EPIC
Board Meeting Draft Agenda
December 4, 2021, 10am – 11am
EPIC web address: eastphillips.org
Email: sarah@eastphillips.org
Office: 2433 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis, MN
55404
Phone: (612)
354-6802
Board Roster: Laura Dale, Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, David Ingold, Shontal Lajeunesse, Steve Sandberg, Earl Simms, Karen Townsend, Nikolas Winter-Simat
Board Members Present:
Board Members Not Present: Shontal Lajeunesse (E), David Ingold (E)
Members:
Guests:
10:00 Review vision and mission
Welcome guests/intros
Approve agenda,
Approve minutes,
Reminders:
●
Next
Community Meeting will be: Thursday, December 9 from 6:30 to 7:30 at East Phillips Park and
online (link to join meeting can be found at eastphillips.org)
o
We
were unable to reserve the gym at East Phillips Park, we will be in the
community room
o
Overdose
Prevention Site group will give quick 5 minute update
o
Presentation
on resurfacing work and ADA pedestrian improvement in East Phillips in
2022-2023
●
Next
Board Meeting will be: Saturday, January 8 (note one week later than usual due
to New Year’s)from 10am to 11am at the EPIC office and online (link to join meeting can be found
at eastphillips.org)
o
Board
Meetings are open to the public
Announcements:
●
Board voted via email to approve new
policies and procedures - view at eastphillips.org shortly
○
This includes changes to how community
gives input on expenditures
○
Bylaw Amendment Votes:
■
Online votes: 4 in favor, 0
against
■
Paper votes: 1 against
(disqualified because person is outside of East Phillips)
■
Community Meeting votes: 8
approved, 1 abstained
●
The EPIC board voted and
approved the following two motions via email
○
MOTION: The EPIC board approves the use of funds up to $3,000
for a Phase I Environmental Assessment of 2433 Bloomington Avenue.
■
No
further voting needed
○
MOTION: The
EPIC Board recommends the purchase of the Bloomington Office for $180,000 plus
closing costs of up to $5,000, provided sufficient resources, acceptable Phase
I Environmental Assessment, sufficient property appraisal, and approval of pro
forma by CPED or NCR.
■ The community has been given 21 day notice for the voting period for this motion - voting will occur at the EPIC Community Meeting on 12/9 and be open via an online survey from 12/9-12/21. EPIC will also do outreach to those without access to internet via phone calls
10:05 Report/Update
from Executive Coordinator
● Budgets
○
Calendar in Operating Policies and
Procedures states that the board reviews budgets in December for realism,
appropriateness and completeness
○
Garden Steering Committee budget - Garden
Steering Committee reviewing on Monday, will submit to board via email after
that. Draft was emailed to board.
○
Board reviewed and approved 2022
Operating budget at October Board meeting
● SHRS use of space
discussion
○
SHRS would use weekly or once a month
○
10 people max, including SHRS staff
○
Share a google calendar to schedule use
of the space
○
MoU: MOU SHRS Use of Space
○
Concerns:
■
Giving out security code - seeKey Use and Security Code Agreement
■
Certificate of insurance for liability
insurance and worker’s compensation insurance - Sarah added to MoU that SHRS
will provide these to EPIC
■
COVID protocols - Sarah added to MoU that
SHRS will follow EPIC’s COVID protocols
● Building purchase
update
○
Meeting with Bob Cooper - made it clear
that the process to purchase the building will not be done by the end of
2021due to the time it takes for CPED to do the paperwork needed - issue then
is using CPP funds.
○
Met with Ariah Fine, our Neighborhood
Support Specialist to request his approval to use our Equitable Engagement
Funds for the purchase of the office building
■
Did not get a clear yes or no, he will
bring it to his team and get back to us next week
■
In the meantime he said that being able
to show robust community engagement will be very important
●
Recommends joining groups of East
Phillips residents who are already gathering for a 15 minute ‘presentation’ -
ask questions and get feedback
●
Make phone calls - be sure to get a good
representation of East Phillips demographics
○
IMPORTANT: presenting this in a way that is
unbiased and gets feedback from the community
■
Committee work or form work group?
