ECCO Meeting Minutes Nov 4th, 2010

Attendance
Board members: Heather Wulfsberg, Blake Harper, Gael Ellis, Katherine St. Martin, Sarah Sponheim, Glen Christianson, Brad Durham/Kaitryne Durham, Tim Norkus Crampton, Nancy Ward (President)
Megan Harper, Breanna Patsch, Monica Smith, Steve Carlton, Phyllis Stenerson

Announcements, Community Forum Review
Uptown Neighborhood News
· Phyllis Stenerson (Uptown Neighborhood News Editor)
The Uptown News is soliciting suggestions for future articles as well as welcoming articles written by community members on relevant topics of interest. Upcoming articles to look for include pieces on the Walker Library building project as well as the proposed Mosaic project adjacent to the Lagoon Theater. http://www.carag.org/news/unn.htm



Proposed Crate and Barrel 2 (CB2) Project
· Nancy Ward (ECCO President)
Nancy addressed the status of the proposed building project for a CB2 store at the Northeast corner of Hennepin and 31st Street (across from The Paper Source). This project will go before the City Planning Commission on December 13th. The project is currently being opposed by the CARAG neighborhood organization. ECCO’s Zoning Committee will meet and bring a proposal to the next ECCO Board meeting. The project positives are the potential benefit to the commercial district; the mutual productivity that a CB2 store might create for all Calhoun Square businesses. The negative aspects of the project are primarily the current one-story building plan and modern grey exterior of the store, which could potentially detract from the current multistory and largely brick aesthetic features of the area. Another objection is that the design does not conform to the Uptown Small Area Plan (USAP).

Meg Tuthill (City Council)
· Breanna Patsch (on behalf of Meg Tuthill)
1. Be aware that the 2010 Fall Street Sweep & Leaf Collection is ongoing through Thanksgiving. Please keep an eye out for the “No Parking” signs that will appear before your street is swept.
2. Upcoming meeting on November 16th at the MLK Recreation Center Building to discuss community safety with the Minneapolis police.
3. If you are interested in attending the next opportunity to “Meet with Meg” on Tuesday, November 16 at noon at the 5th Precinct or inquiring/ suggesting potential discussion topics contact her office at 612-673-2210 or meg.tuthill@ci.minneapolis.mn.us.
4. The Greenway Coalition meets with East Isles Neighborhood to discuss removing the stop signs in an open discussion forum at 7:15 pm on Tuesday November 9th at Grace Trinity Church. All are invited.

Treasurers Report
· The ECCO Board is in good financial condition. The Excel budget document reflects the opening of a separate savings account for ECCO in order to ultimately save on transfer fees. The document’s new formatting demonstrates the balance in the separate accounts. Income for the year is approximately as expected except for the delay of the Wine Tasting fundraiser check from Hennepin Lake and Liquor and $2000 pending from a CPED grant. Expenses have been about as expected, except that Nancy Ward was able to significantly reduce our insurance expenses this year from $1,000 to $150 and we spent less on the website administration.
Social/SECSE

· The Wine Tasting Fundraiser was a huge success with ECCO selling 117 tickets in advance of the event for a total of $2,900. The Social Committee raised $2,900 plus the door ticket amount, which will arrive soon from Hennepin Lake and Liquor.

· Next “Neighborhood Social” will be a candlelight social on Wednesday November 17th at the dead end of 34th Street from 6-7pm. Cookies and hot chocolate will be served. The following social will be held after the holidays in January 2011. The next Social Committee chair is encouraged to think of something new and fun 2011. All ideas are welcome for neighborhood building social events for 2011, and beyond. Some ideas offered included a winter event at Suburban World Theater, and a skating party on the lake.

· Committee chair Sarah Sponheim gave an update of the committee activities and plans.
· The Green Team is exploring the possibility of applying for a community power grant from the county for as much as $5,000 for their “Waste Watchers” program for 2011. This initiative would encourage the neighborhood to reduce waste through the use of the organics program as well as an education and publicity campaign (lawn signs) to promote wise waste management within the community.

