Sorensen Thank you Mayor. I move to receive and file all ROs. Receive all RCs and adopt all resolution and ordinances. Second. Thank you for that motion in support. Those items are before us. Is there any discussion on anything in the consent agenda? Seeing no discussion will the clerk please call the roll for passage. Alderperson Donahue. I vote aye. I vote aye. Thank you. Alderperson Bourne. Same. It's not coming up on my screen either. I vote aye. Sorensen. Zavaglio. Dekker. Phillips. Mitchell. Ackley. Feldy. Felicky Paneski. Officer's is item 3.1 which is RO number 57 of 2021 by the city clerk submitting a communication from the Wisconsin Department of Administration regarding the Chaboygan Christian School annexation. Alderperson Sorensen. Thank you Mayor. I move to receive and file the document. Second. Thank you for that motion in support. Is there any discussion on the motion? Seeing none all those in favor please signify I opposed motion passes item 3.2 is our own number 58 of 2021 by the city clerk submitting a review letter and certified subdivision plat drawing for the stone stonebrook crossing edition number one from the Wisconsin Department of Administration all the person sorenson thank you mayor move to receive file the document thank that motion and support is there any discussion on the motion see none all those in favor please signify by saying aye opposed motion passes item 3.3 is our own number 59 of 2021 by the City Planning Commission to whom was referred resolution number 72 of 2021 by all the person borne on authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute a public asset access easement agreement between Wild Leslie real estate holdings LLC visit Sheboygan Inc. and the city of Sheboygan regarding public and pedestrian access across the property located at 826 South East Street and wishes to report that this matter was discussed at a regular meeting of the City Planning Commission on August 25th and after due consideration recommends adopting the resolution all the person borne thank you mayor make a motion to receive the RO and adopt the resolution thank you for that motion and support is there any discussion on the motion seeing none will the clerk please call the roll for passage ten eyes motion passes item 3.4 is our own number 60 of 2021 by the City Planning Commission to whom was referred general ordinance number 15 of 2021 by all the person sorenson and borne and our own number 45 of 2021 by the city clerk submitting a communication from Sheboygan Christian School filing petition for direct annexation by unanimous consent for land currently located in the town of Wilson Greenfield Avenue and wishes to report this matter was discussed at a regular meeting of the City Planning Commission on August 11th of 2020 and after due consideration recommends receiving the RO and adopting the general ordinance all the person born thank you mayor make a motion to receive the RO and adopt the ordinance second thank you for that motion and support I'll amend the motion to receive the RO second thank you for the new motion and support is there any discussion on the motion seen on all those in favor please signify by saying aye aye opposed motion passes item 3.5 lays over as well as 3.6 item 3.7 and 3 through 3.9 will be referred to various committees under resolutions item 4.1 is resolution number 77 of 2021 by all the person sorenson and Donahue authorizing the expenditure of funds received as part of the criminal justice law enforcement drug trafficking response of 2021 grant solicitation all the person sorenson thank you mayor I asked to suspend the rules is there any objection to suspension seen none please proceed thanks mayor I move to adopt the resolution second thank you for that motion and support is there any discussion on the motion seen none or the clerk please call the roll ten eyes motion passes item 4.2 is resolution number 78 of 2021 by all the person sorenson and Phillips establishing a temporary polling location for the November 3rd election of 2020 for wards 15 20 and 21 in the city of shavuagan all the person sorenson thanks may I ask to suspend the rules is there any objection to suspension seen none please proceed thanks Mary move to adopt the resolution second thank you for that motion and support is there any discussion on the motion seen none will the clerk please call the roll ten eyes motion passes item 4.3 is resolution number 79 of 2021 by all the person sorenson and Donahue authorizing the appropriate city officials to execute an acceptance form and accept the parking assessment revenue and analysis proposed dated August 18th of 2020 from WGI Alderperson sorenson thanks may I ask for suspension again is there any objection to suspension seen none please proceed I move to adopt the resolution second thank you for that motion and support is there any discussion Chad please proceed just a few comments on this document so last year when parking assessments went out they were relatively high due to the winter season that we had prior to that and it raised a lot of questions as to how were the ordinances for parking assessments put together why why boundaries here and no boundaries there so the idea behind this and thank you for supporting the suspension is to move forward with the same consultant that did the downtown parking study a few years ago and have them do a desktop review of the ordinances the plans the boundaries those types of things to report back to staff if there are any recommendations on changes that could be made before the next parking assessment process so it's a smaller contract but the people are very familiar with what happens in the parking districts in the downtown and it makes