Town and Gown Committee

Town and Gown Committee Meeting Minutes Tuesday, March 13, 2018 Lawson Conference Room, 8th Floor City Hall ATTENDEES: Ann Bane, Martha Baye, Mary Fugere, Tracy Hanger, Anzell Harrell, Rodenna Kirksey, Steve Lynch, James “Pete” Peterson, Pamela Richardson, Chad Smith, Bill Thomas, Raymond Tripp, Donnie Tuck, Toni Williams, and Brenda Bailey (recorder) Guests: Darren Robinson (Community Development Department) , Selene Guerrero (Marketing and Outreach), Robin McCormick (Marketing and Outreach), and Dacia Walker (Marketing and Outreach) I. Call to Order – Vice Chair Ann Bane called the meeting to order at 12:10 pm. II. Roll Call III. Approve February 13, 2017 Meeting Minutes – Mary moved and Steve seconded to approve the minutes with the addition of Ann Bane as attendee. The motion passed unanimously. IV. Dr. Deborah Wright Retirement Social – a retirement social in honor of Dr. Wright will be held in the Thomas Nelson Community College Espada Room on March 29 from 3:00-5:00 pm. A card of congratulations was passed around for members to sign. V. Strategic Direction Subcommittees Goals & Objectives Update Communication/Community Education – Mary Fugere, Chad Smith and Dacia Hollis presented the highlights of the proposed Town & Gown Committee (TGC) webpage with tabs for “News & Info” and “Athletics” as well as Twitter feeds for Hampton University, Thomas Nelson Community College and Hampton City Schools; Chad distributed and reviewed the March 6th meeting minutes – the subcommittee would like to pursue more student-centric activities such as articulation agreements (TNCC point of contact Dr. Susan English, VP for Academic Affairs, #825-2956, englishs@tncc.edu and HU point of contact Dr. Joann Haysbert, Chancellor & Provost) ; he advised the Communication/Community Education subcommittee will begin meeting one week prior to the Town & Gown Committee meeting to provide a report to the TGC; Mary stated her hope for the subcommittee is to foster more support by and for each group represented in the TGC. Ann Bane advised Diana Gulotta’s replacement is Kellie Goral, Executive Director of Public Relations and Marketing and she can be reached at #757-727-2011 or kgoral@hampton.k12.va.us Economic Development – Steve Lynch requested a deferral to the April meeting. Bill Thomas would also like to defer his subcommittee on Community Outreach report to the April meeting. VI. Key Updates Since the February 13, 2017 Town & Gown Committee Meeting Chad provided a handout “Thomas Nelson Community College 2018 Baseball Schedule; he distributed registration forms for the June 2 Run for the Stage 5k & Fun Run at Matteson Trail sponsored by Hampton City Schools. Anzell stated Founding Day celebration will take place at 11a in Ogden Hall on Sunday, April 1 and will feature a dedication to Dr. and Mrs. Harvey; the Student Leadership Program provided more than 70,000 hours of volunteer work to the community in Pamela advised there will be a Pirates v. Notre Dame game at 9:00 pm tonight; softball and lacrosse are ongoing; all sports schedules can be viewed at www.hamptonpirates.com Raymond reminded the members there are plenty of retailers in the Coliseum Central district to help with any Easter purchasing needs; the Hyatt Place Hotel is expected to open in late September 2018 at the corner of Coliseum Drive and Pine Chapel Road and the Element Hotel is expected to open in late 2018 at Peninsula Town Center. Selene stated she is seeking Round Robin interview candidates and is happy to promote all TGC events on Round Robin; she will be in contact with Hampton University and Thomas Nelson Community College in an effort to boost e-News subscribers. Darren shared handouts for “Hampton 101” scheduled for March 29 beginning at 8:30am at Sandy Bottom Nature Park and “Hampton Home Repair Blitz” scheduled for May 5 at Kraft Elementary School in Northampton, there will be a meeting in the Community Development Conference Room-5th Floor, City Hall on April 5th beginning at 5:00pm. Rodenna distributed a handout “Empower Me Too” Women’s Conference being held March 17 at TNCC in Wythe Hall Gallery beginning at 8:30 am. Steve advised Pier 88 Restaurant at 2040 Coliseum Drive will potentially open in May; Fullers Raw Bar & Grill at 38 E. Mellen Street does not have an opening date yet; “The Hampton” banquet facility is open for public rentals and catering; Economic Development submitted an application with six zones for federal government funds via tax credits called “Opportunity Zone” by the deadline March 2; Virginia Business featured WPS Health Solutions, Inc. as the largest project of the year for Hampton Roads Economic Development Alliance and the City of Hampton, WPS leased the former Sprint building and employs a staff of 750; Virginia Tech Agricultural Research and Extension Centers (AREC) requested $2.9M from the Commonwealth General Assembly, $2M from Virginia Tech and $2M from City of Hampton to make necessary improvements to their facility; the fourth building of the Keep It Simple Suites complex at 3000 Incubator Road held its grand opening and ribbon cutting on February 16. Pete stated the City is currently in the public input phase of the Budget process. Martha shared that she facilitated the annual Hampton University Student Government Association Town Hall on February 20 giving students the opportunity to pose questions about a variety of topics; she will share the newly-elected student government contact information with the committee at her earliest opportunity. Mary announced the School Nutrition Association of Virginia will hold its state annual conference at the Embassy Suites March 14-18; the Virginia Education Association Annual Delegate Assembly April 18-21 at Embassy Suites; the 2018 Urgency of Now (RuON) Symposium will take place from 6:00-8:30 pm on March 20 at the Hampton Roads Convention Center and will include a tour of the city.  Toni stated the Historic Phoebus Spring Fling will take place from 10:00am-5:00pm on April 21; all Phoebus events can be viewed at phoebuseventsva.com. Mayor Tuck stated Synethia White, organizer of Urgency of Now events, is seeking interns for the event, she can be reached at 727-2730 or swhite@hampton.gov; in partnership with Sister Cities of Hampton, the Mayor’s Office will host South African Ambassador to the United States, Mninway Mahlangu, from April 11th – 12th, the visit will include a dinner in the Ambassador’s honor and a tour of the City of Hampton. VII. Next Meeting: April 10, 2018 VIII. Adjournment – There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 1:10 pm.