Monthly Archives: October 2011

October 2011 Board

 in Minutes - Board Meeting by (updated 4460 days ago)

Council of Civic Association
Board Meeting Minutes
October 23, 2011
City Hall, 8th Floor

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

2. Attendance: Present were President Sterner, Past President Genia Ellis, 1st Vice President Marilyn Mammano, 2nd Vice President Betty Shelley, Corresponding Secty Donna Mergenhagen, Recording Secty Rochelle Golub, Treasurer Madeline Klein, District 1 Rep Linda Nugent, District 2 Rep Shirley Smith, Chairman of Committees Ron Centamore.

3. Minutes: No minutes were circulated by Ms. Golub for the September 26, 2011 Board meeting.

4. Treasurer’s Report: Ms. Klein circulated a written Report of the Treasurer showing an ending balance of $7,827.29 including the accrued interest from the Ascencia CD. The Report was unanimously approved.

5. The Agenda for the November 8, 2011 General Meeting was presented and discussed. Inasmuch as no legislators have confirmed their attendance for the proposed panel about the upcoming state legislative session, it was unanimously decided to postpone the panel until 2012. It was decided that it was a very busy agenda highlighted by the report of the Ad Hoc Code Reform Committee and discussion of the CFLCA response to staff. There was some discussion among the Board Members about staff’s presentation to the P&Z Board and the Board Members’ responses. There was discussion about the meaning of “incentives” and it was decided that the use of that term was misleading and should be replaced by the term “options”. The CLFCA Committee is meeting on October 27 with the Building Dept and is having a meeting to draft its report that same evening. Marilyn Mammano stated that she did not need to make a report on the visioning committee in light of the presentation at the last general meeting. President Sterner reported that there were vacancies for District 3 and 4 representatives and special elections would be required. Dr. Magdalene Lewis has agreed to run for District 3 Representative and Brucie Cummings has a agreed to run for District 4 Representative. Additional nominations will be taken from the floor. President Sterner requested that Corresponding Secty Mergenhagen send out the required notices for the special election.

6. President Sterner raised the timing of the preparing the new city neighborhoods map with commission districts. It was decided to wait until January to see if the Commission would adopt new districts before the January election or knew when the redistricting would occur.

7. The Board decided that in light of the scheduling of the elections for City Commissioners at the end of January, CFLCA would again hold its Candidates Forum in mid-January. While all commissioners are running unopposed at the present time, the filing deadline has not yet passed. It was the majority consensus of that even if all of the commissioners ran unopposed, a Forum is a good idea and has been historically poplar. A committee was formed consisting of Ms. Ellis, Ms. Mammono and Ms. Shelley to plan the Forum. Volunteer to be on the committee will be solicited at the General Meeting.

8. President Sterner asked Ms. Ellis who owned the CFLCA’s URL. She said the Council did. He asked the Treasurer about payments to GAT Media for the website. Ms. Klein stated that the fees for the URL of $38 and a fee to GAT Media of $398 were paid in December for 2011.

9. President Sterner stated that he had arranged for the CFLCA to use a storage closet in the City Manager’s office on the 7th Floor for archival documents and party supplies instead of the closet on the 8th Floor. After some discussion about convenience and privacy, it was unanimously decided that we would use the closet on the 7th floor as the archive and the closet on the 8th floor for party supplies.

10. Ms. Mergenhagen reported that the Tarpon Bend neighborhood has asked for the help and support of the CFLCA regarding the alleged use of part of Hardy Park for a fire station. It was determined that until more specific facts are gathered about the City’s actual intent for land dedicated to Hardy Park, it would be difficult to form a responsible position. However, the general issue of the City’s use of park land for purposes other than as a park is of historical importance to the neighborhoods. As part of the CFLCA’s goal-setting, a draft section on parks had been prepared based on the desires of the neighborhoods. A core concept was no net loss of park land in the event of a taking of park land by the City. It was decided to submit the draft to the membership at the next General Meeting and finalize the Council’s position.

11. Mr. Centamore announced an event hosted by the DFLCA and the DDA On October 25 to highlight the new lights on Riverwalk and the historical buildings open to the public.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:15pm

Respectfully submitted,
Rochelle Golub
Recording Secretary

October 2011 General

 in Minutes - General Meeting by (updated 4460 days ago)

Council of Fort Lauderdale Civic Associations
General Meeting
October 11, 2011
City Hall- 8th Floor Conference Room

1. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Doug Sterner at 7:35 pm followed by the Pledge of Allegiance.

