Mid-Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils

Meeting Minutes
January 17, 2002

Call to order:

The meeting was called to order by President John Weddleton at 7 pm. Eight people attending. Board Members present were Jeff Clarke and John Weddleton and Hillside East President Tom Newins.

Introductions:

President's Report: John Weddleton

Minutes of the previous meeting: Summarized in Monthly Meeting Notice.

Federation of Community Councils Report: John Weddleton reported on the FCC meeting of January 16, 2001.

Anchorage Assembly Report:

Dick Tremaine and Janice Shamberg Dick Tremaine reported that the State said it will no longer maintain Sultana Rd off Toilsome Rd at Glen Alps. He asked for comments.

The Assembly voted to stop requiring dual votes for service area bonds. (Bonds paid for by only the service area, must be approved by the city as a whole as well because the city is responsible in case of default.)

The proposed bonds for parks were discussed. The major bond is about $9 million and sets an Anchorage record. There's also a stand alone bond proposed by the Mayor for $4.5 million for the Simonian Little League. Jeff Clarke pointed out that having the Mayor's Little League bond stand alone is inconsistent with the rationale presented for the change from dual voting on service area bonds.

Janice Shamberg presented the timeline for the Capital Improvements budget. Community Councils are involved at initial steps. (The timeline will be posted at the council's website.)

Legislative Teleconference:

Kevin Meyers and Con Bunde and their aides Lorali Carter, Ben Grenn and Karen McCarthy .

The legislators have submitted a variety of bills examples regard sexual assault, streamlining the adoption process, a change in permitting residential contractors and education bills.

The major message regarded the state's fiscal gap: "If you're in a hole, stop digging." This rally cry appears to be the first step in solving the problem.

Con Bunde said he's inclined to protect the core functions of state government" Health, Education, transportation and public safety. Possible areas to cut are airports in the bush and a cap on the permanent fund.

Kevin Meyers suggested a seasonal sales tax, and a constitutional amendment to cap the budget.

PRESENTATION: Community Council Introspection

The Anchorage Municipal Charter Article VIII Section 8.01 says:

The section continues that councils shall "evaluate compliance with the [comprehensive] plan ... "conduct a continuing review and study of the plan." Councils wil also "assume leadership and propose action in regard to enforcement of existing laws or ordinances, .. desired ..change in or additions to laws...,or any matter of policy regulation." Councils should "respond to local government proposals" and "Work with local government..."

The city has a role, too. "Except where action must be taken on an emergency basis, the mayor shall be responsible for giving to community councils an opportunity to participate ..."

Well, that's easy to say, but how exactly does it work? That was the topic of the evening.

Dave Paperman, Director of the Community Councils Center gave us some tips on being an effective Council

Some Community Councils do big things. The Spenard Community Council helped enforcement of zoning violations by doing lots of the initial legwork required. In Mt. View, lots of changes have occurred with a vigorous Community Council.

Do Survey. Target super voters by phone.

Get the police to show up regularly. Coordinate with Al Meiners from Chugach State Park.

Change the bylaws so the board can make a resolution. (Mid-Hillside Community Council Bylaws require that a quorum of registered members be present for a resolution.)

Meg King from UAA-Resource Solutions.

Meg has done quite a bit of work studying Community Councils and their role in Anchorage government.

A main point is that the Community Councils can get frustrated dealing with the city and elected officials and they get frustrated working with Community Councils.

"The frustration likely stems from unclear expectations of what the role and responsibilities of the Community Councils are, and how and when they should fit into the Municipal decision-making process."

Meg presented quite a bit of information for the board to ponder as we continue to develop the Community Council.

CC Models

1) Spenard Model

A core group of 3 to 10 community members determined their priority issues, sought out the appropriate Municipal staff, created a game plan, kept elected officials apprised and set out to "clean up" Spenard using current ordinances and permitting requirements

.The Spenard Community Council used the comprehensive plan and carefully showed how and what was out of compliance. That aided the MOA planning staff and led to changes.

2) Abbott Loop and Taku-Campbell Model

Use Community Council meetings as a learning opportunity by having a panel presentation and Q&A on topics of interest.

3) Conventional Model

Use Community Council meetings to respond to requests from the MOA or from other Community Councils for comments.

Some problems:

Community Councils choose educational meeting topics that are redundant with other groups.

It may be time to reevaluate the Community Council structure. Community Councils were set up when there was no MOA planning department. Now there's a staff of pros who offer opportunity for public input on issues.

There are complaints from DOT staff regarding the role of Community Councils. Staff knows that Community Councils may not be representative of their area. At the same time Community Councils expect more attention.

What we are going to do

It became clear in the discussion that a first step is to do a community wide survey. The survey will identify the goals we should pursue.

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In the framework used by the MOA, we provide the following information. We'll be able to assess our results and, hopefully, we'll be as successful as we expect our city government to be.

Customers Served: Residents of our councils, elected officials and government agencies.

Mission: Represent our area's viewpoint and interests to elected officials and government agencies.

Goals:

Residents of our area knowledgeable about our local government's activities in our area.

Residents use the Community Council to participate in government actions that impact our council area.

The Community Council is a forum for developing a consensus on issues in the area .

Objective:

Be attentive to activities that impact our area.
 Info provided from MOA, Assembly, state, agencies, other groups.
Stay ahead of issues: Hillside Area Plan, Abbott/Lake Otis Town Center other plans involvement.

Form committees for key areas: Zoning, Area Plan, Roads, Parks others.

Ascertain the council area's opinion.
 Do surveys
Increase meeting attendance
Coordinate with other neighborhood groups in the area such as PTA's, road service areas and HALO.

Hold monthly meetings to provide a consensus building forum, education and info from and to elected representatives. Monthly meetings will offer balanced presentations with issues discussed from numerous viewpoints.

Monthly newsletter will announce future meetings and provide information on government activities important to our area.


Performance Measures:

Ascertain the council area's opinion.
Meeting attendance
Survey response
Comments to board members

Keep up with activities that impact our area.
Meetings attended
Comments provided via e-mail, letters, conversation
Attend Federation of Community Councils meetings
Issues tracked

Represent the area's viewpoint and interests
Council proclamations
Testimony at hearings

Problems solved

Direct Services Provided:

Comfortable access to our representatives

Forum for addressing issues in our area.

Educational Meetings

Representation at agency meetings

Newsletter

Website

Meeting Adjourned at 9:00 pm