Wicomico Neighborhood Congress

Present:

Kevin Dallaire, Ernie Emond, Janice Hughes, James Ireton, Dexter Lunsford, T.J. Maloney, Mary Jane Marine, Mark McIver, Phillip Moreno,Cindy Pilchard, Michael Poremba, Michael Pretl, Connie Strott, Dorothy Truitt, Lena Wallop, Richard Widdowson, Rocky Burnett, Mary K Davis

Absent:

Starr Purnell, William Smith, Rosemary Weiland, David Wharton
Guests included: Donna Ennis, Stan Benson, Shirley Holland, Michael Swartz, G.A. Harrison, Hala McIver Terry Cohen, Francis Hooks

The meeting convened at 7:07 with the introduction of the steering committee and the guests. Connie Strott made the motion to accept the agenda, seconded by Dot Truitt.

Announcements:

April 26, WCNAACP will be meeting at Mills Memorial, 1323 Jersey Road, 7:00, Vance Elber will present the history of the Chipman Cultural Center.
Committee was asked to be looking for events that they might be able to attend in order to get out into the community.

June 2-9, NeighborWorks, Cheryl Meadows will get back to Mike Pretl about the activities of this group. The website address is: www.nw.org
Camden Neighborhood Association meets the third Thursday of the month. More details are coming on this.
Pemberton Hall Colonial Fair is May 5th.
Concerned Citizens of Delmar will have its yard sale on Saturday, April 21 from 7:00-2:00.

Comments:

A volunteer told the committee that she was very disappointed in its current performance. She felt that the members should be doing more to address county problems and that she objects to the "annual meeting" in the proposed "Draft Bylaws". She also feels that the whole community is not yet involved.

Another volunteer addressed his concerns about specific parts of the proposed documents, including incorporation and the general meeting. Mr. Ireton made notes on his copies of the bylaws and the articles of incorporation as the volunteer pointed out the parts of the document with which he disagreed. Mr. Ireton assured him that as the committee considered each part of the documents, his concerns would be noted and addressed. The volunteer also made suggestions for additions which were placed in Mr. Ireton's notes.

Connie Strott then made a motion to accept the minutes from the April 10th meeting. The minutes were accepted by a voice vote consensus. However, the date of the Concerned Citizens of Delmar yard sale was corrected as Saturday, April 21st.

The committee used the "Issues for Discussion" sent earlier to them as a guideline.
The issue of incorporation was brought up first. Many committee members were against it. Comments included: that it was another layer of bureaucracy; that the protection possibly offered by incorporation to the committee members would not be necessary or effective; that many other previous organizations had not incorporated; and that the committee needs to begin its work. Several members acknowledged the possibility of incorporating later on in the development of the Congress. Several members expressed belief that incorporation was the right thing to do because the "corporate veil" would protect individual members from liability and that it would be necessary for the tax exempt status. One member warned that the Congress could get in trouble a few years down the road with finances, if they did not incorporate. Jim Ireton stated that no consensus was reached on incorporation, so the Congress would not incorporate at this time. During this discussion the original documents based on the Greensboro, NC, Neighborhood Congress were compared to the current documents. Several committee members felt that both sets of documents should be considered.

The committee then moved to the Draft Bylaws of the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress, Inc. Since the committee had not reached a consensus on incorporation, the designation, Inc. was removed from the name. The committee agreed on Wicomico Neighborhood Congress as the name of the organization.

The group next examined the mission statement and accepted it.

The next section Goals and Strategies was examined. The group was reminded that they should be non-specific and broad. They also looked at Principles (Goals) in the original Greensboro documents. The committee was not able to accept d) advocacy to influence government on issues of distributive justice. Many on the committee wanted some term other than distributive justice, but no consensus was reached.

Section 4 Members was discussed next. The committee was reminded that these people would be eligible to participate and that members eligible to vote would be decided later. Using neighborhoods as a basic unit brought out several concerns. Members questioned whether people would want to start neighborhood associations; whether volunteers would come out; and how neighborhoods would be organized. The group reached a consensus on the acceptance of neighborhoods as members of the Congress. The group then reached consensus on accepting individual members also.

Consensus on accepting affiliates, i.e. church congregations, educational communities, agricultural co-ops, etc. was not reached. Each member expressed his/her opinion on this issue. A majority of the members were in favor of accepting affiliates, but several members with dissenting opinions voiced concerns.. One member expressed concern that the term affiliate was not well-defined. Another expressed reservations about special interest groups. Several members expressed a desire for a prescribed method to remove members whose goals or actions do not mirror the purposes of the Wicomico Neighborhood Congress.

Concluding Remarks:

Jim Ireton reminded the group that at least two more meetings were on the schedule: April 24th and May 1st. Next week the group would again be looking at the three different types of members, and also, Sections 5 (Sectors) and 6 (Directors and Officers).

A volunteer congratulated the group on its efforts, but warned against accepting individual members in the Congress.

Adjournment at 9:03, moved by Dexter Lunsford, seconded by Connie Strott.

Repectfully submitted,
Mary K Davis
Secretary to the steering committee