SRCC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES
MONDAY, October 23, 2017 6:30 PM
Joe’s Crab Shack Meeting Room
600 East Riverside Dr., AUSTIN, TEXAS
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CALL TO ORDER/APPROVAL OF MINUTES
1. 6:30 Meeting procedures, etiquette, welcome & introductions of new members
Presenter throughout: Gretchen Otto, SRCC President, unless otherwise noted.
2. 6:33 Membership & voting announcements. Reminder that SRCC current dues status is required to participate in SRCC business and actions such as voting and making motions. Reminder of changes to bylaws regarding voting members of EC.
Presenter: Carol Martin, Membership Chair
Carol reminded us that this is our first EC meeting since the revisions of the ByLaws have been made. The EC now includes chairs from ad hoc committees.. Officers, area coordinators, standing committee chairs & ANC rep are voting members of the EC.
3. 6:35 Approve minutes from April 17, 2017 Executive Meeting
Reminder : schedule for Executive meetings: 3rd Monday of the month; 6:30pm – 8:30pm, location TBD Proposed meeting dates through rest of term: Jan. 22, Feb. 19, April 16
Motion: Sam Martin/Mary Friedman to Approve EC minutes from April meeting 9 for/0 opposed–MOTION PASSED
REPORTS OF OFFICERS and STANDING COMMITTEES
4. 6:40 Report from the President: Update/complete officer duties; Expand volunteer roles doc; Finalize steps for e-votes; Improve record-keeping of past votes, go back and fill in gaps from the past; Find new treasurer and president (nominating committee)
Presenter: Gretchen Otto, President
Newsletter is now published and currently being distributed. Garret Nick has been hired to help make changes to the website to update & add in new information for committees. Website was originally set up so that committee chairs can make posts themselves, but lately that hasn’t been happening consistently. Garret is available to help out by making revisions, posts, and training. The officers are also trained to make posts, so articles can be sent to them for publication.
Gretchen also discussed goals for the next few months:
-Update/flesh out roles for officers: Secretary (Mary), Treasurer (Nancy), Membership Secretary (Carol), Communications Chair, Volunteer Roles (block captains, neighborhood watch, etc.) (Dan)
-Update/flesh out Rules for Electronic Meetings/Vote Document—To be used in special circumstances only, when an issue arises requires action from SRCC before then next face-to-face meeting. Rules are to ensure fairness, allowing appropriate time to read & think before voting. Wording of the motion needs to be clear and specific so that everyone knows exactly what is being voted upon. Best case scenario is that the general membership has discussion and votes. When that is not possible, the vote is held during the executive committee meeting. Electronic Votes are discouraged, because there is great value in hearing and participating in the face-to-face discussion, being given the opportunity to ask questions and hear others’ thoughts. A quorum in electronic votes would be at least 50% of the EC. (Gretchen) The EC committee discussed the size of the EC for votes and meetings when the EC includes several representatives from each area, the officers, and standing committee chairs. Discussion included difficulty of meetings/votes with large groups (30 or more), vs the need for having a good representation of the neighborhood. The decision was made the current bylaws would be “tried out†and revisions could be made to the bylaws if it was deemed necessary in the future.
-Update motions from June 2016-currently (Mary)
-Update motions from prior to 2011
–Add context and narrative to minutes when motions were made
In December, we will need to form a nominating committee to find, interview, and determine who they want to nominate as prospective officers. At the January 22nd EC meeting, we will formally vote on the nominating committee. This committee will be announced at the February general membership meeting. The first week of March is the election. The EC discussed the need for more time than 4-6 weeks for the nominating committee to seek out and vet candidates. There was discussion about whether Roberts Rules requires a vote for the nominating committee, or if the EC could appoint them. (Update: RR requires a vote but can be by EC.)
5. 6:50 Presentation of a) 2nd/3rd quarter financial reports; b) key financial dates to be completed during 2017/financial forecast for 2018 (VOTE REQUIRED TO APPROVE).
Presenters: Nancy Byrd, Treasurer; Sam Martin, Finance Chair
Sam Martin shared the 2018 Proposed Forecast document. The financial forecast for 2017 was accurate, so the same numbers were used for 2018. Carol Martin requested that the document be included with these minutes.  The proposed forecast will be presented at the general meeting in in January after the EC approves the actual EOY amounts for 2017. For a copy of the 2018 Financial Forecast, email Sam Martin at treasurer@srcc.org
Motion: Sam Martin/Laura Gass Weaver to approve the 2018 Financial Forecast as proposed by the finance committee–MOTION PASSED
6. 7:00 Committee check-ins on events/goals/issues
Presenters: Committee Chairs.
