The meeting was convened at 7:05 PM.
Members Present: Jim Barfoot, Erik Christiansen, Lee Clasper-Torch, Grant Dulgarian, Anneliese Greenier, Vishal Jain, Kerry Kohring, Michael McGlynn, Britt Page, Sheila Perlow, Thomas Schmeling, Mark Tracy, Sharon Lee Waldman, Dean Weinberg, Karina Holyoak Wood.
Members Absent: Dan MacLellan, Emily Spitzman.
Guests: David Kolsky, Jordan Durham, Peter Case, Virginia Pires.
Welcome. Dean welcomed guests.
Minutes from November were unanimously approved on a motion by Mark, which was seconded by Sheila.
Peter Case & Jordan Durham Presented a preliminary proposal for renovations to the building next to Summit Commons. They have a purchase agreement signed with Athena They were responsible for the new construction on the “tar beach” property in on North Main Street in 2007. This building has been abandoned for over 10 years. It currently contains 35 tiny apartments. They would expand the size of some of these. There are 26 parking spaces (for 26 units). The target market would be young professionals and grad students. These plans are in a very preliminary stage.
President’s Report. Nothing new to report.
Treasurer’s report. Tom moved to accept this report and Mark seconded. Approved unanimously.
Snow brigade. Tom noted that Britt has done most of the work organizing the brigade this year. We’ve had almost no snow so far. Sheila moved $500 authorization to pay for materials should the brigade need shovels, sno-melt, etc. This can also be used to pay for the lunch to reward shovelers. Mark seconded. All were in favor after a brief discussion.
Zoning. Grant was not yet present to give a report.
Membership. Mike now has all membership lists. The tent has been acquired. T-shirts are being sold on the website. The updated membership form is now online. Currently, membership expires at annual meeting, but they are moving toward rolling memberships with individual expiration dates. Reminders will be sent out. This will take some time and a significant amount of work to accomplish.
New business
Lecture Series. Mark reported a tentative date of Wednesday, 4/13 at 7PM for the first event. It will take place at Summit Commons. Dr. Ed Martin, Medical Director of Hope Health, will present on hospice and palliative care.
Education committee. The committee held a forum on Nov. 19th at Rochambeau Library. 12-15 people attended. There was a wide-ranging discussion about policies and practices of the school department. The committee will meet again to plan future activity.
Caroling. 3rd year. Caroling worked well and was fun. The event began on 1st night of Hanukah with a short lecture on Hanukah and singing of the dreidel and Hanukah songs. They raised $100 cash and 25 jars of peanut butter for food pantry donations.
Newsletter. The next newsletter will appear in late march or early April.
Summit Ave. Park. We are still waiting for the city to put in the water line. Bids for the work were higher than expected. Kerry will meet with Deputy Director of Parks Dept. The committee (which is a subcommittee of the SNA Board) has begun a discussion of whether to apply for a RI Foundation grant. That deadline is mid-February.
Senate Grant. We have not spent all the funds from last year. $753 is outstanding. We were supposed to spend it by June 30th Dean has asked the grant administrator to add it to the $1500 we applied for this year. Tom moved to create a committee to decide how to handle the funds with Dean as chair. Sherry seconded the motion, which passed unanimously., Britt, Sherry, Jim, and Grant volunteered to help.
Annual Meeting. Kerry is waiting to hear from the new director of the Highlands regarding using that as our venue again.
It was noticed that our meeting as currently planned is in conflict with the RI presidential primary on 4/26. Sheila moved moving the meeting to Wednesday, April 27th. Jim seconded. Wednesday, April 29th was raised as an alternative. A vote was taken. 8 were in favor of Wednesday 4/29. Two favored Monday, 4/27. The rest abstained.
Annual meeting planning committee. Kerry volunteered to chair. Sheila, Lee, and Anneliese volunteered to help.
Nominating Committee. Tom chair will chair again this year. Anneliese will help.
Candidate forums: This issue was tabled until the next meeting.
Advisory board. This issue was tabled until the next meeting.
Other business
- Miriam Hospital has received our statement expressing our appreciation that there is no plan to expand parking in the neighborhood.
- Erik reports that the North Burial Grounds friends group has $1k grant to get going. He asks for volunteers who want to be part of this project.
Meeting adjourned 8:57
Respectfully Submitted,
Thomas Schmeling, Secretary.