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Minutes 03-09-11 MINUTES OF THE COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9, 2011, IN COMMISSION CHAMBERS, 100 E. BOYNTON BEACH BOULEAVARD CITY HALL, BOYNTON BEACH, FLORIDA PRESENT: Regina Waterhouse, Chair Brian Miller Joyce Mura Stanley Sorgman Phyllis Stern Floyd Zonenstein ABSENT: Victor Norfus, Vice Chair Ben Lowe, Alternate I. Openings A. Call to Order Chair Waterhouse called the meeting to order at 6:57 p.m. B. Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag The members recited the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag. II. Roll Call The Recording Secretary called the roll. A quorum was present. III. Approval of Minutes from February Meeting There were no minutes from the February meeting available. IV. Announcement: None V. Approval of Agenda A. Additions, Deletions, Corrections Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL March 9, 2011 Mr. Miller wanted to add the Mayor's Challenge to New Business. Chair Waterhouse wanted to add the Take Pride in Boynton Beach Photo project under New Business. B. Adoption Motion Mr. Miller moved to adopt the agenda. Mr. Sorgman seconded the motion that unanimously passed. VI. Public Audience INDIVIDUAL SPEAKERS WILL BE LIMITED TO 3 MINUTE PRESENTATIONS None VII. Old Business: A. Transportation options follow up Chair Waterhouse advised this is a follow up to the presentation made by Molly's Trolley. That contract was terminated and the City Commission and Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) made the decision. Chair Waterhouse has been following it with the City Commission. What has happened now is that they have a discussion item called "Transportation Options" and it has also been moved from th meeting to meeting and is now slated to be discussed next week at the March 15 City Commission meeting. The Shopper Hopper was also on the chopping block. Chair Waterhouse reached out to Molly of Molly's Trolley and asked her to get in touch with the City Manager to talk to him and also advised her to attend. There did not appear to be anything relative to the trolley out there. There was, however, a proposal to do something similar to what Wellington is doing, which is a taxi service. Chair Waterhouse is very anxious to see what the impact discussion is and if there is supposed to be a presentation of the various options and financial impact. Chair Waterhouse plans to be at the meeting next week. Mr. Sorgman indicated a letter was sent on transportation and Chair Waterhouse interjected that in addition to a letter, a presentation was made to the City Commission asking them to reconsider. B. Finance Advisory Board follow up Chair Waterhouse indicated a lot of issues brought before the Board have had to do with budget – what can be done and what cannot be done due to no money in the budget. Last month it was suggested inviting Don Scantlan, Chair of the Finance Advisory Committee come and speak. Chair Waterhouse also asked Ben Lowe but knew he would not be available because he advised he was going to be in Europe. She 2 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL March 9, 2011 further advised she was going to contact Mr. Scantlan and ask him if he could be present at the next meeting regarding the concerns people have. The Advisory Boards are put in place to strengthen participation in the community and attract people who want to get involved. The only time the Advisory Boards got together was for the Ethics Training. That would have been a good time to share and exchange ideas, but it does not happen. Mr. Sorgman thought instead of meeting as a Board on Wednesday to possibly convene the Board to sit in as an audience in a Commission meeting and introduce themselves as members of the Community Relations Board (CRB). Chair Waterhouse agreed and thinks the more participation in Commission and CRA meetings, the better the awareness will be of what is happening in the community and what comes before our Board. Chair Waterhouse added that it may be better to invite one Commissioner to attend their meeting and speak to them. A suggestion would be invite Mr. Scantlan to attend and talk about the Financial Advisory Board. She asked for suggestions for which Commissioner to invite. Commissioner Hay and Orlove were suggested. Ms. Stern asked if it was possible to have it advertised on the television that the Community Relations Board is having a meeting and inform the public which Commissioner will be present and then advertise the agenda for some people who may be interested in attending. Whoever from the Commission attends, they will get that read into the minutes of the City Commission meeting because they will mention what they did and what they talked about. Mr. Sorgman thought it would be a good idea if they advertise in advance what their agenda might be because some people are interested in certain phases of government operations. It could be focused on dialogue or interest in the business community or the educational community or we could ask them to focus on a certain arena and therefore bring in a certain audience. People who have issues or complaints go to everyone else because they are not aware this Board exists, and they do not know there is a forum available to them where someone may listen. Maybe the Board could invite Marlene Ross and her topic could be to discuss how projects and initiatives get funded and how they get unfunded and the process and rationale used. Ms. Stern advised if Ms. Ross or Ms. Orlove attends and they have an agenda, possibly it could get on the television for community services, and also flyers could be placed and judicially set up for the particular meeting in areas that may attract more audience, for example, the library and Chamber of Commerce. In the past, Mr. Zonenstein tried to get something on the Board and was told it was not possible as they would have to do it for everyone. Ms. Stern advised she was told that if there was a specific agenda or program, it is possible to have it on the TV. C. Marketing the Community Relations Board (switched C and D) Chair Waterhouse advised