Public Arts Board Meeting

Norman Public Arts Board November 11, 2019 4:00 p.m. MAINSITE Gallery 122 East Main Norman, OK In Attendance: Cheryl Lockstone, Douglas Shaw Elder, Michael Bendure, Gary Kramer, Lynne Siano, Erin Gavaghan (NAC Executive Director), Debby Williams (NAC Public Art Manager). Item 1 – Call to Order A quorum present, Lockstone called the meeting to order at 4:04 p.m. Item 2 – Welcome to Guests No guests were present at this meeting. Item 3 – Approval of Minutes A motion to approve the minutes from the October meeting was made by Siano and seconded by Bendure. The minutes were accepted without further discussion. Item 4 – Update of Finances Lockstone tabled the finance report due to concerns she had, following a cursory review of reports from 2013 through 2018 in which she found unexplained jumps in the balance. On that same topic, Elder expressed concern about the trend of decreasing utility donations over the past few months. A discussion of possible explanations and solutions ensued. Lockstone asked Gavaghan to prepare a report of the PAB’s financial history to be presented at the next meeting. Gavaghan agreed. Elder proposed the formation of a speaking campaign to civic clubs and community organizations to promote the utility donation option. Siano wondered if the decreasing utility donations were part of a recurring cycle of monthly donation increases and decreases due to seasonal demands on family budgets. Gavaghan reported that recent changes in the City of Norman’s online bill-pay procedures had resulted in the elimination of the PAB donation option. As a result, only customers who paid their utility bill by mail and who had set up a recurring PAB donation schedule could continue the utility donation process.  It was finally suggested that PAB identify the city office or individual who has the responsibility and ability to correct the problem, and ask them to do so. Lockstone agreed to pursue that option. To increase options through which citizens could easily and repeatedly donate to PAB, Kramer made a motion to ask NAC to set up a sustaining, or recurring monthly donation link for PAB on the NAC website. Bendure seconded. The motion passed and Gavaghan said she would see that it happened. Kramer asked if the PAB finances were audited. Gavaghan explained that PAB finances were included in the annual audit of NAC, but the audit report included no specific breakdown of PAB accounts or activities. During the discussion, Gavaghan had done an in-the-moment, on-site review of the PAB financial records and reported that there had, indeed, been a $10,000 bump in the balance. She explained that this amount had been granted to PAB from NAC in a year in which hotel/motel room tax revenues had exceeded the amount needed to fund all the grant requests, so NAC had shared that windfall with PAB in a single, lump donation. She also confirmed Elder’s concern that utility donation amount had declined markedly in recent months. She then reported that the current PAB net available funds were correct as reported at $39,699.03, the result of years of carry-over of donations that had not been spent on PAB projects. Since the Financial Report had already been tabled, no further action was taken. Item 5 – Bike Rack Report Elder reported that no progress had been made on the pending bike rack fabrication and installation. Gavaghan added that NAC had investigated the delay in fabrication and determined that the process would soon be back on track. She further reported that installations do not occur during cold-weather months, so there was no urgency about the delay. Item 6 – NAC Public Arts Manager Updates A) Percent for Art Projects Williams reported that there had been 62 proposals received in response to the call for proposals for the Ruby Grant Park project of the Norman Forward project. PAB will have a representative on the committee that selects an artist from the list of finalists. B) Public Art is Smart C) Public Art Mater Plan Williams reported that the Public Art Master Plan process is continuing with SWAT Analysis meetings soon to be held by City of Norman staff followed the NAC board members. At this point, Lockstone interrupted the report to ask if Williams could submit her report in writing in advance of PAB meetings to allow board members time to review the content prior to attending the meeting. Lockstone pointed out that Williams already prepares a written report which is presented to NAC board members at a meeting held four days after the PAB meeting. Williams agreed to prepare the report a week earlier each month and send it to Lockstone for review and distribution to PAB board members.  Lockstone veered further from the agenda to express her continued concerns and dissatisfaction with board composition and participation. A quick poll of the members present revealed a distinct difference among members’ expectations of PAB membership: Bendure and Siano said their expectations were that PAB is an oversight board. Elder and Kramer said their expectations were that PAB is a working board. A discussion ensued. Following the discussion, Lockstone offered to draft a Committee Charter that would help define PAB roles and responsibilities while allowing for increased participation in PAB activities by interested members of the community. Lockstone also distributed a board matrix form utilized by NAC and asked for board members to offer, via email, suggestions and feedback on the document. D) Public Arts Workshop Budget. Lockstone asked to revisit the original board decision of agreeing to fund the NAC workshop series with an amount not to exceed $7,000. She expressed concern that the original decision had been rushed without having specific budget information to consider at the time. Williams said that she had been made aware of the concerns and presented a revised workshop budget for the two remaining sessions. Following a discussion of the revised budget, Siano made a motion to amend the approved workshop amount to be funded by PAB for the remaining two workshop sessions from $6,400 to an amount not to exceed $2,400 as per William’s proposed, revised budget. Kramer seconded. Motion passed. Item 7 – New Business A) Prime Architects Building Mural Lockstone reported that she had been approached by a representative of Prime Architects who had asked for assistance managing an external mural project on their building, which is private property and not under the purview of PAB. Following a brief discussion, Elder suggested that an appropriate response to this request would be to provide the interested parties with the newly developed PAB Artist-Initiated Projects Procedures and to invite a representative from Prime Architects to make a presentation to PAB at an appropriate meeting in the future. Lockstone agreed to provide the information and give the invitation. B) The Big Event C) City of Norman Artful Inlet Project PAB received a request to contribute $2,000 for artist stipends for the 2020 Artful Inlets Project of the Stormwater Division of the City of Norman. Following a brief discussion Siano moved to grant the request in the amount of $2,000. Kramer seconded. Motion passed.  D) Election of Officers Lockstone distributed a list of current PAB members with the dates each term is scheduled to end. She pointed out the some terms end in October while others end in June, resulting in a gap in some officer terms. A motion to extend the appointment of Mauldin, which had expired October 31, 2019, to June 30, 2020 to make it align with the other terms was made by Kramer and seconded by Siano. Motion passed without further discussion. Bendure then made a motion to carry the current slate of officer through June 30, 2020. Kramer seconded, and the motion passed. The meeting adjourned at 6:25 p.m. Following the meeting, Lockstone send out an email asking an online vote to appoint Elder as the PAB representative on the NAC Round Table committee. Appointment passed.