March 21, 2023 Minutes

ANA Meeting Minutes

3/21/23 / 6:30 PM / Armatage Community Center

BOARD ATTENDEES

Eli Johnson, Ethan Komoroski, Sharla McIntosh-Ziegler, Kevin Ross, Judy Vecere, Charlie Wolfe, Vikisha Goberdhan

NOT IN ATTENDANCE: Nikki Lindberg

OTHER ATTENDEES

Tara Brown, Lauren Anderson (coordinator)

THE MEETING

Updated financials were sent via email and are posted online.

6:30pm Welcome and Introductions

6:35pm Comments from the Community 

None.

6:45pm Park Update

6:50pm Springtime in Armatage Planning Update (5/13, 9-12am)

  • North side of the lot, stage tables in set up similar to Pet Fest – final setup to be decided over the next two CE meetings. Set up volunteers arrive at 8:30am.
  • Activities
    • Tool Swap – staffed by Green Team members and SWHS Green Team members
    • House Plant Swap – Neighbor Liz to staff this with a Green Team member, great copy on the website
    • ANA Table – raising awareness about election, recruiting new candidates?, signing up neighbors for eNews
    • Adopt a Drain – bringing own volunteers
    • DNR – backyard birding best practices, wildlife talk
    • Master Gardener – yard tool maintenance, general lawn, flora, garden knowledge
  • Vendors
    • Need to get coffee and pastry situation figured out- will do that at April CE meeting. Lauren to reach out to Lutheran Church of Christ the Redeemer to see if they can help out (LCCR said they’d love to bring at least baked goods). Then we’ll ask the board for funding on this in the April board meeting if necessary.

7:00pm Annual Meeting & Board Election Planning Update

  • Food: Maybe a 300 dollar limit, 15 pizzas or so based on Judy’s research of current pricing and our historical purchases. Leaning toward splitting them between Lola and Red Wagon. (Decided on Lola in email afterward)
  • Speaker: House Novel will be reached out to by Eli, hopefully they’re available. Lauren will make a handout with what the ANA has been up to.
  • May 13-16 Hybrid Election Plan
  • “Sign up to serve” goes live in April. Then it will stay open until May 16 @7pm to announce the winner at the Annual meeting. Kevin and Sharla are the only incumbents so they will be auditing and authorizing the vote

7:15pm Approval of Minutes & 2022 Annual Report – Kevin

  • Motion to approve passed unanimously
  • Added a major highlight of pivoting from Summer Festival to multiple events throughout the year
  • Take a look at the annual report for opportunities for the next year, the city gives us a list of engagement options (surveys, etc)

7:25pm SW Neighborhoods Collaborative Update – Lauren

  • Grant Update: Our group got the grant! First meeting to organize was a little tense, but the energy to make this useful for all of us is there. More updates to come.
  • Vote on Designated Rep: Nikki to be the designated rep

7:35pm Park Commissioner Cathy Abene

  • A couple of initiatives she wanted to talk about (passed committee unanimously).
    • Stormwater runoff (water quality). Currently the MPRB does water quality measurement and communication. There’s been a stormwater utility since 2005 that the city hasn’t been paying a lot to the MPRB. They want to build a staff to do stormwater management, including maintenance plan and compliance. Currently there’s no engineers on staff to map pipesheds and watersheds. This is a need for our public cooling areas and shared natural resources.
      • Action: Send an email to the mayor to amend a $2 fee onto the current water bill to fund that (Green Team taking this action).
  • Parkway funding has lagged. Contracted with the city but the funding isn’t adequate anymore. Rather than a 30 year maintenance plan, many of the city’s parkways have been on a 100 year plan, and it shows. Looking for $6 million/yr to redo the parkways, looking into other funding streams for this as well

7:55pm Washburn Tot Lot Pollinator Garden  – Ethan & Tara B.

  • Garden Design shared
    • Metro Blooms scheduled for excavation, tree planting May 8
  • Maintenance plan shared with committee
  • Request made to elevate legal agreement with MPRB. Commissioner Abene will try to help the Green Team/ANA to ensure we have all the details finalized before we break ground
  • Open House & Mailing Budget
    • $250 approved for postcard printing and mailing. Targeted mailing to households within 1-1.5 block radius
    • $100 approved for hot drinks and treats for the April 13th Green Team meeting/open house.
  • Planting Days
    • May 19/20. 4th and 5th graders to help plant on the 18th/19th
    • Green Team members to be forepeople for these days, direction positioning and planting for each of the beds

8:05pm New Business

  • Resolved the agenda for the Spring newsletter, Lauren to share draft in April, expected to hit mailboxes before the election.

8:20pm Adjourned

UPCOMING MEETINGS/EVENTS

  • Apr 6 – Community Engagement Committee (6:00-7:00pm, Book Club)
  • Apr 11 – SW Collaborative Meeting (7:30-8:30pm, 3537 Nicollet Ave)
  • Apr 13 – Green Team Meeting (7:00-8:30pm, Zoom)
  • Apr 18 – Monthly Meeting (6:30-8:30pm, Armatage Park)
    • Councilmember Palmisano is coming to next month’s meeting. Send Kevin questions for her by 4/11
  • Apr 22 – Earth Day Clean-up (9:30am-12:00pm, Armatage Park)

ANA 2023 Planning Calendar

2023-24 Neighborhood Engagement Plan