ANA Meeting Minutes

3/21/23 / 6:30 PM / Armatage Community Center

BOARD ATTENDEES

Eli Johnson, Ethan Komoroski, Sharla McIntosh-Ziegler, Kevin Ross, Judy Vecere, Charlie Wolfe, Vikisha Goberdhan

NOT IN ATTENDANCE: Nikki Lindberg

OTHER ATTENDEES

Tara Brown, Lauren Anderson (coordinator)

THE MEETING

Updated financials were sent via email and are posted online.

6:30pm Welcome and Introductions

6:35pm Comments from the Community 

None.

6:45pm Park Update

6:50pm Springtime in Armatage Planning Update (5/13, 9-12am)

• North side of the lot, stage tables in set up similar to Pet Fest – final setup to be decided over the next two CE meetings. Set up volunteers arrive at 8:30am.
• Activities
  • Tool Swap – staffed by Green Team members and SWHS Green Team members
  • House Plant Swap – Neighbor Liz to staff this with a Green Team member, great copy on the website
  • ANA Table – raising awareness about election, recruiting new candidates?, signing up neighbors for eNews
  • Adopt a Drain – bringing own volunteers
  • DNR – backyard birding best practices, wildlife talk
  • Master Gardener – yard tool maintenance, general lawn, flora, garden knowledge
• Vendors
  • Need to get coffee and pastry situation figured out- will do that at April CE meeting. Lauren to reach out to Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer to see if they can help out (LCCR said they’d love to bring at least baked goods). Then we’ll ask the board for funding on this in the April board meeting if necessary.

7:00pm Annual Meeting & Board Election Planning Update

• Food: Maybe a 300 dollar limit, 15 pizzas or so based on Judy’s research of current pricing and our historical purchases. Leaning toward splitting them between Lola and Red Wagon. (Decided on Lola in email afterward)
• Speaker: House Novel will be reached out to by Eli, hopefully they’re available. Lauren will make a handout with what the ANA has been up to.
• May 13-16 Hybrid Election Plan
• “Sign up to serve” goes live in April. Then it will stay open until May 16 @7pm to announce the winner at the Annual meeting. Kevin and Sharla are the only incumbents so they will be auditing and authorizing the vote

7:15pm Approval of Minutes & 2022 Annual Report – Kevin

• Motion to approve passed unanimously
• Added a major highlight of pivoting from Summer Festival to multiple events throughout the year
• Take a look at the annual report for opportunities for the next year, the city gives us a list of engagement options (surveys, etc)

7:25pm SW Neighborhoods Collaborative Update – Lauren

• Grant Update: Our group got the grant! First meeting to organize was a little tense, but the energy to make this useful for all of us is there. More updates to come.
• Vote on Designated Rep: Nikki to be the designated rep

7:35pm Park Commissioner Cathy Abene

• A couple of initiatives she wanted to talk about (passed committee unanimously).
  • Stormwater runoff (water quality). Currently the MPRB does water quality measurement and communication. There’s been a stormwater utility since 2005 that the city hasn’t been paying a lot to the MPRB. They want to build a staff to do stormwater management, including maintenance plan and compliance. Currently there’s no engineers on staff to map pipesheds and watersheds. This is a need for our public cooling areas and shared natural resources.
    • Action: Send an email to the mayor to amend a $2 fee onto the current water bill to fund that (Green Team taking this action).
• Parkway funding has lagged. Contracted with the city but the funding isn’t adequate anymore. Rather than a 30 year maintenance plan, many of the city’s parkways have been on a 100 year plan, and it shows. Looking for $6 million/yr to redo the parkways, looking into other funding streams for this as well

7:55pm Washburn Tot Lot Pollinator Garden  – Ethan & Tara B.

