OFFICER REPORTS

Secretary’s Report

Secretary Jennifer Moate reported that she is in need of help with the calendar and asked that committee chairs report when committee meetings happen so that the calendar can remain current.

Treasurer’s report

Treasurer Abia Ali distributed a balance sheet that included a financial statement. One thing Ali noted was that she learned during last month’s audit that WBCC must look at sick and vacation balances at least once a quarter, to ensure sure they’re being looked at and are correct. In the process of learning how the payroll company tracks that, Ali said that she had a good discussion with the payroll specialist and said that the payroll company has a copy of the policy and are now crediting things properly. In addition, the company will add lines to the report to make it easier to read. All of the details of this are included in information on the audit. In December, the fourth quarter report will reflect all of this.

President’s Report

President Jim Ruiz distributed the Executive Committee draft minutes and said that he would let them speak for themselves. Following that, he said that there were a couple issues to address. The first is to let the record show that there were two excused absences at this meeting, and that there will be a board vacancy. A board member missed the last meeting, which was his fifth absence in the last 12 month in period, so there will be an open seat in December, and the board will elect a new member at that time. Ruiz then introduced Jacob McKnight, WBCC’s new representative to the Central Corridor Community Advisory Committee (CAC), a committee concerning the Central Corridor light rail planning. McKnight announced that the CAC meetings occur on the third Thursday of each month from 5-7 p.m. Finally, Ruiz said that the “big thing this month” was the state audit. He said that he was pleased to report that he was fairly confident that WBCC “survived the audit,” thanks to what he identified as a great deal of help from others on the board who assisted in to putting together paperwork for the audit.

NEW BUSINESS

B. Organizational Capacity Building

In a presentation made by Tim Mungavan and Deb Wolking, Mungavan stated that he has seen WBCC go through changes over years and that, as a result, his basic philosophic belief is that a strong community group is necessary to work in partnership with the Neighborhood Rehabilitation Project (NRP), so he has an interest in WBCC being strong. To that end, he presented a proposal that WBCC approved for organizational administrative issues. Wolking, a former executive of the Seward Neighborhood Group (SNG), then worked with administration each week for five hours. Mungavan indicated that one thing that occurred during discussion was that Wolking identified concern over the relationship between WBCC and NRP and said that it was troubling.
Mungavan said that he believes that the board of directors should recognize this and respond positively. He said that a good plan and good administrative structure is necessary for this, with a specific focus on the administrative structure. He said that he believes that it is important to the future of coalition, as WBCC’s present relationship with NRP may interfere with WBCC’s ability to grow. Mungavan offered three alternative options to the board, saying that the prime contractor needs authority, which is then passed on to sub-contractors so that things can be accomplished. One option suggested that authority moves between NRP and sub-contractors through WBCC. Another suggested it move through the NRP Steering Committee (NRP SC), though he observed a challenge in that approach as the NRP SC is not a legal entity. The third option suggested that things move through NRP, with WBCC and NRP SC both offering input. After discussing the three options, Mungavan suggested that WBCC have conversations with the NRP SC and NRP to discuss this. Ultimately, he said that the way the system currently stands does not provide enough authority to the board, and that this needs to be resolved in a timely manner.
Ruiz echoed Mungavan’s assertion of a need for change, closing the presentation with a personal statement. “I feel very uncomfortable operating under present system,” said Ruiz. “I’ve become convinced that this is a very necessary step, and it is important that we start talking about this.” The motion to support this proposal was unanimously approved.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Ruiz asked for written reports from the committees this month because of the importance of allowing enough time to discuss the Cedar-Riverside NRP Full Action Plan. The one item he did address was the formation of a task force to locate donated supplies for the WBCC annual meeting in November.

COUNCIL MEMBER’S REPORT

Cam Gordon was not present at this time. He arrived later, but did not give a report as the meeting ran late in deliberation over the Cedar-Riverside NRP Full Action Plan (see below).

NEW BUSINESS (continued)

A. Appointment to University District Partnership Alliance steering committee

Doris Wickstrom was nominated for appointment to the University District Partnership Alliance steering committee. Her nomination was approved.

C. Cedar-Riverside NRP Full Action Plan

Introducing this business item, Ruiz said, “now we get to the three million dollar part of the meeting.”
John Bueche of the NRP SC called for a joint meeting between WBCC and the NRP SC, saying that there would be no need for the NRP SC to leave the room for the WBCC vote unless an amendment is called by NRP SC. In the beginning of the meeting, the WBCC board approved the recommendation to one public meeting, which was already approved by the NRP SC.
Following that, the course of the meeting took a turn and there was a great deal of debate over the recommendations of the NRP SC. Wickstrom was especially vocal in criticizing the NRP SC recommendations. Wickstrom immediately singled out the $20,000 cut from the community space study that was moved to the formation of a youth council. “I feel we’re being discriminated against,” said Wickstrom in raising issue over this.
In response, Andie Martinez of the NRP SC said that 56% of people surveyed thought that the $80,000 was too high for community space study, and most everyone surveyed felt that other areas were under-funded. The decisions to cut from some areas and add to others were made based on comments from community members. Martinez cited safety as one of biggest concerns, yet it also gets less money than other things. She highlighted that there are so many strategies, and that they want to be able to give money to them all and are making these recommendations based on community feedback.
Following this, Wickman suggested allocating money to be available to hire staff to work with the community on the Full Action Plan. Saying that she felt that there was a lot wrong with the plan, she didn’t feel it was ready to be voted on. One of her biggest concerns was to reevaluate the item of housing to have it include rehabilitation. After a great deal of debate, it was determined that while the plan did explicitly include this already, it could benefit from including language that is slightly more specific. Two bullet points were removed, and a program guidelines to ensure changes in standards for housing rehabilitation were set to be developed at a later date.
“[The NRP SC] want[s] to keep it vague to allow for possibilities, while the board wants assurance that we’ll get what we need. These two wants are in tension with one another, which makes this a challenge,” said board member Laura Silver.
Several other issues were debated at great length, including concern Silver raised over money that had been spent for the First Step Plan that was spent for the wrong budget items. According to Silver, the Full Action Plan did not have anything in it that corrects for that. Calling for explicit language that brings rest of plan to budget, Silver proposed that language be added so that allocating new money to the overages is prioritized so that it does not get overlooked. The previously addressed issue of the money taken from the community space study and allocated for a Youth Council was resolved when it was decided that the money be shared between the Youth Council and a Senior Council, which had no funding.
After the discussion, a motion was made to approve the Full Action Plan with the recommended changes listed and the additional the three amendments: two language changes, one combining items 11.1.2 (Youth Council) and 11.1.3 (Senior Council). The motion was passed in joint-committee, with one abstention. The NRP SC then voted to approve the joint-committee vote, which the WBCC board then also approved, with one abstention.

NEXT MEETING: Wed., Nov. 28 (annual meeting)
MEETINGS: Third Wednesday of the month Brian Coyle Community Center, 420 15th Ave. S.
CONTACT: 612-338-5282, ext. 224 or www.westbankcc.org
EMAIL: cedarriversidenrp@hotmail.com or nrp@westbankcc.org
BORDERS: The neighborhood is bounded by I-35W on the northwest, I-94 on the south and the Mississippi River on the northeast.

last revised: October 21, 2007

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