Year 12: '13-14 - Disarray, Year One

In this folder I report how the ONDNA went into "suspension" because it did not elect officers at a properly organized Annual Meeting in June, 2013. Even so, a handful of people continued to act as the "ONDNA" in a state that might be described as "simulation." Other ONDNA bylaws were also not followed very well, especially as regards holding and canceling meetings, giving notice of meetings, and making proper and timely public records of actions. As well, a number of long-standing organizational practices regarding transparency and resident engagement continued in abandonment or were newly abandoned.

June 8. 2013 Annual Meeting: No Officers Elected, ONDNA Goes Into Suspension

ONDA Bylaws require election of all seven members of the Board to one year terms each year at a formal Annual Meeting attended by at least 15 members. According to the Minutes of the June 8, 2013 "Annual Meeting" posted on the NextDoor website on December 8, 2013 and reproduced here, only four rather than at least 15 members were present at a "meeting" held among four members of the Board at a larger party. The Minutes say that "no actions were taken,” which had to include no election of officers. Because “elections for seven members of the Board” did not occur, the ONDNA as an entity recognized by the City as legitimately speaking for Old North would appear to have gone into suspension Sunday afternoon June 8, 2013.

June 13. "ONDNA" Representative Advocates ON Parking Changes at SPAC meeting

On June 13, a person identifying himself as president of the "ONDNA" appeared before the City Safety and Parking Advisory Commission advocating extensive changes in the Old North parking district. The Commission votes unanimously not to support the proposed changes. Click this heading for details.

July 17. Doorstep dropped half-sheet agenda for July 18 meeting

 

July 18. Date of regular monthly meeting. No minutes published

Placeholder for unpublished minutes

August 12. Doorstep dropped half-sheet agenda for August 15 meeting

 

August 15. Third Thursday Meeting. Minutes Published December 9th

Placeholder for unpublished minutes that were eventually posted on a private site at https://oldnorthdavis.nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=3104871 on 9 December 2013.

September 12. Doorstep dropped half-sheet agenda for September 19 meeting

 

September 19. Meeting of Four "ONDNA" Members Who Agree That the Group Has No Officers

The graphic given here is a reminder that what are described as the minutes of this meeting were not published until December 9, 2013. I attended this meeting. Five persons were present for the first half: three board members from last year, a non-resident of the Old North, and me. About half-way through the meeting a fourth former board member arrived. The chair of the meeting reported that for lack of a quorum of four board members, offices were not allocated among board members at the July or August meetings. This meeting also lacked a quorum, the meeting chair said, and officers were once again not selected. Moreover, it appears that the three at-large positions on the seven person board remain empty for lack of anyone to serve. Among other questions, I asked if an email list of ON people most actively interested in the ONDNA was being kept and used to communicate ONDNA information. The answer was no, which was and is in accord with my experience of receiving no email communication from the ONDNA in well over a year, at least. A document labeled the minutes of this meeting was posted on December 9th behind the NextDoor website registration wall. This is the URL: https://oldnorthdavis.nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=3104876.

September 27. "ONDNA" Website Contains Only Long Outdated Materials

On this date, the most recent minutes posted on the "ONDNA" website are dated November 15, 2012. The most recent meeting agenda is dated January 17, 2013. The most recent announcement of a "ONDNA" official action is dated February 24, 2013.

October 8. Doorstep Drop of 'Neighbors' Night Out' Invitation Card

This invitation card produced and provided by the City of Davis for mailing purposes and used here as a doorstep drop item.

October 13 (Sunday). Day of the City of Davis "Neighbors Night Out." NextDoor Notice of the Event

The NextDoor notice reproduced here contains text saying: "We may have a short business meeting to sort out our Neighborhood Association Board positions . . . ." Use of the word "may" is especially striking.

October 17. Third Thursday Meeting Not Held

Not having received a doorstep drop notice of an "ONDNA" third Thursday meeting, on the day of the meeting I emailed the four last-known ONDNA board members and asked each if the regular third Thursday meeting would be held. One responded that there would be no meeting because "we held a potluck Sunday instead," meaning the October 13 City of Davis Event described just above. Click on the October 17 heading to read the ONDNA website announcement of the Third Thursday ordinary time of meeting.

October 18. Request for Minutes of the June, July, August, September & October 2013 Meetings

Copy of the text of an email to the four last-year "ONDA" board members asking to see the minutes of the last five "ONDA" meetings. As of November 13, I had received no response to this request and none of the minutes requested had been posted on the "ONDNA" website (or anywhere else I know about).

November 2-4. The Four "ONDNA" Participants Decline to Provide a Financial Report or Spending Plan

At the September 19 meeting I asked to see a copy of the most recent "ONDNA" budget. None was available at that time. On November 2nd I received an email saying “we will probably just give you Xerox copies of the ONDNA bank account statements for you to examine since none of us has the time, patience, nor expertise to conduct an audit.” My November 4th response to this email is reproduced here.

November 21. Scheduled November Meeting Not Held & Without Public Notice

Without notice in advance on the simulated "ONDNA" website or on NextDoor, or posted notice of cancellation at the Hattie Weber Museum, the regular, third Thursday meeting was not held. In addition, there was no doorstep drop meeting notice and an agenda was not posted on the simulated "ONDNA" website or on NextDoor.

