RNO Committee Report
1_ARTICLE_III.___REGISTERED_NEIGHBORHOOD_ORGANIZATIONS.10.20.2020proposedRvIn January 2020, INC established a committee to: (1) examine and review the RNO Ordinance and recommend possible improvements; and, (2) recommend ways in which the inclusivity and effectiveness of Denver Registered Neighborhood Organizations can be improved.
The 12-person committee, co-chaired by Margie Valdez and Michael Henry, had two in-person meetings and two telephone/Zoom meetings. City Councilman Paul Kashmann attended the committee’s first meeting and discussed some broad ideas for amending the ordinance. Romaine Pacheco of the Mayor’s Office attended the second meeting.
Members of the committee were: Loretta Koehler, Ean Tafoya, Steve Harley, Tracey MacDermott, Joel Noble, Armando Payan, Karen Taylor, Trupti Suthar, Pamela Jiner, Gertie Grant, INC Registered Neighborhood Organization Committee Members
Special thanks to Steve Harley and Joel Noble for their contributions and expertise in the drafting and organization of this report.
Please see the attached documents and forward to your respective organizations
Final Revised Recommendations of Denver INC Committee-9.1.2020 RNO Position Information Sheet INC DRAFT Aug 2020correctionDOWNLOAD POSITION INFORMATION SHEET FORM HERE
1_ARTICLE_III.___REGISTERED_NEIGHBORHOOD_ORGANIZATIONS.10.20.2020proposedRvINC RNO Ordinance Committee EC Readout 20201109-DRAFTv5-1-1
From an RNO Collaboration stand-point. Some of us are attempting to form Neighborhood Coalitions to align with the Planning Areas of the Neighborhood Planning Initiative.
For example: I’m heading up the formation of the East Central Area Neighborhoods Coalition.
The idea is to allow better communication between the RNOs and help facilitate the distribution of information from the City to the Residents & Business Owners.
For example, here are posts about the Safe Outdoor Sites. Goal is only to share info.
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ECANcoalition/status/1327749485645086720?s=20
Nextdoor: https://nextdoor.com/post/167499419?init_source=copy_link_share
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Neighbors4CapHill/posts/376887980322682
Also created a group on Microsoft Teams to allow people to meet both formally and informally for FREE! Here is the Link for the East Central Area Neighborhoods (ECAN) Coalition.
https://teams.microsoft.com/join/3al72h52bwnc
Glad to see this effort underway.
I suggest that neighborhood surveys be included as a explicitly recommended means of getting input. This is why:
— Meetings are typically held at just one time and place. Often, some cannot attend at the specific date or time meaning that they are not represented at the meeting. Often this includes working people on long day or night shifts.
— Surveys can be done cheaply now and can be open over a week or two, giving more people time to “vote.”
— Surveys can be promoted via e-mail, social media, community websites, postings, bulletin boards, signage, texting, phone calls, door-to-door notes, etc. to ensure more people participate.
— Survey tools are now inexpensive [Google forms survey is free] and some prevent multiple responses [e.g. Survey Monkey] The City could buy an account for RNO use.
— Surveys give clear hard % votes for/ against/ abstain AND allow space for open ended comments.
— Surveys can be anonymous or set up to collect voter names as desired for follow-up.
— Surveys avoid the “loudest shouter” in the room, social pressuring, etc. effects that can distort meeting results.
— Surveys can include clear written statements of issues, links to unbiased resources, etc.
— Survey results can be easily published and stored for the record.
I agree with Bill’s points.
Even including that “Survey” as a means for a Ballot Election. Perhaps requiring that Ballot/Survey to be open for at least a week.
Along those lines, membership is open to any resident, but what about those members joining the Board of Directors? How does a member get on the board? In my experience, it is being selected and then interviewed by the current president. The president then presents the selection to the rest of the board. This doesn’t seem very democratic.
We need to have some form of required language in the By-Laws making it possible for any member to serve on the board, unless they lose in a vote/survey of some kind by the membership.