August 7, 2010

Board Meeting Minutes 08 - 07


August 7th, 2010, 10:00 am
Welna Hardware

Attendance:
Linda Leonard, Rosie Cruz, Earl Simms, Jennie Bjorgo, Mohamed Cali, Carol Pass, Tim Chancey

10:00             Introduction:
·          Approval of Agenda, Approved
·      Minutes from EPIC Board Meeting 7/3/2010,  Approved

10:10    Announcements
·      EPIC General Membership Meeting, July 12th
·      Parade of gardens: East Phillips showcases our garden, August 21st, Saturday, 10:00 am

10:15    East Phillips Park Center: Update, Brad Pass discussed current progress, cited the grants received for the asbestos pollution issue. Brad wrote County grant for $261,000, Carol Pass /Rep. Clark worked on State grant for $300,000. Both were received. Commercial kitchen is still partially unfunded. We received donations of a commercial Refrigerator and Microwave. Also received donation of a pottery kiln.

10:30   Phillips Community Center: Issues with the RFP and Waite House, A waiting game. EPIC co-submitted with our partners in the Phillips Community Parks Initiative: Ventura Village, Midtown Phillips and the Wellness collaborative, which includes several area clinics and other health related organizations. West Phillips opted out of this group project. Freeport West opted in, but submitted a proposal of their own anyway. Mpls. Swims submitted their own proposal but is also included in the larger neighborhood proposal. Our effort at unity did not fare well and this could have a major impact on how our proposal is received.

10:30   2600-2606 17th Ave. PROPOSAL FOR APARTMENT of 20 UNITS of  HOMELESS HOUSING by Alliance of the Streets. (See attachment.) What now?? There will be a meeting on their funding next week. EPIC voted overwhelmingly at a very large meeting to oppose this project. The question is: Do residents have any say in what happens in our own neighborhood??
The neighborhood believes that we need to keep the zoning and preserve the residential family neighborhood culture on the inside of the neighborhood. The perimeter is another matter.

11: 00  Bylaw issues, Communication, Membership contact, Fiscal Agency – What are issues and
1.            One challenge is the fact that the board has a rule that we must be united in public about proposals and motions. One board member has submitted a proposal to the Minneapolis Park Board in contrast to the proposal the neighborhoods submitted in unity, which was supported by the board and membership.
2.            Carol had copies of the Bylaws and the Roberts Rules of Order book so that we could talk about policies and practices. We began going through these. We also discussed what ‘Conflict of Interest’ is and how to treat members of the board in meetings and elsewhere. Fiscal agency was brought up. EPIC can incubate programs and they can spin off into organizations. Staff requirements for full fiscal agency for other organizations are too great for EPIC at present. We started going through Roberts and some of the board documents The discussion was lively.
3.            Tim proposed that we have a coffee meeting for informal discussion and analysis of these issues. We agreed.
4.            Board members agreed to share contact information, but did not wish to share this with the whole neighborhood.  They also wanted some ethics regarding use of contact info.
11: 30    Adjournment