Thurs Aug 14th, Via Zoom
President Camille Cox welcomed new Representatives Carolyn Fisher (Oak Creek Country Club Estates I) and Steve Sutton (Sedona Golf Resort HOA). She also announced that Phil Feiner was successfully elected secretary for the Council using the new electronic balloting system.
Quorum was met with 15 representatives present. There were seven others present.
Vice President Neil Pope gave the Audit Report complimenting the committee work of Carolyn Fisher and Marlene Macek. Current Treasurer’s Report
The president and vice president expressed appreciation for Carla Williams’ excellent service during her 6-month tenure as treasurer. VP Neil Pope is now the second authorized signer on the BPRCC bank account and Secretary Phil Feiner is in possession or the second mailbox key. The president is also a signer and has a key.
The 2019 Nominating Committee was reconvened to search for a new treasurer, but has been unsuccessful to date. The Council voted to confirm Vice President Neil Pope as treasurer pro-tem.
First Regular Meeting via Zoom The president noted some of the new challenges and requested patience as we learn. A post-meeting survey will be sent to today’s attendees to gather feedback to inform the Executive Board in adjusting future meeting protocols for improved efficiency and experience.
Bylaws Committee Co-Chair Mary Pope presented a summary of the Noticed Amendments to the current byLaws to add electronic voting and electronic meetings. She answered questions on the two amendments that will be discussed and voted on at the September meeting.
Big Park Community Plan The president presented a historical review of the community plan, explaining the County’s 2010 moratorium that resulted in the elimination of traditional community plans from the County Comprehensive Plan. A survey of 15 Reps who attended a Council Discussion Forum on July 14th unanimously recommended that the Council form an ad hoc committee to lead a community-wide effort to create a Vision Statement and updated Community Plan. A draft Purpose and Scope for an ad hoc committee was presented, motion made and unanimously approved to establish the committee The Purpose and Scope may be refined by the new committee and presented at the next meeting. Dave Norton volunteered to join the committee which will include members of a Working Group of the P&Z Committee that was formed previously. Camille Cox agreed to chair the committee after a call for a volunteer went unanswered.
President Cox presented the concept of the Council producing a District 3 Supervisor Candidate Forum, which was enthusiastically supported by the representatives. Some of the representatives shared recollections of how this had been done in the past. It was suggested that both candidates should appear, possibly in a debate format, and answer questions specifically relevant to the Big Park Region. Mike Ryan and Dave Norton will meet to explore options and create a proposed plan.
P&Z Committee Camille Cox announced Mike Ryan’s resignation from the committee and congratulated Mary Morris as the new committee chair. The Aug 28th regularly scheduled P&Z meeting will not take place unless an action item comes in from the County.
Membership Committee Kathryn Stillman had resigned as chairman of the Membership Committee as well as committee member Lora Mazza. Appreciation for their contribution, particularly for the completion of a draft Members Handbook that is now ready for review by the Council. Lora added that a PowerPoint presentation was also produced.
John Swingle, Council Liaison to the VVTPO (Verde Valley Transportation and Planning Organization), thanked Camille and the Council for a last minute agenda change to include his report on County transportation activities effecting the Big Park Region. He noted that the County is working on the crosswalk by Clark’s (Verde Valley School Rd and Slide Rock Rd) which is very dangerous. Also there would be seal coating on the roads by Fairways Oaks, and the Verde Connect has received funding approval and will proceed the Design Phase.
Bylaws Review: Co-chair Mary Pope presented Governing Documents 101 explaining how the Council’s various documents work together and the process we will use to review the bylaws revisions.
Co-chair Nancy Maple presented the first of the 30-minute bylaws reviews – “Purpose and Tax-Exempt Status”. It was noted that the Parliamentarian recommended including the Purpose up front in the bylaws under “Definitions”. The committee recommended that the tax-exempt status be summarized as a Procedure rather than be included in the bylaws due to the possibility that this status could be changed by the IRS, requiring complex later revision.
A straw vote was taken and the Council agreed that the Purpose and Tax-Exempt (short) statements should be included as part of the bylaws Definitions going forward. There was also discussion as to whether or not these changes could be included in the current bylaws as we go along or whether we needed to wait until all changes were reviewed before voting on the package in its entirety. It was noted that the bylaws committee must abide by the Council motion on how the review takes place – and also that the reason to hold changes until the end was because they often interact with later changes. It was also pointed out that only the Council could change this process.
Nancy Maple announced the topics to be discussed in September: V Financial Provisions, IX Conflict of Interest, X Indemnification and XI Amendments/Effective Date.
You can access all of the information regarding the current and proposed bylaws, committee records and more on the Council website – BPRCC Bylaws Update Latest Info.
The next regular meeting of the Council will be September 10th, presumably via Zoom.
The Executive Board will meet September 1 – see website calendar for time and location.