SOECA Newsletters

Here you can find recent and past issues of the SOECA Newsletter

The posts below contain links to issues of the SOECA Newsletter. If they do not open directly in your browser, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader, Preview for the Mac, a mobile device that can open pdfs, or other applications capable of opening PDF files.

 

SOECA Membership Meeting on Saturday, January 26 at 3pm

SOECA will hold a membership meeting from 3pm-5pm on Saturday, January 26, in the Cafeteria at Silver Spring International Middle School. Our guest speakers are Susan Cook-Patton and Edmundo Vasquez (mosquito abatement program); Ana Arriaza from Montgomery County’s Department of Environmental Protection (rainscapes, stormwater runoff, and more); and Councilmember Tom Hucker (invited; the County Council’s environmental initiatives in 2019). After the presentations, we will hold a business meeting and you will have an opportunity to learn about proposed changes to SOECA’s Bylaws. See the January 2019 Newsletter for more information.

SOECA GOVERNANCE AND BYLAWS

Those attending the SOECA block party in October may have heard that SOECA was able to offset most of the cost of that event with the help of a generous grant from the county. In order to receive that grant, SOECA had to have a valid not-for-profit tax ID from the state. As a part of that process, the SOECA Executive Committee realized that the SOECA could benefit from incorporating as a 501(c)4 nonprofit membership organization (as many other local civic groups recently have). And in order to complete the incorporation, our organizational bylaws must be up-to-date. This process has provided an opportunity to ensure that our paperwork and governance structures are in proper working order.

 The SOECA bylaws, first written in 1968, have been revised only twice—in 1975 and 2001. They currently contain several formal requirements that don’t match the reality of how the organization functions. As such, the Executive Committee has undertaken a rewrite of the bylaws aimed at streamlining and clarifying required processes without substantially changing the way SOECA operates. With guidance from SOECA Vice President Onuka Ibe, who advises nonprofits on governance issues professionally, the Executive Committee has prepared several amendments to the bylaws. These will be presented and distributed at the January SOECA membership meeting and will be voted upon at the March membership meeting.

 Most importantly, our dues structure, membership requirements, and membership voting structure are completely unchanged from the previous bylaws. Substantive changes include:

·        Updating the fiscal year to match the articles of incorporation,

·        Leaving open the possibility of delivering the SOECA newsletter electronically, rather than physically, in the future (there are no plans to make that change, at present),

·        Clarifying the roles of the various officers and streamlining the nominations process before officer elections,

·        Eliminating specific (and outdated) requirements about the number and timing of meetings and a number of “standing committees” (we are not creating or eliminating any committees, just removing mention of particular committees from the bylaws to allow the officers more flexibility to align committees with current needs), and

·        Altering the language around making amendments to the bylaws in order to allow us to vote on all the changes at once, rather than having to vote on each Article’s changes individually.

The text of these proposed amendments are being madeSOECA Bylaws.Redline Dec 2018 SOECA Bylaws.Conformed Dec 2018 available via the Listserv, website, Facebook page, and in print at the January and March meetings. If you have any questions about the proposed changes, feel free to contact the Executive Committee at soeca.board@gmail.com.

SEPTEMBER 2018 NEWSLETTER

Here is SOECA’s September 2018 newsletter. It has information about the upcoming membership meeting on September 13, 2018 (7-9pm) at Silver Spring International Middle School, a neighborhood happy hour later this month at Mrs. K’s Tollhouse, and the annual Block Party in October. September 2018 Newsletter

May Membership Meeting and May Newsletter

The SOECA membership meeting is scheduled for May 9, from 7 to 9 pm, in the Media Center of Silver Spring International Middle School. We will have a discussion with Montgomery County Police about public safety and will also have a conversation with Jason Starr of Limebike (one of the dock-less bike services operating in Silver Spring). Hope to see you there.
Attached is the May edition of the SOECA newsletter. May 2018 Newsletter

March 2018 Newsletter

SOECA’s next meeting is Wednesday, March 14 at 7pm at Silver Spring International Middle School. See the Newsletter for a policy decision we will be discussing and many important updates. Our featured speaker on March 14th is Cathy Carr of GreenHeart Landscape Designs with ideas for us just in time for the Spring planting season. March 2018 Newsletter

January 2018 Newsletter

Please join us for the January 13 SOECA membership meeting from 3 to 5pm in Conference Room 2 of the Silver Spring Library (on Wayne Avenue). We will have a presentation by MD Department of Transportation on highway/street projects underway and planned for our area. January 2018 Newsletter

Next SOECA Membership Meeting is September 13th 2017

The next SOECA membership meeting will be held on Wednesday, *September 13th* from *7pm to 9pm* in the *Media Center* at Silver Spring International Middle School. The agenda includes a presentation on WSSC’s water main replacement project on Colesville Road as well as an update on the Purple Line. The full agenda is on page 1 of the September Newsletter.

A copy of the September Newsletter is at SOECA Newsletter 2017-09-13. Hardcopies will be delivered throughout the neighborhood within the next week and will be available on SOECA’s website very shortly.

Hope to see you on the 13th, and please remember, if you have a question or concern, you can email SOECA’s Board at SOECA.board@gmail.com.

September 2016 Newsletter

The September 2016 Newsletter is attached.  Here is the agenda for the September 26th meeting, being held at the SSIMS cafeteria, 7:30 – 9:30 p.m.:

Business update
Thanks for service in past year
Creation of Safety Committee
The old library site:  update
SOECA position on County short-term rental legislation
SOECA position on County cell-phone tower legislation
Discussion of need for further committees
New business

Archived copies of older issues of the SOECA Newsletter are available on the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

 

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