MHCA Area Directors' meeting minutes

• Blog Actions

Midvale Heights Community Association
August 26, 2014 – Board Meeting
Board Members Present: Chuck Kreimendahl, Jenny Chipault, Ed Rogers, Jonn Lager, Nan Lager, Tom Jarvis, Jason Butler, Mary J. Armstrong, Floyd Stautz, Paul Haskew, Gary Poulson, Denise Lamb, Ron Rotter, Cathy Rotter, Greg Fischer, Peter Schell

Others in attendance: Maurice Cheeks

1. Meeting called to order by C Kreimendahl
2. Prior Minutes Review
   1. June minutes approved
3. Treasurer’s Report
   1. R Rotter gives summary, details distributed in hard copy
   2. Received $1,000 check from the city toward the replacement of our neighborhood sign on Mineral Point
   3. Bought new signs for neighborhood Garage Sale this year for $400, but sale is usually profitable
   4. T-ball made over $4,000 this year, which is down a bit from last year
      1. Suggestion for sign that says “Pressman Stadium” or “Pressman Field” when new backstop goes up in Piper Park
         1. Would need to get permission from the city before we put up a sign
   5. Bills coming in for postcard mailing
4. Legislative Reports
   1. None
5. Membership Drive Epilogue
   1. It was complicated this year, possibly in part because P Haskew wasn’t available to head a committee. C Kreimendahl believes it will go smoother with a committee.
   2. T Jarvis relays that we have 444 members (plus recent adds), 13 addresses asked not to be included in directory, 18 asked not to have their kids included in directory, 7 marked as not paid. Had 482 last year. We’ll probably get a few more so we’ll be close to last year’s numbers.
   3. T Jarvis had the idea that we should print a membership card with every members name on it, which means 1 to 3 cards per household. However, it turns out that the only way printer could put different numbers of cards in different envelopes would be to print in multiple batches. They wanted to stuff envelopes. Only the envelopes with two cards could be shipped bulk and having 1 card difference between envelopes would not allow us to ship bulk.
      1. C Kreimendahl says that when he mailed postcards, they weighed pile to the thousandths of a pound
      2. T Jarvis told printer to just do one card with one name and then P Haskew and T Jarvis will create other cards and have block captains distribute them.
      3. D Lamb can put information on front page of newsletter to let people know that directory and card with first names will be coming soon.
         1. Messengers will be back to D Lamb Wednesday after Labor Day
         2. P Haskew wonders if additional cards might be distributed before or at same time as Messenger so Messenger should indicate that members might already have all their cards
      4. MJ Armstrong asks if we can put a sticker on cards for our areas
         1. P Haskew says this is too cumbersome
      5. C Kreimendahl asks if we can time it with messenger
      6. E Rogers brings up people who get digital messenger won’t be on delivery roster
      7. J Chipault wonders if it’s worth the fuss to distribute additional cards
         1. One card with “adult 1” is already printed and some females have different last names so necessary this year
      8. Suggestion for next year to print multiple cards with multiple names, e.g., 2 names on each card and 2 copies of the card for every household
      9. E Rogers suggest we could put in dummy “thank you” cards to make up difference in weight if different number of personalized cards required
      10. P Schell says that every household should get two cards
      11. R Rotter says we should not put names at all
          1. P Haskew says businesses need way to check back to card holder; temptation is for wait staff to apply discount and pocket money
      12. C Kreimendahl asks how much it will cost to print extra cards
          1. Additional cost will likely be less than 3 figures
      13. Motion to approve printing of extra cards for up to $200.
          1. Motion passes
   4. C Kreimendahl did post card mailing (as reminders after membership Messenger goes out) and we’ve always assumed that expense of that is worth it. Cost is $150 postage, $225 for post cards.
      1. Some directors think that in previous years we only sent to people who had previously signed up and didn’t in current year, others think we only take off people who already signed up in current year
      2. Did not get a big bump in memberships this year (around 60), but did recoup costs
      3. MJ Armstrong says it’s also about getting people involved so while it’d be nice to reduce the cost, that might not be most important goal
