BOARD MEETING MINUTES – Monday, March 20, 2017 – 7:00 p.m., Fuller Park
Board members present: Ryan Fisher, Dick Fiala, Dan Williams, Steve Bieringer, Andrew Buss, Joy Gottschalk, Justin Wills, Kathy Kornblum
Board members absent: Sandra Bartsias, Eric David, Joy Glasser, Mary Jane Mitchell, Briana Daymont
Also Present: Rachel Hoben (Fuller Park manager), Councilmember John Quincy, Paul Sommers (Ramsey teacher), Elissa Cedarleaf Dahl (Ramsey teacher), Scott Bordon (Ramsey parent), Olivia Bordon (Ramsey student), Aron Khoury, Jeremy Schroeder, Tjody DeVaal, Vanessa Haight (TNA Coordinator), Alex Tsatsoulis (Minneapolis bike coalition), Christopher Massey
Called to order: 7:03pm
Officer Reports:
Secretary – Ryan moved to approve the January 2017 minutes, Justin seconded. Voice vote, motion approved.
Treasurer – No updates.
Councilmember John Quincy
John reminded the board and other attendees about the Community Connections conference on April 1st.
Rachel Hoben (Fuller Park)
Rachel, then new Fuller Park Recreation Facility Specialist, introduced herself.
Updates
Workshop: Psychology of Sustainable Behavior: the workshop, held on February 25th, had great turnout with around 100 attendees according to Joy. Kathy said her big takeaway was learning how to better find common ground with neighbors, and since being part of a “tribe” is a big motivator to help change people’s behavior, changing behavior of that group helps spread the behavior to others.
Website/MailChimp: At the February meeting the board approved a budget of $4,000 to update the TNA website template and develop an e-newsletter template for MailChimp, but it appears hard to pique interest with this apparently low budget. Vanessa received two bids on our proposal so far and needs review and input on them. Joy proposed postponing any changes until we can evaluate our needs with respect to the strategic plan. The Board decided to table until after strategic plan.
Strategic Planning: the planning committee received 4 proposals, selected two finalists, and after interviews selected Willow Consulting to direct our strategic plan for a contracted amount of $18,000. Due to the upcoming coordinator vacancy, Brigid from Willow Consulting offered to serve as interim coordinator until the strategic plan gives the board a better idea of our needs with respect to staff. The board decided to table the discussion on Brigid’s proposal until later in the meeting.
LaMac Dry Cleaners: LaMac’s owner verbally accepted the PERC conversion grant, including $5,000 from TNA, and has will soon receive the grant contract from the City. As the City is administering a large part of the grant, the board decided to pay the city the $5,000 grant amount, and the City will manage the overall contract and payments with LaMac.
Ramsey School New Sign
Paul, Elissa, Scott, and Olivia attended to discuss the Ramsey Middle School renaming initiative and their request for a grant to help fund a new sign.
The top rename choices are Justice Alan Page, Dr. Martha Ripley, and Bde Ota. 80% of students are in favor of renaming, 85% of community (via an online poll) are in favor, and the Ramsey Site Council voted 10-1 in favor. The decision is now in hands of superintendent and the school board.
The school group realized that since the existing sign is deteriorating, lacks attractive landscaping, and lettering cannot be changed, and they would like to install a new sign regardless of whether the renaming happens. Minneapolis School District policy requires community funding of new signs, so the group has conducted fund raisers and events to raise the money. They are planning an unveiling celebration this summer for a new name and would love to feature new sign too.
The group decided a running message board is too dangerous for the intersection, and would rather have static sign that better matches exterior of building. They have a maximum dudget of $15,000 and are asking for a $5,000 grant from TNA. TNA could receive acknowledgement of their contribution on the sign itself.
The Board was generally in favor of the proposal and would hope for closer cooperation with the school, possibly advertising for TNA events or volunteer help with TNA events. Vanessa mentioned that the City would probably require TNA to create a new Neighborhood Priority Plan for this purpose.
Steve moved to grant the Ramsey school group $5,000 for Ramsey signage changes contingent upon TNA allocation of NRP/CPP contracts, Dan seconded. Voice vote, motion approved.
Lyndale Open Streets
At the February meeting the Board approved up to $2,000 for Lyndale Open Streets, contingent upon a more detailed explanation of how the $1500 paid to the Minneapolis Bike Coalition would be spent. At this meeting, Alex explained that the money helps support staff time, outreach to businesses, permits, community outreach and notification around the route, general planning, and marketing of the event. TNA would be a neighborhood sponsor, receiving logo space on materials, promotion opportunities in day-of guides, and more space on the street than just a table/tent. Alex’s presentation satisfied the board’s contingency for funding the event.