2. Attendance: Corresponding Secty Donna Mergenhagen took the roll and declared a quorum.

3. Minutes: The minutes of the September 13, 2011 were unanimously approved upon a motion by Genia Ellis and a second by Betty Shelley.

4. Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Madeline Klein distributed the Report showing an ending balance as of September 30, 2011 of $7,880.36. She announced that the Board had voted to deposit the accrued interest from the Ascencia CD in the checking account and roll over the CD. The Report was unanimously approved upon a motion by Genia Ellis and a second by Ron Centamore .

5. FLPD Police Report: Officer Luis Alvarez provided this month’s report. He stated that Chief Adderley had adopted “intelligence led policing” and had formed an ILP Group. ILP was implemented in Hillsborough County and after an initial rise in crime, incidents went way down. FLPD sent officer to review ILP in Hillsborough County. The theory behind ILP is that 60% of the crime is committed by 6% of criminal offenders labeled “prolific offenders”. The FLPD want the prolific offenders to know that FLPD knows them. Instead of investigating crime from an area basis, crime solving is approached based on information gathering and knowledge of the whereabouts of the prolific offenders Crime analysts work together in one room gathering information from street officers, neighborhoods, and informants. There is cooperation among area police departments fostered by the Tri-County Crime meetings about patterns of crime. He also announced that given the success of the use of portable finger printing tools, the FLPD had ordered some additional units.

6. Announcements and Introductions:
• President Sterner introduced Julie Richards from the City Manager’s Office who will be attending the general meetings.
• Chaz Adams from the Public Information Office was in attendance and President Sterner thanked him for his presentation at the last meeting.
• Hal Barnes of Neighborhood Services stated that they were working on the review of the NCIP applications.

7. Tim Smith, former chair of Visioning Committee gave some background and introduced the current chair Randall Vitale. Mr. Vitale stated that the Committee had requested the Consultant to make sure that the whole city was considered in Phase 1 as the projects moved to Phase 2. He stated that the Committee was working hard and will hold open houses throughout the City to give information and receive input. The Consultant will review the input and post information on the Committee’s website: fortlauderdalevision.org. He stated that the Committee hoped to solicit as much input as possible through various means. Individual and neighborhood comments were welcomed and could be submitted online.

8. Ad Hoc Code Reform Committee, represented ar rhe meeting by Charles Jordan, President Sterner and others, gave a history of the evolution of this most recent attempt at code reform instigated by CFLCA. Prior to 2007, in response to the real estate boom, citizens came to the CFLCA to express concerns about the trends in residential development. Richard Mancuso chaired a committee of diverse professionals that prepared a report that was presented to the City Commission. The City Commission voted to take on the issue of residential code reform in 2007. A consultant, Winter and Co., was hired. City staff presented the Winter & Co. Phase 1 report at the CFLCA September General Meeting. Since that time, the Council’s Ad Hoc Code Reform Committee met and Gus Carbonnell compiled comments in a document distributed at the meeting. It was decided that the Committee would continue to meet and bring a recommended response to the membership at the November General Meeting.

9. Committee Reports:

• District Representatives reported that Target has adopted a school in Lauderdale Manors and is redoing the school library. This is a school that the EAB has also been working with; the plans for the Swimming Hall of Fame renovations are on line; Juanita Gray from Rock Island stated that SMART was very successful in her neighborhood.

• Centennial: Ms. Mergenhagen reviewed the highlights of the Centennial celebrations through the end of the year and encouraged members to check the calendar on the City’s website.

10. Tom Andrews of Riverside Park Residents’ Association made a presentation about a product that they developed called “PooPylon” designed to act as a cost effective pet waste bag supply station. The City’s Engineering Department is prepared to recommend the product to the Commission for no-fee engineering permits provided it is approved by the CFLCA. After the presentation and discussion, the CFLCA voted unanimously as follows: The Council applauds the efforts of the Riverside Park Residents’ Association to come up with a solution to an on-going problem. The Council endorses PooPylon as an option for neighborhoods that choose to use it subject to City staff’s approval and conditions.

11. The Council thanked Harbordale for providing refreshments.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Rochelle Golub
Recording Secretary