Minutes 02-23-01 MINUTES OF THE ADVISORY BOARD ON CHILDREN AND YOUTH
MEETING HELD IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON
BEACH, FLORIDA, ON THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 23, 2001 AT 7:00 P.M.
PRESENT
Shanna St. John, Chairperson
Evelyn Geathers
Hattie Miller
Mary Morera
Welton Sanders
Lori Wilkinson (arrived at 7:15 p.m.)
Sherri Claude, Assistant to the
Director
ABSENT
Stephen Waldman, Vice Chair
Spencer Calder
Dorothy Davis
Amy DeVries
Amanda Hollis
I. Call To Order
Chairperson St. John called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m.
I1. Moment Of Silent Prayer - Pledge Of Allegiance
After a moment of silent prayer, Mr. Welton Sanders led members in the Pledge
of Allegiance to the Flag.
III. Approval of Agenda
Motion
Ms. Morera moved to approve the agenda, which was seconded by Mr. Sanders
and unanimously carried.
IV. Approval of Minutes of November 30, 2000 and January 24, 2001
Chairperson St. John inquired if members had received all the minutes and if so,
called for a motion to approve both minutes.
Meeting Minutes
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, FL
February 22, 2001
Motion
Ms. Morera moved to approve the November 30, 2000 and January 24, 2001
minutes. Motion seconded by Ms. Geathers and unanimously carried.
V. Announcements/Presentations/Correspondence
Ms. Morera announced that Black Awareness Day starts on Saturday, February
24th'
Ms. Claude announced that G.A.L.A. will be held March 16th through the 18th.
Ms. Morera stated that she has a new email address. Chairperson St. John
circulated a sheet of paper for members to update their addresses, e-mail and
i telephone numbers. Ms. Claude requested that the City Clerk's Office update
the Board member list with the new information.
Also, Chairperson St. John requested that members coming up for
i reappointment submit their applications as soon as possible.
VI. OLD BUSINESS
A. Calendar of Events
A calendar of the Board's yearly events was prepared by Ms. Sherri Claude and
furnished to all members. The events for the year were discussed briefly and will
be discussed at further length on the agenda.
Chairperson St. John noted that the Board voted to participate in G.A.L.A. and
i will be included with the City booths, which will be located on the second floor of
the Children's Museum. The Board will be assigned a table and Chairperson St.
John would like to set a workshop to discuss what the Board will have available
at their table. It was agreed to hold a workshop on Saturday, March l0th at 9:00
a.m. in the Library Program Room (Ms. Claude confirmed the availability of
the Library for the workshop).
!The proclamation for Stand for Children Day, which is June 1St, will be prepared
i in April, well in advance of the reading.
Fundraising and planning for the 2002 Youth Expo will begin in August 2001.
Chairperson St. John announced that the Board was awarded $1,500 towards
the Board's volunteer project by Commissioner Fisher.
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Meeting Minutes ~
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, FL
February 22, 2001
The November meeting needs to be re-scheduled since it falls on Thanksgiving
Day. Lastly, the yearly review will take place in December.
B. Youth Volunteer Bank
Chairperson St. John informed members that she prepared a letter to be sent to
previous sponsors requesting donations and a letter to potential new sponsors.
Ms. Claude will prepare the letters on the Advisory Board letterhead and each
member will be assigned a certain amount of businesses and people to contact
for donations. Ms. Claude noted that there are still funds in the Board's budget
available for the Youth Expo and she will determine how much this comes to.
!With regard to the list of volunteers, Ms. Claude distributed copies to the
i members. She said that a letter was sent to approximately 200 volunteers
'asking them to update their personal information and requested they return the
form to her. Any name that has been typed in bold means they returned
information back. Any name in italics means they were new forms. The list is
sorted by hours performed last year and anyone that does not have hours next to
their name or is not in bold or italics needs to be contacted to determine if they
want to participate. The names that are highlighted means their letters were
returned by the Post Office as undeliverable. Ms. Wilkinson suggested that
those persons be deleted from the list.
