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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-10-23 Minutes Page 1 Meeting Minutes New Hanover County/City of Wilmington Community Relations Advisory Committee NHC Library 101 Chestnut Street, New Hanover Room October 23, 2018 5:30 PM Committee Members Present: Owen Wexler, Evelyn Bryant, Chuck Davis, Melanie Frank, Jeffrey Hovis, Jen Johnson, Kathy King, Kristen McKeithan, Lori Wainright Absent: Elise Rocks, Florence Warren Staff: Tim Burgess, NHC Liaison; Dahria Kianpour, NHC; Suzanne Rogers, City Citizens: Iris Baker, NHRMC; Amy Feath, Carousel Center I.Call to Order Owen called the meeting to order. Quorum established. II. Approve Agenda MOTION: Melanie Frank MOVED, SECONDED by Chuck Davis, to approve the agenda as presented. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. III. Approve Minutes MOTION: Jeff Hovis MOVED, SECONDED by Jenn Johnson, to approve the minutes of August 28, 2018. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. BREAK: 5:42pm to 5:43pm IV. Election of Officers Nominating Committee Report The following members were recommended as officers: Chair: Evelyn Bryant; Vice-Chair: Owen Wexler; Secretary: Emily Cottrell; Public Education Chair: Jeff Hovis; Crisis Management Chair: Elise Rocks; Program Chair: Lori Wainright. There was a brief discussion regarding the positions of the members. Emily Cottrell had resigned from the committee in September, so Kathy King was nominated as Secretary. The Program and Public Education sub- committees have been meeting together. There was discussion regarding the reappointments for Florence and Kristen from the City. Kristen will follow up with City regarding reappointment. Owen thanked the committee for allowing him to serve as chair and was very appreciative of the work everyone has done together. Page 2 MOTION: Chuck Davis MOVED, SECONDED by Kathy King to elect the following members as officers: Chair: Evelyn Bryant; Vice-Chair: Owen Wexler; Secretary: Kathy King; Public Education Chair: Jeff Hovis; Crisis Management Chair: Elise Rocks; Program Chair: Lori Wainright. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. V. Public Comments: Iris Baker, New Hanover Regional Medical Center, shared information regarding the Medication Disposal Event on Saturday, October 27 from 10am to 2pm. There are 17 drop off locations in several counties. She passed out flyers and would also email it to the committee. They have posted flyers at all of the sites listed on the flyer as well as Kathy said she can distribute flyers in her neighborhood and Chuck will email the flyer to churches. VI. Committee Reports: Jeff reported for the Policies and Procedures Ad Hoc Sub-Committee as follows: Jeff has been researching information from various groups to help set up the policies and procedures. The ability to develop ad hoc committees is not in their bylaws. This committee has not met yet, but plans to soon. They are hoping to have the procedures available by January 2019. Melanie reported for the Crisis Management Sub-Committee as follows: Melanie shared that she had received information from Beth Schrader in August regarding the appointment process to the Non-County Funding Agency Committee and could share this information with the committee if they desire further details. She tried to attend one of their meetings last month, but it was cancelled due to the hurricane. She will work with the new chair, Elise, to determine next steps. Regarding the implicit bias training, Melanie stated their task was to have a plan before offering a suggestion to elected officials regarding the training. She had spoken with Linda Thompson from the City of Wilmington in August and was told that it was a realistic goal to have all city and county employees receive this training. There was a brief discussion that CRAC can only make a recommendation to officials and the CRAC had already voted at the prior meeting to move forward with a recommendation. One option was to suggest the training through the survey. Melanie said she had also spoken with Scott Rosthauser from the City of Wilmington and he had said nothing like this was offered to employees and he felt it was a necessary training. Further discussion was held whether the Board of Education and school district staff should have the training, as well as suggesting CRAC members to research which other organizations in the county utilize this training. The New Hanover Regional Medical Center (NHRMC) holds this training for their staff. Another suggestion was to request Iris Baker to reach out to Joe from NHRMC to see if they can gather further information for the committee to use. Lori reported for the Programming Sub-Committee as follows: Lori had spoken with the UNCW contacts and it was recommended to delay proceeding with the survey due to the hurricane since it could affect the results. Many people in the community have been displaced and disrupted by Hurricane Florence. They are planning to begin the survey again in the fall. Regarding the budget allocation for the survey, Suzanne said the funds had been encumbered for the current year and when the budget process begins for the next fiscal year, they would need permission for the funds to roll over into the next year. It is not guaranteed the funds will be available. Lori asked to take a vote to accept the recommendation to delay the survey until the fall of 2019. Page 3 MOTION: Kathy King MOVED, SECONDED by Melanie Frank to accept the recommendation to delay the survey until fall of 2019. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. Lori also shared that she had invited the task force chair, Mebane Boyd of the Resiliency Task Force, to speak with the committee. The Task Force is strong with about 150 people and has several sub-committees. They have many involved from the mental health area, family faith and community initiative. She extended the invitation if any CRAC members would like to be involved in the task force. The committee and subcommittees meet monthly and are funded by Duke University. Public Education: No report VII. Unfinished Business: None. VIII. New Business: Discussion was held regarding Hurricane Florence and issues for citizens regarding: issues with communication, resources available, recovery efforts, the 211 system, distribution sites, and volunteer efforts. The crisis sub- committee was not involved, but for future events, they want to ensure that citizens have the correct information during a disaster and to be strategic in communication with the community. Further discussion was held for solutions including: updating the special needs registry, building door to door communication, strengthening relationships with other organizations, and to assign the task to the Crisis Sub- Committee to develop a plan for future hurricanes. The members agreed to further review this and to continue the discussion. Iris Baker said she would check with the NHRMC outreach department to see if they can meet with members of CRAC in order to strengthen their relationship with NHRMC and gather information for future crisis events. It was noted as a reminder that the sub-committee meetings need to be held in public in order to follow the open meetings law. Also, there was a brief discussion regarding sub-committees to include people from outside organizations to attend the meetings. Melanie reported that she is working on name tags for Chuck, Kathy, and Elise. Evelyn inquired an ethics training in November for the members, if possible. XI. Announcements: None. X. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned by Owen Wexler at 7:21pm.