Saucier Community Improvement Association (SCIA) formation Meeting – April 4th 2006

Introduction

The meeting was attended by the following Steering Committee members:-

• Steve Howard


• Wayne Jones

Additionally approximately 70 members of the community attended. Around half of these were invited to attend by the Steering Committee as they had previously indicated an interest in taking part in the implementation stage of the Plan that has previously been presented to the community.
The meeting was held to:-

• formally dissolve the Planning Steering Committee,


• form the initial SCIA group and


• discuss immediate planning issues for the community.

Following is the agenda for the meeting. After the agenda, I will address each agenda point briefly. Readers should consider this report to have been written instead of formal minutes, and should report any comments, corrections and additions to Steve Howard at steve@magnoliamultimedia.com or 228 832 5570.
Steve Howard
Vice President
SCIA

Agenda

• Members of steering committee present call meeting to order


• Brief presentation on history of Steering Committee and purpose of forming SCIA


• Outline benefits of working together and present organizational outline of SCIA


• Discuss format of SCIA and elect board of directors.


• President of Board assumes control of meeting and presents remaining agenda.


• Discuss 25 acre parcel , any other and decide best option.


• Discuss Jennifer's suggestion of Andrews University student designing proposal for town center.


• Grocery store – initiate goals, plan.


• 601 corridor – MDOT meeting ASAP, can we take SCIA view to MDOT


• Request timely information from Planning Office etc


• Any other new business


• Set time, place and date of next meeting.

Members of steering committee present call meeting to order

Wayne Jones opened the meeting with a brief introduction as to the purpose of the meeting etc.

Brief presentation on history of Steering Committee and purpose of forming SCIA

Steve Howard presented a very brief outline of the progress to-date of the OSU drafted Plan, and the Steering Committee’s input. Steve included details of the ordinances that are already under discussion or approved.

Some attendees felt that we were talking about purchasing land, enforcing land use regulations and changing people’s lives significantly. Stress was given to the fact that, outside of the Core Area under discussion for the plan, there would be little if any change to the face of Saucier.  It was further stressed that the SCIA has no budget and no plan to be buying anything from anyone, and that the most significant effect of any zoning revisions is to help prevent business and commercial growth from getting out of control and turning Saucier into a clone of Orange Grove.

The question was raised “Why do we need to change anything?” The response being that change is already happenning and we want to get things in place to make sure that change is what the community wants, and that it maintains the rural flavor of the community, while providing services that enhance the way of life in Saucier for present and future residents.

Outline benefits of working together and present organizational outline of SCIA

Wayne Jones talked briefly about the benefit of working together to achieve the goals of The Plan.

This part of the evening probably raised more discussion than any other. Most of the ensuing discussion centered around the quite valid concern about the legitimacy of the SCIA and that the small number of people at this meeting could not reasonably reflect the views of the 12 to 15 thousand people living in the community.

The answer was that we were forming a group to pursue a plan that was derived from discussion with a larger group of the community. The entire community has had chance to take part and comment in the process. The SCIA will not be telling the community what they want the community will tell the SCIA what they want and the SCIA will do what it can to implement that.

While the SCIA is formed out of a relatively small group of people, the members of the SCIA will ultimately be voted (most likely annually) by the community as a whole. The SCIA necessarily must start small but will grow as ‘the word’ spreads and the news of achievements gets around.

One or two people remained unconvinced, but, on the whole, attendees were in agreement that we had to start somewhere and the SCIA was a good way to do that. Ultimately we agreed to move forward as planned and vote the preliminary SCIA board from those present at this meeting.

{Personal comment from Steve – the true of the SCIA legitimacy will be derived from its results, not from how it is conceived.}

Discuss format of SCIA and elect board of directors.

Attendees were in general agreement over the preliminary list of SCIA board members. The use of Board Member 1 … 2 … 3 … etc in the PowerPoint appeared to suggest some sort of ranking or level of importance so that was removed for the purpose of formation, even though ranking was never intended.

John Fasler proposed that we give 15 minutes to receive nominations before moving forward and voting. This was seconded by (I think) JoAnne Munghia and agreed-to on a show of hands.

{Not sure who} proposed Wayne Jones as President of the SCIA, and Wayne was voted in unopposed.

Eli Sauls proposed Steve Howard as Vice President. Steve was voted in unopposed.
Winfred Quarles was proposed for secretary/treasurer by {not sure}.

Steve Howard proposed Pascal Gill, who had sent apologies for being unable to attend and also voiced an interest in taking an active part in pursuing the Plan. After discussion it was agreed to change the proposal of Pascal to Member at Large.

Winfred was voted in as Secretary. Pascal was voted in as Member at large.

A brief conversation resulted in a request for volunteers for each of the remaining positions. People with relevant knowledge and experience were requested. For each available role, at least one volunteer raised a hand or stood up, so the meeting moved forward to a vote.

Where there was only one volunteer for a role, we moved straight to a vote. Where there were multiple volunteers, those volunteers quickly agreed between themselves on the nomination to go forward (for e.g. a retired teacher and a serving head master were each interested in the Education role. The headmaster deferred to the teacher who has more time to fulfill the role).

