EPIC
Board Meeting Draft Minutes
June 4, 2022, 10am – 11am
EPIC web address: eastphillips.org
Email: sarah@eastphillips.org
Office: 2433 Bloomington Ave., Minneapolis, MN
55404
Phone: (612)
354-6802
Board Roster: Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, David Ingold, Shontal Lajeunesse, Steve Sandberg, Schuyler Sellars, Karen Townsend, Nikolas Winter-Simat, LR Young
Board Members Present: Mary Gonsior, Cassandra Holmes, David Ingold, Steve Sandberg, Schuyler Sellars, Karen Townsend, Nikolas Winter-Simat, LR Young, Shontal Lajeunesse
Board Members Not Present:
Members: Devika Ghai
Guests:
Brynn Kasper, Nicole Cavender, Sean C
10:00 Review vision and mission
Welcome guests/intros
Approve agenda, NWS,
DI, Approved
Approve minutes, NWS, DI, Approved
Reminders:
●
Next
Community Meeting will be: Thursday, June 9 from 6:30 to 7:30 at Cedar Field
Park (rain location is East Phillips Park). View online (link to join meeting
can be found at eastphillips.org).
o
Note
that July Community Meeting will be 6-7:30 (6-6:30 will be free food, music and
signing up for free massage services)
●
Next
Board Meeting will be: Saturday, July 9 (note it is not July 2nd due to 4th of
July weekend) 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
●
East
Phillips Carnival is June 25 from 12-4pm at Cedar Field Park (rain location is
East Phillips Park) - more on this later!
●
Monthly Financial Report available
Updates:
1) Letters
of support signed since last board meeting:
a)
LERA request for letter of
support for a tree canopy
2) Board motions via email - vote to reaffirm after 21 day notice : MOTION: The EPIC board approves the use of $6,000 of NRP Phase II funds towards fencing at the NELC playground to contribute to the safety of the children at the center as well as the surrounding neighbors, moving $5500 from the employment readiness program to the assure safety in public spaces
10:05 Nicole
- Lake Hiawatha
● Biodiversity -
threatened by pollution
○
Trash, underground pipes that extend to
East Phillips
■
Trash in Phillips goes directly to Lake
Hiawatha
● Sacred home of the
Dakota people - isn’t being discussed in the media
○
Native populations getting ignored
○
Healing the land is very important
● Used to be known as
Rice Lake
○
Wild Rice grew there
● Friendsoflakehiawatha.org
● Golf course built on
former wetland - land has sunk
○
Had flooding issues in 60s - added pumps
■
Pumping 400 million gallons of water
■
Comes with a lot of phosphorus pollution
● Flooding is more likely
to occur
● Supports Hiawatha
Master Plan
○
Protect existing wildlife, biodiversity
etc.
○
Compromise - maintain 9 hole golf course,
address pollution, stop pumping
■
Met a lot of resistance
● Ask: grassroots orgs
raising the concerns
○
Reach out to park commissioners - hold
the truths of land and Native community
○
Will collaborate via email later
○
Park board commissioners rejected
bringing the Hiawatha Master Plan it to a vote
■
Waiting for commissioners to bring it
back up for the agenda
■
5 in support
■
Need 6 in support to have veto proof
majority
10:15 Report/Update
from Executive Coordinator
3) Report on
progress of Equitable Engagement Fund programs/initiatives
a)
Status of getting input on
our funding proposals (4 Sisters Community Gathering Infrastructure, Microgrant
Program and use of undesignated funds-approx. $120k): still need 6 more people
to give input - share the
survey with your neighbors
i)
Job descriptions
(1)
Project
Manager
(2)
Program
Manager
(a)
Executive Committee is
reviewing
(b)
Hoping to have these posted
by June 10 - send me any edits before then!
(a)
Gardeners approved the
Garden Coordinator job description with the below edits
(i)
ADDED: Highly prefer
someone who is familiar with the garden and the community - continue to
resource gardeners for these roles
(ii)
ADDED: Range of 4 - 10
hours depending on the schedule of the candidate found
(iii)
Board discussion:
Concern about vaccine requirement, leave up to EPIC
1.
Employee training -
review MDH policies and follow CDC guidelines
4)
East Phillips Carnival
volunteers
i)
Tug of war area: 12:45-2:30:
ii)
Recycled Art making - Lily
iii)
Environmental justice science
fair. 12-2: //2-4:
iv)
Grill - LERA?
v)
Cotton candy/popcorn station -
LERA?
vi)
Fashion Show 2-3
(1)
Set up area
(2)
Inside, lining up fashionista/os
(a)
Write names on cards with
pronunciation
(b)
Line up fashionista/os, get name
cards in order
(c)
Hand off name cards to DJ so he
can call them off
vii)
Raffle off and closing
Report
from Departments
10:30 Vision
and Mission Department
a) Finalize strategic
plan
- get it to a point where the board is comfortable adopting it. Keep in mind:
i)
the
plan is a plan, it’s an aspiration - not everything will be accomplished, but
it's something to work towards
ii)
what
doesn't belong and should be taken out
iii)
anything
that is missing
iv)
anything
that should be shifted on the timeline - i.e. moved from 1-2 year goal to a
5-10 year goal
v)
Reminder that this has
been the process so far
vi)
Small group of board members continue to
comb through strategic plan (30-40 mins)
(1) Nikolas, David, Karen
vii)
Re-present it to the board - next board
meeting, then onto the community
(1) Add to next bm agenda
10:35 New business and delegate to proper spaces
(work group, department etc.)
1)
Roof
Depot Update
a)
From
city:
i)
The six providers would need to show that they are qualified to
do this work. Nothing formal, but just a short bio for each that shows that
they're experienced.
(1) Lauren: could not get a
physical copy of certificates but have provided the links
of the healers on hand. The social media pages
have bios and links to certified services.
ii)
The space at Walker Church needs to be a non-sectarian space.
This would mean that there is no religious stuff in the room(s) or in the
pathway to the room(s). Knowing Walker Church, I suspect that this will not be
an issue.
(1) Lauren: it is a non sectarian space
iii)
The open-to-all piece is great. That will help with the
attorneys' review. Bob Cooper is worried (only because we've never asked)
whether the fact that this is free to BIPOC but not to others might also create
a legal concern. The fact that EPIC would be paying almost $20,000 for the
summer, could it be free for all during that time? Again, I don't know that
this will be an issue; I'm just trying to channel the City Attorney's Office.
(1) Lauren: The same pay what you can is applied
to all looking for care
iv)
EPIC does not currently have a line item for this program
(understandable since it has not yet gone to the board). We would need to
adjust the budget and NCR also would need to approve this as an EEF-eligible
activity.
v)
How to make sure reaching East Phillips community
(1) Certain number of residents are from East
Phillips 51% of residents - this is in our policies
(2) A way to have it in East Phillips? - EP Park,
LE gym?
(3) Confirm nobody is turned away
(4) How often and for how long (not clear in
proposal) - would like a clear breakdown
(a) Interested in doing it in a limited way i.e.
summer
(i)
Communicate with surrounding neighborhoods
(ii)
Track which neighborhoods people come from
MOTION: EPIC moves to approve $5,000 towards the BIPOC
Wellness Proposal with the stipulation that 51% of East Phillips residents need
to be served, NWS, DI, Approved, one
abstained
3)
Larger
July CM - opportunity to get input from community
a)
Any
other funding or community decisions we want larger community input on?
4)
Add
financial procedures back in bylaws?
11:00 Adjourn
