UCityUnited

The meeting was called to order about 7:20 p.m. by the president, Kristin
Sobotka.The entire Board was present - Ms.Maryanne Coley, V.P., Mrs. Joy
Lieberman, Secretary, Ms.Ellen Bern, Mr. Rober Elgin, Ms. Meg McClelland,
Mr. Avery Watson, Ms.Charlotte Tatum. Student representative, Galvin Alfred,
was also present.

Superintendent Dr.James Victory,Mr. Charles Nicastro, Assistant
Superintendent/Operations, Mr. Scott Hafertepe, Chief Financial Officer/
Business & Financial Management, Dr. Judy Sclair, Director/Human Resources,
Ms. Joylynn Wilson,Assisant Superintendent/curriculum & Instruction
were also present.

Dr. Victory recognized two parents for their help to the students and
teachers at U. City schools. They were Mr. Michael Miller for Nathaniel
Hawthorne School and Mrs. Nicole Adewale for Flynn Park and Brittany Woods
Middle School. Mrs. Adewale was absent.

Several teachers, parents and a teacher/Union president spoke to the Board
during Citizens Comments, against the plan to discontinue the ROTC program
at the high school. They felt it gave students structure in their lives that
they would not have had otherwise. They did not feel the program was about
recruting students for the military.

Two parents and a teacher spoke out against the reorganization of the
Central office and moving staff around there and in the schools.

Ms. Wilson gave an undate on the “No Child Left Behind Update.” She stated
three of the elementary school are currently functioning below the Adequate
yearly progress. One is behind in math and one is behind in Communication
Arts. One did not meet either. She also stated the calendars are ready for the 2007-2008 school year. They are also on line.

The Board is having a public forum on 3/26/07,at McNair Administration
Building, 8136 Groby Rd., and one on March 31, at Goldstein Early Education
Center, 737 Kingsland, to solicit community input on is long Range planning
goals.

Committee: School Board
Meeting Date: 12/7/06
Location: McNair Administrative Building
Monitor: Stella Hughes

The full board was present as well as Dr. Victory, Supt., Joylynn L. Wilson,
Asst. Supt. Curr/Instr., Charles Nicastro, Asst. Supt. Oper. as well as
other support staff. Approximately 100 people were in attendance. The
meeting was long, in excess of three hours.

The meeting was called to order by Board President Ms Kristin Sobotka.

Dr. Victory acknowledged Ms. Utpala Shanker, a longtime parent volunteer at
Jackson Park School, and Ms. Ann Getz, the PTO co-president at Jackson Park
and volunteer for the past five years. They were presented certificates of
recognition from the Board and school.

Ms. Patricia Wilson was recognized for having received the Albert Shanker
Award from AFT Missouri at their Fall Conference. This award is given in the
category of Paraprofessional & School-Related personel of the year. Ms.
Wilson is the University City School District Lead Nurse.

Ms. Olivia Anderson, Brittany Woods Middle School Instructional Aide,was
recognized for receiving the St. Louis Science Center Shining Star Award.
She also received the University City Police Department award for her
community work with the Parkview Heights Neighborhood Association Block
Unit.

Joylynn Wilson gave a report on the Consolidated Entitlement Grant as it
applied to Titles I, IIA, IID, III, IV and V. The Board approved a
consolidated application for $2,066,790.

Elliott Shostak, Principal of Nathaniel Hawthorne Elementary gave a report
along with members of his committee on accountability for his school.
Carlos Diaz-Granados, Principal of Jackson Park Elementary School gave the
report for his school. Both schools are trying to increase the number of
students that are proficient in math and communication arts.

There were comments from citizens about the Post-Dispatch artical in 12/2/06
edition about U. City Schools would be provisional if they were rated today.
Ms. Wilson stated that is not true. She stated the article was based on old
and incomplete information. The school is fully accredited and the scores
have in fact gone up.

Charles Nicastro gave a report on school safety issues and stated the
cameras in the high school should be operational in the next two weeks. He
and Det. Harold Lee from UPD stated the schools are safe and the students
have been drilled on safety procedures.

Committee: City Council
Meeting Date: 11/20/06
Location: City Hall
Name of Monitor:Mary Dee Schmidt

Committee and Staff Present: Mayor Joe Adams, City Manager Julie Feier, City Clerk Joyce Pumm Councilmembers Byron Price, Stefanie Brot, Michael Glickert, Arthur Sharpe Jr., and Lynn Ricci, Robert Wagner

Meeting Focus: Appointments,City Manager’s Report, Public Hearings, Passage of Bills

Actions Taken:

1. Arthur Sharpe, Jr. nominated William O. Baldwin to Library Board. Nomination accepted by all.

2. City Manager’s Report:

• Catholic Charities received a conditional use permit to consolidate Fr. Dunne News Boys’ and Marian Hall girls’ home into a new facility at 1340 Partridge Ave. Mr. Wagner and Mr. Sharpe voted against the permit. The council had a lengthy discussion about the impact on the neighborhood and the integration of both genders in the same building.

