Community Meeting Minutes

MINUTES OF HIGHLAND DISTRICT COUNCIL COMMUNITY SERVICES COMMITTEE MEETING

Members of the Highland District Council Community Services Committee (CSC) met at the Hillcrest Recreation Center, 1978 Ford Parkway, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 55116 at 5:45 P.M. on Wednesday, June 9, 2010.

Members present: Teri Albright, WEPBA alternate, Layne Carver, Georgia Dietz, Mark Forsberg, Larry Hampel, Rick Hugley, John Lilja, Bill Poulos, alternate for Ray Cleveland, Gary Thompson, Tim Swanson.

Also present: Tim Puffer, Jason Narog

CALL TO ORDER, AGENDA, ALTERNATE ELECTIONS

Chair, Mark Forsberg called the meeting to order.

Motion: Georgia Dietz moved to change agenda to include election of alternates as #4, and move all other agenda items down by one. Approved.

Bill Poulos and Jason Narog were elected as 1^st and 2^nd alternates to the Community Services Committee, respectively.

CRIME PREVENTION COORDINATOR

Discussion of the hiring of a District Council Crime Prevention Coordinator continued from the May 19^th meeting, including placing ads in the Villager. DC president, Tim Puffer, told members that the expenditure has to be approved by the HDC Executive Committee.

Motion: Georgia Dietz moved to ask the Executive Committee to vote by e-mail for an expenditure of funds for ads.

Gary Thompson spoke in favor of placing the ad only in the "District Council News" section of Villager. Bill Poulos argued that Villager runs District Council info gratis, and we should pay for ad in Villager.

 Rick Hugley amended motion to run ad in Villager and Pioneer Press, and to buy a block of 10 days in Pioneer Press. Teri Albright suggested a brief ad in the papers with a full copy on DC website.

Amendment passed.

Layne Carver spoke of his idea to change the focus of the CDC job, therefore, the ad we place in the paper, with more priority to holding informational meetings and not so much emphasis on crime reports, block clubs, etc. He stated that in the past, the CSC hasn't done well when it comes to block clubs. There was discussion about past Crime Prevention Coordinators and Tim Puffer said creating block clubs artificially hasn't worked well. Mark Forsberg said we should get the ad in the paper and then combine our ideas about the role of the CPC.  Gary Thompson spoke of the CPC Position Announcement, comprised of 1.,  what we expect of the new CPC, and 2., the person we select might have greater interest in workshops, but that the block club concept is still good and we should keep it. Mark Forsberg agreed that block clubs are formed by individuals and he hasn't seen the CSC form with existing block clubs.  Bill Poulos stated that the money we receive from the city in the form of the Crime Prevention Grant comes with certain expectations and we have to meet those expectations. He suggested looking at the grant for specifics. He also said that we have used the Crime Prevention grant funds to help pay the Community Organizer. He said we need to define what Crime Prevention role our CO is playing if she is receiving some of the CP fund money as part of her salary, and that we've done better on the Citizen Participation grant than on the CP grant and agreed with Layne Carver that we need to define realistic expectations for the CPC position. Bill Poulos continued that there are many funds available, but that we need to get out and secure those funds; we should be seeking grants.

Motion thought to passed. Bill Poulos called for division. Vote failed 6-5. Ads will not be run.

Crime Prevention Position Announcement

Georgia Dietz stated that at the meeting held on May 19, the Committee had fashioned an ad the committee was to run and had signed off on it. Now at this meeting, one person who didn't attend, Layne Carver, was moving to disregard the work done at the last meeting. She argued that if they take out the 2^nd sentence in the "Position Announcement" (This person will be responsible for developing and supporting block clubs, analyzing crime data, preparing periodic crime updates and working with HDC staff, Board members and residents to identify problems and coordinate neighborhood responses to crime.),  there is no job description in the ad.

Motion: Bill Poulos moved to strike 2^nd sentence in its entirety. He spoke of changing the advertisement to list specific job tasks. Layne Carver moved to amend by adding that the ad then be sent to the HDC Executive Committee and be advertised in the Villager and the Pioneer Press.

Motion passed.

CSC Sub-Committee

Discussion was held about forming a sub-committee to interview prospective CPC candidates. Bill Poulos stated that the last time a sub-committee was formed for this purpose, it was involved in the hiring but wasn't asked its opinion about the firing of the last CPC.  Discussion ensued about the role of the Executive Committee in hiring/firing and that the hiring of the current CO was approved by the Full Committee. Tim Puffer said the the Executive Committee was asked to look at the firing process..

Adjournment

Meeting adjourned at 6:52 P.M.

Respectfully submitted by Georgia Dietz

Secretary, CSC