COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD MEETING ... - City of Miami

COMMUNITY RELATIONS BOARD
MEETING MINUTES FROM
THURSDAY, January 18, 2007
Board Members Present Board Members Absent
Haydee Regueyra, Chair Bess McElroy, Secretary/Parliamentarian
Jennifer Vasquez, Vice-Chair Samantha Imbert, Student Member
Carlos Becerra Gaurav Sen, Student Member
Barbara Bisno
Tonja Carter
Helena Del Monte
Natalie French
Brenda Shapiro, Ex-Officio
Roudy Thomas
Teresa Zorrilla-Clark
Staff Present
Ada Rojas, Coordinator
Natasha Colebrook-Williams, Community Outreach Specialist
Julie-Ann Smith, Administrative Aide
Guests
Jack Blumenfeld
Willy Calviño
Erie Rodriguez
Jeffy Mondesir, Mayor’s Office
Haydee Regueyra, Chair, convened the meeting at 6:08 p.m.
Ada Rojas did Roll Call of all Board members.
Coordinator’s Report:
Ada Rojas reiterated the importance of member attendance, a copy of the guidelines was given to
each member. She also discussed the quorum requirements after consulting with George
Wysong, the Board’s legal liaison. He recommends that any time there are less than seven Board
members in attendance to a Board meeting, the meeting should be adjourned.
Ms. Rojas also requested approval for either additional staff or an audit of current positions
which could possibly increase the salaries of staff.
Ms Rojas provided an information packet on the work of the City of Miami administration, who
are preparing for the imminent news of the death of Cuban leader, Fidel Castro. At the last
special meeting of the CRB, all present agreed on forming three sub-committees for Education,
Media and Message. Board members should be prepared to be activated at a moments notice.

III. Items to be approved by the Board
A. APPROVING THE MINUTES OF:
The Board considered a motion to approve the minutes for December 7, 2006, December
12, 2006, December 27, 2006 and January 3, 2007, which resulted in the following vote.
The motion was made by Helena Del Monte, seconded by Teresa Zorrilla-Clark, to
approve the minutes, and was passed, by the following vote.
Aye: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French, Haydee
Regueyra, Tonja Carter, Roudy Thomas, Teresa Zorrilla-Clark
Nay: None
B. QUORUM CHANGE
Ada Rojas addressed the Board in regard to adjourning a meeting if fewer that seven
Board members were in attendance. This was clarified and recommended by the legal
liaison, George Wysong.
Following the above, the Board discussed the possibilities and considered a motion to
approve changing the Ordinance to amend the quorum requirement to five.
A motion was made by Barbara Bisno, seconded by Natalie French, to amend the quorum
requirement, and was failed by the following vote.
Aye: Barbara Bisno, Haydee Regueyra and Teresa Zorrilla-Clark
Nay: Carlos Becerra, Tonja Carter, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French and Roudy
Thomas
The Board considered a motion to amend the ordinance to reflect quorum requirement of
50% of current appointed members.
A motion was made by Carlos Becerra, seconded by Teresa Zorrilla-Clark, to amend
current Ordinance to change quorum and was passed by the following vote.
Aye: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Tonja Carter, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French,
Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Teresa Zorrilla-Clark
Nay: None
C. ANNUAL REPORT
Pursuant to City Code Section 2-890, all Board’s are required to present to the City
Manager an annual report, due at the beginning of each year.

A motion was made by Carlos Becerra, seconded by Natalie French , to accept the annual
report and include approved responses to questions 5, 6, and 7 and be presented to the City
Manager, and was passed by the following vote.
Aye: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Tonja Carter, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French,
Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Teresa Zorrilla-Clark
Nay: None
D. TRAINING
Natalie French requested that available funds be used to train Board members and staff,
when opportunities arise. The Board considered a motion to approve professional
training for all, when the opportunity is prevented, prior to the end of the current fiscal
year.
A motion was made by Natalie French, seconded by Carlos Becerra for staff to identify
training opportunities for Board and Staff, and was passed by the following vote.
Aye: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Tonja Carter, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French,
Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Jennifer Vasquez and Teresa Zorrilla-Clark.
Nay: None
E. OPINION
The City Manager has asked the Board’s opinion in regard to the activation of the
Goodwill Ambassadors for several upcoming events.
A motion was made by Barbara Bisno, seconded by Carlos Becerra not to activate the
Goodwill Ambassadors for the Super Motor Fest on January 20-21, 2007, and was passed
by the following vote.
Aye: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Tonja Carter, Helena Del Monte, Natalie French,
Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Jennifer Vasquez and Teresa Zorrilla-Clark.
Nay: None
A motion was made by Teresa Zorrilla-Clark, seconded by Helena Del Monte to activate
the Goodwill Ambassadors for the Superbowl weekend activities in the City of Miami
from February 2 -3, 2007, and was passed by the following vote.
Aye: Helena Del Monte, Haydee Regueyra, Roudy Thomas, Jennifer Vasquez, Teresa
Zorrilla-Clark.
Nay: Carlos Becerra, Barbara Bisno, Tonja Carter, Natalie French.
IV. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
Student Participation/Education Committee

