December 21, 2021 Minutes

ANA Meeting Minutes

12/21/21 / 6:30 PM / Zoom

BOARD ATTENDEES

Samantha Bild, Joel Federer, Vikisha Goberdhan, Ethan Komoroski, Nikki Lindberg, Sharla McIntosh-Ziegler, Kevin Ross

NOT IN ATTENDANCE: Adriana Dobrzycka, Eli Johnson, Janhel Leandre, Judy Vecere

OTHER ATTENDEES

Lauren Anderson (Coordinator), Jordan Nelson (Armatage Park Director), Joyce Cundiff, Sheila Dingels, Stephanie Vigen

THE MEETING

November meeting minutes approved via email. Updated financials were sent via email.

6:30    Welcome and Introductions (Joel Federer)

6:35    Park Update (Jordan Nelson, Armatage Park Director)

  • The building will be open from 12-7pm over winter break (closed Fridays). Starting January 3 building hours citywide will be from 3-9 pm weekdays with some hours on Saturdays.
  • Winter sports registration is still open, but many sessions are already full. Basketball has over 250 kids signed-up. Other programs include gymnastics and ice skating.
  • Ice rink construction is in progress. Estimating the rink will open in a couple weeks, but depends on the weather. They will notify us once it is open. The warming room will be open 5-9pm weekdays, 12-8 or 9pm Saturdays, and 1-5pm Sundays.
  • Jordan asked the board’s possible interest in co-hosting a smaller winter event like Fire & Ice. The Community Engagement team has been considering something similar already, so it is something the board would be able to support. Date will be one of the last two weekends in January. Recommended that we reach out to the school (to see if they would like to be involved in any way). The SEO committee could also plan to host a winter safety station.

6:42    President Midterm Election

  • Tonight is Joel’s last meeting. Kevin Ross has put himself forward for the role of president. With no other nominations, a vote to elect Kevin to the remainder of Joel’s term was held, and Kevin was elected as our new board president.
  • The role of vice president is now open and up for consideration.
  • We also have an open spot on the board that will be promoted for our January meeting.
  • Many thanks to Joel for his time and leadership.

6:50    ANA Committee Work Plans

  • Green Team ($200)
    • Priority 1 — Equity-focused rain garden program — Two gardens will be scholarshipped and the cost of participation will be $50. The regular cost to participate is $850 with the ANA subsidizing the rest.The full price for a rain garden is $2,000. One of the scholarshipped gardens will be at the apartment complex on Xerxes, and maintenance will be shared between the Green Team and apartment residents.
    • Priority 2 – Film screening and panel conversation — Current idea is to host a panel discussion for Kiss the Ground. People would watch it on their own, and a conversation over Zoom with invited panelists would be scheduled for sometime in February/March.
    • Priority 3 – Spring and fall neighborhood clean-ups — They may also do a storm drain clean-up in the fall.
    • Senior workshop — Gardening as you grow older — Hoping to host an outdoor workshop with a tent in June.
    • Other ideas: book club, Lawns to Legumes grant, climate-centric trivia night, additional workshop ideas
  • Safety, Equity & Outreach ($400)
    • Priority 1 — Meet your community helpers event — Will create more robust programming as part of this event for September
    • Priority 2 — Renter pop-up event in October — Co-hosting with the board to connect more with renters in the neighborhood
    • Priority 3 — Tabling at the Movie in the Park — Anticipating in June, we will have an information table and hope to hand out popcorn
    • Senior workshop — Technology focused — Topics under consideration: how to cut the cord, answering tech questions, resources for specific topics (chore support, further tech learning opportunities, online safety/how to avoid scams, online dating)
    • Sheila shared the comments from the Equity sign from the Community Helpers event. SEO will continue to use this and ask for ideas at future events to help guide our future programming. From the current feedback a couple ideas are to host a mutual aid exchange for winter gear and to network with realtor groups to promote our neighborhood.
  • Community Engagement ($500)
    • Priority 1 — Summer Food Truck Festival — The largest event they will host, and hope to have a band along with 5 trucks and other activities (August)
    • Priority 2 — Pet Parade — Hoping this event will reach a different demographic in the neighborhood, and planning for a spring event (May)
    • Priority 3 — Halloween Decoration tour — has gotten great engagement both from participating homes as well as tour goers
    • Priority 4 — Holiday Lights tour — planning to get feedback from participants to confirm interest in continuing to sponsor this tour program. Did have lots of online views of the tour map, so engagement may be higher than we realized, and there seems to be a growing interest on certain blocks to expand their displays in the future.
    • Priority 4ish — Cocoa, sledding, makers market, etc. this winter. Could be done in conjunction with the proposed park event for late January.
    • Senior workshop — TBD — Some thoughts are: relationships 55 and up, handy person program, technology, exercise/health

