By Keri Luiz
Assistant Editor

The Downtown Benicia Alliance will have its second meeting Monday since forming after the establishment of a city business improvement district.

“This is to see who wants to do things,” Chairperson Leah Shelhorn said.

LEAH SHELHORN.
Keri Luiz/Staff

The meeting will include the establishment of subcommittees for promotions, website and advocacy (signing up for City Council meetings), she said. The DBA also will seek to name a high school representative to help with designing the group’s logo, website and more.

The high school representative will be “the go-to person” and someone to be present at the City Council meetings.

“I’ll be there, because I go, but I just want someone else there. We have to be there, it’s always good,” said Shelhorn, owner of Studio 41, 700 First St. “You do it on a rotating basis, normally.”

It being only the group’s second meeting, it’s a good opportunity to select members for committees, she said.

“You can only do it if it is agenda-ized, that’s part of open government,” Shelhorn said.

City Attorney Heather McLaughlin will be present Monday morning to give members training in the Brown Act, which establishes provisions for citizens to have direct access to their government and its meetings.

McLaughlin was out of town during last month’s inaugural meeting, but Economic Development Manager Mario Giuliani handed out Brown Act information and talked briefly about the Act and the city’s Open Government policies.

Giuliani also advised the board that because “the laws that allowed you to form require the Brown Act,” the panel would have to follow state law governing open meetings.

Other items up for discussion Monday are Directors and Officers (DNO) insurance; an update by Vice Chair and Treasurer Eric Hoglund on Bank of the West serving as the DBA’s bank; and a report from Mario Giuliani that the BID invoices have been issued.

The Downtown Benicia Alliance’s other board members are: Secretary Jeanne Steinmann, Benicia Magazine; Frank Cassese, Courtyard Customs; Edmund Johnson, JAE Properties; Carl Lucca, Lucca Restaurant and Bar; Thomas Hamilton, The Rellik Bar; Christine Meade, Capitol Café; and Pat Ryll, Plein Air Gallery.

If You Go
The Downtown Benicia Alliance will meet at 9 a.m. Monday at The Rellik Tavern, 726 First St.

Sharing is caring!