BOARD MEETING MINUTES – Monday, October 21, 2013 7:00 p.m., Fuller Park
Board members present: Ryan Fisher – President, Steve Bieringer – Vice President, Carolyn Dungan – Secretary, Sandra Bartsias – Treasurer, Karen Costello, Birdie Cunningham, Eric David, Jeff Gears, Jane Elias, Andrea Siegel, Charlie Siftar
Also present: Carol Anderson (Fuller Park), Tom Balcom (Historian), John Quincy (City Council Member), Jack Whitehurst (Neighborhood Support Specialist), Mary Altman (Minneapolis Public Arts Administrator)
1. Call to Order 7:00
2. Fuller Park plaque update – Steve reported that the plaque project was approved by the Minneapolis Park Board. Currently, it is in the fabrication stage to acquire a boulder and arrange delivery and then have the plaque attached with epoxy. The presentation will be Sunday, November 17th at 1pm.
On motion duly made, seconded and carried, it was resolved that:
$100 from the TNA account will be allocated to the purchase of refreshments for the Fuller Park memorial plaque dedication presentation.
4. Utility Box Wraps – Mary Altman presented to the board on the next steps to completing the utility box project. There have been 150 approved utility boxes approved for artwork in the last few years. The wraps are generally made of a 3M product that has a five-year life. Kingfield wrapped 10 boxes using this material and right now two are not doing so well. The wraps are easy to clean and certain vendors are good at working with you in tailoring the designs to fit the utility boxes. Mary will let us know the requirements for the images in regard to size and pixels. Before moving forward with our approved boxes we’ll want to make sure that none of them are slotted to be replaced. The cost for the wraps is approximately $15 per square foot or $600 to $700 per box. It’s possible to use one image over two boxes if they are close together. The preapproved boxes all have a note giving the artist credit. We will need to supply resumes of the artists. For the student art, we should provide a resume for either the teacher or the artist curator that will be overseeing the project. For pictures provided by non-professional photographers, you can provide the resume for the graphic artist that will work with the image. John Quincy noted that the City Council approved extending the grant to June of 2014.
5. Halloween Home Tour – Jeff stated that there are only 3 entrants this year which is probably not enough to move forward. We marketed the event well, but still did not get the desired response. The deadline for submissions is October 23. After discussion, the board agreed to extend the deadline to Thursday. It was decided that the day tour would be at 4pm. Ryan will do an e-blast and a Face Book announcement. Jeff asked for help in posting the signs and with the walking tour. Jeff will email the board on Friday with a status update.
6. Home loan program with CEE – Most of the money has been paid off on the existing revolving loans. We could recapture the $110,000 and put it back into our operating budget but Ryan suggested that we approve moving the funds back into the appropriate loan programs and allocate $30,000 into the revolving loan pool. Ryan will forward more information to the board. We can have CEE put out a mailer to make residents aware of the programs.
On motion duly made, seconded and carried, it was resolved that:
TNA will reallocate $30,000 from the repaid revolving CEE home loans back into existing loan programs with 10% to going to the administrative pool and the rest into the four existing loan programs.
After discussion it was agreed that we should increase our marketing efforts for the program. John Quincy noted that Hale Page Diamond Lake neighborhood association is redirecting more funds to seniors and figuring out how to use the funds effectively. Mary Jane, Ryan and Eric all agreed to get together and review/discuss the particulars of reinvesting in the loan fund.
7. Leaf-free yard signs – The TNA Sustainability committee is initiating this campaign that was started by the Lynnhurst neighborhood. We are using the sign designed by Lynnhurst but using TNA’s contact information. Since time was of the essence, the Sustainability committee bought fifty signs and is asking that the board underwrite the cost of the signs for Tangletown residents. Others can purchase the signs at cost. The sustainability committee will deliver the signs to the residents that order them. It was noted that the signs should be placed on the resident’s property and not on the boulevard.
On motion duly made, seconded and carried, it was resolved that:
The board will reimburse Mary Jane $356.96 for the cost of fifty leaf-free street signs and provide them free of cost to Tangletown residents and for a donation to non-residents.
8. Partnership development with Tangletown schools – Council member Quincy reported that he has not yet heard back from the school board on this effort.
9. Bike rack project – Charlie reported that we can put the Tangletown logo in the middle of the bike racks. It will be a ¼ inch steel plate that is laser etched. The eleven approved bike racks would cost $1,100 without the logo, $1,800 if all have the logo and $1,600 if every other rack in each cluster has the logo. These figures all represent the TNA portion of the cost. Color options are yellow, green, orange and black. Charlie will talk to the businesses about color preferences. The bikes should be installed within a month of final approval.
On motion duly made, seconded and carried, it was resolved that:
TNA approve an additional $700 towards the bike rack project in order to add logos to half of the bike racks. The funds will come from the NCR account.
10. Secretary report – The Board minutes of the September 16, 2013 meeting were posted on the TNA website for Board approval.
Upon motion duly made, seconded and unanimously adopted, the minutes were approved as presented.
11. Treasurer report – there were some expenditure since the last monthly meeting. The balances stand at: TNA $12,638.54, NCR $22,960.60. Once we spend more money Sandra will put in for reimbursements of last year’s spending of approximately $15,000. Diamond Lake Rental charged us $1,400 for two years of 4th of July costs.
12. Sustainability Committee report – The organic composting summit event is set for December 4th at Fuller where we will talk to a group larger than Tangletown and Hale Page Diamond Lake and if we have enough information by then we can announce where the compost bin drop-off sites will be. Council member Quincy noted that there is an extensive report on an organic composting pilot program and that he continues to meet with county and school board staff regarding locations. The initial hybrid program that TNA is working on could be rolled out to other areas of the city. The eventual goal is to have residential pick up. Karen Costello asked that she be added to the Sustainability committee.
13. Partner and other announcements – Council member Quincy reported that NCR is still working on their budget, the One Read book club kick off will be at Mill City, there have been no complaints about the new Washburn scoreboard which is up now, there will be a meeting with residents regarding street resurfacing and covering bus pads and street sweeping has begun. Carol Anderson invited all to attend the Fuller Park Halloween party from 6 to 8pm on Halloween night. Ryan suggested that we begin planning for the board holiday party via email. Steve offered to follow up with getting internet reception in the Fuller Park gym.
14. There being no further business, on motion duly made, seconded and carried, the meeting was adjourned at 8:39pm.
Respectfully submitted,
Carolyn Dungan, TNA Secretary
Next Meeting: Monday, November 18, 2013 at Fuller Park.