Also, Chairperson St. John stated that seniors need to be eliminated from the list
and Ms. Claude stated when she updates the list she would include the grade of
the student. The list was divided among the members and each member would
be responsible for contacting those students on their sheets. Chairperson St.
John took pages 1 and 2; Ms. Morera took pages 3 and 4; Mr. Welton Sanders
took page 5; Ms. Geathers took page 6; and Ms. Wilkinson took page 7.
Chairperson St. John requested that all students be contacted by the next
meeting and informed that the program is still active. They should be informed
that the banquet will be held in May and asked if they still want to participate. If
they do, they must get their hours in. Also when calling, be sure to get their
correct address, telephone number, date of birth, school and grade.
Ms. Wilkinson suggested that a code be utilized when calling to identify what
transpired when the call was made such as:
* "lm"-left message;
v' "na"- no answer;
v' a checkmark (d') would indicate everything is o.k.;
v' an "X" would indicate they do not wish to participate;
v' a line drawn through the name means they are out or have graduated.
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Meeting Minutes
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, FL
February 22, 2001
Chairperson St. John said that once the list has been updated, they can order the
certificates and frames. There are enough pins for this year's banquet, but they
will have to be ordered for next year.
Members discussed the date for the Youth Banquet and it was decided to hold
the banquet on Friday night, May 25th. Ms. Claude said she would check to
determine if the Civic Center would be available to hold the banquet on Saturday
night, May 26th . (Ms. Claude confirmed that the Civic Center would be
available for the Youth Banquet on Saturday, May 26th and she has
reserved the Civic Center for that date.)
C. Bob Borovy Award
Since Vice Chair Waldman was not present, this item was not addressed.
Chairperson St. John said she would contact Vice Chair Waldman to determine
how much progress he has made on getting the applications out.
D. Teen Center
Chairperson St. John noted that a very good meeting had been held last night.
The next meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, March 28th at 6:30 p.m. at the
Library (Ms. Claude confirmed that the Library is available for the meeting
date.) Chairperson St. John stated that a Teen Center has been included in the
City's 55 initiatives. Also, one member from the Teen Center Committee, Dean
Hedges, would be serving on the City's team that is addressing this initiative.
Chairperson St. John said that the meetings have been very successful and it is
good to see support from the community. Chairperson St. John said that she
would like notice of these meetings sent to members of the Education Advisory
Board and the Recreation and Parks Board in order for any of their members to
attend. Ms. Claude said she would forward this information onto Ms. Farace, the
City's liaison to that Education Advisory Board.
E. Volunteer Project
Commissioner Fisher contributed $1,500 towards this project, which will take
place in the parking lot area of Rolling Green School and the grassy area outside
the fence. Chairperson St. John said she and Vice Chair Waldman tried to speak
to the Principal, but have been unsuccessful. Ms. Wilkinson said she would
check into this to determine if there was another contact at the school.
Chairperson St. John inquired whom the School Board member was that
represented Rolling Green and was informed it was Jody Gleason. Chairperson
St. John said she would contact Ms. Gleason.
October has been chosen as the month for the project. Chairperson St. John
said she spoke to the Boy Scout Troop that assisted the Board with the project
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Meeting Minutes
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, FL
February 22, 2001
last year and they have a Boy Scout who needs his Eagle Badge. This works out
very well because that Scout does a great deal of planning and brings his own
volunteers. She will arrange a meeting with John Wildner and the Boy Scouts
and proceed from there. Chairperson St. John asked if Mr. Sanders could assist
with this and he stated he was available to meet with Mr. Wildner and the Boy
Scouts on any Monday.
Also, Chairperson St. John said she would contact Nickelodeon. Ms. Geathers
noted that Ms. Gleason can be contacted at 586-7854. Chairperson St. John
said she will again try to get another garden grant and will start soliciting for
supplies. The project normally takes two weekends with a ribbon cutting
ceremony approximately one month later.
F. Guest Speakers
Chairperson St. John asked if any member wished to invite a particular speaker.
