Friends of Dicken Woods General Assembly

DRAFT Minutes for the Monday, June 2, 2008 meeting at Dicken Elementary School

Members Present: Jack Eaton, Jim and Sandra Foulke, Doug Wood, Stephanie Hunter, Tom Ivacko, Naela Jenkins, Harvey Mieske, Victoria Moessner, Deb Norbotten, Leslie Westbury, Marian and Dick Williams.

Meeting was called to order at 7:02pm by Tom Ivacko.

1. Old Business
Tom stated the 1/28/08 meeting minutes had been posted on the website, Jack Eaton moved to approve the minutes from that meeting, 2nd by Jim Foulke, no discussion and motion passed.

2. Finances
Tom reviewed the budget. On 9/24/07 we had $5,252 and today we have $7,397. Therefore revenue since the last meeting was $2,145 (all fundraising from members, including $1,000 from one individual to fund the new innovative Leslie Science Center initiative at Dicken Elementary). There were no expenses since the last meeting, but there are expenses coming soon, including: $2,500 in grants for this academic year (including the $1,000 LSC initiative); about $300 for the Winter Walk; perhaps $500 for the spring planting effort.

3. Vote on funding grants-to-classes program for academic year 2008-09

Stephanie Hunter reviewed the 2007-08 grant program and stated that she felt the teachers would like to continue with a similar program, for the coming school year; therefore, $1500 will be enough money. Leslie Westbury motioned to approve $1500 for the grant program, 2nd by Sandy Foulke, no discussion and motion passed.

4. Vote on officer positions for July 2008-June 2009

Naela Jenkins stated that the current slate for officer positions is as follows: President - Jack Eaton; Co-Vice Presidents - Jim Boyd and Tom Ivacko; Treasurer - Deb Norbotten; Secretary - Debbie Johnson.

Naela asked if there was any discussion or nominations from the floor, and no one offered any concerns or offered changes to the slate, so motion made by Naela to approve the slate, 2nd by Jim Foulke, no discussion and motion passed.

5. Updates, Reports, and Discussion Items

a. 42 North Proposed Student Housing on S. Maple:
Jack will plan to attend the 6/17 meeting, but wants members to plan for the July City Council meeting. We have a FOIA request in to the city for all the documents related to 42 North. Also, Jack has requested the next developer meeting be in a neutral location, so that all will feel comfortable attending. Once he has all the needed information, it will be posted on the S. Maple Group website. Everyone should keep checking there for updates and information.

b. The Role of Citizen Participation in the Planning Process:
The city is looking at an ordinance that requires developers to contact neighborhoods before they get to deep into the planning process. Initially the ordinance was to only apply to projects of a certain size, but City Council amended it to apply to all projects. In April a community meeting was held, and the Planning Department spoke at length about what they do and their procedures. Once it was opened to the floor, there were many good suggestions. There is Planning Commission public hearing tomorrow to review the language of the ordinance. It did seem that after the April meeting things were still unclear and Jack plans to attend the PC meeting to voice concerns about this. A member asked about why such a formal process had to be in place, and could notices be in the newspapers? Another member wondered if signage could be used to notify neighborhoods of coming projects and meetings. Next Tom asked Jack about sending additional information to the PC. Tom stated he was disappointed that they did not respond to the traffic study, and they appear to be disregarding the efforts of the neighborhood. Jack stated he would give this information again, but currently the PC appears to be pro-development and are not as receptive to these types of issues. A member asked about the traffic study and was told it was done in 3/07 and was not during break week of the school. However, it did only focus on S. Maple and Pauline. When we showed the PC that the study was flawed they shrugged off our concerns.

c./d. Grants Program and Midwinter Candlelight Walk:
Stephanie reported the 2007-08 program consisted of 14 classroom programs and the 5th graders made a tile mural that is now a permanent piece of art at Dicken. The $1000 special funds grant is moving a bit slower than expected with the Leslie Science Center and will be continued next academic year. The LSC will do presentations and take each classroom into the woods, They will also ask the teachers what they want from this program. The LSC needs half the funds to print the manuals, so Stephanie motioned we approve halfthe funds be given now, 2nd by Harvey Mieske, no discussion, motion passed.

The walk went well, but again we had problems with getting hot chocolate passed out.

e./f. Spring Planting Day/Fall Stewardship Day:
100 Service Berry and 100 Red Oaks were planted on 4/26. Also, 5 larger trees were given via private donation and were also planted. This year we will be looking at what things are working and what are not. Initially, the plan was to use mulching mats, but instead mulch was used and if there are long dry spells, attempts will be made to water. Victoria Moessner offered some large Maples from her property that could be dug up and transplanted to DW.

The Fall Stewardship day is set for Saturday 9/13, this is conjunction with NAP. Ray Hunter and Doug Wood have the pesticide and herbicide certification. When it is the appropriate time to cut and apply these they will begin to do this.

g. Max and Erma's Fundraising Dinner
The night was very successful, and we raised $336. It was noted that we saw many more teachers there this year. There was a brief discussion about doing this twice each year, but in the end it was decided to keep with the current schedule, and also do the fundraising letter in the fall.

6. Next Meeting
The next meeting will be sometime this fall, but doesn't need to be before the 9/13 work day. The SC will notify members of the date for the next meeting.

7. Open Discussion
Jack mentioned that there is a public hearing at City Council about the new Court House and Police building. The meeting is tonight if anyone is interested.

Doug Wood made a motion to close the meeting, Jack 2nd, no discussion and motion passed.

Meeting ended at 8:00pm.

Minutes by Naela Jenkins and Tom Ivacko