July 2012 Board


Council of Civic Association
Board Meeting Minutes
July 23, 2012
City Hall, 8th Floor

1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Marilyn Mammano at 5:30 pm.

2. Attendance: All present except District III Rep Magdalene Lewis. Betty Shelley attended as Second Vice President leaving the First Vice President position vacant. Ray Dettman of Poinciana Park and Don Crinklaw of the Sun Sentinel were in attendance.

3. Minutes: The minutes for the April Board meeting were again not available and this item was deferred to August. The minutes for the May Board meeting were not available and the Board, upon motion and second, voted unanimously to circulate said minutes by electronic mail for review and approval electronically.

4. Treasurer’s Report: Ms. Klein circulated the Treasurer’s Report showing an ending balance as of July 1, 2012 of $8013.58. A Report as of July 31, 2012 will be presented at the August General Membership Meeting for approval.

5. Ms. Mammano gave her President’s Report as follows: Diana Alarcon has agreed to meet with the Council on the City Wide Parking Proposal before its presentation to the Commission; the Council has renewed its NUSA free membership; the Council will have a seat on the Reapportionment Committee and Ms. Mammano has been designated as the Council’s representative for that seat. It is anticipated that the Commission will take the necessary actions on August 17 to activate the Committee and appoint the members.

6. VP Vacancy: Ms. Mammano noted that Betty Shelley did not accept the position of First Vice President leaving that position to be filled by general election. Ron Centamore was nominated for the position. In the notice for the election, Ms. Mergenhagen will state that a nomination has been made and additional nominations will be taken from the floor before the vote to be held at the August 14 General Meeting.

7. Consensus Committee: Ms. Mergenhagen stated that the committee would be meeting in August and would have a draft report to present to the Board in August. She alerted the Board to be prepared to review it and decide what to do with it. Because communications between the City and the neighborhoods was an important issue, Ms. Mergenhagen suggested that the Council submit a regular monthly report to the Commission. There was discussion. There seemed to be a consensus that communications will be made when there was something important to raise to the Commission and that the Council would follow up on that. It was also noted that Council Corner is circulated to the Commissioners and important issues can be brought to their attention that way as well. Ms. Mergenhagen also suggested that the Council regularly attend conference and Commission meetings through a rotation of Board members. That suggestion was well received.

8. City Attorney Search: Ms. Golub reported that the committee has met and is currently reviewing the job description prepared by the consultant. The committee also suggested modifications in the timetable to accommodate the committee’s input to the process. In response to questions, M s Golub stated that the position should be filled by the end of the year, that she would accept suggestions for qualifications, and that she did not believe the interviews would be public like those of the City Manager. Mr. Sterner noted that once the preliminary matters were completed the process would move quickly, much like the search for the new City Manager.

9. Visioning Process: Susan ______ was not in attendance. Ms. Mammano and others noted that the telephonic town hall calls did not generate discussion appropriate for visioning. Better response was generated by a speaker at an association meeting. Also, tools promised to promote visioning have not been completed.

10. Website Update: Ms Golub and Ms. Mergenhagen reported that they were meeting with the web designer/host on July 24 for final modifications and training . They thought that the site would be ready to launch by October 1. They reminded the Board that we only had $500 to spend and that Gatman gone far beyond what we paid to assist us in designing a better site.

11. Future General Meetings: It was agreed that the topic for the August 14would be a presentation of about the Broward Performing Arts Center Expansion. It was decided to have a State Rep candidate forum for all districts that included a portion of Fort Lauderdale for the October General Meeting with an extended meet and greet. We will try to get the cafeteria for that meeting.

12. Community Participation: Ms. Mammano stated that a number of different neighborhoods had contacted her about problems getting input to the City staff or Commission on important issues. Mr. Dettman spoke about his concerns over getting insufficient notice about a proposal to rezone certain land in his community. The Board agreed that it was an important issue that we should investigate. It was decided that we should educate ourselves about ordinances, policies and practices related to notification of ands communication with neighborhood associations. It was suggested that we ask Greg Brewton to send knowledgeable staff to meet with the Board.

13. Citizen’s Recognition Committee: Ms Mammano stated that she wanted to designate Genia Ellis to serve on that Committee as the Council President’s designee. It was suggested that such a designation was not permitted. Ms. Mammano stated she would look into it.

14. Retention Policy: Ms. Klein stated she had some boxes of treasurer’s documents to put in the Council’s storage room at City Hall. Ms. Golub stated that the Council needed a retention policy to start to cull through the boxes of archived material. That matter will be addressed at a future meeting.

15. Brick for Mancuso: Linda Nugent will write the inscription for the River Walk brick previously approved by the Board to be purchased by the Council.

16. Map: Upon motion and second, the Board unanimously voted to have the current map on the City website printed as the Council’s centennial gift to the City. We are still waiting for final pricing from Hal Barnes.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:10 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Rochelle Golub
Recording Secretary