sense to move forward with them thank you for that information is there any discussion seeing none will the clerk please call the roll ten eyes motion passes items 4.4 through 4.8 will be referred to various committees item 5.1 is RC number 130 of 2021 by the licensing hearings and public safety committee tumors referred direct referral our own number 48 of 2021 with the city clerk submitting various license applications and recommends filing the sidewalk cafe application in amending the change of premises for application for license number 3056 the House of Divided all the person sorenson thank you mayor I move to receive the RC and file the sidewalk cafe application and amend the change of premise to prove it thank you for that motion so moved this second and second thank you okay the the motion is on the floor is there any discussion on the motion mayor I have a question go ahead yeah are we voting are we voting to approve the sidewalk cafe yes this is a temporary sidewalk cafe permit okay I have a question for Chad Chad last year this application came before the city plan commission and I believe the sidewalk cafe at that time was voted was not passed and there was some side issues regarding some of the issues with the neighbors there was some issues with some housekeeping on the property as far as I guess weeds going through the pavement and parking lot and I don't remember all the movie something that the dumpster there was there was some other issues other than what the neighbors were and there were all quite a few neighbors at that particular hearing at the plan commission so I'm guessing I'm guessing what's changed in the last year is it just a new owner or what's going on I'd have to refer to attorney Adams to discuss that but I think when it was at the planning commission it was a conditional use permit to occupy it forever or as long as they did and I think the difference might be that this is a temporary sidewalk cafe for a 12-month period versus a conditional use permit is typically longer but I would defer to attorney Adams for that attorney Adams outside their building kind of more in the parking lot area closer to the to the front wall and the reason why this comes through this way rather than through plan commission is as as Chad noted it is temporary unless it is a 12-day request and sort of under our zoning 12 days is considered temporary more than considered permanent the idea here is that while there were some issues raised by the neighbors and even though staff did always recommend approval of this and and there was some discussion by some of the neighbors that you would pull of the committee meeting with a temporary process and making some changes to their application to make to ensure that in essence we had a plan going forward that they could do they could look at and the next year should be try to do that again we'll have a track record I'm not aware of like that but but the primary issue that we'll be able to do with noise basically thank you for that information is there any other questions and if I could just ask if you're not speaking can you meet your mic we're getting a lot of feedback on in the council chamber so Jim and Marcus I see you guys are muted so if you're not talking can you mute I I just had I I have one more question and that is I understand that this is a new ownership then that was new owners from one that was GGI there is a new it's a new business name it's not even a different business entity was the was the vote of the committee unanimous to approve this yes it was any other questions seeing there's no other questions I'd ask the clerk to call the roll ten eyes motion passes good luck with the permit we'll move on to item 5.2 which is RC number 129 of 2021 by the Finance and Personnel Committee to whom was referred resolution number 74 of 2021 by all other persons Donahue and born authorizing city officials to execute an updated agreement between the city of Sheboygan and the village of Kohler for the operation of a joint municipal court recommends adopting the resolution all the person Donahue I move to receive the report of the committee and adopt the resolution second thank you for that motion in support is there any discussion on the motion seeing none will the clerk please call the roll for passage ten eyes motion passes under general ordinances item 6.1 through 6.3 will be referred to various committees and I'll turn it over to attorney Adams for other matters authorized by law city clerk submitting various license applications for the period ending December 31 2020 and June 30 2020 that will be referred to the licensing hearings and public safety committee next is a contemplated closed session 8.1 is the motion to go into closed session under exemption provided all the person sorenson thank you mayor I move to convene and closed session under exemptions provided by section 19.85 Wisconsin statutes where competitive and bargaining sessions require closed sessions related to the possible lease and development strategies related to the services provided by the senior activity center of Sheboygan with the clerk thank you with the clerk please call the roll for closed session ten eyes motion passes we'll take a short two minute recess and read and then reconvene and the council will adjourn in closed session so this will end our broadcast for this evening thank you very much


