BOARD MEETING MINUTES – Monday, March 19, 2018 – 7:00 p.m., Fuller Park
Board members present: Dick Fiala, Dan Williams, Briana Daymont, Valerie Hurst, Kathy Kornblum, Gabe Moreno, Joy Gottschalk, Steve Wohlford, Ryan Fisher
Board members absent: Justin Wills
Also present: Sally Bauer (TNA Executive Director), Jeremy Schroeder, Rhonda Dean (Washburn HS principal), Steve Peterson (Washburn HS project manager), Steve Bieringer, Rachel Hoban (Fuller Park director), Laurie McGinley (MPS Planning and Design Manager), Holland Wood (graphic designer for TNA rebranding initiative)
Called to order: 7:04pm
Officer Reports:
Secretary – Kathy made a motion to approve the January minutes, Briana seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Treasurer – no updates this month
Washburn High School Construction Project
Washburn has seen steady enrollment increases, from ~800 in 2008 to 1600+ now. To better accommodate increased enrollment and to bring the science and music classrooms up-to-date, the high school be closed during the summer while it undergoes a construction project on the north-west side.
Construction materials will start being delivered on Saturday, May 19 and construction itself will start Monday, May 21. Equipment and fencing will be set up at the parking lot at Pleasant & 49th. MPS selected the accelerated construction schedule to ensure classrooms will be ready by August 25th. This requires working as many hours (including Saturdays) within noise ordinance times (7am – 6pm weekdays, Saturday 9am – 6pm) as possible. During the last three weeks of the school year, contractors will use parking spots so more students and staff will have to park on the streets. There will be no on-site crane; the worst noise will probably be backup beeps from heavy machinery through end of July.
There will be no road closures. Steve B. asked about truck routes since 49th is very narrow, may not work well for trucks and may increase traffic near frequently used pedestrian crossings. Steve P. (project manager) indicated the contractor can vary routes periodically and they will work with their contractor to ensure smooth operation.
For obvious reasons, the Washburn parking lot will not be available for TNA 4th of July parade staging.
Rebranding Task Force
The group reviewed the history of current TNA logo and came to the conclusion there are a number of real problems with it. The logo is simple clip-art and was never intentionally designed, has been co-opted by neighborhood businesses, and its detailed background gets lost on some mediums, for starters. The group’s general consensus was that something unique and original would be more representative of TNA and useful for the future. The new logo is built around the water tower as it is a defining element of our neighborhood. It will be available in a couple different versions/sizes, both with color and without.
Ryan asked whether the logo was TNA brand or also potentially for the Tangletown neighborhood itself. Steve W. replied that the logo could be modified to serve as a neighborhood logo too. Holland (graphic designer) thought there was enough flexibility in the existing logo for a number of different variations.
Mission Statement
TNA has no mission statement. Sally and Joy decided to ask all board members to write a one sentence mission statement, from which a committee will derive the proposed one.
FY18 Budget Approval and Process Update
TNA has traditionally approved expenses as they occur. Sally recommends that we institute an operating budget and presented a proposed process. The budget would generally represent recurring expenses such as insurance, staff salary, communications, etc. A draft budget would be presented each October for feedback, with a final budget presented in November meeting for approval. Items already approved through the budget at the November meeting would not need to return to the board for additional approval at the time of expense, as currently happens. Items not in the approved budget would still need approval at a normal board meeting.
Sally also presented her proposed FY2018 budget. Steve moved to approve the proposed budget, Gabe seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Board Recruitment
Sally proposed two events for board recruitment at which community members could meet the board, one at St. Paul Bagelry and a happy hour at a location to be determined (La Fresca, Wise Acre, etc). The board agreed this was a good idea. Sally will send out a doodle poll with dates.
Gabe moved to budget $100 for the two events. Valerie seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Annual Meeting Planning
The board agreed to invite Jeremy Schroeder, Mayor Frey, and/or Brad Bourn (MPRB) to be the featured speakers at our annual meeting. Sally will coordinate the invites. Ryan suggested a panel format with pre-submitted questions. Other topics could include housing, Minneapolis 2020 plan, etc.
ED Report
Annual CPP Report: Dan moved to approve the annual report, Dick seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Garage sale budget: Sally worked with Justin to accept PayPal payments and created a Google form for sign-up fees. Paper forms and checks will also be accepted. The event actually loses money; most of the cost is signage and the Star Tribune advertisement, and not all of that is covered by sign-up costs. Steve W. asked about reducing the cost of signage; Steve B. replied that in the past TNA hasn’t had the time to go collect signs so new ones are printed every year. Sally noted that because of rebranding, we may want to reprint the signs anyway with the new logo and colors.
Justice Page Sign: Even though originally the Minneapolis Public Schools required students/staff to fund-raise for a new school sign after the decision to change the school name to Justice Page, MPS decided to pay for the new sign to ensure it stays consistent with MPS branding, and thus cannot actually use the $5,000 TNA granted last year for that effort. The students/staff are exploring other related options for the funds. Sally indicated to them that once they determine a new use for the grant, they should return to TNA for approval of that use..
Spring Newsletter: it will be out in mid April, but Sally wanted to wait until today’s approval of the new logo to start design and layout.
Neighborhood 2020: Sally suggested inviting Stacy or somebody else from the City to talk about the plan at our April meeting. The board agreed.
Parks Citizen Advisory Committee nominations: adjacent neighborhoods can coordinate on nominees, to be determined by March 28th. Sally suggested that she will review incoming applications and coordinate with other neighborhood organization staff to select a final nominee. The board agreed. She also requested that we encourage neighbors to apply as we have only one applicant from Tangletown so far.
Open Streets: TNA paid a $1,500 sponsorship fee last year to help extend the route through Tangletown to 54th, this year they asked for $1,000 this year which Sally questioned because the route was already extended and set up. She will follow-up with other coordinators to clarify the fee. The board agreed that the $1,000 fee was acceptable for 2018 but perhaps not for following years.
Interim ED: Sally has posted the application and gotten two responses so far.
Sponsorships: Sally would like to have a more formal process for sponsorship of TNA events and will investigate more.
April e-blast topics: Sally asked for any suggestions from the board. Steve suggested that Adopt-a-Storm Drain participants should pay special attention to their storm drains during the spring.
Adjourned: 8:44
Minutes submitted by Dan Williams, TNA Secretary