January 19, 2016 Minutes

Armatage Neighborhood Association Meeting

Meeting was called to order at 6:29 pm by board president Denis Houle

ANA board members in attendance: Kelly Falsani, Denis Houle, Judy Vecere, Sarah Broich, Jeff Forss, Laurel Luxenberg, Steve Johnson, Sarah Emmenecker, Tara Brown

Others in attendance: Nikki Lindberg- ANA Coordinator, Crime Prevention Specialist Jennifer Waisanen, Ken Dahler- Ward 13 City Council staff, Matt Perry-SWBA, 2 interested neighbors- Ryan, Ann

Crime Update

  • Crime prevention specialist Jennifer Waisanen gave a crime overview printout for 2015. She stated the crime report was pretty similar to 2014- there was not an increase in crime. There was one drug raid in the neighborhood recently (arrests were made).
  • So far, no crime has been reported in 2016.
  • There are 16 unorganized blocks right now (no block leader)- she gave the list to ANA coordinator so that the board can keep trying to recruit block leaders. If someone doesn’t know who their block leader is, they can contact Jennifer to ask
  • Jennifer will check about police presence at the Fire and Ice event on Friday.

City Council Update

Ken Dahler- Ward 13 staff presented updates:

  • City Council office is hosting community forums: 1 on environmental initiatives; 1 on MPD implicit bias trainings
  • Organics recycling- rolling out for entire city in the spring; sign up by 2/1; Ward 13 is above average for participation at this time. The highest neighborhood participation is Lynhurst at 47% (board member Tara Brown will be helping board with ideas to increase participation- she is researching what other neighborhood have done).
  • There is an online sign-up now too. Carts will be delivered in early March.
  • Workplace regulations partnership (successor to working families agenda): There is a 15 member workgroup that has been tasked with making recommendations to the City Council by the end of February about sick pay and PTO. They are hosting listening sessions citywide. Recently they’ve been discussing the possibility of asking the council for an extension. They are hoping to talk to other cities who have implemented this.
  • 54th street reconstruction- planning is underway (2 year project; will start in May). Letters about assessments went out last week. There is a meeting for the residents getting assessed next week at CityChurch. Another meeting will happen for the general public.
  • There was a question referencing a water main freezing during the Penn Ave. construction; asked if anything be done to prevent this from happening during the 54th street project? Ken said he would follow up.
  • Ken reported that 60th Street is on the map for construction in 2018.
  • Ken will email ANA coordinator the specs for road construction for the next couple years in Armatage. (see PDF below)
  • There was a question about reporting a smoker outside of BP to 311; this was reported by a resident and nothing has been done about it. Ken stated residents can call the police about this if they want.

The meeting was paused for a few minutes for an ANA board member picture.

Park Update

Fire and Ice event is Friday 1/22 from 6-8 pm

Committee Updates

Community Engagement 2016 goal setting

  • Bri was unable to attend but sent email update with ideas for 3 goals to focus on; wants to continue discussion via email and/or at February board meeting.
    1. Organizing a board happy hour
    2. Trying to connect more with renters and older residents
    3. Organics recycling- increase participation

A board member talked about engaging landlords more as well as another idea

The summer festival committee is meeting on February 3rd at 7pm- committee is open to anyone interested. Nikki will email out location of meeting.

Coordinator Update

  • Nikki passed around logo ideas for 25th anniversary; board gave suggestions for favorites
  • Distributed welcome packet assignments
  • Home Improvement Fair and conference- Bri and Judy are able to staff these events *all board members should double check dates and schedules to see if others are available to help too. Nikki needs to know in the next week.
  • Fix-it loan program- we have closed on 8 Armatage loans; 22 total between all neighborhoods
  • The January newsletter was distributed

Secretary Report

December meeting minutes were approved via email

New Business

  • There is a SWBA happy hour this Thursday night at Terzo 5:30-6:30; ANA coordinator Nikki is going. This is event is for getting residents and business owners together to connect. Everyone is encouraged to attend.
  • Lance Custer was removed as Treasurer and will take over as our Crime and Safety Committee Chair. Kelly Falsani made a motion to appoint Judy as board treasurer; seconded by Tara Brown. Motion carried. Nikki will meet with Judy and get her up to speed on treasurer duties.
  • Matt Perry presented on the working families agenda- business association is pushing for more time to gather feedback from small businesses. SWBA is doing a poll of businesses of what their current practices are; gathering data to present to city. Matt has given feedback to Ken on running the listening sessions; a lot of talking by facilitator and members of workgroup (not enough time for the business owners to speak.)
  • There was a question about how to find out about the sessions? Matt said the information is posted online, but not always with much notice. SWBA is trying to get info out to business owners as they become aware of it.
  • Tara gave update on the fix-it clinic that happened in Armatage- this was a success! The next one was is in NE Minneapolis.

Steve motioned to adjourn the meeting. Judy seconded. Motion carried.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:20 pm.