December 14. The Disappearing Progressive Dinner & and Substitute Cookie Exchange

The holiday season of 2013 was the 12th year in which the ONDNA would have organized a “progressive dinner.” As described in the clickable graphic, in the past volunteers opened their homes to serve one of several dinner courses. Three or more different homes were often involved. As the graphic shows, a call for volunteer hosts was made, but that apparently did not work out. The dinner notice was withdrawn and replaced with a “ONDNA Cookie Exchange,” which was held on the same day and at the same time as scheduled for the progressive diner. (A notice of that event is shown on the right side of the graphic.)

December 19. Third Thursday Meeting Not Held

The regular “third Thursday” meeting was not held and I know of no advance notice of its cancellation so that one could plan accordingly. So far as I know, there was also no public announcement of why the meeting was cancelled.

January 16. Third Thursday Regular Meeting

A document labeled minutes of this meeting is posted behind the Old North NextDoor registration wall. This url might make it viewable: https://oldnorthdavis.nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=3825101

February 13 (A Thursday). Meeting Held a Week Ahead of “Third Thursday”

Monday afternoon February 10, by a drop at my door (click to see it), I learned that an “ONDNA” meeting was to be held a week in advance of the regular “third Thursday.” On NextDoor, this rushed event was billed as the “Febuary meeting of the Old North Davis Neighborly Association.” I am not aware of any minutes of this meeting.

February 20. Third Thursday Meeting Announced But Without A Location and With an Unusual Time

As seen in the graphic, a February 20 meeting was announced on NextDoor, but no location was given and the time was announced as “12:00PM.” So far as I am aware, this was a phantom meeting.

February 22 (a Saturday). “ONDNA” Does Not Promote City-conducted Meeting on “Potential Changes in the Old North Davis Parking District”

City staff held a “neighborhood meeting on potential changes in the Old North parking district” on Saturday, February 22. It sent a flyer (copy in the graphic) to whatever lists it uses and posted an announcement behind the registration wall on NextDoor (copy in the graphic). I am not aware of any public action the “ONDNA” took to publicize this meeting or otherwise to encourage ON residents to attend it.

February 23 (a Sunday). Post-City Hall Meeting in a Private Location

The day following the February 22 City Hall Meeting the “ONDNA” convened a meeting publically announced only behind the registration wall on NextDoor. That is, the meeting notice was only a matter of hours--and on a private, password protected website. In addition the meeting was held in a home (that of the dominant “ONDNAer”) rather than in a neutral public setting. The title of the NextDoor notice contains a noteworthy distinction between a “Board” and “Neighbors.” The absence of concept of “members” is also interesting. An “ONDNA” document on that meeting was posted behind the NextDoor registration wall on February 25. The URL is: https://oldnorthdavis.nextdoor.com/news_feed/?post=3847978

March 19 (Wednesday) ONDNA Stalwart Dan Quickert Reacts A Report That The March Meeting Date Will Be Changed

For health reasons, ONDNA stalwart Dan Quickert left the Board about a year ago (a seat he occupied pretty much the entire life of the organization). When, on Wednesday March 19th, he heard that the regular third Thursday meeting would again be cancelled and a different short-notice meeting scheduled, he published his concerns about this and other meeting irregularities on NextDoor. His statement is, again, on a private, password protected site. Fortunately, he gave me permission to republish it on Old North Davis Chat and it can be read here: http://www.oldnorthdavischat.org/2014/03/uncertainty-over-ondna-regular-third.html. Better still, it appears here as a graphic. Click.

March 20 (Thursday). Regular Third Thursday Meeting Not Held; Meeting for February (March?) 21 Announced Wednesday Evening March 19

Having heard nothing about a “third Thursday” meeting by Wednesday March 19--which is several days after previous doorstep leaflet drops--I assumed there would be no such March meeting. Well, there was no Thursday meeting, but there was a late-sprung announcement of a Friday meeting. The slip of paper reproduced in the graphic appeared on my doorstep Wednesday evening. As one can read, it does not cancel the regular meeting. Instead, it announces a meeting for Friday, February 21! And the meeting is to be held by an organization called the “Old North Davis Neighborly Association.” Wednesday evening, I checked the NextDoor site for a post announcing the Friday meeting and found nothing. But, by then, another event--the Quickert Post reproduced above--had made that notice moot.

March 21 (Friday). Old North Resident Kemble Pope Posts on NextDoor Agreeing With Quickert and Raising Additional Concerns.

The next day, Kemble Pope posted several statements regarding the "ONDNA" on NextDoor, the main one of which I reproduce here. A variety of other "ONDNA"-related pots ensued.

This 2013-14 Narrative Ends For Now and With a Note on Historical Context

At this point, we have left the realm of history--which is what this website is about--and entered contemporary and on-going events. So, I am stopping this narrative until the time there is more history to relate. As a history website, it is appropriate to conclude with the suggestion that the story we see above did not suddenly begin in June of 2013. Instead, the essentials of this year's narrative extend back several years and I have reported some parts of that longer story in the folders on the earlier ONDNA years. Let me point, in particular, to suggestions I addressed to the then recently elected new ONDNA president and vice president in August of 2010. Click this heading to read them or follow this URL to go to them: http://www.oldnorthdavishistory.org/the-old-north-davis-neighborhood-association/year-9-10-11/ondna-transparency/ . (By the way, I got no response to these suggestions for many months and, when I asked, the president told me he simply disagreed with what I said.)

Addendum: List of ONDNA-related Posts Published on oldnorthdavischat.org

As a further matter of context, I append a list of the posts relating to the ONDNA published on the blog oldnorthdavischat.org.