BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Mansfield Downtown Partnership Office
1244 Storrs Road
4:00 PM
Present: Steve Bacon, Tom Callahan, Barry Feldman, Matt Hart, Janet Jones, Frank McNabb, Betsy Paterson, Kristin Schwab, Phil Spak, Betsy Treiber, Antoinette Webster, David Woods
Staff: Cynthia van Zelm, Lee Cole-Chu
1. Call to Order
Board Vice President Betsy Treiber called the meeting to order at 4:05 pm in Board President Philip Lodewick’s absence.
The Board welcomed Antoinette Webster who is now the Chair of the Mansfield Business and Professional Association, whose position is ex-officio on the Board.
2. Opportunity for Public to Comment
There was no public comment.
3. Approval of Minutes
Betsy Paterson made a motion to approve the minutes. Dean David Woods seconded the motion. Steve Bacon abstained. The minutes were approved with one abstention.
4. Director’s Report
Executive Director Cynthia van Zelm passed out an updated Storrs Center Concept Plan and timeline. She said the timeline dates had been consolidated to highlight the most recent progress.
Ms. van Zelm said that the 1,000 Friends of CT, which focuses on smart growth, has established a scorecard system to rate projects based on how they represent smart growth. Ms. van Zelm said she had put together a package to send to 1,000 Friends for an initial review of the Storrs Center project. She said that if a project is evaluated highly, 1,000 Friends will, for example, testify at local hearings in favor of the project and promote it.
Ms. van Zelm said she will be participating in the four session Land Use Leadership Alliance Training Program at ECSU. It is free through support of a USDA grant to the Town of Lebanon. She said that Town Planning Director Greg Padick would also be participating.
Ms. van Zelm said she will be holding monthly meetings on communications strategies with Partnership and LeylandAlliance working groups.
Ms. van Zelm referred to the new policy at the State that requires Towns (and related entities such as the Partnership) to have drafts of its minutes on the Town website within 7 days of a meeting.
5. Report from Committees
Advertising and Promotion
Dean Woods reported that the Committee had a good debrief on the Festival on the Green. The Committee discussed the pros and cons of combining the Festival with Know Your Towns Fair. Dean Woods said the Committee was interested in pursuing the idea of whether both could be done under the “Celebrate Mansfield” umbrella.
The Committee also agreed to continue using the same papers for printing of its newsletters and Annual Reports for the coming year.
Festival on the Green
Ms. Paterson said the Festival Committee debrief will be October 20. She said considering the weather, she was very pleased with the turnout, and she had received very good feedback, particularly about the variety of food and UConn’s involvement.
Kristin Schwab mentioned the new groups from E.O. Smith High School who were vendors.
Ms. Paterson said she expected the debrief to include a discussion of the issue of combining the Festival with Know Your Towns Fair.
Membership Development
Ms. Treiber said a Membership Development Committee meeting would be scheduled soon.
Nominating
Ms. Treiber said a Nominating Committee meeting will be held at 3 pm on the day of the next Board meeting – November 4.
Steve Bacon suggested that Board members forward on to Ms. van Zelm names of new Board members as three Board members are expected to roll off the Board.
Ms. Paterson made a motion that the Board go into executive session, pursuant to Connecticut General Statutes sections 1-200 (6) and 1-210 (b) (1), to discuss a matter which would result in disclosure of information exempt from disclosure under section 1-210 (b) (1), specifically preliminary drafts or notes concerning negotiation of amendments to the Storrs Center Development Agreement between the Partnership and Storrs Center Alliance, the public interest in the disclosure of which drafts or notes this Board finds to be substantially outweighed by the public interest in withholding such documents at the present time.
Janet Jones seconded the motion. The motion was approved unanimously.
6. Executive Session – Negotiations related to Development Agreement between the Mansfield Downtown Partnership and Storrs Center Alliance
Present: Mr. Bacon, Mr. Callahan, Mr. Feldman, Mr. Hart, Ms. Jones, Mr. McNabb, Ms. Paterson, Ms. Schwab, Mr. Spak, Ms. Treiber, Ms. Webster, Mr. Woods
Also Present: Ms. van Zelm, Mr. Cole-Chu
7. Adjourn
Chair Betsy Treiber adjourned the meeting at 6:30 pm.
Minutes taken by Cynthia van Zelm.