My name is Luc Dumartot. I'm the team leader of Splendor, the competitor of the Netherlands. We are engineers. We are an engineering company. Our unique selling points, our competitive advantages, are in fact developing the technology ourselves. We have our own production facility. Important to know is we are developing a standalone device. So not just an extension of a mobile phone with extra hardware. No, we are developing our own dedicated hardware. This is for example the system board. The system board of the tricorder. This has the CPU and the wireless connections in it to connect with the peripherals of our tricorder. This is custom developed at the heart of our tricorder. The future is a tricorder in every home. In the morning you do a health check to see what's happening with your health and when something is wrong. You can contact the doctor directly via screen. So very easy. So it will be a normal daily process to check your health. The Netherlands is one of the hotspots in the world in bioscientists and medical research. That means that we can get a lot of sponsors in the Netherlands because they want to be part of this competition. So that gives me the opportunity to join forces. We've got a lot of experience with developing software and embedded hardware for more than 12 years. We have a proven technology, proven track records and a very strong team. Multidisciplinary team. I was called by a clinical chemist of one major medical centre in the Netherlands and she asked me how can I join your team. And she was a real professional PhD. I know a board member of this debt and she asked me how can I join you. That's quite nice to experience. I'm very glad that I can represent the Netherlands. I'm very glad that I can be here and you'll see what will happen.


For 22 years in the Negro Leagues, Leroy Satchel Page was arguably black baseball's hardest thrower. The lanky right-hander racked up 21 consecutive wins, a 31-4 record and a professional record of 62 consecutive scoreless innings in 1933. Page headlined exhibition games from South America up through Canada and baffled white major league hitters with pitches named the Trouble Ball and the Four Day Creeper. In 1948, Page became a Cleveland Indian and Major League Baseball's oldest rookie ever at the age of 42. Satchel Page was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1971. Celebrating black history, I'm Megan Triplett.


r value with great offers like super value fresh irish lamb legs save 33 epic personal non-bio powder 130 wash only 13 euro that's 10 cent per wash super and wine of the month sartori rapasso now 10 euro winning win with super value low prices enjoy alcohol responsibly okay you are very welcome back to the nine till noon show monday focus on the way for you does it take a war in ukraine says this caller for the government ministers to wake up to factor in that our agriculture sector is solely dependent on imports thanks to our european rules and regulations it's not solely but in majority but thank you for that hi greg for minister charlie mcconnellough please implore our irish farmers who have the wherewithal to do so to start growing grain right away there's a day coming shortly when there won't be a loaf of bread or a box of corn flakes or wieterbecks on the supermarket or shop shelves another everyone should start up small kitchen gardens in the front and back lawns and grow as much as they can supplement their food years ago on a confed itself don't think it could today it would do no harm for families to start the basics again and show our children how to survive without shops if disaster strikes well let's hope it that won't happen but i do understand where you're coming from and we heard from aim ryan about anyone with south facing window boxes to get growing ask charlie mcconnellough he wants farmers to grow grain how does he propose to keep the deer and geese from eating it tell him we are fed up jumping how high to stupid schemes another here yesterday i read where charlie mcconnellough is asking all farmers to consider setting part of their farm in grain due to the world shortage and the effects this is going to have on food supply my point is last week i read the same paper where the same minister was saying that 200 000 acres were going to be rewetted and are ban on plowing in some areas these regulations are nonsense and are putting farmers out of business not the price farmers knew there was going to be shortage of food before the war with russia and ukraine glad you having the minister on i hope he will see his mistakes areland farmers should have always been encouraged to grow their own grain and other crops as well another time to open our bogs and turf turf burning stations were too reliant on and petrol and diesel another wouldn't it be nice to see our fertile fields all crops again coming in from james and last one for now charlie speaks of ukraine sovereignty what did he think of the leader me home martin in the door in 2017 when he said arland wants nothing to do with the backward-looking idea of sovereignty well fully committed to the ideals of the eu right okay we'll be joined by our next guests on the program our monday focus after these messages stay right where you are the 90 noon show with letter kenny credit union now offering mortgages with life cover provided at no additional cost letter kenny credit union 9102127 at aldi we're committed to being fairer greener healthier fairer by raising one million euro for bernardo's because no child should be left behind greener we aim to have our plastic packaging by 2025 healthier by providing fresh fruit and veg at amazing prices yes that includes your favorites kids sprouts and spinach change doesn't happen overnight but at aldi we're working hard to get better every day see aldi.ie for details mike denver in concert with guests ray linem and brendan shine at the any show gateway hotel boncran on sunday march 13 tickets at hotel reception and ticket master dot ie that's mike denver with guests brendan