March 14, 2013

General Membership Meeting Minutes 03-14


March 14th, 2013, 6:30 p.m. – 8:45 p.m.

East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center, 2307 17th Ave S.
EPIC web address: eastphillips-epic.com
Office: 2536 18th Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55404

Board Members Present: Carol Pass, Mary Gonsior, Jenny Bjorgo, Linda Leonard, Chiffon Williams, Earl Simms, Rosie Cruz
Board Members Not Present: JoseLuis Villasenor, Sherdl Kordian
EPIC Members: Brad Pass, Margaret Kirkpatrick, Lacey Reierson, Tulasi Chapazai, Tila Chapazai, Khem Neopane, Kim Hayden, Elizabeth Johnson, Pat Christensen, Don Olson, Joseph Speranzella, Jeremy Gray, Guadalupe Martinez, Ernestina Garcia, Jason Rodney, MaryGrace Alton
Guests: Glen Goldsby (Sundial Solar), Tom Reinke (Sundial Solar), Shirley Heyer, Alisha Gomez, Doug Wise

MOTION: Meet as a committee of the whole. (JB, BP) Passed.

6:30            Introductions:
·      Greetings and Introductions
·      Approval of Agenda – approved with correction to the date (March 14, 2013).
·      Approval of Minutes from EPIC 2/14/2013 General Membership Meeting (BP, JB) Approved.
o   With correction to date (Approval of Minutes from EPIC 01/10/2013)
o   With correction to Sundial Solar Consultants (from Sun Dial Industries)

6:55            Announcements:
·       Park Board Voted ‘yes’ on the Pool Project. Now the next phase of money raising begins. We have raised over $2M; we have enough to do the initial effort to restore the pool and add a small warm water pool. In order to obtain a larger “revenue flow” for maintaining the pool, we want to add two lanes, making the pool “competitive”. Requires an additional $3M.
·       Report on last night’s first meeting of the East Phillips Sports Council. Had a really positive meeting; attendance was mostly coaches.
·       EPIC Annual Meeting will be on April 27th, 9:30 am, East Phillips Cultural and Community Center

7:00             Annual Meeting coming on April 27th, Saturday, 9:30: Meeting Planning
There are open positions on the EPIC Board. You need to have attended one EPIC meeting to qualify. There are two meetings before the Annual meeting, if you have not been to one, this one and the one on April 11th at the same time and place. You also must be either a resident or work in East Phillips. You must be willing to attend two meetings a month, the one on the 2nd Thursday and the board meeting on the 1st Saturday of each month. Call either Carol Pass at 612-280-8418 or Mary Gonsior at 612-724-7623 for questions.

MOTION (BP, JB): Ratify the motions approved by the committee of the whole. Passed.

Two recommended motions for Bylaw Changes from the Board (Bylaws currently require a 30 day notification for change. This was done (via email) on March 10th, so this vote can occur at the next Membership meeting) :

1)    that 30 day notice for review of items requiring that timing be changed to read “required review time is to the next monthly membership meeting, to include amendments to the Bylaws”. (Sometimes the meetings       do not fall on an exact 30-day gap, causing problems in timely review and response.)

            2)   changing “shall be dropped” to “may be dropped” from the Board if s/he has three consecutive unexcused absences or four nonconsecutive unexcused absences from monthly membership meetings or       meetings of the Board of Directors in a year.

MK commented that if EPIC doesn’t have a procedure in place for how and when to ask a director to remove from the board, it could result in complaints, therefore, the board will reexamine item #2, as to the legal impact of this change before presenting for a vote by the membership.

7:15            Is Solar Energy for You??

Glen Goldsby and Tom Reinke from Sundial Solar presented information on opportunities, funding, bulk buying, legislation, and other topics related to solar energy investment, and responded to questions from EPIC members.

7:35            EPIC Housing Program – Home Buyer Assistance, Rehab Assistance, help with Emergencies and Foreclosure Avoidance Assistance.

Our work is done formulating this program, translating it into Spanish and working with our loan managers to process loans. Q and A with Doug Wise, EPIC Housing             Coordinator.

