October 2021 Meeting Minutes

CANA October 2021 Meeting Minutes | Call to Order: 7:02pm
Attendance: Nicole Schroeder, George Heeren, Ashley Vanorny, Denise Klemp, Gaylon Heetland, Henrietta Mueller, Lt. Matt Welsh, Annette Lorenz, Chief Greg Smith, Doug Elam, Sue Graham

• Treasurer's Report - Amy Hall-Haney (reported by Nicole Schroeder) - Collins Community Credit Union ending balance on 9/30/2021=$1,648. This amount reflects that all bills have been paid to date and related checks have been cleared. The city of Cedar Rapids has reimbursed CANA for the expenses related to the Neighborhood Night Out ($77.73) and is reflected in the above amount. The city of Cedar Rapids has not reimbursed CANA for the expenses related to the Health and Safety Fair ($455.73). A second request for this will be sent to Jeff Wozencraft on Monday October 18.
• CRPD Update - Lt. Welsh - Crime stats will be adjusted, per state code requirements effective 7/1/2021. He did not review stats at this meeting because of it. Nothing too major in the neighborhood. 9 CRPD officers graduated last Friday who are entering the workforce. The overflow shelter will be opening December 1st at night to help the homeless population. Linn County Mental Health Access Center is open from 8am to 8pm that may need assistance during those hours. This facility also has a sobering unit and has been open for about 6 weeks. 
  • George Heeren reported the questionable property address on 114 - 17th St SW that has a grandmother and grandson that is trying to adjust living arrangements. There is reported drug activity at this address. There have been 11 police calls at this address. Neighbors are encouraged to call CRPD if they see questionable activity. Annette Lorenz with SAFE CR is going to also follow up on this property. George shared that the neighbors at 120 17th St SW has cameras that are recording the questionable activity and are open to sharing the footage with CRPD. 
  • Gaylon Heetland had a concern related to speed / traffic on 8th Ave SW. He will be contacting Traffic Engineering as the speed limit goes from 30 to 25 mph coming from the East, but coming from the west shows a 30 mph sign to 25. This is contradictory. It should be slower between Trinity School and 8th Ave SW. There is also questionable speed on 15th St SW, and Gaylon recommended we follow up on the 25 mph speed limit near where neighbor Brandy on 15th St SW had concerns as well. Lt. Welsh is also going to follow up on this. 
  • Congratulations to Office Shannon Sampson on her retirement! She will still be involved with Safe Kids Linn County, but has retired from CRPD after 20+ years of service. 
• CRFD Update - Chief Smith - Review of Neighborhood News. City is launching the Snow Buddies program and is looking for volunteers to help with clearing sidewalks, driveways, etc. More information is available on the CANA website, Facebook, and City website. Review of Neighborhood PACT program. This month’s emergency preparedness topic is Tornado Safety. Information has been provided via handout at the meeting and information is provided in the CANA email as well as on the CANA website. CRFD is now hiring for a May 2022 hire with up to 4 openings. 
  • George Heeren asked about sharing the CRFD information on changing your smoke detector batteries when you fall back for Daylight Savings. Chief Smith shared that they will be sharing information this year online and in news outlets. CRFD is also resuming home inspections to check smoke detectors. He will share information with us as it becomes available. He also encouraged neighbors to check furnace filters and vents as furnaces are being turned on as the weather gets colder. He also reviewed electric space heater safety. 
• SAFE-CR Update - Annette Lorenz  - No stats or properties to review tonight. SAFE CR is looking at changes for 2022 in their SAFE program and City ordinance 22A, including illegal burning, fireworks, animal control and safety, and other common topics of concern. It has been 7-8 years since this was updated. 
• City Update - Councilwoman Ashley Vanorny - Reminder of voting topics at the November 2022 election, including local option sales tax, casino vote, and mayoral candidates. Reminder to flip the ballot over in case there is a vote on the backside. Early voting is going on at Lindale Mall in Cedar Rapids and Linn County Auditor’s office until November 1st. The IBEW 405 at 1211 Wiley Blvd SW is hosting an early election day from 9am until 3pm on October 24th. If you need to look up your polling location, please Google search “Linn County Election Lookup.” It will have all the details of your voting location and voting options. Ashley also asked that neighbors sign up for her “Weekly Sunday Paper” email (or sometimes sent on Monday!) for updates with City happenings and things specific to District 5 that are upcoming. 
  • Water Meter Upgrades -  The City of Cedar Rapids Iowa Government is in the process of upgrading water meters throughout the community over the next several years. Water meters may lose accuracy as they age and therefore need to be replaced. The typical lifespan of a water meter is approximately 15–20 years. Ferguson Waterworks has been contracted to schedule replacements and upgrade water meters in residential customers' homes. Installers will also capture details needed for our service-line inventory, which will be used to identify lead service lines that will need to be replaced over the next several decades. Ferguson Waterworks will be contacting customers to set up appointments to enter homes and make the replacements. Contractors will follow CDC guidelines to keep customers and staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic. 