• Conditional use permit for 6800 Olive approved by all members of Council. A small retail building will be demolished and replace by a larger one story, 6 unit building

• Lehman Walker, planning and development director, provided Council with updates on planning activities and code enforcement.

Liquor License: Olive Supermarket, 8041 Olive (request approved).

Parks and Recreation Fees: Council approved Parks department proposal toincrease fees for activities 5% for residents and 3% for nonresidents. Councilman Glickert asked that hours of service increase as well. Councilwoman Brot asked that information about low recovery costs of fees should be pursued.

3. Public Hearing- none

4. Bills Passed:

Bill 8917 - repeal ordinance relating to security bars.
Bill 8918 – permit signs perpendicular to the wall in the core commercial district.
Bill 8919 – change the classification of 7745 Olive from single family residential to General commercial

Council Comments:
Lynn Ricci-budget is not legible-needs to be reprinted.

Mayor Adams will make appointments to the Economic Development Commission by next council meeting.

Councilman Bob Wagner requested the City to send a condolence card to Shelley Welsch for the loss of her father.

5. Citizen Concern: This citizen was concerned about the lack of diversity on Olive Road. She thought that there were too many Chinese Restaurants and Nail/manicure establishments.

Committee: City Council
Meeting Date: Nov. 6, 2006
Location: City Hall
Name of Monitor: Lisa Greening

Committee and Staff Present: Mayor Joe Adams, City Manager Julie Feier, City Clerk Joyce Pumm Councilmembers Byron Price, Stefanie Brot, Michael Glickert, Arthur Sharpe Jr., and Lynn Ricci

Committee and Staff Absent: Robert Wagner (excused absence)

Meeting Focus: Proclamation, City Manager’s Report, Public Hearings, Passage of Bills

Actions Taken:

1. Proclamation: Susan Carter, UCity School Teacher at Jackson Park Elementary, received a proclamation stating that November 6 is official Susan Carter day in University City. She was awarded the 2006 National Educator Award.

2. City Manager’s Report:
• Fire Chief Olshwanger was congratulated for his excellent work. The UCity fire department takes over 4000 calls a year and has a team of 47 firefighters. Calls are increasing. Assumption is that many residents do not have health care.

• Liquor Licenses Requested:
Pho Long restaurant,, 8613 Olive, (request approved)
Queen Sheba restaurant, 6665 Olive (request approved)
Olive Supermarket, 8041 Olive (request denied). Council asked the owner to resubmit application for future, unbiased breview.

• Special Use Permit approved for 8671 Olive to be rented as a place of worship, Gateway Bible Church.

• Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting discussed. Parks department wants to increase fees for activities 5% for residents and 3% for nonresidents. Councilman Glickert questions increase. Council will meet with Parks commission to understand why the fee will be increased. The Parks brochure will be delayed in printing for 2 weeks until fee structured is resolved.

3. Public Hearing

• Councilman Price wanted to repeal the “no trucks on the street” ordinance. Ordinance defeated.

• Architects of the development project behind the Ritz Carlton (The Terraces, Loft, Upper Plaza, and Tower) at 7440 Forsyth requested a changed of zoning from “general commercial district” to “planned development-mixed use district.” Ordinance approved. Bill 8914. Half of the development project resides in Clayton, the other half in UCity. 50,000 square feet of it is in UCity. 6,000 will be used for retail and the rest is residential. Councilman Ricci requested that the differences in development between Clayton and UCity be explored.

4. Bills Passed:

Bill 8895 – repeal of section of tree and shrubs ordinance
Bill 8910 – not require referral in the instance where a building permit is located within a private subdivision that is on the national historic registry but is not with a UCity designated historic district.
Bill 8913 - temporary signs are permitted
Bill 8915 - reduces the annual license fee for nonresidents to use a dog play area
Bill 8916 - requires liability insurance for owners of pit bulls

Financial Factors (funding, budget and/or income source for actions taken): Consent agenda. Approved expenditures:
(1) Greens Mower for the Golf Course $18,957. (2) Repair to street lights in the 7000 and 7100 blocks of Washington and Kingsbury, $18,000. (3) Demolition of Wilson Avenue Buyout Properties $19,500

Committee: Library Commission
Meeting Date: Nov 8, 2006
Location: Library
Name of Monitor: Margaret Johnson

Actions Taken:
• Decided to allow chatting and instant messaging on the library computers.
• Discussed the fact that there were too many scheduled Forest Park Community College classes in the auditorium. The space is free and open to the public for scheduling and the normal policy is they do not allow it to be scheduled more than a month in advance. They decided to notify the college that they will only schedule one class per week in the space next semester.
• They are replacing the entry doors to the library and will get bids the first of next year.

Other Notes:
University City Library has mutual arrangements with both the city, the county, and some other municipal libraries. The recent tracking statistics showed adult users at UCity to be 3000 from UCity, 1000 from St. Louis city, and 1000 from St. Louis County.