- Planning and Zoning–See notes below for CodeNEXT
- Historic Preservation–Movement towards the National Historic District Designation is continuing as reported by Gretchen Otto. As of today, James Bilodeau turned in the application to the historic landmark office for Mary Street Local Historic District. All neighbors except for new buyers (who want to demolish) were in support (or did not respond).
- Finance–See notes above for financial reports
- Mobility–Mike Kelly volunteered for this committee and has been asked to co-chair along with Jeff Kessel and Mike Sledge. The committee met and discussed that each of them will pay attention to particular Mobility/Transportation issues as listed below. Information can be best shared by posting to the SRCC website and then email a link to the Yahoo group. Info also can be shared at the general membership meetings.
—-Mass Transit and Mobility Issues—Jeff Kessel (TxDOT & Cap Metro)
—-Sidewalk, Bicycle & Pedestrian Mobility Issues–Mike Sledge
—-City of Austin/Austin Transportation Dept.—Mike Kelly (traffic calming St. Edwards Drive & Sherwood Oaks congestion/concerns, Coordination with St. Eds Liaison) - Public Safety (chair needed)
- Parks and Environment
- Schools–Travis Heights Elementary is holding their Fall Carnival this Friday
Communications (chair needed)
REPORTS OF AD HOC COMMITTEES and REPRESENTATIVES
7. 7:20 Update on CodeNEXT Committee. Recap of SRCC meeting with Mayor Adler, review of SRCC position paper on Draft 2.0 (VOTE EXPECTED).
Presenter: Tom Fitzpatrick
Tom Fitzpatrick shared information about what was discussed at the CodeNEXT meeting last week with Mayor Adler. (See website post for more information about this meeting.) Tom reported that he thought the meeting was very useful. Kathy Tovo was very positive about slowing down the process of moving forward, whereas the mayor seemed more in support of moving forward as scheduled. The CodeNEXT committee would like to submit an updated position paper by the deadline by the 31st of October. From there, the staff has less than a month to revise based upon community imput.
SRCC has sent a letter to the mayor and City Counsel to request the process slow down by 6 months (as voted upon in the last general meeting).The basic outline of the position paper are as follows:
- Address quality of the work product which is incomplete and difficulty for the public to understand and interpret.
- Ask for a pause and ask for a mapping of the rezoning
- Public input has been impaired and comparison tools have not been provided
- Suburban/Urban framework: It seems that close-in neighborhoods being transformed for urban w/o single family zoning is off base
- Flooding data is missing and environmental impacts ignored
- Up-zoning of areas are included without advantage
- Restore the Neighborhood Plans
- Affordability needs are not met by increased density
- Compatibility
- Maintain or increase current compatibility restrictions
- Request maintaining reasonable height restrictions
- Confusion about number of bars on S. Congress
- The code is not clear in relation to stealth dorms (where restrictions on the number of unrelated adults living in one house are removed)
- Administrative approvals as opposed to counsel meetings have been increased to speed up the process, but this does not allow for sufficient public input
- To view a copy of the draft/outline, email Mary Friedman at secretary@srcc.org
Motion: Tom Fitzpatrick/Dan Fredine to allow the CodeNEXT Committee to fill out the above outline and to submit a position paper to the city on behalf of SRCC. 8 in favor/0 opposed–MOTION PASSED
8. 7:35 Ad Hoc Committee check-ins on events/goals/issues
Presenters: Committee Chairs/Representatives.
- Norwood
- CodeNEXT
- NPCT
- ANC*
- SCC*
- South Central Waterfront
- St. Edward’s
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
None.
NEW BUSINESS
9. 7:45 Confirmation of Membership Secretary, a new officer position as a result of the Bylaws update. VOTE REQUIRED
Presenter: Gretchen Otto
Motion: Â Laura Gass Weaver/Mike Kelly To confirm that our previous membership secretary, Carol Martin, will be our official membership secretary as indicated by the bylaws revisions = 8 in support/0 opposed–MOTION PASSED
10. 7:50 Confirmation of Committee Chairs for new permanent committees as a result of the Bylaws update. VOTE REQUIRED
Presenter: Gretchen Otto
Motion: Â Sam Martin/Laura Gass Weaver to confirm the committee chairs as indicated below = 8 confirmed/0 opposed–MOTION PASSED
Planning & Zoning: Russell Fraser
Historic Preservation: Michele Webre
Finance: Sam Martin
Mobility: Mike Kelly
Parks & Environment: David Todd
Schools: Gretchen Otto
ANNOUNCEMENTS
We still need volunteers for the following open positions: Public Safety Chair (in charge of neighborhood watch program), Newsletter Editor (in charge of making newsletter happen), Communications Chair.
We will be forming a nominating committee for the slate of officers for the SRCC 2018 election. There will be 2 open officer positions; President and Treasurer.
Minutes Prepared by Mary Friedman, secretary@srccatx.org
