Wicomico Neighborhood Congress

Minutes of Meeting

Present:

Dallaire, Hughes, Ireton, Lunsford, Maloney, Moreno, McIver, Pilchard, Poremba, Pretl, Purnell, Smith, Truitt, Wallop, Widdowson (15).

Absent:

Emond, Marine, Strott, Weiland, Wharton (5).

Also Present:

Stan Benson, Rocky Burnett, Georgia Cannon, G. A. Harrison, Francis Hooks, Bill Hughes, Monroe LeCates, Kay Taylor, Gary Tucker and Shawn Tucker.
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PRELIMINARY MATTERS

Chairman Ireton welcomed the members. New member Starr Purnell has joined the Steering Committee. Mike Pretl stepped down as Co-Chair, and assumed the duties of Secretary. The Agenda was approved; and there were no announcements from the public, though Rocky Burnett stated that he had urged Pittsville-Willards to send a representative.

Janice Hughes stated that she had brought with her a number of concerned citizens from Delmar. Upon clarification, that individual citizens are presently accepted as members of the Congress, Janice resumed her place on the Committee.

Francis Hooks urged that the Committee consider the Chipman Center as site for a future meeting.

The Minutes of the April 24 meeting, as distributed by Mary K. Davis, were accepted by consensus.
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COMMITTEE DISCUSSION

Chairman Ireton recounted the substance of a meeting earlier today with Rick Pollitt, who complimented the Committee on its progress to date, and encouraged us to move forward. Since we have our basic structure in place, it was recommended that we proceed to create committees to conclude the business of the Steering Committee.

There was extensive discussion about appropriate committees, and consensus emerged that six committees be created initially. The role of each shall be summarized here, and the initial membership listed. It was agreed that each committee shall select its own leadership.

1) Recruitment/Membership Committee -- To enlist neighborhoods throughout the County to join the Congress.

MEMBERS - Ireton, McIver, Pilchard, Pretl, Truitt, and Wallop. Also Hooks and Shawn Tucker.

2) ByLaws Committee - To consider consensus changes to the draft ByLaws, and to recommend additional provisions for acceptance by the Congress.

MEMBERS - Maloney, McIver, Poremba, Pretl, Smith, Strott, and Wallop.

3) Communications Committee - To serve as the vehicle for outreach, news and communications about the activities of the Congress. It was emphasized that a single spokesman - the Chairman - should speak for the Steering Committee in the future.

MEMBERS -- Dallaire and Ireton. Also, Benson and Harrison.

4) Convention Committee - To make plans and arrangements for the first Congress Convention, when we have a critical mass of neighborhoods on board. Also, this committee may be responsible for planning neighborhood meetings before the Convention.

MEMBERS - Dallaire, Ireton, Purnell, and Truitt.

5) Community Concerns Committee - To listen to needs of the neighborhoods, prioritize issues to be addressed by the Congress, and perhaps begin work on solutions.

MEMBERS - Hughes, Lunsford, Maloney, Moreno, Poremba, Purnell, Smith and Widdowson.

6) Executive Committee - To set our Agenda and attend to business between meetings of the Steering Committee.

MEMBERS - Ireton as Chair, Pretl as Secretary; Hughes and Wallop. Also, Burnett, Campbell and Gary Tucker.
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FUTURE SCHEDULE AND PLANS

The Steering Committee as a whole will meet next week, on Tuesday, May 8, at 7 PM, at the same location. However, we shall split into three of the new committees - namely, Recruitment, ByLaws and Community Concerns, to select the leadership of each, and to consider the initial direction each will take to accomplish its goals.

These committees will then report back to the reconvened Steering Committee, to report the deliberations of each.

ADJOURNED at 8:25 PM.

Mike Pretl
Secretary