Neighborhood Planning Council 2 - North Central

NORTHCENTRAL NEIGHBORHOOD PLANNING COUNCIL #2 Meeting Minutes ‐ Monday, March 11, 2013 – Neighborhoods, Inc. 1. Call to Order & Welcome: The meeting was called to order at 7:05 by S. Gray, Chair. 2. Attendance, Members Present: Jeffrey Dinkins, Scott Hutchings (FHC), Lynn Ward Gray, Samuel Gray, Kitty Hillian, Steve Lee, Pastor Keith McDonald, Nancy Walker (NIBC) and Fredrico Porter. Members Absent: Dorothy Young Members Excused Absence: Sheryl McDonald, Tammie Porter and Betty Settles. Guests: Jeanette Cook (City Staff) Officer Ryan Thayer (BCPD), Adam Castle (American Red Cross), Dianne Hatley (BCPS), Karen Lynn Todd (BC Enquirer), Pastor Joe Hooper (Faith Temple). 3. Approval of Minutes: The minutes for January 14, 2013 and February 11, 2013 meetings were approved, after a quorum was reached. A motion was made by K. Hillian to approve the mintues, second was made by S. Hutchings‐FHC, motion carried. 4. Correspondences & Announcements: • S. Gray read a thank you card received at the City from Julie Josiak for the Beautiful BC Award for 25 Gordon Blvd. In today’s paper, Facing Peril about school safety. They will be conducting simulations at the schools. There are 4 public sessions, with the Battle Creek School Safety Task Force. S. Gray encouraged the community to get involved in keeping our schools safe. • L. Gray announced 2 upcoming City Commission workshops: Crime and Perception workshop on March 18 @ 6:00 pm, and Budget Workshop on March 21 @ 6:00 pm both will be held at the Department of Public Works. Also, the Parks and Recreation Department will be hiring 50 youth to work at Full Blast for the summer. 5. Committee & City Staff Reports: a. Police Department – Officer Ryan Thayer: Officer Thayer distributed the report for February. February crime stats were down, with 59 reported, B&E’s were down, 10 assaults, and 13 drug related incidents. A question was asked regarding tinted windows, as there are several sightings of cars with tinted windows. Officer Thayer indicated that they do stop vehicles with too much tint on them, and tickets are issued where appropriate. It was also reported that some drivers may have medical reasons for additional tinting on vehicle windows. b. Neighborhood Services – Jeanette Cook distributed the Report for February 11 – March 10 for all Code Violations. Code violation was issue for 66 Manchester for yard waste, and a ticket was issued for failure to comply, and 55 Howland was added to vacant/abandoned list. A sheet was distributed for anyone to list any issues with addresses that can be followed up with an investigation. The issue of residents not clearing the snow off of the sidewalks was also brought up, especially with the young kids having to walk to school.  c. Beautiful Battle Creek Award Nominations –There were no nominations. d. Membership – J. Dinkins made a motion that Pastor Joe Hooper, Faith Temple Church of God in Christ, 382 N. Washington Ave. become a member of NPC2, K. Hillian second, motion carried. e. City/County Commissioner(s) – L. Gray reported that there will be some redistricting in an attempt to redistribute the residents per precinct, which can have no more than 2999 per precinct. A Redistricting update with a map was distributed. They are looking to revise the Youth Advisory Council consisting of up to 18 members, ages 14 ‐20, working with the Commissioners. It was established in 2003, but they want to revitalize this program with the youth in the City to get them more involved. Go to Battlecreekmi.gov for applications. 2nd Annual Ward 2 Town Hall meeting will be on May 30 at 6:00 pm at Macedonia Church. Calhoun County Legislative Breakfast at Burnham Brook is on March 22 at 8:00 am. J. Dinkins brought up the property at the corner of Wood St. and Roseneath , indicating that it is being used to dispose trash, which has been going on for about a year, but it is getting worse. It is not clear as to who owns the property and is responsible to clear it. J. Dinkins also inquired about what happens to the property when a house is demolished, if there were any plans to build on the property. It was explained that whether the City or the County owns the property, the property owners next to the property are first offered the opportunity to the purchase the property. She was also concerned that the house has asbestos shingles, and wanted to assure that there were proper procedures in place to assure safety for residents during the demolition. f. Battle Creek Public Schools – D. Hatley reported that they are starting Early Childhood/Pre‐ school and Kindergarten round‐up this month at each of the elementary buildings. There is a millage vote coming up in May for the sinking fund renewal to repair and maintain buildings, which is 2 mills. BCPS is hiring school bus drivers. S. Gray mentioned that Lt. Jim Grafton to the next NPC meeting to discuss school safety. 6. Presentation: Mr. Adam Castle, American Red Cross, made a very informative presentation on Disaster Preparedness. He had disaster kits to hand out to everyone. Go to Ready.gov for additional information on emergency preparedness. 7. Old Business: S. Gray shared that the NPC minutes are shared with other NPC’s. All minutes are loaded on the NPC websites. Anyone can go to the website to review the minutes. As part of the Strategic Plan, S. Gray gave kudos to Neighborhoods Inc. for publishing the meeting information for all NPC’s in the Shopper. Another part of Strategic Plan was also to  increase membership. One strategy was to engage churches in the NPC to become members. They will be contacting each church and request that they have a representative attend a community church luncheon at the Family Health Center, tentatively for April 23. NIBC will provide lunch. There was a discussion about getting the 50 block captains to increase membership. The block captains are to help disseminate information to each of the blocks in the neighborhood. A question was raised about the use of the Hubbard Street Community House. S. Gray reminded the members that NIBC owns the house, and that it is not being used as a Community House at this time. F. Porter asked why the Community House couldn’t be used to hold the NPC2 meetings, as well as other programs for the neighborhood. L. Gray reminded the group that Bill (NIBC) had stated months ago that the community house is no longer in service, but that he will consider someone with a valuable plan to utilize the community house, or even purchase the house. 8. New Business: None. 9. Public Comments/Member Comments: Scott (FHC) reported that properties were purchased and buildings will be coming down for the Women’s Health Center project. S. Gray reported that he wrote a letter in support of the FHC project, indicating NPC2 members present were in agreement but as an NPC, as there was not a quorum at the last meeting. J. Dinkins noted that she should have been excused from the last meeting. Pastor Keith was excused from last meeting as well. 10. Next Meeting: Monday, April 8, 2013, 7:00 pm at Neighborhoods, Inc., 47 N Washington Ave. 11. Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm. Respectfully Submitted: Nancy Walker (NIBC), Assistant Secretary NPC2 Mission: To improve the quality of life by listening and engaging residents. NPC 2 Vision: A safe, friendly, family‐driven neighborhood where everyone wants to live. The City of Battle Creek will provide necessary reasonable auxiliary aids and services, such as signers for the hearing impaired and audiotapes of printed materials being considered in the meeting upon reasonable notice to the city of Battle Creek. Individuals with disabilities requiring auxiliary aids or services should contact the City of Battle Creek by writing or calling the following: City Clerk Office at (269) 966‐3348/TDD.