May 3, 2014

Board Meeting Minutes 05-03


May 3rd, 2014, Saturday, 10:00 pm
East Phillips Park Cultural and Community Center
EPIC web address:  www.eastphillips-epic.com
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 members: Mary Gonsior (chaired), Carol Pass, Jenny Bjorgo, Jeanne Howard, Cesar Prado, Linda Leonard, Rosie Cruz, Ali Macalin
Absent board members: Earl Simms
Members: Brad Pass
Guest: Carrie Aspinwall

10:00             Introduction:  Meeting was called to order at 10:02
Approval of Agenda - The Agenda was approved with a change moving the duties of officers and election of officers up to after a discussion of Robert’s Rules.
·      April 5th EPIC Board Minutes were read and approved.

10:07             Fun Time: We played two truths and a lie to get to know each other. We decided we all won.

10:30  EPIC goals, history, philosophy: Carol made notebooks for everyone, which included sections for bylaws; policies and procedures; garden. Programming and partnership; and minutes
Carol distributed the EPIC NRP Phase One Review and NRP Phase Two Action Plan. She discussed how Priority Plans and the Phase Two Plan could work together.
Mary added that as a point of order this is a different agenda item.

We considered what the goals of the EPIC neighborhood organization are, what we are called on to do.
Mary read the Mission Statement in Article II. Carol offered some history of East Phillips and finances. She explained that under People of Phillips, money allocated for all of Phillips went almost entirely to West Phillips, leaving out Midtown and East Phillips as well as Ventura Village. This rightfully angered people.

When we began anew as just ‘East Phillips’, we kept that in mind. We tried to space out the building projects so each area  got some focus and new buildings. We put in houses in different places. East Phillips Commons on Lake and Bloomington;  Townhomes on E 24th;  Little Earth renovation; Building for Native American elders;  one in progress on Bloomington.

She pointed out that our way of operating is to try to share resources across the neighborhood and to assist all our diverse groups. We wanted to achieve fairness. Another operating principle is to minimize administrative expenses and to conserve funds for projects much needed by the neighborhood.  

10::45  Bylaws, Obligations:We noted page 9 for Duty of Care; Loyalty; and Obedience

By consent we moved on to duties of officers.
Carrie brought bylaw information . CPP  funding requires different criteria for Bylaws.  Moved and second to move this discussion to another time by tabling it.

11:07  Election of Officers- We distributed job descriptions from material from Board Source and Nathan Garber’s  job descriptions and mentioned  that a Crime committee chair is needed. 

Each person was invited to speak about what they thought about serving as an officer. Jean and Cesar expressed a desire to learn more before considering an officer position. Rosie talked about not wanting to be an officer and that her responsibilities in court were very demanding. Ali echoed the concerns for family obligations that he and Rosie both have. They want to participate but not take officer responsibilities.

We made a consensus agreement for training to chair meetings.

Jean has had experience chairing and would like to do that. Jenny would like to have formal training.  Mention was made of Board Training with MAPS.

Carol talked about board chair responsibilities that require lots of writing. The Xcel challenge is an example of how the organization had to write documents for court and testify.

Linda said she would be willing to perform secretary responsibilities.

Mary would be willing to give up chair responsibilities. She is shouldering two officer positions because someone resigned. Mary has accounting training and is willing to serve as an officer as needed.

Jenny nominated a slate and seconded by Jean:
Carol as President
Jenny as VP
Mary as Treasurer
Linda as Secretary
Passed unanimously

Carol walked us through the book she handed out: Policies and Procedures [Mary asked Carrie why there are so many acronyms and Carrie offered to send a three page handout.]; EPIC garden; Programming and partnership.

We noted June 22 for our East Phillips cultural celebration and the need for help in program options.
Robert’s Rules of Order…….

Carol distributed a recent edition of Webster’s  New World  Robert’s Rules of Order.  She pointed out that our Board is advisory and that the membership votes on everything major.
We looked at some of Robert’s Rules and the back of the Phase II Plan and Charts regarding our survey.

12:00 The meeting was adjourned at noon.