Civic Association to hold Facebook Live meeting
After more than three meetingless months, the board of directors for the North Fort Myers Civic Association finally met Thursday night at the offices of Liberty Tax Services.
And, like any other service organization, the organization is going to have to play it by ear as to what its next moves will be, at the very least, until the end of the year.
The last-minute informal meeting was called by president Doug Dailey to discuss three major areas for the NFMCA; its remaining schedule for meetings, planning for events, and health and safety protocols it will take when and if they can meet again publicly.
The board decided it will hold its first Facebook Live meeting on Tuesday, July 14, at 6:30 p.m. The board will again meet at Liberty Tax Services and socially distance while there. Members and residents can watch the meeting via Facebook, but because of the rather small setting, will not be allowed to attend in person.
What happens after that is unknown, with the chance that meetings would not be allowed at its normal setting at the North Fort Myers Recreation Center (or library or any other public place), the civic association may have to live a nomadic existence for a while or possibly change the day and time of their meetings to accommodate whatever location they choose.
Dailey also suggested the civic hold meetings every other month as a way to encourage meeting safely and possibly scaling back the meetings to discuss only crucial topics.
Dailey also said if they do hold live meetings again, CDC guidelines would have to be met, since most members are over age 65, and masks would be suggested.
About the only events planned so far are the town hall in September at the rec center and the Angel Tree the organization started last year around Christmas.
The NFMCA will also participate in the annual Christmas in July giveaway of a free air conditioning system by Ellsworth Heating & Cooling, renamed to recognize the current pandemic.
Dailey said if those events are cancelled, there isn’t much anyone can do. The organization is set to set up a tent at the annual Fall Festival held in late October at the community park.
However, they did discuss potentially holding its own fall festival if the county-run event gets cancelled, with members of the community invited, perhaps at a location such as a church.
The county would have to give people an answer soon on the festival’s fate so they group can start planning for an event either on Oct. 23 or Oct. 30.
“I would have to believe the Fall Festival won’t happen because they aren’t issuing permits right now. Let’s let things play out,” board member Danny Ballard said.
Dailey also suggested the organization scale back its annual Christmas celebration and return it to its weeknight schedule, as it was having trouble competing with the many other holiday events happening throughout Lee County.
What will stay is the Angel Tree, which was hugely successful last year.
Dailey also said the NFMCA would be looking for another board member as Laura Ray has resigned.
Dailey said the discussion went very well, as many suggestions were discussed.
“We were trying to figure out our direction for the rest of the year. It’s the first time we were able to come together since the pandemic and we decided to go into the digital age on July 14,” Dailey said. “We’ll just go from there and play it by ear.”