there is a multi-pronged approach that might be taken. If this can be put together, then we would want to get on community television. She is not sure about other community developments, but her development has its own community channel. Possibly it could go to all the Chamber of Commerce and the local business groups. She suggested looking into all the television channels and get all the contacts. Chair Waterhouse will handle that. Ms. Mura advised that the Sun Sentinel has specific 3 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL March 9, 2011 reporters that are focused on specific areas. A reporter had come to the tennis program because they were called and invited. Commissioner Ross works for a television station and possibly she can be approached. Ms. Mura says it would be better if City letterhead could be used to get the request out to the newspapers. Chair Waterhouse said the liaison could do that. The press that attends the Commission meetings could be approached also. Mr. Sorgman says since he started on the Board, one of his main peeves was seeing empty seats at the meetings. He stated that the Board attends meeting after meeting and there is not one person in the audience. He further stated the Board needs to try to get something to market the CRB and see what would put a "fire" under the people to attend and discuss issues. There have been situations where people have come to the Board and spoke about the same issues and now we have to go back and let these people know how projects are funded and unfunded for the benefit of Boynton Beach. Perhaps having Vice Mayor Ross and Chair Scantlan at the meeting will help. Mr. Miller interjected that tonight is the first meeting of the newly created CRA Committee and it began at 6:30. The only people there were from Habitat for Humanity that wanted to say a few words. When they were finished, they left and the only people who remained were Mr. Miller’s wife, Commissioner Hay's wife, former Mayor Taylor and his wife and one or two people. This is an example of how you have a major event tonight and basically no one from the City is there. Chair Waterhouse feels the challenge for the public sector is always getting appropriate support and involvement, even the comments about what the turnout for the election was. It was miniscule. She stated the Board has a job to do and not to be discouraged if it doesn't happen right away. It did not get this way overnight. She stated we have to move forward and take action. Ms. Stern says its not just Boynton Beach, it is everywhere. It is not just this Committee, it is many Committees. We have to keep trying. D. CRA Follow-up Chair Waterhouse says there was a lot of time spent interviewing people for the seven member board. A change was made stating there would be only two members and five Commissioners. The two names of the members are Mark Karageorge and Buck Buchanan. She suggested that might be another group the Board may want to speak to. VIII. New Business A. Sanford Mayer resignation. Chair Waterhouse announced the resignation of Sanford Mayer. She thought there was a level of frustration there. It is unfortunate, but understandable. Mr. Mayer has many demands on his time and he had to prioritize. He will be missed and the Board wants it on the record thanking him for the contributions he made, the project with the sidewalks, his enthusiasm, and his passion for serving the Community. 4 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL March 9, 2011 B. Surveys: Old High School Project (closes 3-18-2011), Branding Boynton (closes 3-31-2011) Chair Waterhouse indicated there are two surveys out there asking members of the community their opinions on how they want things done. If people do not pay attention to the surveys and do not respond, then it will continue to be done the same way. The survey can be taken online. One survey is the Old Historic High School and the discussion there is what we are going to do. Ms. Stern mentioned Delta Airlines' magazine mentioned Palm Beach County, but there was no mention of Boynton Beach. The other survey is called Branding Boynton Beach. The Old High School survey closes on March 18th so responses have to be in by then. The Branding survey closes at the end of the month. Everyone is encouraged to take it and give input so it can be tracked and see where they go. It will bring attention, accountability, resources, and possibly funding. B. Mayor's Challenge nd An upcoming event is the 2 Annual Mayor's Challenge. This time it is going to be a walk, as well as a run. A free t-shirt will be given to all registrants. The event is th Saturday, March 19 from 7:30 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. It starts at the Children's Museum. There will also be a family chalk art contest. Ms. Stern asked if there was anything received from Steve Lewis on this that mentions that the Mayor was looking for volunteers to do something that morning like registration. The Commission mentioned reconvening the committee that did the park renaming to rename other parks. C. Take Pride in Boynton Beach Photo Project Chair Waterhouse wanted to mention another thing on the image of Boynton Beach. If you go on the City's website, there is a "Take Pride in Boynton Beach Photo Project". If anyone is familiar with Flicker, the City has a Flicker website. One is "Go Green Boynton" and the other is simply "The City". If you ask a member of the community to take a photo that is appropriate and showcases some aspect of Boynton Beach, the photos can uploaded to the website and can be viewed by the public. This is another way of representation. Now that we have the new CRA in place, they are supposed to be carrying forward some of those initiatives as well. IX. Adjournment: With no further business, and thanking the Recording Secretary for her diligence and flexibility, a motion was made to adjourn. 5 Meeting Minutes Community Relations Board Boynton Beach, FL March 9, 2011 Motion Mr. Miller made a motion to adjourn and Ms. Stern seconded. It was unanimously approved and the meeting was properly adjourned at 7:28 p.m. Ellie Caruso Recording Secretary 6