COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD MEETING MINUTES FROM THURSDAY, January 18, 2007 Board Members Present Haydee Regueyra, Chair Jennifer Vasquez, Vice-Chair Carlos Becerra Barbara Bisno Tonja Carter Helena Del Monte Natalie French Brenda Shapiro, Ex-Officio Roudy Thomas Teresa Zorrilla-Clark Board Members Absent Bess McElroy, Secretary/Parliamentarian Samantha Imbert, Student Member Gaurav Sen, Student Member Staff Present Ada Rojas, Coordinator Natasha Colebrook-Williams, Community Outreach Specialist Julie-Ann Smith, Administrative Aide Guests Jack Blumenfeld Willy Calviño Erie Rodriguez Jeffy Mondesir, Mayor s Office Haydee Regueyra, Chair, convened the meeting at 6:08 p.m. Ada Rojas did Roll Call of all Board members. Coordinator s Report: Ada Rojas reiterated the importance of member attendance, a copy of the guidelines was given to each member. She also discussed the quorum requirements after consulting with George Wysong, the Board s legal liaison. He recommends that any time there are less than seven Board members in attendance to a Board meeting, the meeting should be adjourned. Ms. Rojas also requested approval for either additional staff or an audit of current positions which could possibly increase the salaries of staff. Ms Rojas provided an information packet on the work of the City of Miami administration, who are preparing for the imminent news of the death of Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. At the last special meeting of the CRB, all present agreed on forming three sub-committees for Education, Media and Message. Board members should be prepared to be activated at a moments notice.
III. Items to be approved by the Board A. APPROVING THE MINUTES OF: The Board considered a motion to approve the minutes for December 7, 2006, December 12, 2006, December 27, 2006 and January 3, 2007, which resulted in the following vote. The motion was made by Helena Del Monte, seconded by Teresa Zorrilla-Clark, to approve the minutes, and was passed, by the following vote. Aye: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French, Haydee Regueyra, Tonja Carter, Roudy Thomas, Teresa Zorrilla-Clark B. QUORUM CHANGE Ada Rojas addressed the Board in regard to adjourning a meeting if fewer that seven Board members were in attendance. This was clarified and recommended by the legal liaison, George Wysong. Following the above, the Board discussed the possibilities and considered a motion to approve changing the Ordinance to amend the quorum requirement to five. A motion was made by Barbara Bisno, seconded by Natalie French, to amend the quorum requirement, and was failed by the following vote. Aye: Barbara Bisno, Haydee Regueyra and Teresa Zorrilla-Clark Nay: Carlos Becerra, Tonja Carter, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French and Roudy Thomas The Board considered a motion to amend the ordinance to reflect quorum requirement of 50% of current appointed members. A motion was made by Carlos Becerra, seconded by Teresa Zorrilla-Clark, to amend current Ordinance to change quorum and was passed by the following vote. Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Teresa Zorrilla-Clark C. ANNUAL REPORT Pursuant to City Code Section 2-890, all Board s are required to present to the City Manager an annual report, due at the beginning of each year.
A motion was made by Carlos Becerra, seconded by Natalie French, to accept the annual report and include approved responses to questions 5, 6, and 7 and be presented to the City Manager, and was passed by the following vote. Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Teresa Zorrilla-Clark D. TRAINING Natalie French requested that available funds be used to train Board members and staff, when opportunities arise. The Board considered a motion to approve professional training for all, when the opportunity is prevented, prior to the end of the current fiscal year. A motion was made by Natalie French, seconded by Carlos Becerra for staff to identify training opportunities for Board and Staff, and was passed by the following vote. Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Jennifer Vasquez and Teresa Zorrilla-Clark. E. OPINION The City Manager has asked the Board s opinion in regard to the activation of the Goodwill Ambassadors for several upcoming events. A motion was made by Barbara Bisno, seconded by Carlos Becerra not to activate the Goodwill Ambassadors for the Super Motor Fest on January 20-21, 2007, and was passed by the following vote. Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Jennifer Vasquez and Teresa Zorrilla-Clark. A motion was made by Teresa Zorrilla-Clark, seconded by Helena Del Monte to activate the Goodwill Ambassadors for the Superbowl weekend activities in the City of Miami from February 2-3, 2007, and was passed by the following vote. Aye: Helena Del Monte, Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Jennifer Vasquez, Teresa Zorrilla-Clark. Nay: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Tonja Carter, Natalie French. IV. COMMITTEE REPORTS: Student Participation/Education Committee
