NPA - All Wards

Neighborhood Planning Assembly Draft Minutes NPA: Wards Wards Wards Ward Ward (All Wards) 1&8 2&3 4&7 5 6 Date of Assembly :_4/29/2025__ Start Time: (Commence): _6:33 PM______ Location: City Hall Finish Time: (Adjourn): 8:30 PM Facilitator: Lena Greenberg (W5) Note taker: Cathay Foley (W5) Please forward these official minutes to: Shawny Corey Steering Committee Members in Attendance: 23 NPA members attended. 18 in-persona and 5 via Zoom. All wards were represented except Ward 2. In person reps: Ward 1 - 2; Ward 2: none; Ward 3 - 5; Ward 5 - 4; Ward 6 - 3, Ward 7 - 3, Ward 8 - 1 One Ward 3 member was moving to Ward 2 soon. Only 2 people attending were not Steering Committee members. Shawny Corey (CEDO) coordinated the audio-visual for Zoom. Ana-Marie Robu also attended from CEDO. Discussion Topics ● Possible new structure of NPA Actions Taken / Decisions Made Budgets ● No decisions were made but one committee was formed to ● Discussion on a possible city-wide formulate proposals for NPA funding, allotments and usage to be conversation about shifting from presented at the next All Wards NPA meeting. party-run caucuses to city-run primaries. Agenda Items and Actions: Lena Greenberg opened the meeting and stated the purpose of the meeting was to the above two topics. She then opened the floor for general comments about what Ward Steering Committee members would like to see going forward: ● Steve from Ward 7 is now preparing meals for the Ward 4-7 NPA meetings. He would like to prepare a meal for an All Wards meeting in the future. ● A Ward 7 member would like to see more training for Steering Committee members. ● Multiple members said they would like to see a summer picnic or event for All Wards. ● A non-steering committee member who works for Chocolate Thunder (a local security company) would like to be security for future All-Ward events. ● Not all members have access to the All Wards list and files. Arrangements will be made to add them to the access. Agenda Item 1: Possible new structure of NPA Budgets Shawny from CEDO explained that all wards currently receive $3000 per year and can spend it as they choose as long as they follow the city guidelines for allowable expenditures. She will make the links available to look at the city guidelines. The fiscal year for budgets runs from July 1 to June 30th. To date, all wards combines have only spent 44% of the budget. (Ward 5 has spent 100% of its budget and has received a donation from Ward 8’s budget to complete the year) Ana-Marie Robu from CEDO reminded members that they must spend their remaining budgets by May 31, 2025 or lose the funds. There was a robust discussion on this topic with multiple view points from members. There was no consensus among members but there was agreement to form a working committee to further discuss the issue and come up with proposals to be presented at the next NPA All Wards meeting. Steering Committee members who volunteered to work on the committee are: Mark Leopold, Anita Rapone, Jason Van Driesche, Zachary Cummings, Jane McDonald, Stephen Brown and Cathy Foley. Jason Van Driesche will organize a meeting and contact the individuals who volunteered. Key Points brought up: ● The focus of budget allocating should be on what each NPA does. ● There was considerable agreement that a priority for NPA budgeting needs to be to cover the cost of the NPA venue if it is not provided free of charge. (Only Ward 1 currently pays for a venue - $100 per month) ● Each Ward briefly explained how they use their budgets. ● Several Wards thought is was important to serve meals at NPA meetings as it is a catalyst to get people to come together. ● A few Wards feel paying for outreach supplies was a main priority. ● A motion was made that NPA funds should cover the cost of venues prior to any other expenditures. The motion was seconded but not voted on as another Motion was made to table further discussion on the topic and form a working group. That motion was also seconded but not voted on either. There was consensus to start a working group. Agenda Item 2: Discussion regarding a possible city-wide conversation about shifting from party-run caucuses to city-run open primaries. In summation of the entire discussion, there was little interest in pursuing this topic as an All-Wards project. Most of the attendees expressed an opinion on the topic with most stating that this was not within the scope of NPAs. There was no vote taken but there was general agreement that this would not be something moving forward through the NPAs. The meeting adjourned at 8:30 pm.