[OldNorth] September meeting - comments - October meeting

[Dan Quickert]

Dear board members,

I'd like to (belatedly) say that I thought the September meeting was a very 
good one.

We dealt with business as necessary, yet still had ample time for 
discussions - not just among Board members, but more importantly with other 
neighborhood residents. That, I think, should be our primary activity and 
focus.

The meeting lasted nearly an hour and a half, but I don't recall anyone 
feeling like it was too long - primarily, I think, because we were having 
productive and congenial discussions.

I'd like to especially thank Angela for facilitating the meeting. She kept 
us basically on-track yet allowed full discussion of all the issues the 
participants had.

As a result of that experience, I'd like to propose changes to our meeting 
format:

1) set aside a large block of time at each meeting for general discussion - 
to include issues, concerns, observations from community members and board 
members.

2) make that block of time an hour (or more) unless there is specific Board 
business that demands cutting into that time.

3) increase the time allotted for the meetings accordingly.
The previous rather hurried meetings tended to stifle meaningful 
discussion.
I think that if we want to be an organization that fosters community dialog 
and communication, we need to acknowledge that we're there to have 
discussions and be willing to allocate the time for that.
I suggest a regular meeting duration of an hour and a half.

I'd like to know what the rest of you think about this?

Dan Quickert