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The Presidents' Council of Homeowners Associations

Minutes of the March 28th, 2002 meeting, held at Barnum School

Attendees: David Bloom, Dorothy Conrad, Jim Cubera, Bill Duffy, Ken Gorski, Denise Grzech, Joan Heinicke, Jeff Hockman, Jean Holland, Anne Honhart, Paula Jones, Gary Kulak, Denise McEwan, Paul Reagan, Ralph Seger, Paul Reagan, Peggy Ryan, Mel Zosnick.

The meeting was called to order at 7:10 by Paul Reagan.

Paul explained this meeting is to be a planning session, and will follow a different format from our usual business meetings.

Operations:
Minutes: Minutes from 2/28/02 were not available.
Treasury: Eight of 18 associations have paid; current balance is $1,088.18.

Old Business:
-- Booth Park: City Commission has adopted the plan developed by the Booth Park Committee, and the grant proposal has been submitted to the state.
-- Barnum site: There is no official word yet on when Beaumont will put the Barnum site up for sale.
-- Code of Ethics: Two versions have been made available by the Commission for public comment (available on the City's web page at www.ci.birmingham.mi.us).The first is an edited version of the code submitted by the Presidents' Council, the second was developed by Commissioner Don Carney, City Attorney Tim Currier, and City Manager Tom Markus. Paul pointed out that part of the value of an ethics code lies in the public discussion, which raises awareness of the issues. Dorothy Conrad suggested we forward our comments to Paul for an official Presidents' Council response. Jean Holland felt that individual comments should also be sent to the Commission. Ralph Seger circulated the draft of his letter responding to the two codes.
-- Sewer Roundtable: Paul thanked David Bloom for making the sewer Roundtable a great success and for the follow-up letter he wrote. There has been excellent feedback from this session.

New Business
Planning for 2002-2003
This meeting was conducted as a brainstorming session. For purposes of clarity, the minutes will be organized by subject.
The Council defined three major areas on which to focus:
1. Provide assistance to help neighborhoods organize effectively
2. Lobby for residential issues
3. Educate the public regarding issues of interest to residents

1. Assistance to neighborhoods:
Provide guidelines for projects and activities. Paul proposed an "organizing kit" for new and existing neighborhood associations. Jean offered to write guidelines on publishing a newsletter, organizing block parties, progressive dinners, and holiday luminarias. Ken Gorski will ask Geri Dunkle to write a guide for maintaining a neighborhood website, and Dorothy will do one for organizing a neighborhood and starting a neighborhood association. Jim Cubera had forwarded information on COHA, Farmington Hills' council of homeowners' associations. This may provide additional ideas for our Presidents' Council.
Denise Grzech has been very successful in recruiting new members. She pointed out that face-to-face invitations are the most effective method, and Torry's active residents go door to door to recruit in defined geographic areas. She and Dorothy are willing to help other associations with this strategy. Several members affirmed that residents become interested in neighborhood associations only when there is a "hot button" issue which directly affects them. The PC should offer help in identifying these issues.

2. Lobby for residential issues:
Bill Duffy summarized our mission in this area: the role of the Presidents' Council is to research, define, education and lobby for solutions to the problems and needs of Birmingham neighborhoods. We should work to change City policy when existing mechanisms are not serving the needs of the neighborhoods (e.g. traffic and sewer issues). Neighborhood associations should periodically survey their members to define issues of concern. Roundtables are an effective forum for generating ideas, but there must be follow-up to ensure those ideas are put into practice. Each Roundtable should generate a list of actionable items. Although the PC previously committed the first half hour of each Roundtable to follow-up on prior topics, this was judged to be inappropriate. Follow-up should be at the Commission level.

RESOLUTION: Jeff Hockman moved, and Denise McEwan seconded, that we send a letter to the mayor and City Commission requesting discussion on or specific actions on recommendations which come out of each Roundtable. The motion was passed unanimously. These items should remain on the Presidents' Council agenda until the Commission has acted.

3. Educate the public regarding issues of interest to residents:
There is no single organ of communication to reach all of Birmingham's residents. The Birmingham Quarterly might be utilized; perhaps a list of neighborhood associations and contact people could be published yearly. Roundtables could be included on the calendar. Roundtables are a great means of educating residents, but we must develop more effective ways of publicizing them: announcements on the local cable TV channel, notices in the newspapers, inclusion on websites, publication in neighborhood newsletters. Paul urged utilization of existing channels of communication. Roundtable sessions should be video taped to make them accessible to a larger audience. Topics of discussion should be generated by resident surveys. Jean suggested we should also consider covering basic issues such as home rule, state funding, watershed management, and roads.

Traffic Roundtable:
Paul notes that the traffic Roundtable is becoming a forum on walkability. It is evident enforcement does not solve traffic problems. He has contacted experts in traffic calming and has on loan a packet which covers a wide range of problem conditions along with possible design solutions. Oakland County Planning Supervisor Bret Rasegan has offered to give the slide show and evaluate two areas in the city to show how design changes might calm traffic. Since the session will focus on design, City Engineer Dennis Dembiec should probably be there; we will suggest that to the Mayor. Paul has arranged for the Roundtable to be taped and broadcast on Channel 18 Birmingham / Bloomfield Television; Ralph cautioned that the City should know about this ahead of time.
Dorothy pointed out there is a City pamphlet on traffic calming which should be available at the Roundtable. Anne suggested that the role of destination traffic ought to be addressed.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:10.

The next meeting will be on Thursday, May 2nd, in the Townsend Hotel board room (graciously arranged by Jeff Hockman).

Tentative locations for future meetings are: May 30th, Embury Methodist Church on 14 Mile, and June 27th, the Community House.