shine and ray linem at the any show gateway hotel boncran sunday march 13th most people say that dunig all is the coolest place in the planet but up here we know that sometimes it can be the coldest charles boner and sons balibuffet is the one-stop shop for all your heating needs we have a huge range of multi-fuel and wood pellet stoves and ranges spare parts for all major stove and range brands plumbing and bathroom wear all at exceptional prices so visit our showrooms where our friendly and experienced team will be ready to help you charles boner and songs balibuffet and the stove store dot ie where you can always do a good deal better for all your training needs northwest forestry services training department balibuffet offer a wide range of courses from training bodies such as nptc city and gills qqi ladra and aba international courses include all land-based services such as chainsaw tree climbing and rescue pesticides working in heights and atv training other courses offered include first aid responder manual handling and building safety to name but a few for a full list of training courses and availability contact northwest forestry services balibuffet on<PHONE_NUMBER> this monday on the deal debate we round up all the weekends ga news as our senior horlers and senior ladies footballers are in league action plus a special feature on the show as i travel to north london shamrocks this weekend where there's a huge dunny goll contingent in the club we'll hear from x dunny goll players michael boil kearn green and peter willow plus current players who are also playing with london terminlads end of a karmic nathan michael wane and fanarts connor mcgonagall all this and much more podcast and hylum radio dot com just after seven p.m news on hylum radio the deal debate with sister sarah's letter candy serving food you'll love till 9 p.m daily in sarah's kitchen okay you are welcome back to the program and now we are talking about support for brief parents as part of our monday focus and hopefully it's a difficult subject this one but it's one that you can't shy away of and hopefully it will be of interest and it's one of those situations you never want to be the one to have to avail of it such services but there is a reality of life as well we have three guests to welcome on to the program now firstly i will say good morning to margaret and frank oh hair good morning both of you thank you so much for joining us morning it's great to have you with us and also we're going to be talking to sharon vaard founder and service manager of anam kaira good morning to you sharon morning great good to have you with us before we bring margaret and frank into the situation tell us about the services you provide anam kaira is an all island organization craig that was founded back in 2008 by brief parents for brief parents so anam kaira donnie gall has been up and running for the last five years and we meet monthly and obviously covert and put a little bit of a temporary halt to that so what we provide craig is information resources and i suppose that's safe come to a place where brief parents and that wouldn't be all brief parents we don't identify by the age of our child or the circumstance of our death to come and meet with other parents yeah and um there would obviously have then been a gap there um before anam kaira was established sharon there was back my own daughter died back in 2004 and back then there wasn't even a dl leaflet that you could take that was you know relevant to brief parents but you know thankfully over the years as i said we started in 2008 and solely over the years we've developed a information pack uh we've obviously running the groups now online and face to face we run brief and information evenings and we've other resources craig like videos and we've just actually recently launched a suite of podcasts which are parents you know talking about their journey and how they have survived and come through while still kind of remembering their child and being connected to their child that has died okay margaret and frank oh hair very sadly you lost your lovely son ronan as much as you're comfortable with with saying talk to us about ronan and when this happened to you okay ronan was a 20 year old um he was a second year student and studying accountancy in the university um his 21st birthday would have been two weeks after his death and we were all living forward to a big party um ronan and like our 20 year old was lost playstation and in particular he loved cars um he was a hard worker and using money he had saved up from his two part-time jobs he had just recently bought his first car um he enjoyed the freedom and the independence as a watergown um i think one of us he didn't he didn't like the fact that i i didn't like cars as much um even though i offered to take him informer and won me each city before i go with his friends i think we can all relate to that but go ahead so um on the 31st of october 2016 which is halloween um ronan and park his car and had joined the rest family in bell pass city centre that's myself margaret and our two daughters we um we were going to get a as he said a free lunch courtesy of the bank of mum and dad before going to his lectures in the afternoon as we walked towards the the cafe he suffered a sudden cardiac incident and we were unable to revive him then despite extensive effort using cpr and the refrigerator um as you can imagine the death of our son um came with no warning um and we find the shock and disbelief to be overwhelming um the intensity of our grief was just suffocating and i think frank you know there's there is no words that i could ever muster or anyone could ever muster uh to offer enough sympathy