Federation of San Rafael Neighborhoods Steering Committee Retreat

March 16th, 2019, 9-11 AM

Minutes

SC Members Present: Richard Bernstein, Kevin Haggerty, Amy Likover, Michael

McDermott, Samantha Sargent, Betsy Swenerton, Mike Williamson
SC Members Absent: Ross Bishop, Jim Draper

Agenda
A. Welcomes and Introductions
B. Review of Annual Meeting
 People felt welcome
 Food, set-up, and clean-up went well, aside from dirty room upon arrival
 The meeting was smoothly run
 BioMarin room venue worked for us, looked professional
 Supervisors lent importance, Samantha’s questions were excellent
 Rafat Raie was great, connected well between the City and County issues.
 Good attendance (about 30), new faces/members, friends.
 We’d like to see more neighborhoods represented.

C. Terms for Steering Committee members

Per Revised Bylaws, for this year only, our 3 year terms would be staggered
numbers to provide for continuity of the SC. We decided to draw numbers from
a hat for our terms: three 3-year terms, three 2-year terms, three 1-year terms.

The terms of the SC members are:

 3 years - Richard Bernstein, Amy Likover, Mike Williamson
 2 years- Ross BIshop, Jim Draper, Betsy Swenerton
 1 year - Michael McDermott, Kevin Haggerty, Samantha Sargent,

D. Looking Back - what the Fed has accomplished

Historically
 Supported passage of Measure A - Library, spearheaded by Steve Patterson, Fed
founder
 Established monthly City/Fed meetings
 Wrote original (2003) Bylaws
 Had swap fest at PG&E lot and accumulated funds

Past 3 years
 Hosted 2 City-wide meetings with officials to discuss SR Transit Center
 Hosted many monthly meetings with City Officials such as 2040 Plan, the City
Manager, the Mayor, Community Development Director, Supervisor & District
Attorney Candidate Forums
 Attended Planning Commission, Design Review Board, City Council Meetings

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 A representative 2040 General Plan Steering Committee - Jackie Schmidt
 Established regular monthly calendar for City/Fed meetings with shared chairing
 Held First Annual Meeting
 Revised 2003 Bylaws, approved at Annual Meeting
 Began membership drive, recruitment for greater neighborhood representation
 Conducted Steering Committee election at Annual Meeting
 Established a valid slate of officers
 Produced an accurate neighborhood map
 Established a membership database

E. Goals and Objectives

1. Develop advocacy strategy

a. Facilitate (neutral) exchange of information in general meetings

b. Prioritize issues, supporting what SC approves by consensus
c. Establish protocol for civil and productive Fed/CIty meetings
d. Communicate issues back to the neighborhoods for their input.

2. Build Representation and participation

a. Host regular general meetings (time/place/venue)

b. Activate Membership Subcommittee
c. Recruit neighborhood association/HOA membership
d. Recruit individual membership
e. Enlist membership in subcommittees

3. Educate membership about our mission and practices

a. Membership Subcommittee communicates mission and practices

b. Steering Committee communicates mission and practices

4. Build Financial Capacity

a. Develop budget
b. Increase membership
c. Obtain fiscal agent
d. Apply for grants

5. Develop Grant Program

a. Allocate neighborhood grant monies in budget process

b. Decide on amount and number of grants
c. Award grant at annual meeting

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Action Items:

1. Email more of the neighborhood associations - build membership -

Betsy/Sam
2. Create budget - Samantha has started
3. Research fiscal agent - Samantha and Amy
4. Create Doodle poll on best meeting day of first week - Betsy
5. Discuss the future organization of these meetings with Jim Schutz -
Richard/Amy
6. Ask Stacey Beckhardt (stacey.beckhardt@bmrn.com) of BioMarin about
using a room there on a regular basis - Amy

There was interest in building the following subcommittees: Planning and Development
(Mike Williamsen and Samantha); Membership (Betsy and Samantha); Public Works;
Public Safety, and ad hoc subcommittees for ephemeral issues.

Standing agenda items at our monthly general meetings:

1. Proposed City/Fed agenda items

2. Report from the last City/Fed meeting

3. [Report from neighborhoods - Amy added this to the minutes]

Information about future meetings:

City/Federation Meeting - March 20th, 2019, 5pm City Hall Upstairs conference room

General Meeting/Steering Committee meeting - May 1st, 2019 7pm/6:30 pm

Adjourned 11:15 AM
Respectfully submitted by Samantha Sargent, edited by RB and AL