January 18, 2011 Minutes

ANA board members in attendance: Dan Sweeney, Jen Swanson, Noah Schuchman, Jim Steely, Dennis Houle, Peggy Rasmussen, Keith Swanson, Steve Johnson, Tom Alagna.

Others in attendance: Betsy Hodges

President Dan Sweeney called the meeting to order at 6:30.

Secretary Report- none

Treasury Report- We currently have $20k income account and $6K in the NRP account.

City Council Update- Betsy Hodges:

  • The award breakfast will be held at Pearson’s on 1/18/2011.
  • Update on NRP- Phase 2: The Mayor decided to set levy max at 7.5%. The property tax statements were sent out with the levy set at 7.5%, which was the max that could be set. One third of the property tax increase was due to the recertification of the tiff district for “debt relief and neighborhood revitalization.” After the truth-in-taxation meeting, an increase of 4.7% was approved (target center improvements on hold for one year). The proposal used the property tax “pot” to pay down tiff district, in effect reducing phase 2 dollars (50% reduction to neighborhoods).
  • Tom- What will happen in the future? At what year does the pension fund crest?
  • Betsy- The pension fund crests in 2010-2011Pension payment must be reached by 2020, but reduces between now and 2020.
  • Noah – We have spent 70% of our phase II, $79k lost from phase II.
  • Keith – Are the police and park police going to join forces?
  • Betsy – Not likely, two largest pension funds do not want to merge with the state pension fund.
  • Layoffs are likely for police and fire.

2011 Community Participation Application-Jen Swanson: The application was sent on Friday, did hear that it was received.

Safety Update- Keith Swanson: Not a lot of activity, mainly garage break-ins, some forced entries. Keith recommended including this information in next newsletter to inform residents that forced entries are on the rise.

ANA Communications- Dan Sweeny
Google groups- Emails need to be exported into Google Groups. 100 email addresses are now updated, but we still need to get the rest of the emails updated. We could add html formatting for Armatage border. Have ability for links and pictures.
May or may not have the ability to help track emails and who reads them. We will be losing ability to capture email addresses automatically.

With the current website we could purchase additional features in the future. There is a onetime charge of $40 per code for “constant contact” that captures email addresses.

2011 Board Ballot- Jennifer Swanson
Denis Houle would like to be added to the ballot for a one-year term.
Election of board members will occur in the March meeting.
Dan Sweeney is dropping from the ballot.

Annual Meeting Speakers- Noah Schuchman
The speaker for the annual meeting is still being determined. The board has one more month to decide on the speaker. To date, the Mayor is a possibility and Franken has been contacted.

Website management- We need a volunteer to run website. Dan Sweeney is not going to be on the board or running the website in the next term. Basic costs are $13 for domain and $99 for hosting. Noah will ensure payments are made during the transition.

New Business-
Motion- Denis, the board thanks Dan and Peggy for their years of service.
Noah- second
Dan Sweeny –We need to purchase frames for the treasury awards for Lisa Domagala, Cheryl Anderson, and Brian Ciccone.

Meeting adjourned at 7:45 p.m.