Minutes 03-09-05 MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD MEETING
HELD IN THE COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH,
FLORIDA, ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2005 AT 7:00 P.M.
Present
Brian Miller, Chair
Blanche Girtman
Kurt Godfrey
Eddie Mitchell
Joyce Mura
Diane Pacheco
Stanley Sorgman
Phyllis Stern (arrived at 7:10 p.m.)
Brenda Lee Williams
Dan DeCarlo, Board Liaison
I. Pledge of Allegiance/Call to Order
Chair Miller called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m. The Board recited the Pledge of
Allegiance to the Flag, led by Ms. Girtman.
II. Roll Call - Regular Members and Alternates
Chair Miller called the roll and declared that a quorum was present.
Recognition of Visitors
III.
None.
IV.
Minutes Approval of February 9, 2005
Motion
Mr. Godfrey moved to approve the minutes from the February 9, 2005 meeting.
Pacheco seconded the motion that passed 8-0.
V. Agenda Approval
Motion
Vice Chair Girtman moved to approve the agenda.
passed 8-0.
MS.
Ms. Mura seconded the motion that
Meeting Minutes
Community Relations Board
Boynton Beach, Florida
March 9, 2005
Vice Chair Girtman reminded the Board that the Board Appreciation Dinner would be
held on April 11th at the Benvenuto Restaurant on Federal Highway. Mr. DeCarlo
thanked her for mentioning the topic. Chair Miller confirmed each member received
his/her invitation.
VII. Old Business
a) PA TCH Update
(Ms. Stern arrived at 7:10 p.m.)
Mr. DeCarlo stated PATCH and FAU were continuing to discuss a partnership in
running the program. The letter the Board agreed to pen at a previous meeting would
not be drafted until PATCH and FAU reach an agreement.
b) Pride in Boynton Beach
Chair Miller stated he attended a second organizational meeting on February 14th at
1:30 p.m. in the Parks & Recreation Conference Room located in City Hall. In
attendance were Jeff Livergood, Public Works Director; Jody Rivers, Park
Superintendent; Scott Blasie, Code Compliance Administrator; Matt Emmler, Assistant
Police Chief; Dan DeCarlo, Staff Liaison, and CRB members Mr. Mitchell, Ms. Mura,
and Mr. Sorgman.
An in-depth discussion took place regarding how the program would work. Chair Miller
stated Mr. Livergood felt the program was an excellent idea and hoped it would develop
a contagious sense of pride in keeping the City attractive and clean. During the prior
three weeks, Mr. DeCarlo and Chair Miller spent a large amount of time touring the
area.
Both Chair Miller and Mr. DeCarlo met with Reverend Chaney of St. John Missionary
Baptist Church and Reverend Reed of St. Paul AME Church, both of whom were very
supportive of the project and pledged their full support. Both would have groups
participate in the Great American Cleanup on April 9th. Chair Miller commented that he
attended services at both churches. He commended Vice Chair Girtman on her musical
talent. Vice Chair Girtman played the organ at St. Paul AME Church.
The Board would work with Mr. DeCarlo to ensure this would be the biggest cleanup
that Boynton Beach ever had. Mr. Livergood and Mr. Blasie would also play a role in
the cleanup, not only on the day of the event but with following through after the event
to make sure areas that were cleaned up stay cleaned.
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Meeting Minutes
Community Relations Board
Boynton Beach, Florida
March 9, 2005
Following the February 14th meeting, communications took place between Mr.
Livergood; Chief Bingham, Acting City Manager; and Carisse LeJeune, in the City
Manager's Office. The City Manager's Office requested the Board pass a motion
authorizing Mr. DeCarlo to prepare the necessary staff report for the Pride in Boynton
Beach project to be submitted to the City Commission. Members of the Board would
work with Mr. DeCarlo to prepare the report. The staff report should include as much
information as possible, especially where it would relate to man-hours and funding.
Chair Miller commented the key to a project of this nature was to have as much
participation from the private sector, both individual citizens and businesses, as
possible.
Mr. Mitchell asked for clarification on funding. It was his understanding that the City
would support the project via volunteers but not through monetary means. Chair Miller
clarified that the time an employee devotes to working on projects, other than his/her
own job, must be accounted for under the Board/project demanding their time. It did not
mean the Board would have to pay the employee, only account for man-hours related to
implementing and maintaining the project.
Motion
Mr. Godfrey moved to authorize Mr. DeCarlo to work with the subcommittee to prepare
the necessary staff report for approval by the Board in its entirety and then submission
to the City Commission. Ms. Williams seconded the motion that passed 7-2 (Ms. Mura
and Ms. Stem dissenting.)
The subcommittee members are Chair Miller, Ms. Mura, Mr. Sorgman, and Mr. Michell.
Mr. Godfrey offered to join the subcommittee as well.
c) Youth Tennis Carnival
Ms. Stern updated the Board on the Youth Tennis Carnival stating the program is up
and running. She asked Mr. DeCarlo to give the monetary donations from the Board
members to Mary Morera, Vice Chair, Advisory Board on Children and Youth.
