CANA February 2022 Meeting Minutes | Call to Order: 7:03pm
Attendance: Nicole Schroeder, Amy Hall-Haney, George Heeren, Lt. Matt Welsh, Annette Lorenz, Jeff Wozencraft, Chief Greg Smith, Denise Klemp, Gaylon Heetland, Henrietta Mueller, Elizabeth Buch (virtual), Marlene Hunt, Glenn Hunt
Next Meeting: Monday, March 21st at 7:00pm
Attendance: Nicole Schroeder, Amy Hall-Haney, George Heeren, Lt. Matt Welsh, Annette Lorenz, Jeff Wozencraft, Chief Greg Smith, Denise Klemp, Gaylon Heetland, Henrietta Mueller, Elizabeth Buch (virtual), Marlene Hunt, Glenn Hunt
- Treasurer’s Report - Amy Hall-Haney - Current balance $1,296.49. Pending reimbursement of $832.47. Total account balance of $2,128.96 after pending reimbursements. We have just under $8,000 available to spend within our $10,000 city budget.
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CRPD Report - Lt. Welsh - Review of neighborhood report. Discussion regarding overall 2020-2021 calls for service comparison. CRPD is currently in the hiring process for new police officers in 2022. Lt. Welsh advised neighbors to be vigilant in property protection efforts. Preparing for a busy summer with City events.
- George Heeren asked about unlawful guns being recovered by CRPD. Lt. Welsh advised that they do regularly receive reports of stolen guns from vehicles.
- Denise Klemp asked about a dog attack on the SW side that included a taser and CRPD had to shoot at the dog. Lt. Welsh did not know about the breed of the dog when Denise asked. Annette Lorenz advised that the dog that was shot had to be put down, due to the danger.
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CRFD Report - Chief Smith - CRFD is hiring with the end of March being the end of the agility testing. They have 2 openings, but they are anticipating to hire 4-6 new firefighters. Review of Neighborhood PACT. January’s topic was ice safety. February’s topic is Seasonal Affective Disorder. We will be sharing information through our CANA website and Facebook page as it becomes available. This past weekend was busy with fire reports in the city, including one residential fire and one on the 9th floor at the Geneva Tower in Downtown Cedar Rapids that spread to other levels of the apartment complex. There was another fire this morning in Cedar Rapids at a residential garage. CRFD advises to close doors on your way out of any structure fire, if possible. This reduces the reach of the fire.
- George Heeren asked about high wind incidents in the area since the derecho and available resources for families who need to shelter in place during weather-related incidents like this. Chief Smith advised to review information on FEMA.gov and also the City of Cedar Rapids will be sharing more information in March or April on this topic through Neighborhood PACT.
- Chief Smith also advised to be extra safe with the incoming wintery mix that is coming overnight and into tomorrow.
- SAFE-CR Report - Annette Lorenz - Review of 2021 amendments, including residential fire safety, additional Animal Control citations, animal abuse, vehicle street storage, and others. These “A amendments” require properties to be labeled as “nuisance properties” immediately. Review of statistics: 1,335 total property calls for service and 170 properties were identified as nuisance properties. 9 of the 170 properties were appealed; all appeals were upheld. SAFE-CR made 66 referrals for professional health services, including referrals to Waypoint, HACAP, and other local agencies. Review of reported property concern by Heidi Techau regarding the property at 1209 16th St SW. Annette responded to this by email last week. This property has been placarded as unsafe/unsanitary property. It has been identified as a nuisance property. If the property is occupied overnight, this should be called in by neighbors.
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City Manager’s Office - Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Manager, Elizabeth Buch - Introduction of Elizabeth. Joined the City in Fall 2021. Moved to CR in 2013. Previously employed at Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids as well as Urban Dreams in Cedar Rapids. Elizabeth’s role is to help with the City’s efforts in diversity, equity, and inclusion for all neighbors in the City to feel more welcome and accepted, specifically in the City’s focus areas.
- Nicole Schroeder shared that Elizabeth was an excellent resource for CANA as we worked to develop the marketing materials for the CANA Light The Neighborhood event this winter and also update some of the accessibility features on our CANA website.
