Old West End Neighborhood Association

2005 Board Meeting Minutes

April 26, 2005

Board Meeting Minutes for April 26, 2005

Attendance: Ben Swartz, Josh Williams, Stef Aegisdottir, David Sherrill, Jeff Weiss, Doris Ressel, Carrie Robinson, Stephan Howick

Stephan gave the President’s Update. There is a board member position open. Stephan Howick nominated Bella for this position. Voting for Board Member Position will be at next general membership meeting.
Josh Williams has volunteered to attend Unsafe Housing Committee meetings that are held monthly. OWENA did not receive CDBG grant. Stephan had a meeting with Gretchen Cheeseman about grant and we will apply again next year.
Board members discussed the OWENA spring clean up. We will meet at the corner of Howard and Council streets at 7:00 am for coffee and donuts. Tom Steiner from The Blue Bottle Coffee Shop has offered to donate the coffee. Thank you Tom! We will have 3 trucks from the Muncie Sanitary Department for the clean up. The clean up is scheduled to begin at 8:00 am.
Board members also discussed the OWENA Newsletter and distribution. We are in need of more volunteers for the distribution. There is also a need to follow up with these volunteers to ensure all newsletters are distributed to every residence in a timely matter.
Stef gave a report from the Trash Committee on researching trash cans for use in our neighborhood, possibly built for hanging on light posts throughout the neighborhood, with permission from AEP.
Board members discussed the agenda for the General Membership Meeting on May 1, 2005. We will update members on board member activities, give the CDBG grant report, Police report, give a Clean Up call to action, discuss frequency of General Membership meetings and request input.
Board members will meet on June 7, 2005 at David Sherrill’s residence at 6:00 pm. Next meeting for the General Membership will be August 28, 2005 at Gillespie Towers.

January 11, 2005 Meeting

Those in attendance were Jeff Weiss, Connie Higgins, Stef Aegisdottir, Ben Swartz, Carrie Robinson, Stephan Howick and Josh Williams.

Stephan spoke of the Community Development Block Grant. The deadline has been extended to Jan.14 because of the recent ice storm and power outage. He has finished writing the grant and is ready to submit the application. OWENA has asked for $18,570. The issues we are seeking to initiate work on are 1) the hazardous and dying street trees which need to be replaced, 2) the excessive number of the homes in the neighborhood that stand vacant and open in varying stages of decay, and, 3) the increasing presence of drugs and the limited opportunities for the children in the neighborhood. Through this grant, OWENA hopes to solicit funding for the City of Muncie’s departments of Urban Forestry, Code Enforcement and Police to address the above issues.

Board members prepared the agenda for the Jan.16,2005 General Membership Meeting. The board members unanimously decided to focus on two major committees. They are the Beautification Committee, with three subcommittees: 1) Trash, 2) Abandoned Homes and 3) Trees. The second major committee is Membership. Members will be asked to join a committee.

The board members serving as representatives are Stef Aegisdottir with the Trash Committee, Josh Williams with Abandoned Houses Committee and Stephan Howick with the Tree Committee. Connie Higgins and Lezlie McCrory will serve as representatives for the Membership Committee.

Jeff Weiss told the group he had called the city about its street sweeping schedule. He reported the city does not have a schedule. We will be discussing this in future. The board needs to coordinate with the city to address the possibility of establishing a regular schedule for street sweeping and cleaning in the Old West End.

The next meeting of the board will be Feb.15, 2005 at 6 pm at Jeff Weiss’ house.

The next general meeting of the entire association has been tentatively scheduled for the weekend before the Spring Clean Up.




Minutes for Board Meeting –
February 15, 2005

Attendance: Jeff Weiss, Connie Higgins, Lezlie McCrory, Carrie Robinson, Stephan Howick, Ben and China Swartz and Josh Williams. Also, Isaac represented the YMCA office located in the Old West End.

1.President’s Report
•Confirmation from the Mayor Dan Canon to participate in the Route 32 discussions.
• Two meetings with the West End Gateway Redevelopment Organization.
• The OWENA checking account is active.
• Web Site – Coordinator Access: Carrie, Stephan and Josh will have access.
• General Membership Meeting set for May 1, 2005. The board decided to have the meeting at Gillespie Towers.


2. Committee Reports
• Membership Committee – Connie Higgins and Lezlie McCrory – First Newsletter – Connie and Lezlie will be newsletter contacts. Passed out 500 newsletters, next time we will make 700 copies. Next newsletter to be distributed April 16-17. Membership committee needs more volunteers to hand out flyers.
• Trash Committee – Spring clean-up to be May 7, 14 or 21 depending on MSD schedule. Coffee and donuts to be served at the green space before Spring clean-up. Membership committee will work with Trash committee to organize this.
• Crime Watch – Meeting last Thursday. Debbie was unable to attend; we hope to have her at our next meeting.
• Abandoned Houses – Josh Williams – Coordination with Tom and Mario.
• Street Trees – Waiting on grant. We will have to determine how to solicit resident participation.


3. Preparation for General Membership Meeting – Next board meeting will be Tuesday April 26, 2005 at Josh Williams’ house 6 pm.