This is the time of year when there's a hum of heightened activities coming from most of our homes. We all love the holidays, but some of us (me) aren't big fans of the extra work-luckily we usually have a someone to not only watch over us, but to make all the decisions that help make this time of the year special for our families and friends.
There's more than enough going on around here at the municipal level as a glance at the city's website calendar shows, and, as we demonstrated conclusively last Tuesday, there's always room for increased resident involvement.
This afternoon at five there are two different meetings in City Hall (the website suggests they are in the same room but they are not) with the Ethics Commission holding a regular meeting in Room 319 with another request to hear a complaint on the agenda while a floor below, in Room 210, it's a special meeting of the Redevelopment Agency (first of two with another on the morrow) to review Requests for Quotations on services as the agency continues to marshal resources for their enhanced role in downtown.
Tuesday we have almost as many meetings as there hours in the day starting with the second (or other) special meeting at five this time in Room 210 with the second wave of responders to Agency's request for quotations.
At 5:30, in the Buckingham Memorial, it's a regular meeting of the Public Parking Commission and perhaps their first meeting since June, assuming there's a quorum.
Also at 5:30, across town in the Latham Science Center on the campus of the Norwich Free Academy, it's a regular meeting of the Board of Trustees. A review of their October meeting minutes offers a better insight into the scale and scope of activities within and without NFA.
And since all good things come in threes, why not a third meeting at 5:30, of the Norwich Board of Education in the Kelly Middle School Library, says the City's website, or in the Jacqueline Owens Auditorium as it says on the Board's website. I can't offer you their October meeting minutes to review though there's a link to their September meeting minutes, except there isn't really a link at all. "If you feel there is an error, please contact your <>." I'll get right on that, as soon as I figure out what a <> is.
At six in City Hall, Room 319, it's a regular meeting of the Personnel & Pension Board, whose most recent meeting minutes, from September, are here.
Also at six, a bit of a drive from City Hall, possibly a four iron, it's a meeting of the Norwich Golf Course's Budget Subcommittee in their Mark Twain conference room.
At seven, in the Planning Department's Conference room in the basement of 23 Union Street is a regular meeting of the Commission on the City Plan and within that meeting is also a special meeting of the Commission on the City Plan Plan of Conservation and Development (POCD) Subcommittee. Last month had a presentation from Jason Vincent of Planimetrics who helped create the previous Plan and who have been hired to work on the new one, that offered a very informative (= even I understood it) handout, "Planning Primer."
Wednesday morning at eight thirty in their offices in the Norwich Business Park it's a regular meeting of the Southeastern Council of Governments. They had a special meeting on November 2nd-those meeting minute are here.
At nine in the Dime Bank Community Room at 290 Salem Turnpike it's a regular meeting of the Norwich School Readiness (Council Children First) whose work may be very important, critical perhaps, but whose ability to tell the rest of us about any of it by posting meeting minutes on their own website remains absolutely execrable.
There's a note on the city's calendar for a meeting at three in Room 319 of City Hall of the Emancipation Proclamation Committee, though I can't find anywhere an index telling me the Council resolution that created it, a listing of its members or its statement of purpose. Reminds of at least one other 'volunteer panel' that seems to be both invincible and invisible
At 5:30 in the Norwich Arts Council Cooperative at 66 Broadway it's a regular meeting of the Downtown Neighborhood Revitalization Zone, whose most recent meeting, based on the published minutes, was in July. Every one's term seems to have expired ten months ago so holding meetings may be a bit problematic.
Also at 5:30 in the Planning Department's conference room at 23 Union Street, it's a special meeting of the Dangerous Buildings Board of Review whose posting of meeting minutes is beyond pathetic.
Thursday afternoon at five in Room 319 of City Hall, it's a regular meeting of the Historic District Commission (I think we can lose the note on the prompt start of the March meeting). If you're intending to go, go here first and review all the notes for the meeting.
At six, in their facility on the New London Turnpike, it's a regular meeting of the Norwich Ice Skating Authority whose most recent meeting, in reviewing the city's website, seems to have been in September.
And Friday morning at nine in Room 319, it's a (perhaps) regular meeting of the Chelsea Gardens Foundation about which not one word can be found on the city's website. Having watched one member of this foundation up close in a funding venue of a different kind last May, I am impressed at how so little shared information has so far carried.
If you can't find the time to attend a meeting about something you're interested in (and I can't complain in light of how few of us could be bothered to vote), try visiting here on the city's website and completing the survey monkey on improving the city's website. You can definitely suggest 'pony rides for birthday', but NOT indefinitely. Don't ask me how I know this.
See you at something?
-bill kenny
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