Remember that neighborhood crisis I mentioned earlier? Well, last night was the night of the first “special meeting” to try to get the CAC back on track. Neither Dwayne Patterson and Luis Olivieri-Robert from the city’s Community Services department nor I had any idea how many members would attend the meeting, held at the Unitarian Church. It turns out that around 70 people showed up, which isn’t too shabby for a week’s notice.
Following the bylaws, Dwayne kicked off the meeting and I was promptly nominated as the presiding officer. My first task was to see if the body wanted a nominating committee and, as I expected, the membership agreed to do away with it. Other motions were dealing with making sure candidates accepted their nominations (passed) as well as making sure candidates were present for their election (withdrawn, I believe).
I had a plan for last night’s meeting and I should’ve known what to expect, having seen the acrimony on the UPHA mailing list. Even so, I found myself taken aback at the emotion expressed at the meeting. There were a lot of fired-up citizens there. The questions and motions were flying so quickly that Luis could barely keep track of them all.
I know I have some experience running meetings so I went into last night’s feeling confident I could do so successfully. After a few minutes had passed and I’d already been peppered with questions and motions, it dawned on me that many of the folks seated before me had years of experience participating in political party meetings and likely had a far better grasp of procedural rules than I did. I think a little color drained from my face when I realized the level to which I had to step up my game!
We got through what we needed to get through, which was setting a path towards a new election. What’s more, I managed to keep the meeting on track and focused. I was humbled to be applauded and thanked for what I did last night, but all I really did was facilitate the CAC’s own decision-making.
Luis has provided me a quick set of minutes for last night’s meeting which I’m planning to square up with the notes I made. Once that’s done and I’m satisfied we accurately captured the appropriate motions and comments, I will send out draft minutes and we’ll get planning the next meeting which will take place June 26th.