Armatage Neighborhood Association Meeting
Meeting was called to order at 6:32 by Board President, Denis Houle
In attendance: Ryan Antkowiak, Tara Brown, Kelly Falsani, Denis Houle, Steve Johnson, Bri Keeney, Michael Kootsikas; Nikki Lindberg, Coordinator; Nikki Friederich, Park Director; Matt Perry, SWBA.
Park Update by Nikki Friederich, Park Director
Fall programming is available online and registration starts July 6 (soccer, volleyball and football). The long time coordinator for SWAFA is leaving, so the football program will be taken on by the park with the addition of an equipment manager. Otherwise, she doesn’t foresee any other impacts on the program.
Park Improvements
Motion: Kelly moved we approve $2,350 to support park improvements including reupholstering furniture, ping-pong table and staff sign. Bri seconded. Motion carries.
Other ideas to consider (research/bids underway): blinds for the multi-purpose room, soccer goals, portable screen (to be owned by the ANA).
Officer Elections
Denis Houle, President and Judy Vecere, Treasurer are one year through their 2-year terms.
Kelly Falsani accepted his nomination to continue as Vice President. Ryan Antkowiak accepted his nomination for Secretary. Tara moved to elect Kelly, VP and Ryan, Secretary. Steve seconded. Motion carries
Committee Updates
Community Engagement: Organics Recycling Workshop Recap (Tara Brown): Good attendance with 30 neighbors joining us to learn more about the program and get tips on how to incorporate organics recycling into our daily lives. Those in attendance already had their organics cans. At the Summer Festival it would be good to focus on signing up people who aren’t active in the organics recycling program. We purchased boxes of compostable bags to give to residents in attendance. The remaining boxes can be included in welcome bags (along with an information sheet about the program).
Summer Festival (Nikki Lindberg): Requesting support from the board to follow-up with solicitations for raffle items and event sponsorship. Any additional ideas for places to ask are always welcome. The idea of beer at the festival was mentioned. Nikki will talk to other neighborhoods who have done this at their events and see what sort of additional costs and work are required so we can consider this for future events. Being on park and school property may be a significant barrier, so we may want to consider a beer event at a different location. We will address the way we’d like to celebrate the 25th anniversary as well as other event details at our next festival planning meeting Thursday, June 30 at Nikki’s house.
Coordinator Update by Nikki Lindberg
Kenny and Armatage neighborhoods posted a survey regarding the area-wide garage sales. (Results will be posted.) Overall it sounds like switching to a non-holiday weekend such as the first weekend in June is favored by more residents than keeping it over Memorial weekend. We will follow-up with Kenny neighborhood to see what they are interested in doing moving forward.
It has been mentioned in the past that there is interest in doing a winter event. With Nikki F creating the Fire on Ice event that we have supported with some dollars, there could be other ways we could support and grow this event. One idea presented is to have the trees flanking the warming house walkway lit. We have a current estimate to light both trees for about $700. This would include the rental of the lights and timers, installation, removal and storage.
Please look at welcome bag addresses to see which ones you are able to deliver.
Secretary Report
Minutes approved via email
Treasurer Report
Finance update sent via email and a budget summary was shared during the meeting.
New Business
NCEC Elections: Denis Houle was re-elected to his final 2-year term. A couple seats were contested, and appointed seats are yet to be filled, but expect their main focus will be on the future funding issues facing neighborhoods come 2020 (and he mentioned at least three efforts underway regarding this issue).
Ryan asked about the Happy Hour and how we all felt it went and if there was interest in doing it again. Overall we felt it was good and definitely want to do it again, probably in September or early October.
Meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.