WECAN Board Meeting Minutes January 2019

WECAN Board Meeting Minutes January 3, 2019  

Board Members present: Sherrod Barnes-Ginifer, Joe Fioccola, Lynn Hall, Shelly Schenker, Members not present Danny Aull, Rebecca Lance, Sandy Sox. Also present: Byron Ballard, APD Community Liaison Lt. Chuck Sams, CRO Justin Wilson.

INTROS: Lynn called the meeting to order at 6:30 pm.

APPROVAL OF MINUTES: Sherrod moved and Shelly seconded a motion to approve the December 6 minutes as emailed. The motion passed.

APD CRO UPDATE:  Officer Wilson reported that the campsite near the Hillcrest walkover bridge has been abandoned and anyone found there can be charged with trespassing. The NCDOT has been notified to clear the debris but no timeline was offered. An unlocked car filled with presents was broken into on Jefferson on Dec 8.  A storage container was broken into on a West Haywood construction site, but the items were pawned and the suspect will be arrested. A road rage incident occurred on I-26 near UNCA where a bb gun was fired at a vehicle the suspect was arrested where the incident concluded at the dead end of Park Ave. A teenager stole an employee’s vehicle from the Jonas Gerard Studio.  Justin provided Crime stats that he ran comparing 2017 and 2018 in WECAN. In 2017 102 crimes were reported and in 2018 that number was 111. Vandalism was the most reported crime but there were no big differences since last year. Details can be found at community crimemap.com. Shelly reported a campsite behind Pink Dog Collective on Depot Street.

Lieutenant Sams reported that city-wide statistics show violent crime was down 1% and property crime was up 12%. He advised it would be 3-6 months until a new Chief would be hired. Lynn noted that speeding is an ongoing issue.

NEIGHBOR/BLOCK JESSIE UPDATES: Joe noticed the sign fence at Clingman and Hilliard was damaged and he thanked whichever angel repaired it.

TREASURERS REPORT: There was no report for December.

OLD BUSINESS: No movement on Encroachment Agreement, Park Ave renaming or Safe Streets. A meeting date was set for January 10 for Duke Substation update, but no time or location has been set.

NEW BUSINESS: OFFICER ELECTION: Joe offered the slate of Chair: Lynn Hall, Vice Chair: Lesa Peterson, Treasurer: Rebecca Lance and Recorder: Joe Fioccola. Shelly seconded and the motion passed. Lynn needs to contact Brenda Mills to update the neighborhood registration information. We look to Lesa to draft a communications policy/process document.

2019 GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: Ongoing objectives include: Adopt a Highway, July 4 Social, Halloween Social, annual WECAN NEWS Newsletter, Landscape maintenance at the  sign garden, edible garden Owens-Bell Park, Kudzu Hill and possibly the encroachment area, the Queen Carson Community Garden and developing a communications policy and process. New objectives mentioned included Christmas caroling, traffic safety, welcome wagon, membership outreach and new development projects such as RADTIP, Duke Substation and maybe greenway construction.

OTHER DISCUSSION: 

     The regular meeting time was brought up. Changing something that has been in place for decades should not be arbitrary.

     Some roads were closed last month due to river flooding. Shelly reported serious problems with road closed signs remaining after the roads were open.

     36 Jefferson: Lynn spoke to Mike Vance about the options available: build on it, sell it, donate it and the other questions that arise; can anything be done with the topography? What is it zoned for? What do the neighbors want?

                                                 

Meeting adjourned at 7:28 pm

Minutes submitted by Joe Fioccola, Secretary

Mark your Calendars for upcoming events and meetings

Sundays          4-5:30 pm  Kudzu Hill Work Hour (Weather permitting)

Jan 14              4-6              CAN Meeting

Jan 10              TBA           Duke Substation Working group Meeting

Jan 21                                 MLK Day

Feb 7               6:30pm      WECAN Board Meeting