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  • From: "Bibb Latane" <latane AT seafrolic.org>
  • To: <chpac-staff AT lists.ibiblio.org>, Andrew Ross <andrewwross AT earthlink.net>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Chpac-staff] CHPAC meetings
  • Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2003 10:29:03 -0500


Hello all--
I like these ideas very much, especially the plans for making our
discussion meatier and more consequential. Because I believe the "Public" in
CHPAC should be taken to refer to the nature of the Commission as well as the
nature of the art, I think it important that there be full and open
discussion of issues by the whole Commission BEFORE important decisions are
made--we should not be just a ratifying body for semi-autonomous sub-groups
operating in private.
In particular, I like the idea of circulating committee reports and
announcements in advance, and setting an agenda with background information
for the discussion of general issues as well as specific plans at each
meeting. All these ideas, while requiring us to "pay attention" more than
once a month, should make it easier for us to operate effectively.
Unfortunately, I also agree we may need to extend to two hours, but wonder
if we could try the new system for more efficient meetings first to see if it
works. Also, for me at least, it is very difficult to stay beyond 7pm--over a
dozen people people depend on me for dinner each Wednesday night. Therefore,
if we do extend, I would vote to do it by starting at 5pm.
Best regards, Bibb

---------- Original Message ----------------------------------
From: Andrew Ross <andrewwross AT earthlink.net>
Date: Fri, 19 Dec 2003 00:31:10 -0500

Hello, CHPACers. I wanted to pass on some thoughts that Kate, Janet
and I have been discussing about our commission meetings. Here are the
notes that Kate compiled from what we talked about, but I'm also going
to add in a little bit of my thoughts. Please tell us what you think,
because I think we're ready for a bit of a change to our meeting
structure.

> After our December CHPAC meeting, several Commission members stayed
> afterward talking about the structure of the Commission meetings and
> throwing around ideas for making the meetings more productive and
> engaging.
>
> ▪ One idea is to make the meetings 2 hours.  We are frequently rushing
> to get through all of the items on our agenda and it was noted that
> the majority of Town boards and commissions meet for a full 2 hours. 
> Is this something that you would approve of and, if so, would you
> prefer to have the meeting take place from 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. or from
> 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.?

I think it has become rather obvious that we're not getting through our
agenda in 1 1/2 hours. I had actually started to throw out the idea of
two meetings per month, but I think lengthening the meeting a little
bit and making it more efficient is the better way to go. Ideas on
efficiency follow:

> ▪ We also discussed the possibility of having Committee chairs submit
> their reports in writing.  These reports would be sent out with the
> agenda before the meeting.  People would have an opportunity to read
> this ahead of time and pose questions or offer comments at the time of
> the meeting.  This way we could update everybody but save time during
> the actual meeting.
> ▪ And similarly we thought about having people email their
> announcements ahead of time, so that they could be compiled and
> delivered in advance of the meeting as well. 

Wouldn't it be great if we basically had the "minutes" of our meeting
prepared ahead of time? I know this is going to require a bit more
work in advance from all those that have reports to make (committee
chairs), but it would certainly help us better arrange our thoughts as
well as save us time from stating and discussing things that may just
need to be reported in a written form. And then if there is something
that people want to discuss, we all have it in front of us and also
have time to compile our thoughts.

As regards announcements, I seem to find that most of these are
information items for which we all pull out a pencil to write down the
dates of an event or location of a show. Why not have this all in
writing in advance. This could even be something that is just cut &
pasted from emails to be handed out the day of the meeting.

> ▪ We would love to spend time during the meetings talking about
> bigger, meatier issues, instead of going through updates.  For
> instance, we could spend a meeting talking about ideas for next year’s
> “Community Project.” We touched on this at our December meeting and
> all of you had wonderful ideas – these are the kind of discussions
> that could be really inspiring and productive. 
> ▪ And finally, we are curious about your response to the Public Art
> Flash.  Is it inspiring to take five minutes of each meeting and talk
> about current issues in the world of public art, or unnecessary?

Personally, I would really love for us to LOOK at more artwork and
DISCUSS it, so that we have something to continually invigorate us for
the other administrative needs. Besides seeing the outside projects of
other groups (which could be very inspiring to us), we could also use
the full commission for brain-storming on our own percent for art
projects or other things we'd like to see in Chapel Hill. I'd like to
see us prepare some specific topics to talk about, such as how to get
more art downtown, or how we can expand the Transit Card project beyond
the schools. I'm sure we can all come up with wonderful ideas if we
only had the time to talk about them.

I also see us having a monthly focus that fits the time of year:
budget, CIP, Percent for Art projects, Exhibitions, etc. --basically
looking more intensely at our programs during the month when they can
use the most attention.

> Let us know what you think!  If you are all in agreement, we could
> implement all of these changes for our January 21 Commission meeting.
>
> Thank you and we look forward to hearing from you.

Andrew (and Kate for all the blue text)
____________________________
Andrew Ross Photography & Video
home: 919.929.9684
mobile: 919.260.7537
www.andrewross.com









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