Charles Village Community Benefits District Management Authority

Board Meeting

Minutes

July 13, 2010

2434 St. Paul Street, Baltimore, Maryland 21218

 

Present:

Gary Letteron                    Derek Demaree                 Jennifer Erickson              Jason Pyeron

Paul Burk                            Jeff Millard                         Delora Sanchez                 Kirsch Jones

Allan Garske                       Jay Orr

 

Also Present: David Hill, Sidney Woods, representative of Councilwoman Conaway’s office

 

Call to Order: 

The meeting was called to order with a quorum at 7:00 PM by Mr. Demaree.  

 

Agenda:

The agenda was submitted for approval by Mr. Demaree, motioned, seconded and approved.      

 

Minutes: 

After no corrections, the minutes were submitted for approval by Mr. Demaree, motioned, seconded and approved.           

 

Executive Director Report: 

Mr. Hill presented the Director’s reporting.  Highlights include:

·        Fund Raising: Raised $39,731 to date toward $60,000 goal which were comprised primarily of ‘in-kind’ contributions, employment programs and income from contracts.  Mr. Hill highlighted the ‘in-kind’ contributions from employment programs pointing out that these  allow the CVCBD to utilized ‘free labor’ to supplement the work of permanent paid staff without the HR or administrative costs .   Employment referrals come from the Mayor’s Employment program, the Court (i.e. community service), and volunteers from the Tuerk House.    Mr. Millard inquired as to whether or not it might make sense for the CVCBD to apply for Federal grant programs at some dollar threshold versus the employment programs currently utilized.   Mr. Hill noted he would need to investigate but given the CVCBD organization’s size and the detailed program tracking and follow-up required, this might be excessively cumbersome on administration.    

·        Reauthorization:  June 14th, City Council approved to reauthorize the CVCBD for another four years.  Bob Cooke and committee headed this effort.  The CVCBD staff was not directly involved in this effort this year. 

·        Budget FY2011:  June 16th, the Board of Estimates approved the CVCBD Budget for FY 2011

·        Quad Elections:  October Quad elections are rapidly approaching.  In accordance with By-Laws, the   CVCBD needs to begin advertising soon.  Therefore, Mr. Hill requested that the Board set a specific date for the elections.   Mr. Hill inquired whether or not having the Quad election on the same night as the October Board meeting might make sense as this was done successfully last year. October 12th as the date for the Quad Elections was motioned by Mr. Jones, seconded by Mr. Letteron and approved unanimously.   Mr. Hill will begin advertising via The Charles Villager, the City newspapers as well as the website and among the community associations.

·        York Road assessment:  In June, the City refunded York Road residents for surcharge taxes they should not have had to pay over the last seven years.  The City has decided that the CVCBD should repay the City for these refunds.  However, Councilwoman Clarke has taken the CVCBD’s request to not repay the City to the City Legal and Collections Departments on the ground that the City was in a position to know that specific York corridor residents were not applicable to the CVCBD surtax.   We have received no reply yet, but city legal is reviewing.  Councilwoman Conaway’s representative, Mr. Woods, who was in attendance was asked to bring this to the Councilwoman’s attention and requested to support the CVCBD’s position and join with Councilwoman Clarke.  

·        National Night Out Against Crime is August 3rd with details on the website.  Three locations will be featured and the CVCBD will support the community efforts with food, banners, balloons with City & Northern District personnel expected to stop at each location.        

 

Committee Reports:

 

Executive Committee:

The Executive Committee met in a closed session to discuss the Executive Director annual evaluation after compilation of Board members input and reviewing Mr. Hill’s self assessment.   

 

Finance Committee:   

Treasurer, Mr. Millard reviewed the financial statements for May and noted that June’s was just released which he had briefly reviewed.   May highlights included:

·        The May balance sheet showed no significant change, and was generally on budget;    

·        Total May Income of $623,879 had a negative variance of $47,981. Shortage part of past years collections which could be recovered over time and in next FY cycles. 

·        Total May Program Costs of $64,127 close to budget, but expenses are more predictable;

·        Facility expense variance explained primarily by Depreciation.

·        Net Income from June’s Income Statement of $14,500, although short of budget by ~$23,000, still reflects a good year. 

·        There may be expenses in July that are attributable to June (last fiscal year).  The financials do not yet, appropriately, show adjustments related to this issue.  Once settled the FY10 financials may need to be adjusted.      

·        Councilwoman Clarke has taken up York corridor surtax ‘refund’ issue with the City’s legal area.  Unless otherwise notified, the CVCBD’s August payment of surtax receipts will be debited the York corridor amount.    As noted above, the CVCBD has asked Mr. Woods to raise this issue with Councilwoman Conaway and deliver the CVCBD Board’s request that she join in this effort. 

 

Program Committee:

The Program Committee

The Committee met twice since May’s board meeting and highlights include:

·        Jay Orr resigned from the Program committee;  

·        Sanitation was the over-riding discussion, highlights included:

o   How to initiate a Rat Abatement pilot program that has  measurable outcomes;

o   How to determine the scale of a rat abatement project (CVCBD-wide or an initial focused/targeted area);

o   The Program committee wanted to recommend to the Board that the E.D. formally ask Sanitation/other City officials to enforce sanitation laws.  A discussion ensued on how and whether or not E.D. should request this without support of the Community first and in conjunction with formal support.  It was suggest that each of the member Associations (AIA, CVCA, Harwood, and OGCA) should ask its respective Boards and /or Membership to consider Enforcement and all that it would entail. 

o   After much discussion, it was requested that the Program committee come up with talking points to give to the Associations in order for each to go to its Board and/or Membership to ask if Enforcement of Sanitation (lids on trash cans, trash in yards and alleys, etc which would likely result in fines to property owners and residents) is something each Association would formally support (i.e. in a letter to City officials) in order to help eradicate the rat population in Charles Village.    

o   The Program Committee will meet in the coming days (date to be determined) to pull together discussion points to share with the Board and specifically to help the Associations determine support levels.  Jennifer Erickson agreed to participate in this special meeting of the Program Committee.     

 

Governance Committee:  

·        No meeting last month.  However, updates include:

·        Mr. Pyeron reported that the By-Laws review by CVCBD’s pro bono attorney is still underway, the attorney has been side-tracked by a case in Texas; he has been very apologetic but expects comments in the coming weeks. 

·        Waverly Merchants Association is now formally included as one of the business associations in the CVCBD By-Laws.   The Board is awaiting the assignment of the two representatives by the Waverly Merchants Association. 

·        No replacement Quad 1 candidates have come forward.  Rob Mara was suggested as a suitable candidate and Mr. Hill volunteered to approach him about his interest. 

 

Public comments:  

None

 

Announcements:

·        Ms. Erickson noted the Charles Street Reconstruction Project community meeting by the DOT was held July 12th and information about the project and the power point presentation and details could be viewed on its website:  http://www.charlesstreet.mdprojects.com/.  The City and Planners were asking all affected business owner s, groups, and residents to communicate with the City about any special restrictions, events, or issues by the end of the summer so any special needs that should be accommodated can be placed in the plans. 

·        National Night Out Against Crime is August 3 and the CVCBD is supporting the Community through three sites (noted on the CVCBD website and advertised through several Crime Alert e-mails).   

 

A motion to adjourn at 8:30 PM was approved with unanimous consent.