Danby Community Council		Date: 4/2/2015
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting	Danby Town Hall, 7:00pm
Board members present: Alison Christie (Pres.), Gould Colman, Bill Evans (Secr.), H. Katharine Hunter, Ted Crane (ex officio)
Absent: Julie Clougherty (Treas.), Cathleen Banford, DiAnna Snyder (V. Pres.)
Others present Karlita Bleam, Shelley Lester, Dave Sanders
Announcements:
Alison mentioned the upcoming West Danby Egg Hunt on April 4.
Gould mentioned a book titled A Sense of Place: Small Communities Near Ithaca, NY by Andrea Fleck Clardy. He went on to state that modern day farmers in Danby are successful -- their new crop is selling lots for development. He mentioned the old Hatfield Farm on Gunderman Rd and the housing lots that now line the road.
Privilege of the Floor: None
Approval of Prior Minutes: Upon approval
Board Elections: 
The Board accepted Cathleen Banford’s resignation from the Board.
DiAnna Snyder submitted her resignation to the Board.
Alison noted that with DiAnna’s resignation there will be two vacancies on the Board and she asked for suggestions for new Directors. Names that were mentioned include Jamie Sorrentino, Patrice Jennings, and Gabe Banford.

DISCUSSION
Youth Programming
With the Youth Subcommittee mostly in attendance (all except Julie) for the annual report to the DCC, new DCC Director Bill Evans requested an overview of the DCC subcommittee. Bill understood that the DCC serves as the Danby Youth Commission, which entails the responsibility for youth programming for Danby. He also understood that the DCC contracts with Cornell Cooperative Extension (CE) to provide youth services and fulfill part of its contract with the Town. The DCC youth subcommittee currently consists of:
Karlita Bleam – CE Danby Youth Services Coordinator
Shelley Lester – CE Rural Youth Services Coordinator
Dave Sanders - Tompkins County Youth Services Department
Alison Christie – DCC
Julie Clougherty -- DCC
Katharine Hunter – DCC

In answer to Bill’s question, Dave Sanders provided the overview summarized below:
The subcommittee was formed in 2013 to facilitate DCC meetings by having a monthly meeting solely focused on youth programs associated with the CE program. The meeting would go over the activities of the Danby CE Youth Coordinator (i.e., types of programs, locations, target audience, etc.), review achievements, and develop an action plan. The initial four meetings in 2013 were not very productive but, after a break, meetings were resumed on a monthly basis in September 2014 (Jan 2015 meeting missed due to storm). The latter seven meetings have found a productive groove.

Dave’s explanation led Gould to question whether an article in the Danby News on the subcommittee would be useful for Town residents. Ted pondered the idea and questioned how detailed the article should be, noting that the youth development service has had a complex evolution. Discussion on some of the details ensued.

Shelley then presented the 2014 Danby Youth Programs annual report (http://www.danbyny.org/Documents/DCC_REPORT_2014YOUTH.pdf) and she and Karlita fielded questions from the Directors. One of the topics centered on the challenge of getting participation from middle schoolers. Dave noted that a youth development coordinator will have a tough time if they are not known to students, suggesting that the longer youth development personnel are in place the more successful they will be. 2014 was Karlita’s first year on the job and she expressed optimism the program will grow in popularity over the coming years. She also noted that they were exploring altering the timing of programs to be more attractive to middle school kids (i.e., 4-6pm). 

Gould asked about the training programs and to what extent Karlita benefited from them. She indicated they were beneficial. She mentioned her favorite training program was Generational Differences in the Workplace. She said this was very helpful for understanding the range of perspectives from parents to kids. An example she gave involved finding balance in how different generations and different people in general follow rules. Gould was curious about the Summer Risk Management training. Karlita gave the example of learning how to handle an outdoor situation when lighting appears.

Gould then inquired about the “youth program assessment tool”. Shelley replied that it involves both internal and external review. The internal review involves Karlita and Shelley and the external involves Dave and one of his colleagues; they then independently and jointly gauge strengths and weaknesses of programs.

Bill asked about the number of first aid incidences in 2014. Karlita said there was nothing more than a band aid or two. Bill then asked about the protocol for reporting suspected child abuse. Shelley noted that the youth program staff members are not liable if they don’t report it. She said that such information would funnel to her and she would decide how to handle it based on the specific circumstances. 

Alison noted that the youth employment program was not included in the report. Shelley acknowledged this and said it was one of the things she was going to address. Currently the information gets reported to the Joint Youth Commission. She presented what she recalled: 8 Danby youth were employed in 2014, one at Town Hall, two at the youth farm, two with Danby Youth Services, and one on Coddington Rd. (and 2 somewhere else) for a total of 475 hours of employment. She said she would provide a breakdown – it was noted that this is Shelley’s first year on the job and she is still learning how things work.

Karlita proceeded to review the spring 2015 youth development program. Some discussion followed regarding programming targeting boys. Alison brought up the Lego Mindstorm idea and project-based offerings to fill in the gaps of regular programming.

Ted reiterated the importance that Karlita get information about programming to the Danby News.

Discussion concluded with Gould sharing that the cooperative agreement between the DCC and the Town for youth programming evolved over a ten year period. A key point in the transition was 4-6 years ago when Tompkins County cut funding and the Town picked up the costs. Based on 2014 participation, Ted estimated that the Town was spending approximately $100 per youth for the program

Event follow-up
The head count at the Grady Girls concert on March 15 was 117, and $194 in donations was received.

Event schedule
Wayne Myers “Bald Hill and Bold Tools” – April 12. 

Miss Angie’s Kid Show – April 26th.

See pre-event articles by Gould and Alison in the April 2015 issue of the Danby News (http://www.danby-ny.org/DanbyNews/DAN_201504.pdf).

Event planning
Bill noted that Meena Haribal is set to give a presentation on Dragon and Damselflies and lead a field trip to Jennings Pond on July 19th. He mentioned he is working on arranging additional natural history presentations.

Along those lines, Alison mentioned that DiAnna’s husband was interested in giving a presentation on bats and bat call monitoring.

Ted said that John Hoffman’s band (Long John and the Tights) is booked this spring. He mentioned something further about a bottle of whiskey that may come into play.

Bob Strichartz is working on organizing a concert for June.

Additional brainstorming led to suggestions of a field trip to the Fuertes Astronomical Observatory, moth watching during National Moth Week, and movie week. Regarding the observatory trip, Alison reviewed when parent volunteers need to be certified.

Fun Day (July 11) and Harvest Day are on the radar.

DCC 2015 Contract with Town 
Julie emailed a draft of the 2015 contract to the Directors in March. Katharine and Ted mentioned they have a few suggested changes/additions to be reviewed at the April 13 Town Board meeting.

Treasurer’s report
None

Next meeting
Next DCC meeting – May 7, 7pm.

The meeting adjourned after 9:30pm

Respectfully submitted by Bill Evans