      4. MJ Armstrong wonders if we could only print postcards every couple years to reduce those costs (stockpile them)
      5. D Lamb wonders if we’re distributing information to new neighbors?
         1. C Kreimendahl says no, nobody has asked for new neighbor kits
      6. E Rogers says based on engagement vs. cost ratio, Facebook post provided a noticeable bump in survey completion when assessing interest in activities at Segoe Park
      7. T Jarvis sent email to everyone who was a member last year, and that did result in more registrations
      8. D Lamb says someone she talked to couldn’t remember whether they had registered and D Lamb suggested they check the website but they didn’t want to go online, so there’s still some part of the community that needs hard copy postcards
      9. M Cheeks brings up door-to-door
      10. 21 of our block captains aren’t MHCA members
      11. MJ Armstrong introduces herself to people when she’s on a walk and relays that she’s a representative for their part of the neighborhood
          1. She has 138 houses and that can be overwhelming
      12. M Cheeks suggests that all block captains do door-to-door in the same weekend and there could be prizes, perhaps leading up to the neighborhood picnic
6. Mayor’s Neighborhood Conference
   1. D Lamb sent a copy of the city’s notice of the neighborhood conference, registration is $15, anyone in the neighborhood can come, D Lamb will put it in the newsletter, D Lamb has attended most of these for the past 10 years, it’s a great way to meet people from other neighborhoods that are doing the same things we’re trying to do, great keynote speaker, you don’t have to commit to the whole day, she comes out of it with about 85 good ideas!
   2. Motion to pay registration fee for directors that want to attend neighborhood conference
      1. Approved
7. Neighborhood Sign and Piper Park sign/name
   1. C Kreimendahl started talking to city about neighborhood signs back in February, even though it was just replacing a sign that had already existed, took a while. Prices went up since last July when R Rotter had received an invoice from the sign company. At March meeting, we approved pursuing $1000 from city to help purchase replacement sign. Getting the Odana sign location approved was difficult. Location is triangle by bus stop, across the road from HyVee. That whole area is a right-of-way. Long and short of it is that 2-3 departments had to approve it. Finally, in July they said it was approved, but that did not involve digging holes in right-of-way, which is engineering's department and need also need sign permit from zoning. C Kreimendahl now has digging permit. This board had never approved expense for larger sign at that location: 8 foot sign now will cost $3,800. Total for two signs is over $5,000 so with new price tag, C Kreimendahl wanted to re-visit issue.
   2. MJ Armstrong wonders if the sign company can guarantee the signs for any amount of time
   3. Where Odana Rd. sign was before was more at risk (where Tyberius Terrace apartments are now)
   4. MJ Armstrong asks how tall posts would be
      1. Tall enough to put hostas or rocks underneath it so that it’s less likely to get hit by mower
   5. J Chipault asks if smaller sign was considered
      1. Yes, but it’s too far from road to see a smaller sign
   6. MJ Armstrong wonders if there’s care-taking involved (e.g., should sign be oiled or clear coated)?
   7. P Schell wonders if we can offer sign company advertising in our Newsletter as barter
   8. Motion to approve larger sign at Odana Rd with $3,800 price tag
      1. Approved
   9. Someone who lives on Piper (he thinks) sent C Kreimendahl an email saying that existing sign at Piper park says Oak Park Heights. Neighbor wonders why we can’t just get a sign that says Piper Park. Sign looks bad (or is gone?). C Kreimendahl doesn’t know history.
      1. G Poulson says there’s a process through the Parks Dept for naming or re-naming.
      2. Do people on the board want to pursue it or should C Kreimendahl let her know that she should pursue it on her own
      3. Suggestion to have her to talk to her neighbors and come to a board meeting to get a motion for support
8. Garage Sale
   1. C Kreimendhal got email from Jill Carlson regarding cost of signs. We had approved $200 but cost went up to $446 so need to approve that cost. They are reusable.
      1. Motion approved
   2. P Schell wonders if anyone knows who to talk to about putting out Garage Sale signs (big sandwich boards)
