September 2019 Meeting Minutes

CANA September 2019 Meeting Minutes
HyVee Johnson Avenue NW - 9/16/19
Attendance: Nicole Schroeder, Chief Greg Smith, Henrietta Mueller, Denise Klemp, Gaylon Heetland, George Heeren, Jackie McLaren

Call to order: 7:07pm

• Treasurer’s Report - Nicole Schroeder - Current checking account balance $1,260.52 after today’s reimbursement in the amount of $558.59 from the City of Cedar Rapids. Current savings account for Park Project is $3,729.93 after deposit of checks from Park Project donations. George makes a motion to donate $200 to BSA Troop 33 for hand delivering letters for Park Project fundraiser last weekend. Open to discussion, no discussion. Vote all in favor, none opposed. Motion passes. Nicole prepared check for $200 for George to BSA Troop 33 scout leader personally.
  
• CRPD - Lt. Tobey Harrison - Not in attendance, no report
  
• City of Cedar Rapids - Councilwoman Ashley Vanorny - Not in attendance, no report
  
• SAFE CR - Annette Lorenz - Not in attendance, no report
  
• CRFD - Chief Greg Smith - Review of Neighborhood News. CRFD is hiring 9 new firefighters effective 9/30/19 and has acquired a new Public Education Specialist to work in the community and schools.  October is Fire Prevention Month. Chief Smith advised to keep an eye out for neighbors and check your furnaces for any issues as the weather gets colder and old furnaces start up. 
  
• Nicole Schroeder shared the information on the City of Cedar Rapids FY2021 Budget Survey for community members. Those who participate in the online survey and provide their information are entered to win Kathy’s Pies for a year (12 pies). 
  
• Henrietta Mueller commented on the sidewalk near Cleveland Park still needing an ADA-compliant ramp installed. Chief Smith is going to look into this.
  
• Gaylon Heetland commented on a dead tree that has been in the Cleveland Park limits for over a year. Chief Smith is also going to follow up on this. Jackie McLaren explained that the city hires contractors each year to take on those projects and replace trees. City is looking to work with Trees Forever and hire at-risk youth to handle tree planting and maintenance in the upcoming years. 
  
• Cleveland Park Playground Improvement Project - We are projected to reach about $35,000 in funds outside of any large grants or donations we may receive. George still has a list of contacts to follow up on local donations. Nicole met with Kristin and Echo at the Hall-Perrine Foundation last week and completed their grant application. George is delivering the applications tomorrow and Nicole is emailing the copies. This ask is for $65,000 in addition to the other applications we have outstanding elsewhere for donations and grant dollars.  George met with the gal that owns Save-Half Greeting Cards off Edgewood Rd and she would like to put out a donation bucket in her store for us. Denise Klemp would also like to put a sign in her yard to promote donations for our project. Nicole will work on these items. 
  
• George again mentioned the Neighborhood Finance Corporation loan program. He would like to host an informational meeting for our neighborhood about this program. We discussed and agreed that November may be the best time for this information session. George will be contacting NFC about this. 
  
• Nicole mentioned hosting a community winter event like we have in past years (2018 and prior). Denise commented she liked the idea of a chili cook off. We will discuss this agenda item more in-depth at the next meeting.
  
• Saturday 10/26 is the Central Church of Christ Trunk-or-Treat event. We would like to get CANA involved. There are a few members that would be out of town and unavailable that weekend, but we are going to commit to one vehicle with candy and toys to be distributed to support Central’s youth program and engage our neighbors. We will help promote this event once more information is available to us.
  

Meeting adjourned at 8:09pm. 

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9/18/19 UPDATE FROM CITY OF CR  REGARDING SIDEWALK RAMPS NEAR CLEVELAND PARK:
"The intersection of 8th Ave SW & 17th St SW is on the DOJ list and the ramps are currently under design. Reconstruction at that intersection should occur in the next few years, I can get more specific information if necessary.
The intersections at 1st Ave SW with 17th St SW, 16th St SW, and 15th St SW, as well as the intersection of 8th Ave SW & 15th St SW are not included on the DOJ list, so those ramps would be reconstructed with any future street projects or in conjunction with our ongoing transition plan.
It appears that there are sidewalk ramps at these intersections, no full-height curbs. If the association has any more specific questions, we'd be happy to try to answer them.
Brenna Fall, P.E.
CIP Program Manager, Public Works
Office: 319-286-5732"