Location: HEB Community Room @ 1801 E 51st Street
Time: 7PM to 9PM
Attending: John Wooding, Chair; Bart Jacob; Taylor Youngblood; Preston Tyree, Chair Ex Oficio; Ed Dorn; Ted Herr; Alison Raffalovich, Secretary; Marta White; Richard Carr, Vice Chair; Bart Glaser; John Reese Thomas, Treasurer.
Items:
1. Greetings and Pleasantries [John W]
2. Approval of Previous MNA Meeting Minutes [Alison Raffalovich] – These have already been approved via email and posted on the MNA site.
3. Treasurer’s Report [John Reese Thomas] – As expected we had a small loss in January because we paid for the petting zoo for the Egg Scramble. We had a $500 sponsorship come in. John has familiarized himself with the software and will get with Joan to understand how the Alamo Drafthouse ticket values are calculated.
4. Steering Committee Update – Vacancy [John] Colleen had to step aside from the Steering Committee, so we would love to fill the vacancy. Taylor will message to the block captains to see if anyone is interested. Mariana McEnroe recently accepted the invitation to receive Steering Committee communications and Brittany Estes-Garcia has not yet responded, so John will follow up with them.
5. MNA Committee Updates and Reports:
5.1. Transportation & Urban Planning – Chair Nominee – Andrew Clements [John] – John made a motion to nominate Andrew to serve as Chair of that committee for 2020, which Ty seconded; the motion passed unanimously.
Discussion and Vote
5.2. Front Porch Flyer – Orientation [Kathy Sokolic] – Kathy is Editor-in-Chief of the Front Porch Flyer. Overall the renewed print publication is going pretty well a year after returning to print format. There is a core group of engaged people on the editorial board who have relevant professional experience and are reliable. Neighbors write articles, due at the end of the first week of each month, and they are edited and sent to the publisher by the 15th, proofed and mailed via USPS at Peel’s expense. Not all articles have been posted to the website and we don’t have ongoing volunteers to do that (Bill K was doing some of them in 2019). We also discussed a link to the PDF of the newsletter, which does exist on the Peel website, but it’s a bit clunky.
Bart J, John and Taylor will try to take on consistently posting articles to the MNA site.
It is mailed to all residents as of the mailing list about a year ago, so many newer homes are not included. Not sure whether apartments are included. It only goes to sponsors or area businesses *if* they sign up to request it on the Peel website, for either a digital only or a print version. Taylor is meeting with the new block captain from the Jordan tomorrow and will try to sign them up to receive the FPF. Kathy requests support in planning out content for each issue – it would help if the MNA gives her editorial content ideas and/or content for each issue focused on community-building and MNA activities. Send to [email protected] or directly to Kathy. Themed issues are also fun – for example, the history of the neighborhood at milestones.
Kathy will publish our list of sponsors if we tell her when to and get her the relevant information. Taylor plans to contribute an article on the importance of wearing reflective gear if you are walking or running in the dark, dusk or dawn.
5.3. Committee Updates [John] (10 mins)
5.3.1. Chair Vacancies (as of 2/5/20) – Taylor will post chair vacancies to the block captain network. Alison will send Taylor and John the writeup she did from 2019 describing each committee so Taylor can share with block captains and John can put it on the Google Drive.
5.3.1.1. Aging & Neighborhood – Ani Colt, outgoing chair, reviewed the committee objectives, which remain highly relevant. Overall they seek to promote healthy aging in place within Mueller. The Wisdom Crew currently has more than 120 members and engages many new members. A group walks in the mornings on the Wisdom Walk, and Women of Wisdom get together on Monday afternoons. The committee is also working on Wonderment, including a community location to eat, meet, and share experiences, and on promoting meaningful neighborhood work opportunities for older neighbors. For example, after several discussions, Texas Mutual Insurance has reached out to discuss potential openings. The committee also promotes inter-generational relationships. Ani is seeking new energy in the form of an incoming chair to keep initiatives going and hopefully start one new area of focus.
5.3.1.2. Neighborhood Engagement & Inclusion
5.3.1.3. Schools
5.3.1.4. 4th of July Parade & Festival – Outgoing co-chair Bill Kirwin will support the new incoming chair or co-chairs.
5.3.1.5. Fall Fest
5.3.1.6. Egg Scramble* (*Need Co-chair)
5.3.1.7. Project Evaluation
5.3.2. Member Vacancies
5.3.2.1. Nominating Committee – Need five members, no more than two of whom are on SC. Currently have two members: Dennis Mick and John Wooding (SC). Alison will join John W as the second SC member of the committee.
5.4. Online Communications & Technology – Social Media Posting [Bart Jacob] – Bart would like to know when we’ll have new sponsor listings, Bart G will reach out to all past sponsors; DMA (developer of Wildflower Terrace and Aldrich 51) and Google Fiber have already paid. John RT will keep Bart G posted on which sponsors have made payment, and once we have a new list we will also reprint brochures. The budget assumes all existing sponsors renew. It may be simplest to send invoices to all 2019 sponsors with a warm letter and asking for their continued support. Taylor is engaged in posting more on social media. Bill K put a lot of effort into getting a MNA presence on Instagram going but Bart J doesn’t yet have the password from him.
6. Membership Roster and Bookkeeping [John Reese Thomas] – When people come to the General Meetings, we like to have the Treasurer on hand to accept new or renewing members but at the last meeting John RT did not have access to the current membership roster. John suggests we have one person each assigned to the name tag table (Joan will do that ongoing), someone with the membership roster on hand (Richard can do that, and Bart J will also email John Reese Thomas the current link), and the Treasurer on had with application forms to accept new or renewing members (which John will do).
John W will get the member map by block listing as Dennis Mick had it when neighborhood engagement members did block walks in 2019.
Members who renew between 11/1 and 12/31 each year become members immediately but it also extends through the following calendar year.
7. Gift Card Drawing Eligibility [Bart Jacob]
Discussion and Possible Action – In recent general meetings, we’ve been distributing sponsor gift cards. Our guidelines could use better definition. Currently we pull from name tags but the process is very manual and a bit awkward. Bart used a random number generator by table at the last meeting, which was not fair since different tables have different numbers of people. We have also been inconsistent about whether someone has to be an established member to be eligible. There was discussion about inviting to open the drawing to any adults 18 years or older who are members prior to us doing the drawing, and exclude the Steering Committee members and their spouses or significant others.
Joan has mentioned plans to only bring name tags for current members going forward.
Bart showed a random number generator with adjusted odds based on table sizes that will draw winners by table and seat number, which is now on the MNA Google drive. Alternately we could give each person a laminated number as they walk in and draw numbers. Or we can stay with name tag drawing, which people have begun to understand – that is simplest. People can’t win twice in one meeting. Rather than publishing winners’ names in the minutes or Front Porch Flyer, we can more generally say we awarded N $X gift cards for a total of Y winners with a total value of $Z.
8. February General Meeting Agenda [John]
8.1. Treasurer’s Report
8.2. POA Review
8.3. Mueller Commission
8.4. Art in Public Places Program – Akirsash
8.5. Local Business Spotlight: Google Fiber is interested in March
8.6. Gift Card Drawing – Bart J will be out, so Richard will be in charge of drawing names and getting them to Bart for follow-up
Next General Meeting 2/15 10AM @ Ascension Seton Administrative Office, 1345 Philomena Street
Next Steering Committee Meeting 3/4 7PM
Respectfully submitted February 25, 2020
Alison Raffalovich, Secretary