It's business as usual: no business

Some CIC members suggest changing the agency's bylaws on quorums.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
CITY HALL REPORTER
YOUNGSTOWN -- The downtown redevelopment agency board held yet another nonmeeting because of its continual failure to get enough members to attend.
Only 11 of the 25-member Youngstown Central Area Community Improvement Corp. showed up Tuesday. At least 13 members must attend a meeting for any official action to be taken by the agency.
A lack of a quorum has been a problem for the volunteer board for years. Some members say the CIC's bylaws should be changed to address this problem.
"Can we reduce the quorum because we run into this issue quite often?" asked William Binning, a CIC member and chairman of Youngstown State University's political science department.
Youngstown Councilman Rufus Hudson, D-2nd and a CIC member, has complained for months about the agency's poor attendance and canceled meetings for several months.
"If people consistently don't make the meetings, we should look at our bylaws and change them so we can remove members if they don't attend," he said. "I'm really disheartened by this trend. You're either committed to this or not. If not, you shouldn't be on the board."
Examining bylaws
Jason Whitehead, the CIC's executive director, said the agency's staff is checking the bylaws and asking members if a change of date and time of regular board meetings is needed to get better participation.
The CIC's members are professionals, and sometimes more pressing matters arise and they can't attend the meetings, Whitehead said.
Some members at Tuesday's nonmeeting said the light agenda -- the only items needing a board vote were approving minutes of a Sept. 6 meeting and the agency's financial report -- was largely responsible for the poor turnout.
Whitehead told the 11 CIC members in attendance that asbestos remediation at the former Masters building on West Federal Street started Tuesday. The asbestos removal should be done in a month and demolition of the buildings should begin the week of or the week after Thanksgiving, he said. The buildings will be demolished before Christmas and the site paved in the spring for an 80- to 90-vehicle parking lot.
All Excavating Co. is doing the work for $337,277, with the cost being paid by the city.