No report at this meeting. Brenda Shapiro formally announced her resignation as Chair of the Education committee. Law Enforcement Committee: No report at this meeting. Special Events/NET Liaison Committee: Haydee Regueyra and Natasha Colebrook-Williams met with a representative from the Carnival Center for the Performing Arts, who is inclined to partner with the CRB. This would give the Board the opportunity to go ahead with the film review and community dialogue on race relations. PAC is funded by grants for educational projects, and the cost to the CRB should not exceed the Special Events budget of $2000. Suggestions were made to hold viewings on a quarterly basis at the Performing Arts Center; have a CRB sponsored film festival; show films not only to children in schools, but also open up to adults from diverse backgrounds. Movies suggested for consideration, include the following but are not limited to these: Take the Lead, Crash, Freedom Writer, and the Defiant Ones. Natasha Colebrook-Williams reported on the success of the CRB s Ultimate Business Fair which was held in December, with thirteen participating agencies. There were approximately 30 participants with needs ranging from business expansion, starting new business or assistance with ideas. The next Business Fair will be held in Model City and is currently being planned. Organizations who were exhibitors at the fair, realized they were duplicating services and have since then collaborated to hold quarterly seminars, targeted towards specific topics. SCORE has agreed to administer the matching grants project, and will be responsible for fund raising. Additional information will be available once they have attended the planning meeting scheduled for January 23 rd, when they will meet to set the criteria. Barbara Bisno made a suggestion that the CRB consider making a donation towards the grant. Jennifer Vasquez reported on her community partnership initiative. The United Nations hosts a film festival annually, in October, where they screen series of films related to UN. The CRB would be able to choose films, while acting as co-sponsors, extending support during the 3-4 day film festival. Barbara Bisno reminded all present that a list of NET offices were being passed around. Board members may take this opportunity to sign up with a new NET office or add an additional office, and new members were asked to choose an office in an area they would like to work. Nominating Committee: Helena Del Monte, chair of the committee reported. On December 29 th the committee met and selected candidates to be presented to the Commissioners and the Mayor. Mayor Diaz appointed Roudy Thomas, while rejecting the slate for the second appointment. Commissioners Spence- Jones rejected the slate and requested new resumes with candidates from within her district; Commissioner Gonzalez deferred his appointments. Commissioner Sarnoff reappointed Carlos Becerra and Barbara Bisno, while Commissioner Regalado reappointed Haydee Regueyra.
Board members are asked once again to recommend candidates from diverse ethnic backgrounds. Haydee Regueyra recommended that once Ms. Rojas has received sufficient applicable candidates from the Commissioners and the Mayor, to then schedule a committee meeting. Budget Committee: A copy of the approved budget for fiscal year 2006-07 was provided by the Chair, Natalie French. Prior to the end of this budget year, she suggested that the Board consider training for the Board and staff. Helena Del Monte suggested that to prevent poor spending habits a six month fiscal review of the budget needs to be done, line item transfers made and plan accordingly for proper spending. OLD BUSINESS: Haydee Regueyra discussed the proposed agenda for the Staff/Board agenda. To ensure that the CRB and the City of Miami is sharing the same mission, but have a clear vision, a copy of the City s score card should be made available for review and discussion; which will assist the Board in preparing their goals for the upcoming year. There were no changes to the proposed agenda after discussion. Carlos Becerra requested that all Board members be provided a copy of the Human Services Coalition annual report, prior to the staff/board retreat for review. NEW BUSINESS: Brenda Shapiro, brought to everyone s attention, the featured story in the New York Times was tensions between Blacks and Hispanics. This was written about Los Angelos, California, but the same can be said about communities within the City of Miami; tensions are growing and real in our community, which the CRB need to address. ACTION ITEMS: Board/Staff: Staff/Board retreat on Saturday, February 10, 2007 at the Doubletree Hotel, please RSVP by February 2, 2007. Jennifer Vasquez: Provide a copy of the survey done by the Human Services Coalition in regard to the needs of the community. This will need to be available for review by all Board members, prior to the retreat. Ada Rojas: Provide detailed budget, showing cost association of work done with the Board, and operating expenditures for the CRB and the Office of Community Relations. C. Becerra, R. Thomas and J. Vasquez: Tasked by Haydee Regueyra to research partnership opportunities for film festival. The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:05 p.m.