President's Annual Report

Annual Report, 2020

Mary Reed, CCDC President

Every year I try to identify an over-arching theme for my annual report, but after looking over the minutes for the past 12 months, I couldn’t identify one, single theme. What did become clear to me however, is that although the CCDC board always tries to improve how it functions and how the CCDC operates, we made big progress on both fronts last year and as a result, today’s CCDC is a more professional, tighter-run organization than ever before.

• One reason for this is that in December of last year, we held our first-ever board retreat. It gave us the opportunity to do something we don’t have time to do during our monthly board meetings. We got to step back and discuss changes we wanted to make, additional information we needed in order to be able to make more informed decisions, processes that ought to be formalized, and issues affecting the organization. As a result, the board agreed on a set of written operational policies and procedures. They include a new requirement regarding the kinds of information the board must receive when it's asked to adopt the next year’s operating budget and a requirement that the board be provided quarterly budget updates in addition to monthly reports and an annual report. We also agreed that the full board must review and approve all documents that financially obligate the CCDC in any way and that each approved doc must be signed by either the president or vice president, and we decided when multiple bids for a repair or service would be required. In addition, we added more detail and greater clarity to Rose Gabriel’s job description – Rose is our property and financial manager – made extensive changes to the CCDC’s Tenant Rules, updated the document that outlines the mission and responsibilities of our Tenant Selection Committee, and we agreed on changes to our bylaws. To date, the board has approved all new and revised documents, except for the bylaws. Kim O’Brien, our board Secretary, is reworking them and we will see a revised version of that document soon.

• Another reason why I believe we are running a tighter ship is because last year, the members of the Finance Committee -- BJ Friedman, our Treasurer, Rose Gabriel and I -- became a stronger, more cohesive, more effective team. As a result, we now provide greater oversight over the CCDC’s finances month-to-month and we’ve become more proactive.

Moving on to the CCDC’s accomplishments over the past year that relate specifically to the organization’s three missions – affordable housing, the preservation of Clarksville’s history, and community-building:

• Our affordable housing program continued to thrive due in large part to Rose’s able management and hard work, and we were awarded the $ we need to build a new single family affordable home in Clarksville.

• The CCDC played a leadership role in the fight against the proposed new land use code, which poses a threat to historic neighborhoods like ours.

• We secured a grant to make some much-needed repairs to the historic Hezekiah Haskell House.

• The CCDC became a member of the new Historic House Museum Alliance.

• We conducted several well-received tours of the Haskell House and the neighborhood.

• And, the CCDC continued to host events. For example, we hosted another ice cream social, which not only attracted new contestants, but more ice cream eaters too; the CCDC and OWANA collaborated on another Christmas Party, which was a great success thanks to delicious food provided gratis by Cover 3, more activities for kids, a new Christmas caroling leader, the ever-popular snow machines, Santa Claus, and plenty of wine. And in May, the CCDC hosted what we now know was our final Family Fun Fest. It was good while it lasted, but the board has decided that it’s time to pursue new fun activities for neighborhood kids and their families.

In closing, although we experienced our share of challenges last year and face new ones now as a result of the Corona virus, the CCDC continues to do good work in Clarksville thanks to our committed board, our Tenant Selection Committee members, Rose’s dedication, and neighborhood support.