Subject

Notes

Introductions

Jim introduced Chris Sunde who will be joining the Committee as the new Delivery Manager.  Welcome Chris!

The Committee also welcomed guest Jan Whitesell, GIS Manager from the City Planning Department.

Review active project / initiative list

Priorities for upcoming Hack Night

For Hack Night 1/26, the Committee agreed to focus volunteer activities on the following:

• Adopt-a-“Thing” (Chris Sunde)
• Laddr (Jill Bjers)
• Team Charlotte blog (Jill Bjers)
• CfA Website – ready-made apps (Jill Bjers)

Jill will play the role of emcee for the meeting.  Location is 809 Hill Street.

Jill informed that more MeetUps have been added.  The strategic focus for 2015 is to increase volunteer engagement.  She is seeking a tie in with CharMeck Library.  Twyla/Tom mentioned Charles Thomas as a good contact for Jill.  Twyla offered to assist with scheduling of meeting space at the Library.

Tom indicated the Youth Portal is set to launch on 2/22.

CodeAcross 2015

CfA’s CodeAcross is a weekend of civic hacking events hosted by nodes of the Code for America network around the world.  The Charlotte Brigade will host an event on Saturday, 2/21.

Jill discussed fundraising for the event.  Twyla indicated the City will make a contribution.  Jill indicated she will contact Susan Patterson at the Knight Foundation for a contribution.

Jim indicated he would like to highlight the Open Budget project for CodeAcross.

Portfolio Initiative

Jim and Chris discussed the goals of this task force – among them are the following:

• Create and maintain a list of all projects and ideas
• Include articulation of benefits and requirements to move forward
• Include skill set requirements of volunteers
• Describe required government partner participation
• Organize in such a way that maintenance is not burdensome
• Include ability to prioritize and re-prioritize the list

Jim further described that the overall expectation is that more organization of the projects will make engagement of volunteers more comfortable.

Twyla expressed the need to include a well-defined process for getting work to the Brigade.  Jim agreed to act on this and has begun a dialog in Basecamp.

Open Budget

Twyla informed the Committee that a City Champion, Karen Whichard, has been assigned.  Twyla will be reviewing the MOU with Karen.  Next step for the project is to get an extract of budget data from the city’s Clarity instance.

Jim indicated that collaboration with the Code for Asheville Brigade has been established for the site’s look and feel.

Citygram

Jan Whitesell expressed desire to get additional datasets published.

Jim agreed to establish a task plan and report on expected deployment dates at next Executive Committee Meeting.

Twyla agreed to review MOU and get money transferred.

The Committee was made aware that the request for unsubscribing is not user-friendly.  It was agreed that the priority to address this issue should be higher than incorporating new datasets.  Jim agreed to make the proposed fix available for work.

Smart Cities Council

Hosted by Envision Charlotte and Mayor Clodfelter, the Smart Cities Council will hold its quarterly forum 3/23-3/24 focused on innovative technologies that are making cities smarter and improving their livability, workability and sustainability.  Itron will participate.

Jim and Twyla will be attending a planning meeting 2/27 to discuss the Brigade’s involvement.  The 2/27 meeting is expected to clarify Itron’s objectives and level of participation.

Knight Cities Challenge

Twyla informed the Committee that Wilson Hooper, assistant to the City Manager, has expressed interest in Brigade support for the 8 Charlotte finalists.  Given the short time frame for the next submissions of the finalists, Jim agreed that he will address any inquiries via email.  Twyla agreed to update Wilson Hooper.

501(c)(3)

Jill applied for an EIN, and for designation as a not-for-profit corporation by the City.

Other

Tom will secure the same space for the next Committee meeting – Wednesday, February 18, Noon –1:30pm.

Jill sent meeting invitation.

Next Hack Night is Monday 1/26/2015 at 809 Hill Street.

Jill informed that she is meeting with Shawn Proffitt (City Corporate Communications) on 2/17 to discuss assistance/feedback on website.