- City of Cedar Rapids - Jeff Wozencraft - Review of open roles within the City parks department. The City is in need of employees to fully staff community pools. City has started a partnership with Kirkwood Community College to offer career advancement opportunities. Paving for Progress projects will be starting in the coming weeks. Nicole Schroeder will be following up on this.
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Elections: CANA Elections were originally supposed to be held in January 2022, but were postponed to February, due to January meeting being canceled for cold weather and increase in Linn County COVID cases.
- Officer nominations include George Heeren for 2022-2024 President by Nicole Schroeder, Nicole Schroeder for 2022-2024 Secretary/VP by both Jacob Schroeder and George Heeren, and Amy Hall-Haney for 2022-2024 Treasurer by Nicole Schroeder, and board position nomination for Denise Klemp for 2022-2024 by Mary Jo Elam. No additional board position nominations have been received as of the February 2022 meeting.
- All board members have accepted their nominations and will be acting board members for the 2020-2022 term.
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All officer nominations were accepted by nominees.
- As positions were all re-elections, we accepted one formal vote by members in attendance. All in favor, none opposed. Vote to re-elect George Heeren as President, Nicole Schroeder as Secretary/VP, and Amy Hall-Haney as Treasurer passes unanimously.
- Light the Neighborhood 2021 Results - Nicole Schroeder - We received 48 entries, but only 28 were within CANA limits. We may want to look at widening our reach for the contest next year, if we do this again. Photos were posted on Facebook throughout the neighborhood during the contest period in December. We were able to register 28 neighbors for our email newsletter. We hosted 178 new website visitors between November 1st and December 31st. We reached over 2,400 individuals within 3 miles of the CANA neighborhood limits on Facebook through the ad and also through shared photos, and we gained 56 new Facebook followers. In total, we received $250 in Kwik Star gift cards, 300 free item gift certificates for an estimated value of $990 from McDonald’s, and Nicole Schroeder donated $20 in Facebook advertising to promote the event and engage with neighbors. Nicole personally mailed thank you letters with the prizes to the participants. The leftover prizes can be used at CANA events in 2022. Overall, the event was a success and we will look at doing this again next year, but make adjustments as necessary.
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Proposal of investment in live streaming equipment - Live streaming brings between 30 and 100 additional meeting viewers through Facebook. Nicole Schroeder is currently providing her personal and work laptops to produce the live stream. It would be ideal to have CANA provide the equipment as this has been a good tool to connect with neighbors who are unable to attend our meetings and we have the budget to support it. Nicole would like to purchase a laptop, external webcam, HDMI cord, and TV to produce our meetings virtually each month. The total cost of all of these materials will be approximately $900.
- Nicole makes a motion to spend up to $900 on the necessary equipment to produce our live streaming meetings. Gaylon seconds this. All in favor, none opposed. Motions passes. Nicole will work on purchasing this equipment before the next meeting.
- Update on traffic/speed concerns on 8th Ave SW and 18th St SW - Gaylon Heetland - Review of email and traffic speed analysis provided by City of Cedar Rapids. There is discrepancy in the report compared to what Gaylon is seeing in the neighborhood. Posted vehicle speeds were not being observed in the traffic speed test, per Gaylon. There is an issue on the stretch of 8th Ave SW specifically with pedestrian activity near the park that needs to be addressed. Gaylon suggested the “bump outs” like on the other side of 18th St SW to be installed on the west side of 18th St SW on 8th Ave SW to help reduce speeding. We can’t control speeders, but we can control signage and citations as well as prevention tools for speeders. Jeff Wozencraft will be following up on this with Traffic Engineering and Gaylon.
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Other business:
- Amy Hall-Haney asked if anyone is interested in partnering with Central Church of Christ on their Easter Egg Hunt this year. This is a later start this year. George Heeren commented that we may want to hold off this year and plan better for next year. Other neighbors agreed. We will plan better for 2023 to partner with the church.
- Amy Hall-Haney asked if anyone is interested in partnering with Central Church of Christ on their Easter Egg Hunt this year. This is a later start this year. George Heeren commented that we may want to hold off this year and plan better for next year. Other neighbors agreed. We will plan better for 2023 to partner with the church.
Next Meeting: Monday, March 21st at 7:00pm