Dick is meeting with other new neighborhoods along the route to decide how to span the residential blocks between 46th and 52nd and what kind of presence neighborhood associations will have.
Alex also explained that other neighborhoods have pledged additional funds to help cover permit expenses for businesses, which could be an option for TNA. Alex will send an invoice with details for sponsorship. He will also send collateral/photos/etc and small-business specific outreach language to Tjody for inclusion in the spring newsletter.
Elmwood Landscaping
Christopher asked TNA to formalize the commitment between TNA, the City, and MnDOT to assume responsibility for plantings along Elmwood Place for two years. Residents would perform all work associated with the landscaping, though TNA will have ultimate responsibility for the duration.
Joy drafted a letter to the City coordinator for these kind of landscaping projects, indicating that TNA will be the responsible organization. Justin moved to approve the letter, Ryan seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved. Joy signed the letter and gave it to Christopher; he will scan it and give it back to TNA.
CPP Annual Report
Andrew moved to approve the report as written, Kathy seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Neighborhood Priority Plan for Environmental and Sustainability Initiatives
Per the proposal from the February meeting, Dan moved to move $22,700 from unallocated NRP funds to a new Neighborhood Priority Plan for Environmental and Sustainability Initiatives. These funds would be used for current initiatives including rain gardens, LaMac dry-cleaning equipment grants, events, etc. Ryan seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Now the priority plan was approved, Kathy moved to grant $5,000 to LaMac for PERC mitigation from the plan, Steve seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Neighborhood of Rain Gardens
TNA allocated $3,000 in December 2016 to our rain gardens project. As part of this program, Dan moved to approve the rain gardens contract with Metro Blooms for $2,515, Justin seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Kathy moved to allocate the previously approved $3,000 for the rain gardens project from the new NPP for Environmental and Sustainability Initiatives. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Organics Captains Follow-Up
The City has some resources for their Organics block captains, but since TNA did our own program none of the TNA captains are on the City’s contact list and thus are not invited to any of the city events. Kathy proposed to hire Lauren Anderson to contact TNA Organics Captains, ask if they would like to be part of the City’s program, add them, and perform any other close-out tasks required for the program.
Dan moved to contract with Lauren for up to 20 hours at $30/hr (the same rate Lauren has previously contracted for) to contact captains for inclusion in the City program, and wind down the TNA Organics Captain program. Kathy seconded, voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Minneapolis 2040 Engagement Resolution
The City developed a “Minneapolis Comprehensive Plan 2040” which included the bullet point “Abolish recognition of neighborhood organizations”. Various neighborhood groups and the Neighborhood Community Engagement
Commission (NCEC) questioned this point and the process which resulted in its inclusion. These groups also wrote a resolution requesting the point be removed and more transparency around the plan’s development process and comment gathering. More than 15 other neighborhood associations have signed the resolution already.
Ryan moved that TNA sign the resolution as written. Justin seconded, voice vote, motion approved.
Newsletter
Most newsletter articles are already written and submitted. Tjody proposed an article about shopping locally which was approved by the board. The Ramsey rename (if it goes through) could be postponed until the Fall newsletter since schedules are tight.
Strategic Planning Initiative
Andrew moved to accept Willow Consulting’s strategic planning proposal as written for the amount of $18,000. Ryan seconded, voice vote, motion approved.
Aron Khoury indicated interest in being on the committee. Ryan, Dan, Andrew, and Kathy will be on the committee, and Joy will be a second.
Interim Coordinator Proposal from Brigid
Andrew asked about time-lines for strategic planning, and the length of a potential contract with Brigid from Willow Consulting for interim coordinator tasks. Ryan suggested it could be 6-8 months. Ryan also suggested we could ask our previous list of Coordinator candidates if they were interested in an interim role, but since Brigid has experience in this area and since we selected her for strategic planning there would be synergy if she took both roles. Kathy is concerned that strategic planning will require quite a bit of coordinator attention and about blurring of the roles if the same person is doing both. Despite those concerns, the board felt Brigid’s proposal was the best course of action.
Ryan proposed that we hire Brigid as interim coordinator for 6 months at her proposed rate of $55/hr (which Vanessa indicated was reasonable for interim coordinator/director roles). Kathy seconded. Voice vote, motion approved.
Annual Meeting
Mary Jane has secured food from Cafe Ena. Steve moved that we budget $1200 for the annual meeting in May. Justin seconded, voice vote, motion approved.
Adjourned: 8:56
Minutes submitted by Dan Williams, TNA Secretary