February 17, 2015 Minutes

Meeting was called to order at 6:38 by board president Denis Houle

ANA board members in attendance: Denis Houle, Betsen Philip, Jeff Forss, Bri Keeney, Nikki Lindberg, Sarah Broich, Tom Alagna, Keith Swanson

Others in attendance: Tina Erazmus, ANA staff member; Nikki Friederich, Park Director; Ken Dahler, Staff member from Ward 13 office, 2 interested neighbors: David DeNamur and Joe ?

City Council Update

Ward 13 staff member Ken Dahler presented these key updates:

  • Public safety is being worked hard on- increasing number of police officers to get to target
  • Housing deconstruction- makes up largest portion that ends up in landfills. Looking at ways to decrease this
  • Making more pedestrian friendly areas (i.e. West Calhoun business area- Lake and Market)
  • March 19th– Neighborhood summit
  • Rolling out curbside composting. It is an opt-in program; folks should notify solid waste to sign up

(Board member asked about hand sanitizer and gloves for compost drop off sites- Ward 13 staff member took note of this and said he would check)

  • 54th street project- website is up. Constructing 54th from Penn-Lyndale. A lighting survey will go out to residents to see if they want “better lighting” (more pedestrian friendly). There was a question about lighting assessment- Ken will email Tina clarification of process (we will likely have concerned neighbors)
  • Councilmember Palmisano attended MAC meeting February 1st regarding runways being used to discuss less traffic, particularly during off-peak hours. Follow up meeting is at the end of this week.
  • Question from neighbor about composting: pick-up would be on garbage day. Many people are able to get smaller garbage bin by starting to compost (this saves $- approx. 3.00/month). Education around composting is being planned by the city.
  • Mentioned trying to reach neighborhoods with low recycling rates, and also how to reach renters to improve recycling.

Park Update

  • Spring/summer sports registration is coming up next month. Romp and Play continues. Dinner and movie for school age kids on Friday nights. Summer programs available for viewing online- can’t register until 3/25. Print copy available in a couple weeks.
  • Wi-Fi available at Armatage park now!
  • Armatage festival is scheduled for Monday 8/10. Movie in the park will be that night- Big Hero Six.
  • Volunteers are needed to help with park sporting activities!
  • Rinks are still open- at least another week. Day to day after that.

Treasurer Update

  • ANA Coordinator presented this since treasurer was unable to attend
  • Red Wagon Pizza received façade grant along with Bellwether

Housing Loan Update

  • Finalizing draft of this and working on rolling over funds
  • March update will include marketing plan- suggestions are welcome (each neighborhood has agreed to donate 2000 toward marketing).
  • Board member offered an idea about using private mail to deliver marketing materials (there are companies who do this)
  • Still aiming for spring launch of this program
  • Resident asked for an explanation of this program- ANA Coordinator gave a summary

Summer Festival Discussion

  • Festival will be Monday, August 10th
  • Need to start planning this- board members need to fill in responsibility for this and take the lead on certain tasks
  • Denis is signing up to coordinate the band. Each board member should come to the next meeting prepared to sign-up to take the lead on something or to join a committee to work on something
  • Board also needs to help recruit community members/neighbors to volunteer and help (months ahead of time)
  • Coordinator/Board will work on redesigning flow of event and layout
  • We will be investing in signage for the event and using wristbands for the games
  • Tina will email out a list of jobs needed to the board and will put a “teaser” on the website

Annual Meeting Discussion

  • Idea: Armatage spring fling at park (spring themed speakers, info tables, etc.) Settergrens offered to provide food and cook for free. We could also get a tent and hold the meeting outside if it is nice.
  • Speaker/table ideas: Compost education, garden education, Bee’s Knees, bike registration, spring safety
  • *Try to have maps for garage sales by then

Coordinator Update

  • Handed out contact info sheet for board members
  • Safety newsletter- got great feedback on the first one! Well done!
  • March 17th is the deadline to submit ideas and edits for April newsletter

New Business

  • We were paying $160 for newsletter editing/design from Karen- she has not been paid for this in 2 years.
  • Denis proposed Nikki becoming our newsletter editor and that we pay Karen for the past 2 years of work. There was a discussion about the history of this (at some point this was possibly moved to a volunteer position- this is unclear; a few years ago some funding was lost). We need clarification on whether Nikki being paid for this is a conflict of interest. Plan would be to continue monthly e-news plus quarterly newsletters. We will gather information and make a decision next month on this.
  • Board member requested meeting agenda/topics be emailed out one week ahead of time.

Motion to adjourn at 7:34 pm. Motion was seconded and meeting was adjourned.