Thursday, March 19, 2015

SRT Steering Committee Meeting Notes, Thursday, March 19th

Greetings!

Today's meeting of the SRT Steering Committee focused on the important meetings and community engagement opportunities which will occur over the next two months.  The hiring of two senior City staff members (Police Chief and Director of Engagement and Communication) offers us the chance to participate in the selection of key members of our City's community resources.  The announcement of a public forum on March 30th to meet the candidates for Police Chief, and the offer to include community representatives in the development of the job description for the new Director of Engagement and Communication, demonstrate the City's willingness to embrace new partnerships with the community.  Hank and Renee are meeting with City staff next Tuesday to suggest changes to the City's proposed job description.

Two additional opportunities to become involved in the work of changing city operations are the planning processes being undertaken to "Reimagining CityBus" and the modifications to the City's Website.  SRT will be forming and supporting committees for those interested in this work, and you can learn more by clicking on SRT Committee tabs just below the bottom edge of this blog's calendar above.  Mike reported that a meeting is being held with the City on April 16th at the Finley Center concerning the "Reimagining CityBus" campaign.  Gregory reported that recruitment has begun among digital social media and website design groups for the second committee.  Jon Udell, guest "Close to Home" columnist in today's Press Democrat (Open Government is a Two-Way Street), has agreed to serve. Contacts are also being made to SSU and SRJC Digital Media Department staff.

Our Annexation Outreach/Roseland Specific Area Plan Committee reported that they are meeting with City staff next Wednesday to hear a report on the progress of the recruitment of the Project Steering Committee, and to plan for a robust community engagement implementation.  The Annexation Outreach Committee is meeting on Tuesday at noon to coordinate our participation, and will coordinate our ideas with Health Action Coalition prior to the meeting.

Our Open Government Committee reported that co-chairs Tanya Narath and Helga Lemke are recruiting members of the the City's Open Government Task Force to join the Committee to further advise the City in its ongoing work implementing the Task Force recommendations.

Hank and Gregory reported on actions of the Youth/Schools Committee to recruit key staff from school districts to investigate how they can improve support for community engagement education.  SRT will work with teachers and staff who believe that students should receive opportunities to learn more about how they can participate in the decisions of local government.   The LCAF Core Curriculum Plans offer us an excellent chance to place these experiences into the lives of our students.

Finally, the Steering Committee discussed our plans to continue our Speakers Bureau activities. Gloria Rubio Cortez, long-time President of the National Civic League, has indicated her interest in participating, and we will be determining soon how feasible it is to schedule her into our proposed May Speaker Event.

Next Meeting of the Steering Committee is Thursday, April 2nd at 3pm at Lawrence's office (2240 Professional Drive).
  

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