10.01.24 SCPG Minutes Lacking in Information

What follows are the October 1, 2024 Sweetwater Community Planning Group minutes taken by Secretary Liz Stonehouse. These are the minutes from October (the last meeting)as the November meeting was canceled.

I attended this meeting and I find these minutes lacking in an abundance of information. I mistakenly believed that once they started recording the meetings, that the minutes would more closely resemble what actually took place at the meetings and what was said. I was wrong.

The secretary in past meetings was silent as she was busy taking the minutes. Since they have started recording the meetings, she talks constantly throughout the meeting with her opinions and giving directions to the audience. One attending a meeting without any prior experience would believe that Liz Stonehouse was a co-chair with her husband Steve Stonehouse. The actual co-chair, Harriet Taylor, sits quietly off to the side.

[Click on images to enlarge for better readability.]

I did not take notes at this meeting as it was similar to a hearing and the main speaking time addressed the Quarry Road Storage facility being proposed. The room was packed and a large majority of those present made comments, all of them against the Storage facility.

But I digress. Let's start at the beginning.

Item 3 allows guests to speak about items not appearing on the agenda. Richard Scott, a member of the Bonita Optimist Club, announced an upcoming Optimist meeting. Date, time, location, Speaker's name and topic did not make it into the minutes.

Item 5—regarding the Quarry Road Storage facility—Liz states in the minutes "Some wanted it, some didn't." That is an entirely false statement and not accurate as to what was said. The room was packed and many attending were neighbors living in close proximity of where the Storage is proposed to be built. Not one person spoke in favor of the Storage. Every person in the room spoke strongly in opposition. The minutes do not reflect that. When I spoke, Liz barked at me to slow down. I replied no, that I only had three minutes as they always timed me and her recorder would capture everything. She is obviously not using the recording to write accurate minutes. Not a single audience comment appeared in the minutes. Jeff Phair—Chairman of the Phair Company—spoke at length about his history in construction and how he would never approve this. He said that it was just wrong for the area. His comments did not make it into the minutes. I believe that the only board member speaking in favor of it was Mark Kukucheck. He motioned to approve the Storage and that did not win favor with the crowd. I am fairly certain that Mark lost many votes in the last Planning Board election because of the statements he made in support of the Storage.

Item 7, "Harriet Talow" is co-chair Harriet Taylor. She spoke at length about Community Updates. No topics, information, dates or times made it to the minutes. Only that Harriet did "not want to loose (sic) the crowd." I think that she lost the secretary because all of her information obviously fell on deaf ears.

Item 8, where is this meeting to be held? Who will be attending?

Item 10, the person to call at the California Highway Patrol is Jeff Lane and the correct number is 858.293.6047. You can talk to him about any traffic concerns you may have.

This was an amazing meeting with a lot of audience interaction and spirit. That enthusiasm was not captured in the minutes and had I not been there, I would know nothing of what transpired.

Overall, I would give these minutes a grade of "D". They do have the correct names on the roll call. They do not reflect the meeting accurately; do not contain details such as dates, times and locations; and they are full of misspellings and punctuation errors.