Community Relations Committee Meeting Notes 4 Feb 2015
UAC Community Relations Committee
4 February 2015, 8pm
Rm100 Northwood High Building
Members: Beeman (P), Bouska(A), Odden(P), Runta(A), Supelak(P), Uhas Sauer(P),
Young(P)
Attending: Commissioners Grado, Keeny, and Krupp.
Commissioner Supelak convened and oversaw the meeting.
Chair nominations and appointment:
Beeman nominated Supelak; Uhas Sauer seconded. Supelak indicated interest in
Chairing a different standing committee; discussion followed about the load
associated with Chairing multiple committees.
Odden self‐nominated; Beeman seconded. Odden elected.
Commissioner Supelak agreed to administer the remainder of the meeting.
Electronic Resources: To date, Commissioner Goodnight had administered the web
site, Facebook and email list alone. Commissioner Supelak has agreed to carefully
evaluate our web site.
Commissioner Young ‐ Is there any information that can be passed along, written
down, etc? How do we document procedural, operational details of maintaining our
electornic communications resources? Put together some kind of a manual
containing institutional memory for processes such as web site and listserv
maintenance. Commissioner Supelak will inquire with Commissioner Goodnight
about that status and details of UAC’s various electronic accounts. Commissioner
Odden: We need an organizational repository for account credentials so that we’re
not relying on single individuals to maintain this information.
Reaching community members via the widest possible range of media, but without
significantly duplicating effort? WordPress plug‐ins facilitate this – Odden will
pursue.
Listserv issues were discussed:
What’s the proper “From” address for our mailing list?
How to effectively increase our reach?
‐ Email signup sheet?
‐ Box on the web site?
‐ Single email invitation to other email lists of which we’re aware?
‐ Opt‐in or opt‐out method? Commissioner Supelak: Consensus from 2014 meeting
was that we would send invitations to subscribe rather than subscribing without
asking first, then providing a mechanism to unsubscribe.
Commissioner Keeny: Reach out to key contacts from neighborhood‐level orgs to
invite?
Commissioner Grado: Commissioners themselves should be in touch with their
constituents, walk their neighborhoods, etc.
Commissioner Uhas Sauer: Reach out to area churches via a letter inviting, among
others things, subscribing to our newsletter?
Commissioner Young: Also announce Commissioners who represent a given district,
matched to those organizations?
Commissioner Odden: Emails are ephemeral. Need some mechanism for public
archiving so that those subscribing later, or not at all, still have access.
Commissioner Supelak indicated the need to improve both the currency and
vibrancy of the web site. Specifically mentioned posting agendas and minutes on
time. She suggested delegating this task to committee Chairs; Commissioner Keeny
indicated that she currently handles the posting tasks for the Zoning Committee.
Commissioner Odden indicated that Commissioner Hegley also performs the same
function regularly for the Governance Committee.
Commissioner Supelak revisited the list of items delegated to Community Relations
in the ‘supercommittee’ brainstorming session. Commissioner Supelak invited us to
discuss and prioritize items from the brainstorming list and consider other business
items for the coming year.
Commissioner Uhas Sauer indicated that the Neighborhood Services Inc
presentation during 2014 was informative, and wondered what other area
organizations might present. Commissioner Odden will contact Star House and
Huckleberry House for a presentation during 2015.
Commissioner Supelak – UDO Safety Committee had been meeting every 5th
Wednesday, postponed for the time being. Safety Coordinating Committee Public
Service (was Public Service / Code Enforcement) meeting bimonthly. Commissioner
Uhas Sauer will reach out to Matt Hansen about the status and schedule of UDO
standing committees.
Commissioner Keeny suggested that we could engage Kim Jacobs specifically about
police‐community relations. Commissioner Supelak indicated that there are
upcoming community forums specifically for this purpose.
Commissioner Supelak – It’s difficult for single representatives to committees or
organizations to capture the full range of community concerns applicable to that
organization or committee. Commissioners Supelak and Grado had a lively
discussion about the difficulty of identifying who’s an advocate or liaison and who’s
simply a contact without an advocacy or liaison role.
Commissioner Supelak: It’s important to enable citizens to self‐help. Some of these
issues are about isolation vs solidarity. Made point about lack of recycling service,
and that multiple requests made in isolation did not receive adequate/timely
response.
Meeting adjourned approx 9:05pm.
Attendance/Vote Record
Name – Attendance – Committee Chair Vote
Beeman – Present – Odden
Bouska – Absent
Odden – Present – Abstain
Runta – Absent
Supelak – Present – Odden
Uhas Sauer – Present – Odden
Young – Present – Odden