Ms. Wilkinson suggested it might be a good idea to have someone give a
summary of what took place during G.A.L.A. at the next meeting. Chairperson
St. John suggested that if no one could be present that perhaps a written report
on G.A.L.A. could be furnished. Chairperson St. John said she could request
that someone from United Way address the Board about volunteering and this
might offer some assistance to the Board on the youth volunteer bank and how to
motivate volunteers.
Ms. Claude suggested that if the Board would like information on G.A.L.A. that it
be planned for the April meeting because by that time the following evaluation
meeting will have taken place and more information would be available in April
than in March.
Ms. Claude informed members during G.A.L.A. there would be a soloist
entertainer at the art area. The theme of the G.A.L.A. is the history and progress
of the City and there will be participants dressed in period costumes.
Ms. Wilkinson reminded Ms. Claude of the problems with voting last year at the
Civic Center, which had amusements parked in the parking lot and the voters
had no place to park. Ms. Claude responded that there would be no
amusements in the parking lot on voting day this year. Ms. Wilkinson informed
members that she participates in the County's Visions of Sugarplums program
and she could arrange to have a speaker at the October meeting to explain more
about the program.
G. Youth Expo
Chairperson St. John said she spoke with a person at the Palm Beach Post who
asked for their banner, which is still at City Hall in the Mall. Ms. Claude will follow
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Meeting Minutes
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, FL
February 22, 2001
through on retrieving the banner. The paper informed her that they were very
happy with the event and thanked everyone for a great job done. Chairperson St.
John said that she would also contact Washington Mutual to determine if they
wished to participate in the next Youth Expo.
Ms. Wilkinson inquired if thank you notes were sent to the sponsors and Ms.
Claude said that the sponsors were sent certificates. Chairperson St. John
requested that the digital pictures taken at the Youth Expo be sent to
Commissioner Fisher so that he could post them on the Board's web site. Also,
she requested that the Board's calendar be posted on the web site as well.
H. Youth Council - Mondays 6:30 p.m. - Madsen Center
Ms. Morera reported on the following:
· The Youth Council will be participating in the Black Awareness Parade.
· A Candidates' Forum is scheduled for March 5th at 7:00 p.m. Amy DeVries
was furnished with the names of the candidates and prepared a flyer. Vice
Chair Waldman will schedule the Forum at Congress Middle School. Vice
Chair Waldman will also be contacting the Clerk's Office to have it placed on
the City calendar, the Sun Sentinenal and Palm Beach Post.
· The teens visited Bethesda Health Care Center, which is a nursing home
located on Hagen Ranch Road, and gave a little valentine's party for the
residents. They plan on going back at Easter time.
· Their next meeting is this coming Monday. Their regular meetings are the
second and fourth Mondays of each month.
Ms. Morera reported that membership has dropped and it is necessary that the
Youth Council hold a membership drive or party to encourage new membership.
Chairperson St. John inquired if the children could use the shuffleboard courts at
the Madsen Center. Ms. Claude was not sure on this. Mr. Sanders stated he
would be glad to bring a VCR if they wanted to show movies. There used to be
monthly dances at the Civic Center and this subject has come up again.
Chairperson St. John asked Ms. Claude to speak with Mr. Majors about
reinstating monthly teen dances.
The City is conducting a contest to name Pond B, which is located at the very
end of Boynton Beach Boulevard behind the shopping center. She said that she
has put together a petition to have the Pond named after Bob Borovy and if any
Board member wished to sign the petition, it was available. Chairperson St. John
stated the entries were due by March 6th. Ms. Wilkinson felt that the Veteran's
Memorial should be named after Bob Borovy. Chairperson St. John felt that
more people would access Pond B than the Veteran's Memorial and would like to
see him honored by all ages of the community and not just veterans.
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Meeting Minutes
Advisory Board on Children and Youth
Boynton Beach, FL
February 22, 200'1
VII. NEW BUSINESS
None
VIII. PUBLIC AUDIENCE
None
IX. ADJOURNMENT
There being no further business the meeting properly adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Barbara M. Madden
Recording Secretary
(one tape)
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