SRCC GENERAL MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Monday,August 7, 2017, 7:15 Â PM
LIFE IN THE CITY UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
(formerly Grace UMC)
205 E. MONROE, AUSTIN, TEXAS
Minutes
To be sure you get a vote, become a member. You can join or renew online www.srccatx.org. Not sure if you are current? Email membership@srccatx.org and we’ll let you know.
CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. 7:15 Meeting procedures, etiquette, welcome newcomers. Verification of quorum. Reminder: state your name when presenting or seconding a motion. If an acronym is stated during the meeting and you don’t know what it means, please feel free to raise your hand and ask.*
Presenter throughout: Carol Martin, SRCC Membership Committee, unless otherwise noted. (10 min)
2. 7:25 Membership and voting. Pay multiple years in advance and get a discount. Single membership: 1-yr $20; 2-yr $35; 3-yr $50 / Family membership: 1-yr $35; 2-yr $65; 3-yr $95 NOTE: In order to vote or make motions, dues must be paid a month in advance, with the exception that if a former member’s dues have lapsed no more than 2 years, they may renew at the meeting and be eligible to vote. (2 min)
3. 7:27 Approve minutes from June 5, 2017 monthly general meeting (available at www.srccatx.org). (3 min)
MOTION: – Marilyn Orton / Mike Kelly – to approve the minutes from the June General Membership meeting = PASSED 16 for, 0 against, 0 abstain
4. 7:30 Treasurer’s Report – see attachment to agenda distributed at the meeting; all reports are available upon
request to the Treasurer. Presenter: Nancy Byrd, Treasurer (5 min)
Nancy Byrd was unable to attend tonight, but she submitted a written report, which can be found at the end of this agenda.
5. 7:35 Committee Chairs reports
1) Parks, Schools, Environment; 2) Planning & Zoning; 3) Transportation & Public Safety; 4) Norwood; 5) Historic District; 6) Finance; 7) ANC/SCC*; 8) Communications; 9) CodeNEXT; 10) Executive Committee; 11) South Central Waterfront (10 min)
- Mike Kelly from Transportation & Public Safety Committee–Reported that the City is going to continue planning for traffic on St. Edwards Drive. He contacted the city and reported that right now the traffic-calming is on a pause. On St. Edwards Dr. they are going to do some re-striping and monitor the effects. If neighbors agree, they will make the restriping permanent. The study should last around 6 months. Mr. Kelly asked that we set up a meeting with engineers from the Transportation Dept. in order to get more information. He would like to move forward by surveying the Transportation Committee and Executive committee to determine a date. SAm Martin suggested that the engineers be invited to a general neighborhood meeting. Another neighbor asked that Mike find out about other streets in the neighborhood that might be on the list for further traffic calming.
- Angela Reed from the Historic District reported that committee would like to pursue the national registered historical designation. The committee is looking at grants to fund this process and is is planning on an event at a later date to raise funds. At a later date the support of SRCC will be requested.
- There are openings on the Communications Committee. This committee team works on newsletter content and editing, website content and Monthly Review. If you are interested in helping, contact Gretchen Otto president@srccatx.org
- James Bilodeax for the ANC/SCC reported at the last meeting bonding was discussed. IN the future they will be looking at affordability and transportation, as well as a search for the City Manager. Paul Cruz from AISD reported at that meeting to discuss and upcoming Bond Election for schools. There was also a discussion about a resolution that was passed to put in place some guidelines to prevent changes in boundaries to get around some restrictions on zoning cases. There was also discussion of changes to bus lines.
- Tom KIlpatrick from the CodeNEXT committee reported that at 700 Dawson, 6:45 tomorrow night (Aug. 8th) the Bouldin Creek Neighborhood Association is hosting a meeting with Mayor Adler. There is also a joint CodeNext/Planning Commission Meeting also tomorrow night, Aug. 8th and later this month at Aug. 29th, 7pm at City Hall.
- Wendy Todd could not make the meeting, but emailed a report for the South Central Waterfront Board to Carol. She shared that the new board has met, elected officers, and set meeting dates for the future. Wendy is working with Brett Smith, the Bouldin NA representative on neighborhood compatibility and other issues that may come up.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
No current items.
