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Minutes 05-14-03Present MZNUTES OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD HEETZNG HELD ZN COHHZSSZON CHAMBERS, CXTY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORZDA, ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 14, 2003 AT 7:00 P.M. Ron Washam, Chairman Anna Marie Noe, Vice Chair .layne Kupperman Eddie Mitchell .lose Rodriguez Brenda Williams Dan DeCarlo, Neighborhood Specialist Absent Anne Centi Blanche Girtman Howard Solomon Sara Dye, Alternate Clifford Royael, Alternate Call to Order/Pledge of Allegiance Chair Washam called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. Roll Call Vice Chair Anna Noe led the The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared that a quorum was present. Recognition of Visitors Chair Washam asked the new Board member, Ms..layne Kupperman, to tell the other members a little bit about herself. Ms. Kupperman stated that she had been on the Advisory Board on Children & Youth for a few years but then took a break. She works as a Literacy Resource teacher for the Palm Beach County School District, where she coordinates services for adult literacy for the County. She does all the marketing for adult education and was involved with all the community school programs in the County as well. Chair Washam welcomed Ms. Kupperman to the Board. Chair Washam reminded the Board members to send in new Talent Bank applications before their terms were due to expire and contact the Commissioners to express a desire to serve on the Board or be reappointed. Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida May 14, 2003 IV. Approval of April 9, 2003 Minutes Motion Ms. Williams moved to approve the minutes of April 9, 2003, seconded by Vice Chair Noe, and unanimously passed. V. Agenda Approval Vice Chair Noe added a discussion of the Barnes & Noble project as "C' under New Business. Motion Mr. Mitchell moved to accept the agenda as amended, seconded by Ms. Williams, and unanimously passed. VI. Correspondence and Announcements Ms. Williams announced that there would be a Citywide Revival at St. John's Missionary Baptist Church starting on May 27 and ending on May 30 at 7:00 p.m. It will be an interdenominational event and thirteen area churches will be involved. Ms. Williams invited everyone to attend. VII. Old Business 1. PATCH Activities Update Mr. DeCarlo reported that as directed by the Board, he had written to Bethesda Memorial Hospital to ask for their assistance with the PATCH program. The letter was sent and as a follow-up, Mr. DeCarlo, along with representatives from the PATCH Board, attended a meeting with senior officials of Bethesda to discuss ways in which Bethesda might participate in the PATCH program. The meeting was very positive in tone. PATCH has been asked to make a presentation to the Palm Health Care Foundation, who is considering establishing a Wellness Center instead of a clinic at what will be the new Wilson Center. The Foundation is administering a legacy of between $6M and $7M for the purposes of establishing this kind of facility and Boynton Beach is in competition with Lake Worth for this facility. The Wellness Community Center idea was at the forefront at this time because it did not seem that having a clinic at that location, behind Poinciana, would be the best place for a clinic because of the traffic and other people from around the County that would be coming to that facility. The PATCH Board was considering telling the Foundation that if they wanted to put a full-scale clinic in Lake Worth, this would be acceptable if they would help establish the Wellness Center 2 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida May 14, 2003 at the Wilson Center. Having a Wellness Center there would fit in very nicely with the Heart of Boynton plans. The projected cost for the Wilson Center will be $2.3M to $2.5M and they have $:~M from the County bond issue. The City is considering another bond issue for several million dollars. One of the projects they are talking about doing with this bond issue would be the Wilson Center. Hopefully, if they can get the Foundation to assist the City, the taxpayers will be relieved of the need to do that. They were pursuing that and trying to do it in such a way that the PATCH Board would be the organizing group within Boynton Beach to make that happen at the Wilson Center. The PATCH Board is very excited about that prospect. Mr. DeCarlo has an appointment scheduled with the Palm Health Care Foundation to talk about the City's proposal. He thought that having a Wellness Center at the new Wilson Center would blend in very well with the Heart of Boynton direction. Chair Washam reiterated his understanding that the proposed Wellness Center at the new Wilson Center would be an educational facility dealing with issues of prevention and health education and Mr. DeCarlo confirmed it. The Wellness Center could also be a place where people could obtain direction about filling out forms and determining eligibility for certain programs and services, and receiving guidance about which organization to access for particular issues. Chair Washam stated that transportation was a problem in the community and he hoped that the proposal to the Foundation would address having dependable, adequate transportation available for the citizens of Boynton Beach to go to and from the clinic if it were to be established in Lake Worth. This would assure that the City could