Minutes for March 10, 2014
Meeting Date: March 10, 2014
Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m.
Place: First Baptist Church, 518 N. Franklin Avenue, Madison, WI
Attendance: 16 people
1. Nominations for RBNA Officers: Two-year term starting April 2014
President
- We need someone to volunteer as BJ is resigning at the end of this term
- Judith suggested Betty, but she declined. Phil and Carolyn are willing to help out, but because they travel so much, they can’t really take on an official office. BJ is willing to stay on as acting for a while if really necessary, but he would really prefer not to. Rebecca suggested her neighbor Cindy on Bluff for president and is contacting her. BJ will also contact David Lohrentz to see if he’s interested.
- Could Phil be president with Jason taking on more tasks when Phil is out of town? There’s a chance that Phil could be gone for all of the quarterly meetings. And when he travels for work (to Ireland), it’s hard even with email because of the time difference, etc.
Vice-President
- Toby would like to step down, and is not interested in becoming President.
- Jason Mack from First Baptist is willing to be Vice-President. BJ nominated, Phil seconded.
Secretary
- Judith would like to step down. The time commitment is much smaller now that we’re up and running as an association, and that we are meeting quarterly instead of monthly.
- Betty Bauhs said she is willing to be Secretary, BJ and Phil seconded.
- Gunnar recommended Susan as a possible secretary. He’ll talk with her to gauge interest and will let BJ know.
- Clarification on job description for secretary — sends out the minutes after taken. Discussion of whether deciding what emails to forward to RBNA email list falls under the Secretary or could be a shared undertaking.
Treasurer
- Carolyn is willing to continue, but is also open to others doing it if there is interest.
Street liaisons
- Judith can continue for University Ave.
- For a second person on Harvey Street, Judy can continue to do Schmitt Pl to Franklin, so we need someone to do Schmitt to Eugenia. It’s actually a small territory because Whole Foods takes up a large portion of it.
- Judith will mine the email list for Harvey addresses to recruit for the liaison position.
2. Proposed Changes to RBNA Constitution/By-Laws
Article 8: Meetings > Annual Meeting > Change to3rd bullet point
- Nominations will be made preferably at the March meeting for best communication with the membership, but nominations will be accepted up to the April annual meeting and from the floor at the April meeting.
Article 8: Meetings > Annual Meeting > Addition
- If there is a vacancy in one of the offices mid-year, the other officers can appoint an acting officer who would then be voted on at the next annual meeting.
Article 8: Meetings
- Change to say “Article 8: Meetings & Committees”
- Add a section “Committees” with this information:
- Ad hoc committees can be formed for tasks such as IT/website, event planning, and others as needs arise.
3. Treasurer’s Report (Carolyn)
- The balance is currently $121. A large portion of donated money went to paying for the PortaPotty for the summer party.
- Currently there are no annual dues.
- There has been a donation jar at meetings and events, but it hasn’t been a hard sell.
- The idea was suggested that we set a reasonable amount for coming to the annual summer party, both an individual price and a household option.
- Overall, RBNA costs are low but there are also people who are subsidizing costs themselves for making copies, web hosting, etc.
- Will contact Street Liaison Officers to see if they want some reimbursement for making copies when they distribute flyers about meetings and events.
4. Thanks to Businesses that Donated to Summer Party
- We want to make sure that the businesses that donated to the summer party are thanked by individuals and acknowledged by the RBNA.
- Barb’s daughter will make four 8 x 11 cards (Party Port, Great Dane, Whole Foods, Madison Sourdough) to say something like “Thanks for your donation and helping make the Rocky Bluff Neighborhood Association’s first summer party a super success!”
- Will have the cards at the annual meeting so attendees can sign them.
5. Update on Hoyt Park Neighborhood Plan – BJ
- The Common Council approved the Hoyt Park Plan at the January 7th meeting.
- The sidewalk issue is one that we were quite successful on, as far as was indicated at the Planning Committee.
- There had been a lot of back and forth, but the pedestrian pathways language (versus sidewalks and all that the term entails) was retained, saying that a “one size fits all” policy doesn’t make sense in all Madison neighborhoods.
- Our Alder Shiva spoke in favor of lowering the height limit from 5 floors to 4 in our area particularly along University Avenue.
- Anyone can view the video of the meeting on the Madison City Channel (charter analog 98 and digital 994, AT&T UVerse 99)
6. Quarry Park Garlic Mustard Removal – April 19 – Betty Bauhs
- April 19th from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. will be the garlic mustard removal work day, in conjunction with the Madison Parks Earth Day challenge.
- If the garlic mustard isn’t up by then, we’ll postpone till possibly the first weekend in May.
- Weed Warriors is a group that can be enlisted to mark the areas that need to be pulled. Those who can’t physically pull the weeds can help direct volunteers to the marked areas, etc.
- The City will pick up the weeds, and will provide plastic bags for the collection effort. We’ll gather small flags to mark the infected areas to make it more efficient and easier for volunteers.
7. RBNA Website – www.rockybluffmadison.org
- Kudos to Barb Wagner for the web site.
- And now Timothy will be providing some support as well, including moving our web site over to one of his servers so we won’t have the $90/year hosting cost anymore (Barb paid for the first year and declined reimbursement).
8. Update on Near West Side Neighborhood and University Avenue Corridor Transportation Study – BJ
- It’s more than just a single neighborhood association level, and none of the main recommendations impact RBNA, at least not in the foreseeable future.
- All the comments made are available on the web site, broken down by area. There is also a PowerPoint presentation available that provides all of the presentations.
9. Friends of Hoyt Park
- Friends of Hoyt Park would like to have one consistent RBNA person attend their meetings, instead of a shared appointment. Currently, Gunner and Toby are going, but they meet 10 or more times a year. They’d prefer to have one person who can’t go every month instead of shared position with more attendance.
- We’ll bring it up at the annual meeting. Neighborhood reps are non-voting. Toby will talk to Gunner about coordinating it.
10. Planning for April’s Annual Meeting
- Monday, April 14 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at First Baptist Church.
- Treats and beverages will be provided and we’ll have a guest speaker.
- Guest Speaker
- BJ has gotten a speaker for at the April annual meeting. Probably will be Si Widstrand, who is a former Parks Department conservation specialist. He is involved in the Owl Path project to get lighting limited on the bike path to protect the wildlife sanctuary. He’ll speak about how to effectively use volunteers to provide good wildlife stewardship.
- At the annual meeting on April 14th, Carolyn said that it would be great to get some sub-committees going on information technology (IT) to help with the website and Facebook page, summer party planning, etc.
- Timothy Schneider offered to help with web/IT needs since that’s what he does as a profession.