  • Sue Graham asked about the VeoRide program scooters and bikes getting picked up for winter. Ashley commented that they should be picked up before snow flies. George asked about the pick up policy on this. VeoRide has a commitment to pick up any abandoned bikes and scooters within 3 days. This is not being upheld. With a larger number of bikes and scooters than originally anticipated and staffing shortages, Ashley commented that the City Council is making adjustments with the contractor (VeoRide) because of this ongoing issue as well as many safety issues. Neighbors are encouraged to “report an incident” to get them picked up more quickly. She will be sending us more information to share on this. Denise Klemp commented that her concern is people leaving them in the middle of the sidewalks, preventing neighbors from safely walking the area. Sue Graham commented on the less than favorable impression by outsiders who don’t understand the program and see them lying around the City. 
• Nominations for 2022-2024 CANA Board - According to CANA by-laws, we are to vote on this at the January 2022 monthly meeting. In past years, this has been a concern for scheduling, due to inclimate weather and has not taken place in January. Nicole Schroeder made a motion for potentially moving the vote to November or February to try to avoid this. Discussion was that Denise Klemp did not believe we needed to move the date as we can still start for January and just do it in February if January doesn’t work out as that complements the outline of the by-laws. Gaylon commented that with Iowa winter weather, no month will be ideal. Nicole withdrew the motion. CANA will accept nominations in October, November, and December and the formal vote is still scheduled for the January meeting. 
  • Nominations open for the evening.
    • Nicole Schroeder nominated Amy Hall-Haney as a renewal in her Treasurer 2022-2024. She has accepted. 
    • Nicole Schroeder nominated George Heeren for renewal as President for 2022-2024.  He has not accepted or declined. 
    • Nominations closed for the evening. Nominations will continue at the November and December meetings and can be accepted via email as well.
• Paving for Progress Update on 20th St SW / Chandler St SW -  2021 construction on this project is nearly complete. If weather cooperates, the City expects to wrap up 2021 construction by early November. Remaining water main, storm sewer and pavement construction on the Chandler Street SW loop, from the water tower entrance to the Jefferson High School entrance, will begin when weather allows in Spring 2022. Nicole received an email from neighbors about the poor quality of fill dirt from the contractor. It includes pieces of rock, cement, sticks, and other debris. This isn’t clean fill dirt. Lee Tippe with the City was having a meeting with the contractor at 3:30pm. Nicole will update CANA with the follow up from this meeting via website update as it becomes available. 
• Light The Neighborhood - Nicole Schroeder / Doug Elam - In 2020, Doug Elam hosted “Light the Block” on the 100 block of 17th St SW and offered homemade treats and a giftcard giveaway to neighbors who decorated their homes with holiday decorations. Nicole and Doug have been working on a neighborhood-wide version of this event for 2021 called “Light the Neighborhood.”  Nicole contacted Jeff with the City to get a list of all current CANA addresses and to connect with the new DE&I Manager to be sure we can include any and all wintertime holidays in our verbiage as our neighborhood has a variety of families who celebrate different winter holidays. Nicole has also received $250 in $5 gift cards from Kwik Star and 300 free food/beverage coupons from McDonald’s to support a giveaway for the event. CANA will have the expense of a postcard and postage (low expense overall) to send a notification to all neighbors of the event. Neighbors will be invited to decorate and contact CANA with their address (via call, text, or email) to be entered to win one of the prizes donated by Kwik Star or McDonald’s. We have not determined the official dates of this event. There was no objection to hosting this type of event during the winter months so we will continue working on this new project. Nicole commented multiple times that this is a good way to engage and network with neighbors during the winter months as everyone feels isolated and shut in because of the colder Iowa weather. 
• CANA Connect Online Business Directory - Thank you to our supporters: Gaylon Heetland with Thrivent Financial, HyVee, Freedom Foundation, and the 16th Avenue Grill! We have raised nearly $800 with this new fundraiser. We encourage neighbors to shop local this holiday season and use the CANA Connect webpage as a resource. George and Nicole will continue reaching out for supporters of this fundraiser. 
• Park Improvement Updates - George Heeren - 4 new benches installed around the park. New Lincoln Highway sign on 1st Ave. New updates on splash pad base. Damage reported at the pavilion at Cleveland Park, due to TikTok challenge. CRPD acted on this. Individuals have been reported at the park after-hours and on top of the pavilion. 
  • Gaylon Heetland asked about the dogs on leash and dogs on equipment issue. George said that the park department and they cannot act on this because of the City ordinance. Gaylon is interested in potentially using CANA funds to get signage in the park anyway about this. Denise Klemp commented that it will likely not change anything, but they agreed the awareness may help the situation. 
• Halloween - Cedar Rapids does not have set hours for trick-or-treating but notes that 5 to 9 pm are popular hours. Trunk-or-Treats in the neighborhood are on Saturday, October 23rd at 5pm at Central Church of Christ and Wednesday, October 27th at Hillside Wesleyan Church at 6pm. 

