In the Saint Philip the Deacon Church, 120 NE Knott St, Portland, OR 97212

Board Members Present

• Jimmy Wilson – Co-Chair
• Allan Rudwick, Co-Chair  
• Jennifer Wilcox – Recorder
• Susan Stringer – Newsletter Editor
• Jim Hlava – Treasurer –
• Shireen Hasan – Community Outreach –
• Jonathan Konkol   
• Patricia Montgomery   
• Board Members Absent
• Jere Fitterman   
• Darren Holcomb   
• Sherry Staggs  

Others Present

• Johnny Engleheart
• Maria McDowell

Meeting called to order:  6:39 p.m.

Welcome and Introductions:

Pastor Maria McDowell from Saint Philip the Deacon Episcopal Church was introduced.  She spoke about the Leven Community Housing Coalition, a group of faith communities who are trying to leverage land they already own to provide housing for individuals experiencing homelessness.  They are looking to assess the needs of the community and advocate with the city for changes to conditional use codes so that they build housing on their land.  Saint Phillip the Deacon church is looking at what they can do with their current land.  They want to invite the Eliot Neighborhood Association into those conversations. 

The following ideas were discussed: offering activities in the parish hall in connection with the housing, build something over the current parking lot with housing, intergenerational housing.  A comment was made that churches are not focused on making money and can help address greater city concerns such as homelessness. Emanuel church in the Humboldt neighborhood is working on a similar project.  Prosper Portland has money available for these types of projects.  The Meyer Memorial Trust is wanting to connect with the community and look for creative ways to offer/create affordable housing.

New Business:

Clarifying our reimbursement policy: We do not currently have a reimbursement policy. The following proposal was made:

if there is an approved budget item outstanding, any receipts that seem reasonably related to the item should be approved and paid ASAP

 if there is not an approved budget item, the board should be contacted before reimbursement

It was noted that in the past if someone had a project they had to present a budget as part of the project.  A clarification was made that there are currently no outstanding projects that need to be paid or reimbursed.

Jonathan moved and Allan seconded that we have a small discretionary budget of up to $100 for smaller items.  The chairs would be able to approve payment for these items.  This passed, 6 in favor and 1 opposed.

Current funding: Jim noted that we have no current money coming in to the budget. We need to follow up on the Blazers money.  Shireen will talk to Angela to find out the name of the person at the Blazers and we will send a letter as a board to follow up.  Also Susan will talk to Jere to find out if they have a contact at the Blazers.  Jim noted in the past we have had a balance of $8,000-$12,000 which is a good amount.  We should try to be revenue neutral for now until we have a source of income. No motions were made on this item and no vote took place.

Procedures on having speakers at our board meetings: It was agreed that we should direct people who want to speak at our meetings to the Community Outreach Coordinator (Shireen Hasan)  or the chairpersons to get the person on the agenda for the next meeting.  The person putting together the agenda will reply to the Outreach Coordinator so they know that the message has been received.  It was also agreed that the agenda will be sent out a week before the board meeting so people have time to review it.  No motions were made on these items and no vote took place.

Procedures on having political candidates speak at our board meetings: There was some discussion about if we have had politicians speak at board meetings in the past.  Allen said there are two reasons not to invite candidates: 1) we as a board cannot look like we endorse candidates and 2) we would need to invite all the candidates so as not to appear to be favoring some and this would take up all the time for the meeting. It was suggested that we could have a candidate forum.  Alan sent out an email from the Office of Neighborhood Involvement with guidelines for having politicians address neighborhood board meetings.  He suggested we should review it.  Susan moved and Patricia seconded that candidates may attend meetings.  We may ask the candidate a question and they would be given 5 minutes to answer.  We may also tell them our concerns.  This passed 5 in favor and 3 opposed. 

Committee Updates

  Newsletter: Articles for the spring edition are due by March 1.  Ad copy is due by March 8.  The newsletter will be sent out April 1

  Livability: no report

  LUTC (Land Use Transportation Committee): The house on Vancouver and Page has been moved once and is up for demolition.  They are looking for someone to move it.  Three houses were just demolished, these were some of the last African American built houses in the neighborhood.  A letter was sent to the city in favor of infill.

  Clean Air: There was a brief discussion about data gathering.  The committee is putting together a letter to the trucking company the main contributor to the diesel pollution. There was also discussion about the need to make progress on this issue and that people want to be involved in the process.

  Community Outreach: Pastor Maria McDowell spoke earlier in the evening.

Minutes of the November 2019 Board Meeting:

Moved to accept: Susan         Seconded: Jim Vote Count: 7 in favor, no opposed

Minutes of the December 2019 Board Meeting:

Moved to accept: Susan         Seconded: Jim  Vote Count: 5 in favor, 2 abstained

Next Board meeting:  February 17, 2020 at 6:30pm

Adjourned at 8:37pm