MHCA Area Directors' meeting minutes

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Midvale Heights Community Association Board Meeting Agenda
Tuesday, January 27, 2015 – 6:45 p.m. – Sequoya Branch Library

Area directors present: Chuck Kreimendahl, Ron Rotter, Gary Poulson, Floyd Stautz, Ed Rogers, Peter Schell, Jenny Chipault, Denise Lamb, Mary J. Armstrong, Paul Haskew, Jonn Lager, Kay Reuter-Krohn, Tom Jarvis
Other community members present: Cathy Rotter, Nan Lager, Steve Fitzsimmons

1. Call to Order & Introductions - C Kreimendahl
   1. Highlights news reports about the break-ins and S Fitzsimmons' neighborhood watch meeting being shown on two TV channels. There was follow-up about the arrests of the burglars. We’ve been in the news, in a good way.
2. Prior Minutes Review/Approval Board
   1. October minutes taken by J Chipault; November minutes by D Lamb
      1. Motion to approve both months passes
3. Treasurer’s Report - R Rotter
   1. Provides a hard copy of logs; roughly $38,000 in the account
   2. On the last couple of pages, he arranged finances by month to show what was spent for each activity; new way to show where money goes in and where it comes out.
4. Legislative Reports Maurice Cheeks/Carousel Bayrd
   1. Not present
5. Officer Elections - C Kreimendahl
   1. Couldn’t be done last month because didn't have enough area directors present
   2. There is a motion to re-elect the current slate, passes
6. Neighborhood Watch Report - S Fitzsimmons
   1. Purchased a few things, e.g., workbooks, and thanks board for funding
   2. 160 people signed up on email list for notifications. Try to keep it to two emails per week. We're getting better at what we’re doing. People are submitting tips about suspicious activity.
   3. Good support from Chief Koval. S Fitzsimmons communicates with lieutenant, captain, or chief almost daily.
   4. Working with 160 people keeps him busy. But we live in a community of 1800, so could still get more people. Got good attention from news media.
   5. Possible expenses coming up. A neighborhood watch sign is $2,500 (including the fee to post it). Not sure where it would be, but something we might want to consider. There’s a citizen that wants to pay for that sign if it goes up on her block.
      1. M Armstrong says there are several in Orchard Ridge.
         1. S Fitzsimmons thinks we'd want to do more than one and we’d have to think about where to post them
      2. T Jarvis said you have to have a lot of people in an area be part of the neighborhood watch in order to post sign.
   6. R Rotter says Midvale Heights owns engravers.
      1. S Fitzsimmons says no one is asking for them yet.
      2. M Armstrong got something back; engraved her camera and it was stolen and was recovered by Middleton police department. She engraved email address but they suggest drivers license number.
      3. T Jarvis said police officer said Madison Police Department has invisible ink that they’ll let people borrow, but that was 2009, not sure if they still do it.
   7. Rodney Wilson will be speaking at watch meeting next month, then the canine unit, then district attorney.
      1. M Armstrong says we could have one of these meetings at the park
   8. Bought 150 participant handbooks and stickers – he’ll bring these to future meetings. Had 110 people at last meeting; workbooks didn’t go fast.
      1. J Chipault points out that 110 people probably represent fewer households than 110
      2. There’s another workbook that would cost us some money.
   9. There’s a lot of crimes that happen that people could avoid by locking their doors and cars. Rodney Wilson will do a home audit and show you what things are vulnerable.
   10. Board thanks to S Fitzsimmons for his efforts.
7. Segoe Park - E Rogers
   1. Displayed a map of Segoe Park
   2. There’s a lot of ways it could be improved and be more used
   3. During 2014, we put out a survey to neighborhood.
      1. Majority responded by mailing it back with a stamp
   4. Playground is mostly metal and in full sun. Showed pictures comparing Segoe Park to Slater Park. Park said they couldn’t do trees because there’s a softball field and it would interfere with outfield play. E Rogers looked at scale and determined that there’d be a 200’ buffer and could still add a couple of trees.
   5. Water fountain and light post on northeast side of park pointed out as facilitating an ice rink.
      1. E Rogers talks to Park Dept, they get back to him, they say it’s a no go, E Rogers offers work-arounds, e.g., E Rogers calls MGE and determined wouldn’t need to meter light pole because of standing agreement. Another example: large rinks are filled by tanker trucks which Streets lends to Parks for beginning of ice season and they have two trucks and last April one rolled on the beltline and caught fire and was a complete loss but E Rogers estimates that we’d be able to just do a spray on rink (takes 40 coats) by coming out every night for a week (spend 45 minutes a night). Water fountain has water main so frost-proof hydrant could be put on water main, or they could build a utility shed with an electrical hookup and door and lock and space heater to keep it at 45 degrees in the shed. Parks has said capital investment would be $25,000 but E Rogers found planning document but that indicating this might be the number for building a floating rink from scratch (e.g., Garner); large rinks where you open a hydrant year-round. And some cost might be for taking out trees, leveling ground, etc.. But don't know how it would be $25,000 for Segoe. That’s when Parks stopped talking to him about ice rink.
      2. Question about annual cost of upkeep.
         1. Westmorland spends less than $1,000 per year for electricity. They also have a massive warming shed. E Rogers put in his original proposal a request for converting concrete pavilion already at Segoe Park into a warming shed.
   6. Make Music Madison requires no interaction with the Parks department. We got 2 bands last year: accordion player and children's' music. Roughly 50 people attended, counting kids. E Rogers would like to do this again in 2015.
