Minutes of the regular meeting of the Ransom Place Neighborhood Association, September 1, 1998

              The monthly meeting of RPNA was held September 1, 1998 at St. Philip Episcopal
Church, 720 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with Ed Littlejohn presiding. Attendance was 19.
Ed Littlejohn announced that there was a by-law clarification needed. Some people had
questioned whether there were enough members present at the last meeting to approve the
by-laws. However, we were within the old by-laws and proper by Robert's Rules of Order
(1/3 of members present). The other point of clarification was raised by the city in
reviewing our by-laws before filing them. The section on elections (Article 5.1 Officers &
Their Election) states in part: "...The President and Secretary shall be elected on ODD
years. The Vice-President and Treasurer shall be elected on EVEN years. A term of office
shall be one year...". It is recommended that the term of office be two years to allow for
the offices to be staggered in even and odd years to create and overlap of offices.
There was a question as to whether there was a limit on terms of office. Ed responded
that there was no limit. He also noted that our current Treasurer (Linnie Montgomery)
does not fit the criteria to hold office according to sections 4.1 and 5.1 of the new bylaws.
It was suggested that we either grandfather the President and Secretary's terms to end in
10/99 or we put all offices up for election at this time with appropriate 1 or 2 year terms.
It was alternately suggested that we use the old by-laws for this election and institute the
new by-laws after clarification.
Terry Nelson-Littlejohn moved that the Vice-President and Treasurer's terms expire in
9/2000 and the President and Secretary's terms be grandfathered to end in 9/1999. Sharon
McClish seconded the motion. The motion passed 9-0.
Ballots were passed out while Diza asked for nominations from the floor. None were
received.
Daisy moved that the Secretary register a unanimous acclamation for Vice-President and
Treasurer. Mike Yoder seconded the motion. The motion passed.
The Vice-President is Mike Yoder and the Treasurer is Laura Monkhouse.
Reed Williamson representing the Canal Stakeholders Association spoke to ask our
association to add our support to oppose the rezoning of the property at 709 North
Senate. The rezoning is for a bar-cabaret-nightclub business on that property and the
Stakeholders and the Near-Northside Development Corporation (represented by Nathan
Wetzel) believe that this type of business is not in the best interest of the area. Nathan
stated that the building has 12,000 square feet but very limited parking. He also pointed
out that the traffic would be in competition with residents for street parking in the
evening. The Metropolitan Development Commission will address this in their meeting
tomorrow (September 2) at 1:00PM.