Also at five, also in City Hall, one floor down in Room 209, is a regular meeting of the Volunteer Firefighters' Relief Fund Committee whose December minutes aren't posted but whose draft minutes of their September meeting are available.
And while you'd never know it from reading their website, which has last year's schedule, there's a regular meeting of the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority at 5:15 in their offices in Gales Ferry at 1649 Route 12.
Tuesday morning at 8:30 in Room 335 of City Hall (What? See previous observation on acoustics) is a regular meeting of the Youth Service Advisory Board. A review of their most recent meeting minutes (here's November's) reports the absence of the "Youth Representative" which makes sense since the meetings are held during the school day, when, I assume, the youth representative would be in class. I applaud their Young Parents Program initiative and outreach though it's sobering for a fossil such as I, and a frightening statement on our culture, to realize it's intended to assist parents from 14-24 years old.
Tuesday afternoon at five is a regular meeting of the Public Works and Capital Improvements Committee at 50 Clinton Avenue. It's been a challenge in recent years, even before municipal dollars were tight to fund minimal infrastructure maintenance and slowly, at least where I drive and walk around The Rose City, the need to repair and replace is starting to outstrip the capacity of those charged to do so. The committee oversees some very talented and dedicated people but they're not magicians, so coin of the realm and the sacrifices to come up with it are going to be a topic we all will speak about and act upon, whether we like it or not.
Starting at 5:15, or 5:30 (I'll explain) in the Buckingham Memorial (not sure that's what the City's website lists as the address, to be honest) is a regular meeting of the Public Parking Commission, whose November 2009 minutes under 'Anything Else Brought Before The Commission' lead me to believe, municipal website to the contrary, the meeting will start at 5:30.
I'd hope as part of the support still being developed for the downtown businesses, we'd hear more, and soon, on some of the proposals for widespread refinement of downtown off-street parking and redistribution of metered spaces in terms of outlying versus city core locations.
At 5:30 in Kelly Middle School, is a regular meeting of the Board of Education (here's their December meeting minutes). You might want to pencil in on your February calendar now the next meeting of the Budget/Expenditure Committee, at a quarter of four on Thursday, 4 February, as they continue to research and collate the elements for the 2010/2011 requested budget. Talking a moment ago about matching resources to requirements in terms of infrastructure--when it comes to the percentage of the entire city's budget needed to support the Norwich Public Schools, we will have nothing but hard choices as state and federal aid, General Custer, may be still in Fort Apache instead of where we need them to be come budget formulation time.
The regular (7 PM) meeting of the Zoning Board of Appeals in the basement conference room at 23 Union Street, despite what it says in one of the newspapers, is cancelled according to the City's website, as were the November and December regular meetings. Also, according to the website, there seems to be a "Republican" vacancy on the board, though the Charter of the city makes no reference to political affiliations as qualifications to volunteer, or, for that matter, any role by either party's town committee in 'screening' applicants to serve on citizen panels. I'm curious as to where unaffiliated registered voters, whose taxes are all paid, are supposed to send applications to volunteer unless that's sort of the unspoken point......hmm.
And at 7:30, in Room 335 of City Hall, speaking of zoning, there's an informational workshop slated for the men and women on the City Council, but open to everyone, with Attorney Michael Zizka.
If you were looking forward to Wednesday's Rehabilitation Review Board meeting at 8:45 in the 2nd floor conference room of the Planning Department at 23 Union Street (or in the Norwich Community Development Offices, as it says in one of the newspapers), maybe I can offer you something else as it's been postponed to next Wednesday, the 21st, same bat time, same bat station (yeah, like you could've resisted).
At six o'clock, there's a regular meeting of the Norwich Baseball Stadium Authority, and judging by their draft December minutes, if you're planning on attending, better be prompt because if you blink, you'll miss it.
The Norwich Public Safety Committee meets, hopefully, at seven this time in the Occum Volunteer Fire Department. I say 'hopefully' because the previous two meetings were cancelled. (Posting a schedule on the city's website of this year's meetings would be a nice idea.)
Thursday afternoon at 5:15 in Room 210 of City Hall is a regular meeting of the Mohegan Park Improvement and Development Advisory Committee whose most recent minutes are here, but their piece of this web page could do with a spring clean, in advance of spring. And once more, but this time with feeling, the Charter recognizes members of citizen panels being present or absent, one or zero. There is no such thing as 'excused', nor are there any 'accused', 'abused', or 'confused'. Same goes for ''unexcused', 'kidnapped while parking the car and we're scrambling for ransom' or 'playing hard to get.' Sort of a Is or Is You Ain't My Baby situation.
At six, though I'm unclear where (rumor suggests the Wunderbar) is a regular meeting of the Greeneville Neighborhood Revitalization Zone. The minutes of their November meeting, seemingly in Australia on the other side of the earth, suggest the next meeting might have an update on the return of their polling place to the voters of Greeneville. On behalf of the members of all branches of the Armed Forces serving to protect the rights and duties of democracy everywhere, I'm sure that idea that would meet with their support as well.
Also at six, on their Uncas on the Thames campus, in the Campbell Building, is a regular meeting of the Uncas Health District Board of Directors.
Saturday morning, starting at eight, is the next iteration of the City Council, Mayor and City Manager 'Brainstorming and Force Ranking Session' in Room 335 of City Hall. You can almost check out the progress of this process if you start here, and read the two tables that support the notes, and then read here as well. I can't share the 26 December notes with you because the Council meeting minutes of the 21st have been loaded onto the website twice, once for the 21st and once for the 26th, so why not stop in and see for yourself how well this is all going.
I suspect Keith R, Andy D and Kathleen M will be grateful for your presence as they're politely sick of having to look at my ugly mug. And without sounding like an infomercial, but wait, there's more! There's (yet) ANOTHER informational session, with the City Council, State Senator Edith Prague, and representatives of the CT Department of Environmental Protection, Saturday afternoon at 1230 also in Room 335, on the Norwich Hospital Site Property, "with an opportunity for citizen comment."
Considering the purchase will, in all likelihood be on the Council's agenda for a vote next Tuesday night at seven-thirty, you have a decision to make about your whereabouts this Saturday. Remember, silence = consent. "An' here I sit so patiently, waiting to find out what price you have to pay to get out of Going through all these things twice."
-bill kenny
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