Neighborhood Commission Agendas & Minutes

MINUTES Hampton Neighborhood Commission Meeting Community Development Conference Room, City Hall April 9, 2012 Time 6:00-7:30pm Present Ann Bane, School Rep. Nancy Belew, District 3 Alice Callahan, District 6 Robin Carpenter, District 7 Antonio Davis, At-large Rep. Karen Duncan, District 1 Tammy Flynn, City Rep. James Gray, City Rep. Judy Hart, District 10 Joseph Johnson, At-large Henry Mills, Institutional Rep Deborah Roundtree-Jones, Institutional Rep. Valerie Twine, District 2 Catherine Winston, District 8 Tommy Southall, Chair Terry O’Neill, Executive Director Rashida Costley-Clarke, Recording Secretary Absent Lynn Allsbrook, City Rep. Tina Banks-Gray, District 4 Sadie Boone, District 5 Guests I. Opening Call to Order The meeting was called to order at 6:00pm A. Roll Call and Verification of Quorum Quorum verified. B. Pledge of Allegiance 1  C. Approval of Minutes of the March 12, 2012 Neighborhood Commission Meeting The Chair asked for consideration of the minutes for the March 12, 2012 Neighborhood Commission meeting. Antonio Davis made a motion to approve the minutes. Deborah Roundtree-Jones seconded the motion. The Chair called for a vote. Chair voiced, “All in favor please say aye.” Response, “aye.” Chair voiced, “Opposed?” Response – none. Minutes approved. D. Chair Announcements Tommy informed the Commission that the Executive Committee discussed the upcoming meetings with City Council members. o The plan is for a small group of Neighborhood Commissioners to meet with two Council members at a time to discuss the proposed work plan. This information will come from the goals discussion that will be continued tonight. o The meetings will be informal and structured so that we receive feedback in similar ways making it easier to incorporate into the work plan. E. Youth Report Anthony White presented on behalf of the Neighborhood Youth Advisory Board (NYAB). NYAB held a retreat this past week at the Northampton Community Center. New and current members discussed the vision, goals for the year participated in team building activities. F. No items from the public II. Actions (New Business) Item A. • Neighborhood Commission Appointments (Vote) Karen Duncan presented on behalf of the Nominating Committee regarding Youth and City representative appointments. 2  o Youth representative nominations are brought forward by the NYAB, as such, Anthony White and Ryan Jones have been nominated to serve unexpired Youth representative terms until September 30, 2012. o City representative nominations are made by the City Manager, as such, Anthony Reyes has been nominated to serve the remainder of Lynn Allsbrooks term until September 30, 2012. The Nominating Committee recommends approval. APPROVED AYES: 15- A. Bane, , N. Belew, A. Callahan, R. Carpenter, A. Davis, K. Duncan, T. Flynn, J. Gray, J. Hart, J. Johnson, H. Mills, D. Rountree-Jones, V. Twine , C. Winston, and T. Southall. NAYS: 0 ABSTAIN: 0 ABSENT: 3- L. Allsbrook, S. Boone, and T. Banks-Gray. Item B. Crime and Grime Briefing Jonathan gave an introduction of the program and introduced staff members; (1) Steve Shaprio, Deputy Director of Community Development, (2) Phil Russell, Property Maintenance Division Manager, and Lt. Walden , Hampton Police Department- Community Relations. Highlights of the presentation include: o History of the Crime and Grime Program o Results of the Crime and Grime Summit held in June 2011 James Gray reviewed statistics regarding codes and crime violations. o Steve Shapiro explained the demolition process: ƒ Codes will declare a property a public nuisance. The owner has 30 days to correct violations. ƒ An ad is run in the Daily Press with the projected date of demolition and the title company is notified. ƒ The City currently uses Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), capital budget and city budget funds to address blighted properties. ƒ When capital budget funds are used a lien is put on the property. 3  ƒ Original owner will still own the land even after demolition. o Lt. Walden discussed some current police activity: ƒ High visibility as a crime deterrent has been effective. ƒ Traffic stops and road blocks are effective strategies as well. ƒ HPD operates robbery details during the holiday season. ƒ Police still need citizen’s assistance. There are additional strategies to address crime issues than just calling the police. We need regular eyes and ears on the community. • Questions from Commissioners included; o Is a summons usually the last step in the process? ƒ We make every effort to work with the homeowners to bring them properties into compliance. o How many houses were demolished that were drug properties? ƒ The statistics are not available at this time on this. However, abandoned houses often become drug havens. o Jonathan presented some updated strategies: ƒ Specifically looking to define the strategies in each neighborhood. Some options include a neighborhood walk, neighborhood watch, targeted training and education, other ongoing strategies. ƒ The Crime and Grime Ad-hoc Committee will be asking district representatives to name someone in their district/sector to serve on the committee. • Next steps o Commissioners should spread the word out about the Crime and Grime program. o The City’s objective is to get people to fix up their houses, move back in and become an active citizen. Additional questions and comments from Commissioners; o How can we put a spin on this (successes) to have it shown on Channel 47? This can be discussed at future meetings and may include a discussion between the Crime & Grime Ad Hoc and Marketing and Outreach Committee. o Will the Neighborhood Watch program be looked at to see if they can help provide more information? This has been discussed as an option. But no timeline has been developed for this review 4  o Is there lead time for crimes to be processed and entered into the system? Yes, some cases have priority such as homicides, etc. lower priority cases may take a few days to get logged into the computer. o Can the Commissioners connect with Neighborhood Watch Coordinators? At this time. Information can be sent out through the HPD staff to the Area Coordinators but contact information cannot be shared by the staff. Item C. Commission Roles and Work Plan Discussion • This agenda item is a continuation of the discussion from previous