Meeting Minutes

Present: Dottie Corning, Tina Bova, Dave Callender, Jessica Conard, Joel Cure, Margo
Fesperman, Chris Hunt, Taylor McClellan, Jon Miller, Tessa O’Regan, Chris Vasques, Mike
Woika, John Phaup and Curtis Krumel.

Not present: Dan Parsons

Call to Order: The meeting was called to order at 5:30pm by outgoing board president, Dottie
Corning.

Approval of Minutes: Since the number of returning board members did not constitute a
majority of the board (and the new members were not present at the December 2024 meeting),
it was decided that because the minutes had been circulated to the previous board members,
and all comments made to them, the minutes would be posted as if they had been approved.

 

New Business: Nominations were made to elect 2025 officers, beginning with president. Mike
Woika was nominated for the role of HDRA President and was unanimously elected by the
board members. Upon his election, Dottie Corning removed herself from the meeting and the
current board members proceeded, led by Mike. A motion was made to elect Tina Bova the
HDRA Vice President; unanimously approved. A motion was made to keep Jessica Conard as
the HDRA Treasurer; unanimously approved. A motion was made to elect Taylor McClellan as
the HDRA Secretary; unanimously approved.

 

Treasurer’s Report: Jessica gave an update: at the start of the year, funds in the amount of
roughly $8300 were rolled over from 2023. Just under $6000 was collected in membership dues
for 2024. Expenses for the 2024 year were approximately $8000. Jessica will email a proposed
2025 budget to be reviewed and discussed at the next HDRA Board meeting.

 

Continued New Business: Mike discussed the mission of HDRA and the 2023 end of year
survey that asked for members feedback on the direction they would like to see HDRA go. The
board members discussed what the board implemented in 2024 to address the survey feedback
and then discussed what goals we would like to set for the 2025 calendar year. Discussions
regarding individual committees followed.

 

Committees:
Membership Committee: Dave agreed to stay on the Membership Committee and said he
could use some help. Tessa volunteered to assist.

 

Social Committee: Jon believes the social events of 2024 were well attended. It was suggested
that HDRA should repeat the same events this year, since social events are a core function of
HDRA. Jon was comfortable staying on the social committee, and Margo, Jessica and Chris H.
all volunteered to help on the social committee.

 

Government Outreach Committee: Dan was nominated and agreed to serve as the head of the
committee. Margo will assist Dan. Margo relayed that she, along with two other downtown
residents, met with Jessica Rhue (Director of Development for the City of New Bern) in hopes
of opening the door to discuss enforcement of the HPC’s guidelines. The HPC is one of the
departments Jessica Rhue oversees within her role at the city. The new BOD members were
reminded the current role of the BOD is to provide information to HDRA members, but not to
speak as representatives of HDRA. Chris and Joel inquired about the possibility of gathering
input of members to start voicing opinions at city meetings. This idea will be discussed at a
later date.

 

Fun Activities Committee: Ideas include a 5K or race of some type; possibly entering a boat in
the spring boat race. Mike asked the group if they wanted to explore the “pods” idea more and
there seemed to be a consensus that the BOD should.

 

Social Media/Communications Committee: Curtis is providing technical support for HDRA’s
website, Facebook page and email. He and Jessica are adding themselves to the HDRA
Facebook page so they may make updates. Joel also volunteered to be on this committee, and
act as the moderator. There was some discussion on whether to keep the Facebook page public
or make it private for members only. Also, there was some back and forth on whether a
Facebook page is useful or not. Mike mentioned in order to be effective, we need to provide
more frequent updates so the feed is fresh and active. Tessa suggested BOD send all 
updates/pictures to the committee to have their content added to the page. The committee will
make recommendations to the BOD.

 

Clean Sweep Committee: Given the time, this was tabled for future discussion. Things to
consider include what areas of the town to clean (downtown main thoroughfares verses
residential streets) and the effectiveness/benefit of the program?

 

BOD also discussed considering a non-profit event we could add to the calendar and will
discuss this idea at a later date.

 

Note: John Greene is willing to be the guest speaker at the general membership meeting this
spring. The library is the tentative location.

 

Next Board Meeting: The next HDRA BOD meeting is scheduled for February 3, 2025, at
5:30pm to be held at the library.
Motion to Adjourn: Taylor made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Tessa seconded. Mike
adjourned the meeting at 6:50pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Taylor McClellan, HDRA Secretary