Approved Minutes — original pdf

Approved Minutes

EMMA S. BARRIENTOS MEXICAN AMERICAN CULTURAL CENTER SPECIAL CALLED MEETING ADVISORY BOARD MINUTES Thursday, May 13, 2021 The Emma S. Barrientos Mexican American Cultural Advisory Board convened via video conferencing. Board Members in Attendance: David Goujon, Chair Art Navarro, Vice Chair Gerardo Gandy, Member Diana Gomez, Member Ricardo Maga Rojas, Member Endi Silva, Member Board Member Absent: Wayne Lopes, Member Claudia Massey, Member Tomas Salas, Member Staff in Attendance: Lucas Massie, PARD Division Manager Laura Esparza, PARD Division Manager Michelle Rojas, ESB-MACC Manager Olivia Tamzarian, ESB-MACC Supervisor Heidi Tse, Public Works Project Manager CALL TO ORDER: Chair Goujon called the Board Meeting to order at 6:09 pm. CITIZEN COMMUNICATION PUBLIC INPUT N/A N/A 1. APPROVAL OF MINUTES (AGENDA ITEM 1) Chair David Goujon requested several edits for the April 7th meeting’s minutes. He clarified that in section 3a that the milk snake path reference was incorrect. He also mentioned item 6a that it should include the support of funding to put LAAP artists back to work. He also mentioned that a working group was created for Awards of Excellence. Manager Rojas stated she will listen to the meeting audio recording and make the necessary edits. Chair Goujon redacted his Awards of Excellence working group comment. Chair Goujon motioned to approve the minutes. Member Ricardo Maga Rojas seconded. Motion Passed (6.0) 2. CHAIR REPORT (AGENDA ITEM 2) 1 Chair Goujon presented the chair report and commended all who make the ESB-MACC possible and fulfill the ESB-MACC mission. Chair Goujon also stated he enjoys the ESB-MACC campus and encouraged the Board to visit the center. 3. PRESENTATIONS (AGENDA ITEM 3) A) PRESENTATION BY ANGELA VALENZUELA, EMILIO ZAMORA, MARTHA COTERA, AND MARIA UNDA FROM NUESTRO GRUPO Maria del Carmen Unda introduced herself as a graduate student and part-time program coordinator for Academia Cuauhtli. She provided a brief description of the group’s background. She stated that it is a language and culture revitalization program and part of the MACC since 2014. Unda stated that they are seeking funding for a full time person and is looking to expand the program. Dr. Angela Valenzuela stated they are growing and clarified that the ESB MACC will not fund but support. Valenzuela also stated the organization is part of a national community that speaks to retain and train bilingual teachers. She detailed their work and continuing efforts during the pandemic and need for a full-time position. Dr. Emilio Zamora stated they would like to increase the numbers of students and schools they serve. Zamora also stated they will be asking the City to fund a research assistant and collaborating with Cassie Smith to produce a narrative history of the MACC and the history of the community even before the MACC was established. Zamora mentioned he would like the product to be a part of the permanent exhibit at the MACC. Maria Unda stated every year, they enroll 60 students and 30 teachers are trained. Unda also stated they are creating a summer program that includes teachings involving STEM and coding. Angela Valenzuela stated they have a beautiful relationship with the ESB MACC and staff. She also mentioned the support they have provided for families in east Austin. She explained they were collaborating with teachers so parents can have their digital equity needs met. Valenzuela mention the need to train and retain bilingual teachers. Zamora said they would like to have an information session for the public to know all about what they do. In the area of curriculum they are also expanding to include Mexican and African American relations. They are also part of the campaign that supports ethnic studies. Zamora mentioned the bill for ethnic studies that had recently passed at the State House of Representatives. Chair Goujon asked Cassie Smith to speak and wondered about the possible relationship with Cassie and ethnographic research she has done. Zamora explained that they hope to collaborate with Cassie but that her research is different. Valenzuela mentioned that ethnography is collecting information of current activities. Chair Goujon recalled a La Mujer discussion between Martha Cotera and Denise Hernandez and its emphasis on the importance of history and telling of history. 