No report at this meeting. Brenda Shapiro formally announced her resignation as Chair of the
Education committee.
Law Enforcement Committee:
No report at this meeting.
Special Events/NET Liaison Committee:
Haydee Regueyra and Natasha Colebrook-Williams met with a representative from the Carnival
Center for the Performing Arts, who is inclined to partner with the CRB. This would give the
Board the opportunity to go ahead with the film review and community dialogue on race
relations. PAC is funded by grants for educational projects, and the cost to the CRB should not
exceed the Special Events budget of $2000. Suggestions were made to hold viewings on a
quarterly basis at the Performing Arts Center; have a CRB sponsored film festival; show films
not only to children in schools, but also open up to adults from diverse backgrounds. Movies
suggested for consideration, include the following but are not limited to these: Take the Lead,
Crash, Freedom Writer, and the Defiant Ones.
Natasha Colebrook-Williams reported on the success of the CRB’s Ultimate Business Fair which
was held in December, with thirteen participating agencies. There were approximately 30
participants with needs ranging from business expansion, starting new business or assistance
with ideas. The next Business Fair will be held in Model City and is currently being planned.
Organizations who were exhibitors at the fair, realized they were duplicating services and have
since then collaborated to hold quarterly seminars, targeted towards specific topics. SCORE has
agreed to administer the matching grants project, and will be responsible for fund raising.
Additional information will be available once they have attended the planning meeting scheduled
for January 23 rd , when they will meet to set the criteria. Barbara Bisno made a suggestion that
the CRB consider making a donation towards the grant.
Jennifer Vasquez reported on her community partnership initiative. The United Nations hosts a
film festival annually, in October, where they screen series of films related to UN. The CRB
would be able to choose films, while acting as co-sponsors, extending support during the 3-4 day
film festival.
Barbara Bisno reminded all present that a list of NET offices were being passed around. Board
members may take this opportunity to sign up with a new NET office or add an additional office,
and new members were asked to choose an office in an area they would like to work.
Nominating Committee:
Helena Del Monte, chair of the committee reported. On December 29 th the committee met and
selected candidates to be presented to the Commissioners and the Mayor. Mayor Diaz appointed
Roudy Thomas, while rejecting the slate for the second appointment. Commissioners Spence-
Jones rejected the slate and requested new resumes with candidates from within her district;
Commissioner Gonzalez deferred his appointments. Commissioner Sarnoff reappointed Carlos
Becerra and Barbara Bisno, while Commissioner Regalado reappointed Haydee Regueyra.

Board members are asked once again to recommend candidates from diverse ethnic
backgrounds. Haydee Regueyra recommended that once Ms. Rojas has received sufficient
applicable candidates from the Commissioners and the Mayor, to then schedule a committee
meeting.
Budget Committee:
A copy of the approved budget for fiscal year 2006-07 was provided by the Chair, Natalie
French. Prior to the end of this budget year, she suggested that the Board consider training for
the Board and staff. Helena Del Monte suggested that to prevent poor spending habits a six
month fiscal review of the budget needs to be done, line item transfers made and plan
accordingly for proper spending.
OLD BUSINESS:
Haydee Regueyra discussed the proposed agenda for the Staff/Board agenda. To ensure that the
CRB and the City of Miami is sharing the same mission, but have a clear vision, a copy of the
City’s score card should be made available for review and discussion; which will assist the
Board in preparing their goals for the upcoming year. There were no changes to the proposed
agenda after discussion. Carlos Becerra requested that all Board members be provided a copy of
the Human Services Coalition annual report, prior to the staff/board retreat for review.
NEW BUSINESS:
Brenda Shapiro, brought to everyone’s attention, the featured story in the New York Times was
tensions between Blacks and Hispanics. This was written about Los Angelos, California, but the
same can be said about communities within the City of Miami; tensions are growing and real in
our community, which the CRB need to address.
ACTION ITEMS:
Board/Staff: Staff/Board retreat on Saturday, February 10, 2007 at the Doubletree Hotel, please
RSVP by February 2, 2007.
Jennifer Vasquez: Provide a copy of the survey done by the Human Services Coalition in
regard to the needs of the community. This will need to be available for review by all Board
members, prior to the retreat.
Ada Rojas: Provide detailed budget, showing cost association of work done with the Board, and
operating expenditures for the CRB and the Office of Community Relations.
C. Becerra, R. Thomas and J. Vasquez: Tasked by Haydee Regueyra to research partnership
opportunities for film festival.
The meeting was adjourned at approximately 8:05 p.m.