• Garden Design shared
  • Metro Blooms scheduled for excavation, tree planting May 8
• Maintenance plan shared with committee
• Request made to elevate legal agreement with MPRB. Commissioner Abene will try to help the Green Team/ANA to ensure we have all the details finalized before we break ground
• Open House & Mailing Budget
  • $250 approved for postcard printing and mailing. Targeted mailing to households within 1-1.5 block radius
  • $100 approved for hot drinks and treats for the April 13th Green Team meeting/open house.
• Planting Days
  • May 19/20. 4th and 5th graders to help plant on the 18th/19th
  • Green Team members to be forepeople for these days, direction positioning and planting for each of the beds

8:05pm New Business

• Resolved the agenda for the Spring newsletter, Lauren to share draft in April, expected to hit mailboxes before the election.

8:20pm Adjourned

UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS

• Apr 6 – Community Engagement Committee (6:00-7:00pm, Book Club)
• Apr 11 – SW Collaborative Meeting (7:30-8:30pm, 3537 Nicollet Ave)
• Apr 13 – Green Team Meeting (7:00-8:30pm, Zoom)
• Apr 18 – Monthly Meeting (6:30-8:30pm, Armatage Park)
  • Councilmember Palmisano is coming to next month’s meeting. Send Kevin questions for her by 4/11
• Apr 22 – Earth Day Clean-up (9:30am-12:00pm, Armatage Park)

ANA 2023 Planning Calendar

2023-24 Neighborhood Engagement Plan

ANA Meeting Minutes

2/21/23 / 6:30 PM / Armatage Community Center

BOARD ATTENDEES

Eli Johnson, Ethan Komoroski, Nikki Lindberg, Sharla McIntosh-Ziegler, Kevin Ross, Judy Vecere, Charlie Wolfe

NOT IN ATTENDANCE: Vikisha Goberdhan,

OTHER ATTENDEES

Jordan Nelson and Brian Hall  (Rec Center Director)

THE MEETING

Updated financials were sent via email and are posted online.

6:30 Welcome and Introductions (Kevin)

6:36 Comments from Community

• None

6:45 Armatage Park Update (new Park Director Brian Hall)

• Brian has been with the Parks for 29 years. He has worked all across the city, except for the southwest area, but has experience with sites that share with a school and loves to be engaged with the neighborhood associations and PTO groups.
• Ice rinks are likely done for the season (especially with the expected snow this week). Check online before heading to the rink! It was a short but great season with a waitlisted ice skating program and host site for a pond hockey league. They will assess their need for any loaner ice skates and let us know if we can help re-stock their supply.
• Armatage will again be hosting the 11u basketball tourney (March 17-25). 16 teams will participate (8) co-ed and (8) girls. The park always needs concession volunteers. They will also be holding a food drive throughout the tournament.
• Spring registration is open and ongoing. Summer opens tomorrow.
• The park request for use of the Showmobile for Summer Jam has already been approved.

6:50 SW Neighborhoods Collaborative (Nikki) 

• Invite to Participate: The board was sent a summary of the efforts of this neighborhood association collaborative with Armatage, Kenny, Windom, Fulton, Tangletown and Windom. In order to move forward, each neighborhood was asked to sign a letter of intent supporting the work of the group, allowing staff to put time towards these efforts, and to elect a representative to serve on this new board.

• A motion was made to have the ANA sign this letter. Seconded. Motion carries.

• Collaboration & Shared Resource Grant Application: As one of the first acts as a collaboration, they have written an application for this grant (a draft has been shared with the board). If funds are awarded they will be used to help create structures and procedures for how the collaboration will work, as well as support the creation of a series of collaborative events. All collaboration work is focused on improving understanding, adopting practices and supporting systems around diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). The final version is due February 28.

• A motion was made to have the ANA participate in this grant application. Seconded. Motion carries.