7:50            Greenway Heights Apartment Building, 2845 Bloomington
EPIC’s final major apartment project. We have worked with the developer and architects to implement the vision formed by many of you at the community meeting of April 14th, 2011, when we all gave our input…affordability, balconies and beauty. We are raising the final dollars. The land loan comes due in September so we need to complete the fund raising soon. The following fund will insure the balconies and help leverage the County funding. This will come from Phase II Home Buyer assistance to be replaced by CPP money soon. Homes are not moving right now but may be in the near future. This is a Board recommended motion for review and this is its 2nd review before the Final Vote on at the Annual Meeting. This is an endorsing vote.
MOTION: EPIC will offer $35,000 from our NRP Phase II home buyer dollars to be replaced by CPP to assist with the funding of the Balconies on the Greenway Heights Apartment Project. Passed unanimously.

8:10            EPIC Accomplishments and Policies regarding funding other organizations

·       EPIC has contracted 100% of our NRP Phase II Housing Budget.
·       Contracted $25,000 of our NRP Phase II Community Enhancement Budget (the pool).
·       We have contracted out $1,243,000 to fund East Phillips Commons, Village In Phillips, Little Earth of United Tribes, and Bii Di Gain Dash Anwebi projects.

Time to turn to the rest of our NRP Phase II Community Enhancement Budget. The board has worked for several months on a set of Policies for the use of this and CPP money to meet City requirements. These have been presen, ted to the community at previous meetings.

MOTION: (LL, BP) Board recommended motion that EPIC endorses the “Policy for Collaborative Funding Agreements”. Passed.

8:25     The Opening of the Community Garden: Report by Brad Pass.

First garden meeting is this Saturday, March 23, 2013 (steering committee and anyone else who wants to come.) Plot fees will be decided, and other concerns discussed. Come learn about receiving a plot. The first garderer’s meeting will be April 13, when plots will be assigned.

MOTION: (MG, RC) Board recommended motion to support EPIC’s assuming payment of annual property tax payment (up to $1,000 per year). EPIC owns the property.

Announcement: April 19 (Friday evening), a broad public meeting about the pool.

8:45            Adjournment

March 9, 2013

Board Meeting Minutes 03-09


March 9th, 2013, Saturday, 10:00 am

East Phillips Park Cultural and Community Center
EPIC web address: http://www.eastphillips-epic.com/index.html
Office: 2536 18th Avenue S., Minneapolis, MN 55404

“The world needs dreamers and the world needs doers,
but most of all the world needs dreamers who do.”

Present (board):  Linda Leonard, Carol Pass, Mary Gonsior, Earl Simms
Not Present (board):  Rosie Cruz, JoeLuis Villasenor, Chiffon Williams, Sherdl Kordian, Jenny Bjorgo
Members:  Brad Pass

10:00             Introduction:
·     Approval of Agenda –  passed with addition of garden report
·     Approval of Minutes from 2/2/2013 EPIC Board Meeting – passed with corrections
o   Delete item 11:10 completely.
o   Correct spelling of “Pass”

Motion: Meeting as a committee of the whole.

10:10    Announcements: 
·      EPIC Membership Meeting: Thursday, March 14th, day, 6:30 pm, the East Phillips Park Center
·      Annual Meeting, April 27th
·      Website expansion

10:15             Greenway Heights Apartments: Progress..Design endorsed by Midtown Greenway Coalition, Working on additional grants. Motion for funding to help with the Balconies. $35,000?

**Second board vote for review at this monthly meeting, then goes to Annual Meeting. Fund the Balconies. $35,000 temporarily from Phase II NRP to be replaced by CPP.
(MG, ES) passed.

10: 30            Garden Report – choose a garden rep
The garden committee is working on getting the 2013 garden schedule up and going. It would be really appreciated for the sake of continuity if one person plus an alternate would commit to attending the garden meetings. CP suggested that each board member might commit to attending one meeting per season. LL feels that we need to have the same board member present also, so that they can “track” what is happening in the garden. EPIC owns this property and needs to be present and accountable. Brad distributed the schedule; the first steering meeting is March 23 here at the park. The group collected enough money for operations last year through fees, and made some repairs through donations. Everyone is invited to the first steering committee meeting on March 23, and the first general meeting on April 13. Residents wanting to garden should contact Brad Pass.

