Allan Appel Photo
Jackie Bracey, a founder of the Concerned Citizens for the Greater New Haven Dixwell Community House, and the Building Committee Co-Chair Curlena Mcdonald.
(Updated Wednesday 10:43 a.m.) Organizers of the under-construction Dixwell Community Q House are not wasting any time.
With the foundation already in the ground before winter and an expected ribbon cutting as soon as the end of 2020, they’ve set a deadline for the submission of nominations for an executive board.
Also, the city revealed details about how the new institution will, at least at first, serve as a city government department, with a city employee running the operation.
Monday night a group of neighbors at the Wexler-Grant School auditorium, organized by the Building Committee for the Dixwell Community House, heard one of its co-chairs, Dixwell Alder Jeanette Morrison, describe the prospective 19-member board.
Its main job: oversee the long-awaited new version of the iconic Dixwell neighborhood anchoring institution, both as it comes into being and when it is fully operational.
That’s an important job, as the community seeks to avoid a rerun of the Q’s 2003 closing amid financial woes.
The planned 54,000 square-foot, two-story new Q will house the Stetson Library, the Cornell Scott Hill Health Center, the Dixwell Senior Center, and a new basketball court and recording studio. It being built just a few feet over from the school at the corner of Dixwell Avenue and Foote Street.
In the spring the mayor signed an agreement with the project’s construction contractor, A. Secondino & Son, to oversee construction on the $16.697 million mostly state-funded venture. Foundations are being poured, with workers racing against the cold weather, toward a finishing date for the building either at the end of 2020 or early in 2021.
Morrison said nominations for the board can be sent in by any New Havener to the mayor’s legislative liaison Esther Armmand .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address). Due date: Nov. 29.
Why such a short window to send in names?
That’s precisely what Dottie Green asked. She ran programming from 1987 to 1990 at the previous Q House.
“Will enough people be aware of the board if the deadline is Nov. 29?” she asked. “The time frame is concerning.”
Thomas Breen Photo
Jeanette Morrison and Mayor Harp at September Q House launch event.
Morrison said Monday night’s gathering is the first of three public forums and updates on the emerging Q House.
Morrison described that the rushed deadline as a nod of gratitude and respect to Mayor Toni Harp who, Morrison said, has been one of the indispensable backers of the new Q House from as far back as when she was a state senator. Harp has only five weeks left in office.
“Our mayor should be part of the process of selecting people for the board,” said Morrison.
After the review of recommended board members, the mayor passes her choices to the Board of Alders, which holds its own review and then a vote.
With only two meetings of the alders left during the Harp administration, submission of names by Nov. 29 is required to give time for Mayor Harp to be part of the process, Morrison said.
“I want the mayor to have a say, which she deserves,” said Morrison.
Mmost of the board’s 19 members will be representatives proposed from the four constituent institutions, along with representatives from alders, the city’s youth and elderly services departments, and the neighboring Dixwell Congregational Church.
Morrison said she considers the church an informal fifth constituent of the Q House likely to share spaces and services.
The Q’s board will pick an executive director to oversee operational uses of shared spaces and programs, explained Dr. Dakibu Muley.
He’s the director of the city’s Community Services Administration (CSA), to whom the Q House’s future executive director will ultimately report.
(On Wednesday, Muley clarified the planned structure in response to reader questions:
“The desire by the Mayor has always been that it would be a facility managed by the city. Two of the three anchor entities in the Q house will be city departments ( Dixwell/Newhallville senior center and the Stetson library). Along with CSHHC, there operational costs on existing spaces will support the funding of the Q‑house through cost saving and lessening the city’s footprint in renting outside spaces.
“The ED for the Q‑house will be an existing city position ( a vacancy that the new administration and CSA will need to identify). With that, the ED being a city employee will report to The CSA for day to day issues and support. The Q‑House executive board in partnership (mimicking the board for the library works currently) will work in collaboration with CSA to develop practices, procedures and policies that the Q‑House will work within.
You have to remember that the ED will not have supervisory responsibilities of those departments I named, but would be the identified individual to help coordinate, create and implement integrated programming of said entities that will be housed in the Q‑house as they already have department heads, Director and a CEO.
(Lastly, I did mention at the community meeting that the goal was to eventually have the Q‑House become it’s own independent entity from the city, but that will not be until there are considerable funding efforts achieved so it can file for a 501 c 3.)
The board will also write bylaws and policies; the job description of the executive director; and a strategic plan for the long-term financial health of the new Q House, so the operational money woes that beset its predecessor can be avoided.
Trenching for the foundations.
The basic plan is for the library, elderly services, and Cornell Scott-Hill Health to in effect pay rent monthly rent to the Q House, which will cover part of the estimated $ million operating expenses. The board will also continue fundraising efforts such as an ongoing buy-a-brick-leave-a-legacy campaign to build up an endowment
“This group is going to have a heavy lift,” Muley added. He urged audience members to spread the word of nominations, that representatives should have not only expertise but also the dedication and ability to attend work sessions.
In construction news that emerged from the meeting, Morrison said that about a quarter of the $16.7 million job — specifically the building of the Cornell Scott-Hill Health Center component — is to be broken out into smaller pieces. The purpose: To allow smaller, local, and minority-owned companies to take on those jobs.
Am I reading this correctly? The Executive Director of the Q House will report to a City employee and not its Board of Directors? Who came up with this idea -- it's a disaster waiting to happen.