Thanks to all of those that came to the meeting on 2/28.

We did introductions and discussed the operational structure of GGS. We handed out a draft version of bylaws for GGS to be voted on at the next meeting. If anyone wasn't able to be at the last meeting and would like to review the bylaws in advance, please email and I will get a copy to you. We went over the different committees and discussed the need for each member of these committees to work together to divide up work and meeting attendance.

• Executive Committee Officers- Chair (Connie Rogers), Vice-Chair (need a volunteer), Secretary (Sandie Silva), Treasurer (Carolyn Tognetti), Other Executive Committee Members (Jenn Fredrickson, Caol Marques, Craig and Chrys Diskowski).
• Housing, Bike/Ped- Jenn Fredrickson
• Planning Commission- Carolyn Tognetti
• City Council- Sarah Kelly, Connie Rogers, Almendra Perez, Pat Reinhart, Terry Yordan
(At this time Walt volunteered to ask about getting the council meeting agenda packet sooner than 5 days in advance to the meetings)
• Coffee with the Mayor- Sandie Silva and Connie Rogers
• Downtown Business Association- Carol Marques, Mary Yates, Joey Weitz, and Carl Yordan
• High Speed Rail- Janet Espinoza, Connie Rogers, Carolyn Tognetti, John and Carolyn Hernandez
• Website Maintenance- Craig and Chrys Diskowski
* 2040 General Plan- Walt Glines and Carolyn Tognetti
(At this time Carolyn explained that GGS may be granted a spot and that someone would need to represent us if it happens and that other members can apply for a "Member at Large" position if there are openings, plus GGS members can attend and comment as members of the public but have no voting privileges).
• Newsletter and Notifications- Sandie Silva and Joey Weitz

High Speed Rail:

We discussed High Speed Rail and handed out some literature on the pros and cons of each alignment and the latest information on High Speed Rail. Again, if you would like this information sent to you, please email and let me know.
We had anticipated High Speed Rail being at the City Council Meeting on March 6th, but that is NOT the case. The California High Speed Rail Authority (CHSRA) postponed until August its selection of a preferred alignment. This allows staff time to gather more information (from CHSRA itself for their own comparative evaluation in May). There are two regularly scheduled City Council meetings in May, on the 1st and 15th, (there are also two special study sessions on the budget May 8th and 22nd). We do not know yet which date staff anticipates bringing this before council so we will keep watching the agenda.

Announcements: 

The City of Gilroy has announced the launching of a new website to keep Gilroy citizens more informed about city issues. It is called Civic Voice- at http://civicvoice.accela.com/gilroyca/index- It covers many issues including those we are interested in such as High Speed Rail, 2040 General Plan, Road Improvements, building projects, etc. Please check it out regularly.

Upcoming Dates/ Events:

Monday, March 6th there is a special city council meeting at 5pm at Gilroy City Hall for a Gilroy Gardens Master Plan Study Session (As a reminder again, there is nothing on the agenda at this meeting for High Speed Rail)

Coffee with the Mayor- Saturday, March 11th, 2017- 9:30am in the City Council Chambers

Planning Commission Meeting- Thursday, March 16th, 2017- 6:00pm at the Gilroy City Council Chambers

We discussed at the meeting that we will try and have all future meetings on the fourth Tuesday evening of the month at 7pm in the library. Our next meeting is scheduled for March 28th at 7pm in the library. Once we have everything organized and jobs divided out, we can start meeting every other month. 

If there is anything you would like announced to the group, please feel free to email me.

Thanks for all of the great teamwork,

Gilroy Growing Smarter Executive Committee