for for what you's went through not just the loss but that whole experience of it it's just unimaginable it really is so so i'm so sorry it's really what i'm trying to i don't know it's horrible for you thank you greg i mean it was it was horrific it was a horrible um to happen in the middle of bell pass city centre and it was surrounded by loads of people and it was just something that you just one thing after one thing on top of another margaret there's nothing to prepare us to be predeceased by our our children is there i mean i think as we sort of maybe our parents grow older with us we there's an inevitability about it isn't it and maybe subconsciously we we try and prepare ourselves but nothing i don't think uh you can prepare you for to be predeceased to to to bury your child no i think i think that's true greg and i think that i often use the phrase that life made no sense for a long time after roman died and i still think now it's almost five and a half five and a half years later we still very much see our lives as life before roman died and life after roman died and it is a different it is a different life but slowly through time we have learned that you can live again and i don't think you ever accept the death of your child you don't ever accept that it's happened but through time and i would say particularly with the support of annam kara we have slowly managed to work our way along this pathway yeah and we have found the support particularly the support of other parents the other parents the shared experience of the different the different the different ways they have coped i think that in particular has been a huge success and a huge support for us along our way because of course people are great aren't they and in a tragedy like that there people rally around and you know the house is busy and but then you know very quickly thereafter that massive you're back you know people have to go back on with their own lives and they still try and support you another but that big gap it's just it's it's there it's evidence and you have to try and deal with that and move forward as best as you can and that's i presume when you're you know getting the right support really kicks in yeah yeah we were overwhelmed and we were carried along by very by very very many good friends and neighbors and they still to this day still people try to help but it was about 10 months after lonan died that we first attended our first information meeting and that was in our ma and it was it was going to the group that no parent wants to be a member of but when we arrived in our ma that evening we were welcomed by another bereaved dad and over he he made us feel very welcome and it was while it was overwhelming to go into a room of people that were full of parents who had lost their children by the same token there was you immediately felt that there were people there who had that deeper understanding and and that was the beginning probably a very significant step for us on the beginning of learning how to to move forward again frank was it difficult to attend that meeting to sort of say we're all different but sort of say that you know we need to speak to other people we need to speak to people that were in the same situation maybe we can't process this on our own the way we need to was it difficult to make the decision to go off for you guys was it easier if you know what i mean it was probably more difficult for me i was i was it's a bit of a meal yeah you know i was confused i was sort of trying to keep my life as as as structured as normal as it could be where marbury was really more open like so she wanted to go um and i went to support her but very soon realized that it was it was a i needed as much as marbury did i mean the big thing about the group is it gives you hope um you see other parents you're much further down what we would call the grief journey of how they're coping and you listen to their stories and you learn from their experiences um so you know i i i very quickly realized that it was necessary for for the all of us yeah and it is interesting i i directed the question at you because i was kind of trying to put myself in that same position and and it can be a bigger leap for some than than for others and that helps presumably i'm not talking about your relationship of course margaret and frank but i i'm just couples you know everyone goes at different paces we see even with miscarriages and all different types of of loss that people handle things in very different ways as opposed to if there's third parties there maybe it helps everyone sort of understand each other more and catch up a bit or slow down a bit or whatever it might be margaret yeah yeah i think that's true i think that you've touched on it there greg about the individuality of grief and i think that's one of the core values of annum cara that we we really learned so much from one another while we talk at meetings you do a huge amount of listening and i think that even from frank and i go together to the meeting i probably learned a lot i listened to him more in that open forum than at times i may have because you would feel like why aren't you feeling like me uh you're why is this what why is this affecting me not you is it do you not care as much and of course that's not the case but this is all part of the human emotions isn't it's life is so tough as it is like without margaret would go to the grave much more than i would go margaret would cry more openly than i would do um we will but we've shared things as well we have photographs all over the house and we walk an awful lot together now we spend more time together now and we've done you know we've done parts of the communal um