A Report from the 2014 HSPI Nominating Committee

by | Oct 27, 2014 | Meeting Minutes

The 2014 HSPI Nominating Committee (Jill Davis, Joel Pruce, James Wahl and Jeff Peterson) are pleased to submit the following parties and their bios for your consideration. Each of these parties has expressed a willingness to serve our neighborhood as an elected Board Member in the respective offices. The Committee will place their names into nomination at the Tuesday October 28, 2014 HSPI meeting.

The Nominating Committee will also solicit and encourage floor nominations at the meeting Tuesday. Any HSPI member may run for any of the offices listed. Your participation is welcomed.

As a reminder, you must be a member of HSPI to vote or run for office. If you’re not a member, now’s a great time to join and affirm your commitment to the neighborhood.

Please see Holly Di Flora or any Board member for an application.
The candidates and their bios follow: (A PDF version is available by clicking the link -> HSPI Nominations2014).

HSPI Executive Board Candidates 2014
Questionnaire

  1. Your name, job, how long you’ve lived in SP?
  2. What qualifications do you have for the position?
  3. What is your pet project for the neighborhood and why?

President

  1. Amy Lee, Media Director for Kettering Foundation, lived in South Park 5 years.
  2. Previous experience as president, past president, and 2nd VP, founder of South Park Urban Garden, coordinator of several South Park events/activities, including semi-annual alley sweeps and Shindig.
  3. Increasing curb appeal, by organizing action on problem landlords and vacant properties and exploring better ways to handle landscaping and green space maintenance. I think this is the most important thing we can do for not only our everyday quality of life, but also to protect the investment we’ve all made in our homes and the neighborhood.

 

1st Vice President

  1. My name is Matthew R. Klempner and I work as a Tax Delinquency Specialist in the Montgomery County Treasurer’s Office. My wife and I moved to Dayton (and South Park) in May 2012, and fell in love with the neighborhood. While we are currently renting, we plan to purchase a home in South Park in the near future.
  2. I have served on the Executive Board of HSPI as 1st Vice President for the previous year. In addition, I am involved with Dayton Sister Cities, and graduated from the Dayton Neighborhood Leadership Institute in 2014. I am passionate about improving the community in which I live and work. I am a person that believes making common cause to achieve win-win situations, and have often been called upon to successfully diffuse tense situations where passions are running high. I believe that my leadership skills and experience with organizations over the years has given me the ability to help lead HSPI and improving our neighborhood.
  3. I have begun work compiling a list of resources and contact information with the goal of distributing this to residents of South Park, so that they will be aware of government, and non-profit resources that are available to them. Though the Neighborhood Leadership Institute and my own research, I have done much of the groundwork on this project. In the coming year, I would like to see this project completed and made available to the residents of South Park.

 

2nd Vice President

  1. Phyllis Tonne, have lived in SP since 1998. I earn my living by being a full time teacher and part time goddess.
  2. Served on the HSPI board for a while about ten years ago. Have co-produced Shakespeare in South Park for several years.
  3. I am interested in community-building, which can be done many ways. I’d like to hear your ideas about this.

 

Membership

  1. Kate Ervin, Director of Housing & Economic Development at East End Community Services. I’ve owned a house on Garret Street since 2007 but have been away the last few years.
  2. My work & educational experience – with City of Dayton Planning, UD’s Fitz Center for Leadership in Community, MetroParks, as the downtown director for Lancaster (OH), and now at East End – has all been focused around neighborhood development. Qualifications for Membership specifically: I love handling communications (e-mails, social media, etc.) for community groups and enjoy organizing volunteers.
  3. Since I’ve been gone the last few years, I don’t have a specific pet project in mind yet. I could be helpful in supporting the President in any development issues, such as MidPark, green spaces, and attracting additional housing investment. I’m also excited to get back involved in social events, because I think this is what really sets South Park apart from almost any other neighborhood in the region.

 

Treasurer

  1. Holly Di Flora, MBA; Owner/Broker of The Home Group Realty Company. Owned property in the neighborhood since 2006 when we began our Historic South Park revitalization project.
  2. Hold a Masters degree in Business Administration from the University of Dayton. Previously worked as Chief Financial Officer for Primore, Inc. in Adrian, MI and was head of Accounting Operations for Copeland Corporation in Sidney, OH. Have held position of Treasurer for numerous volunteer and church organizations.
  3. I plan on continuing to get rain barrels to South Park residents. Also, as a realtor, I focus on getting distressed properties into the hands of owners who I believe will restore them responsibly.

 

 

Recording Secretary

  1. Heather Atkinson, I have lived in South Park for a little over 2 years, since August of 2012. My title is Political Program Manager at IUE-CWA, which is a labor union that represents manufacturing workers in the Dayton region and beyond.  The nature of my work is training our members on getting active in local politics.  I also work to build relationships on behalf of the IUE-CWA with local organizations, community groups and leaders in order to work together on shared goals.
  2. I have been very glad to serve as Recording Secretary over the past year, and am grateful to have learned so much from neighbors since taking this position.  I have a number of skills and qualifications that I have employed in the last year as Recording Secretary.  I have a very strong attention to detail, I have significant experience in meeting and events planning, and have a strong background in communications.  I also have a number of years of professional experience in the public policy arena.  I see one of the primary duties of the Recording Secretary as ensuring that there is an effective means for information to flow from the board to residents, and visa versa.  I have been striving to relay important information to the members in a timely manner throughout this year, including meeting minutes from each member meeting. This year I have also been contributing to the development and distribution of the neighborhood newsletter, which is a simple paper newsletter that is delivered to neighbors once per quarter.  I believe it’s essential to have communications with neighbors via a variety of different means, to ensure we reach as many neighbors as we can.
  3. I would like to create a more streamlined system for the neighborhood to tackle problem landlords and nuisance properties.  In being on the board in the past year, I have seen that we have many challenges in this arena in our neighborhood, and we need to bring more resources to deal with these issues.