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
