Get to know your candidates for FNA board positions to be filled

We will be electing a few new board members at our general meeting on August 27th to fill the positions of Historic Preservation, Communications, Safety and Finance. To vote you must be an active Fairmount Neighborhood Association Member 10 days prior to the meeting date. That means you must have been an FNA member by Saturday, Aug. 18 to be eligible to vote at the meeting. You can always sign up for membership on our website at www.historicfairmount.com.

If you live in Fairmount, are an FNA member, and are interested in running for any of the available board positions, please contact Leah Susanovar at administration@historicfairmount.com. You are still able to be a write on ballot if you choose the day of the meeting.

Please meet our current candidates for our open positions!

STEVE VOLTMANN

Hello Neighbors. My name is Steve Voltmann, and I am volunteering to be Director of Public Safety for our Association. My wife and I bought our house on 5th Av. in October 2008 after attending the Home Tour in previous years. We have two grown sons, and three granddaughters who attend Alice Carlson Applied Learning Center. We love the old houses and the active neighborhood.

I retired last year, after 31 years with the Arlington Fire Department. I was a Lieutenant for the last 19 years, and I loved it. Now, I am retired and have more time to be involved with the Neighborhood. I look forward to joining Citizens on Patrol and retaining and recruiting others to join also. I believe I can be an effective liaison between the Neighborhood and FWPD, our NPO, Safer Southside Alliance, FWFD, and Medstar.

I would hope to provide information on other less common topics like Fire safety, smoke detectors, storm dangers, and public health problems.

Finally, I believe that a safer Neighborhood is everyone’s responsibility. Working together, we can continue improving Neighborhood safety.

Thank you.

KEELI GARZA

Personal Bio: Keeli Garza has been a resident of Fairmount since 2003, and resides on Lipscomb Street with her husband Joe and two good doggos (Etta and Cash). Most recently, she worked with the FNA as a member of the 2015 Home Tour Team and was responsible for the organization and execution of the volunteer appreciation event – Wine Down – which was themed “Top Chef: Fairmount”, featuring a cooking competition by the students in the Culinary Arts program at nearby Trimble Tech High School. Keeli is also a part of the organizing committee for the 2019 “FairMounti Gras” Mardi Gras Parade and Bash. Keeli works as a boutique travel consultant specializing in Disney travel destinations, and in her free time enjoys cycling with the Bomber Town Bicycle Collective and enjoying all the food and drink the Near Southside has to offer.

Interest/Position Statement: As a journalist for over a decade – most recently with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as Online Sports & Features Editor – I have always had a passion for visual and digital communication. Unfortunately, until now I never had the free time required and desired to apply my skills with communications strategy in different ways outside the workplace.

I would love to serve on the Fairmount Neighborhood Association Board of Directors as Communications Director for the next term.

If chosen, I would bring extensive knowledge in visual and digital design, content creation and copy-editing skills, website optimization strategies – including SEO and streamlined communication techniques from digital newsletter distribution to web-based text alerts available on an opt-in basis, and more. My ultimate goal would be streamline the information delivery process across all mediums (from the various Facebook groups and NextDoor, to the Fairmount website, to Constant Contact emails and hardcopy newsletters, and more) with the hopeful intent to make each of these collateral portions more conversational and reflective of the spirit of the neighborhood – just a little porch-sittin’ chat amongst neighbors new and old.

I would also love to use my various set of skills to try out new mediums to share information – for instance, recording the monthly Preservation Palaver in podcast form for those who can’t make it and want to listen at their convenience, as well as recording narrated video tours of all the homes on Home Tour to be available after the tour to help promote the neighborhood and maintain a year-round interest in the tour itself. A short narrated video presentation of the Yard of the Month could also be a fun addition – and possibly help even the brownest of thumbs add a little beauty to the neighborhood!

Thanks again to the Nominating Committee and the neighborhood for your consideration.

BOB FAIN

Personal Information: Bob Fain

Position of Interest: Director of Finance

My formative years were spent riding my bicycle up and down the streets of Fairmount and playing baseball at Daggett. Grades one through eight I attended St. Mary’s Catholic School on Magnolia.  My wife Kathy and I have been married 46 years and have two daughters and four granddaughters.

In 2015 we sold our home of 26 years with the plan of downsizing. After much discussion we purchased a very sad home at 1425 Fairmount Ave. It was a great introduction to historical appropriateness and a chance to practice my bookkeeping skills. We now have a total of 5 family members within walking distance of our home.

Since my retirement in 2018, Kathy and I spend a great amount of time walking through the streets of Fairmount with our dog Murphy. I now work part-time for my brother in-law at Burgundy Local, a grass-fed meat market. We have been members of the Fairmount neighborhood association since purchasing our home. My desire to be more involved stems from my affection for Fairmount and hope to be part of any future plans involving our neighborhood. I am interested in running for the position of Director of Finance.

