INC NEWS - Nov/Dec minutes

[pat carstensen]

I'll get out Jan minutes tomorrow or so.  I am testing how bad the minutes 
look in simple text form.


Inter-Neighborhood Council
Making Better Neighborhoods
www.durhaminc.org
Minutes of Meeting of November 30,2004

REPRESENTATIVES PRESENT
Don Stauffacher	Marquis-Pierre
Ginny Skalski	Herald Sun
Kelly Jarrett	Old West Durham
Betty Greene	Old West Durham
Richard Mullinax	Old North Durham
Michael Shiflett	Northgate Park
Cheryl Sweeney	Northgate Park
Helena Cragg	Old North Durham
Carrie Mowry	Old North Durham
John Compton	Old North Durham
Mike Woodard	Watts Hospital – Hillandale NA
Pat Carstensen	Cross County
Deb Christie	Piney Mountain / Colony Hill
Jay Reinstein	City Manager’s Office
Jacqueline Olich	Erwin Area Neighborhood Gr
Sheila Miglarese	Westwood Estates
Lynwood D. Best	Housing and Community Dev
Josh Parker	Trinity Park
Patrick W, Baker	Eno Trace / City Manager
Bill Anderson	Duke Park
Randy Pickle	Forest Hills
Delilah Donaldson	Durham Human Relations

Administration and Announcements
President Bill Anderson opened the meeting.  Members introduced themselves.

Get Acquainted with Interim City Manager – Patrick Baker spoke a little 
about his background, especially his work in nuisance abatement. The Code 
Enforcement Nuisance Abatement Team (CENAT) has 2 code enforcement teams and 
is researching landlord training or licensing, starting community outreach 
and education teams, and exploring better technology.  Perception is an 
issue; we have a window to capitalize on good things happening in Durham.  
Internal meetings within city government are trying to figure out how to be 
more effective.  Yard waste plan was not Al Davis’s idea; Mr. Baker is 
trying to empower department heads more to avoid things like this.  They are 
looking at new park bond, so see need to be more accountable about what 
happened with last park bond money.  Accountability is finally with City 
Council, so will need political support to get changes in right direction.

Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) – RSVP helps people 55 years old 
or older find good volunteer opportunities.  Their 3 most important programs 
are looking for new participants.  Senior Care gets lower cost prescriptions 
for people over 65.  Tax Counseling for Elderly will do taxes for free for 
anyone, but especially seniors.  Reading Buddy has volunteers in all the 
elementary schools, spending time with students who need more help.  Their 
website is www.durhamtech.edu/html/aboutdt/rsvp.htm.

Court Funding – We finally voted to support better funding for Durham 
courts.  Pat will draft a letter.

Treasurer’s Report – The treasurer’s shoebox has been re-arranged.  We have 
$981.28 in checking, $2223.72 in savings.  We voted to change banks as more 
convenient to the treasurer, free checking, and get new checks with dates 
that don’t say 19__.  Pat and Randy will deal with documentation to get this 
done.  Dues were due in October – we will be sending out notices.

Website Committee – We need to figure out what web site should look like, 
how we get new content for it, how we decide what other organizations it 
links to, and so on.  Randy Pickle, Mike Shiflett, and Helena Cragg 
volunteered to be on the committee.  We also voted to spend up to $100 to 
register the domain name DurhamINC.org for 10 years.

Information / Committee Reports / Business
1. Crime perception will be topic of future meeting
2. Come to State of Human Rights breakfast, which will honor Howard Clement, 
Dec 10.
3. Come to Domestic Violence Candlelight Vigil in lobby of City Hall, Dec 
15.
4. UDO committee should have report by end of month.
5. Executive Committee will look into the requirement in bylaws that 
neighborhoods have at least 40 houses, since Marquis-Pierre is not this big.
6. Environmental Roundtable is starting discussions among different 
organization.  Pat Carstensen and Mike Woodard were at first meeting.  We’ll 
see where it goes.
7. A Citizen Advisory Committee on Capital Improvement Plan is starting to 
meet to look at infrastructure as part of build-up to bond referendum.
8. Results Based Accountability – 8 committees at various stages of 
progress.  Will come up with a way to get a "report card" on how Durham is 
doing on safety, health, environment, housing, and so on.
9. Jacqueline Olich and Deb Christie reported on efforts to purchase land 
"formerly known as Duke Forest" on the Durham / Orange County line to keep 
it as open space / parkland instead of a development.  The sticking point is 
Crosland’s $500,000 for their "lost profit opportunity."  Erwin Area 
Neighborhood Group will come back with a resolution for INC in January.

The meeting was adjourned.