Wilkinsburg Government Study Commission MINUTES – January 11, 2023, Meeting 2
Called to order at 5:30 at Hosanna House Room 309. The meeting was accessible remotely by Zoom link https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89578034962.
Present: Keywanda Battle, Kim Kaplan, Beverly McCoy, Jacquet Kehm (Zoom), Ruth Kittner, Paul O’Hanlon (via Zoom). Bethany Williams, Local Government Policy Specialist, Governor’s Center for Local Government Services joined the meeting via zoom.
- Bethany Williams joined the meeting to elaborate on what the Commissioners roles and responsibilities are. She reviewed with us a lengthy Power Point presentation that explained the process, the options, and the timeline (among other items).
Within this context we shared several items: One thing that concerns us (as Commissioners) is the burden of residents on fixed incomes. We also briefly looked at options in forms of government, the impact these had on taxation caps (who bears the burden of taxation), what the options and procedures would be and when we must finish our examination of these. We agreed to assemble a list of questions to send to Bethany.
- We examined the officer roles. In addition to the “standard” committee roles, we also agreed that Beverly McCoy would be the Borough Council Coordinator and Paul O’Hanlon would be our Legal Educator. We agreed that we would wait until the 1/25/2023 meeting and in the interim Keywanda Battle would discuss with Janet Harris the title of “Community Liaison” vs. Advocate or Advisor. Ruth stated the term advocate separates this role from that of a Commissioner.
- After considerable discussion of the budget, we settled on approximately $17-18.8K as a final number but asked the recording secretary to confirm such details as number of Wilkinsburg families, postage, and costs of the printing postcards, etc. She agreed to confirm some of the numbers and assemble a budget that reflected these.
- The Commissioners asked the Recording secretary to confirm meeting places, storage of documents, notification of meetings, etc. She was also tasked with figuring out the close captioning on the zoom application and with confirming with John Antinori when and where all meetings will be held until the end of April and to compile a list of possible additional meeting sites and locations for community information sessions.
Kim adjourned the meeting at 7:25 p.m..