Mid Hillside and Hillside East Community Councils

Minutes 20 May 2004

John Weddleton’s convened the meeting at 7:00 pm. Seventeen people attended the meeting.

FCC Report

The Federation of Community Councils budget from the city has gone from $108,000 for the last ten years or so, to $27,000 this next year, but the FCC has $50,000 in savings and is expected to get $30,000 from the State to cushion the drop.

Library

Art Weeks came to get feedback on branch libraries and library priorities. The feedback on branches was mixed, for and against. It was generally agreed that the library should become a more inviting place, especially for teens, like Tidal Wave or Barnes and Noble.

Assembly Report

Janice Schamberg gave the Assembly Report:

• An ordinance was passed on barking dogs, based on recommendations from Animal Control, which had no statutory basis for judging acceptable vs unacceptable disturbance. The new limits are 7 minutes / hour during the day and 5 minutes during the night. Licensed facilities, e.g. kennels, will be allowed four 20-minute periods during the day to allow for feeding time and such.
• Work on site condos was unfinished, with more work scheduled for June 8. There has been a lot of input from developers, but not much from the rest of the community. The most important thing seems to be to let potential buyers know exactly what they are getting into.

Legislative Report

Con Bunde reported on the legislative session. Education was increased by $94 million, of which $82 million was in the foundation formula, and will carry on to future years. The ASD deficit of $26 million, of which half was due to retirement fund deficits, was covered entirely.

New Business

Hillside District Plan

The Hillside District Plan, an integral part of the overall city plan, has been in limbo for years. There is now a movement to do a citizen-funded and citizen-led plan. Where the government studies have been estimated at $1 million to $2 million, while the current proposal is estimated at $350,000. This will go toward coordination, hydrological studies, traffic studies, and water/drainage studies. Some funds may come from AWWU, the Traffic Dept., and the Fire Dept. Ky Holland offered a resolution to support this. That was passed unanimously by Hillside East. Mid Hillside lacked a quorum and will vote by email.

Capital Projects List

A questionnaire from the Municipality on ranking capital projects in the district was distributed at the April meeting. The projects were discussed and a number of items deleted.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:22 P.M.