ANA Meeting Minutes
2/15/22 / 6:30 PM / Zoom
BOARD ATTENDEES
Vikisha Goberdhan, Eli Johnson, Ethan Komoroski, Nikki Lindberg, Sharla McIntosh-Ziegler, Kevin Ross, Judy Vecere
NOT IN ATTENDANCE: Samantha Bild, Adriana Dobrzycka, Janhel Leandre
OTHER ATTENDEES
Lauren Anderson (Coordinator), Jordan Nelson (Armatage Park Director), Cathy Abene (Park Board), Charlie Wolfe, Joyce Cundiff
THE MEETING
January meeting minutes approved via email. Updated financials were sent via email.
6:30 Welcome and Introductions (Kevin Ross)
6:35 Park Update (Jordan Nelson, Armatage Park Director)
- Rec centers back to normal hours (3-9, sat 12-6, sun)
- Fire and Ice – great event and thanks for the help from the board. Estimate 150-200 people at one point in time.
- Spring/Summer program registration opens March 2 online (from tots to seniors)
- Most rec centers are hiring, including Armatage and Kenny
6:40 MPRB District 6 Update – Commissioner Cathy Abene
- Work colleagues with Kevin for 14 years
- Kids (just grad) and 2 washburn seniors and they have enjoyed working for the parks (plus gets babysitting jobs on top of it)
- Sw area quiet on the capital improvement projects. Elected Meg Fornay president (as one of 2 returning members) and opted to have co-chair to help transitions
- Co-charing housing committee. (w/ Dist 3) and many partners
- Co-chairing legislative agenda/ bonding programs 1-governor 2-waterworks facility 3-(perpetual) grand rounds missing link along 280 4-green infrastructure creeks // also focused on youth programming (under 24) // put forth policy
- Current board has several more parents serving, 3 teachers, several who have kids who have or do participate in the public park system
- Lots of respect for the superintendent al bangor
- Question about youth programming that might affect us: broadly across the city, want to encourage more park identity building
- Diamond sports, skateparks, – might have planning committees for some of these particular areas and how they should be looked at throughout the entire system (schools, club, etc.)
- She does water resource engineering at the U // with her lens, wants to make sure water quality is considered (along with equity, etc.) and push on relationships (City, Watershed, etc.) and focusing environmental work in our parks and systems
- What does the park board have regarding work plans? Next Wed they are having a public meeting about strategy for the next 4 years, around the superintendent’s goals.
- Ethan / how do we use the park land as a climate resiliency tool? IE Hiawatha — issues around rising ground water at Nokomis // respecting our natural resources is part of the mission and heart of what park lands represent // finding a way to quantify it key, must value it
- Funding for tree canopy, plantings…how to we steward the land and its future role
- Minnehaha watershed plan – but some had broken down…and 3 commissioners + district 5, getting together to talk about what is holding it back
7:00 Open Board Seats
- Two open seats. Two candidates. Charlie Wolfe (intro) interested to find a spot where he can help.
- Motion to elect Charlie Wolfe the board (through May 2023). Seconded. Motion carries.
- Emily Rawsted (hold off until she can attend)
7:05 Annual Meeting & Board Election Planning
- Topic & Speakers – May 17 (outdoors if possible)
- 6:30-8:00 (need to stick to shorter timeframe with it getting dark)
- Theme: Growing Together
- Welcome signs
- Speaker idea: dept of innovation, hr dept mental health, (? good speaker at HCMC, Laurie) // Ethan, Charlie will work on ideas for speaker choices
- Reps: Palmasano, Long, Greene
- Board Recruitment
- Those up for re-election will be contacted about running again
- Request to current members to encourage new members
- Reminder that a board member can be a representative of a business or organization in the neighborhood
- Election Timeline
- Candidate register April 15 through May 17
- Online guide and voting May 18-26
- Results announced online May 27
- Volunteers
- Election moderators (3-4): Ethan, Charlie, Vicky
7:25 Spring Newsletter – Lauren
- Content & Timeline
- Mar 15: Article deadline
- Mar 15-21: Layout
- Mar 22: Draft sent to volunteer editors (Charlie, Sharla, Stephanie)
- Mar 27: Edits due
- Mar 29: Final pdf sent to Jerry’s Printing
- Arrives in mailboxes by April 15
- Articles
- Annual meeting
- Rain garden program (maybe grant)
- Board Spotlight: Eli
- Senior Tech Day (April 23)
- Spring Clean-up (April 23)
- Armatage Pet Fest (May 14) and volunteer recruitment (qr code)
- Events calendar
- If space permits:
- Welcome bags
- Block leader recruitment
7:40 Collaboration & Shared Resource Fund – Kevin, Sharla, Nikki & Judy
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- Exec committee met and discussed if we wanted to pursue and bring to the board. Natural fit seems Kenny. (have sort of the same 3 committees)
- Deadline is Feb 28 (funding window through 2023 up to $15k) hopes we’d learn quickly if we are awarded a grant
- Looking to get an exploratory meeting on the calendar with the Kenny exec board
- Lynnhurst and Fulton interested
- Could do some shared committee meetings / event planning and event itself (with Lauren’s time) conservatively saves $2,500/year per neighborhood
- Motion to explore a collaboration for the grant. Seconded. Motion carries.
- Will set up a meeting with Kenny
7:55 Coordinator Report:
- ANA Calendar (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1OT0nehoBIQdch_EljmokmDU9knvss3P24JmZ18by3Yo/edit?usp=sharing)
- New Board Folder (bylaws, policies, calendar, roster, committee work plans, etc.) will be shared with members so folks have access to information and resources as needed
- Website updates – can we use some of tech bundle to help with planning/staging as we update to a new WordPress platform
8:00 ANA Committee Updates
- Green Team
- Lawns to Legumes grant submitted. Hope to learn by the end of the month.
- Next month Soil Health education series (view movie on your own, and then bring in experts to be part of discussions) https://armatage.org/soilhealth/
- Senior workshop (moved to early June) Gardening as you Grow Older
- April neighborhood clean-up in partnership with Kenny
- Slothful book club – Overstory
- Safety, Equity & Outreach
- Cyber Seniors (April 24)
- Policy and Government Oversight Committee (video of meeting) conversation around accountability
- Community Engagement
- Welcome bags (Kevin, Eli, Ethan)
- Senior workshop end of Sept/early Oct – focus on home maintenance
- Pet Fest (May 14) 2-4pm
- Vendors: Sparrow, Zero-ish, Dreadlocks for Dingoes, People & Pets (food drive)
- Tables: ANA, Dreadlocks, Animal chiropractor (?), Woof Central (?)
- 2:15 parade
- 3pm contest (categories tbd)
- Next up will be planning for the Food Truck Festival
8:15 New Business
- Approval of January minutes
- Motion to approve and seconded (online). Motion carries.
- Neighborhood election day
Meeting adjourned at 8:17
UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS
- Feb 23 – 60th/Sunrise/58th St Repaving Meeting (6:30pm, Microsoft Teams)
- March 1 – Safety, Equity & Outreach Committee (6:00-7:00pm, Zoom)
- March 3 – Community Engagement Committee (6:00-7:00pm, Zoom)
- March 10 – Green Team Meeting (7:00-8:30pm, Zoom)
- March 15 – Monthly Meeting (6:30-8:30pm, Zoom)
- ANA 2022 Planning Calendar (link)