Capitol Hill Community Council

Capitol Hill Community Council
General Meeting Minutes: May 21,2009

In Attendance: 13 community members including officers (Justin Carder, Charlette LeFevre & Hong Chhuor)

Call to Order/Introduction

Open Floor

Dennis Saxman: Seattle U. development plans, SCCC community info session on noise.
Charlette/Justin: Sound Transit updates.
So-So: We should let the professionals do what they do and not get in the way.
Justin: Announcement re: Cap Hill Garage Sale 6/13 and Cap Hill Art Walk 6/11.

April Minutes Reviewed

Finance Report

CHCC General Account Balance $1535.74
Open Space Committee Balance $179.31

Committee Reports

Arts & Events Committee Report

Pride Festival now has a poster! Partially paid for in-kind by Panache. Charlette provided a brief run-down of the event and progress for those who were unfamiliar. Meetings are now every Sunday at 7pm at the Seattle Museum of the Mysteries.

Announcement that drag-queen Shannel will be performing at the festival.

Checks have started to come into the CHCC PO box covering booth fees (approx. 104 booths available, total of $952.32 received so far). Charlette is providing a rough budget estimate of $5,000 including contingency and expects to raise at least $8,000 in just booth fees alone. Unfortunately, the NMF fund application for the event has been denied.

On behalf of the Arts & Events committee, Charlette asked for an initial outlay from the CHCC General Fund for $1,200 to cover city permitting fees & time-sensitive expenses so that they may move forward with plans. Questions came up regarding whether or not the Committee plans on directing excess funds raised from the event towards the General Fund – it is not clear at this time as Charlette’s understanding of our obligations as an organization registered as a charity through the WA State Department of State requires us to direct the majority of funds raised for an event towards the event itself rather than the organization. Council President Justin Carder & Council Treasurer & Secretary Hong Chhuor raised questions regarding this as their understanding of the requirements is odds with this.

Various community members then expressed discomfort with approving the expenditure of nearly 80% of remaining cash in the General Fund when it has not been established what the return on the Council’s investment in this event will be.

As a compromise, Hong proposed a scenario whereby the Council will agree to disburse funds from the General Fund on a “loan” basis – the Committee may submit requests for reimbursements from the Council up to $1200 with the understanding that as funds are received as designated for the Festival (i.e. booth fees), they will first be applied towards paying down the loan from the Council’s General Fund.

Justin put forward a motion to have the Arts & Events Committee submit a formal proposal detailing the following:

(1) The amount of funds requested from the Council’s General Fund.
(2) Whether these funds will be disbursed as a grant or a loan as detailed above.
(3) Clarification on the revenue-sharing provisions between the Committee & Council.
(4) Any other provisions that the Committee would like the Council to consider.

The proposal will need to be posted to the CHCC website by 5pm on Friday, May 22, 2009 for interested community members to consider. Continued discussion and a vote on whether or not to approve said proposal will be undertaken at the 2nd Candidate Presentation on Tuesday, May 26th at the Cal Anderson Park Shelterhouse starting at 7pm.

Open Space Committee Report

Jen Power reports – Dept of Neighborhoods – Neighbordhood Matching Fund Update: NMF Open House at TT Minor was attended by steering committee members Jen Power, Hong Chhuor, Nanette Fok & Glenn MacGilvra.

Next event will be the Capitol Hill Garage Sale on June 13th.

Technology Committee Report

Justin Carder reports that traffic to the website was slightly lower than April without giving specifics. No significant change on the number of website subscribers or number of Facebook group members.

Discussion Topics

Election Planning & Organization

Justin will be asking Andrew Taylor to head up the coordination of the election process (i.e. count votes and ensure transparency, objectivity & compliance with Council bylaws). Date will be the June General Meeting (6/25/09) starting at 7pm the Cal Anderson Park Shelterhouse.

Candidate presentations will be an opportunity to learn about candidates & their goals. Election night will serve as a more formal question & answer session where community members are encouraged to pose challenge questions to their candidates and seek clarification on their goals.

A discussion about the possibility of accommodating absentee voting this year was conducted with the conclusion that it was not feasible at this time.

Bylaws Final Review

A motion was proposed, seconded & approved to skip this agenda item in the interest of time.

Candidate Presentations

Clark Smith: Secretary Candidate
Josh Mahar: At-Large Representative Candidate
Web Crowell: At-Large Representative Candidate
Tony Russo: Undecided
Jennifer Power: President Candidate
Hong Chhuor: Vice-President Candidate
Charlette LeFevre: President Candidate

** Please visit the website for candidate bios & statements.

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