August 2010 Board Meeting


Council of Civic Association
Board Meeting Minutes
August 23, 2010
City Hall, 8th Floor
5:30 PM

1. Call to order. The meeting was called to order by President Doug Sterner at 5:35 PM.

2. Board members present: Genia Ellis, Juanita Gray, Marilyn Mammano, Donna Mergenhagen, David Parker, Betty Shelly, Shirley Smith, Doug Sterner and Bruce Tanner. Richard Mancuso.

Also attending: Ron Centamore

Board members absent: Gabriel Ocasio-Davila, and Drew Pickens (resigned)

3. Approval of Minutes. A motion to approve the board meeting minutes from June 28, 2010, was made by Genia Ellis, seconded by Tom Welch, and approved with unanimous consent.

4. Treasurers Report. Tom Welch requested that the bank account be transferred from Bank Atlantic to BB&T. A motion was made by Genia Ellis, seconded by Betty Shelly, and passed with unanimous consent.

5. New Business.

General Meeting September 14, 2010 œ Agenda
There was a discussion to see if the proposed acceptable increased of allowable noise levels at the beach could be discussed at the September board meeting, since there is a lot of controversy about the proposed ordinance. It was agreed that it will be discussed. Staff is to be invited to make a presentation.

For the October 12 meeting it was discussed to have the meet and greet at 5:00 with meeting starting at 5:30 so that people can attend the commission workshop about a replacement for the city manager.

It was also discussed for October to discuss amendment #4 as well as the repeal of class size. Doug Sterner has contacts to attend for both sides of the issue for amendment #4. Betty Shelly agreed to locate people to talk on the class size amendment.

There was also discussion about the upcoming budget. A workshop is scheduled for September 15. It was suggested that people be encouraged to attend the meetings to be informed and involved.

6. OLD BUSINESS.

Ad hoc Committee. The committee met with the city and independently with staff and addressed Planning & Zoning to report on comments on the Winter & Company study. When met with staff they asked to review the original document as well as multiple minutes. Another workshop is planned and the committee will attend. The meeting with staff went well, reminded all that not all plans work the same for every neighborhood.

Richard Mancuso and Genia Ellis attended the P&Z staff meeting. Staff wanted the committee to go through everything line by line and provide input and opinions. Members are still being asked for comments. There was discussion about once the study is completed how will the plan written properly to be code compliant.

It was suggested that a brief presentation be prepared for the September meeting. The question was raised if the council will support the plan. The membership will be asked if they want to support or not support the Proposed Neighborhood Development Criteria.

New Business.

Request from NCIP Grant request from Tarpon River Association. Doug spoke about endorsing neighborhood NCIP grants who asks for support for any neighborhood projects, regardless of what the council thinks about the merits of the program.

Genia pointed out that the council has provided letters of support when requested for a number of years historically. They have already gone to the county for support of this request as well. The request is only for a letter of support, not necessarily an endorsement but support for them to move forward and apply. It is not required, although it has been provided as a courtesy. It was suggested that the courtesy continue.

The support is only for the application, not necessarily what the specifics of the project. The question was raised that if a letter of support is asked for by a non-member of the council. The question was also raised is that if support should be from the board or the council membership. It was determined that it would be from the board.

Doug reported that TRCA (Tarpon River Civic Association) requested the Councils support for the NCIP grant application regarding improvements to the Marshall Avenue Bridge. Doug pointed out that TRCA was not currently a member of the Council. The discussion evolved in to the appropriate Council response to such requests. After much discussion the following motion was made by Marilyn Mammano and seconded by Shirley Smith, “Any member organization can request support for their grant applications and have the requested considered by the Board. The motion was carried with two negative votes and no abstentions.

For the Good of the community.
Genia passed out information regarding a CVC project at the Stranahan Park on September 11.

There being no new business the meeting was adjourned at 7:00 P.M.

Bruce Tanner, Recording Secretary