Participants:       Michelle Tappouni, Bill Hoff, JoLee Gardner, Aaron Glick, Jack Adams, Melanie Messer, Christina Parrish, Jeff Fountain.

Guests:                 Damien Robinson                             

AGENDA:

The meeting was called to order by President Bill Hoff at 6:05pm.  He welcomed all members and one guest.

Meeting Minutes

• August meeting minutes were previously sent out by email.  JoLee Gardner made a motion to approve. Aaron Glick second the motion. The minutes were approved.

Financial Review

• No current financial statement was available.  Ken Paulk to provide via email after the meeting.
• Off-duty security fund is low.  The item will be on the agenda at the annual meeting in October.  Get input from the neighbors as to whether to continue to fund this initiative.
• Increase amount of monthly transfers into building reserve.  The group discussed this further and agreed to do this.  The amount is $500 per month.
• Finance Committee – need a working finance committee to analyze and discuss which topics need to be addressed. Examples include but are not limited to annual budget review and the ROI associated with owning the current building versus not owning the current building or not owning a building at all.

Annual Membership Meeting

The meeting will be held on Thursday, October 23, 2014 at 6 pm in the Wells Fargo Community Room.  

• Board Candidates – Jack Adams is currently working to identify potential candidates.
• Guest Speaker/Theme of the meeting –
  • Colin Bingham (Chair of the CDC Corporation) is renovating the Building at 5^th and Main. He is participating in a group (started by Council Member Guilford) to address the issue of vacant homes in the City.  This group is planning to procure abandoned and blighted homes from Banks and or the City to renovate and sell. Abandoned or blighted homes will be sold to different entities (Profit and Non-profit) under this program.
  • Christina also mentioned a meeting she attended where a group from Philadelphia will do a study about the housing areas in the county that would benefit from development and growth.
  • Both of these topics will be presented at the meeting.
  • Year in review – Bill will compile the information and send to the board to review.
  • Melanie will talk to local realtors to develop a list of the new people who moved into the neighborhood this past year. She volunteered to call and invite them to the meeting. Christina will send a list of realtors and their contact information to Melanie.

EPIC Grants – Next Steps

• Bike Racks – JoLee provide an update on the bike racks.  An artist was selected (Forge Manufacturing LLC) to oversee the manufacturing of the racks. Now in the process of getting an executed contract with LISC/ONH for the grant money.  The project is scheduled to begin 10-01-2014 and be completed by 01-30-2015.  8 bike racks will be manufactured and installed at various locations around Springfield.
• Banners – Michelle is working with Tron on a draft design for the banners.  This will be ready in a couple of weeks. She plans to send the draft design to UF Health (Shands) by the first week in October to be finalized. Michelle anticipates purchasing and installing the banners prior to the end of the year. Michelle has contacted a person at PRI about the fixtures on the light poles.

Sign Ordinance Update

•  Michelle – OGC has a draft of the sign language and they will review and provide comment soon. Once this occurs, the language will be sent to Council for review and approval. Michelle to follow-up on this in a couple of weeks.

Membership

• JoLee and Jeff will meet on Wednesday, September 17, 2014 to transition membership information. JoLee will continue working with Jeff on membership.

Paid Staff

• Per the August BOD meeting, there was agreement to look into developing a matrix that identifies roles and responsibilities for a paid staff position.  Also, looking into how that position would be funded.
• Bill to send an email to the Board to inquire who wants to participate in a special meeting to discuss the issue.

Porch Fest Update

• 20 bands booked
• A fundraiser will be held on Saturday, September 20, 2014 at Michelle and Steven King’s house.
• A website and Facebook page have been created.
• The cost for the bands has been covered by Sponsorships.
• Primary concept is to have one band per porch (based on set-up requirements).
• Event date is November 8, 2014

Drew Mansion

• West 3^rd and Pearl
• The property is owned by a private individual rather than a corporation.
• The individual would like to partner with a non-profit as a way to procure grants. If a grant was won – what would the risks, obligations, expectations, benefits, etc. be for the non-profit?
• Continue discussing this topic – there is no decision by the SPAR Board at this time.
• What could SPAR do to help?
  • Provide engineering assistance
  • Research historic information on the significance of the house
  • Help organize a group of neighbors who would purchase the house and mothball it until something could be done.
  • Help investigate options.

Miscellaneous

•  JoAnn and Chris Farley to meet with the new traffic engineer for the City in October.  Discuss traffic calming projects.  There may be some information available to present at the annual meeting in October.

Meeting adjourned at 7:18pm.