you know so it's it's been it's been a hell of a way to all right so okay and and um sharon you know this is exactly what this is all about isn't it it's about that space for people to operate to to progress however they need to or at what pace they need to absolutely and and annum cara it's like the face-to-face groups craig they're dropping groups parents come when they want to come but you know when you go there are in that room everybody who gets it who understands they're all at different stages of their own journey and they've all had different experiences and and as frank and margaret said like grief is as unique as your fingerprint and even within a family every family member including surviving brothers and sisters will all grieve differently because everyone's relationship was different with the with the you know the brother sister died or your son or daughter died so i think that's the uniqueness of annum cara is that you know we we welcome everyone it's an inclusive there's a lot of respect in the room for people's beliefs be religious spiritual you know um yeah it's a very safe and comfortable place and can i i mean i'm guessing here about an imagine that people might engage with your services for the first time it could be 10 or 15 years after a loss that it's just their time yes and and you know even now like even though we would we see ourselves as a national organization an all island organization and you know still people haven't heard about us you know we're still not kind of a household name but you know again would anybody want to know about annum cara because we're living every parent's worst nightmare you know the death of our son or daughter and but yeah but people will come at different stages and and again i think what we have i suppose developed over the years craig is that information pack which is like eight leaflets written by parents connected to annum cara so that's a good resource for parents in the early days and then they can you know gently come into us you know whenever they feel up to it yet and and margaret and frank there must come a point i don't know if it's immediately or or some way down the line where you've become the support for other people as well maybe it's at the first meeting i don't know when they think well if frank can do this or if margaret can do this i can in terms of you know chatting and and engaging or whatever does there come a point and does it come quickly where you're helping people at the same time as well if that makes sense yeah i think that there's a huge amount of peer support within annum cara greg i know that you learn i think there's a lot of milestones that you have to face particularly in the early years and i think people will tell you how they've coped with the first the birthday that happens after your child has died how they've coped with christmas or easter or or even holidays or just all those there's something every month or two two times a month that you that you start realizing don't you yeah every event that is that is supposed to be a happy family time that for you after your child has died so i think there's a huge amount of peer support that happens sometimes you'd say something and then a parent instead yeah a couple of months later you know you said that a couple of meetings back and i tried that out so it is very much it's not about telling people what they should do but it's about learning from the experiences of other parents and i think that you can be doing that you can do that without actually realizing you're doing it as well but i know that i learned so much from others about how they coped with all those different things yeah and Sharon i presume that while every one situation is individual there are you know basic or complex but you know ways of of dealing with it that allows everybody to deal with it individually you know but there are you know we are all very the same at the same time if that makes sense yeah no and and people will deal with different milestones and events in different ways and there is no i suppose craig but we would always what we recognize in annum cara like there is no there is no roadmap there's no there's no right way or wrong way there's only your own way and what way you're comfortable with and i think that's important and you know and and i often think as well as a bereaved parent you know if you you know we choose to survive this we can survive that but it's survival but there are times particularly and i'm just conscious of any of your listeners who have been very recently bereaved you know it's so devastating and it's such a nightmare in those early months you know even the early years that you know when like margaret and frank said when you meet someone a little bit further on and they are upright and standing it just gives you the hope that you can make that milestone as a future because i presume it can feel very much like well what is the future yeah yeah and in terms of margaret and frank we talked about you talked about sorry people are at different stages or deal with things differently i presume the meetings are held as such that if you go to you can go to for them you don't really have to say anything you can be in listening mode it depends on on no one's obliged to do anything that they don't want to do it's about having that space to let people do it their way and in their time yeah yeah it is it's a very safe comfortable space i would say that probably for the first five or six meetings i went to i couldn't speak because i couldn't stop i couldn't stop crying enough to speak so it is just it is very safe very comfortable and the thing about it is that no matter what whatever is discussed in the room is very