2 Chair Goujon stated they are unable to push because it is not on the agenda but he would like to propose to add it on the agenda. Member Endi Silva spoke in support of their program and asked where the positions will be funded or live through. Zamora said he is unsure of what sources but would like to go through City Council and that funding be allocated for the research project. Currently they are seeking support for the request and hopefully Council can allocate funding for their request. Chair Goujon asked to clarify if City has funding for cultural research. Zamora stated he believes that over $1 million are available and the history of the ESB MACC idea fits perfectly. Zamora also named councilwoman, Vanessa Fuentes as a possible contact. Chair Goujon asked about the timeline and if approval in early June would be too late. Angela Valenzuela stated it has been over 6 weeks that they entered information for the Board Meeting. Manager Rojas stated the Board can entertain a motion to support and bring back the resolution. Chair Goujon motioned to support the request from Academia Cuauhtli. Member Ricardo Maga Rojas seconded. Vice Chair Art Navarro asked for clarification if one or two positions are being requested. Zamora stated two positions are being requested, one for Project Manager and one for Research Assistant. Vice Chair Navarro asked question for staff if the positions will be employees of the City of Austin. Emilio Zamora stated he assumed they would be city employees and explained they looked at the classification system to look at determined costs. Valenzuela mentioned history of doing this process with two other positions. Zamora stated he will discuss with the City Council and see. Chair Goujon motioned to support the resolution that was provided. Member Maga Rojas mentioned he supported Member Silva’s comments. Emilio Zamora mentioned to Angela Valenzuela that they should have a public program. More discussion on programming and ethnic studies continued. Motion passed (6.0) B) PRESENTATION BY MS. STEVIE GREATHOUSE FROM THE CITY OF AUSTIN’S HOUSING AND PLANNING DEPARTMENT ON THE PALM DISTRICT PLANNING INITIATIVE Stevie Greathouse from the Housing and Planning department introduced herself and presented on the Palm District Planning Initiative. Greathouse’s presentation slides included information and photos, such as the background of the project, resolution detail, recent planning history, study area, history of study area, Palm School, Waterloo Greenway, I-35, planning initiative, equity- based goals, and timeline, etc. Greathouse summarized future plans to have their draft vision completed in early Fall and they look forward to providing the briefing to the Advisory Board again. Chair Goujon asked if that was the RUDAT. Greathouse detailed the RUDAT as the Regional Urban Design Assistance Team where a team of experts is sent to review the project sponsored by 3 the American Institute of Architect’s (AIA). The idea was for future team’s action items to include attendance in the Virtual Visioning session and having a stakeholder event. Greathouse also discussed how AIA will continue to be involved in the project. Chair Goujon recommended that they include bilingual documents and provide information in Spanish as well. Greathouse detailed project materials that are in Spanish and English. He also asked that the MACC be included as a key stakeholder. Vice Chair Navarro asked if there will be discussion between City and County on the Palm School. Greathouse stated there are ongoing negotiations occurring. Goujon asked if the county still owns Palm School and Greathouse confirmed and stated the question is what it will be once County leaves, will it be sold, will the City be the one that purchases it. Greathouse stated the district planning process hopes to weigh in on a district level the desires of the site but no funding for acquisition is included in this process. Member Ricardo Maga Rojas asked when the community engagement process begins and how do they plan to reach out to people who don’t have access to technology. Greathouse expressed envisioning that the engagement will permeate throughout the process. Greathouse mentioned future meeting with Paul Saldana, possible in-person engagements two to three months from now, possible engagement through the 311 number, and flyers throughout. Chair Goujon asked if the June meetings are being promoted to the Hispanic community. Greathouse stated they provided the June meeting to stakeholders and pushed to community media. Chair Goujon expressed he would like the ESB MACC staff to share information on webpage and Facebook page. Chair Goujon expressed thanks to the speaker and requested that they provide future updates. C) PRESENTATION BY HEIDI TSE FROM THE CITY OF AUSTIN’S PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT ON PHASE 2 UPDATES Heidi Tse stated that the contracts office will be going to City Council to request an increase to professional service agreement authority from 2.5 million for design services to 3.9 million to cover the remaining phases of construction documents through post construction services on June 3, 2021. She detailed that the Austin Transportation Department plans to present at the next board meeting with an update to the Red River Extension project. She mentioned that the new project manager was Dan Hennessy. She also mentioned that planning is also taking place with Austin Energy with regards to the district chilled water