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Narragansett
-URI Coalition
“Building
a community of mutual respect”
Meeting Minutes
Tuesday – May 17,
2005
7:00PM
Narragansett Town Hall
SUBCOMMITTEE
MEETINGS
The
following subcommittees met prior to the full Coalition
meeting:
°
Communications
(This committee is in the process of selecting a Chair)
°
Realtors/Neighborhood
Association (Co-Chairs: Eileen
Desforges and Joe Robenhymer)
°
Programming
(Chair: Leslie Williams)
°
Common
Ground (Chair: Nancy
Devaney)
The
Coalition Meeting convened at 7:00 PM.
Due to final exams and his upcoming graduation, Coalition
Facilitator, Jon Fredrickson, could not be here this evening.
Paula Santos, Coalition Coordinator, moderated.
Fran Cohen asked for a motion from the Coalition to
thank Jon for his services and to wish him well in his future
endeavors; so moved and approved by all.
Agenda
The moderator reviewed this evening’s agenda:
- Legislative
Update
- Sub-Committee
Reports
- Drawing
for Gift Certificate to Spain Restaurant (survey
participation)
- Open
Forum
- Closure
Legislative
Update
·
The Chief reviewed a document which was available for all in
attendance containing 14 pending bills relevant to alcohol and
the work of the Coalition.
Information was provided to
the Chief and the Coalition by
George Mason, Attorney General’s Legislative Lobbyist, and Andrea
M. Hopkins, URI Asst. Vice President - Public Affairs.
The Chief reviewed each bill and explained its current
status. In some
cases, there are committee leaders who are opposed to certain
bills and they die in committee, such as House Bill 5550
regarding search warrants to allow taking of
blood/breath/urine. Nancy said she was at the hearings and all the testimony was
in support yet it appears it will not move out of committee.
On a more positive note, Social Host Liability Bill
S444 appears to be heading towards becoming law as does
alcohol beverage server training Senate Bill 076 Sub A and
companion House Bill 6452.
This is encouraging as Dr. Mark Wood, principal
investigator for the Common Ground Grant with Coalition
members have provided valuable input into drafting this bill.
·
Regarding
local ordinances, the Chief reported that under the new
nuisance law or “Scarlet Letter” law as it is being
referred to, 6 residences have been cited.
The stickers will be available by September.
·
Discussion
was held regarding the Coalition, as a more pro-active
coalition, becoming engaged in supporting legislation at the
state house level. It was suggested that we might want to join forces with MADD
or MHRH in promoting certain legislation.
In addition, it was suggested that the Steering
Committee come to the full coalition with recommendations and
the full coalition would vote to approve or disapprove
Coalition involvement. As
always, recommendations for action can always come from the
floor.
·
Toni
O’Neill offered that the Coalition greatly influenced the
Keg registration law and Nancy Devany added that we were
publicly recognized nationally citing how it was working.
We need to better inform our community about these
issues.
SUBCOMMITTEE
REPORTS
·
Steering
Committee (Leslie Williams, reporting)
a.
The
Steering Committee announced its newest member, Colleen Lally,
President of Pan-Hellenic Council at the University.
At the last Steering Committee meeting the following
issues were discussed: legislation,
feedback on realtor’s day and the spring clean-up, an
update-on the plans for the off-campus orientation in the fall
and a future meeting schedule for the Coalition.
·
Programming Committee
(Leslie Williams, reporting)
a.
There will be a food drive to pick up unwanted food
items from students moving out of there rental properties and
donated to a charitable group.
Leslie was told there were bags of goods in Eastward
Look; she will drive by and pick them up tonight.
b.
Police reports continue to come in on a regular basis
and get posted on the web site.
It has been a calm spring with only two major incidents
that are well under control.
c.
Despite the rain, the clean-up was successful. Eileen
commented she was pleased to see students coming out of their
houses to participate.
d.
Two
food drives are planned for the next school year with once
again sponsorship of the spring clean-up in conjunction with
Earth Day.
e.
The Programming Committee will be working on fall
orientation for off-campus students as well as ways to welcome
students back into the community.
·
Realtor/Neighborhood
Association Committee
(Eileen Desforges, reporting)
a.
During their meeting, the Realtor/Neighborhood
Association Committee reported that they discussed future
co-chairs. Joe
Robenhymer will continue to serve with Kate Galvin as his
alternate. Eileen’s position is chosen by the neighborhood
associations’ group and that decision will be made the next
time they meet.
b.
She
thanked Scott for his presentation regarding the new nuisance
ordinance. Scott
stated we will not know the full impact of the ordinance until
September although 6 houses had been issued violation notices.
Stickers were not posted because I) they are not
available yet from the printer and 2) there are only two weeks
left for the renters. The
Chief notified the community that if a parent is away from
their home and their child has a party in the house that
violates the ordinance, their home is subject to having an
ordinance violation sticker physically posted on their house.
Joe asked the Chief if the new ordinance could be
posted to the town website; he will pursue this.
c.
Joe
and the realtor’s reps were thanked for their efforts in
putting together an outstanding informational seminar May 2nd. Fran added that as a presenter, she was impressed with the
subject matter, presenters and turnout.
Ann Galvin did a great job smoothly moving along the
many presentations.
·
Communications Committee
(Adam Guindon, reporting)
a.
The
Chief introduced Adam as a graduate of the University and a
member of the Communications Committee to provide this
evening’s report.
b.
The
Communications Committee is actively recruiting new members,
including the addition of Jim Hurton a new Steering Committee
member. They are
also hoping to attract URI students who live off campus but
are not necessarily affiliated with a specific school group.
Paula indicated two students have expressed an interest
in working with the Realtors/Neighborhood Association
subcommittee as a result of a course assignment regarding
tenant-landlord relations.
c.
The
website continues to be upgraded.
d.
In
an effort to enhance communications among the subcommittees,
the committee is looking into a “roaming” member who would
participate in the various committees.
·
Common Ground (Nancy Devaney, reporting)
a.
Nancy
reiterated the three key projects for Common Ground: ID checking, DUI and RBS.
Common Ground members continue to work in smaller
subgroups to implement action plans.
b.
The committee will be meeting throughout the summer and
notifications will be sent via the list serve.
c.
Nancy announced that John Stevenson will be leaving the
Common Ground project as he has been appointed the new Chair
of the Psychology Department. Mark Wood will be replacing him
on the committee.
3.
Drawing for participation in the membership survey
Sandra Pazieri is the lucky winner of the gift certificate to
Spain.
4.
Open Forum
A.
Pat
Zito asked that the Steering Committee seek to improve the
communications between the subcommittees.
Paula indicated that she is hoping to improve the
process by streamlining the meetings to allow for
representatives of the subcommittees to share in more detail
the activities of their committees.
B.
Nancy
Devaney added that she would like to continue the legislative
updates at the Coalition meetings and added that town
ordinances be included.
C.
Some subcommittees will be meeting throughout the summer.
Notifications will be made through the listserve and
posted on the website.
D.
Tony asked that the nuisance ordinance be put in the Cigar.
Fran will contact the new editor and also make sure it
gets in the off-campus living guide.
E.
Fran introduced Steve Simo as the new Greek Coalition
Coordinator.
4. Closure/Next Meeting
There being no further business to
address, the meeting adjourned at 8:00pm.
The next Coalition meeting will take place in August;
date to be announced.
Respectfully
submitted,
Paula
Santos
Coalition
Coordinator
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