BOARD MEETING MINUTES – Monday, September 21, 2015 – 7:00 p.m., Fuller Park
Board members present: Ryan Fisher, Dan Williams, Lauren Anderson, Andrew Buss, Laura Silver, Steve
Bieringer, Sandra Bartsias, Andrea Siegel, Mary Jane Mitchell, Karen Costello, Virgil Petrie
Board members absent: Eric David, Dylan Sirny, Joy Gottschalk, Dick Fiala
Also present: Tjody deVaal, Abby Rowan
Called to order: 7:06pm
Newsletter Update
Newsletter submissions covering the Board's six new initiatives are due by Friday September 25, 2015. Each
intiative team will write a short article about their iniative and its current status. Other proposed articles include
organics recycling, community solar gardens, electronics recycling, school updates, the Halloween walking tour, a
Spring newsletter photo contest, business updates, experience with the Center for Energy and the Environment's
Home Energy Squad program, 4 th of July recap and hilights, Community Education update, and possibly something
from Councilmember John Quincy.
October 12 th was proposed as the mailing date for the newsletter to give enough notice before Halloween for events
like the Halloween Walking Tour, but not so much time that events are forgotten.
The printer that the Board has contracted with for newletter services has recently passed away, but his assistant is
taking over and the Board does not anticipate problems with publishing our upcoming newsletter. As it has been a
long time since the board has priced printing and mailing options, Abby began to investigate other vendors and will
report back at a later meeting.
The Board discussed why participation in the Halloween Walking Tour has fallen in recent years, decided to solict
houses and volunteers for the tour, and if there is enough interested the Walking Tour will be continued for 2015.
The Board also discussed helping support the Fuller Park Haloween program by offsetting the Park's dwindling
budget but no motions were offered.
A motion to allocate $2500 from the NCR account to fund editing, printing, publishing for fall newsletter was made,
seconded, and approved. None opposed.
Neighborhood Priorities Status / Committee Reports
In conjunction with the Board, Abby created a project status template for the Priorities teams to complete one week
before each monthly Board meeting. The Board hopes to eventually publish these reports online and possibly in the
newsletter for greater transparency. Abby will be coordinating the collection of status reports, will summarize the
reports, and present an overall status at the regular board meeting. However, in the interest of time, Board members
should review each team's status report before the meeting so that we do not spend an inordinate amount of time on
them during the meeting.
Abby will also be available to assist each team with execution and follow-through of their priorities up to her
budgeted hours. Requests for Abby's assistance should be made to Ryan and Steve and include the amount of hours
required and a deadline for the task to be completed.
Fuller Park (Steve, Virgil): the team is not yet ready with a budget as they are still discussing priorities with Fuller
park staff, and some proposals must be discussed with higher level Parks Board management. Some possibilities
include adding a projector and screen to the gym area, adding window blinds to the gym area, and adding air
conditioning to the building, but needs are still being determined with park staff.
Board Development (Karen, Andrew, Dick): to continue developing materials, all board members must have access
to Google Docs and the Board's Google Drive account since no physical materials will be produced. Materials will
include bylaws, how-tos for Board procedures, and a phyiscal inventory of Board-owned equipment. The team is
still determining what information will be restricted to board members only (e.g. personal information of Board
members) and what can be made publicly available. Board members were asked to fill in “bio sheets” and return
them to Andrew.
Utility Box Wraps (Dan, Andrea): Andrea summarized communication with the City's program manager for utility
box wraps, who stated that neighborhood associations without full-time paid staff can only do about four wraps each
year due to multiple process hurdles. The team proposed starting with two to four boxes to become familiar with the
process, and will propose a budget for that number of boxes by the next meeting.
Sustainability/Green Team (Lauren, Joy): the team proposed a budget of $10,355 for activities including organics
recycling block captain training, holding a workshop related to organics in early 2016, organizing a kick-off event
when bins come out, doing business outreach, distributing lawn signs, and organizing a Fall 2015 forum for
community solar gardens.
A motion was made to approve $1000 for sustainability committee for the Fall 2015 forum for community solar
gardens. Seconded. Voice vote, approved, none opposed.
Website/Communications (Eric, Dylan, Ryan, Laura): the team proposed a fast-track revamp of the existing website
centered around a new design, which does not require significant budget. The new website should be focused on the
entire neighborhood and not just Board activities. The site will have minimal maintenance requirements and a
preview should be ready by December.
School Relationships (Mary Jane, Sandra): the team is focusing on Washburn and Ramsey, and will reach out to
various PTAs too. Sandra spoke to the Washburn principal who suggested that she contact the Washburn
Foundation and Washburn Arts Council, which Sandra did but had not yet received a response. Any near-term
budget requests would be to support community education by sponsoring a class or classes around neighborhood
development or Board initiatives. Sponsoring grant programs at the schools is also a possibility. Steve proposed
that the Board should focus on partnerships instead of just donations.
Officer Reports:
Secretary – A motion to approve the August 2015 minutes was made, seconded and approved.
Treasurer – Sandra filed board tax forms for Fiscal Year 2015. The board recorded a loss of $2922.35 for FY2015
due to slow application to City NRP/CPP programs for reimbursments of 2015 contract spending.
The NCR account has $12,251.73 and the Tangletown account has $18,445.88, not including reimbursements from
the City for NRP/CPP contracts mentioned above. A motion to approve the financials report was made, seconded
and approved. None opposed.
Coordinator Update
None
Partner and Other Announcements
Melody Johnson from AchieveMpls reached out to the board soliciting support for the “Our City, Our Schools”
initiative, and is open to further communication or informational meetings. The board referred her inquiry to the
School Relationships committee.
Adjourned: 8:45pm
Minutes submitted by Dan Williams, TNA Secretary