| Meeting Minutes
March 24, 2004
Crystal Spring Elementary School Gymnatorium
City of Roanoke, VA
President Frank N Smith, II called the meeting to order at 7:07 pm. He welcomed all to meeting most especially the city council and mayoral candidates. He thanked Crystal Spring principal Dr Marsha Christy for her generous cooperation in availing the school’s facility for our meetings. He also explained the rules of the Question and Answer session to follow with the candidates; allowing each candidate five minutes after each presentation to respond to questions.
The four officers; President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer were all in attendance and a count of the membership and guests in the audience numbered sixty-three.
The Vice-President, Bill Thomasson, in his report, drew the membership’s attention to a flyer outlining the intention for outbuildings and trailers to be placed on the grounds of Crystal Spring Elementary School to accommodate overflowing facilities, and that all neighbors, especially those with children at said school, should contact the Roanoke City School Board, as their names were listed on the flyer, expressing their desire for permanent structures to deal with these problems.
Secretary Keith Bohon gave Membership Report and again stressed the importance of visiting the new website of www.soroneighbors.com frequently to keep up with activities in between meetings and mailed communications. Bohon has been actively promoting the website in all e-mail correspondences with the membership.
Treasurer Curt Davis gave Finance Report itemizing all deposits and payouts.
President Frank Smith also recognized and thanked Jeff Kennard, a most valuable assistant to the officers, for his excellent work with our communications, most especially graphics and the aforementioned website, which he updates and maintains.
The routine business concluded, the president re-introduced each guest as he/she made a short presentation of his or her motivation to seek office, background, goals and solutions each would bring to the table as councilperson or mayor.
The candidates in order of appearance were Duane Howard, Council Candidate. Angela Norman, Council Candidate. Bev Fitzpatrick, Council Candidate. Delvis O “Mac” McCadden, Mayoral Candidate. George Sgouros, Mayoral Candidate. Wendy Jones, Council Candidate. Alice Hincker, Mayoral Candidate. Bill Carder, Council Candidate. Nelson Harris, Mayoral Candidate. Sherman Lea, Council Candidate, and Brian Wishneff, Council Candidate. Each was given five minutes to make presentations, which were essentially outlined, on their campaign literature that was distributed to all members of the audience and panel.
The Question and Answer Session followed, with the rules having been explained by President Frank Smith and agreed upon time limitations were observed. Specific questions put to the candidates individually and collectively included candidate’s ability and willingness to give the council/mayor job the time it demanded,school safety and school construction issues, position on the emotional Victory Stadium issue, how to reduce school violence, sharp questions on why school costs so high and the candidates positions on whether to continue with appointed or to have elected school boards.
The business of the evening concluded, President Frank N Smith, after thanking all members, guests and especially the candidates for their time and efforts, the meeting was adjourned at 8:53 pm.
Respectfully Submitted,
J Keith Bohon, Jr
Secretary
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