The Gowanus Canal Community Advisory Group’s Administrative Committee met via zoom on Friday, January 3, 2025.
In attendance:
Jerry Armer
Katia Kelly
Louis Kleinman
Joan Salome-Rodriguez
The Committee convened to review a membership application submitted by Mark Yarish. It was decided that the application is complete and should therefore be sent to the full CAG for an interview and vote at our next full CAG meeting (January 2025).
We discussed scheduling official monthly meetings for the Admin Committee at a regular time and then adding an email address for people to ask for that month’s Zoom link, to make sure that the meeting will actually take place.
After some more discussion (after Jerry left the Zoom), we decided that there just is no need for a monthly meeting and that we will continue to schedule meetings as needed. Joan will remind Katia to send Eric the meeting notice with the Zoom link to post on the CAG’s website.
Actions:
Katia will resend an email request to Natalie Loney for 2024 General CAG meeting attendance lists from Doug, Cheryl and EPA Zoom records.
-Katia will forward the application to Natalie and ask her to add the interview to January’s agenda.
-In a separate email, Katia will ask on behalf of our committee what the status for facilitation is. Will Doug come back?
* If not, this committee will ask what protocol has been put in place by EPA to transfer all correspondence, meeting minutes and meeting videos so that they will remain accessible as part of the public record.
Review of Membership application form and Yearly Membership Review.
We discussed adding the following to our membership application:
-“After submission of this application, it will be reviewed by the Administrative Committee. If complete, you will be asked to join the CAG for a brief interview at an upcoming CAG meeting. The members of the CAG will then vote on your application and you will receive an email with the decision.”
-Also add this to the bottom of membership application:
“If you do become a member of the CAG, please be advised of the following attendance requirements: CAG members are required to attend at least half of all CAG general meetings during a survey year. CAG members are also required to attend at least half of all committee meetings for their chosen committee(s) during which time they are a committee member. In the event that an organizational member is unable to attend a meeting, he/she should make their best efforts to send an alternate, which shall be considered attendance.”
-Add link to our bylaws.
Celeste LeCompte sent in some excellent suggestions which we are considering adding. In addition, Katia will reach out to Celeste to ask the Outreach Committee to please contact some of the “Founding Organizations” that currently have no representative on the CAG.
-Finally, we discussed adding a time limit on leave of absence for at-large-members. Would one year be a fair timeframe before asking people to resign? They can always reapply, space permitting.
* This would not apply to Founding Member Organizations since, according to our bylaws, they have permanent seats even if they do not currently send a representative.