MEET ANC 8C01 COMMISSIONER WILLIAM ELLIS!
Our next ANC Commissioner profile comes from Commissioner William Ellis of ANC 8C who represents the wonderful residents and property owners of ANC 8C01 which includes the Barry Farm neighborhood. River East ANC Commissioners interested in being profiled on Congress Heights on the Rise should email their completed questionaire and photo to congressheightsontherise@gmail.com. Thank you!
BACKGROUND AND QUALIFICATIONS
1. Name: William R. Ellis
2. Age: 28
3. Occupation: Senior Engineer for PHI
4. Educational Background: Bachelors of Electrical Engineering 2002, Masters of Engineering Management 2004, Masters of Electrical Engineering 2005, PhD Candidate 2010
5. What ANC and Single Member District do you represent? 8C-01
6. Do you hold an officer position if so what and for how long? Newly Treasurer
7. How long have you been an ANC Commissioner? First Term 2009-2010
8. Why did you choose to be an ANC Commissioner? To help my community with the fight for better education, better roads and streets, and to combat crime and loitering in my neighborhood. Ultimately I want to make a difference in my community.
9. What are your qualifications to be an ANC Commissioner? Do you have any special skills? I was President of my Condo Association for 3 years, Executive Board of the National Society of Black Engineers for 3 years, Advisor for the East of the River Community Court, President of my Toastmasters Chapter, etc.
10. Do you consider yourself to be a progressive, moderate or conservative person? Not sure, I know you have to learn from the past but continue to push and strive for improvements for the future.
ANC COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT AND OUTREACH
1. How can you be reached if someone has a community concern, an idea or a suggestion for the ANC or your Single Member District? Call me! - 202-872-2644, I’m also on Facebook, Twitter, and have a Blog site. I’m not hard to find.
2. Is your ANC currently holding monthly meetings? Does it always hold monthly meetings? Yes, the only month we took off was for summer break in August. Other than that you can find us Every First Wednesday at the UPO Petey Green Center.
3. When and where does your ANC have its monthly meetings? If your ANC has paid office space how much is the rent per month? Our monthly meetings are at the Petey Green Center 2901 MLK Jr. Ave. S.E. Our Monthly Executive Meetings are held at our office, where we pay 700.00 a month for rent. [Editor's note: According to the September 2009 DC Audit report the rent is $900 a month]
4. Below is posted the law on the notice and notification of ANC meetings. Is your ANC currently following the law regarding the length of notice (at least 7 days) and the type of notice (at least two from the list below)? How does your ANC notify residents of ANC meetings? Is it effective? We are trying our best; I go door to door passing our flyers and meeting notices, as well posting the meeting time, date, and location on my Facebook, and Blog site web pages. From my knowledge ANC 8C has the most attended public meetings. We also have a great following on the blog sites from Congress Heights on the Rise and Barry Farms Remixed, as well as Anacostia Now. I think if all Commissioners went Door to Door, and Car to Car, even more people will come out.
a. Each Commission shall give notice of all meetings or convocations to each Commissioner, individuals with official business before the Commission and residents of the Commission area no less than 7 days prior to the date of such meeting. . . . Notice of regular and emergency meetings must include, but is not limited to, at least 2 of the following: To date we have not held any emergency meetings
(1) Posting written notices in at least 4 conspicuous places in each single member district within the Commission area;
(2) Publication in a city or community newspaper;
(3) Transmitting or distributing notice to a list of residents and other stakeholders in the community; and
(4) In any other manner approved by the Commission.
5. Do you have a Single Member District meeting for your residents and if so when and where? Not presently, but I do attend Barry Farms Residents Council meetings from time to time.
6. Do all of the commissioners for your ANC attend monthly meetings? If not why? No, on average we have 3 out of 5 Commissioners present. Some for health reason, others I can’t explain.
7. ANCs are supposed to be a collaborative effort between the ANC Commissioners and the community they were elected to represent. The ANC should be listening to the concerns and needs of their community and use that knowledge to effect change and progress. Do you think your ANC currently encourages residents to ask questions and to be actively involved in the operations of the ANC? Please explain. No, in my ANC there has always been a conflict with the residents and Commissioners. We must encourage our resident to become more active, to bring more solutions to the table. We all know the problems of our community, now we must work together to solve them. It is our job as ANC Commissioners to empower our residents to solve some problems on their own. We must give our residents the courage and strength to seek out solutions on their own and become more active.