much just kept within within that forum and it's not discussed outside so people are i think it's nice to at times in a meeting there will just be a pause for people sometimes to reflect on what others have said and that actually can be very comforting as well so there's no no obligation to do anything that you don't feel able to do at the time and also if if somebody's upset everybody's very comfortable with that as well because it's the most natural i think another thing that annum car did for me made me a lot more comfortable with my grief because you you understood when you saw other people who were so sad as well you realised it was actually okay to feel as sad as you did but then through time we also learned that it was okay to start to maybe to feel happy at times again do you feel guilty if you can you feel guilty if you're happy and enjoying yourself or maybe guilty is too strong a word i don't know but i think at the early stages you can and i always remember shortly after Ronan died Arlan played in New Zealand and I watched it and i remember Arlan beating for the very first time Margaret came into the room and i was in floods of tears and she says are you are you so happy because Arlan had been in New Zealand but no i feel so guilty that i actually enjoyed that match you know so but over time you're earning that you're calving happy and people said to us that you will look back with kindness with your children and remember the warmer times you know well it's clear it's clearly that you're two lovely people anyway i mean that's anyone listening or watching we'll see that very very clearly and i wish it's all the strength and whatever is required use no better than i do into the future and it's it's been lovely speaking to you it's been actually really lovely to hear about your son as well thank you for sharing that thank you really appreciate it thank you so much um that's Margaret and Franco here there um finally Sharon you know there's been two or three interviews over as many days on this program where it's kind of been talking about dealing with your grief but not your grief sorry dealing with your emotions or dealing with the realities that we have that's it seems is that a is that a a thread is that important that we this it seems that our our ability to deal with or cope or move forward only happens when we actually start dealing with what's going on in our lives be it a terminal diagnosis being at a situation like we've just been talking is it important that we address what's going on and not ignore it i suppose i suppose Craig you mean i'm not a professional i mean my only expertise is in my own grief but i think people will how people have coped in the past with with stressful situations or difficult situations will probably have an impact on how they will deal with the death of their child and i think it's really important that people mind themselves in it and and and i think it's it's important they know they're not alone yes um but yes you know you know typically and thank god we don't see a lot of it now in Adam Carr but typically and i just went back to my own loss and my husband like my husband had to go back to work he had to you know pay the mortgage he had to pay the bills so he he tended to go back and just get on with things and probably parked up his emotions where i was a little bit like Margaret like i spoke and i cried and i talked and i told my story again and again and we all travel through our grief in different at different speeds but it is important that we do travel i think it's when we become stuck and and start going around in the round that's when the problem starts okay sure yeah how do people get more details please just as we wrap up well yes if they want to come to our to our website which is annamcara.ie so that's a n a m c a r a dot i e we also have a meeting taking place in letter kenny correct this thursday the 10th of march so anyone any of your listeners or anyone who's listening who knows someone maybe they will let them know about that okay and we also have an online meeting taking place on the 21st so if again if they come to our website they'll be able to contact us through the website and maybe anyone who hasn't got contact to with broadband they can give us a call on 085 to trebullate trebullate okay and you're amazing to helping other people through your own uh devastating loss as well thanks so much you sir in inspiration i really appreciate it okay thanks so much thank you very okay we'll be back here to say goodbye after these the night till noon show is brought to you by letter kenny credit union offering low-rate car loans with fast approval apply online at letter can you see you dot i e or in office today highland radio wants to send you on the holiday of a lifetime plus five grand spending money get your ticket now at hide and radio dot com answer the question and start packing start out drawing takes place April 14th on the nine till then show get your ticket early and enter a bonus draw for an extra week's holiday in turkey for the price for the price of one start planning your ultimate getaway only on highland radio visit dairy and experience a world of difference just over the border see the historic walls the waterfront and the famous chill off licenses at the vinci white house cull more hat more and shantalo which for some reason have suddenly become the number one attraction so visit dairy and leave with more than just memories please drink responsibly see drink aware dot i e lingering sunsets in spain captivating coastlines in croatia dinner overlooking lake komo it's time to stop dreaming and start doing let us guide you to your dream destination just show up suitcase in hand