Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-11-27 Minutes Page 1 aśśĊ╜■┼ a╜■ĵĊśℓ New Hanover County/City of Wilmington Community Relations Advisory Committee NHC Library 101 Chestnut Street, New Hanover Room November 27, 2018 5:30 PM Committee Members Present: Evelyn Bryant, Melanie Frank, Jeffrey Hovis, Kathy King, Kristen McKeithan, Elise Rocks, Lori Wainright, Florence Warren, Owen Wexler Absent: Chuck Davis, Jen Johnson Staff: Tim Burgess, NHC Liaison; Kym Crowell, NHC; Dahria Kianpour, NHC I.Call to Order Chairwoman Bryant called the meeting to order. Quorum established. Members and public introduced themselves. II. Approve Agenda ahÇLhb Jeff Hovis MOVED, SECONDED by Owen Wexler, to approve the agenda as presented. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. III. Approve Minutes Chairwoman Bryant stated she would like to amend the minutes to include that sub-committees may include people from outside organizations to attend the meetings. ahÇLhb Owen Wexler MOVED, SECONDED by Melanie Frank, to approve the minutes of October 23, 2018 with the amendment as noted. Upon vote, the MOTION CARRIED UNANIMOUSLY. IV. Public Comments: Laura Dawson with Food Physics shared that there was great support from volunteers in the County during Hurricane Florence and the emergency phone line with the County was helpful. She assisted with creating the special needs directory. There were many sheltered in Knightdale and Chapel Hill. She stated she contacted WAVE to suggest improvements for future evacuation situations. She plans to connect the Senior Citizen Center Director in New Hanover County. Ms. Dawson also shared her concerns with the housing authority and provided details regarding her current issue with section 8 housing. She stated she is disabled and has experienced discrimination. The committee had a brief discussion regarding following up with Ms. Dawson regarding her concerns. VI. Committee Reports: Mr. Hovis reported for the Policies and Procedures Ad Hoc Sub-Committee as follows: Mr. Hovis 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 the Community Relations Advisory Board bylaws. Members of the Ad-Hoc Subcommittee plan to meet and hope to have the procedures available by January 2019. Page 2 Ms. Frank reported for the Crisis Management Sub-Committee as follows: Ms. Frank stated that Ms. Rocks will be the new chair of the sub-committee. Ms. Frank also reported that she spoke with Linda Thompson who is a trainer at the City of Wilmington and asked for a story to use when presenting the recommendation to the city and county for the implicit bias training. Ms. Frank will draft the recommendation and Ms. Rocks will share it at the next meeting. Mr. Hovis reported for the Public Education Sub-Committee as follows: Mr. Hovis and Ms. Wainright from the Programming sub-committee met and have developed a plan to have speakers share a presentation at each sub-committee meeting. He and Lori will be working on creating a quarterly calendar with a list of speakers. A tentative list was shared: January: The Resilience Task Force February: Wilmington Housing Authority or someone from a fair housing organization March: UNCW program with the police and community dialogue In February, the sub-committees will schedule the meetings for next the four months. The plan is to have a twenty-minute presentation followed by a time for questions and answers, and public comments at the end. VII.Unfinished Business: None. VIII. New Business: Chairwoman Bryant reviewed the new agenda layout with the estimated discussion times. She introduced Assistant County Manager Tim Burgess to share a possible plan for committee members. Mr. Burgess stated that the County will be working with the committee for the next two years and would like to offer a committee training for members to review functions, policies, responsibilities, and meeting procedures. Bo Dean from the County facilitates many training courses and would facilitate this training. A binder will also be provided with committee information. Date options will be emailed and the training will be scheduled for January 2019. Mr. Wexler left the meeting at 6:15pm. The 2019 draft calendar was passed out to members. There was general consensus of the committee to approve the 2019 calendar as presented. Discussion was held regarding sub-committee assignments. Assignments will be finalized during or after the committee training. Ms. McKeithan left the meeting at 6:40pm. Ms. Warren left the meeting at 6:46pm. Discussion was held regarding next steps for the public comment process. Ms. Rocks will contact Ms. Dawson regarding her concerns and provide her with resources. XI. Announcements: None. X. Adjourn: Meeting adjourned at 6:57pm.