NEW BUSINESS
6. 7:45 Austin Aquatic Master Plan and impact on SRCC pools; concerns about plans for long-term maintenance of our neighborhood pools. VOTE EXPECTED. “SRCC to write a letter in support of our neighborhood pools, and expressing concerns with the ranking system used in the report.†See the current version of the Master Plan here:
http://www.austintexas.gov/swim512
Presenter/Guest: Laura Cottam Sajbel, SRCC Resident, lcottam@sbcglobal.net (15 min)
- Carol asked Kathy Tovo’s representative to our meeting, Joy, about when this issue would come before the City Council. Joi Harden reported that is is scheduled this week, but Kathy Tovo is going to ask for it to be postponed. Carol talked to the group about the letter which SRCC will be composed requesting
- Laura Cottom Sjabel, a neighbor, shared that she is at the pool 5 days a week and has been following the Swim 512 Austin Aquatic Master Plan since June. She attended meetings held to inform the public and found information on the website. The Plan includes estimates of 10 central Austin pools are proposed to be decommissioned in order to open 4-5 new pools in more outlying areas. She worked with others neighbors to write City Council about the importance of the pools proposed to be closed. Laura requested that we continue to write to the council. The issue of financing is big, including the fact that moneys from Barton Springs entry fees and hotel taxes are going into the City General Fund. Parks and Rec has a shortfall to find funding for some of these older pools. Laura also shared that there are some neighbors interested in creating a conservancy to support Parks and Rec (bigger than just individual pools).
Ideas to include in letters (advantages of local pools):- Provides community-building for children and adults
- Swim teams for younger students
- Cross-generational interactions
- Low-cost exercise
- Historical aspects of Deep Eddy and Big Stacy
- Builds community for all, Diversity and Equity of age, race and economic status
- Adjacent to neighborhood school that provides swimming lessons
- Acknowledge funding challenges/working with parks to get funding.
- Acknowledge that fees, instead of going to the general fund, be dedicated to aquatics program.
MOTION: – Tom Kilpatrick / Kathleen Littlepage – to submit a letter in support of preserving and maintaining our neighborhood = PASSED 19 for, 0 against, 0 abstain
7. 8:00 Update on St Edward’s University proposed impervious cover increase, CodeNEXT upzoning, and possible dormitories.
Presenter: Elloa Matthews, SRCC Area 5 Co-coordinator and St. Ed’s liaison (10 min)
Elloa was unable to attend tonight’s meeting. Carol reported that she would like to impervious cover issue being added to the CodeNext committee’s items to be considered. Tom Kilpatrick responded that they could do this.
8. 8:10 SRCC Bylaws Revision:
The SRCC membership will vote on the adoption of revised bylaws at the September General Membership meeting on Monday, September 4, 2017. The meeting will be held at 7:15 pm in the Fellowship Hall of Life in the City United Methodist Church, 205 E. Monroe. We need to have a quorum of approximately 19 members in order to conduct this important vote. At this meeting, a two-thirds majority vote in favor of adopting the revisions is required to pass the motion. In order to vote, member dues must be paid a month in advance, with the exception that if a former member’s dues have lapsed no more than 2 years, they may renew at the meeting and be eligible to vote.
The exact wording of the proposed bylaws is available on the SRCC website www.srccatx.org on the Bylaws page found under the About menu. Also on the SRCC website is a summary of the proposed changes and a detailed line-by-line spreadsheet showing 1) current wording; 2) proposed wording; 3) rationale for the change. – vote at September meeting. Questions?
Presenter: Carol Martin (10 min)
Carol Martin shared information about the upcoming vote about changes to SRCC Bylaws and where to find this information on the website. She shared
Restate quorum requirement to be either (a) twenty members, or (b) one-tenth of members whichever is less. Membership has been growing and sometimes difficulty to meet Quorum requirement of 10% at meetings to allow for action.
The executive committee is being expanded to include the chair of every standing committee and the ANC representative.
Because the current Membership Chair’s role has grown to include handling funds, determination of eligibility to vote and quorum for votes., the Bylaws Committee is recommending that this role be an elected officer position: Membership Secretary.
In addition, standing committees are being expanded. For example, Schools, Parks and Environment will be split into Schools and Parks; Transportation & Public Safety will be split into two different committees.
In order to hold this vote successful, we need a quorum at the upcoming September meeting ,held on Labor Day. Please try to attend.
8:20 GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
There will be an Executive Committee meeting on September 18.
NEWSLETTER–should have been delivered to every single home! Please alert me if you
have not received.
Greater South River City Neighborhood Planning Contact Team is seeking new members. Visit this page for more information: https://www.srccatx.org/about/greater-south-river-city-neighborhood-plan/
Contact Terry Franz if interested: tmfranz@airmail.net
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED! We need volunteers for several open positions
COMMUNICATIONS CHAIR
neighborhood watch program organizer
SRCC Special Events Chair to organize the July 4 picnic
SRCC Newsletter Editor
more folks interested in helping on SRCC transportation committee
Austin Monitor discount: SRCC16 for 20% off subscription
