Monthly Archives: April 2010

April 13, 2010
General Meeting
Minutes

Call to Order by President Sterner at approximately 7:30 PM followed by the pledge of allegiance.

Roll call was made and indicated a quorum of members were present.

Treasurer report was not provided at this time.

Assistant Chief Russ Hanstein, Investigation Division, spoke briefly on the new Police Districting and also provided that crime was down 11% below 2009 and 6% below 2008

Hal Barnes, Engineering Design Manager, updated the membership on the Ordinance for Undergrounding of Utilities currently being processed through the city commission. Mr. Barnes identified the parameters currently under consideration and talked about how the process would work. He again assured each of the neighborhoods that the program was designed for a neighborhood that wanted to undertake this process and meet the criteria set forth by the city but it was in no way planned to be imposed on any neighborhood that did not choose to participate.

As a part of old business, a resolution previously offered to the membership for consideration was withdrawn by the requestor. The motion address establishment of a standard for respondents to define consensus however it was confirmed that the standard of 66% was only being applied to the proposed Undergrounding Ordinance and did not carryover to the current NCIP/BCIP or other neighborhood projects that routinely come before the commission.

A report from Richard Mancuso indicated that there was still no identified progress on the Ad Hoc Code Reform contract that had been undertaken by Winter & Company. In light of the poor response from the city, it was determined that the Council would send a representative to Commission to speak during public presentation at the 1st meeting in May to express concern over the lack of progress and to encourage the Commission to move the items forward.

Membership will be addressed by each of the District Representatives by encouraging previous members to return and to seek out other associations to ask them to join. It was suggested that we invite associations that are not members to come for a meeting to learn about the Council and its benefits.

One the agenda was an item that asked “Should the Council form a task force to develop suggestions on how to improve the City’s website?” After discussion by the members present it was determined that while we believe that improvement is needed, it was not within our preview to do this and there was no consensus to move forward.

President Sterner reminded the membership of the upcoming Budget Workshop scheduled for Tuesday. May 11th in the Commissioner Chamber on the 1st floor. All associations are encouraged to participate and offer suggestions as to ways to cut cost and retain services.

Recording Secretary, David Marshall, tendered his resignation due to increase requirements for his job. He was thanked for his service and encouraged to continue to be a contributing member of the Council. It was announced that a special election would be held and members present were asked to consider accepting this position and were asked to contact any Board member to be placed on a ballot.

Ann Wier Shumpert spoke about Planned Unit Development (PUDs) asking the Council to oppose this type of land use change. It was suggested and agreed that the topic would be placed on an agenda for the Board meeting for further discussion and consideration.

The Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations will not meet for a general meeting during the month of May but will resume meeting on June 8th.

Condolences were offered to Drew Pickens on the recent loss of his father.

Meeting adjourned at approximately 8:50 PM