Time and location of the meeting: the meeting was held at the Heights Community Center and was called to order at 7:00 pm
Board members present: James Montalbano, Rich Braziel, Don McIver, Elizabeth Doak, & Richard Hallett. Sign-in Sheet
Others present: Dr. William Kass & Amanda Bustos (Police Oversight Board), Robert Nelson, Aaron Dubay. Sign-in Sheet
New Business
Police Oversight Board: The Police Oversight Board was created 3 years ago by the City Council and the DOJ. Part of their responsibilities are to perform Community Outreach, both to share what they are doing and to solicit feedback from the community. They explained that they are fielding about 56 complaints per month with most of them being traffic complaints. They have a staff of 4 people to do their own investigations. They explained that the City receives about 1,000 applications when they announce openings but the vast majority of applicants don’t qualify due to prior arrests etc. They suggested that the qualifying criteria may need to be evaluated because a pot bust in college may not be the reason we want to disqualify an otherwise appropriate candidate. The discussion varied widely but was well received. Complaint or Commendation Form
Historic Preservation Handbook: Rich posted a copy of the Handbook on the SHNA Website.
Presbyterian: Jim has been talking to Presbyterian and they are asking their employees to be more considerate and are having the Grounds Keeping people help keep the areas around the hospital cleaner.
Titan Development: The development of the vacant lot north of Presbyterian Hospital expected to start in the spring of 2018. Apparently they have been delayed by required utility realignment and by the ART Project.
Neighborhood Pamphlets: Jim and Tom will have a mock up of a 4-color, tri-fold pamphlet for the next meeting.
New Board Members: Concern was expressed that we need to get new board members to keep fresh ideas and perspectives. Several of the board members have been serving more than 15 years and everyone was receptive to giving new people a chance to run things. The only idea we could come up with to encourage new board members was to have all of us ask the people we know in the neighborhood to get involved. The Annual Meeting is coming up in January so this is a timely discussion. We discussed the idea of term limits but there was no consensus about the benefit of them.
Utility Infrastructure Improvements: The new gas line being install through our neighborhood was brought up and nobody knew why. While the City is required to notify us when they do work, apparently the Gas Company is not. Questions were also asked about the new fiber optic cable being installed on Central and whether it would be providing 100 GBPS service to our neighborhood. Jeanie Amstat who provided information on ART prior to the start of the project has indicated that she could come back to talk to the board and she might be able to answer some of these questions.
September 2017 Board Meeting Minutes: The Board unanimously approved the September 11, 2017 SHNA Board Meeting Minutes.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:30 pm