BOARD OF DIRECTORS MINUTES – Meeting of January 4, 2021

PRESENT:      Claire Adler, President; Steve Richman, Vice-President; Jacek Ghosh, Treasurer; Janet Finegar, Secretary; Caitlin Antrim; Alex Boland; Shakirra Clark; Chastity Houston; Joe Mikuliak; Matt Ochs; Don Phillips; Barbara Saverino; Matt Ruben; Kevin Wilkins.

The meeting was called to order by the President at 6:32 p.m.

Motion: By Jacek Ghosh, seconded by Matt Ochs. “To approve the minutes of the December Board meeting as presented.” Passed 13-0-0

President’s Report: Claire Adler. Written report attached and reviewed.

There was an hour and a half of discussion of the North Delaware Zoning Overlay. The Board concluded that we should go through the proposed document to edit and agree upon the various points as a group. In general, the group agreed that we wished to follow neighboring communities in reducing the overlay for businesses that could meet our list of requirements so that they would not automatically need to meet with the NLNA for zoning. Claire will review the motion below with the NLNA Zoning committee and then take the proposal to the other community organizations involved.

Motion: By Janet Finegar, seconded by Barbara Saverino. “The NLNA suggests the following conditions to replace the current North Delaware Zoning Overlay.  1. Trash and recycling must be kept in soft containers in the rear of the property or inside the building.  2. Trash and recycling must not be taken out for pickup more than one half hour before scheduled pickup time and must be brought back in within one hour after pickup. 3. Trash must not be picked up between 11 p.m. and 7 a.m. 4. No outside speakers or music 5. Venting must be above the roof line. 6. No rear yard use other than for storage. Passed 12-0-1

There was some conversation about whether we could have a virtual event to replace Winterfest: Claire asked the Membership committee to consider possibilities. Don raised the question of a possible music festival in the summer, and Joe offered the suggestion of having a variety of music locations throughout the neighborhood at the same time to spread the crowds out. Don, Joe, and Shakirra agreed to discuss the possibilities.

NLNA President’s Report

1. PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT AND POLICY

• North Delaware Zoning Overlay: We had a meeting with the neighborhood groups and Councilman Squilla’s office regarding potential changes to the overlay where we presented the NLNA position. There is more work to be done to reach a consensus but nothing is happening yet until we do.

2. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

• Annual Appeal: Updates at our meeting from a combination of Jacek, me, and others.
• Board Update: Amy Sweeney has resigned from the Board.

3. EVENTS AND OUTREACH

• Post Brothers General Meeting 12/21: We had a successful general meeting with a guest from the Spring Garden Improvement Street Project and the Post Brothers. It was well-attended with upwards of 70 people and a lot of good conversation and dialogue.
• Operation Santa: A huge, huge thank you to Janet Finegar and Don Phillips, and many other board members who helped out. Please see Janet’s report.
• Winterfest: It would normally be held next month. I would love to brainstorm an alternative fun activity, probably online in February or March.

4. OTHER ITEMS

• Board Polls – Ratification of any online board polls since last month’s board meeting.

Treasurer's Report: Jacek Ghosh. Written report distributed and reviewed.

TREASURER’S REPORT – January 2021

A. 2020-21 Budget: December Financials

• Complete Financial Statements for December are unavailable at this time.
  • Income
    • CC Ops – Apartment Rentals
      • Tenant (Andre Collares) has vacated his apartment effective January 31.
      • On December 17, 2020, tenant (Don Hoegg) exercised the clause to terminate his lease with advanced notice which he did effective March 30, 2021. Today, he rescinded his lease termination due to “his changed circumstances”.
    • NLNA Ops – December Fundraising per PayPal
      • Annual Appeal 2020-21
        • Recurring Donations (46) $ 585
        • One-time Donations (67) $ 8,036
        • Ops Santa (16) $ 1,425*
        • Total Annual Appeal (129) $10,046

**Average Donation Amount $77.88

• Individual Donation (1) $ 50
  • LL Potty Membership (2) $100
  • Liberty Lands (5) $500
  • Kearney Friends (1) $100
  • Covid-19 Fund (3) $325
  • Donate & Dine (2) $ 80
  • Total Dec ’20 Fundraising (143) $11,201

**Ops Santa – additional $490 donated by check – totaling $1,915

• Expenses
  • CC Ops – Expenses related to renovations and rental of vacated apartment will be incurred over the next two months.