      1. MJ Armstrong says need permit
         1. T Jarvis looked at rules for lawn sales and didn’t see need for permit
      2. M Cheeks doesn’t know if there’s ordinance about garage sale signs specifically, but generally it’s not allowed on public property.
      3. MJ Armstrong wonders if they’re more appealing and are getting stolen by private individuals
      4. Usually put them up Thursday night, take down Sat/Sun
      5. M Cheeks says Matt Tucker from zoning is the best person to talk to about this
      6. D Lamb offers her yard (private property) for sign if needed
      7. T Jarvis says website says can’t have more than one sale every 3 months and can’t hold sale for more than 4 days at a time.
9. Announcements
   1. T Jarvis wonders if he can use our Midvale Heights gmail account to register for Google maps.
      1. Use of group's email address to get map for group seems reasonable
         1. Lots of head nodding
   2. Person who has coordinated neighborhood Santa visits is stepping down so can T Jarvis contact people who signed up as interested when filling out membership form. He will contact Stephanie Mikesell first to see if she has recommendations.
      1. Similar situation for people who signed up to volunteer for neighborhood watch; can we contact them
      2. Group thinks this is ok, members were asking to be contacted
      3. C Kreimendahl asks that T Jarvis keep us informed so that we know status of leadership
      4. P Schell offers to organize Santa visits, will talk with Stephanie first, and T Jarvis and P Schell will stay in contact about this topic
   3. R Rotter has been paying T Jarvis quarterly for website server
      1. Motion to continue these payments
         1. Approved
   4. Kids Club
      1. There will be a short write-up and pictures in the newsletter. C Kreimendahl went to park in June during Kids Club. It was held on Tuesdays and there were 10 sessions planned. Had good turn-out, about 20 kids in June, roughly 12 signed-up ahead of time and then more as drop-in. Overall, C Kreimendahl thinks it was a great success. If people have questions, can contact C Kreimendahl or Deborah Jackson Still about it.
   5. Mayor Candidate Meeting
      1. Bridgette Maniachi contacted C Kreimendahl a couple of months ago and she asked if she could come to a board meeting. We’ve had candidates speak before.
         1. G Poulson suggests we limit it to 3-5 minutes. C Kreimendahl will contact her.
   6. D Lamb reminds us we have an annual meeting in October. Can put save-the-date in newsletter and then we’ll have to send postcards out
      1. Sarah Day from APT as speaker? We asked her last year but she was in rehearsal. G Poulson will contact her again.
      2. If people have ideas for speaker, send them to D Lamb.
      3. D Lamb will make sure we have space reserved at library for that annual meeting
   7. Alder Report - M Cheeks
      1. Has anyone been to IdeaScale website? This is something city has started doing (as of last year) as way to host public feedback forum at www.Madison.ideascale.com. Soliciting feedback from community. Alders are taking input from website seriously, e.g., biodigester, metro bus suggestions, etc. What pilot programs should we start?, what big goals should be pursued?
      2. MJ Armstrong asks if there are updates for HyVee area.
         1. M Cheeks brought possibility of HyVee being a community center up but it’s a long-term project
         2. Another thing to be aware of is that DOT is going to be looking at that intersection next summer, which might affect our new neighborhood sign.
      3. E Rogers wonders what timeline is regarding ideas being submitted via website.
         1. Council starts budget process in July where Alders start talking to mayor and neighborhoods provide input and then in July-Sept, a lot of discussion happens, and things get written down in October.
   8. F Stautz brings up Mike Koval, new police chief, as possibility for annual meeting speaker.
      1. M Cheeks says he’ll be doing speaking engagements in every district. Our district (west) is on September 18th at 6-7pm, Our Redeemer Church, 1701 McKenna Blvd
   9. C Kreimendahl says research park is proposing to create a lot for commercial development on 45 Science Drive (11 acres).
      1. P Haskew says it’s Ultratech and they will be doubled in size with mirror-image buildings. Area was hit by tornado. They are putting in sloping garden that will be beautiful and open to the public.
   10. Adjourned 8:20pm

Minutes recorded by Jenny Chipault, Secretary