Drake Neighborhood Association board meeting
December 10, 2003
Present: Larry James Jr., Dave Courard-Hauri, Mac McAfee, Trish Davis, Carl McPherson, Andrew Pinneke, Jen Lawler, Tony Schmitt, Jim Dietz-Kilen
Excused: Jen Sayers
Absent: Dolph Pulliam, Eddie Robinson, Dustin Smith, Michelle Saveraid, Patty Daniels
I. Treasurer's report
Last report from treasurer, Eldon ̉MacÓ McAfee; the board thanked him for his years of service.
II. NBSD report
Sgt. Jeff Aldrich and Ed Leedom reported about their League of Cities Conference in Nashville.
Police are watching the neighborhood closely; there has been an increased presence of officers.
Dan Koenig brought up the lack of streetlights and would like the DNA to push the issue.
Dave responded that as there are 9 vacant police positions, he would rather have the city fill the police positions before the lights are turned back on.
Andrew said that we should look into streetlight shields to maximize light we do have, possibly apply for grants for them. He will research grant opportunities.
Dan Koenig will look into the Drake Business Association security lighting in Dogtown.
III. Organization reports
a) Drake University - No report
b) Drake Area Business Association (DABA) - working on new bylaws, then they will work on marketing and creating a buzz.
Drake Relays Parade will be held this year in the neighborhood and this is a great opportunity for a DNA float. DABA will do a float as well. The DNA float could be built upon the float house built by Wayne Almlie.
Parade float committee - Andrew, Dan, and Jen Lawler. They will call
upon members to volunteer.
IV. Committee reports
a) Beautification - Susan Kuker and Sue Bolke submitted a grant request to $4,000 bulbs for Kingman Blvd. Results will be known in February.
Larry applied for a DNR tree grant.
Mac had questions about how the City does its tree trimming. He didn't receive a flier in the door like others in the neighborhood and is concerned about how many branches were trimmed.
c) House Tour - Trish and Jen Lawler have developed a list of potential houses. They are working on notifying homeowners early. The tour will focus primarily on the area between 25th and 28th, University and Kingman. Meeting will be held the 1st and 3rd Wednesday of each month. Trish plans to contact property owners on 26th and 27th to inform them of the tour and ask them to work to beautify their houses.
d) Web site - Clayton Mitchell, DC Smith, Lyle Erickson are working to redesign the web site. It will incorporate features such as on-line membership forms, and sell house tour tickets.
e) Newsletter - Amanda Houle, a Drake student, will begin editing the newsletter.
V. New Business
a) Speed Limit - Larry proposed that we consider asking the City to lower the speed
limit along Kingman Blvd. and Cottage Grove from 30 mph to 25 mph as there is less traffic since the reconfiguration of I-235.
MOVED to present idea at the next General Membership meeting.
VI. Old Business
a) Bylaws - Dave, Mac, and Trish reviewed the bylaws and have the following initial recommendations:
1) Look at the number of general membership meetings and dates - hold them possibly at the 2nd month of the quarter, the 1st Saturday .
2) Look at the membership dues.
3) Use general-neutral language.
4) Quorum - currently a quorum is set at 7, but it should be 8.
5) Reflect that Drake University has a member on the board.
6) Perhaps divide the neighborhood into six sections and have one seat from each section, and make the rest of the seats at-large.
7) Allow e-mail voting.
8) Clarify board nominating process.
The meeting notes are copied and pasted from a variety of sources, and so the font sizes may be inconsistent. If you have trouble reading any of the notes, please let us know.