8. Residents have long complained about the ineffectiveness and dysfunction of Advisory Neighborhood Commissions which is why they no longer attend meetings. What specific steps (if any) have you and/or the ANC taken to address this issue and to engage residents (old and new) to attend meetings and to be actively engaged in their ANC? First, I have taken steps to make sure ANC 8C is on the same page by having Executive Meetings; I think that is a big step towards a Commission functioning properly. Next we must follow the laws of the ANC. I think the laws were put in place to make sure the Commission actively engages the residents of that community. Lastly I think change starts from the Ground up, I came into my Commission saying I would do everything the Commission is lacking, acting as Secretary by taking Meeting Minutes, being Treasurer and filing quarterly reports, Attending all monthly meetings, and engaging resident who do want to make the community better. Next if I have the opportunity to lead my Commission I can bring about more change in a leadership role, not only to my SMD but the entire 8C.
ANC OPERATIONS
1. Does your ANC file their quarterly reports on time with the DC Auditor? If not why? Not in the past. Since being elected treasurer in January of 2009, I have filed 6 Quarterly Reports – 3 for 2008 and 3 for 2009. Two of the reports for 2009 were on time, and the other was a month late. But because of the filing of these Quarterly Reports I ensured that ANC 8C will receive is full yearly allotment, which hasn’t been the case for 2006, 2007 and 2008.
2. How much money is currently in the ANC bank account? Around 20k
3. Do you feel that the ANC’s financial house is “in order”. Are ANC funds being used effectively and appropriately? Is the financial house “in order”, Yes and No. We have made the proper steps to do so, keeping up with the meeting minutes, and filing the quarterly reports. The final step we have to do is approve the yearly budget with comments from community. My plan (if the rest of the commission agrees) is to have the 2009 Yearly budget finally approved in October public meeting, the 2010 Budget approved in November public meeting, and have elections in December.
4. Does your ANC currently have an approved budget? Is your ANC currently participating in the ANC Security Fund? No, but we will have the budget approved at the next meeting. Side note, the budget was suppose to be approve before I sworn in, but because of the lack of structure and lack of energy, it was just pushed aside.
5. Name two (2) specific things that your ANC has accomplished in this term. First lets go into my SMD - We have had at least 3 Operations Fix It with the Mayors Office. The New Savoy Elementary School opened in September. I am very proud of the job of the Steering Development Team that I served on has done. Sheridan Station is slated to break ground in November; I also served on that Development Team as well. Lastly we are moving forward with Mathews Memorial Development and Poplar Point. So I look forward to 2010, my community, my SMD is changing and changing for the better. Overall as an ANC, I proud of the commitment we have made to the community in having monthly meetings, and turning the page to becoming a proper functioning ANC. Also as I stated early, for the first time in 4 years, we will have a full allotment coming in September, Meeting minutes has been taking, quarterly reports are being filed, and if we can get this yearly budget done, I think we will be on the right track for 2010.
6. Name at least two (2) challenges facing your ANC and what steps (if any) you and your fellow commissioners have made to solve them. At least for ANC 8C, I would Commissioners to let go of the past, for so long, what they did back then, did not work. I think I have come in put us on the right path for success and we must build upon that. Lastly, we must empower our community to act, not just show up to meetings and address their concerns but act and before fully engage in the issues affecting them. It is our job as an ANC Commissioner to make our resident more knowledgeable on the issues, more powerful to solve these issues and united to stand against what we think is wrong.
7. What are your hopes for your Single Member District and your ANC this term? If we can build upon our accomplishments and solve the challenges I’ve stated, I will be very happy with my term as ANC Commissioner 8C-01
8. If you had to grade your ANC today what would be its grade and why? (Example of grades, A,B,C,D,F) 9 Months into my first term as ANC Commissioner, I would give the Commission as a whole a grade of C+
For more Congress Heights and River East news visit The Congress Heights Examiner website, http://www.examiner.com/x-13507-Congress-Heights-Community-Examiner
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