MHCA Area Directors' meeting minutes

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Midvale Heights Community Association Board Meeting
Tuesday, May 26, 2015 – 6:45 p.m. – Sequoya Branch Library

Area directors present: Chuck Kreimendahl, Ron Rotter, Floyd Stautz, Ed Rogers, Greg Fischer, Jenny Chipault, Denise Lamb, Kay Reuter-Krohn, Tom Jarvis

Visitors: Steve Fitzsimmons, Cathy Rotter

1. Call to Order & Introductions - C Kreimendahl
   1. Have new area director for Area 7 (Tim Trapp) but not here tonight; maybe in June.
2. Prior Minutes Review
   1. Motion to approve
      1. Motion carries
3. Treasurer’s Report - R Rotter
   1. Passed out hard copy with details
      1. ~$44,000 total
      2. Provided details on what we’ve spent on picnic since inception (2005). Last year we spent $1000, with HyVee at $700. Was $475 two years ago. This year HyVee is charging $1600. Will discuss this later.
      3. Signed up 170 kids for t-ball, purchased first aid kits
      4. Bill for membership messengers sent to R Rotter by C Kreimendahl
         1. $167 for postcards and $264 for mailing charge (plus postage, we suspect) for the picnic
4. Legislative Reports - Maurice Cheeks/Carousel Bayrd
   1. Not present
   2. C Kreimendahl did hear from C Bayrd. S Fitzsimmons had neighborhood watch meeting where he asked crowd about sending letter of appreciation to Madison police. S Fitzsimmons edited it with advice from C Bayrd and sent to chief of police.
5. Membership Drive Committee Update – Board
   1. Right now it’s pretty much just T Jarvis entering information from membership sign ups
      1. K Reuter-Krohn volunteers to help, and D. Lamb volunteers starting at end of month
   2. There's link on website called “2015 member info” that breaks down information
      1. 99 registered members, 3 not verified as paid, 11 not members last year (but perhaps had been in years previous to that). 24 donations (total $650) – 9 for neighborhood watch and 11 for Tokay plantings. History books were purchased and C Rotter says they’ve been delivered.
   3. T Jarvis has entered 19 memberships and then went to post office today and there were a lot more in post office box. K Reuter-Krohn, C Kreimendahl, and Rotters can enter data it. Tried to enroll E Rogers but didn’t work. Can’t register yourself if trying to enter data for someone else. Need to verify that address and check number are on forms.
      1. C Kreimendahl notes that it’s easy to register online so hopefully people do that.
   4. C Kreimendahl thinks for now we'll just enter data and can talk about sending a reminder post card in June if we want to do that.
6. Neighborhood Picnic June 18 – Board
   1. Jill contacted C Kreimendahl after he let her know that we approved $1200 for picnic because we thought that would cover food and other costs. But HyVee increased cost to $1600. This would be the third picnic that HyVee catered and they had given us a marked discount (something like 50%) and this year they want to do only a 20% discount on their service and goods. They provide the meat and the buns and the people to cook it, as well as silverware and plates. Jill thought it was wonderful because used to be a lot of work for volunteers. Assuming we had a couple hundred people show, that’s $8 per person for a partial meal, which seems expensive. But it's kind of too late to change so C Kreimendahl suggests we go ahead but board should talk about budget. Jill will make some adjustments in what’s offered based on past years and to reduce cost a bit. Might want to re-evaluate what we’re doing, but Jill would rather not go back to the old days of volunteers cooking.
      1. D Lamb thinks they start cooking burgers and brats because we had a hard time getting people to bring main courses. So it could be on us (board members) to bring meat dishes.
         1. E Rogers asks if we would we lose Jill if did that
            1. D Lamb says we could find someone else to cater the meat
         2. K Reuter-Krohn reminds us that there was someone who used to be on the board that brought up health inspection being an issue if volunteers do cooking
      2. R Rotter suggests bringing in a food cart
      3. T Jarvis was told that we shouldn’t ask for donations for the picnic because we pay for it, but maybe we should ask for donation.
         1. E Rogers says there’s a lot of things we do that we pay for that we also ask for donations for.
         2. K Reuter-Krohn notes that this event is not members only, so lot of people aren’t paying at all.
         3. G Fischer brings up that food has indeed gotten more expensive
      4. J Chipault says, big picture, we should be careful not to cheapskate it to the point where people stop attending; let's keep in mind that this is our big event for the year.
