Meeting Notes: General Membership – August 26, 2024

August 30, 2024 Meeting Minutes, News

Call to order: 7:02 PM

Andrew Epps welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order.

Officer Updates:

  • Neighborhood Police Officer (NPO):
    • Officer Jennifer Bell and Sargent Kiser are in attendance.
    • Reminder that Officer Bell is not on the neighborhood Facebook page. If you see anything on the neighborhood Facebook page that the NPO or police should know about, please call it in for the event to be taken into account in the city’s system. This is especially important when there is an ongoing situation and the police need up to date information.
    • Don’t hesitate to call incidents in. You can make a suspect case after the fact as well. If there is an ongoing situation, please call 911 so that the information can be communicated to the officers that are actively responding.
    • Office Bell has been discussing abandoned and disabled vehicles with Ray. He has a list.
    • House on Washington that burned down a few months ago – was it deemed to be an arson case? Unsure – would have been handled by the arson investigation team. There were photos and videos on Facebook with the vehicle and people who went into the house and left moments before the fire started.
    • Jail Diversion Center – PD is still working with the County on this, as previously discussed in meetings.
    • FW PD will be holding a special detail on Magnolia regarding vagrants/ homeless. This will be during varied hours and will be for 2 weeks following Labor Day. These cops will only be handling these situations, not 911 calls.
    • There was a situation at Cat City Grill recently where a vagrant got aggressive and kicked in a window.
  • Code Compliance:
    • Matthew Hayes is the new officer taking over from Laney. Senior officer Frank is also in attendance.
    • 7 waste case, 9 property maintenance cases, 1 illegal dumping in the last month
    • Bulk trash in the neighborhood is the 4th Monday of the month
    • Airbnb/ short term rentals:
      • This has been a big topic item for the last couple of years.
      • Fairmount is mixed zoning, so zoning depends on the individual property. Can be different between neighbors, blocks, or streets.
      • Most of Fairmount was originally platted as duplexes, hence the special cases.
      • Even if a property is zoned to accept short term rentals, you can still register a complaint on the property if the behavior of people staying is problematic.
      • Some people have been knocking on doors incorrectly assuming that some houses are STRs. Senior officers are in charge of STRs – reach out to them with any specific concerns.
    • Deputy Constable:
      • Not in attendance
    • Fort Worth City Council District 9 Representative:
      • Not in attendance

Voter Registration

  • Voter registration station is set up at this meeting.
  • Check online for early voting and election day voting locations.

Community Garden Update: Brandon Wilson

  • Not in attendance

Community Library Update:

  • Not in attendance

FNA Board Election:

  • Nominations from the Nomination Committee:
    • Director of Communication – Elizabeth Sehon
      • Professor at TCU, teaching a capstone course and reached out to FNA to get involved last year. Helped develop items for FNA last year with the students.
      • Moved to Fairmount 2 years ago.
      • Current Communications Director Cristina will join Elizabeth on her committee.
    • Director of Finance – Hao Tran
      • Longtime resident of Fairmount and owner of Hao’s Grocery on St Louis St.
      • Looking forward to working with FNA behind the scenes.
    • Director of Historic Preservation – Kathryn McCarthy & Michael McDermott
      • Both are longtime Fairmount residents and will be co-chairing this position
      • Michael – wrote the book on Fairmount and will be returning to the board
      • Kathryn – was on home tour this year and is a retired realtor and new board member
    • Director of Public Safety – Kim Worley
      • Longtime resident for 11-12 years
      • State historical marker homeowner in the neighborhood
      • Returning board member, used to be Administration
      • Mardi Gras proponent in the neighborhood and has been heavily involved with Home Tour in the past
    • Director of Promotions (1 year term) – Jen Kindschi
      • She was involved with getting Home Tour organized this year and is stepping in to finish the last year of Kelci’s term
    • Members-only vote:
      • No additional nominations were brought forth from the membership.
      • The following motions and seconds were brought forth to accept the board member nominations per the Nominating Committee and FNA Board:
        • Elizabeth Sehon for Communications –
          • Ray Feyen motions and Francis Look seconds.
          • The motion passed unanimously with a voice vote.
        • Hao Tran for Finance –
          • Barbara Crotty motions and Fred Harper seconds.
          • The motion passed unanimously with a voice vote.
        • Kathryn McCarthy & Michael McDermott for Historic Preservation –
          • Martin Dahl motions and Carol Feyen seconds.
          • The motion passed unanimously with a voice vote.
        • Kim Worley for Public Safety –
          • Andrew Epps motions and Fred Harper seconds.
          • The motion passed unanimously with a voice vote.
        • Jen Kindschi for Promotions –
          • Kelly Bowden motions and Ray Feyen seconds.
          • The motion passed unanimously with a voice vote.
        • What happens next?
          • Current Board is in place until this Saturday – August 31, 2024
          • September: First new board meeting and budget planning
          • October: Budget approval meeting

FNA Board Updates:

  • Infrastructure – Kristin Klade
    • New Fairmount sign in the green space has been put in place last week.
    • The budget and design were voted on by the board and general membership many months ago.
    • The sign installation was delayed due to permitting. It was initially planned to be in place in time for Home Tour this year.
    • FNA is working on coming up with an event to commemorate the sign.
    • Will Brinkley with Melo Signs did the work for us and worked within our budget. His wife was the designer. They do not live in Fairmount, but love the neighborhood.
    • The board will be considering lighting and landscaping at the green space next to fit in with the new sign.
  • Public Safety – Ray Feyen
    • Ray and Carol are the current public safety directors and will be stepping down to be on Kim’s committee this year.
    • Reach out to Ray regarding anything Code Blue related or if you are interested in volunteering.
    • There is a free class available with the FW PD. It is a 12-week course, from 6-9 PM on Tuesdays at the Police Department to learn how the PD functions. Ray has applications for this. The next class is on September 3.
  • Membership – Barbara Crotty
    • FNA had a successful co-social with the Fairmount Neighborhood Garden this past month at Lockwood on Magnolia, using herbs from the garden for signature cocktails/ mocktails.
    • We want to have more socials where residents can feel comfortable to bring their kids as well but may want to wait for cooler weather at this point.
    • The September social could be at the new sign in the green space and kids would be welcome.
    • Currently we have only 100 FNA members, but there are many more houses than that in the neighborhood, so encourage your neighbors to join.

Adjourn: 7:59 PM

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