Chapel Hill 20/20 – Our Town, Our Vision
Initiating Committee Meeting 4
June 21, 2011
Public Library
Meeting Notes
Attending: Jason Baker, Doug MacLean, Lee Storrow, Jim Merritt, Kathy Atwater, Anita Badrock,
Allison DeMarco, Scott Beavers, Elliott Bennett Guerrero, Jim Curis, David Knowles, Rob Maitland, Joy
Steinberg
I.
Welcome and Agenda Review
Derek reviewed the meeting outcomes and the agenda.
II.
Chair Update
Derek informed the group that Rosemary Waldorf has agreed to co-chair Chapel Hill 20/20,
but the group would need to identify a second co-chair.. The Committee suggested that
others who had been considered for co-chairs could be asked to serve as key theme chairs
because of their balanced leadership qualities.









Co-chair, someone who can spend the time to support the process well.
Process needs a leader-worker who can weather conflict and difficult moments in order
to produce the best possible vision for the community.
The role is to have leadership skills, help shepherd the process, asking the right
questions.
Need specific skills in the leadership roles.
Committee discussed the leadership structure for the process.
Leadership beyond the co-chairs will help bring a greater diversity of participants in the
process.
E.g. identifying people who are willing to participate in one of the committees, roles and
other leadership opportunities.
Also need to include the business interests of the community which would help broaden
the group beyond the non-traditional group of the community.
Need to continue making sure that the process continues to be open and fair and
transparent.
III.
Council Meeting Update
Roger will share the committee report with the Council. Anita and Lee will do part of the
presentation.
IV.
Process Review
Mary Jane reviewed a handout on the latest version of the process that incorporated the
input from meeting 3. A number of clarifying questions were asked and some suggestions
were offered.


Outreach committee should consider a variety of locations and times for meetings
Translation for non-English speaking participants should be considered
1



V.
Clarify the initial events so the emphasis is on the community kick-off (first stakeholder
meeting)
Outreach committee should be involved with project chair(s) and coordinating
committee in designing that event
Use “Key Themes” instead of Key Performance Areas for clarity
Participant Invite List
Committee asked “What groups are not included in our lists? Who is missing? “










Spanish speaking communities require special focus
Use community mapping tool to supplement the outreach
Consider shift workers
Churches – minority, non-English speaking communities (e.g. Korean church, Burmese
refugee community)
Habitat
Students who are volunteers (co-chairs are on Allison’s list)
Allison – two high school groups
Seymour center (senior citizens’ center) – involvement and meeting location
Apartment complex residents? Management companies? Bus stops, posters?
Neighborhood associations
This information should be forwarded to the outreach committee.
VI.
Recruitment Letter
The Committee reviewed the draft letter and made suggestions for edits:




Remove “leader” references, focus on “stakeholder”
Focus on making the wording transparent, less ‘opaque’
Come talk to us about what you care about in the community----what it includes will
depend on you and the other stakeholders. Some things may be….(list)
Initiating committee names on the letterhead
Town will mail letters and tell committee when they go out. Initiating Committee agreed to
follow-up with personal contacts.
V. Committee Discussion
The Committee reviewed the upcoming committees and identified important pieces of work
to pass along to those groups.
Coordinating Committee description:



Work with the project chairs and facilitator to manage the planning process.
Resource development, room set up , process assistance, leadership
Willingness to be “worker bees”
Some ideas for the Coordinating Committee to consider:


Use decentralized meetings
Involve new places and people in meetings
2






Spread out the meetings
Consider transportation and parking for the open houses
Identify meeting sponsors and contributors to food/materials
Support the KPA chairs
Help funnel and coordinate work between chairs/outreach and research committees
The meeting logistics could be delegated to a smaller group to focus on location, set up
the room (event management), could include high school students etc.
Key Themes




Each has a chair, appointed because of their leadership and ability to be balanced and
fair in discussions
Chairs can work together to identify conflicts, support each other, help work out issues
Suggest – they could be part of the coordinating committee
Need to be closely engaged in communications and part of the process
Key Theme chairs – project chairs can do the asking, or the Mayor and chairs can do it
together. Use the list of names generated by the initiating committee – revisit with the
committee after the first round of meetings.
Research Committee (potential data-sets):

























Current comp plan and the status of its goals
Community asset map
University and UNCH land use plans
What’s on the land use plan
Zoning
History of the community
Tax base analysis?
Retail analysis
Fiscal health of the community
Factual basis for defining basis for discussion in a meaningful way
Service analysis for the Town
Metrics – compare to other communities
Transportation and transit and traffic data
How many people work in CH who aren’t residents, how do they get here?
Why do people come here?
Census data – demographic data
Natural resources inventory
How does the distribution of our income compare with other communities?
Where does the revenue go? Parks and rec? (budget)
Comparative data with other communities
Town survey data (existing and Fall update)
Quality of community metrics?
Basic civics and who does what (Fire is the Town’s job, health is the County’s job,
schools…water…Government 101 handout…..)
Schools data?
Others will be identified through the process and the key themes
3
VI. Committee Discussion
Kick-off is the key meeting. It needs to engage people, be productive and be as large as
possible. It’s a way to begin the discussion. (as opposed to the initial
outreach/informational open house events which are more background and educational.)
Kick-off components could include:











Welcome
Small group activity – pressing issues, what makes problem solving difficult
Report out and discussion
Setting the context (why we are here and doing this in an inclusive way)
Break
Operating agreement
Developing our community vision
Small group activity: vision themes
Report out and discussion
Next steps – writing committee (when the committee writes it, the results are generally
better as opposed to having a consultant write it)
Adjourn
We want big participation – that happens with our invitations and names. We also ask the
outreach committee for:






VII.
Talking points from outreach committee and spread the word (meetings you’re going to
anyway)
Work with outreach committee to generate a huge turnout; ensure diversity in the
process
Find ways to open the conversation…
When will these groups form?
Staff can support some of this work (what it is, why it’s important, why you should be
there)
FAQs can be more conversational
Committee Discussion
Some of the committee members were interested in new roles as the process moves
forward to assist with the transfer of knowledge built by this group.



Research: Allison, David, Elliott
Outreach: Rob, Lee, Jim
Coordinating: include KPA chairs
4