Annual Meeting Reports

The CCDC Annual Meeting was held on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. The following reports were presented.

2024 Annual Report

Submitted by Chris Thomas, CCDC President

2024 was (yet another) very eventful year for the CCDC. We saw changes in the board, our properties, our financial situation and some of our supporting programs and initiatives.

Starting with the changes in the board, 2024 saw the departure of both Mary Reed and Thomas Schiefer. Both served the board for many years, made substantial contributions, and will be missed. In their place, Amanda Cox and Billy Edwards stepped in to fill the vacancies. Billy’s term goes to April 2025 and Amanda’s goes to April 2026.

 2024 also saw a hotly contested board election with 8 people competing for 5 spots. In the end, the incumbents won the seats, with Malcolm, Mary, Chris, Kim, and Paula being the winners. Detailed election results are in the April 2024 meeting minutes on the website.

Much of the focus and priority of 2024 was on the CCDC’s financial situation. Given a lengthy list of repairs, the finish-out and challenges of 1611 W. 10th, several vacancies, and repairs to one property coming in at 120% over budget due to severe damage, our overall situation has dipped into the red. The board continues to work closely with Brad and his team to get the properties rented, carefully watch any additional expenses, and greatly improve the financial situation by end of year.

Along with a focus on getting (and keeping) all properties rented, the CCDC is looking into any and all fundraising opportunities. We are happy to report that we brought in just under $5,000 from Amplify Austin Day. This included 100% of board participation in the donations. This is a good start, but more funds are needed, and we encourage any fundraising ideas and efforts people want to provide.

One of the many takeaways from the board election in April was that the CCDC needed to get more input from the neighborhood about its mission and initiatives. To better understand the concerns of the neighborhood and give members a voice, the CCDC sent out a survey to all 185 members in May. A few of the key themes are communication and transparency. As a result, the following actions were taken by the CCDC:

·       An effort to better communicate the time and agenda of the board meetings and to encourage more attendance and participation

·       Several updates to the website (meeting info, financials)

·       An update to our (somewhat outdated) bylaws

·       Revisions to our tenant selection process

For the bylaws revisions, we created a board subcommittee to focus on the bylaws and worked with a team of UT law students and professor to review and revise the bylaws. The updated bylaws are now complete and will soon be available for review by the CCDC membership

For the tenant policy updates, the CCDC voted in November to eliminate the previous restriction that did not allow any tenants without children. Although we cannot legally show preference to any group, the CCDC is working on several initiatives to bring original Clarksville descendants back to the neighborhood.

Also in 2024, the CCDC started or continued several programs for the betterment of the neighborhood and to further the missions. This included programs like the Austin Museum Day and Clarksville Conversations, that put a strong focus on promoting and preserving the history of the neighborhood and promoting the usage of the Haskell House for social events. We continue to participate in the OWANA steering and zoning committees, to better understand issues and developments that affect the neighborhood. As mentioned earlier, Amplify Austin Day (the “I live here I give here” program) was a big success, bringing in badly-needed donations. Lastly, yearly events like the Ice Cream Social and the Christmas Party at the Haskell House were a big success in bringing the neighborhood together and promoting the Haskell House as a cultural event center.

Overall, 2024 was a big year for the CCDC. We saw a lot of change and a lot of challenge. But with the strong board we have in place, the strong help and support of Prak Property Management, a focus on the highest priority items, and a determination to further the missions of the CCDC, we are off to a strong start and expect 2025 to be a great year for the CCDC.

Treasurer’s Report

Submitted by BJ Friedman, CCDC Secretary

This report covers the Fiscal Year Oct 2023-Sept 2024.

As usual, our biggest source of income came from rents. The 2023-24 fiscal year saw $228,878 coming from rents on our 11 properties.

Another plus, we received an anonymous gift of $50,000 in February 2023. With Kim and Mary developing an incredible marketing blitz, we made our first foray to raise money through the “I Live Here, I Give Here” campaign. That project brought us a little over $9,100 in donations, largely from folks who had never before contributed to the CCDC. Additional donations totally around $4000 permitted us to make much needed repairs to our properties.

Another grant for $10,000 and a donation of $20,000 was obtained to help with repairs at our property at 1817 W 10th St. Repairs on this property were double what was anticipated, which resulted in the biggest share of our net loss this fiscal year.

The tenants at 1817 W 10th were moved to a vacant property while repairs were made. The vacant property rents for more than the tenants pay at 1817, which resulted in a loss of revenue.

Based on donations, grants, gifts, and excellent financial and property management by Prak Property Management, we continue to address the structural issues for 2 of the properties on Charlotte.  

Copies of the 2023-34 Budget to Actual and Profit and Loss spreadsheets can be found here (scroll down to the bottom of the report for links.)

Respectfully submitted,

BJ Friedman, CCDC Treasurer