Participants: Michelle Tappouni, Bill Hoff, JoLee Gardner, Ken Paulk, Christina Parrish, Dane Baird, Jack Adams, Joann Tredennick, Jeff Fountain, Aaron Glick, Melanie Messer
Guests: Chris Farley, Eugene Montgomery, Reggie Lott and James Richardson
AGENDA:
The meeting was called to order by President Bill Hoff at 6:10pm. He welcomed all of the members and guests.
Epic Grant Updates (Guest Speakers – Gene Montgomery and Reggie Lott)
Epic Grant Updates – Reggie Lott
Work will begin on the Banner Grant and the Bike Rack Grant after the first of the year.
- ONH/LISC reviewed two new proposals – Little Libraries and the conversion of the school on Hubbard. ONH/LISC said these grants were no longer being considered for funding. There was concern regarding vandalism of the “Little Libraries” and the funding request for the school grant had grown substantially.
Status of other grants –
- PAX Karate was a good grant however there are several questions that need to be addressed – Are you affiliated with the PAX Karate on the West Side? Was this an independent request or part of the request from the West side? Is PAX a 501(C) (3)? JoLee will set up a meeting with Reggie and Don Justice after the first of the year to discuss the questions.
Per Eugene Montgomery – the grant process for 2014 has not been clarified at this time.
Other questions and discussions: Per Eugene Montgomery, what is the relationship between SAMBA and SPAR? Per Christina Parrish, SAMBA is affiliated with SPAR but they have separate boards and meetings. SAMBA is not a 501(C) (3). Eugene would like to meet with Samba Members in January.
Additional discussion on LISC Meetings – Bill, Michelle and Dane met with LISC’s out of town consultants. 1st meeting suggested a survey of commercial and residential properties was needed; 2nd meeting the focus shifted and the survey was not discussed. Instead, was on the Eastside and there was no mention of Springfield.
Actions out of this discussion include –
- Additional information on the Little Libraries would be needed. Such as, the location of the box;
- Process for checking out the books; if this applies and if there are other libraries like this in the Jacksonville Area.
- School conversion – Eugene Montgomery will discuss this grant request with Janet and provide information back to the Board before the next meeting in January. Dane will send an email to LISC after the first of the year with additional information with an explanation of the revisions to the grant request.
- Send LISC an email and ask, what are the next steps?
- Send an email to Eugene Montgomery and he will investigate the process. As part of the discussion, it was clear the focus was more on A. Phillip Randolph but there is also discussion on how to tie Main Street into the strategy. Eugene made it clear that he has not forgotten about Main Street
Board Orientation (Guest Speaker – James Richardson)
See handout for details on the presentation.
Financial Statement and Meeting Minutes from October 29, 2013
A motion was made by Jack to approve the meeting minutes for October 29, 2013. JoLee seconded the motion. All present voted to approve the minutes.
The treasure was not present and therefore there was no report. Financial information from the Executive Board Meeting on December 16, 2013 was available for review. No action was taken on this information. See attached PDF for details.
Set Date for final Strategic Plan Meeting
Saturday, February 1, 2014, at the SPAR office. Time 8 to 10am.
Miscellaneous progress updates –
Amory Building – on hold, continue to watch this as K. Daniels may refile
Sign Ordinance – Michelle met with Gaffney 2 weeks ago and also met with general council to address specific issues on sign types; Michelle to develop language for changes to the overlay. Gaffney will support this change.
Groundwork – There has been a meeting to discuss hiring a director. NPS to come to Jacksonville for a meeting in January; goal for the 1st quarter is to write a business plan.
Commemorative plaque - Need money for the plaque before it will be ordered. Need an invoice for SPAR to pre-pay. Bill made a motion to allow SPAR to pre-pay the cost of the plaque; Ken 2nd and all present approved.
Spring Home Tour – the tour this year will be a renovation theme. People working on the tour include Bill, Eric and Leta Lair. The group met before Christmas and started discussions. Need volunteers to help with the arrangements. The dates of the event are yet to be decided.
By-Laws update recommendations – Bill, Aaron and Jack met to review the by-laws and suggest revisions. The changes will be sent via email for the board to review. Afterwards, there will be a discussion, revision and finalization of the by-laws. Need a word file to make the revisions? Ken to contact Brenda and see if she has a copy in word.
St. John’s River Keeper Clean –up – The date for this event is March 22, 2014. Jacksonville City Beautiful will provide the supplies; Need 100 people from Springfield to help with the clean up.
Other –
CCTCP – Community Contribution Tax Program
- Received an email that the filing was due on November 29, 2013.
- Helen Albee volunteered earlier in the year to complete this filing.
- Swisher uses CCTCP
- Have to file a renewal that applies to projects/programs – safety and security
- Bill to send an email to the person who sent the reminder notice to SPAR
- Dane to contact Christina Salvatori for some guidance on this renewal
FSCJ will hold a running event in Springfield on March 22, 2014. It will be a 5k race and it will be in conjunction with the cleanup of Hogans Creek.
Transform Jax – Aaron presented information on a pilot project. Transform JAX is considering a bike path from the river to the new Hogans Creek trailhead. This would be along Liberty Street. SPAR to send a letter of support for this project. Aaron will let us know when we should send the letter. This will need to go to BPAC.
Homeless Policy – Per Dane, the Homeless issue is linked with Downtown Redevelopment. 38% of the whole population downtown is homeless. Currently there are 2000 homeless; 3500 homeowners; 1319 beds downtown for homeless; Next meeting is in January. If you have ideas on how to reduce homeless population, send the information to Dane.
Meeting adjourned at 8:30pm.
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