7:17    Safety Rebate Program Changes

    • To help the safety rebate program continue as long as possible, the ANA has to look at ways to cap or limit the expenses, to allow for expanded involvement and continued engagement.
    • This is definitely a program we want to keep as it gets a lot of interest, connects us with neighbors, and meets many of our goals.
  • Motion to add a $200 lifetime cap per household, continue with the $100/year max, and discontinue the business rebate portion of the program. Motion seconded. Motion carries.

7:39    2022 ANA Budget Approval

    • Committee budgets for supplies & materials (noted above) will detail in future budget reports
    • The Board added $400 for Welcome Bags to the annual supply budget
    • Clarifying unrestricted funds that can be used on food/drink/entertainment and added $500 in unrestricted funds to the budget.
    • It was noted that the process to move funds between budget categories is fairly easy for amounts less than $25,000. Anything over that requires more engagement and community support as per our recent plan mod.
    • We will have uncontracted dollars at the city in 2022, and will likely need to do a larger plan mod or two.
    • Currently, we will keep the $1,000 budgeted for mini grants (micro grants) and can decide later if this budget item needs to be reassigned.
  • Motion to approve the budget. Motion seconded. Motion carries. 

7:50    Coordinator Report

  • Financials and Board Info on ANA Website
    • The city is requiring these to be online. Lauren will figure out the best place to add the financials. It was agreed that something relatively simple and easy to understand would be the best information to post, including our annual budget (and year to date spending) along with our donation totals and fundraising goals.
  • 2021 Fundraising Totals
    • $645 in checks from fall newsletter donation ask (cost of adding the envelope $360) — might consider a QR code to scan and donate and allow for drop-offs at the park, etc.
    • $720 net from lawn signs. Still have signs to sell.
    • $1,830 from GiveMN in 2021 (Give to the Max Day and ongoing donations)
    • 2022 fundraising goal of $4,000
  • Holiday Light Tour Wrap-up
    • 14 tour stops, Google map have over 15k hits, 110 votes, with the top way people learned about the tour from word of mouth. It did bring a lot of awareness to the ANA, wasn’t a big time commitment for Lauren, and has low expenses.
    • Beyond promotions, we could consider driving the neighborhood and encouraging houses to sign-up if they are decorated and not on the tour list.
    • Plan to survey this year’s participants
  • Staffing Update – Lauren will be out next week; she also took on a new role as the part-time coordinator for Kenny. Should be a great partnership and connection for our neighborhoods. Congrats to Lauren.

8:19    New Business

  • Idea to great buttons that say “ask me about X committee” that we can wear at events
  • Noticed that the sidewalks over 62 aren’t being shoveled. They are under the county’s jurisdiction and they do not plan to maintain them. Ethan offered to reach out to Greene and Palmisano to see if there is something that can be done to help address this safety and accessibility issue.
  • Remember that in January  we will vote to fill the open vice president role and open board seat. We will be posting and promoting online, and board members can encourage people to get involved.
  • Congrats to Vicky who is expecting later this winter!
  • Joel thanked the board for the opportunity to serve as president for the past 3.5 years, and looks forward to still being involved in committee work.

Meeting adjourned at 8:27

UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS

  • January 6 – Community Engagement Committee (6:00-7:00pm, Zoom)
  • January TBD – Safety, Equity & Outreach Committee (Time TBD, Zoom)
  • January 13 – Green Team Meeting (7:00-8:30pm, Zoom)
  • January 18 – Monthly Meeting (6:30-8:30pm, Zoom)