cooling connection targeted for completion timeframe that would take 5 to 6 months for design and plan to begin construction in November and will take three months. Chair Goujon asked if this would mean the ESB MACC will not be open to the public for those months. Tse clarified that some of the parking lot may be unavailable. Tse also mentioned that horizontal trenching and horizontal boring would take place. The geotechnical engineer, Terracon, was also contracted and would begin boring sampling in June. She stated they had the first virtual pre charrette, explained the Miro platform, and planning for the in-person charrette on June 7th. There were 35 people that participated including ESB MACC 4 staff, Public Works and LAAP artists attend these meetings. Tse stated they are in the final days of getting SMBR and having the notice to proceed with the contract for Pink Consulting to supplement the engagement that has already been done and will focus on schematic design and don’t have plan finalized but would like to provide for the next meeting. Chair Goujon asked for clarification if June 3rd will approve design. Tse clarified will be only authority to increase the contract amount from 2.5 to 3.9 million to cover remaining services by the design team. Chair Goujon explained the acronyms and the process of design to the Board and asked for clarification if it involved the construction administration. Heidi Tse confirmed that it was through construction documents. Chair Goujon asked if they are already in the design process. Heidi Tse stated, technically yes because of the charrettes and adjacency studies. Chair Goujon asked if Pink Consulting was on board. Tse confirmed and stated once consulting is approved, they will begin reaching out to the community. Tse stated Bobby Hernandez is the principal and has the list of stakeholders and has been asked to increase it to at least 1000 names. Chair Goujon expressed looking forward to see how the schematic design goes and having the community engaged. Chair Goujon asked how the Joint Venture team are dealing with the volatility of materials. Tse said JV have been working on cost estimating, square footage, and site work. She also mentioned that due to supply chains being disrupted due to COVID. She said that there is a good target square footage and mentioned that the building has to be 68,000 square feet total. She said there was a plan to include shell spaces if the project goes above budget. All the site work and heavy equipment would be done and include shell space to make up for increases in construction costs. Vice Chair Navarro asked how we can plan for the possibility of the music hub as the square footage and work get decided. Tse explains the music studio is part of the plan square footage but could be in the shell space. If funding were to come later, that could be used to finish out the shell spaces. Chair Goujon stated what Tse mentioned is not the ideal but it is a possibility with rise and inflation of costs. Tse clarified that not all new square footage will be shell space. That it will take less effort and expense to finish out a space in the future and is the best strategy going forward for an increase of renovated and new square footage. Member Maga Rojas asked if the request for more money on the June 3rd date is for approval to increase the budget. Heidi Tse confirmed and added that council goes on a six week vacation in the summer. Member Maga Rojas expressed curiosity as to why there will be keeping spaces as shells even though they are increasing the budget. Heidi Tse stated the $2.5 million was budgeted very low for the complexity of the project and there are many factors that makes the project more difficult. She also mentioned that there are two well accredited firms that are well renowned. Chair Goujon asked about the timeline of the Red River extension. Tse stated the team are aware of her timeline and will be discussing scheduling. Chair Goujon stated if the Red River project is extended through the ESB MACC, the MACC board and the community’s understanding and expectation is that there will be some level of compensation to the MACC in the way of parking and potentially funding of Phase 3. Chair Goujon wanted to acknowledge to be sure it is in the conversation. Tse stated she has not seen the presentation but saw it was provided as a topic. 5  Chair Goujon and Heidi Tse had a brief discussion on one of the tallest building that will be built close to the MACC and Goujon asked if they planned to use the MACC at all during their construction. Tse confirmed that she was not aware. Member Gandy asked if study would be done for the underground parking with 100 year flood plain and the Waterloo Creek potentially affecting the eco system. Tse stated they will have to do more in-depth environmental studies. Chair Goujon thanks Tse and expressed excitement to have the Community Engagement component. 