BOARD MEETING MINUTES – Monday, September 18, 2017 – 7:00 p.m., Fuller Park
Board members present: Dick Fiala, Ryan Fisher, Justin Wills, Dan Williams, Joy Gottschalk, Briana Daymont
Board members absent: Gabe Moreno, Steve Wohlford, Kathy Kornblum, Valerie Hurst
Also present: Sally Bauer (TNA Executive Director), Rachel Hoben (Fuller Park Center Director), Tom Balcom (neighborhood historian), Barbara Balcom, Brigid Riley (TNA strategic planning consultant)
Called to order: 7:05pm
Officer Reports:
Secretary – Dick moved to approve the August 2017 minutes, Ryan seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Treasurer – TNA received a CPP reimbursement for the January – June period of about $20,000 and an NRP advance of $10,000 for NRP contracts for the Justice Page school sign and LaMac Cleaners expenses. Justin is working on TNA’s taxes and also presented a draft profit & loss (P&L) statement for the May 31 2016 – May 31 2017 period. TNA has a cash balance of about $30,000.
Dan moved to approve the P&L, Ryan seconded. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Partner Announcements
Rachel Hoben: the Fuller park gym has new blinds, will get a new basketball hoop, and have wall mats added. Fall programs starting soon include guitar on Wednesdays, new pottery classes, and some new Friday preschool programs. Rachel is in the midst of planning January – May 2018 programs and any input requested.
Executive Director Report
Air quality program: MPCA came to the Southwest coordinators meeting and shared info about this program; they received a grant from the MN state legislature to put air quality monitors in every ZIP code of Minneapolis and St. Paul, and sought feedback for best places to put them. The monitors must be 8ft off the ground, and MPCA prefers to place monitors in places people will be out-and-about (eg, parks, schools, outdoor rec areas) to measure air pollution there. They will evaluate the data later and make recommendations to improve air quality. Sally representated TNA; she and Lynnhurst suggested 50th + Burroughs as a good spot.
Legislative Information Management System: the City contacted TNA to make us aware of their online system into which legislative information is entered. The system is meant to bring visibility to the schedules and agendas of advisory boards and committees. TNA may invite a city representative to demonstrate the system to a future board meeting. Sally will follow up.
Zero Waste: the City has released a draft zero waste plan and is looking for feedback. There will be a meeting at Sabathani Community Center on September 21st 6-8pm to learn more and provide feedback as well as an online survey.
Court Watch: the City is looking for a representative from TNA to participate in a to-be-defined program for the southern part of 5th precinct to discuss safety issues (eg prosecutions, crimes, problematic things in the neighborhood). Ryan indicated that this program also solicits neighborhoods for input as to the impact of various crimes in the neighborhood when a case goes to trial. A Tangletown Court Watch representative would reach out to neighbors for public comment should that situation arise. The group would have monthly meetings. Sally will follow up for more details. Perhaps our 5th precinct contact Jennifer Weisinen could notify us when something needs attention.
Review e-mail Accounts
A couple accounts listed on the website are not being monitored, including board@, president@, vice-president@, secretary@, and some event-specific ones (4th, garage, home tour). Sally will remove all accounts except info@ from the website. She will also delete the treasurer@, vice-president@, editor@, and secretary@ accounts, but keep president@ and board@.
Utility Box Wraps
Dan submitted the application for wrapping 7 utility boxes with the previously solicited and selected art to the City before the August 30th deadline. The Minneapolis Arts Commission met just before this TNA board meeting and we expect to heard their decision on our application soon.
Strategic Planning
Neighborhood Survey: – Survey was completed in August and winners were drawn at the last board meeting. Brigid sent the gift card in the mail already.
Key informant interviews: six completed and one outstanding
Focus groups: our first two had low attendance but we received input via email from others who could not attend. Because turnout was low we’ll add another open listening session on evening of Tuesday Oct 3 at Fuller park with a 5:30 pizza dinner and discussion at 6pm. Childcare will be available. The cost will be covered from the existing strategic planning budget except for any promotional costs (postcards, flyers, etc).
Brigid will summarize the survey, key informant interviews, and listening session data over the next month and make a report at the October meeting. She will schedule the first board workshop after coordinating schedules with board members.
Sally proposed a more focused promotion effort for the October 3rd listening session. She compiled a list of residents who have had focused interaction with TNA (block leaders, National Night Out organizers, and Organics Captains) and created postcards for board members to hand deliever to these residents’ homes.
Leaf Raking
Dan moved to budget $200 for a leaf raking event at a to-be-determined date this fall. Sally will organize.
September E-mail List Topics
Topics will include Open Streets Nicollet on September 24th, the City’s Zero Waste report, Fuller Park programs, and an introduction of Sally as the TNA Executive Director. Sally also suggested a meet-the-board-member feature each month starting in October; Dick volunteered to be first. Sally will also add a thanks to residents who have participated in the strategic planning process.
Justice Page Sign
Ryan will follow up on the status of new sign; the existing one seems to still be in-place though somewhat refurbished.
Fall Newsletter
The board discussed whether to continue the print newsletter and decided to do so. Other topics could include:
- Strategic Planning
- Events/4th of July wrap-up with photos
- A follow-up on the rain gardens project, including perhaps a picture and story.
- Utility box wraps progress
- Justice Page school name change and sign
- La Mac cleaners PERC-free grant
- New Fuller park programs
Dan moved to budget up to $2750 for fall newsletter, Briana second. Voice vote, all in favor, motion approved.
Adjourned: 8:31
Minutes submitted by Dan Williams, TNA Secretary
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