PUBLIC MEETING
Announcements and introductions – Mayor Lynn Deutsch came in later. Adrienne said we turn 50 in June so this is a perfect time for new Bylaws.
*New Board Member – Tom Taylor is replacing Wendy Taylor on the Board. Adrienne gave Tom his In Appreciation Award from last year’s Annual Meeting.
*Proposed Executive new Executive Board members to be voted on at the Annual Meeting this month – Kerry and Gerri roll off but Gerri has agreed to stay on for another 3 years. Deb Montgomery is nominated for the other Executive Board position.
*DHA Events for 2020 - The July 4th Parade has its first entry by an Indian applicant who will have a dance troupe and will give out candy. The Annual Meeting is January 26th at 2pm at the Dunwoody United Methodist Church. The speakers at the Annual Meeting are Ann Hanlon, PCID, State Senator Sally Harrell, Melody Maddox DeKalb County Sheriff, Mike Cowan, Dunwoody Nature Center, and either Nancy or Stan Jester. The new award honoring Dick Williams will be called the Dick Williams Citizenship Award. The Famers Market Committee is reorganizing and asked Brandon to find a replacement for Edward as manager. Edward resigned. The first Food Truck is April 30th and the Marcus Jewish Community Center will be the sponsor. The City will be the sponsor on May 8th. Food Truck will end on Oct. 22nd this year because the Park Dept. can’t be there on Oct. 29th. The Halloween contest will be is scheduled for Oct.22nd. We had 150 entries for the 2019 contest. It will be held in the same location. Bill Grossman said that the grand opening of the Amphitheater is scheduled for March 21st. There will be music. Groovin’ on the Green is moving to the Amphitheater. Stage Door may perform a musical there. There are three open dates right now that they are discussing with Bill Grossman for DHA involvement.
*Bylaws updates – Some things discussed were redefining the purviews of DHA as it has changed since we became a City. Kerry suggested adding something in the bylaws about avoiding conflicts of interest. We should disclose if we have a conflict with a presenter and recuse ourselves, only applicable to the Executive Board. Robert suggested changing the DHA name to Dunwoody Civic Association. Gerri said that there is a Dunwoody North Civic Association and the two organizations could then be confused especially for dues. Bill Grossman suggested doing a survey for a name change.
*Tom Taylor with update on upcoming House Bills that are d great concern to our City – Tom said these bills like the fireworks bills are due to a conflict between urban and rural. HB411 is sponsored by Brett Harrell, proposes separating water, trash and sewer bill which will cost the City $200,000.00-$300,000.00. HB 244 is sponsored by Mary Margaret Oliver and punitive to cities in DeKalb County for becoming cities. It is a loss of revenue bill where the cities would have to pay the county 2.5 million dollars for 30 years for services the county no longer provides. HB 302 is sponsored by Vance Smith and would disallow cities from enforcing zoning codes. It would eliminate the Comprehensive Land Use Plan and would impact our taxes and property values. Tom feels these three bills have enough support to pass. Kerry asked what we should do and Mayor Lynn Deutsch said the city has a paid lobbyist. Tom also brought up the fact that Code Enforcement is not doing a very good job and that Adrienne and Tom did a tour around the City. He said there are night clubs and gambling in the apartments. Lynn said she would work on it.
*The Budget – Adrienne said DHA is cash up and membership is slightly down. The cost of the parade went up and we had less sponsorships. Our operational expenses were down. Not all of the budgeted sponsorships were claimed and we are in the black. Adrienne is concerned about the ratio of sponsors to the cost of the parade. The cost of porta potties, signs and more bands are all up. The parade was in the hole $5,300.00. We need more corporate sponsors. They are working on outreach for this coming year. We need to interface with the media to take pictures and send blurbs to the media. Adrienne needs a volunteer. Bill Grossman said we may need to cut our sponsorships from $1,000.00 to $500.00. We had $14,000.00 in 2019 budget and we used $9,875.00. We will vote on the budget at our February meeting.
BOARD-ONLY DISCUSSION AND VOTES
*Approve minutes from December 2019 – Bill Grossman motioned to approve the minutes and Bob Barnwell seconded it. The minutes were approved unanimously.
ADJOURN
Respectively submitted,
Gerri Penn, Recording Secretary