4. STAFF BRIEFINGS (AGENDA ITEM 4) A) STAFF REPORT ON ESB-MACC PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS MACC Supervisor Olivia Tamzarian provided the Staff Report, which included predictions for reintegration, the Amado Castillo exhibit, La Mujer viewership, the Awards of Excellence event proposal, etc. Vice Chair Navarro asked how many students will be served in Summer Camp, how much financial aid will be available and demographics. Tamzarian detailed the number of students served and the financial aid process and selection. Vice Chair Navarro asked the age range of the students. Tamzarian stated 5 to 12 years of age. Vice Chair Navarro asked how old is summer camp program and lottery. Manager Rojas mentioned that the lottery was done last year for the digital camp and that this would be the first year doing the lottery for in person camp. Further discussion continued on the history of the summer camp. Chair Goujon expressed thanks to Olivia Tamzarian and reiterated how he enjoyed the programming for La Mujer. 5. OLD BUSINESS (AGENDA ITEM 5) A) DISCUSSION OF PHASE 2 RENOVATION AND EXPANSION CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (CIP) Chair Goujon expressed that there had already been lots of discussion during the Phase 2 presentation. B) DISCUSSION ON POSSIBLE FUNDING FROM THE CREATIVE SPACES BOND FOR A MUSIC HUB Chair Goujon stated to continue to apply pressure and invited David Cooligan from the Austin Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), who presented at the joint Arts and Music Commission meeting. Chair Goujon stated they had not presented to the ESB MACC board and will make it a point that they present at the next board meeting. 6. NEW BUSINESS (AGENDA ITEM 6) A) REPORTS ON ALL WORKING GROUPS 6 2. BUDGET: Recommendation had been submitted to council. 3. TRANSPORTATION: Member Silva stated that there was no update. Chair Goujon mentioned the Palm presentation. 4. PHASE 2 PROJECT: No update. 5. ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH: Cassie Smith presented information on her ethnographic research. Smith stated she has marketed the survey twice in the ESB-MACC newsletter and shared in the ESB-MACC social media and mailing list. Smith detailed the number of surveys and interviews conducted. Smith expressed that she made the project collaborative to take it further. Smith also stated the working group will plan a meeting for this week and will develop a presentation for the Board. Chair Goujon recommended that Bobby Hernandez and Heidi Tse reach out to Cassie Smith. Cassie Smith stated she has provided the bibliography to the JV team and attended the Charrettes. Member Maga Rojas echoed Chair Goujon’s sentiments and stated he provided survey to his contacts. Cassie Smith expressed concern that no surveys in Spanish have been received. Member Maga Rojas stated this brings up questions of access. Smith mentioned that interviews can still be set up with her and only take about an hour. Member Endi Silva asked if the Awards of Excellence Working Group will be created. Member Silva motioned to create an Awards of Excellence Working Group. Member Maga Rojas seconded. Motion passed. (6.0) Brief discussion occurred on Board member rules for being a part of the recommendations if a Board member nominated a person. Silva mentioned that board members would be part of the process but not voting members. B) BOARD ELECTIONS Chair Goujon nominated Vice Chair Navarro to continue his service as Vice Chair. Vice Chair Navarro seconded and provided a brief statement commending the ESB MACC for their outstanding work and looks forward to continued work. Motion passed unanimously. (6.0) Member Ricardo Maga Rojas nominated Chair Goujon to continue as Chair. Vice Chair Navarro seconded. Chair Goujon provided a brief statement and looked forward to find a way to get community back post-pandemic. Motion passed unanimously. (6.0) 6. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS (AGENDA ITEM 6) Chair Goujon stated that a formal resolution for approval for Nuestro Grupo. To continue to invite David Cooligan to next month’s meeting. Vice Chair Navarro requested that presentations during the board meeting and requested that they be added to the minutes and retained so they can be reviewed by the public. 7 Manager Rojas stated they are uploaded on the Boards and Commissions websites. Chair Goujon stated the last several presentations are not provided on the website. Rojas confirmed and stated the site would be updated. Vice Chair Navarro stated resolutions should be a part of official records. Chair Goujon stated he would like a template to populate and would like to add as back up to keep track of motions for future discussion. Rojas confirmed she will add that to the agenda. Chair Goujon made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Vice Chair Navarro seconded. The motion passed. (6.0) The meeting was adjourned at 8:50pm. 8