Meeting held electronically over Zoom

PRESENT: Matt Ruben, President; Claire Adler, Vice-President; Steve Richman, Treasurer; Janet Finegar, Secretary; Avery Amaya; Melanie Coffman; Jacek Ghosh; Joe Mikuliak; Don Phillips; Barbara Saverino; Amy Sweeney; Renya Wasson; Kevin Wilkins.

ABSENT: Kristen Ainscoe; Michael Coyne.

The meeting was called to order by the President at 6:33 p.m.

Motion: By Don Phillips, seconded by Joe Mikuliak. “To approve the minutes of the April Board meeting as presented.” Passed8-0-0

President’s Report: Matt Ruben written report attached and reviewed.

There was discussion of the programs we would like to develop with the SSD funds to support the community. Issues of who should be served, how to reach people in need, and how to administrate the programs. Steve suggested purchase of $100 gift cards from various restaurants (and other businesses) in the neighborhood and then selling them within the neighborhood for ½ cost: this gets $100 to the businesses and also gets a bargain to the neighbors and brings some money back to the NLNA that can be saved or reinvested. A number of Board members volunteered to help with administering the program and Claire will create Google documents to allow all Board members to share their ideas of people who should be helped, businesses from which we should purchase “basic needs” gift cards, and businesses from whom we should purchase the gift cards for resale.

NLNA President’s Report, May 2020

1. PLANNING, DEVELOPMENT, AND POLICY

• Construction Impacts: Much construction became legal again on May 1. However, non-emergency work on occupied dwellings and common areas of occupied apt/condo buildings remains prohibited, as does underpinning, demolition of attached structures, and any work involving support of a party wall. There are also limits on hours – 7AM-5PM Mon-Fri only – and on number of workers on-site at any one time (4 for 1-2 family dwellings and commercial buildings 2000 sq ft and under; 1 more per every additional 500 sq ft).

2. FINANCE AND ADMINISTRATION

• NLNA Financial Position: Details in the Treasurer’s Report.
• NLNA Reserves: As board members know, the good work of our Treasurer and Finance Committee has created a Reserve Fund; and we also have a modest sum that is neither in the Reserve nor specifically committed to budgeted programs or services for this year. I would like to get the Board’s approval to allocate a set amount of available funds to neighborhood aid. 
• Rules Governing Use of the NLNA Office, Community Center, and Liberty Lands: We need to discuss the Yard and Liberty Lands. I suggest we do that during the respective committee reports.
• NLNA Board Election: Nominations are in, and the next step will be for the Election Committee to prepare a formal tally of who’s been nominated and accepted, and what seats are – or will be – open. We know VP will be open for the remainder of Claire’s term; and we know one or more At-large seats will be open for remainders of terms (Renya’s, for example). Once I get a clear statement from Elections, we’ll start sending out notices and then will have a remote- voting election later this month.

3. EVENTS AND OUTREACH

• Outreach and Spending for Mutual Aid. An ad hoc group has met on this and we’ll discuss it at our board meeting. In a nutshell, we’re looking to fund clear needs in the community, and to balance broad coverage and fairness with simplicity/feasibility.
• Fundraising for Neighborhood Aid. We were successful in getting $25,000 from the PTSSD for $25,000 for aid to neighbors and local businesses, and can add that to the $10,000 we have authorized from our reserves.
• Police/Public Safety: We need to propose dates to meet virtually with the Captain of the 26th. Also, the police are now back to the pre-pandemic policy of making on-the-spot arrests for a number of nonviolence crimes like burglary and theft.
• PA Primary Candidates. This month we’ll need to move forward with our plan to have State candidates record videos for the community. We should also make one more push online to have folks send in questions – and then we’ll need to pass along a couple of questions to the candidates, regardless of whether or not neighbors have submitted any.

4. OTHER ITEMS

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

Treasurer's Report: Steve Richman: written report distributed and reviewed.

TREASURER’S REPORT – MAY 2020

A. 2019-20 Budget: April Financials - tables attached

1. For the seven months ended on April 30^th All Funds Income was $106,805; this was $5,900 more than projected. All Funds Expenses totaled $88,930, which was about $12,600 less than anticipated. Current Year Net Income was $17,875. This was $18,500 more than anticipated.
2. If we limit the calculation to income and expenses from the General Fund and Liberty Lands accounts, our two major operating funds, our financial position after the first three months of the fiscal year is as follows:
   1.  GF & LL Income (rounded): $102,600 -- $5,400 more than anticipated.
   2. GF & LL Expenses (rounded): $86,200 -- $12,900 less than anticipated.
   3. GF & LL Net Income: $16,400 -- $18,300 more than anticipated.

• Significant variations from budgeted projections through April include:

1. Higher than anticipated income from grants (+$10,000). We received a second $10,000 grant from the Smart Family Fund, which was not expected when we adopted this year’s budget. Absent this grant our income would be $4,560 under our budgeted projections. Specific shortfalls are described below.
2. Lower than anticipated income from donations and fundraising activities (-$2,200). The shortfall in this category was primarily attributable to shortfalls in the Fall Fest (-$480), Clean Streets (-$800) and Individual Donations (-$1,050). Rental income is also running significantly behind projections (-$6,000). This is mostly due to lower than anticipated income from community center rentals.
3. Higher than anticipated income from administrative fees (+$1,697). Garden Hub, a program we co-sponsored and was funded by Penn Treaty, did not fully expend its grant. We were able to apply a portion of the unexpended funds to administrative expenses incurred by the NLNA in support of the program.
4. Higher than anticipated income from corporate donations (+$1,150). This is mostly due to a $1,000 donation from Heirloom Market.
5. Refunds totaling $953 from prior year purchases. The most significant portion of this ($918) was for yard equipment that arrived damaged.
6. Lower than anticipated spending for professional services (-$6,600), repair and maintenance (-$3,800) and program services (-$800). Several factors contributed the lower level of spending: staff vacations; part-time staff not yet hired; seasonality and delayed billing.