The children participating in the program were registered and Ms. Stern invited the
Board to attend. Members attending would need to confirm with Ms. Stern prior to the
event.
The event was advertised in FunFare, Boynton Times, and the SunSentinel
newspapers. The Palm Beach County School Board was also made aware of the
event.
Meeting Minutes
Community Relations Board
Boynton Beach, Florida
March 9, 2005
d) Literacy Program (Read Boynton Program)
Chair Miller said the Literacy Program would be on hold for the month of March due to
FCAT testing at the schools. The program would resume in April on the 2nd and 4th
Thursdays from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m. Several Board members attended the sessions
held in February and the program got off to a good start. All members were encouraged
to attend the remainder of the sessions in April and May.
Mr. Sorgman questioned what safeguards were in place to protect the children
participating in this program from adults who should not have direct contact with them.
Mr. DeCarlo said that everyone who participated in the program received a t-shirt
identifying him/her as part of the Read Boynton program. Any student requiring
assistance at the library on the evening of the event knew they needed to find someone
wearing that t-shirt for assistance.
Mr. Sorgman requested ID badges for Board members to wear when attending events
as representatives of the Board. Vice Chair Girtman agreed and suggested having a
business card type ID inserted into a plastic sleeve. Mr. DeCarlo said he would
facilitate this but that meetings held at City Hall would require submission of the
members' driver's license to gain access to some departments within City Hall.
VIII. New Business
a) Youth in Government Day- April 14th
Chair Miller informed the Board the City Manager's Office cancelled this year's event.
The City Manager's Office informed him they would not be able to commit the proper
amount of time and energy into organizing a successful event due to the recent
illnesses of both the City Manager, Kurt Bressner, and the Assistant City Manager,
Wilfred Hawkins. Chair Miller commented that the other Assistant City Manager, Dale
Sugerman, is now the City Manager of the Town of Highland Beach and would not be
available to coordinate the program either.
b) Heart of Boynton Beach Redevelopment Program
(Mr. DeCarlo left the meeting at 7:58 p.m. to retrieve copies of the Heart of Boynton
Beach Redevelopment Program binder. He returned at 8:02 p.m.)
Mr. Mitchell questioned the significance of the Board discussing the Redevelopment
Program that was owned by the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) and had
been discussed with communities throughout the affected areas over the last several
years. The plan document is dated 2001.
Meeting Minutes
Community Relations Board
Boynton Beach, Florida
March 9, 2005
Chair Miller commented that Mr. DeCarlo felt there were several items within the
program that had not been acted upon and might be things that the Board could
undertake. It was Mr. Mitchell's opinion that nothing had been acted on in the Heart of
Boynton, as far as the citizens were concerned. He felt the CRA had not done anything
to further the program.
He went on to add that Mr. Hawkins, at a meeting held at the Wilson Center some time
ago, said the plan document was obsolete as there had been several changes to the
program that were not reflected in the document. Mr. Mitchell suggested having a
representative of the CRA attend the CRB meeting to address the topic and until the
CRA updated the document to reflect the program, it was futile for the Board to discuss
their participation. Chair Miller confirmed that he was attempting to set up such a
meeting. Ms. Williams and Vice Chair Girtman suggested that members of the CRB
attend the CRA meetings. Chair Miller said that if members would like to attend the
CRA meetings, they should do so.
Ms. Williams discussed that perhaps the reason why it did not look as if the CRA was
accomplishing anything with regard to this project could be the monies allocated toward
this project had been spent elsewhere, on other projects. Vice Chair Girtman agreed.
Mr. DeCarlo commented that the document needed to be updated but had originally
been approved by the CRA and the City Commission. It didn't necessarily mean they
had followed the plan. There was value in the Board reviewing the plan because he felt
the Board needed to have a background on the project to gain a better sense of the
Heart of Boynton area and some of the problems that were addressed. The Board was
not being tasked with creating a new document or new plan.
Ms. Pacheco commented that she appreciated the plan document from a historical
perspective because she was new to the area. She looked forward to reviewing the
document to see what things had been accomplished and identify those areas that had
not been implemented. She thought that knowing what had been proposed and
understanding what the Heart of Boynton is would be extremely helpfully.
Mr. DeCarlo said one of the things that the document clearly identified was cleaning up
the neighborhoods and creating a place that the citizens were proud of. He felt this was
something that tied in easily with the Board's Pride in Boynton Beach initiative.
Motion
Mr. Godfrey moved to table the Heart of Boynton Beach Redevelopment Program until
the Community Relations Board meeting to be held on April 13, 2005. Ms. Williams
seconded the motion that passed 9-0.
Meeting Minutes
Community Relations Board
Boynton Beach, Florida
March 9, 2005
IX. Next Meeting: April 13, 2005 - Commission Chambers
X. Adjournment
Since there was no further business before the Board, the meeting was duly adjourned
at 8:06 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Deanna Ewing
Recording Secretary
(031005)
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