Every Beat, Every Day

Not sure how popular the idea of treating your Valentine Sweetie to a public meeting might be in your house (I can't guess in mine, but that's because I have a very small imagination) but you could create another definition of "love" through your own attendance. And sometimes absence makes the heart grow fonder which may be why so many people tell me to leave wherever it is we are. We are most certainly not spoiled for choice this week.

This afternoon at five in City Hall, there's not only a twofer in terms of meetings but also next door to one another. There's a Volunteer Firefighter's Relief Fund Committee meeting in Room 209. Their most recent meeting minutes, if 'recent' is the operative word, are from September of last year. Next door, in Room 210, is a regular meeting of the Ethics Commission. This is the first meeting with their new membership; here are January's draft minutes.

At seven and slated for two hours (though they never go that long) in Room 335 of City Hall is a Freedom of Information Workshop that at least one member of every citizens' panel should be required to attend together with the various elected and appointed city officials who already do. In my experience, it's the members of the various boards, advisories and committees who regularly fail to provide written minutes of their respective meetings in a timely manner and violate both the law and the general public's belief in transparency.

Tuesday morning at 8:30 in Room 335 of City Hall, it's a regular meeting of the Youth and Family Service Advisory  Board. Your guess is as good as mine as to what was discussed and accomplished at last month's meeting because the most recent minutes posted on line are from November of last year.

Tuesday afternoon at 4:15 in the Public Works Director's office at 50 Clinton Avenue, it's a regular meeting of the Public Works and Capital Improvements Committee. I could attempt a Valentine joke here about 'bring a date and dine by the whites of her eyes' but it would be as successful as the one I started with (and if you have to look that one up, it just proves my point) but I should know when to quit. I don't; but I'll stop anyway. Their agenda suggests they have another full afternoon and having attended last month's meeting (and receiving a second 'e' as a special reward), I can attest to how they accomplish projects of all scales and scope.

There's a regular meeting of the Norwich Public Schools Board of Education at 5:30 in Kelly Middle School. I can you save the search for last month's meeting minutes, they're not posted. Again and as nearly always. When folks ask me why I want the next City of Norwich website to incorporate large portions of the Board of Education's website's functions, I explain because the Board's site doesn't do so now. And if September of 2011 meeting minutes don't seem old to you, cheer up; they're not really there, either.

The Zoning Board of Appeals meets at seven in the basement conference room of the Planning Department, at 23 Union Street. Here's their January meeting minutes for background.

Wednesday morning at 8:30 in their offices in the Norwich Business Park, it's a regular meeting of the full council of the Southeastern Connecticut Council of Governments, whose agenda suggests they are pressing forward with plans for a larger and more active role in both Southeast Area Transit, SEAT, as well as  the Southeastern Connecticut Water Authority, SCWA (not as cool an acronym as SEAT, imo).

At nine, in The Dime Bank Community Room on Salem Turnpike, it's a regular meeting of the Norwich School Readiness Council (Children First) about whom much is speculated, but little, in terms of meetings and what goes on at them, is reported or known.

At 11:30 in their offices at 10 Westwood Park, it's a special meeting of the Housing Authority to start the process of requesting funding for out-of-cycle maintenance projects.

At six, in City Hall, it's another meeting double-header with the Emancipation Proclamation Commemorative Committee in Room 210 (the city's website says the meeting is at five; too bad there's no other information about the committee on the website to double-check). Congratulations on a well-attended and well-received staging of the Lincoln-Douglas debate Friday night at Three Rivers.

Upstairs in Room 319 (next door to Council chambers, vice down the hall in Room 335), it's a meeting of the Sachem Fund Board. Despite the draft minutes of the June meeting, there was no July 2011 meeting so I would anticipate a not inconsiderable amount of this meeting to revolve around scheduling and formatting progress reports on the money granted to groups eight months ago, as board members' concerns about receiving those updates was a topic of great interest (see last sentence of item VI).  

And at seven, in The Dime Bank's Community Room, it's another opportunity to comment on the City of Norwich Plan of Conservation and Development. Last week Greeneville and Taftville residents responded to their invitation and this session is aimed at Westside residents though all are welcome. By the way, we could do a better job of posting these meetings on the city's calendar, I think.

Thursday afternoon at five in Room 319 of City Hall, it's a regular meeting of the Historic District Commission who, if the archive of online minutes is correct, haven't had a meeting since November 17 of last year, according to their record of vote.

At 5:30, in the Norwich Arts Center's offices at 62 Broadway, it's a regular meeting of the Downtown Neighborhood Revitalization Zone whose online record of meetings and what goes on at them continues to astound and astonish me (that's code for profoundly angers and disappoints).  

And at six in The Rink, it's a regular meeting of the Norwich Ice Arena Authority whose online archive of meeting minutes is months out of date, which is annoying but only until you look at the roster of members' appointments, which is years out of date.

Friday morning at nine in Room 319 of City Hall, it's a regular meeting of the Chelsea Gardens Foundation. Aside from being the single largest recipient of funding from the Sachem Board (by twice as much as any other entity) there's nothing I know or can tell you about them from reading through the city's website. Wouldn't be surprised to find out some of us are just fine with this arrangement or by now it would have improved.

And improved is what happens when we each choose to be involved in enhancing the quality of life of where we live. It's not somebody else's problem but belongs to each of us and to all of us. It's tempting to feel by yourself you can't do anything, but remember, too, each of us can do something. And each one's something adds up to a whole lot of everything in our new city, the one we each helped build. See you at something?
-bill kenny