Charles Village Community Benefits District Management Authority

2434 St. Paul Street

Baltimore, Maryland 21218

BOARD MEETING

MINUTES

JULY 14, 2009

Present:

Gary Letteron

Rob Books Dawna Cobb

Derek Demaree Alan Garske

Jason Pyeron Delora Sanchez

Kirsch Jones Robin Truiett-Theodorson

Jeff Millard Terence Dickson

Also Present: David Hill

Call to Order:

The meeting was called to order with a quorum present at 7:08 p.m.

Agenda:

The agenda was approved by unanimous consent.

Minutes:

Minutes of the May 2009 minutes were approved by unanimous consent.

Executive Director’s Report:

In June the CVCBDMA received $7,800 in surcharge funds for a total of $501,000 received to date. This leaves CVCBDMA about 26K short of the estimated revenue for FY 2009. Mr. Hill expects this balance will be received in August. The CVCBD also received $31,500 from JHU, which is half of its contribution for FY 2010.

Mr. Hill sought competitive bids for audit services. The auditor used in past years, T. R. Klein, submitted a bid for $8,000 and another firm, Handwerger, Cardegna, Funkhouser & Lurman (HCFL), bid $6800. T. R. Klein reduced its bid to $7500, but the District will enter into an agreement with HCFL.

The Board of Estimates unanimously approved the CVCBD FY 2010 budget on June 17, 2009. The day before, Mr. Hill met with the City Council President to address concerns raised by Mr. Gewirtz and Ms. Joan Floyd in their protest letters objecting to the approval of the budget.

Mr. Hill reported hiring the new Safety Coordinator, Mr. Brown, and eight young people from Youth Works for the summer!

The sanitation team collected 2,800 bags in June and it is expected they will collect more than 3,000 in July. The team also collected bulk trash from the alleys and issued crime and grime alerts. The team is reaching its limit as to the amount of trash it can collect. Team members are seeing more household trash next to CVCBD baskets. It appears that residents are dumping bags of household trash in alleys; businesses are not using dumpsters and instead are relying on the CVCBD. This could be the result of the reduction in trash pick-ups from two days to one. The Mid-town Benefits District also reports that it is collecting more trash.

Committee Reports:

Finance Committee

Mr. Millard reviewed the balance sheet and profit and loss statement. The balance sheet shows cash balance of $ 70K. This amount should enable the CVCBD to meet its June and July expenses. Overall the CVCBD is in good financial shape.

Mr. Griffin’s letter to JHU’s President asking for additional support elicited a response from the President, who indicated that all JHU contributions have been cut by 10%. He pointed out that JHU has contributed to the CVCBD in other ways (donation of a safety vehicle and conference table, contribution toward purchase of new sanitation vehicle, etc) and is likely to make additional similar contributions in the future. The President offered the University’s resources to assist the CVCBD for fund-raising purposes. Delora Sanchez reported that JHU would like to support a safety forum with the new CVCBD Coordinator, Community Safety Program.

Executive Committee:

This committee did not meet last month.

Governance Committee

This committee did not meet last month; the committee is still waiting for feedback from counsel on the proposed Bylaw changes.

By e-mail, the committee voted to recommend Tuesday, October 13 2009 as the date the fall elections. A motion to approve that date was approved by unanimous consent.

Mr. Demaree asked whether a Greenmount business group had contacted Mr. Hill about representation on the board. Mr. Hill reported that Greater Homewood Community Corporation is no longer the sponsoring entity for Waverly Main Street. He is meeting tomorrow with a group of people involved with Waverly Main Street who are forming a non-profit to continue this project. He sat on the WMS Board but now membership will be predicated on a “substantial” donation. He will seek to learn more about this requirement.

Program Committee

Mr. Books reported that the committee met last week and looked at the beginnings of the new website. Mr. Hill explained that the website is being redesigned because the patchwork approach to past updates has made using the site challenging.

We are no longer having roll off dumpsters because contractors were dropping using them to discard their building materials.

National Night Out is August 4. Walter Brown is attempting to get VIPs to attend this event.

CVCBD might be willing to sponsor a Waverly parade in late September if the theme was safety and sanitation. Mr. Hill will find out more in his meeting with the folks from Waverly who are continuing the Main Street project.

Public Comment:

Mr. Gewirtz stated on the Mayor’s Clean up Day, the CVCBD picked up trash which violated the baseline agreement. He also complained that a dumpster that Mr. Hill promised was not delivered. Mr. Hill explained that he ordered the dumpster, but the City didn’t deliver.

Mr. Gewirtz expressed his displeasure that he received an e-mail from Mr. Hill asking if he knew of the source of dirt left by a trash can on his block.

Mr. Gewirtz observed that that not every member of the board is a property owner, one is a renter and that this information is not accurately reflected on the website. This matter was referred to the Governance Committee.

He also reported that a number of tree limbs weren’t picked up and blocked the storm drain. He waited for a week and then e-mailed the CVCBD.

Announcements

There is a liquor board hearing July 16 involving the bar at 27^th and Howard. Mr. Gewirtz opposes the license. CVCA is opposing changing the license to a BD-7.

A motion to adjourn was approved by unanimous consent at 7:55 p.m.