With next election scheduled in January, OWN board vote leaves 2 new vacancies unfilled

       With elections coming up in January, the Organization of Westside Neighbors (OWN) board decided in a split vote at its Nov. 17 meeting not to make an appointment for a board vacancy.
       The nine-member board has vacancies for both the District 4 and At Large 1 seats, as a result of accepting the resignations of Rose Kliewer (District 4) and Bob Kliewer (At-large 1) earlier in the meeting.
       “We've had vacancies in the past and still conducted business,” President Jim Fenimore said in opposing the appointment of former board member Nancy Miceli.
       Dave Hughes abstained from the vote, saying he didn't “feel comfortable” with making an appointment with the election so near.
       He made his comments after Jan Doran, president of the Council of Neighbors and Organizations (CONO), who was guest- chairing the meeting at the board's request, asked the board to “think about the perception” in the public's mind of such an eve- of-the-election appointment.
       Supporting the Miceli appointment were board members Kristine Van Wert and Joyce Gibson. Board member Phil Miceli, Nancy Miceli's husband, abstained from the vote.
       Van Wert said Nancy Miceli would be a good choice because of her prior service and because board practice has been to appoint people who have been “involved with the board before.” She also said Rose Kliewer had urged that Miceli should replace her.
       Fenimore said the practice Van Wert noted is not in the OWN bylaws and that Rose and Bob had previously talked about one or the other of them getting off the board at some point because of concerns about related people serving at the same time.
       Three seats with full three-year terms are open in the board election, which will occur at the Jan. 12 OWN town meeting. These are (current office-holders in parentheses): District 2 (Hughes), District 4 (vacant; formerly Rose Kliewer) and At-large 3 (Joyce Gibson).
       Whoever wins the At-large 1 post will complete Bob Kliewer's term, through January 2007.
       The District 2 boundaries are north of Highway 24 from 14th to 21st streets and south of Uintah Street and Manitou Boulevard.
       District 4 is north of Highway 24 between 21st and 26th streets, bordered on the north by Uintah Street and northeast by 19th Street.
       At-large seats cover the older Westside area served by OWN - which matches that of the Westside's Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) program.
       Anyone attending the meeting can run for office, as long as they live within the CDBG area and are at least 18 years old. The same is true for those attending the meeting who wish to vote.
       The Kliewers had been involved with the OWN board for eight years. They have declined to discuss their resignations for the record, but problems began surfacing in September after Rose Kliewer opposed the West Side Tattoo graffiti mural and Fenimore didn't.
       OWN, which is partially funded with city CDBG money, serves as an advocacy group for the older Westside.
      
       In other business…
       The OWN board viewed a presentation by Stormie Wells of the Mesa Terrace/Panorama Estates neighborhood on Superior Street regarding their 20-year-old subdivision's drainage and settling issues.
       Wells and other residents are trying to get a more detailed understanding of their engineering problems/costs, as well as the legal ramifications in fixing the problems. Council member Scott Hente, who attended the meeting, said the city is working with the neighborhood.

Westside Pioneer article