Murdock Neighborhood Association
Meeting Minutes, March 20, 2008

The meeting was called to order at 7:34pm.
In attendance – Mori Mandis, Doris Livezey, Kathy Herington, Harish Chinai, Scott Blake

Treasurers Report:

Kathy reported that there are 67 current members (170 memberships have been paid since 2005). There were 5 renewals and 1 new membership in March 2008, and 6 renewals in February. The account holds a balance of $2387.04. M/S/ to approve the treasurer’s report.

Reminders

We would like to send email reminders to the neighborhood before the April 16th Board meeting in order to track down former members (Harish will be the point on this with a list from Kathy).

Mori will get the newsletter out the 1st week of April provided that content is available before her trip to Greece.

Cap Grants

We need a bank signature certificate to complete the application. (Kathy can get a copy from the bank).

We would like a copy of the CAP Forms in .doc format (Kathy may have these already).

CAP Grant recap from Mori

• [1] By-Law Changes [End of 1]
• [2] Board of Directors / Chairman List [End of 2]
• [3] First page (Form F) – not needed (per Kathy, this is a page for a CPA) [End of 3]
• [4] Form E – Signatures of 2 members (Kathy & Doris) needed to complete. [End of 4]
• [5] Enclosed newsletters (3) concerning signs, flowers, elections, Murdock-Portal, speakers and other notes and achievements of the organization since inception. [End of 5]
• [6] “Achievement” certificate to prove that board members have gone to the CAP grants class. Mori needs to confirm if these are needed during the current “CAP cycle” or if attending last year is sufficient. Doris and Mori attended last Fall and Kathy attended the January Cap application class, which will count as one of four required. [End of 6]
• [7] Form B – Narrative - add in District 1 City Council election debates to successes and achievements of the MNA. [End of 7]

Mori would like a paragraph from each board member who ran an event to include in the application and narrative.

We would like to use the CAP Grant funds to add more culturally diverse activists to reflect our demographic – Moon Festival, Holiday Lights Festival, Cinco de Mayo . . .

The board unanimously approved to appropriate 25% of the requested CAP Grant amount from our current MNA account for the CAP Grant process. The organization needs to have 25% of the money we are requesting to be eligible for the Cap Grant.

(action item) Do we need insurance for events held outside of meetings? Currently, our insurance only covers meetings held at Lynbrook High School. Doris will check with Meghan regarding insurance.

The board and committee chairs will need to keep track of their hours for the ‘matching board hours’ program between July 2008 – June 2009. A form was sent to the board member via email from Kathy.

District 1 Leadership Group

NRCC registration submission deadline is April 4 for delegates to the NRCC. This is open to any citizen. The members of the MNA board were not interested in applying.

Review of Reports

MNA Website

Sigi Illes was not in attendance to discuss the website.

Traffic

There is a new Stop Sign at Glen Haven Dr (added Feb ’08), and the 25 mph sign has been moved on Castle Glen so it is more visible.

Veronica from the Department of Transportation is requesting traffic enforcement and radar on Castle Glen, Huntington, and Wunderlich after the initial volume and speed reports from last fall. There is a website for complaints (reporting traffic violators). More complaints from the neighborhood will result in increased enforcement officers. Report the make, model, color, driver gender, and time of Day. We should list the website URL on the MNA website.

Park

Doris sent pictures of 39 dead plants to Mike Wells (the city Parks person).

We are still having problems with garbage left after kids from the Murdock-Portal school finish with their lunch. Perhaps we can add a board to the bottom of the fence between the school boundary and the park to prevent the trash from blowing into the park.

New Business

Doris will be sending a card to Lorraine Dougherty (one of the MNA founders) who is currently having health issues.

The next General meeting will be held on April 23, 2008, the speaker will be Ken Foote on emergency preparedness.

Publicity

In order to increase publicity and circulation, the board would like to contact local realtors to see if they will include information about MNA general meetings on their circulation flyers.

The board approved requesting a Bylaw change at the next general meeting to use Roberts Rules of order instead of Sturgis rules for the running of our meetings.

Tree Planting

Doris sent an email regarding Our City Forest and 2 families replied that want new trees. Doris is exploring the possibility of a neighborhood tree planting.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:05pm.

Submitted by Scott Blake,
2nd Vice President.