Called to Order: 7:00 p.m. by PB

Reports:

  1. Secretaries Report (PB)
    1. Roll Call:
      1. Present: George Rosenquist (GR), Paul Barber (PB), Andy Hauer (AH), Donald Hicks (DH), Dolores Cotten (DC).
      2. Absent: Marsha McKinnie Davis (MKD), Mike Olson (MO).
      3. Guests: Peter Millington, Lake Area News; Officer Tom Sawina, Minneapolis Police Department - S.A.F.E. Team; Linda Robert, DMRA Community Organizer; Pat Scott, 7th Ward City Council Member; Jeff Owens, Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA); and various General Members.
    2. Minutes from the March, 21 1995 Board of Directors meeting were approved with the following amendments:
      1. The spelling of Dolores Cotten's name was corrected.
  2. Treasurer's Report (AH)
    1. See Attached Report.
  3. Community Organizer Report (Linda Roberts)
    1. See Attached Report.
  4. S.A.F.E. Team Report (Officer Tom Sawina)
    1. Tom handed out the new wallet-size cards that indicate that it is against the law to panhandle. They also indicate the addresses of community help organizations. Posters with the same information have also be put up in downtown.

Old Business

  1. NRP/First Step Update (AH)
    1. Linda Roberts has put together a second draft Participation Agreement and distributed it to the Downtown NRP (DNRP), Inc. Board of Directors. The DNRP Board will review after the DMRA Board meeting.
  2. Office Partner Update (PB)
    1. At last month's meeting Judy had an idea that a retired resident of the Towers could attend our meetings, take minutes, and Judy would provide all services that required office equipment. She would provide this person with mailing labels so they could do some ad hoc mailings. Since then she decided that since we had two qualified candidates, she would withdraw her proposal.
    2. On April 11, 1995, PB, GR, AH, and DC interviewed the two candidates: Sally Westby and Marsha Wagner, and Kathleen Riley-Daniels.
    3. A motion was made and passed to contract with Sally Westby and Marsha Wagner for a retainer of $200 per month which includes up to seven hours of service. Hours not used will be credited towards next month. Permission will be obtained if it appears as if they will go over the seven hours. Motion passed.
    4. GR will inform the candidates of our decision and AH will proceed with the financial details.
  3. Residents Information Book (AH)
    1. The book is finally done!
    2. Linda Roberts has conducted some outreach meetings in various buildings to kickoff the distribution.
    3. Gittleman Management has agreed to distribute it to the doors of the residents in the four buildings that they manage. That will take care of around 30% of the households.
    4. For the remaining 70%, Peter will work with the building managers or a resident contact to make sure they get distributed. Above all, no building policies will be violated during distribution.
    5. As of now, the following buildings are known to have been done: 314 Hennepin, Rivergate, The Crossings, and Symphony Place.
  4. Jeff Owens of the Center for Urban and Regional Affairs (CURA) will be contacting the board of directors to see how our Community Organizer is impacting our neighborhood.
  5. Follow Up from Annual Meeting (GR)
    1. Adult Businesses in the Downtown Neighborhood
      1. GR indicated that someone from Jackie Cherryhomes office told him that the city had decided not to form a task force as previously suggested.
      2. The CIP grant from the MCDA, if approved by City Council, should address our concerns.
    2. Filling Board Positions
      1. GR indicated that Janet Parkin did not know of anyone in The Itasca that would be interested.
      2. Linda will try and recruit others from the buildings we are not represented by during her outreach program.
  6. DMRA on the Internet (PB)
    1. Originally PB was going to set up a World Wide Web Home Page for the DMRA on his University of Minnesota account. He then discovered that it would be a better idea to place it on the Minneapolis Television Network (MTN) site. MTN is offering neighborhood groups a low cost service. They City of Minneapolis has a site with MTN. It would be better to use them instead of PB's personal account.
    2. A motion was made for PB and AH to get an Internet Account with MTN if the annual fee is $50 or less. Motion passed.

New Business

  1. Election of Officers (PB)
    1. With Janet Parkin's departure, we need to fill the Chairperson's position.
    2. GR was nominated and elected to fill the remaining term of the Chair.
    3. DH was nominated and elected to fill the remaining term of the Vice Chair that GR just vacated.

Adjourned at 9:00 p.m.

Respectfully submitted by Paul Barber.