MOTION: EPIC will provide sufficient funds on an annual basis to pay for the East Phillips 17th Avenue Garden property taxes. CP, LL) passed.

10:40            Housing Programs: Brochure in Spanish, Report on meeting with CEE and Doug. Marketing:  Door knocking, explaining, Tracking, Focus groups, Who should, would help? Jennie, Chiffon, Carol, JoseLuis, Rosie??
1. Ask CEE to provide us with a periodic diversity report on who is applying and receiving funding.
2. Develop an appeal process with CEE.
3. Paying Jenny to door knock, interpret; answer calls, respond to inquiries in Spanish; CP to write an agreement for a stipend. Agreement to be for a specific period, and renewable as needed.
4. Chiffon may be able to outreach to African American residents; CP to write an agreement for a stipend. Agreement to be for a specific period, and renewable as needed.
5. We don’t need to do Nepali focus groups – they don’t own houses. We need to do focus groups for Latinos, Somalis,
6. Distribute on e-News.
7. List in the Alley.

10:55        Annual Meeting is on April 27th, Saturday at 9:30….meeting starts at 10:00 am –
                Food – Shirley Heyer, Linda?

MOTION: (LL, ES) EPIC will provide $250 to Shirley Heyer to organize food for the annual meeting. PASSED.

Board Members
Board Members elected Last year Jennie, Carol, Rosie and Jose Luis won, This year Mary, Linda, Earl and Sherdl will run. Chiffon? Even if all these run, we need one more. Suggestions? Invite potential candidates to our next general membership meeting.
·      Norm (Jenny B.)
·      Cam and Tila, come and bring some relatives.
·      Naomi (Banyan)

Regular General Membership meeting in April? YES, April 11.
Ad in the Alley – Have you ever thought about serving your community by serving on the neighborhood board? Come to EPIC’s April 11 meeting and learn about neighborhood boards and board governance.

Bylaw changings? We need to change the “30 day notice” to "the next General membership meeting or at least 21 days"
            
MOTION: (ES, CP) We want to change our bylaws to require a notice that is from “meeting to meeting” instead of 30 days. Too often there are not 30 days between meetings, and this is not sufficient. PASSED unanimously.

MOTION: (CP, ES) Board attendance; propose changing bylaws from “must” to “may” requiring removal of board members who have missed too many meetings. PASSED with one opposed.

11: 10            Youth Soccer Saturdays – See Flyer – Funding Support. Need to check on what’s happening…
Still waiting for more information.

11:30            Alley Advertisement: April Pool (vs. April Fool).
Phillips Parks Initiative is working on a community wide outreach to update residents of the four neighborhoods and present a united neighborhood support group for the pool. The Park Board on March 6, did pass an endorsement of support for raising the funds needed for operations and construction needed for the pool. 

MOTION: (LL, CP) EPIC will give the April issue of the Alley $250 toward a 4 page insert about the pool. PASSED.

11:35             CPP funding qualification
Discussion of removal of 20% participation on internet survey for neighborhood planning/funding.

11:35            Plans for the rest of the NRP Budget, Look at Phase II Plan: Ideas??
EPIC leadership needs to suggest and determine needs (Neighborhood Priorities) and what we can handle…to receive any more money… A task force job? Focus Groups?

HOUSING: What have we gotten done?
·      We have contracted out 100% of our housing budget.

COMMUNITY ENHANCEMENT: What have we gotten done?
·      We have contracted out $25,000 to Fund the Phillips Community Center Pool.
·      Wrote “Policy for EPIC’s Collaborative Funding Agreements”.

RESERVE FUNDS: What have we gotten done?
·      We have contracted out $1,243,000 to fund East Phillips Common, Village In Phillips, Little Earth of United Tribes, and Bii Di Gain Dash Anwebi projects.

MOTION: (MG, LL) EPIC will adopt the “Policy for EPIC’s Collaborative Funding Agreements”. PASSED.

11:55   We need an office for EPIC…Thoughts??
Where could EPIC rent an office? Linda knows of a company that builds portable buildings complete with insulation and wiring.

Linda: Ugly barricade on 25th Street. Banners and beautification of neighborhood.

11:50            Adjournment