March 15, 2018 EHNA Steering Committee Meeting Minutes | 6:30 PM, at Spirit Lutheran Church

Members in attendance: Kim Cronk, Gina Keenan-Klages, Tania Mathews, Michael Rasmussen, Chad Rowekamp, Mark Ruddy, Meg Nord, Shannon Paulus

Members absent: Chris Buske, Eric Anderson, Susan Bauer, Carey Hoeft

Note: Michael Rasmussen took notes for Susan Bauer.

Guest: Police Officer Tyler Stephens

Police Report: Tyler is a patrol officer assigned to the South District. He works 4:30pm to 3:00am. Has been working in Eau Claire for 2-years. Gave information on a possible drug house forming on Fleming Street. Contacting the police on suspicious activities is the best approach when seeing cars come-and-go from suspected homes.

Old Business

Minutes: February minutes were approved by the committee.

Treasurer’s Report: Was not discussed at the March meeting.

Steering Committee Annual Goals: Chris Buske at our January meeting suggested we set goals that can guide the Steering Committee’s actions for the year. At our February meeting this Committee decided put this on our agenda for March: a 30 minute brainstorming to define our strategic goals for the year. The following items were suggested but not ranked.

Branding – Graphics/Logo (Gina will connect with graphic arts classe at start of fall semester).
Prairie Maintenance and improvement.
Margaret St. boulevard perennial gardens monitoring and upkeep.
Boyd Park Plan: options and priorities for improvements to Boyd Park.
Recruiting Volunteers to share the work load and thus enable new projects.
Consider more group events like the Picnic: concerts, winter events, Shelter programming.
Outreach beyond Social Media such as Postings on Little Libraries, bulletin boards.
River Access Trails planning and development.
Community Garden
Use Neighborhood Calendar option on our web site (Tania volunteered to maintain it).
By-Laws Change as part of 501c3 application.
Election of Committee Members (Mark doesn’t know what this suggests).

New Business

Annual Community Block Grant: We missed the March deadline to apply for this annual grant of $200. Mark will be added to the list of individuals who receive up-coming deadline notices.

Neighborhood Survey: Because our Committee was focusing on goals and suggestions from our Neighborhood, Mark Ruddy put together a survey with the help of Lori Bica. The survey will help us find out more about what our Neighbors want the Steering Committee and the Association to focus on. Ways for promoting the survey to people who don’t have social media were also discussed. Survey details were discussed and suggested changes will be made to the final draft.

City Council Hearing & Voting: The City Council is having a hearing on Monday, March 26th at 4 PM to get Neighborhood feedback about the City Engineer’s recommendations for the redo of Harding Avenue. Voting by the Council will take place the next day, starting at 7 PM.

Margaret Street Perennials: The City offered to pay “one last time” for perennials for the Margaret Street Project; two prominent boulevards will be improved.

Herbicide Training: A volunteer is needed to take a training course for use of commercial chemicals, to be used in the prairie of Boyd Park. This training will cost the committee about $75.00. Mark has an individual who is be interested in taking this training. Mark Wesenberg who has been certified has significantly less time to help with this prairie maintenance.

501c3: A 30-day notice will be given to Neighbors about any by-laws being changed. Liabilities, insurance, and other legal issues will be discussed at our April meeting.

Submitted by Michael and Mark.

Next Meeting: Thurs. April 19th, at Spirit Lutheran, Main Street.

These minutes were approved via email by: Chad, Gina, Michael, Tania, Meg, Kim and Mark.