Governance Committee Report- May 7, 2008
Meeting Notes – May 7, 2008
Present: Members: Sean Cunningham, Sharon Young, Catherine Girves, Grayson Atha, Lisabeth Warncke and David Hegley (Chair) Excused: Robert Caldwell and Ian MacConnell
Meeting called to order @ 7:04 PM
1. Discussion on current UAC bylaws giving all Commissioner Ex-Officio status at all Committee meetings
Ø There were no comments, the second reading is scheduled for May Commission meeting.
2. Discussion on proposal to reconfigure UAC bylaws to make them easier to read and group similar responsibilities together.
Ø Based on the time left in the Commission year it is not realistic to make any more changes to the by laws. Although the goal is to change the format of the by laws not the content, because the by laws reference specific lines, this formatting change will still require a vote to change the reference points.
Ø There is general support to change the arrangement of the by laws to group similar activities together for example the duties of the Treasurer are called out in several sections, the goal would be to combine all these duties in one place.
Ø Commissioner Girves agreed to share the user friendly guide she created several years ago to see if this could be updated.
Ø The Committee feels the user friendly guide could be a useful document to create the final draft of the by laws, but there is no need to have two separate documents with the same information.
3. Review of items left on the agenda for this year and discussion on whether to recommend next years Committee pick up these items.
Ø Keep consideration of a censure policy for the Commission (VOTE: Yes – Cunningham, Young, No – Girves, Atha, Warncke, Hegley) Recommendation: Do not work on this next year.
Ø Keep including by law change to clearly state when a Commissioner should abstain from voting. (VOTE: Yes – Cunningham, Young, Girves, Atha, Warncke No – Hegley) Recommendation: This is an important conflict of interest issue and it should be considered for next years agenda.
Ø Keep the discussion on the make up of the Commission. Currently 40% of Commissioners are appointed/nominated, consider rather than elected. Consider if there should be some change to how this done. (VOTE: Yes – Cunningham, Girves, Atha, Warncke, Hegley, No – Young) Recommendation: This should be kept on the agenda next year and a new dialogue started.
4. Review and comment on proposed Commission training agenda
Ø Proposed training date is July 2, 2008 at 7:00 PM during the first Governance Committee meetings to hopefully accommodate people with schedule conflicts. There will also be discussion with Community Relations to see if they would be willing to join with Governance to support this training and make it a full two hours.
Ø Training Agenda:
v Background and history of the University Area Commission
v Demographic make up of the University Area, including both people and businesses.
v Review maps of the University Area, discussion on possible tour of the area.
v Review UAC bylaws, highlights of Roberts’s Rules of Order and Highlights of the Ohio Sunshine laws.
v Review of the basics of Zoning in the University Area includes some general UAC guidelines and issues that are both unique and important to the University area.
Meeting adjourned @ 8:02 PM
Next Meeting: June 4, 2008 at University Baptist Church, 50 West Lane Ave