      1. Last time we told artists that they couldn’t amplify, but maybe this year we consider changing this policy.
      2. Top response in neighborhood survey about Segoe Park was live music so a couple other things we could do would be ask Parks to forego their $900 per cart zoning fee for food carts. E Rogers talked to the woman who runs Let’s Eat Madison and she said they have other carts that could be at Segoe (i.e., not stealing business from Tuesday night Midvale). Big no-go is Parks' $900 fee.
   7. E Rogers went to December Parks meeting and gave them these ideas. No response.
   8. Another idea is to pay Parks $2,000 fee and give them 6 months notice, and they will allow you to park food carts, and that will help you recoup investment for one-time event. Would allow for amplified music. All parks close at 9pm so that might be sunset for your permission. Have to have full put-together plan to do this so maybe something for 2016. Could host event, food cart sells food, we vend beverages,
      1. D Lamb wonders if we did 3 concerts over the summer and then we just sold food or get HyVee on site, could we do that? Concerts in June, July, and August on same Thursday or Friday night. Would need volunteers and could ask for donations. Could encourage people to bring their own food, like Opera in the Park. Maybe 7-9pm
      2. F Stautz asks if it would replace the annual picnic.
         1. No, need more social events in neighborhood
   9. G Poulson suggests copying Alder Maurice Cheeks on emails to Parks.
      1. E Rogers has been, and Ald Cheeks was very supportive, and E Rogers would often get an answer from Parks when Ald Cheeks copied
      2. E Rogers spoke at Parks meetings during public comment for items not on agenda (did this a couple months in a row); he was notified that Parks can’t speak to what he's saying during meeting if he's not on the agenda. E Rogers asked to get on October agenda, but wasn’t on the agenda, so gave another public comment. Tried to verify that he was on the agenda for November, but then Parks canceled November meeting. In December he did another public comment.
         1. G Poulson can ask what the process is for considering options. There must be a process to get away from influence of Alders, some sort of scoring system that gets projects in the queue.
            1. E Rogers hasn’t received information that he’s below some qualifying threshold.
   10. M Armstrong says these are not huge projects, can we do them as a neighborhood association?
   11. One person at Parks said Segoe Parks playground is on a list for replacement but essentially they put every piece of playground in Madison on a big list and then they march through it in order of need and Segoe is not particularly near the top.
   12. D Lamb said there was this big deal where we couldn’t put a garden in a park. But then a couple of years ago it became a good thing.
   13. E Rogers says that he’s an officer on the Midvale Heights board and that at our June meeting we passed a motion of support for ice skating rink.
       1. R Rotter motioned that E Rogers becomes head of a Midvale Heights Park Committee.
   14. P Haskew brings up art in the park program promoted by MMOCA. They might put us on the list twice if we get a good enough turn out. If we were to advertise that to the neighbors, it might be successful.
   15. P Haskew also recommends we look for some sort of parks foundation or Friends of Madison parks group - they must have some influence so maybe we should ally ourselves with them and maybe bring up some money.
   16. C Kreimendahl suggests we focus our efforts and give E Rogers and whoever else the support they need to move forward. Use neighborhood survey to choose a couple projects to push for, but first have our ducks in the row. Suggests we develop a committee. It's in our neighborhood plan that Segoe Park has picnic shelters and splash pad. Also information about improving the park for adolescences and for younger kids. By next meeting, present the 3 things we really want to push.
   17. M Armstrong says maybe we consider contacting a food cart and put them on contract for a year.
       1. T Jarvis asks are any carts paying money?
          1. No one pays fee from the one co-op E Rogers talked to. But they are going to pay $2000 for one night at a park.
       2. P Schell says a neighbor had a food cart park in their driveway to cater their party.
   18. Is the ballpark used at Segoe Park?
       1. Yes, for Mike Pressman’s league.
   19. P Schell says playground is for older kids, e.g., ultimate frisbee, basketball.
   20. D Lambs asks if we do it 2-3 concerts this summer, could we pay the bands? Suggested rate of $500 for 2-2.5 hours.
       1. J Chipault says we have money and she's in support of using funds to make our neighborhood more interactive.
   21. P Haskew and C Kreimendahl bring up westside Kiwanis group as people to talk to about help with spearheading effort
   22. P Schell asks if we should start a petition.
       1. Probably no clout.
   23. E Rogers to start a park committee via email
   24. D Lamb will find 3 bands that might be available over the summer.
       1. P Schell says it was hard to hear without amplification last year (had to be within 15’ of band). Is there an electric outlet?
          1. Might need a gas generator to get amplification.
   25. J Chipault thanks E Rogers for his persistence on this topic.
8. Other announcements
   1. J Chipault says there's a meeting about community orchard on Thursday, February 5th at Willy St Coop West
   2. G Poulson says on February 17 and April 7 there are elections. Midvale Heights has had high voter turn-out recently (89% voted, second only to Westmorland).
   3. T Jarvis thinks area directors should subscribe to neighborhood watch list so they get the email messages. If someone replies it goes to T Jarvis, R Rotter, and S Fitzsimmons. Other board members could see replies if they'd like. T Jarvis gets copied when S Fitzsimmons responds.
      1. S Fitzsimmons says people could also just email directly to stevefitz at charter.net.
9. Adjourn: 8:05pm

Notes by J Chipault, Secretary