Denver INC Delegate Meeting Minutes
February 13, 2016
Willis Case Golf Course Club House

Meeting called to order at 9:05 am
Quorum present – 52 Delegates
Introduction by Al Gallo, delegate, from Berkeley Regis United Neighbors
Minutes
Motion to approve minutes of the January delegate meeting made by Jane Lorimer and seconded by Meg Schomp. Meeting minutes were approved unanimously.

Membership Report – JJ Niemann
Before his report, Mr. Niemann introduced himself as a candidate for INC President and made a short campaign speech.
At the close of January 2016 there were 23 Member Organizations and 19 Associate members
87,000 households represented by the 23 RNO members.
Income from membership – $900 Associates, $1050 RNO members

Topic: By-laws Interpretation regarding terms of office
Larry Ambrose started the discussion by stating the issue that was brought to the delegation from the Board of Directors. The Board discussed in its recent meeting, the interpretation of the bylaws changes adopted in early 2014 pertaining to a revised term length from one year to two years, revised number of terms that could be served (from two to three) and the beginning of staggered terms. The bylaws adopted included an amendment which is now unclear to some about what was meant by what was eventually codified in the bylaws. The bylaws were presented and the changes that occurred in 2014 were displayed.

As the person who made the initial friendly amendment in early 2014, Joel Noble presented his interpretation that this bylaw interpretation was a technical matter that precluded Larry Ambrose from running for another term as president. Christine O’Conner presented the counter interpretation of the bylaw change. Thad Jacobs, secretary at the time of the bylaw change, sent an email that was displayed to the delegation affirming his understanding that Larry Ambrose was eligible to run for another term. Roberts Rules of Order were discussed and a motion was made.

Motion by Jane Lorimer: Regarding the interpretation of the bylaws, please vote “yes” if you agree Larry is eligible to run for another term and vote “no” if you feel he is not eligible. 2nd was made by Chris Chiari;
Vote (by 51 paper ballots): Yes – 31; No – 18; Abstain -2; One ballot was declined because it was submitted after the initial counting was done. Motion Passes. Larry Ambrose is eligible to run for another term as president of Denver INC.

Introduction of Helen Morgan – District Attorney Candidate

Presentation by Public Works Administrator – Neddra Niblet
There is a location where you can take large amounts of trash from neighborhood cleanups

ZAP Committee Report by Margie Valdez
There will be a special meeting regarding STRs on March 5th (http://www.denverinc.org/zap-special-meeting-saturday-march-5-2016/). This is in preparation for the Planning Board meeting on March 16th. Send comments prior to this meeting (by March 7th). We really need to keep the primary residence statute. RNOs are encouraged to submit the “RNO Position Statement.pdf” located at http://www.denvergov.org/Rezoning/ by email to CPD at PlanningServices@denvergov.org prior to the Planning Board Hearing.
The ZAP committee is also asking the city for an INC representative on boards that concern zoning issues that have an effect on neighborhoods, like Blueprint Denver. We are also asking for a chance to have our voice heard by the licensing department, which is very critical for the neighborhoods and community cohesion.

INC Neighborhood Award Dinner (Jan 28th 2016) by Jane Potts
Dinner Report – The Asian flare “Year of the Monkey” dinner was a big success. Thank you to our sponsors and our guest speaker. Congratulations s to the winners of of INC Awards. (http://www.denverinc.org/2015-annual-inc-neighborhood-awards-and-silent-auction/)
We had 219 attendees. Profit was $3414 from silent auction. We had to pay for everything that was brought in, so the net profit was approx $1800. Thank you to the committee and to those making donations.

Homelessness Position – Presented by Adrian Brown
At our last delegate meeting Adrian gave us the presentation and INC Position Statement in Support of the “Housing First” approach. This is a neighborhood issue that is exacerbated by an individual’s economic, emotional, and mental stress. The centralized approach has not worked. The alternative approach is that we can and must welcome homeless people into our neighborhoods. As a collective organization, we represent the Denver taxpayer base. We, as taxpayers, can vote to increase the money that is spent on this problem.
Adrian is stepping forward to represent us and made the motion to ask the delegation to accept the INC Position Statement in Support of the “Housing First” Approach to those Experiencing Homelessness. Motion 2nd by Joel Noble. Vote: For – 38; Opposed – 0; Abstain – 4; Motion passes.

Transportation Committee Report by Joel Noble
We will ask the mayor to support Vision Zero and we will support the planning and rally set for Friday February 19th. This coming Wednesday, Feb 17th, the mayor will have a press conference to announce the cities support for Vision Zero.
A question was asked of the Transportation Committee asking why they had not taken up the issue of the I-70 redesign vs reroute. There was also a reqest from the floor for Denver INC to become more involved in this discussion. Larry Ambrose reminded the Delegation that motions can be made from the floor and suggested that he would be willing to have the I-70 discussion/debate take place as a program for a future Delegate meeting. There is a deadline of March 2nd to submit comments on the Environmental Impact Statement.

Parks & Rec Committee (PARC) Report – Last month the meeting was headlined by Scott Gilmore from Denver Parks & Rec. Last month PARC wrote a letter to the mayor and four city councilmen to take more consideration before choosing the drainage solution. The PRAB vote on this issue is said to be in March. INC sent a letter asking for representation early in the process for zoning changes associated with Blueprint Denver.

Public Safety Committee – Last meeting was located in Police District 3. This was a combined meeting with the Education committee. The two committees will create a collaboration in 2016 that will focus on improving child safety when traveling from home to school and back. With our continued growth as a city, we need to keep our neighborhoods safe. Public Safety’s next meeting is March 22nd.

Presentation by Denver Public Schools (DPS) board members
Anne Rowe; Lisa Flores; Mark Ferrandino; Mike Johnson
We were happy to host four DPS school board members. They appreciated the focus that our committees are taking on Homelessness and the Safety of Children. DPS would like to have a conversation about where we are and where we want to go with DPS. As our representatives, they need to hear from us.

DPS would like our help to better reach out to neighborhoods when DPS properties are being changed. They would appreciate any help that we could provide to Alexis Menocal Harrigan, the Manager of City Affairs for DPS. Also, if our RNOs would like a DPS board member to come speak to their memberships, please call and invite them. They would enjoy sharing their current focus areas and principles. These include increased autonomy & flexibility for principals and their schools, creating a new performance compact with schools, and focusing on personalized learning.

DPS also realizes that it needs additional resources and is asking for a bonded mil levy in 2016.
Alexis will be leading community outreach for DPS in the coming year, which will include educating the public about this new mil levy.
The DPS board members took questions from the delegation:
Where is the DPS leadership on additional funding for arts?
We need to make sure that the “college and career” goals include opportunities for art students.
What is DPS doing to make neighborhood schools better and stop for-profit charter schools?
The answer was a long one with a mixed bag of approaches and some acceptance of for-profit charter schools.
What is DPS doing to promote minority owned businesses for DPS contracts?
DPS has vastly increased their minority owned business contacts over the last year.
What are we doing to keep our performance expectations high instead of lowering them to satisfy standards?
Is there a mechanism for supporting neighborhood schools as they want to maintain their survival, vitality, and quality of schools?
There is a liaison from DPS that will work with groups that want to support neighborhood schools.
Operational question – Schools are impacted by traffic and trash. As a neighborhood, who would we contact in DPS to work on these issues?
These are School Board issues, please talk to Alexis

The Meeting Adjourned at 11:45am