Cory-Merrill Neighborhood Association
May 16th 2012 Annual Meeting Minutes
7:00Meeting Called to Order
●Board Attendance Taken (Mark VerHoeve, Holly Dexter, Don Tressler, Brad Cunningham, Lisa Straffon, Melissa Sullivent
7:05Chris Gilmore Pastor of Kirk of Bonnie Brae Announcements
●Saturday, May 19th, Cory-Merrill Fun Run & Community Fair
●Tuesday, May 22nd, The Healthcare Movie
●Saturday, May 26th, Social Forum (Workshops, Potluck, Open Forum)
●June 2nd & 3rd, Used Book Sale
7:08Carol Singer, Council Aide for Councilman Charlie Brown
●Distributed a copy of Charlie’s The E-mail Express newsletter
●Provided an overview and Council’s position of the Camping Ban
7:15CommanderJoe Montoya, Police Dist. 3 , and Lt. Mark Marshall
●Discussed his priorities as the new commander
●CAD Meetings – problem solving, non-police related meetings that are open to the public will likely be the first thursday of each month.
●Several neighbors brought up traffic-related concerns
7:35Councilmember At Large, Robin Kniech
●Overview of big picture issues with the City of Denver
Government & Finance Committee
Budget Update – Cut funding $440 million
Structural Problems with Budget – Services have been cut but prices/expenses
are still growing due to inflation; sales tax is the biggest source of revenue but seniors are buying less and people are buying on-line more; property taxes are down 8%
Possible Solutions – cut services further, take away tabor limit, fees/fines
7:45Lois Court, State Representative
●In November, Cory-Merrill will be split between Lois and Mark Ferandino
●The state has the same budget issues as the City of Denver – the aging population spends money differently and the aging workforce is taking their pensions
●Future Ballots will be clearer – will state “constitutional” or “statutory” amendment and will say “Yes, in favor” or “No, against”
7:55Mark Ferandino, State Representative
●The legislative session went well with the exception of the chaos at the end
●90 out of 100 agreed to the budget
●Every 3rd Wednesday of the month during the session he has town hall meetings
8:00Jennifer Harris, Cory Principal, and Julia Shepherd, C3 Principal
●The entrance to Merrill is being redone and the school is getting new floors and a smart lab
8:15Board Elections
●Jay Cassidy is our newest board member
●2012/13 Board Members Approved – Jay Cassidy, Dan Chapman, Brad Cunningham, Holly Dexter, Jo Martin, Shri Reckling, Jay Reed, Lisa Straffon, Melissa Sullivent, Don Tressler, Janice VerHoeve, and Mark VerHoeve
●June 6th is the next monthly meeting
8:20Meeting Adjourned