CEC MINUTES 08-24-2020 0CITY OF
SOUTHLAKE
9 TEXAS
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT COMMITTEE MEETING MINUTES: August 24th, 2020
LOCATION: Southlake Town Hall
1400 Main Street, Room 4A
Southlake, Texas 76092
Also available via VIRTUAL ACCESS
TIME: 6:00 P.M.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS PRESENT:
Place 1 — Sherry Berman, Chair
Place 2 —Vandana Tanneru
Place 3 —Vikram Jangam
Place 5 — Jessica Coffee, Secretary
COMMITTEE MEMBERS NOT PRESENT:
Place 4 — Ben Siebach
Place 6 — Rashmi Singh, Vice Chair
Place 7 —Vacant
STAFF PRESENT:
Lauren E. LaNeave, Assistant to the City Manager
Jerod Potts, Policy & Strategic Initiative Principal Planner
CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS PRESENT:
N/A
OTHERS PRESENT:
N/A
REGULAR AGENDA
1. Call to order. Meeting called to order at 6:15 p.m. by Sherry Berman, Chair.
2. Approve June 8, 2020 CEC meeting minutes. Jessica made a motion approve
the minutes as written. Vandana provided a second. Approved (4-0).
Meeting Minutes: Community Engagement Committee Meeting—August 24th, 2020
Page 1 of 4
dip in February. May and June were above 2019 levels. Sherry mentioned
that we need to push these positive numbers out to the community and
encourage further economic support. Hotel Occupancy Tax in Q1 was
strong, dipped in Q2, and in Q3 there is very little; staff reevaluated
estimates knowing the City is in a recovery phase. Marketing push for
staycations. Sherry mentioned the City should consider Southlake host
tournaments to bring in people as COVID-19 numbers allow. In terms of
business survival rates, for years 1 through 5, Southlake has a greater than
national average survival rate. The daytime population (those who visit
versus those who reside in the area) averages for 2016-2020 were
consistent. Commercial development is naturally going to slow due to build
out. Residential permits naturally declining as well. Estimated
approximately 30,000+ buildout population. In terms of business closures,
there were four between April and now, and two of the spaces have already
been occupied or will be soon.
5. Community Engagement Plan overview and activity. Lauren began the
discussion by talking about strategizing with the CEC for consistency. Staff
discussed coming up with policy recommendations on how to engage the public
and plans on how to do so. Each plan recommendation will tie to larger city
objectives that flow through the overarching city plan. Jerod led a brainstorming
activity to help with the planning. Given the current CEC schedule consideration
should be made to add in meetings. Staff discussed tying goals and objectives to
the City's strategic plan. The Committee reviewed identified strengths and
opportunities based on the results of the CEC survey. Vandana mentioned that
SPIN meetings only get attention when there are controversial topics, and
suggested ways to get community members to be more involved to raise
awareness and visibility of SPIN. Staff asked the Committee what they think the
least engaged person would say are the strengths and opportunities for
engagement in the community. Vikram noted there should be an opportunity for
more consistent engagement outside of controversial issues. Sherry noted an
opportunity to push more positive information out. Staff reviewed some of the
opportunities. Vandana mentioned sending out surveys about ideas on what
opportunities and interests the community has and how to get more community
members involved around these interests. Staff walked through the mind mapping
tree exercise with the Committee. For each corporate objective, pin the
opportunities to find potential solutions. This helps to retain focus and prevent
scope creep. Regarding promoting timely accessible meaningful and inclusive
engagement tools, the Committee discussed opportunities to implement; Sherry
mentioned the pandemic, Jessica mentioned considerations for vulnerable
populations that do not have access to internet-based communication tools. Staff
Meeting Minutes: Community Engagement Committee Meeting—August 24th, 2020
Page 3 of 4