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October 2019 Meeting Minutes

10/22/2019

CANA Meeting Minutes 10.21.19 | Call to Order: 7:03pm
Attendance: Nicole Schroeder, George Heeren, Scott Hock, Annette Lorenz, Hannah Myrom, Marlene Hunt, Greg Smith, Gaylon Heetland, Denise Klemp

CRPD - Lt. Tobey Harrison - Review CRPD Calls for Service Report. Holiday shopping safety reminder: keep gifts hidden in vehicles and vehicles/homes locked. Denise Klemp asked how to identify unmarked cop cars parked in neighborhoods vs. unwanted vehicles. Lt. Harrison advised to contact CRPD with inquiry and they’ll be able to radio to determine if it’s an undercover officer or not.
CRFD - Chief Greg Smith - Review Neighborhood News report. City Services Open House last week was a success. Very well attended. Scott Hock commented that it was a nice evening for the community.
George reminded everyone that Coffee with a Firefighter is this Thursday, October 24th from 9am to 11am at the Johnson Avenue HyVee.
SAFE CR - Annette Lorenz - No major updates/reports. 8th Ave Construction will be ending this month and has limited traffic and general calls for service, due to less traffic. Gaylon Heetland asked about an abandoned home on 15th St facing the baseball stadium. House is a mess and he believes that it’s in foreclosure. Annette will be looking into this. Marlene Hunt asked about properties at 1924 and 1920 Chandler St SW as there are young children’s toys and debris in the yards and in the street. Annette thinks these may be rentals. She will look into this and initiate an inspection for safety, if it’s a rental and they have not recently been inspected.
Hannah Myrom with Traffic Enforcement Division - Review of traffic cameras locations and ticketing in Cedar Rapids city limits. Gaylon Heetland commented that non-Cedar Rapids residents have shared with him that they do not appreciate the cameras as they receive tickets for speeding when visiting town. Lt. Harrison commented that they should be alert for signs and the cameras have reduced speeding and accidents, especially on I-380. Hannah Myrom commented that there are two signs per traffic camera and can be referenced on city website.
Treasurer’s Report - Nicole Schroeder - Checking is at $1,060.52. Savings for Park Playground Project is at $9,794.03. Nicole read email we received from the Hall-Perrine Foundation as CANA has received a $50,000.00 grant for our playground improvement project from Nicole’s application and interview. We are now at $79,643.95 with PayPal fees deducted for our total funds raised with that. Everyone was very excited! Nicole also shared Q1 reports sent to the City to those in attendance to review.
Scott Hock with City of Cedar Rapids Parks Department - Scott thanked CANA for their dedication to the playground improvement. Parks Department has received funding for us from Kiwanis and ordered net climber as that footprint is finalized. Meeting will be scheduled to review final equipment requests to include in Requests for Proposals to playground equipment companies. We are doing this in a timely manner to receive proposals back by year-end and finalize numbers/planning to get things ordered ASAP. Planned ground-breaking in late spring or early summer 2020.
Community Information Night with Neighborhood Finance Corporation is scheduled for Thursday, November 14th at 7pm at Central Church of Christ. This is a public offering, but CANA is hosting.
Councilmember Ashley Vanorny was not able to attend, but shared with Nicole Schroeder that she would be interested in hosting another Coffee with a Councilmember in December/January. Nicole will follow up on scheduling this.