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Minutes 07-13-05 MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD MEETING HELD IN THE COMMISSION CHAMBERS, CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA, ON WEDNESDAY, JULY 13, 2005 AT 7:00 P.M. Present: Brian Miller, Chair Blanche Hearst-Girtman, Vice Chair Alfred Levy Eddie Mitchell Gregg Orenstein Phyllis Stern Stanley Sorgman Brenda Lee Williams Kurt Godfrey, Alternate Diane Pacheco, Alternate Thelma Lyons, Acting Board Liaison Absent Joyce Mura I. Pledge of Allegiance Chair Miller called the meeting to order at 7:09 p.m. Mr. Sorgman led the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll and declared a quorum was present. III. Recognition of Visitors There were no visitors. IV. Approval of June 8, 2005 Minutes Motion Mr. Sorgman moved to accept the June 8, 2005 minutes as presented. Mr. Levy seconded the motion that passed unanimously. 1 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida July 13, 2005 V. Agenda Approval Motion Ms. Stern moved to approve the agenda as presented. Ms. Williams seconded the motion that passed unanimously. VI. Correspondence and Announcements Ms. Lyons did not have any correspondence or announcements. VII. Old Business A. Pride in Bovnton Beach Discussed concurrently with the Community Redevelopment Agency Youth Program (CRA). VIII. New Business A. Discuss eRA Youth Program Ms. Lyons distributed a handout on the CRA's 2004/2005 Youth Involvement Grant Program along with the program's application form. Chair Miller inquired whether Ms. Lyons had an opportunity to review them, and she stated that she had not, but wanted the board members to receive them. The program was discussed at length. There was some confusion about whether the CRA expected the Community Relations Board (CRB) to disseminate the information to the community, especially since Mr. DeCarlo normally passed the information to the neighborhood associations and he was out of the country. Others believed Mr. Hutchinson had enlisted the aid of the CRB to spread the word on the program in the community. Ms. Williams suggested it was the board's responsibility to use their own individual contacts at schools, church groups, and other organizations to let people know about the program. Once people were made aware of the program, they could decide whether or not they wanted to get involved, but communication was the first step. Mr. Mitchell felt that the CRA should take a leading role in getting this information out to the newspapers, for example. Ms. Pacheco thought the CRA wanted the CRB to actively recruit a youth organization for this program. 2 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida July 13, 2005 Mr. Sorgman suggested the information be made available in the libraries and schools. The youth would take the information home and the parents would become aware of it. Most board members were enthusiastic about taking the information to non- profit organizations and churches and planned to refer interested parties to the CRA office for further information. CRA staff is willing to sit down with interested parties to help guide them into a project and/or complete the application paperwork. Putting a "blurb" on the City's water bills was suggested as a way of getting the information out to the community. There was some discussion about preparing a cover letter to be used when disseminating the information, but the final consensus was that the board members preferred to distribute the information informally from person to person without a cover letter. All board members recognized this program as a very effective means of making improvements in the community. Everyone thought the Advisory Board on Children & Youth should be advised of the Youth Involvement Program since they have an extensive existing database of volunteers in the Youth Volunteer Bank. Each year the Advisory Board on Children & Youth gives the Bob Borovy award to the young person with the most community service hours. Some felt that the CRA should contact the Advisory Board on Children & Youth directly about this. Chair Miller declared the board could help implement this program, for adults or youth, in such organizations as the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, church groups or any non-profit organization interested in beautification. Chair Miller indicated that helping the CRA with this program would positively impact the board's Pride in Boynton Beach Project, which was concerned with beautification of the entire City. The CRA Youth Involvement grants would only be given for work done in the CRA area. Mr. Sorgman felt that this program would be of mutual benefit to the youth and the community. Mr. Sorgman also mentioned the CRA's Fa<;ade Grant Program, believing the CRB could be instrumental in introducing people to this program in addition to the Youth Involvement Grant Program. The Fa<;ade Grant Program is a beautification program that focuses on commercial buildings in need of a facelift. 3 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, Florida July 13, 2005 The board was unanimous in its desire to choose a meaningful community project and commit to it. There was a sense of frustration about not having done so to date. Chair Miller explained some background on this that helped people understand some of the reasons for the delay. The City Manager had communicated with the Board Liaison, directing him to put together a specific proposal that the board was going to present to the Commission. He was now out of the country. The board felt that the Neighborhood Specialist position was important to the community and hoped that there would be a replacement for Mr. DeCarlo. The suggestion was made that each board member should come to the next meeting prepared to brainstorm this to come up with a project. Ms. Stern declared that the board could at least choose an arena on which to focus at tonight's meeting. After discussion, it was decided that the board wanted to send its best wishes to the Acting Police Chief, Matt Immler. Motion Mr. Mitchell moved to direct the Chair and the Liaison to prepare and send a letter from the Community Relations Board to the Acting Police Chief, Matt Immler, offering the support of the board in the fulfillment of his duties. Vice Chair Hearst-Girtman seconded the motion that passed unanimously. Note: NO CRB MEETING IN AUGUST IX. Adjournment Since there was no further business before the board, the meeting was duly adjourned at 8:17 p.m. Respectfully submitted, /-/J:7 ~7v/41'( {(J{;:l:: (11 J Susan Collins Recording Secretary (071405) 4