Minutes

Summary of
Alliance for a Better Columbia (ABC)
Board of Directors Meeting
December 8, 2008

The first item was a discussion of how to respond to the CA President’s refusal to respond to questions raised by ABC regarding employee fringe benefits, employee-management dispute resolution, and employee bonuses. The president refused to comply with our request on the grounds that it would impose significant costs on CA to retrieve the requested info and that there was no legal requirement for the organization to respond. The ABC Board was especially surprised at the CA President’s refusal to provide info on bonus payments, which she has released in the past. The 1099 form filed by CA in 2007 that she included provides only total compensation received by top CA officials and does not provide a separate breakout of bonus payments. There was some discussion about whether or not to request permission to examine the CA financial records as opposed to having CA retrieve it from their reporting system. ABC is attempting to learn if the financial reporting system used by CA should be able to readily retrieve the info of interest. If that is the case, an argument was made that ABC should not waste its resources on examining raw financial data that may not be organized in any coherent pattern when it can be obtained from the source without the need for additional programming.

The next topic of discussion was CA’s Conditional FY 2010 Budget. The board agreed that ABC should provide testimony on the budget at the upcoming public hearings. There was some discussion on the lack of financial controls that has allowed the growth of spending to outpace the growth of revenues in recent years. The board was notified that a letter to the editor had been sent to local publications by the president of ABC requesting that the CA Board lower the annual assessment charge for next year in recognition of deteriorating economic conditions.

The last item on the agenda was a discussion of the GGP Plan for Downtown Columbia. The president informed the board that a letter had been sent to the President of the Howard County Citizens Association, Bridget Mugane, expressing support for that organization’s position on land use issues in Columbia. HCCA has criticized the GGP Plan for its high level of density, which could seriously strain the existing infrastructure (especially roads), and its lack of staging phases, which would limit the ability of the county to hold the company to its promises before granting more development rights. In addition, HCCA believes that the county should adopt a more pro-active stance toward the redevelopment of the village centers as opposed to simply serving as a reviewing body for plans developed by their owners.

The next meeting is scheduled for Jan. 12, 2009 at 7:30 PM at the East Columbia Library Branch.