Board Meeting Summary - September 25, 2017

The meeting was called to order at  6:30 pm by Council President, Paul Sawyer.
 
The first presentation was about the Mayoral Forums being planned by the League of Women Voters. There are a series of forums across the City by the League (as well as by other organizations). The dates, times and places of these forums are listed on the D1 Calendar on this website (under the News tab).
 
The second presentation was by the Ramsey County Aging Commission. This group is working with residents from across Ramsey County, but working closely with Saint Paul. The D1 Board was
presented a proposition from the commission entitled, Healthy Aging in Minnesota. Because the district councils are involved with Land Use (zoning) issues, they play a role in being able to create Livable Communities for All Ages.  The goal of the Ramsey County Commission is to connect services for elders to each other and to get information about these services to the public and to district councils.  In dealing with land use, district councils should consider how to bring people together through transportation and should be planning to provide activities for seniors in their areas. The D1 Board will write a letter of support for this Commission work to Saint Paul officials writing the Comprehensive Plan. This Plan guides decisions that the City makes about funding and initiatives.
 
The rest of the meeting involved board business. The board approved financial reports and made formal resolutions to approve our annual financial reports to the Federal and State Government. During the discussion staff proposed training for the board to explain and get a better understanding of what is included in our financial reports.
 
Each Committee is now given a few minutes at the board meeting to update the rest of the board on their activities. This will be an on-going agenda item.

We had two board members resign their seats for personal reasons. The Council is letting the public know of the vacancies and will accept nominations until October 11. The Executive Committee will send the full board a list of nominees and allow email voting so the new members can be seated prior to the October meeting when we begin to discuss budget and workplan for 2018. These appointees will have to run again at the March election.
 
We revisited the code of conduct form that we are expecting each board member to sign. The Code of Conduct outlines behaviors expected of every board member and behaviors that are not allowed and will result in dismissal from the board. These are standard forms that help guarantee the proper governance of any nonprofit.
 
President Sawyer stressed that board members are all here for the same reason – to make the community a better place for everyone.  Understanding board and staff responsibilities, and how we work together is important for the health of the organization. Questions were raised about how we report what we do. Staff explained the reasoning behind how we report our activities to the public.

Meeting adjourned at 8:32 pm.