still offer full services to its citizens. Ms. Williams agreed that accessibility was a major issue for health care. Mr. Rodriguez inquired about who would pay for the maintenance of the proposed Wellness Center at the new Wilson Center and Mr. DeCarlo indicated that the Foundation would be providing funds to construct and operate a facility. VIII. New Business (A) Youth in Government Day Update Chair Washam reported that Youth in Government Day had been held on two different days this year and that one day was devoted to the high schools and the other to the middle schools. Chair Washam congratulated Mr. DeCarlo and Ms. Thelma Lyons for putting the event together and taking care of all the logistics that were involved. ]~t was especially challenging because it all had to be done a second time this year. He remarked that this had been the 31st year that Youth in Government Day had been held. Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida May 14, 2003 Mr. DeCarlo stated that separating the two age groups had turned out to be a real plus, since the high school students tended to "take over" when they were with the middle school students. Both sets of students enjoyed the events and had fun. (B) Great American Cleanup Mr. DeCarlo reported that participation in this Countywide event had been the best ever in Boynton Beach with close to 100 participants, with young people accounting for nearly half of that number. He believes that this program is an excellent way to get people to think about keeping their neighborhoods clean. At the City Commission meeting on May 20, the participants in the program will be given certificates of appreciation. (C) Barnes & Noble Project Chair Washam stated that although he had not been present, he had read with interest of Ms. Renal Collins' presentation to the Board about a community outreach program that seeks to remedy hate, violence, and division between people. Vice Chair Noe urged the Board to express its commitment to this project and noted that the City of Boynton Beach would be the first municipal entity to publicly express support for this. Alter discussion, it was determined that Mr. DeCarlo would write a letter to Barnes & Noble expressing the support of the Community Relations Board and its commitment to assist with the project. The item will be put on the agenda for the .~une meeting and Mr. DeCarlo will invite Ms. Collins and Mr. Wayne Segal so that further discussion could take place. (D) Brian Edwards- PATCH Chair Washam greeted Mr. Brian Edwards and on behalf of the Board, thanked Mr. Edwards and Ms. Girtman for their dedicated participation in the PATCH project. Brian Edwards, 629 N.E. 9th Avenue, Boynton Beach, thanked the Board for their praise but commented that it would be shared with people like Sister Lorraine Ryan, Ms. Ellen Davis from Bethesda, Ms. Elizabeth Jenkins, IVlr. DeCarlo, Vice Chair Noe, Ms. Thelma Lyons, and many, many other talented individuals. Mr. Edwards distributed a Historical Activity Record of PATCH spanning the period from November 4, 2000 to the present day. Mr. Edwards stated that the Community Relations Board entertained a proposal from IVlr. Ray Adams from the Palm Beach County Health Department to bring in PATCH and develop it. The Community Relations Board then selected the Board of Directors for the PATCH organization. Mr. Edwards relayed the opinion of the PATCH organization that when it was time to move to the next level, there were some people on the PATCH Board that would need to be replaced with some health care professionals and child care professionals, people who have the credentials, backing, 4 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida May 14, 2003 and credibility to really take PATCH to a new level. He reported that he had tried to give an update to the City Commission but was only able to speak for about two minutes. (E) Adult Education TV Station (3ayne Kupperman) Ms. Kupperman stated that in her job of marketing and community relations for adult education, she was excited about the advent of a new cable television station for the School District, physically located in the 1TV building on South Congress Avenue, that would "turn the switch" on July 17. She had just purchased a large block of adult education programming from Kentucky Educational TV, much of which is geared for those for whom English is a second language. Since transportation and childcare are difficult for immigrants, this kind of programming should be a real help to those who have come to this area from other countries. The 24-hour programming should help the people who are working three jobs in order to survive and who cannot take regular classes. Ms. Kupperman thought that the City and the School District might want to avail themselves of this opportunity for community service announcements and whatever else might be of benefit to education and the community. She asked to put the station manager, Ms. Judy Garcia, on the Community Relations Board agenda to speak about this and the Board asked Mr. DeCarlo to arrange it. Mr. DeCarlo thought that 24-hour access to adult literacy programming would have a positive effect in the Haitian community among those who were now struggling to learn the language so that they could navigate the complexities of the health care system, for example. IX. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 7:53 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Susan Collins Recording Secretary (051503)