As of this writing (5/22), the guidance continues to advise against gathering for our monthly public meetings. We cannot predict when that might change. The community meeting venues in the VOC cannot provide predicted re-open dates.
We are carefully observing how other community groups and government agencies are using online technologies like Zoom, and gathering feedback from their leaders.
The past three months your Planning & Zoning Committee successfully used Zoom online technology to conduct meetings. All committee members were present for deliberations, with non-participating visitors in the background (they could listen and watch).
Zoom meetings seem to work well for small discussion groups and provide good support for unilateral reporting to larger audiences. They do not, however, effectively support community forum types of discussion.
As per the mission and goals of the Council, the monthly Regular meetings must be open and accessible to the entire Big Park community. By nature, Zoom meetings limit participation to Council and community members with: the necessary equipment; access to sufficient high-speed internet service; facility with computer applications; access to training resources to learn/practice the application.
At this time, the Council’s time-critical matters are being conducted successfully via Zoom, small group meetings and email. We plan to continue in this fashion until the county, state and federal guidance recommends that large gatherings are safe for our high-risk community demographic, and an appropriate venue becomes available.
Status of Proposed Bylaws Revision
At the March Council meeting, a motion was passed outlining the go-forward steps for reviewing the revised bylaws draft. The Executive Committee is required to uphold the directive of the Council – without modification – as required by the bylaws.
The next open, public Regular meeting of the Council will begin the important discussion of these proposals as outlined; beginning with the simplest revisions and moving on to proposed changes to our Membership and Organizational Structure.
The Bylaws Committee has continued with its work electronically, and we look forward to the first open meeting where we can all fully participate and hear from them.
Other Committees
In addition to P&Z and Ad hoc Bylaws Committees, the Executive and Membership committees have carried on their work via small group meetings in private homes and email.
We invite your ideas and thoughts, and encourage everyone to subscribe to the Big Park Council email list. The signup is on the bottom of the homepage – bigparkcouncil.org.
Camille Cox, President (camille@onrampcomm.com)