 
Meeting adjourned at 8:12pm. 

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Meeting Minutes Update 10/26/2021

TREE / PROPERTY INQUIRY VIA FACEBOOK COMMENTS
The information specifically regarding replanting and right-of-way space on your property can be found online at
https://www.cedar-rapids.org/residents/parks_and_recreation/replacing_street_trees.php 

Here's the information to contact them with additional questions specific to your property directly:
Phone: 319-286-5566 Fax: 319-540-8843 [email protected]
www.cedar-rapids.org

Our City contact is also going to follow up with our ReLeaf program manager on the discrepancy in trees; we are guessing it had to do with spacing or availability of the trees, but we'll confirm. 

PAVING FOR PROGRESS UPDATE FROM NEIGHBORS ON 20TH ST SW / CHANDLER ST SW

Pirc Tobin is having their team "clean up" the debris that is found in yards. Sod is ready to go in, but Pirc Tobin is working to improve the dirt (more dirt added, smoother surface, etc.) before the sod is installed. There have been temporary signs installed on Chandler St SW regarding parking per our previous request to the City, and there will be signage on 20th St SW still installed this year including the new stop sign at the bottom of the 20th St SW hill (removing the Yield sign). 

As of 10/25/21, Pirc Tobin is working on pouring concrete where the street is currently torn up and the project is unfinished on Chandler St SW. Once the street is poured, drives will be completed. They anticpate this work going into November. Sod will come after. 

We will update further once the City reports on this next week. 

HILLSIDE WESLEYAN TRUNK-OR-TREAT 
The number of people that are testing positive for COVID-19 in their congregation continues to rise. With that in mind, the staff has talked and decided the best option is to cancel all in-person group gatherings at the church until Sunday, October 31st. This means no in person youth on Wednesday or in person Rev on Thursday. Sadly, it also means no Trunk or Treat for the local schools. This event has been cancelled.