B. Potential Impact of COVID-19 Health Crisis on the 2019-20 Budget

1. Scheduled Events: While we cannot yet predict with any certainty how long the current restrictions on social gatherings will last, it is possible that at least one or maybe two of our remaining three events will have to be cancelled. The events and the budgeted net revenue for each is as follows:
   1. Plant Sale (May): $4,900
   2. Spring Music Fest (June): $2,500 (tentatively rescheduled for fall)
   3. 2^nd Street Festival (August): $6,500

1. Rental Income: Rental income from the community center and Liberty Lands is lagging significantly behind projections (-50%). There have been no community center rentals for two months. Under a worst case scenario NL Arts would not be able to hold its summer camp, essentially wiping out any remaining rental income. Budgeted revenue from rentals for the remaining six months of the fiscal year are as follows:
   1. Community Center: $7,000 (potential full annual loss - $12,000);
   2. Liberty Lands: $3,000 (potential full annual loss - $4,000).

• Grants: We have budgeted for five more grants (totaling $13,900) from Penn Treaty this year. They are as follows:
  • Spring Music Fest: $3,500 – lost revenue of $2,500 shown above
  • 2^ndStreet Festival: $2,000 – lost revenue of $6,500 shown above
  • E-Waste: $1,400 – not a fundraiser; no lost revenue projected
  • Recycle Bins: $3,500 – no sales if community center closed (-$1,000)
  • Park Clean-Up: $3,500 – not a fundraiser; no lost revenue projected

• The Park Clean-Up grant and the Spring Music Fest grant have been approved by Penn Treaty but because they will have to be rescheduled no checks have been issued to us yet. Applications for the remaining three grants have not yet been submitted.
• Two weeks ago Penn Treaty approved our grant request for $25,000 for a COVID-19 emergency response program. Funding will be used to address problems being experienced by neighborhood residents and businesses as a result of the current health crisis. The check was just received late last week and is not included in the income reported in this report.
• Expenses: The good news – at least from a budgetary perspective – is that expenses are running significantly below  budgeted levels, affording us the ability to cushion the blow from lost income. The most likely areas where we will see savings during the balance of this year and the full year impact of those savings is as follows:

1. Staffing: Savings of $12,000 in total is possible if we do not hire part-time staff. This includes $6,600 in savings accrued to date.
2. Communications: $3,000 in prior year carry-in funding was budgeted for website redesign, systems development &; marketing. No expenses have been made yet for these activities.
3. Discretionary Programming: Approximately $7,200 was set aside in this year’s budget for potential additional programming. No expenses against this set-aside have yet been made.

Summary Impact: Based on the above it is very possible we could see a loss of $25,000 or more in income this year if the social distancing guidelines remain in place through the summer. We have the ability to offset most of this loss through reduced spending, although doing so would eliminate the ability to increase community center office hours and institute new programming.

Motion: By Don Phillips, seconded by Amy Sweeney . “To accept the Treasurer's report as presented.” Passed 11-0-0 

Election Committee Report: Kevin Wilkins. 

9 people have accepted nomination for the at-large positions and three more people are still undecided but have been asked to decide by the 9th. One person has been nominated to each of the President, VP, and Treasurer's offices. Statements will be posted online and Kevin will run a Zoom meeting that the entire neighborhood can access on Thursday May 21^st(this should be recorded for the candidates' statements). The group has a plan for the electronic voting procedure. 

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

There was a brief discussion about people failing to social distance at the park and general agreement that there is not much that can be done officially beyond the signs and social media messages we are currently doing. 

Liberty Lands Report – May 2020

• Not a lot to report. The park continues to get regular use, and there continues  to be  some concern from the community about individuals who (appear) not to be following social distancing guidelines at the park. There doesn't seem to be much more that we can or should do as an organization to control these behaviors.
• The high winds took out a major branch of a bradford pear at the north end  of the community garden. A neighbor did most of the cutting up of branches to clear the mess. The tree and the nearby maple (which was hit by the limb) will need some cleanup/balancing pruning, but it looks like work that Liz can do. 
• Community gardening is underway.
• Neighbor Peter Steglia has proposed building a custom bench in memory of Frank Maimone using one of the large curbstones as a base with a wooden seat/back. The board should discuss whether to approve this cost. 
• Trash has increased at the park (although not as much as it would in a typical April), but our usual hauler is not open. We have asked Tom to do twice-weekly emptyings of the bins and store the trash in the main corral until City weekly pickup and we hope this will suffice until it's possible to get the second  pickup going again.

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

The committee's next meeting will be on May 20^th. There are not other updates.

Zoning Committee Report: Joe Mikuliak.

No meeting held in April due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Matt updated the Board that the ZBA is suspended until the end of May and that no permits will be issued for any projects that need a ZBA hearing. There are no pending cases that the Zoning Committee needs to hear. In theory, a Civic Design Review project could come through while the ZBA is still suspended: the Planning Commission is still making a decision about whether online meetings can be used for CDR meetings, so it is possible that such a meeting will be necessary some time in the coming months.

Old Business

Joe noted that both Story Slam and Terracycle recycling are on hold, but that he'd like to discuss them next month as positive projects that could be part of the process of reopening. 

New Business

There was a general vote of  thanks to the departing Board members and to Matt for his many years of service as President.

The meeting was adjourned by acclaim at 8:04 p.m.

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