agendas. Jonathan and Sabrina facilitated the discussion regarding Commission goals. • The discussion began with a brief discussion regarding the uniqueness Commissioners bring to Hampton. Highlights of the discussion include; o Diverse experiences o Connections with organizations (neighborhood and community organizations), city services o Resources (grant programs) o One stop shop for neighborhood issues, get people connected, liaison o City-wide perspective (beyond a single neighborhood) o Commission is reflective of the diversity of the community (microcosm of Hampton) - geography, perspectives in decision making, stakeholder groups, etc. o Liaison for the community o Project the voice of the community o Conduit to carry information to and from the community (streamlined); consistent 2 way communication o Bring citizen input to City Council – Liaison to share community concerns with Council o Represent/bring credibility o Voice for neighborhoods – consolidated and collaborative voice • Commissioners revised and confirmed on their top three goals, which are; o Maintain and enhance neighborhood quality, appearance and pride o Neighborhoods and schools have a strong partnership and o Hampton provides more opportunities to engage respond and inform citizens on community issues by use of multiple means of communication. • Commissioners then discussed potential resources they would bring to each goal and their unique roles as the Neighborhood Commission in achieving the goal. • Goal 1: Maintain and Enhance neighborhood Quality Appearance and Pride: 5  o Provide grants to enhance the appearance of the neighborhood. ƒ Park benches, landscaping, etc. ƒ Knowledge of who to contact in the city. o Funds can be applied in a neighborhood driven manner. This gives the neighborhoods ownership of the process. o Experience – what works/doesn’t work with neighborhood groups; share experience to help connect and motivate neighborhoods o Capacity to solve problem at the lowest level – promotes ownership, community empowerment o Realize that every neighborhood is unique, it’s made up of unique people, and we don’t take a cookie-cutter approach to neighborhood issues. o Resources to promote pride (social grants) o Build capacity Possible City Council Question: Does City Council still believe that there should be a forum to discuss neighborhood issues outside of Council meetings? • Goal 2: Neighborhoods and Schools have a strong partnership: o Commission can help facilitate community connections and help address issues ex. Insurance o Reach out to other organizations to build connections/partnerships and work towards a common goal ƒ Reach out to other stakeholders to leverage partnerships (schools, faith, etc) o Promote schools like we promote neighborhoods (schools connected to neighborhoods and vice versa) ƒ School advocate – connected to the strength of the neighborhood/confidence o Strong neighborhoods and strong schools bring in businesses • Goal 3: Hampton provides more opportunities to engage respond and inform citizens on community issues by use of multiple means of communication. o Voice o Two-Way Communication o Connections o Encourage opportunities ƒ Presence generates the conversations in the community so we can have a proactive approach ƒ Know the pulse of the community o Have targeted opportunities that the Commission helps raise awareness of ex. Hampton 101 o Help resolve community issues – facilitate a solution to community issues 6  o Neutral body to encourage importance of involvement regardless of your point of view (importance of participation) o Can get information into the community first – organizers – have a first glance at programs/services – can tell others Include in a cover letter to the council that what we’re bringing to the community is unique based on the discussion. IV. Dialogue A. Matters by Commissioners • Northampton Civic League is going to have a Candidates Forum this week from 6:30-9pm. • BCA is having a Candidates forum on Monday, 28th 7pm at Jones Middle School • Aberdeen Elementary will be a site for beautification on Friday April 27, 2012. There will be a celebration cookout afterwards. Aberdeen Gardens also hosted a political forum on March 27. • Three school sites were selected for the HR Green clean up on April 27 & 28. • A Memorial Day service opportunity is available. This is a weekend when large churches take Sunday services to go to clean and improve local schools in the area. • Tammy Flynn will narrow down a large list of events from Marketing, Inc. and provide that list for Commissioners to share with their community groups. B. Committee Status Reports • Marketing—committee wants feedback on how they can help introduce new Commissioners to the public. o The Committee recommends asking citizens to call 311 to get information on their Commissioner. o The Committee needs to know how the Commissioner wants to be contacted. o Commissioners were asked to submit a bio. o The Committee wants to help Commissioners figure out where to start. They have narrowed down the suggestions to the top 5 things that you can do when starting out in your role as a Commissioner. ƒ Send an email out to all neighborhood leaders in your area. ƒ Encourage them to invite you to board meetings, etc. so that you can introduce yourself to the group. 7  ƒ Stay in constant communication with neighborhood leaders by sending emails to them regularly with information from Commission meetings. ƒ Commissioners should increase their use of the internal website. ƒ Commissioners need to familiarize themselves with the grants. • Nominating Committee is still in need of two additional Commissioners to serve on the Committee. Deborah Roundtree-Jones volunteered. • Crime and Grime Committee- Dr Johnson reminded Commissioners to think of someone in their district that would be good to serve on the committee. Director’s report • Manager’s recommended budget will be released on April 13, 2012. • YMCA is willing to offer swim training at the community pools at a reduced rate, and they will be partnering with the pools on the open pool days this summer. • Training update- The next training is schedule for on April 17 at 6:30pm. • Fort Monroe’s pool will be open this summer. The pool is being operated by a private vendor. Next Meeting Date: May 14, 2012 @ 6:00pm. Location: Community Development Conference Room, City Hall. 8