January 2023 Meeting Minutes

CANA January 2023 Meeting Minutes | Call to Order: 6:59pm
Attendance: Amy Hall-Haney, Nicole Schroeder, Denise Klemp, Lt. Welsh, Annette Lorenz, Matt Wagner, Chief Smith, Ashley Vanorny, George Heeren, Erin Maeder

• Treasurer's Report - Amy Hall-Haney - Current balance is $2,161.34. We just received $997.20 from the City for reimbursement and $250 from HyVee for the CANA Connect program. Total balance will be $3,408.54 after reimbursement is deposited and we receive the check payment from HyVee. 
  
• Urban Dreams - Erin Maeder - Erin focuses on workforce development with Urban Dreams and is based out of the Ladd Library on the SW side of Cedar Rapids. Erin is available for any workforce assistance that the neighborhood may need. Urban Dreams also offers a food pantry that is open twice per week. This year, they will be launching a monthly career fair. Learn more at www.urbandreams.org and in the handout provided by Erin that you can find here. 
  
• CRPD Update - Lt. Welsh - 2022 CRPD Annual Report  is available. Review the document here. Shots fired calls is down in 2022. Property crimes are up in 2022, and it is expected that this may increase in 2023 because of cost of living increases. Overall, there were 418 thefts of motor vehicles. More than 50 guns were stolen out of vehicles in 2022. Specific to CANA, our area has been quiet. CRPD is in the hiring process for the 90 active applicants with 18 spots. There are two days of testing coming up soon. 
  
  • George Heeren shared information from the latest CRPD meeting regarding the demographics of the applicants. 
    
  • George Heeren asked about the Who Saves Heroes? Initiative that may be relevant to CRPD. Lt. Welsh shared that there is a meeting setup for any incidents that are being addressed with police officers within a couple of days. Peer support is offered as well as counseling services and chaplains in Cedar Rapids. Officers are allowed time off and can come back to work on their own time, and Chief Jerman is in support of this. Officer health and wellness is one of his top priorities. The support processes are improving as resources become available over time. Chief Smith commented on CRFD’s initiatives. There is an internal debriefing team to assist with incidents as well as external resources, like counselors and chaplains. CRPD and CRFD share chaplain services. 
    
• CRFD Update - Chief Smith - CRFD has been busy with fires already this year. No connection between the fires. One recent fire was a drone battery charging. Anytime you have a lithium ion battery charging, make sure that you only use the charger that the battery pack comes with and try to avoid plugging them into a multi-outlet. CRFD is looking into manufacturer recalls on the incident, but it is encouraged to unplug chargers before leaving the house. Despite having a tornado today, winter home safety is encouraged like changing the batteries in your carbon monoxide detector and changing furnace filters. 2022 CRFD stats include 14,571 runs by CRPD This is less than 2021, but CRFD has increased by 2,000 runs since 2018. There were 430 total fires in 2022, which is in the range of recent years. 
  
  • George Heeren asked about CRFD hiring in 2023. CRFD plans to hire in May 2023. They will be looking at 8 to 10 hires at that time. At this time, CRFD is 4 short. 
    
  • Denise Klemp asked about disposing lithium ion batteries. Chief Smith spoke about recycling at Linn County Solid Waste. There is no charge for this. Nicole Schroeder commented that Batteries Plus may still take old batteries, but not sure on the cost. Chief Smith commented that Best Buy used to accept them, but he’s unsure. He commented that it’s worth calling around to ask rather than just disposing in the trash. 
    
• City Update - Ashley Vanorny - The City overflow shelter is open and is in need of food sources for 75 people. The City of Cedar Rapids flag has recently been voted as one of the best in the United States. WANA (Westdale Area Neighborhood Association) is looking to continue to rebuild their organization. 
  
  • Denise Klemp asked about the overflow shelter capacity since it’s not very cold out. There are about 175 people that are fully living on the streets. The overflow shelter accommodates as many as possible, but there are limitations so it does not qualify as a “no barriers” shelter. Denise shared that Willis Dady reported on the news that around 30 people died this last winter because of homelessness. 
    
• SAFE-CR - Annette Lorenz - No numbers to review tonight as they will be presented at the Public Safety meeting next week. She will report on that next month with Matt at the CANA meeting. Annette is taking on a new position within the City as Public Safety Program Manager. Matt Wagner will be our new SAFE-CR representative that attends our CANA meetings. Welcome to Matt! 
  
  • George Heeren asked about the old Colony building project on 2nd Ave. Ashley Vanorny said that the development committee is handling this project as they have redesigned the building. Ashley did not have a lot of information on this outside of what was presented at the last City council meeting. There were renderings that were presented that can be reviewed on Facebook or on the City website. 
    
• Quarterly Postcard Campaign - Nicole Schroeder - After reviewing notes from the last meeting, these are the recommended dates/categories to address per campaign:
  
  • February: Spring/Summer Home Improvements, Local Assistance Programs (HACAP, NFC, Willis Dady, Families Helping Families, etc.) 
    
  • May/June: Safety & Wellness Fair, Gardening/ReLeaf Efforts
    
  • August: Back to School, Elderly Programming
    
  • October: Veterans Programming, New Year Budgeting
    
    • Denise Klemp shared a handout that is relevant for local assistance programs. Nicole Schroeder will include this on the website and share as much information as possible in the postcards. 
      
    • Ashley Vanorny expressed her feelings on the importance of offering resources to single, young families that fit our demographic of CANA. Topics of housing insecurity may not be the best fit as people in our neighborhood are renting or owning their home. 
      
    • Denise Klemp offered the idea to share housing insecurity information for local assistance in the Cleveland Park kiosk. George Heeren will work on this. 
      
• Light The Neighborhood - Nicole Schroeder - We had a good response again this year! Many neighbors participated again in 2022 and we also had many new neighbors participate as well as neighbors outside of CANA limits. Kwik Star gift certificates for free Karuba beverages were sent out in late December to prize winners. Photos have been shared on our Facebook page. 
  
• Coffee with a CRPD/CRFD/City/Other Local Representative - George Heeren - Brian Wilkens (manager at the Johnson Ave HyVee) is interested in collaborating with CANA on coffee events again this year. George asked the City representatives in attendance if they are interested in participating. Chief Smith needs us to email him asking who to talk to. CRPD is interested as George spoke with Sgt. Mae. City of Cedar Rapids Councilmembers may be interested. Ashley recommended that we email to check to see which representatives would be best fit, including potentially our Mayor. 
  
• Other Business
  
  • February Meeting: CR Parks & Rec representative will be in attendance to discuss scheduling/planning for 2023 Cleveland Park updates, including all of the playground and shade features we have ordered. 
    
  • Neighborhood Clean-Up Day: Tentatively scheduled for 10am-12pm on Saturday 4/15. Nicole will create a Facebook event and begin to share with neighborhood businesses and organizations. 
    
  • Easter Egg Hunt with Central Church of Christ - Amy Hall-Haney: Amy is working to coordinate volunteers to host an egg hunt around April 1st, 2023. Amy would like to do less eggs and have them numbered where kids get prizes based on the numbers they pick up. There would also be a rubber ducky pool with “fishing” for the kids under age 3. She is also looking at getting a bunny suit for a volunteer to dress up. 
    

Meeting adjourned at 8:04pm. 


Next Meeting: Monday, February 20th, 2023 at 7:00pm