Location: (Teleconference via Zoom)
Time: 7-8 p.m.
In attendance: John Wooding, Chair; Bart Glaser; Marta White; Alison Raffalovich, Secretary; Taylor Youngblood; Bart Jacob; Ted Herr; John Reese Thomas, Treasurer.
Not in attendance: Ed Dorn, Brittany Estes Garcia, Mariana McEnroe, Richard Carr, Vice Chair.
1. Greetings and Pleasantries [John] (5 mins) 7:00 – 7:05
2. Approval of Previous Meeting Minutes [Alison Raffalovich] (5 mins) 7:05 – 7:10 Approved by voice vote.
3. Treasurer’s Report [John Thomas] (5 mins) 7:10 – 7:15 – We got sponsorships from DMA and Catellus and 14 new memberships in April. YTD through April 30 we’ve receive $5,000 in sponsorships and $555 from dues. We’ve dispersed $479.82 in neighborhood grants YTD. John T proposes purchasing a stamp that says “Deposited” to mark checks once they have been deposited via an image in the Frost Bank application, which was approved.
4. Meeting Minutes Format [Alison Raffalovich] (5 mins) 7:15 – 7:20. Since John Wooding is now posting General Meeting content in short video snippets from each presenter and bundles it into a summary with links to each video snippet, that effectively serves as a meeting record so we will use that summary as minutes during the period of suspended in-person meetings. Alison will still get approvals from the board to have a quorum approve the minutes in the new format.
5. MNA Committee Updates and Reports:
5.1. Local Business – Supporting/ Promoting Sponsors [Bart Glaser] (15 mins) 7:20 – 7:35. Bart approached our sponsor businesses and asked what the MNA can do to support them during the current challenging economic environment. Responses from many of those contacted have been positive and have given us content or updates to share with neighbors. We can put the video HEB sent into the May General Meeting as our local business spotlight. We could post multiple content updates in the MNA Sponsors area of our site as well. Google Fiber also sent a video that we will share. Colleen’s and Haute Salon also responded with emails.
5.1.1. Pop-Up Picnic – Colleen’s owner Ashley Fric proposed a pop-up picnic to benefit local businesses and have a fun event for the neighbors. Here’s her thoughts:
- Example Ideas of what people could buy:
- Picnic for Two or Picnic for Four from Colleen’s / Loca d’Oro / BD’s
- Jodi’s favorite 6-Pack from Whichcraft
- S’mores Kit from Halycon
- Picnic Blanket from Lilla + Beth
- STEM toys to keep the kiddos busy from the Thinkery
- Sweet Treat Box from Quacks
The Steering Committee discussed possibly doing this as a Memorial Day weekend event. John Thomas and Alison could host up to 100 people on a Zoom call for those who want to hang out. There may be some local musicians who would provide some entertainment. Alternately we could do Facebook Live for streaming the entertainment. Several blocks and other neighbors have been doing virtual pizza parties and the like. Our new engagement chair, Koreena Malone, might be interested in running with the idea, so Taylor will ask her. We could invite all our sponsor businesses the opportunity to participate creatively even if they are not food and beverage. For example, we could also ask each sponsor if they’d like to contribute a lighthearted 30-60 second video to promote their business.
6. Zoom Office Hours – Checking in on Neighbors [Discussion – All] (10 mins) 7:35 – 7:45. This was an idea proposed by Dan Updegrove for neighbors to pop in to a link at a certain if they just want to connect and talk or catch up. We could do it in the slot when the General Meeting would normally have taken place. We could assign shifts and let people know which Steering Committee member is hosting and what committees they are active on if neighbors have a specific area of interest. We could promote it on the Facebook page and offer, say, a 30-minute session to try it out. John W will schedule a 30-minute stint on Saturday at 10:30 for 30 minutes via Facebook live on the MNA Facebook page and some of the other Steering Committee members will join as well.
7. Ascension Seton – May General Meeting Update [John] (5 mins) 7:45 – 7:50 Ascension is using their meeting space to store supplies so we wouldn’t be able to use it in May, and we’ll play it by ear for June.
8. May General Meeting Agenda* [John] (5 min) 7:50 – 7:55
8.1. Treasurer’s Report – John Reese Thomas
8.2. POA Review – Bill Berman
8.3. Mueller Commission – Mike Jones
8.4. Local Business Spotlight – We’ll include the videos we have from up to 3 sponsors. Taylor also proposed renewing the Welcome Wagon idea and letting sponsors donate an item or coupon or whatever they want to as part of each welcome packet. Taylor will draft a note with some examples to get their gears turning, and get input from Koreena, and she or Bart G will send to sponsor business to assess interest. We could start with 100 and pitch in on assembling them and storing them as the inventory gets worked down. To reprint the brochure, Taylor can get the file with all the logos from Bart G.
We could do a quick black-and-white print version of the brochure for the near term using the in-kind credit with the UPS store. HEB might be willing to donate paper bags and put a stamp or sticker with the MNA logo on them, or have our logo printed onto the paper bag. Bart J and Bart G had updated the logos on the Sponsor page but some are not displaying properly and Bart will troubleshoot.
Kathy Sokolic is looking for any 250-word articles and photos for the June Front Porch Flyer.
General Meeting – will be via video
Steering Committee Meeting 6/3 7 p.m.
Respectfully submitted 5-8-2020,
Alison Raffalovich, Secretary