7:10 Annual Meeting & Board Election Planning (Kevin)

• May 13-16 Hybrid Election Plan
  • Candidate registration to begin in mid-April (through May 13)
  • Voting will take place May 13-16
  • Current board positions on the ballot: Ethan, Charlie, Vicky, Eli, Judy, + one open seat (Please let Lauren know if you are planning to run or not.)
  • It was asked if we could resurrect a social event to help us network with neighbors in a more casual (non-meeting) setting like we have done in the past at Cafe Maude and Red Wagon.
• May 16 Annual Meeting Speakers ideas
  • House Novel (gathers and documents the history of a home through photographs and  stories)
  • Old Home Certified (Rethos)
  • Both have a slightly different take on the history of homes, and could be a nice compliment to our work with Just Deeds
• Budget & Plan for Treats
  • Judy offered to reach out to Lola and Red Wagon about ordering pizzas for the meeting.

• A motion was made to approve up to $500 for food at the annual meeting. Seconded. Motion carries.

7:30 Partnering with Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer (Sharla & Ethan)

• The Green Team is considering having a meeting on their patio, next to their rain garden, when the weather permits.
• There are some concerns about hosting events at a church (may not feel inclusive to all), but are excited to have them engage with and participate in our events, and the church is already interested in being involved in our spring event and Summer Jam.

7:40 Office Clean-out Progress (Nikki, Charlie & Ethan)

• The Welcome Bag supplies have all been relocated to the office. There are still some files to get sorted, then a second sorting will need to take place, as it is assumed that there may be several duplications in what was set aside.
• There are several items that we no longer need/want and plan to find a way to donate or recycle these (once the weather is nicer and we can more easily move things outdoors for pick-up).

7:45 Approval of Minutes & Amended City Budget (Kevin)

• Motion to approve January minutes. Seconded. Motion carries.

• Motion to approve amended city budget. Seconded. Motion carries.

7:55 Committee Updates

• Community Engagement (Sharla)
  • Welcome Bags. With the new agreed upon distribution plan, six of the board members in attendance each took 6 bags, and this should help clear up most of the current back log.
  • They continue to ask for Armatage Affirmation, and considered a campaign: Love Thy Neighbor
  • Garden Tool Swap & Spring neighborhood event [May 13] (with coffee/tea vendor) — Brainstormed an event name (Springtime in the Neighborhood). Plan to partner with the Armatage PTA
  • Summer Jam [Aug 27 4-6] — Already have 2 food vendors and several potential sponsors.
• Green Team (Ethan)
  • Met with the city regarding the Washburn tot lot garden. In April they plan to invite the area neighbors to show them the design, and recruit weeding and watering partners. May 20/21 is the tentative planting day.
  • Springtime in the Neighborhood: Tool Swap, Adopt-a-Drain, Settergrens is willing to rent electric lawn implements (but can’t help staff, so uncertain as to whether or not we will do this), Ask a Master Gardener
  • They plan to crowd-source for future project ideas this spring and summer.
• SW Collaborative (Nikki) — (discussed above)

8:10 New Business

• We need someone to do minutes in March. Ethan is willing.

Meeting adjourned at 8:23

Note: After the meeting, the ANA Board approved a letter of support for the East Phillips Urban Farm and a letter of support for the Great Plains Institute’s MN GreenCorps application via email. 

ANA Meeting Minutes

1/17/23 / 6:30 PM / Armatage Community Center

BOARD ATTENDEES

Vikisha Goberdhan, Ethan Komoroski, Nikki Lindberg, Kevin Ross, Judy Vecere, Charlie Wolfe

NOT IN ATTENDANCE: Eli Johnson, Sharla McIntosh-Ziegler

OTHER ATTENDEES

Lauren Anderson (Armatage Coordinator), Jason Green (interim Rec Center Director), Amy Schutt  (Assistant City Attorney), Ryan Tvenge (new neighbor), Denis Houle, Linea Palmisano (City Council)

THE MEETING

Updated financials were sent via email and are posted online.