and we'll take care of everything flights accommodation excursions expert local guides and all that planning secure your spot now on a guided group tour with deposits from 100 euro see travel department dot com irish owned and operated for over 25 years travel department let's see more tune in this tuesday to the community garden information on air after 10 a.m on the nine till noon show with greg hughes in association with northwest alarms your one-stop shop for domestic and commercial security in dunigal the groom's room is now open and taking bookings for all you grooms getting married contact us at evolve clothing let it any retail park okay that is where we have to leave it on the program today thanks to all of you who listened to or watched the program took part in it and engaged with us in any way shape or form i'm two days now with negative tests so hopefully i'm back in studio with you tomorrow thanks to kevin and caroline for keeping us on air today stay tuned frank elegans up around the northwest after the news at 12 but for me greg hughes and the team chat to you tomorrow from nine the nine till noon show is brought to you by letterkenny credit union with monster loans available up to 60 000 euro for all occasions visit letterkennycu.ie your long come free gift is waiting for you macklehenny's simply buy two long come products and receive the ultimate beauty routine your gift includes a full-size rose sugar scrub a seven-piece travel set including many of your long come favorites plus choose from our absolute or hydra zen skincare collection to complete your gift exclusively in store and online at macklehenny's.com until march 13th my Denver in concert with guest Trayla


Hey there friends. Thanks for checking in at the range now and we're going to do a comparison with the canik TP9 elite subcompact versus the Stoker str9c Both are the smallest handguns in their line Stoker has to in production canik has a bunch But this is the smallest one Pretty much the same dimensions. They're only an ounce off in weight The canik is actually a little bit Heavier well one ounce heavier and you can see that they have similar Grip width and length the canik holds 12 rounds in this mag here They also offer a 15 round mag in the case and the Stoker has a 13 round mag And it is offered with packages that include additional back straps and magazines But let's start with the canik a beautiful tungsten finish a Circo finish on the slide already mentioned a 12 round magazine does have an extension there for three finger contact a Five and a quarter pound trigger. You can see the trigger bar safety is red a very short reset right there it does have a loaded chamber indicator bar and a Striker fire indicator right there that is red which will go away when the slide is no longer charged front serrations serrated metal rear sights and a dot in the front fully ambidextrous gun with both the slide stop and the magazine well the magazine release can be Switched over so the slide stop is ambidextrous But it breaks down really easy it comes with a holster the MSRP is 440 right around 370 is what people were picking this up for when it was first released. It's been around about a year now And it's a nice shooting handgun. So let's go ahead and take a few shots and we'll see how all right 3.6 inch barrel Nice handgun canik did a nice job with this model But earlier this year not long ago Stoker released the str9c and it's basically Very similar to the str9. It has a 3.8 inch barrel and they shortened up the grip 13 round magazines and they they have a couple different changes But for the most part it is the same the slide finishes a bit changed But the slide serrations which are very deep Are the same Three dot sights. They are metal to also load a chamber indicator bar both have a rail Undercut the trigger guard very nice field now the the urgos on this one I'll just say I like them. I like the urgos a little better 13 round mags and This one weighs loaded with 13 rounds under 30 ounces Basically, it's 29 and three quarters as where the canik weighs with 13 rounds 30 and a half But the MSRP of this is 329 with one mag and one backstrap And I already mentioned it comes in various packages trigger pull Right around six pounds. All right, so you're looking at There with a reset a little bit longer, but not overly Different, you know, I mean it's a little bit longer, but not as short as The canik let's start with the tombstone on All right, I actually shot this a little better But the question is which one would you choose if you had to choose just one and this Range comparison was actually a request and I thought it was a good idea because both of these guns are very similar The canik offers a lot more. It is optic ready It is very nice looking both. These are made in Turkey. So we can't talk too much about that and The Stoker is is no chump in its own right This is a nice gun and I think Stoker did a great job with it But if I had to choose just one I'm going with the canik even though I shot the Stoker better this time Other times it would be the canik, you know, you can't you can't base it on just one range session But what this offers it's about a hundred bucks more, but for what it offers. That's a price I'm willing to pay because I Like the idea that it has a holster interchangeable back straps It's optic ready. It looks really nice and canik just they make great firearms I love the Stoker and I think highly of this gun But in this range comparison, I'm going with the TP 9 elite subcompact My question is which one would you choose if you like videos like this? Please subscribe and share I always appreciate thumbs up button. Thanks for watching and you guys be safe