HomeMy WebLinkAbout2004 - Annual Report � r • August 5, 2004 Hi John, The purpose of this letter is to review my first year as executive director of the partnership. I have enjoyed the experience and appreciate the opportunity to serve. The year started with me spending a lot of time meeting with board members and various community leaders , one on one ,trying to get a sense of what was important and what they felt the partnership's role was. In my opinion this is still the most vital aspect of the job. Webster defines "catalyst "as a person or thing that precipitates a change. As you know you and I spent some time discussing the statements laid out by the "Forward Vision "which was quite active in the nineties. My initial impression of how the partnership continues to address these areas of concern is that the energy level had declined and other than TRANSPORATION , none of the other three ( Growth Management , Business and Economic Development , and Quality of Life ) had organized in a way that would effectively lead to looking at what or could be done . This is not meant to be negative. A lot of really good things are impacting the Greater Chambersburg area and I think it will continue to grow. I have no way of measuring of how the partnership has influenced many of the good things that have and are occurring. • The question for me as executive director is to whether or not press for more structure and evidence of" getting things started or done " or be content to let things develop as they do presently. We are now devoting a portion of our meetings to hearing from the partners what they have been up to. This is good. It is my hope that in time this will grow into leading all the partners into expanding their interest in identifying other opportunities for benefiting the community. A brochure has been created explaining why the partnership was formed, our vision, and our purpose. Everyone had a chance to contribute to this document; i.e. does it represent what we want, fairly reflect what we do or maybe most importantly spell out a current vision that we can all enthusiastically support? In terms of impact or influence or efforts put forth the South West Connector, CTA, and Public Forum re: CASH got most of our attention. I am trying to get the Partnership thinking about what our role should be in trying to pick up on many of the good ideas that came out of the Communities That Care initiative that discontinued several years ago, and never got implemented. Despite the overall favorable future of the area there is a growing percent of our population that are economically and culturally disadvantaged. In my opinion we have a responsibility and opportunity to help all our residents reach their full potential. Then we all benefit! • • I have been attending Cielo meetings and have offered to help them in any way I can. As you know our executive committee voted against paying dues to be a part of Cielo. During the year I have attended a number of presentations and meetings including the following: Drug and Alcohol, Leadership Simulcast, Drive Shed Study and Land Use Forum. We are no longer paying a CPA to prepare and submit our year end reports and have affected a savings of approximately $ 450.00. We also changed insurance carriers at a savings of$ 150.00 a year. As I said at the outset of this letter I am most satisfied with being a part of this organization. Any direction you or the board can provide will be most welcome. Sincerely, Barry Drexler 0 0