B. Other Items

• Accountant’s 2019-20 Financial Report and Tax Preparation
  • Our accountant finalized the “Financial Statements for NLNA for years ended September 30, 2020 and 2019”.
  • Our accountant is preparing the annual Form 990 that NLNA, as a tax-exempt organization, is required to file with the IRS.
• Liberty Lands Community Garden
  • Propose creation of a separate line item in the Income category of the Liberty Lands budget for the annual Community Garden Dues. Simultaneously create a separate line item in the Expense category of the Liberty Lands budget for Community Garden Expenses. Approximately $5,100 in accumulated Community Garden Dues will be deposited in the Liberty Lands checking account.

Motion: By Janet Finegar, seconded by Caitlin Antrim. “To accept the Treasurer's report as presented.” Passed 13-0-0

Communications & Marketing Committee: Caitlin Antrim. Written report attached and reviewed.

Communication and Marketing

• Steve Shiffer was the only one able to attend my December meeting so we kept it brief. We looked over some images and copy I had prepped for our social channels and he gave me some useful feedback.
• Following our meeting, Steve provided the snow-day images I used on Instagram to promote the annual appeal. (That post on 12/16/20 made it into the top three for most engaging posts of 2020 on our Instagram account with 158 likes and 22 profile visits.)
• Thanks to Joe for sending the image from the Project Santa food distribution day! (Great work on that initiative everyone!) 
• 2020 Top Posts: 
  • Instagram:  6/5/20 - "Black-Owned Businesses in Northern Liberties" post: 232 likes, 14 comments, 71 shares, 50 saves, 69 profile visits
  • Facebook: 6/29/20 - "The 26th Police District are hosting a community meeting on Tuesday, June 30th at 7pm by Zoom.": 5.5K reach, 143 reactions/comments/shares, 108 link clicks
  • Twitter: We're just starting to re-engage our account so our engagement numbers are obviously up across the board but nothing too exciting to report yet.

Liberty Lands Committee Report: Janet Finegar. Written report attached and reviewed.

Liberty Lands Report

• Monthly steering committee meetings resumed in December – the next one will be (via zoom) at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, January 12. The link is https://zoom.us/j/99371039055
• At the December meeting we discussed remediation of the sinkhole at the southwestern side of the community gardens and agreed that it should be dug out more completely than it was before (6-7 years ago now) to remediate it. Len and Laura are talking to Tony to evaluate the job, but we will probably hire Jim Farr, who has done multiple jobs of this sort at the park.
• Also discussed: removing the compost pile from hell. We'd like to hire a neighbor/friend to haul it away to the organic dump at Fairmount Park, but need a person with a truck. Large woody material can be chipped along with the Christmas trees.
• We discussed mulching the garden paths with cardboard and then wood chips to reduce the weeds this summer. Roi agreed to take this project on, although bad weather prevented it from happening at the originally planned December dates: he is looking to re-schedule. Laura will coordinate getting a load of  wood chips for the work (the chips from the Xmas trees are long promised to Orianna Hill).
• Finally, we set a date of February 16 for the annual Gardener's meeting and agreed that the new coordinators (Jeanne and Katherine) should plan and run that meeting as the beginning of their terms.
• Collection of Xmas trees has begun, funded by a grant from Penn Treaty SSD. As per usual, the trees will be chipped in mid-January (January 11) in conjunction with professional tree pruning at the park by Schectman Tree. **Please let the coordinators know if you're aware of any tree work that needs to be done on that day!!** The chips will be dumped at Orianna Hill Park. Volunteer help with ensuring truck access on that day would be appreciated: it includes hanging no parking signs and posting on Facebook.
• A small and quiet Parade of Spirits occurred on December 12: around 50 people attended.
• No updates on the stage demolition/repair.
• No progress with the mysterious water bills or further notice about the erroneous “code violation” on 953 N. 3rd. The NLNA office also received a notice about a mortgage filed on 913 N. 3rd: we will need to investigate what that is and correct it if necessary. Volunteers who'd like to do some online sleuthing about these issues would be welcome.
• The community compost bins have finally been fully installed, and Justina and Al (the heads of this project) are assembling materials and getting ready to launch the program in the spring.
• The biggest news of the month, of course, was the death of Jesse Gardner, the landscape architect who designed Liberty Lands. His mother and a sister asked to hold a memorial service for Jesse at the park in the summer (date TBA). Another sister has separately requested to install a stone as a memorial Jesse at the park: these two efforts are apparently not coordinated and we have not spoken with Yu Hong or Jesse's daughters about what THEY would like. This is a delicate situation, obviously, and still in discussion.
• At the same time, friends of local artist Joe Brenman (who died a few years ago) are asking if it would be possible to permanently install a piece of his sculpture on the wall of the bakery. We've asked them to talk to Kaplan's and think about the technical requirements and approach the committee with a full proposal.

Operations Committee Report: Barbara Saverino. Written report attached and reviewed.

