EPIC Community Meeting Minutes
September 10th, 2020 2019, 6:30 – 8:50
East Phillips Park Cultural & Community Center, 2307 17th Ave S.
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: Laura Dale, Steve Sandberg, Carol Pass, Sarah Santiago, Mary Gonsior
Board Members Not Present: Shontal Lajeunesse, Cassandra Holmes, Rosie Cruz, Abah Mohamed
Members: Linda Leonard
Guests: Shirley Heyer
6:30 Social Time
6:45 Greetings and Introductions
· How to become a member
6:50 Approve tonight’s agenda, LD, approved with correction
Approve minutes from August community meeting, LD, approved
6:55 Announcements
· Next Board Meeting will be: October 1st at 7pm via Zoom
o Board Meetings are open to the public
· Next Community Meeting will be: October 8th at 6:30 via Zoom
· Next Executive Committee meeting is Thursday, September 17th from 7-8pm via Zoom
o Executive Committee meetings are the third Thursday of every month
o Executive Committee meetings are open to the public
· EPIC has a housing program! 0% interest! Fix up your home or buy a new home in East Phillips – Check your email for the brochure or go to: mncee.org/eastphillips
· If you smell a foul odor around Smith foundry or Bituminous Roadways call 311 to report
o Write down your incident number
7:00 Traffic Update
· Neighbor recommended that we form a committee focused on traffic i.e. barricades, speed bumps, round abouts – things that affect streets
o We have tried to contact Alondra’s office about these issues but they don’t seem to want to hear from EPIC or neighbors, they are holding meetings on their own and presenting their solutions i.e. turning streets to one ways
· We need a committee chair who is a board member– board members are over worked and do not have the time right now to attend an additional committee meeting
7:33 Mailchimp
· We sent out our first Mailchimp ‘campaign’
· Sent out to 250 emails
· 69 people opened the email
7:42 Budget
· Announcement: NCR is getting a 15% budget cut due to COVID-19 and uprisings
· We do not know how this will be passed down to the neighborhood organizations
· Budget reimbursement request submitted
· $20,000 for ¾ of the year
· Funding request policies
· Reviewed criteria for EPIC’s collaborative funding agreements
7:52 Annual meeting and board member recruitment
· Some neighborhood organizations have been holding Annual meetings via Zoom
o Do we want to reconsider doing this?
o Bylaws are suspended so we do not need to hold our election
§ Sarah will confirm E and check in about suspension of bylaws regarding Annual Meetings and board elections and see if there is any discussion of ending this
· We will start recruiting board members
7:20 We need community members to volunteer to:
o Chair the Garden Committee
o Run the Annual Meeting with election
o Chair or run clean sweep for 2021
· We will table this until January
7:40 EPNI Update
· CEAC (Community Environmental Advisory Commission) has written a letter more or less supporting our efforts at the Roof Depot Site as well as an op ed
o Received a letter from the city clerk saying they could unappoint the members of the group or even disband CEAC and Green Zone Advisory Committee
· September 18-20th Global Shapers will be highlighting the Roof Depot struggle at their conference
o Members from the group have been emailing Mayor Frey and Alondra Cano
8:12 Weekly meetings hosted by MUID on unsheltered opioid crisis response
· Joan Vanhala was invited to these meetings and thinks it would be better if a representative of an organization attended these meetings and could report to the group on current issues around drug use and unhoused people and keep our neighbors updated on what is being done by this group
· Tuesdays 2:30-4pm
· Can we get minutes from this meeting? – Sarah will ask
· Sarah will reach out to Cassie or Shontal about this to see if they know about it or know people who are attending to better connect neighbors
· We will continue to put this on our agenda for the next few meetings and see if anyone is willing to share what the group is working on and share with the group what is being seen in our neighborhood
8:20 National Night Out
MOTION: EPIC will fund up to $999 for National Night Out Block parties with submission of receipts up to $100 per group/block. Receipts must be submitted within one week of National Night Out, first come first served. The funds cannot cover entertainment or food. MG, LD, Approved. Submit receipts to epic.ssantiago@gmail.com.
8:32 Adjourn