· It is not too late to get a cart for organics recycling. Contact Monica Smith, nrp@eastcalhoun.org, to sign up for organics recycling carts.

NRP Report
· The CES home energy visits were completed in 69 ECCO households; this high level of participation may lead to a city participation grant.

· CEE is also managing the Phase II housing grant and loan programs. Eligible projects include improvements to home energy efficiency and/or exterior repairs or improvements. The Matching Grant Program features a matching grant of 25% NRP funds to 75% homeowner funds, with a maximum grant of $3,000. There are no income limits. The Low Interest Loan program offers 4% fixed rate loans with flexible terms with a maximum loan of $7,500. Household income limits apply. For more information, please go to the NRP section of our website: www.eastcalhoun.org. So far there are few completed applications but the community has until January 14, 2010.

· The Tree Treatment Grant program expired Nov 1, but will be restarted again in the spring. This program will reimburse homeowners up to $250 for licensed professional treatment of elm trees to prevent Dutch Elm Disease, oak trees to treat chestnut borer, and/or green ash trees to prevent or treat infestation by the Emerald Ash Borer. This program includes trees on the boulevard and/or on the owner’s property. The application for the tree treatment grants can be downloaded from the ECCO board website or contact Monica Smith 612-821-0131. There is $2,000 of available funding in this program. The Board will need to consider re-authorizing funding in the spring.

· Home Security Grant - East Calhoun NRP funds will reimburse homeowners up to $250 for home security upgrades (until remaining phase I funds are used up, then up to $100); one grant per household. The grants do not cover monthly service fees for security systems. The application for the home security grants can be downloaded from the ECCO board website or contact Monica Smith 612-821-0131.

· Nicholas Kakos (NRP Policy Board Protection Neighborhood Representative)
· Nick will be running for his 16th year on the NRP Policy Board. His message for ECCO was that despite dramatic changes to the NRP program including cut allotments and transition of control from neighborhood representatives to city council members, there are still remaining funds tagged for housing improvements. He wants to remain on the board in order to ensure that those funds are allocated as they were intended to be. The board recognized his long time dedication to the East Calhoun neighborhood.

Vision/Goal Setting:

· Nancy opened the floor for discussion on where the new board members see the ECCO going in 2011 and emphasized that as the committees are organized and integrate new leadership, each committee should be thinking about its focus area for this year. There was unanimous agreement that the overarching vision is to grow community involvement but a larger discussion needs to take place on what the ECCO board wants to focus on and how the committees can support that larger focused mission through their own (perhaps overlapping) goals. This agenda item will receive more focus and time at the December meeting.

· Katherine will create an ECCO Board Member Facebook Page Trial (in conjunction with Monica) in order to facilitate discussion and brain storming between meetings as well as familiarize the members with the application. If the trail is a success, the board may decide to create a community page in order to spread awareness for future events. The trial will be completed for review by Monica no later than Sunday November 14th.

Election of Officers and Committee Positions:

The following were nominated to be ECCO board officers and accepted the nomination:
· President: Nancy Ward
· Vice President: Sarah Sponheim
· Treasurer: Glen Christianson
· Secretary: Katherine St. Martin

The following volunteered to join (Chair*) a committee:
· Zoning Committee: Heather Wulfsberg, Blake Harper, Tim Norkus Crampton
· SECSE/Social Committee: Judy Shields (by proxy), Katherine St. Martin, Nancy Ward
· Safety Committee: Nancy Ward*, Heather Wulfsberg, Gail Ellis
· Green Team: Sarah Sponheim*, Glen Christianson, Nancy Ward, Brad/Kaitryne Durham
· Uptown Neighborhood News Representative: Linda Todd, Ralph Knox, TBD
· The point was raised that the Board should consider sending a representative to the Midtown Greenway meetings to support the Greenway Coalition versus Xcel energy in the debate over potential overhead Greenway power lines: representative TBD

Meeting adjourned.
Next ECCO Meeting will be held on December 2nd at 7 pm inside St. Marys Greek Orthodox Church.