Operations Committee

Attendees:  Amy, Lara, Jacek, Monica and Barbara

• Lease Update
  • Andre (3rd floor tenant) has given his notice. He is moving back to Ohio to care for his older parents.  Apartment will be available end of January, 2021. Lara and Monica provided overview of what was done previously to secure tenant.  Committee recommends that the process continue. Monica will outreach to Chris Somers. Last time he reviewed property, made recommendations to maximize rental, marketed apartment, did background check and secured tenant.  Chris was compensated for this work. The third floor apartment is 2 bedroom/2 bath and rent is $1,650.  The apartment rentals are a critical portion of income for NLNA and we want to ensure consistency in our finances. 
  • Action:  Monica will do outreach to Chris.  Amy will identify carpet cleaners.  We may need to replace sink and paint.  Barbara is also setting up time with NLArts to discuss FY2021.
  • Update/Note:  Don (2nd floor tenant) sent an email that he will be using the clause in his lease and will be leaving by March 31, 2021.  I sent Monica a follow up email and requested that she include the 2nd apartment as well.
• Snow Removal
  • Committee reviewed and discussed securing contractor for snow removal.  It is listed below.  Committee recommendation is to share with Alex and rest of board. Please let us know if there are questions, concerns or if you have a recommendation (which would be great!).  Will also look at Facebook page for referrals. 
• Northern Liberties Neighbors Association (NLNA) Snow Removal
  • Northern Liberties Neighbors Association (NLNA) is seeking an individual or business to clean (remove snow/ice) and salt sidewalk from Fairmount border of City Recreation Center to 3rd Street border of playground. Per city ordinance, the removal requires a path of not less than 36” in width and must be completed within 6 (six) hours after the snow has ceased to fall. Payment would be $75 per snow occurrence.  Please send email with reference to office@nlna.org. 
  • Action:  Barbara will share position description with Board.
• Old Business
  • Toilet in main area needs to be replaced.  Two summers ago there were problems. Plumber fixed it but recommended that the toilet be replaced with a commercial toilet that could handle more usage. That is part of the current problem.
  • Action:  Monika will follow up with plumber.
  • Painting of hallways for apartments.  Needs to be done – probably in conjunction of rental prep.
  • Marketing of our space – Barbara will follow up with Caitlin. 
  • Outdoor external light - Lara will look into and have light bulb replaced.
• Next meeting is Wednesday, January 20 at 7 PM.

Operation Santa Report: Janet Finegar. Written report attached.

Operation Santa

• This was by far the hardest Operation Santa year ever, but the most necessary, too. We sent presents to 57 families sized from one person to 12 and to 225 kids aged from 4 months to a bit over 18 (plus some seniors). We made some holiday wishes come true. (The bike! The drone! The gift card for coats and shoes!) There was a huge outpouring of donations from neighbors of time, money, and presents. As always, every household got food (a holiday meal with enough for leftovers), a book for everyone (even the adults: the First Book charity makes that possible), and a toy or gift of some kind.
• We organized the deliveries so that each car took things for 1-2 households, and that worked fairly well. (This is the first year that I've gotten a Christmas morning call about a mixup, although I know that errors have happened in the past. Amazon shipping made it possible to get the right things to that person by Sunday and I'm pretty sure I know where their things ended up – and that I was the one who made that particular error.)
• Don Phillips has been doing this program for more than 30 years. I've been doing it with him for at least 22 years, and this year a big chunk of the work was done by Oscar Isaacson, who started helping four years ago. Three of the donors this year told me about the impact programs like this one had on their own lives in the past. We all should be proud that NLNA does this.

Public Safety Committee Report: Matt Ochs. Written report attached and reviewed.

Public Safety

• The Safety Committee didn’t meet in December, the usual meeting date falling right in the middle of the holidays. 
• Crime was pretty low throughout the neighborhood, however package theft was greatly increased as it can be around this time of year. I have a bunch of “Beware Package Thieves” signs from last year to post and the 26th district did email out some tips to avoid theft, but nothing groundbreaking. 
• Joe reported that the 6th District PDAC meeting was cancelled because it was snowing (In everyone’s computer…?).
• Brett Cohen attended the 26th District on December 10th. 

The next Safety Committee meeting will be 1/26 at 6pm. We will include further discussion about crime mapping

Old Business

• Steve asked if there were updates about the new website system: Claire will email the proposals to the involved Board members.
• The ad-hoc COVID response group will meet soon. Steve is finalizing the report for the previous grant.

New Business

• Caitlin volunteered that she will try to put together a virtual story slam for March.

The meeting was adjourned by acclaim at 8:37 p.m.

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