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12. December 2022 minutes 1 NEW HANOVER COUNTY-CITY OF WILMINGTON WORKFORCE HOUSING ADVISORY COMMITTEE December 7, 2022 | REGULAR MEETING Committee Members Present: Sharm Brantley, Liz Carbone, Tom Gale, Eric Knight, Katrina Knight, Katrina Redmon, Paul Stavovy, Edwrin Sutton NHC Staff Present: Eliza Baldwin, Tufanna Bradley, Katie Burket, Rachel LaCoe, Theo McClammy, Jennifer Rigby, Rebekah Roth, Sarah Lipkin Sularz City of Wilmington Staff Present: Abie Bonevac, Craig Harris, Chianti Johnson, Suzanne Rogers Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 3:06 PM by Chairperson Brantley and a quorum was established. Agenda Approval and Minutes Mr. Knight made a motion to approve the meeting agenda, seconded by Ms. Redmon and adopted unanimously. Ms. Redmon made a motion to adopt the November 2nd draft minutes, seconded by Mr. Knight and adopted unanimously. Public Comments None Approve Calendar Chairperson Brantley asked for a motion to adopt the 2023 meeting schedule. The schedule was approved unanimously. Strategy Workshop Debrief Strategic director, Ms. Jennifer Rigby, presented a summary of the November strategy work session. Chairperson Brantley met with staff ahead of this meeting to discuss the findings and the next steps forward and summarized that conversation with the group. Concerns expressed by Chairwoman Brantley and Vice-Chair Gale: - Reorient and focus on the purpose of the committee - Define the roles of Elected Officials, Staff, WHAC Membership, and the Public. - Clarify historical outliers to those parameters. For example, “Being asked to research funding sources, then the Electee's not voting to approve recommendation.” This left the WHAC confused as to their purview. Ms. Carbone and Ms. Knight inquired about the appropriate time to develop messaging/education. Ms. Redmon made the point that the committee’s purpose is to make recommendations for what to do with a public awareness campaign, not actually doing the campaign. Mr. Stavovy notes he doesn’t want to lose sight of the directive to recommend funding 2 and public awareness to the elected officials.The group continued discussion, and they reached general consensus that the WHAC is the “why,” the staff are the “what,” and the elected officials are the “how” of any endeavor. Ms. Rigby spoke as to importance of data, data-driven decisions. There is a “menu” of options that has already been developed, would not be starting from scratch. These should fall in line with the WHAC Strategic Plan and 2021 WHAC work plan. Rachel gave an overview of accomplished tasks from the identified 2021 WHAC work plan. Annual Report Staff representative Sarah Lipkin Sularz presented housing data metrics updated in 2022 as a template of the Annual Report. This will be example of what can be delivered to the Commissioners and City Council in April 2023. WHAC members will be sent a copy of this presentation to digest the information and to think through elements to include in the annual report and the annual report presentation. Next Steps • All members are to bring any previous presentations, images or data to include in the annual report/presentation. Want to be able to quickly do overview of the items Elected Officials may have forgotten. • Identify potential avenues and efforts to “including affordable housing in legislative efforts.” There is a city and a county staff person dedicated to legislative affairs. How can the WHAC meet with and make recommendations to those members? • Education and Awareness SC– Staff has met with the NHC communications team, and they are ready to start the WHAC webpage work in January. Would be hosted on the County website, links to presentations and reports completed and adopted by the WHAC. o Attempt to answer the question, “What are examples of calls to action that the committee can present in an awareness campaign?” o NHC and CoW have public comments that could help the committee inform what misconceptions are present around workforce housing, and how to base a campaign around that. Announcements • Mr. Knight made the group aware of a proposal that will be presented to the city in a few months involving unlimited density • Ms. Knight announced that the fire station has been torn down signaling progress on Good Shepard’s project on that property Adjourn Mr. Sutton made a motion to adjourn the meeting, seconded by Mr. Knight. The meeting was adjourned at 4:56PM.