6:37 Welcome and Introductions (Kevin Ross)

6:39 Comments from Community

• Denis Houle — former board member (served about 15 years) and sat on the NCEC city board. Denis spoke at the December City Council budget meeting. He is hoping to get some organization around the budget needs of neighborhoods. He is concerned about the current trend by the council to defund neighborhood organizations. Nikki shared info about a collaboration group meeting of six area neighborhoods, and their hope to work together to address these funding needs. Linea also spoke to the new Mayoral process, and the current $10k base funding (which isn’t sufficient to professionally run these organizations that are a key component in citywide communications).

7:01 Council Vice President Linea Palmisano

• 57th and Penn update. The city received over 1,000 traffic calming applications (map on the website). Public works is working to narrow down the most feasible projects, and have capacity and budget to implement 10-15 projects. Hope to know by spring to know which projects are selected.
• One-sided parking. Feedback over recent plowing and parking issues has the city considering implementing 1-sided parking restrictions to help right-of-way access.

7:12 Armatage Park Update (interim Park Director Jason Green)

• Jason also manages Bryant Square and has been with the MPB since 1985, and has worked for 12 different neighborhoods. Jason commented about the importance of the work neighborhoods do, and is happy to support us if needed.
• Fire & Ice (January 27th at Armatage Park). Events (such as Fire & Ice at Kenny) for this weekend will likely be canceled due to warm temperatures (hope to reschedule).

7:19 Minneapolis Just Deeds Program
(Amy Schutt, Assistant City Attorney)

• Just Deeds helps homeowners discharge racial covenants from their deeds. They also help educate residents about the impacts of discrimination in homeownership and its long term impacts. Launched in 2021, they initially got over 1,800 applications, and are now positioned to re-engage their efforts with a more focused approach.
• Just Deeds is willing to help with any number of outreach efforts. We can consider doing door knocking, mailing a targeted postcard, hosting a presentation, tabling at an event (like Summer Jam, August 27) and adding more info online.
• Longfellow is using a grant to help them do this type of outreach in partnership with Free the Deeds.
• The process to discharge the covenant is free. Just Deeds is able to get the needed documents, file with the county, and access an electronic notary service.

7:42 2023 City Engagement Funding

• Discussed above. City leveled up some neighborhoods to a $20,000 total budget ($10,000 base operating  funds and $10,000 equitable engagement funds). Neighborhoods can now spend some limited amount on food (a small %) .

7:44 Welcome Bag Program Changes

• In February we will work on distributing the remaining bags. Moving forward we will switch to different bags (paper w/ sticker…clip on magnet?) and a shared delivery method, with assembly taking place just before a regular monthly meeting.
• We are drafting a postcard to invite renters (and homeowners) to receive a welcome bag, and plan to have a limited supply available at ANA events.

8:05 Office Clean-out Progress

• For the people who have volunteered to help, more clean out sessions will be scheduled. Currently, we have gathered a lot of information to go to the Hennepin County Library archives, set aside materials we’d like to keep a copy of (and need to figure out the best way to create that copy/storage plan before giving this to HCL).

7:50 Approval of Minutes & Financials

• Motion to approve November minutes. Seconded. Motion carries.

8:14 Committee Updates

• Community Engagement — Welcome bag recommendations (noted above), Fire & Ice on January 27, Planning has starting on spring events (neighborhood election day/garden tool swap on May 13)
• Green Team — Finalized grant submittals for Lawns to Legumes, Securing garden tool swap volunteers (master gardener for questions, tool maintenance info), Washburn tot lot meeting soon for final design plans, and working on building connections with neighbors for weeding and watering needs (May 20 & 21)

8:20 New Business

• Need someone to do minutes in March and May as Nikki will not be able to attend those meetings

Meeting adjourned at 8:23

UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS

• Jan 27 – Armatage Fire & Ice Skating Party (6:00-7:30pm, Armatage Park)
• Feb 2 – Community Engagement Committee (6:00-7:00pm, Book Club)
• Feb 9 – Green Team Meeting (7:00-8:30pm, TBD)
• Feb 21 – Monthly Meeting (6:30-8:30pm, Armatage Park)