January 15, 2019 Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes

Date: January 15th, 2019

Called to Order: 6:30PM

Presided by: Joel Federer (President)

Note taker: Tyler Mulcahey (Secretary)

Board members in attendance: Joel Federer, Tyler Mulcahey, Lara Bergman, Brett Anderson, Adriana Dobrzycka, Ryan Antokwiak, Judy Vecere, Tara Brown, Michael Kootsikas, Stephanie Vigen, Lauren Anderson (Coordinator)

Others in attendance: Rachel Ireland, Meg Hobday

Board members absent: Jim Hoch

Guest / Donation Request — Meg Hobday, My Very Own Bed (www.myveryownbed.org)
:: Goal for 2019 is to deliver 600 beds; Beds are sourced from Medallion Sleep Products; Cost of each bed is around $120 ($100 for mattress & boxspring and $20 for metal frame). There is a $60 “dream kit” delivered along with the bed, but those costs are typically covered by personal and corporate donors.
:: No beds were donated last year to kids in Armatage. ~34% of beds were donated to kids in Minneapolis. Kids are chosen for beds via “referrals” from community groups, etc. Kids have to be older than age 2 since the beds provided do not come with safety rails.
:: Growth of the program in years to come will come from more funding, more referral partners, and more awareness
:: Other ways to get involved – Volunteering, donation drives, fleece tie blanket drive
:: Board discussed donating to My Very Own Bed…  Motion for board to postpone decision until February board meeting. Board wants to put together criteria for donations & microgrants before making a decision. Motion approved.

Park Update, Nikki Friederich —

  • Fire on Ice Skating Party – Friday, January 25th from 6:30-8:30pm… Little campfire, hot cocoa, s’mores, popcorn, and a DJ with music
  • Ice rinks are still open. Hours and locations can be found here: https://www.minneapolisparks.org/activities__events/winter_activities/ice_rinks/
    Ice rinks will be closing around February 18th.
  • Thinking of movie ideas for Movies in the Park for Armatage & Kenny neighborhoods… Send any movie suggestions you have to Nikki, preferably a kid movie, PG or PG13
  • SW Parks Plan Initial Concept Workshops – Earliest one is coming up on January 31st from 6-8pm, open house style, refreshments, kids activities
  • Washburn Tot Lot – Launch/official open party this spring, ANA board to plan

Pedestrian Safety Follow-up — Board to compile list of changes we would like to see. Grassroots effort may be needed. Safety committee to be created for accountability. Joel to finalize and distribute “please use the crosswalks” signs to businesses.

Red Wagon Pizza Company Liquor License Application — Board decided to remain neutral on this matter. Lauren to write a letter stating some concerns that some may have (i.e. expectations of liquor training, responsible serving, etc.) to prevent another accident from having like the one that happened at 54th & Penn.

Summer Festival 2019 — Discussion on this postponed to February board meeting. Lauren to follow up with Nikki (previous Coordinator) for more information regarding the planning of this event. All board members are expected to make it to the Summer Festival if they are able to. Summer Festival to take place on Sunday, August 11th.

President’s Report — Welcome Brett Anderson & Lara Bergman to the board! Brett & Lara to send Joel a 3rd-person bio for the website. The rest of the board should review their bios and update, as needed. Please have this to Joel by the next board meeting in February.

As a reminder, a motion was approved by the board to continue Rachel Ireland’s account contract.

Secretary Report –– December minutes approved via e-mail

Treasurer Report –– Financials e-mailed

Committee Updates —

  • Community Engagement – Next Armatage Neighborhood Happy Hour on March 12th; Put out a tip jar at the next happy hour and encourage attendees to tip for pizza provided by the board.
  • Micro-grant program – Discussion around the application process – we’ll need to make it easy for people. Need to get the word out via multiple channels. Reach out to people who we think could benefit from the micro-grant program and encourage them to apply. Need to look into funding source. Need to put together criteria for selection/eligibility.
    Examples of grants done by other neighborhoods – Community activities, activities in the park, movie in the park, advocacy event (i.e. safety)
    Adriana & Stephanie to provide an outline of what their thoughts are on all of this via e-mail for the board to look over.
  • Green team – Laurel was the chair of the green team, but is no longer on the board. Tara Brown isn’t on the green team either. If anyone would like to chair this committee or be a part of it, let Tara know ASAP. Otherwise, Tara will motion at the next board meeting to dissolve this committee.
    • Next Fix It Clinic is taking place on March 9th from 12-4pm

Coordinator Update —

  • Newsletter update – Instead of using a graphic designer and paying $1,200/year to hire that person, proposal to use and pay for the following computer programs so Lauren can create newsletters, etc. herself. Motion to approve $350 towards the computer programs below. Motion approved by the board.
    • Adobe Creative Cloud – $245 for the first year
    • QuickBooks for Mac – $50/year
    • Acrobat Pro – $55/year
  • Neighborhoods 2020 – It sounds like there will be some basic funding cuts that neighborhoods get. Our budget could be smaller in the future.
  • Social media – Looking at social media streams over last couple months. Not getting a lot of visibility on Facebook. Would like to potentially do a $30 Facebook ad later this year to get more page likes to increase our engagement. Lauren also asked the board to engage, like, comment, share posts, provide ideas/content for social posts, to get more engagement. Tara brought up boosting Facebook events instead of the Facebook page itself.
  • Community Connections Conference – Saturday, February 2nd – Provided by NCR. Free event.
  • Upcoming Ward 13 Summit with Linnea Palmisano – To take place late February – 2040 Comp Plan (next steps of implementation) and Neighborhoods 2020 will be on the agenda
  • CPP Report – Bringing to the next board meeting.
  • Will be printing less agendas at the next board meetings; Board members can use their phones to look at the agenda to save on paper

New Business — None

Meeting Adjourned: 8:49PM

Next Meeting: February 19th • 6:30pm