         1. E Rogers brings up that the picnic introduces people to the t-ball program – collateral advantages
      5. J Chipault suggests could cater meat via BBQ joint with pulled pork, etc.
      6. R Rotter wonders if Sentry would do it for less
      7. E Rogers says since we’re pretty much stuck this year he motions to increase budget to $1600
         1. R Rotter points out that we’ll need more like $2000 because $400 in printing
            1. Motion still stands for paying HyVee $1600
               1. Motion carries
      8. C Kreimendahl says will put finding a different vendor on agenda for the fall so that will give us enough time to shop around
         1. K Reuter-Krohn notes that maybe Jill might want to come to that meeting
7. Announcements – Board
   1. 3 bands booked for Segoe Park this summer – third band is gypsy rock (lively but not too loud). One guy wrote to ask if we’d be supplying a sound system. We’re supplying power but they bring their own amps.
      1. If D Lamb gets more questions like this, can she forward to E Rogers?
         1. Yes.
      2. D Lamb went to park and thinks there’s enough flat space for jazz band. D Lamb wonders if they mow the grass?
         1. E Rogers says they do. They mow roughly once a week, just can’t keep up with current dandelions.
      3. Dates are 3 Friday nights in a row – July 17, 24, and 31 with the following night (Saturdays) being a rain date
      4. D Lamb encountered some confusion with the city because she got wrong number for person she needed to contact; there are a couple of hoops she has to jump through still.
      5. Will advertise in summer newsletter and get signs to put up. D Lamb says we talked about buying signs (like what we use for garage sale).
         1. R Rotter says send him what you want and he’ll set them out.
            1. Something generic like "Music this Friday 6:30-8:30" can be re-used
         2. J Chipault recommends running it in Isthmus because they have long list of stuff going on around town. Maybe State Journal does too?
            1. K Reuter-Krohn says there is a section but not sure if there’s a cost
      6. We can finalize who will be present with membership forms at our next meeting June
   2. R Rotter says he’s been going to S Fitzsimmons' neighborhood watch meetings and encourages everyone to go. Speakers have been very good and are big names. Last speaker was 911 center, had a speaker before that was on CNN recently, they’re all in the news.
      1. S Fitzsimmons not sure how to get more advertisement
         1. Going to ask if could buy more signs (sold out of what he already had)
         2. D Lamb says this happens every time we start up a neighborhood watch meetings – starts off strong and then dies off. Need to be there for the long haul.
         3. S Fitzsimmons trying to get something together in next couple of weeks on self-defense (including internet safety). Will be extra meeting in June.
         4. C Kreimendahl can advertise at picnic and asks S Fitzsimmons to put together additional budget for more signs.
            1. R Rotter checks budget and notes that S Fitzsmmons has money enough to get more signs.
         5. T Jarvis says there’s a blurb about neighborhood watch in Membership Messenger that everyone gets
         6. 99 registrations and they can check whether they want to be added to neighborhood watch; 37 do (some are already on) and of the 99, 62 are members of watch email list.
         7. J Chipault suggests advertising Neighborhood Watch on NextDoor website. Pretty much every neighborhood in US has a section of this website now and Midvale Heights has one now.
         8. J Chipault suggests going to meetings every other month to avoid S Fitzsimmons burning out
      2. E Rogers says there was an email suggestion of free little signs (like the size of your palm) to give to neighbors that says this house is part of neighborhood watch.
         1. S Fitzsimmons suggests stickers for the car, because then know what cars belong in neighborhood and also increases advertisement as Midvale Heights cars move around
            1. D Lamb brings up bumper stickers we used to have that said I heart Midvale Heights
               1. We ran out of them
               2. C Kreimendahl says bumper stickers didn’t weather well and were $1-2 so maybe we should consider how much something durable would cost.
                  1. Could have patches to hand out each year.
                     1. G Fischer says people toss free things. Sell them?
         2. D Lamb says we should think it through a bit more and maybe have things at neighborhood meeting.
         3. C Kreimendahl wonders who wants to do leg work (check on costs and designs). T Jarvis recommends Café Press. S Fitzsimmons has a bumper sticker from there that has lasted for years.
8. Adjourned 7:45pm

Notes recorded by J Chipault, secretary