○
Next steps: pro forma (David worked on);
appraisal (Sarah scheduling); purchase agreement with Mark Welna saying we are
committed to purchasing (since won’t be able to purchase by end of year and his
verbal commitment was through the end of the year); Phase I Environmental
Assessment
● Roundabout - we have a
volunteer, she is requesting a budget for the project
○
What kind of budget do we want to approve
for this?
○
We have $2,766 left in our NRP Positive
Street Identity Strategy
○
Volunteer - very rough estimate $400
● Greater Phillips
collaboration
○
Reps from all 4 Phillips neighborhoods
have been meeting once a month
○
Thinking about doing a project together,
some ideas so far:
■
Phillips garden tour incorporating a
workshop
■
24th Street - shared boundary between all
the neighborhoods
●
Lighting project along the street
●
Open Street event
●
Traffic calming initiative
■
Green Zone - all share
●
Equitable development scorecard - build power
behind it so as developers approach us with proposals we have a scorecard
stating our priorities i.e. 30% AMI
■
Traffic calming
●
Shared approach to traffic improvements
●
Look at common corridor issues
■
Form committees or subgroups around any
of these ^^
○
Rank these ideas - Zoom quiz
■
Other ideas? Chat or email Sarah!
Report
from Departments
● Executive Committee:
Strategic Funding and personnel discussions
MOTION: The EPIC Board approves ______ to
facilitate EPIC’s strategic planning process for $_____.
10:35 New business
● TOPA - Tenant
Opportunity to Purchase
○
We are invited to join the fight for a
strong TOPA policy
■
Led by Housing Justice League
○
Many tenants forced to move out when
building is sold to new owner because rent goes up
■
Repairs rarely happen
○
TOPA gives the opportunity for tenants to
collectively purchase their buildings when they go up for sale
■
The group believes that tenants are the
biggest investors in their own property
■
HJL wants TOPA for all rental properties
with no exemptions
■
HJL wants the option for tenants to
assign or sell their right to purchase the building if they aren’t interested
in owning it, including to a nonprofit organization
○
The city has talked about this for many
years and are currently having info sessions about their proposed policy (more
information on the city policy here)
■
Housing Justice League wants stronger
policy than what city is proposing
●
City wants to exempt most small buildings
- exempts individual landlords of 1-4 units with 5 or fewer buildings
●
City plan does not include right to sell
○
EPIC sign on?
■
Spectrum of involvement from
●
Encouraging neighbors to take city’s
survey
●
To hosting events in our ward to joining
weekly Friday meetings and dedicating staff and volunteer time
● Restorative Justice
program?
○
a new program that Sarah
suggests that EPIC applies for. Through Minneapolis Office of Violence
Prevention, a partnership of Restorative Justice Community Action, Minnesota Peacebuilding
Leadership Institute (Peacebuilding), and
community leader Manu Lewis have collaborated in bringing a multi-dimensional
process for communities to develop skills and create a public safety model that
fits the needs and desires of local neighborhoods.
○
EPIC would need to:
■
Identify and recruit a core
team of 5-10 community members committed to full training and mentoring throughout
the project which includes:
●
Strategies for Trauma,
Resilience, and Awareness (STAR)—MN Peacebuilding Leadership Institute:
○
5-day Virtual training:
January 18-19 and 24-26, 2022
●
Restorative Circle
Training—Koinonia Leadership Academy: 4 day In-person training—March 1-4, 2022
●
Public Safety Workshop:
Saturday March 19, 2022
●
Monthly mentorship
gathering
○
Trainings are free for
participating core group and staff of Neighborhood organization
○
Core group community
members receive $100 stipend each month of participation January-June 2022
○
1 year membership with the
National Association for Community Mediation
○
Application due December 10
11:00 Adjourn