Leaving aside further detail, this is the result of the vote:-

• Wayne Jones - President


• Steve Howard - Vice President


• Winfred Quarles - Secretary/Treasurer


• Sarajane Smith - Education


• Wanda Pate - Health and Welfare


• Ron Dougherty - Business


• Glenn Hickman – Parks, Recreation and Sport


• Ron Corder - Architecture and Beautification


• Pascal Gill - Member At Large

Note that at the time of writing the SCIA has no funding and no budget, so there is little work for a treasurer, hence Secretary/Treasurer was combined into a single role. That will change when appropriate.

President of Board assumes control of meeting and presents remaining agenda.

The meeting continued after a 15 minute recess.

Discuss 25 acre parcel, any other and decide best option.

See agenda for details on this. The meeting was in agreement that the proposal by Dalton McGuire to develop a 25 acre parcel of land in the center of Saucier Town Center is a positive thing. The SCIA will arrange to speak with Dalton at the earliest convenience to discuss his plans, and share the SCIAs plans and begin the process of reaching agreement on how to proceed.

Discuss Jennifer's suggestion of Andrews University students designing proposal for town center.

See agenda for details on this. The meeting was in agreement that, since the Ohio State team has done such a fantastic job, Andrew’s University will be welcome to do a design study. We need all the help we can get. This information has already been passed to the Ohio team so Andrews University should be moving this forward soon.

Grocery store – initiate goals, plan.

See agenda for details on this. Wayne approached a land owner (Donnie O’Neal) who has a parcel between Dalton McGuire’s proposed center location and the frontage road parallel to H49, just to the South of the Community Center. The question was – would Donnie be interested in developing a Grocery Store there? He has said yes, in principle.

The intention had been to discuss how we might move forward on initiating plans for such a development. Instead there was discussion along the lines of should we or should we not? What about other locations? What about existing smaller stores?

For the sake of time, it was agreed to put this discussion aside for a later date.

601 corridor – MDOT meeting ASAP, can we take SCIA view to MDOT

After extended conversation, it was agreed to hold a town meeting on Tuesday April 11th to discuss MDOT plans for H49 and H601. MDOT will be invited to attend.

At the time of writing the meeting has been confirmed, and Lori Sauls is kindly advertising it by way of a sign outside her business on H49, and flyers issued through the local schools.

MDOT has said they may be able to attend, but I don’t have concrete confirmation as I write these notes. If MDOT cannot attend the SCIA will hold the town meeting and canvas the community for opinions to take to MDOT.

One very interesting piece of information that came out of discussion about roads is that Joe Moy lives in the path of Option 3 – Go directly to Wiggins, parallel to 49 the whole way. Joe says he lives on top of an Indian Mound. If confirmed, that may directly impact any proposed route that goes parallel to 49 all the way to Wiggins. This needs to be brought to MDOTs attention.

A brief show of hands indicates that those present preferred the route that has 601 join 49 as far south as possible (Wortham). The SCIA is likely to share the view and will say so to MDOT – but this should not be taken as a true gauge of how the whole of Saucier feels. For that, we must wait for next week’s meeting.

Readers should note that the SCIA will not lose sight of the fact that whichever decision MDOT make for H49 and H601, there will be at least some affect on plans for the Town Center.

Request timely information from Planning Office etc

In order to do the best job it can, the SCIA needs to have access to as much relevant and timely information as possible. This means cultivating good contacts with MDOT, the Planning Office, the Board of Supervisors etc.

As Secretary, it will fall to Winfred Quarles to coordinate such communication and disseminate information to the rest of the board, although that in no way suggests that other board members are expected to NOT take part in such communications.

Earlier in the meeting, conversation turned to the importance of communication. The attendees felt that it was important to get information about The Plan, roads etc to as many people as possible – and the Steering Committee had tried to do so , but with limited resources was forced to concede that communication was not as successful as it could be.

Out of that conversation, Lori Sauls volunteered to take responsibility for communicating such information most specifically about town meetings, but presumably other information where appropriate. Lori has a business adjacent to Highway 49 and a prominent sign that can be used to post announcements. She also has contact with local schools and is able to distribute fliers to be taken home by pupils that can inform parents of plans, meetings etc. This will be an invaluable help in presenting a positive, proactive image of the SCIA and its endevours.

Any other new business

Steve Howard proposed that the SCIA approach Dalton McGuire about implementing a Farmer’s Marked on the 25 acre parcel that he has for development at the earliest opportunity.

Conversation at this meeting and elsewhere suggests that there would be strong support for such a move. It would be a quick, easy and cheap way to establish the proposed area as a convenient center for the town. Also as spring is here, and summer is approaching, people in Saucier have large gardens producing large quantities of fruit and vegetables all year round. There is clear demand for an opportunity to sell – and buy – surplus produce that is fresh and clear of pesticides and wax.

The suggestion got a very positive response from the meeting, so the SCIA will take that suggestion to Dalton.

Set time, place and date of next meeting.

No time or date was set for the first SCIA board meeting. This will be addressed over the next few days. The Town meeting with MDOT on the 11th April took precedence at this time.

posted by Steve Howard @ 5:58 PM