Attendees

Neighborhood/ Community Reps (quorum >4): Serena Watters, Kelleigh Eastman, Gigi Lazard, Melanie Scheirer, Sonia Eaddy, Charisse Lue Anchors: Kurt Sommer, Bill Joyner, Jane Shaab, Kris Hoellen, Rebecca Altman, Gregg Herlong Committees: Dr. Laura Dykes, Abigail Breiseth, Dr. Nicole King, Molly Finch, Howard Hughes, Scott Kashnow

 

SWP Board Meeting Minutes

March, 18, 2025 |  7 – 8:30 PM

Location: CEC / Virtual: Zoom

  • 7:10 Call to Order – Scott -> Laura is on her way
  • Attendance (quorum > 10)
      1. Neighborhood/ Community Reps (quorum >4): Serena Watters, Kelleigh Eastman, Gigi  Lazard, Melanie Scheirer, Sonia Eaddy, Charisse Lue 
      2. Anchors: Kurt Sommer, Bill Joyner, Jane Shaab, Kris Hoellen, Rebecca Altman, Gregg Herlong
      3. Committees: Dr. Laura Dykes, Abigail Breiseth, Dr. Nicole King, Molly Finch, Howard Hughes, Scott Kashnow
  •  Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes (Scott)
      1. Motion to approve minutes from January & February (Melanie), Nicole 2nd: Bill, Jane, and Gregg Abstain – All others approve – None Against 
  • Annual Meeting/ Town Hall – June 28 (Bill)
      1. Goals
        1. Share what’s going on with the SWP
        2. Seek input from the community about SWP Priorities
        3. Increase participation  in the Neighborhood Associations
        4. Increase participation in the SWP and specifically: committees
      2. Saturday June 28th – lunch time event
      3. Discussion: 
        1. Great idea
        2. New ED intro
        3. Canvassing Schedule: Canvas volunteers: Charisse, Molly, Melanie
        4. Location: 
          1. B&O Outside Pavilion
          2. The Factory
          3. Carroll Park Rec Center
          4. Poppleton Rec Center *
        5. Celebration – How to get involved
        6. Planning Committee: Kelleigh, Jane, Bill, Serena, Sonia, Scott
        7. Next Steps: Scott will send an email to get the committee together 
  • Board Dashboard (Laura)
      1. Budget (approved) – 
      2. Annotated Budget to Date (recommendation) 
      3. Any questions about the board dashboard – none
  • Transitional Director Report (Kim)
      1. Branding – 
        1. Reflect unity, strength and collective spirit
          1. reduce the separations between the neighborhoods and remove the neighborhood labels.
        2. Establish an official color palette reflecting the history, energy, and resilience of our neighborhoods
          1. Harbor Teal: Inspired by harbor and waterfront energy.
          2. Brick Orange: A nod to historic brick row houses
          3. Industry Slate: Reflecting industrial heritage.
        3. Motion to approve the new branding (Kurt), Bill 2nd: None Abstain – None Against – All approve
      2. The Website is under construction
      3. The Newsletter is ready for print and distribution
      4. ED Transition – Meeting weekly to coordinate
      5. Goldseker award: $65,000
      6. Poppleton Rec: Finalizing a lease with SSFA, Ribbon cutting in May
      7. Planning to hire a property consultant/ project manager to:
        1. Assess and prepare project plans including budgets and recommendations.
        2. Manage projects.
      8. Lord Baltimore needs roof work
      9. 1247 James St is under construction
      10. 1328 Sargent St requires court action to release liens – +/- cost $5,000
      11. 1302 Sargent St liens released, deed can be registered
      12. 1313 W Baltimore St: Planning Commission approved to be subdivided
      13. Adrian Muldrow: no longer with the SWP
      14. Dave: being trained to assist with Commercial Development
      15. Good meeting with HCD discuss Housing Action Plan
  • Committee Chairs Meeting Update (Abigail)
      1. Consider:
        1. What is the problem?/ What is the solution?
        2. Is the board is too large
        3. Are there too many committees
        4. The relationship between committees and staff
      2. Overall Thoughts:
        1. All Committees play an important role in holistic, organization-wide planning – we need better alignment among them
        2. Community voice and engagement often comes from the committees
        3. The committees uniquely represent the community and its interests: by issue rather than geography or institution
        4. With regard to board/ committee structure, role or realignment – we should correctly define the problem before trying to solve it.
        5. Our biggest disconnects are due to communication – we need to balance clear communication with the time it takes to create it.
      3. Action items
        1. Long term: We agree that an examination of committee governance is due and we are eager to undertake that work with Tony on an ongoing basis and develop a process of continuous improvement.
        2. Short term – improve communication and collaboration by:
          1. Automate reminders for meetings
          2. Clean up listserv members
          3. Templates for agendas, attendance and notes
          4. Ensure all projects are assigned to a committee
          5. Monthly Committee Coordination meeting – 1HR max
  • 9:08 – Motion to adjourn(Scott)

 

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