BRIA FOX

My name is Bria Fox and I’m a marketer and graphic designer in Fairmount. I’ve been doing digital design for around 9 years now, while also dabbling in various other art mediums for just as long. I am currently the Corporate Marketing Coordinator at a local civil engineering firm that does a lot of work in Fort Worth area. I also run my own company, Fragile Delicate, which is my own personal brand of paper & glass products, as well as event coordinating. I have always wanted to help out Fairmount from the moment we moved in two years ago. I’ve recently been doing graphic design work for the neighborhood – layouts for the newsletter, fna posters, festive floats, and design work for FairMOUNTI Gras. You might also see me running around delivering welcome bags to new families in the neighborhood! I love what I’m doing, but I’d love to bring more of my ideas to the table as the Director of Communications for the Fairmount Neighborhood Association.

MICHAEL MCDERMOTT

Bio:

• “Urban Pioneer” resident of Fairmount since 1984 and helped found the Fairmount Nat. Register/ Local and Cultural Historic District in 1990
• Wrote the Arcadia book on Fairmount history “Fort Worth’s Fairmount District” published in 2010
• 40 year study of residential historic architecture, house styles and arch. elements and relevance to Fairmount and U.S.
• Renovated seven houses in Fairmount/ two in our adopted town in Colorado, including a pioneer home there built in 1889… preserving or restoring interior and exterior historic architectural elements to each
• Fairmount Home Tour Director 1993 & 94
• Served as head of or on committee of Fairmount Historic Preservation off and on in last 14 years.

Goals:

• Make preservation of, restoration of, or re-creation of historic architectural details of Fairmount homes a priority
• Priority also to work with City of FW and Landmarks Commission to keep Fairmount included in and highest relevance in COA and Landmarks process. Fairmount has been increasingly circumvented and excluded from this process in the last few years by city staff. I want to reverse this but want also to keep good relations and open dialogue between Fairmount HP, neighborhood applicants, and city staff.
• Continue updating the Fairmount photo catalog archive with more recent images as well as any older or historic photos
• Continue the education of Fairmount residents concerning their homes’ wonderful architectural and historical heritage.
• Help with and encourage more research to obtain more Registered Texas Historical Landmark designations for as many of our unique and worthy historic homes and structures as possible.

HUGO ZENTENO

My name is Hugo Alfredo Zenteno Jr. I have lived in Fort Worth my entire life and have been a part of this neighborhood since I was born. My grandmother has lived on South Adams since I can remember so I spent my childhood and adult days here. I moved to this neighborhood with my significant other permanently about 6 years ago. We live here with our 5 children and 4 pets (2 dogs 2 cats). I am very proud of how this neighborhood has changed and also unpleased of how its been managed. When I was growing up this neighborhood was completely different than it is now, there was a lot of undesirable activity around the neighborhood. I am glad of the changes this neighborhood has made I now feel it is safe for my children to be here. I am also a Water System Mechanic II for the Fort Worth Water Department so you can say I am proud to be a part of Fort Worth.

I am seeking to be a part of the neighborhood association to be the director of safety. I am eager to be able to help this neighborhood be safe. I believe I am a good candidate for this position due to having my family and many friends here, and also seen this area go from a bad place to walk around to being able to walk down the street with your family, pets without having to look over my shoulder.

Below are the descriptions of each position per the Fairmount Neighborhood Association Bylaws (download the bylaws).

Director of Communications

Be responsible for the editing, publication and distribution of the monthly newsletter and other printed material as needed as well as the development and collection of newsletter advertising income. Oversee notification of members of meetings and other activities by voice, written or other electronic communication. Act as a public information officer for the association and coordinate with the media. Be responsible for the website content, facebook, instagram, twitter (social media). Oversee the “Yard of The Month” project.

Director of Finance

Keep an accurate record of receipts and expenditures, coordinate and oversee collection of funds, make disbursements of funds and deposit all funds in the name of the Fairmount Association in financial institutions as designated by the Board. Present an accurate financial statement at every regular meeting of the Association, and at other times when requested by the President or the Board. Submit all vouchers, receipts, cancelled checks and other records to an auditing committee for annual review, no more than 15 days following the committee appointment. 9 Have custody of all records relating to the Association, including copies of financial records and arrange an annual audit of the Association’s finances with a Certified Public Account. Maintain a list of location and custodian of all Association assets. Submit all records to an auditing committee for annual review, no more than 15 days following the committee appointment.

Director of Preservation

Oversee Historic District Issues and Guidelines. Serve as liaison from the Association to the HCLC, and other Historic Agencies, as well as with the Archivist.

Director of Public Safety

Act as liaison to City Crime Prevention organizations such as Citizens on Patrol and Crime Watch. Act as liaison to Fort Worth Police and Fire Departments and emergency medical services.

A full General Meeting agenda will be posted a couple of days prior to the event on our website an on our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/historicfairmount