The Scarsdale Forum's board of directors met on June 13 for a highly productive session. Three highlights of interest to members are:
Formation of new special committee on climate resilience. The board approved the creation of a one-year, ad hoc committee to review the issue of climate resilience.
Many local communities have fruitfully engaged in climate resilience planning to address vulnerabilities with regard to climate change and to protect community assets, including 33 Westchester municipalities that are participating in New York State’s Climate Smart Communities Program. Scarsdale has not yet engaged in this type of planning, and our goal is to provide village and school administrators with important information for their consideration.
The committee will study existing plans, policies, and projects to identify gaps and vulnerabilities related to the effects of climate change, and will review other communities’ climate resilience and climate action plans, as well as available funding opportunities to support such work in Scarsdale. Over the course of the next year, we hope to produce a report that can serve as a roadmap for the village and school district to address the impact of future climate-related challenges.
Owing to the high level of interest in this topic, the board has broadened membership in the committee to include any high school students who would like to participate.
Approval of new committee chairs. Via the process defined by our bylaws, 2019-20 chair(s) for each committee were nominated by the president and approved by the outgoing board. Committee chairs also automatically became members of the new board of directors. You can
view a list of the new committee chairs.
Resolution on expectations for forum members speaking publicly.
The board drafted and adopted a resolution to clarify expectations for members who provide their own public statements on issues that also will be addressed by present or future Scarsdale Forum committee reports. It reads as follows:
"RESOLVED – that it is the sense of the Board of Directors of the Scarsdale Forum that individual members of the Forum, speaking in a public setting, shall affirmatively state the capacity in which they are speaking, and shall take care not to convey the impression, directly or indirectly, that they are speaking on behalf of the Forum or the Committee to which they belong, unless expressly authorized to do so by President or the Board of Directors."
The next board meeting is scheduled for
Thursday, September 12.