Committee: Arts & Letters
Meeting Date: 10/10/06
Location: Commons
Name of Monitor: Susan Sontag

Committee and Staff Present: Calla Smorodin, Marilyn Cathcart, Lisa Greening, Emily Kelly, Barbara Santoro, Leland Barber, Joanne Zach, Meredtih Schwartz (for Cheryl Thompson), Robert Bernstein, Sarah McCormack

Meeting Focus: review agenda for coming year including annual photo show, student sculpture program with Washington Univ., returning artist program, and starlight concert series in Heman Park

Actions Taken: The every-Monday concert series will begin earlier starting June 11 with 8/13 and 8/20 reserved as rain dates.

UCityUnited Monitoring
Background Information

UCityUnited is committed “to shaping the future of University City by facilitating communications among the diverse groups of the City on matters of mutual concern. We are University City residents who believe great cities are created by informed and involved citizens.” As part of that effort UCityUnited has decided to set up a program whereby University City residents will regularly monitor the work of the city’s Boards and Commissions and report on the board and commission meetings on a timely basis.

We appreciate your willingness to be a part of this monitoring program.

There are a few simple points we want to convey to all monitors.

1.) At the beginning of every month the Monitoring Coordinator Mark Siegel will be sending out an e-mail reminder of all monitoring assignments in the month ahead. Please check to confirm if you are or are not on the schedule. (Note: If you have questions of Mark he can be contacted at (pfpactt@sbcglobal.net or
314-727-1714.)

2.) If you cannot cover your assigned meeting, please arrange to have another volunteer cover it. You should have received an updated list of monitors from the Communications/Monitoring Committee. If you have not, please contact Mark Seigel.

3.) Please make sure you review monitoring reports from previous months prior to attending your meeting so that you are familiar with the on-going business of the committee. These reports should be available on the UCityUnited website at __________.

4.) Please make sure you arrive at the meeting location 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start time so that you may review the meeting agenda. Feel free to talk with any board or commission members present to obtain other information you might want to add to your report.

5.) Mark Seigel will send out a monitoring template at the beginning of every month. Please fill out the template after your meeting and send an electronic version of the report WITHIN ONE WEEK to BOTH of the following people:

Mark Siegel: pfpactt@sbcglobal.net
Michael Donovan: editor@eventsnews.com

A Few Notes:

There is no need to capture everything that is said and done. You are not taking minutes. You are capturing the high points. The key focus question is, “what would citizens of U-City want to know about this meeting? For example:

* Which committee members and staff are present?
* What is on the agenda and who are the major speakers on each item?
* Is there a major focus for the meeting?
* Were there any important that arose off the agenda? Who spoke to them?
* What was the primary focus of the conversation on each topic?
* What major concerns or questions arose about each topic?
* What was the resolution, action steps for each topic? Timeline?
* Is there citizen participation called for? (citizen comment, nominations, etc)
* When and where is the next meeting? Are there special topics?
* Other comments

Please endeavor to keep your summary of the meeting concise. People may lose interest in your report if they think it is too long.

Remember, you are being asked to report on the meetings NOT make personal comments on them. Your monitoring report should be an unbiased accounting of what occurs at the meeting. Any personal observations or comments you want to make known can be shared on the UCityUnited blog at __________.

Thanks again for your help in keeping University City residents informed!

BOARD AND COMMISSION MONITORING REPORT

Committee ________________________ Meeting Date: _____ Location:__________

Name of Monitor: _____________________ Phone: ____________
E-Mail__________

Committee and Staff Present:________________________________________________

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Meeting Focus:___________________________________________________________

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Actions Taken:___________________________________________________________

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Other Notes:____________________________________________________________

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MONITORING COMMITTEE TEMPLATE
(Sample)

Committee: Park Commission Meeting Date: 9/23/06 Location: Commons

Name of Monitor: Ray Jablonski Phone: 923-1943 E-Mail: RJReds@aol.com

Committee and Staff Present: Wally Moon, Harvey Haddux, Harriet Brescheen, Bill White, Staff: Cathy Flood

Meeting Focus: Staffing Girls’ Basketball Leagues; Opening times for Swimming Pool, U-City Tennis Club use of Heman Courts

Actions Taken: Parks and Recreation staff will begin advertising a girls’ winter BB league on Oct 15. It will also be promoted in U-City newsletter. It was decided to limit this first effort to create leagues to two months. If you are interested, call Cathy Flood at 782-5559.

In response to a petition submitted at the last commission meeting, it was decided to open the swimming pool one hour earlier for adults only, to cater to exercise needs of people before work. (unanimous vote)
All except two of the Heman Park tennis courts will be reserved for the U-City Tennis Club for Monday evening in June and July of next year for tournament play.

At the beginning of the meetng, a group of non residents asked the commission to allow them to use the Commons . The Commission took it under consideration and will ask citizens for comment. (you’re your comments to City Hall).

Other Notes: