August 11, 2020

EPIC Board Meeting 8-6

 EPIC Board Meeting Minutes

August 6th, 2020, 7pm-9pm

EPIC web address: eastphillips-epic.com

Email: epic.ssantiago@gmail.com

Office: 2433 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis, MN 55404

Phone: (612) -280-8418

 

Board Roster: Rosie Cruz, Laura Dale, Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, Shontal Lajeunesse, Abah Mohamed, Carol Pass, Steve Sandberg, Sarah Santiago. 

Board Members Present: Steve Sandberg, Carol Pass, Laura Dale, Shontal Lajeunesse, Cassie Holmes

Board Members Not Present: Abah Mohamed, Rosie Cruz

Members:

Guests: Shirley Heyer, Sam, Rachel Glover, Shay Freeman, Tim Springer, Jeremy Gray, Iglon

 

7:00     Agenda Approval, LD, SL, approved

Minutes Approval, LD, SaS, approved

 

7:10     Announcements

·      Next Community Meeting will be: Thursday August 13th at 6:30 at East Phillips Park or via Zoom (TBD)

·      Next Board Meeting will be: September 3rd at 7pm at the EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Avenue) or via Zoom (TBD)

o   Board Meetings are open to the public

·      Next Executive Committee meeting will be: Thursday August 20th at the EPIC office (2433 Bloomington Avenue) or via Zoom (TBD)

o   Executive Committee meetings are open to the public

o   Board members please send agenda items (for both community meetings and board meetings) to Sarah before executive meetings each month

 

7:24     18th Avenue and 29th/28th street block fund request

·      June 29th – neighbors gathered and met for the first time

·      Safety for neighbors is first priority, beautifying the neighborhood is second priority

·      Night watch – neighbors have been staying up all night

o   Walkie talkies are one of the top priorities with this

·      If traffic control were to be permanent would need to be done with public works

·      What has been done on 18th Ave has pushed the issues to other blocks – ideally need this to be an East Phillips neighborhood plan

·      A lot of blocks are wanting these protections

o   How to do this so that it helps everyone and not just two blocks

o   Don’t want to create policies that we can’t live up to

·      If they have the supplies, they have done things on their own and as we go through the line items, keep that in mind

·      Foot patrol is not something that EPIC can fund

·      Lighting would be possible for EPIC to fund

·      Idea to have foot safety patrol south of 28th between Cedar and Bloomington – with t-shirts etc.

·      Things like paper/ink to print flyers for meetings

·      EPIC still has walkie talkies from past foot patrol

o   Between five and ten walkie talkies are needed

o   Sarah will follow up with Sam about walkie talkies

·      Sarah will propose dates to set up a time for board members and neighbors to go through proposal line by line

8:15     Update on EPNI

·      Rally on Sunday at noon at 28th and Longfellow – wear a mask and practice social distancing

·      CEAC (Citizens Environmental Advisory Commission – part of the cities sustainability department) has spoken out about the project saying the city needs to give the land to EPNI

o   The city has threatened to decommission CEAC if they speak out about this

8:26     Discussion on the DEED grant/EPIC matching funds

·      When writing the DEED grant, EPIC was written as matching funds

o   $40,000

8:29     EPIC speed bump policy/history

·      Any confirmation on the moratorium on speed bumps? – yes there is on Avenue and Streets, but not in alleys – $1600 and 51% of the residents on the alley needs to sign the petition

o   Does EPIC want to contribute to the $1600 for alley speed bumps?

·      EPIC has been a part of two speed bump projects in the past

·      If a block wants speed bumps EPIC will follow a process like we did before: the block comes to an EPIC meeting to make a request, this is followed by a discussion, followed by a motion and vote

o   CP: we need to identify other considerations i.e. in desperate need, available funding etc.

o   Are there other ways we can help find funding i.e. go-fund me, grant writing, or other means of raising funds for speed bumps?

8:40     Re building lake street meeting update

·      Partner with pwd and Lake Street Council about Lake Street corridor/Hi-Lake and meeting with Wellington and Burgemum

·      Carol attended meeting with someone from Mayor’s office, Midtown Phillips, Powderhorn and Longfellow

o   Very heated discussion

o   Mayor’s office seemed to have a plan and then proposed it to the neighbors and neighborhood organizations

8:44     Board virtual gathering to catch up and connect with one another-are others interested?

·      Yes!

·      Sarah and Mary will propose dates and times – possibly do it physically distanced at a park

8:47     Accessibility of funds – Sarah

·      Take a look at our policies and processes of vetting individuals that would meet our legal needs and not require things like background checks for the individuals we are funding

o   Ask city attorney or our non-profit lawyer to check on how to avoid these issues – i.e. waivers

§  Ask about multi-lingual waivers

o   Need to have an attorney to look at liability – need to protect EPIC board members

o   Steve thinks we need to ask Steve Gallagher or Bob Cooper because they are specialized in neighborhood organizations

o   Sarah will follow up with Mary to get contact info from attorney she used at CBE

9:09     What do we want put in EPICs Alley post?

·      EPNI update

·      If possible keep housing information

9:15     Additions to community meeting draft agenda

·      Door knock and flyer a few blocks at a time about community meetings – put questions in order i.e how you want to stay connected with EPIC and whether you are

·      Working meeting – set up door knocking etc.

 

Brad wants to use Mailchimp or constant contact for emails because issues with BCCing – put on next board meeting