EPIC Board Meeting - December 2005

PRESENT
Mary Gonsior (MG), Linda Leonard (LL), Carol Pass (CP), Earl Simms (ES), Hannah Lieder (HL)

Directors not Present: Cynthia Aquirre (CA), Aden Awil (AA), Rosie Cruz (RC),

Meeting was called to order as Committee of the Whole at 10:13 AM by CP. Agenda was distributed. MG was designated as recording secretary.

AGENDA
The agenda was approved with the addition of “NRP announcement” and deletion of “public safety announcement”.

MINUTES
Minutes were approved from the October 1 EBM. Minutes were approved from the November 5 EBM with one correction: EPC 17th Ave. Garden Committee, bullet #3: Stipulated that gardeners must agree to abide by the memorandum.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
Peavey Park is closing and there was no community input. The school board owns the park (the land was given to them) and now they want to sell it. There will be a meeting at Anderson School on Monday, Dec. 5 to address this. Community should attend.
Industrial Land Use Meeting was held at the YWCA to give a public presentation and hearing on land use for Lake St./Hiawatha corridor, affecting East Phillips and Seward. It was a very good meeting. The city will issue a report on the meeting.
County Tax Budget. LL, CP, BP, Mark Welna protested the raise in property taxes caused by a decrease in large commercial taxes and funding by city. Small businesses and homeowners are paying high rates and large commercial businesses are paying low rates.
NRP Report. LL attended the Thursday, November 17 meeting to elect NRP Reps. CP came in 2nd in the NRP elections for the board and will be an alternate. The Rep. elected is Tom Bisson, a banker. CP will continue to attend meetings and work with Tom.

Allina Jobs
An agreement was distributed and read regarding the loan fund being created between NRP and Allina, providing funds to help Allina move into the Midtown Exchange location in exchange for incentives for Allina to hire from participating neighborhoods. Credits against the loan are earned by Allina through incentives like recruiting, hiring and retaining employees from participating neighborhoods, and housing and education assistance to participating neighborhood employees.

Motion (MG, LL)
EPIC will become a participating neighborhood and contribute $5,000 to the loan fund from the Economic Security Strategic goal from Phase I Plan. Motion passed.

EPC 17th Ave. Garden Committee
CP submitted the Memorandum of Understanding between EPIC and the Green Institute with the following changes.
Item #15 was changed so that program grants and major grants cannot be imposed by individuals or organizations outside of EPIC’s community process.
Item #9 defines Quorum Requirements (Roberts Rules of Order and EPIC motions.)
Item #10 is a new item to outline grievance procedures.

Motion (MG, HL)
Accept the Memorandum of Understanding with amendments as the official EPIC document that summarizes the agreements between the Green Institute and EPIC and embodies previous EPIC motions, practices and policies. Motion passed.

CDBG funding
EPIC re-submitted the budget to Robert Cooper. We are going to get these funds. The process will take about two months.

Weed & Seed
Weed & Seed needs a new fiscal agent because the city is closing their current fiscal agent (Mpls. Health Dept.) Weed & Seed brings in $200,000 to the city for crime prevention. Discussed whether it was appropriate for EPIC to weigh in on this decision. MG asked to call the question.

Motion (LL, HL)
EPIC will send a letter to Weed & Seed indicating that we prefer to have an ethical agent other than PPNA because of the way PPNA has supervised our funds in the past. Motion passed. MG opposed.

Survey – Phase I evaluation
CP distributed copies of reports filed by other neighborhoods. Board members reviewed reports with the view of what EPIC might do to produce Phase I evaluation. Board will take home these plans and read them.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 am.

Respectfully submitted by Mary Gonsior, Secretary

CDBG = Community Development Block Grant
EBM = EPIC Board Meeting
EPC 17th Ave. Garden Committee = East Phillips 17th Avenue Community Garden Steering Committee
EPIC = East Phillips Improvement Coalition
GMM = General Membership Meeting
GI = Green Institute
NRP = Neighborhood Revitalization Program
PPNA = Powderhorn Park Neighborhood Association
EPIC BOARD MEETING
December 3, 2005
2526 18th Avenue S, Apt. #5