VNA Council Meeting Minutes
December 16, 2020
Council Members
o Sarah Bahauddin (present)
o Pat Scheckel (present)
o Ben Blitz (present)
o Bonnie Gruber (present)
o Hans Borcherding (present)
o Jim Corkery (present)
o Wendy Fearnside (present)
o Karie Krantz (not present)
Call to Order (meeting was conducted virtually using Zoom)
Approval of Minutes - previous minutes were approved, with addition to clearly state that “The November 18, 2020 meeting was the Annual Meeting of the VNA”
Announcements
o Communications
o A reminder that our neighborhood web site is www.vilasneighborhood.com
o Email address for the VNA: vnapresident@gmail.com
o The Vilas Ink newsletters are now being posted on the web site at https://www.vilasneighborhood.com/vilasink
o The VNA January 27, 2021 meeting will also be via Zoom
Existing Business
o President’s comments – Sarah Bahauddin
o Per Sarah’s request, all committee members introduced themselves.
o 2021 meetings of the VNA will be held via Zoom (until further notice) on the fourth Wednesday of each month, except that the meetings will be the third Wednesday in November and December to avoid holiday weeks.
o Treasurer’s Report, Vilas, Ink and Directory maintenance – Pat Scheckel
o Pat indicated there is approximately $4,200 in the bank account.
o Vilas, Ink was posted to the VNA website the week of December 7th.
o Pat indicated that someone needs to maintain the VNA directory with information he receives as dues are paid. Mary Clare Murphy volunteered to work with Pat on this effort.
o Block Captains - Roz Woodward
o No updates
o Social Report - Lee Lazar
o Lee’s term as Social Chair is over at the end of December and a new chair is needed.
o Listserv updates
o Brad Ricker indicated people can join the new listserv VilasNA@groups.io by e-mailing VilasNA+suscribe@groups.io, including your name and e-mail address.
o Brad reported that approximately 200 individuals had already signed up for the new listserv and he expects 250 – 300 people when complete. He noted that there were 330 names on the previous listserv, but that several of those he suspected were inactive or had moved out of the neighborhood.
o A discussion was held on limiting the Listserv to households with the VNA boundaries (approximately 15 households outside the boundaries are currently on the Listserv – they are primarily in adjacent neighborhood associations.) It was decided to leave membership on the Listserv open.
o Brad will develop a communication on the features of the new Listserv (including how to get digest summaries of postings) and suggested procedures to be used with each post (i.e. listing hundred block and street name)
o Wendy Fearnside volunteered to work with Roz Woodward to get more households with the VNA boundaries to join the Listserv. Wendy and Roz will work with Block Captains to do this and they will also send communications with the newsletter.
o Monroe/Regent Streets Retail & Monroe Street Library News
o No updates
o District 13 Alliance – Dana Scheckel and Sarah Bahauddin
o No updates
o Joint Campus Area Committee
o Doug Carlson indicated that UW Athletics has resolved the noise issues associated with the previous football game. Doug will pass on the neighborhood’s thanks to UW Athletics for their efforts to correct this issue.
o Edgewood Liaison Committee Report - Shawn Doherty, Craig Stanley and Sarah Bahauddin
o The Common Council is to discuss EHS’s request to overturn the Plan Commission vote at their January 19, 2021 meeting.
o It was noted that he Liaison Committee has been in place for approximately 25 years and was required as a part of the initial Edgewood Campus Master Planning effort. It was noted that since the Master Plan has been dissolved, the requirement for a Liaison Committee is also dissolved, although all parties appear to want to keep this in place.
o Tag suggested that it may be helpful to bring in a third-party mediator to facilitate discussions between EHS, DMNA and VNA.
o Alder Update – Tag Evers
o The Parks Commission has voted to open Vilas Park Drive to traffic for the rest of the winter to facilitate access to the skating rinks and the lagoon skating. Tag plans to offer proposals in April to close the drive again for the summer.
o Tag indicated problems with snow shoveling can be reported to the City.
o Tag indicated the South District and the Mid-town district police captains recently held an anti-racism community discussion. The VNA council was interested in this discussion, so Tag will work with Sarah to schedule Captain Hansen for a 20-minute discussion during an upcoming VNA council meeting.
o Tag indicated that monthly meetings to discuss the future of the Annie Stewart fountain are scheduled for the 4th Tuesday at 6:30 pm via Zoom. Tag indicated the City has contracted to have the fountain covered this winter to prevent further damage.
o Vilas Park Master Plan - Wendy Fearnside and Ann Rivlin
o Wendy provided and overview on the work to date by the Resident Resource Group on the Master Plan.
o Wendy and Ann noted that the Parks Department made a presentation on the Master Plan to the Urban Design Commission(UDC) on December 2, 2020. It was noted that the UDC does not have decision authority on the Master Plan but is required to provide feedback.
o Ann strongly indicated that changes to the current park, as envisioned in the Master Plan, should not be included in the Master Plan until after analysis is completed to justify the changes, for instance proposed changes related to increased parking, the lagoon and the Drake Street entrance to the Zoo.
o A Zoom presentation of the Final Vilas Park Master Plan is scheduled for February 4th at 6:00 pm. More information on how to register for the meeting will be provided via the Listserv.
o Election Committee - Mary Clare Murphy and Lee Lazar
o Mary Clare indicated she will remain on the committee for another year and Lee will leave the committee at the end of December.
o Mary Clare provided an overview of the most recent election changes including no-contact and early voting being open to all households within the VNA boundaries, no second round voting was required and more residents participated in this election than the previous election (166 ballots were received, an increase of 38 over the 2019 election)
o Mary Clare suggested the following potential election changes be considered and discussed for the 2021 vote including:
i. Earlier deadlines for candidates to declare prior to the election date, unless there are not enough candidates.
ii. Having a dedicated election e-mail account.
iii. Having a reduced early voting window.
iv. Publication of candidate positions on current neighborhood issues.
v. Opening of voting to all households with the VNA boundaries without a need to pay dues as a condition of voting.
o Since many of these changes require changes to the VNA bylaws, Pat suggested a bylaw editing committee be formed to review the election and other provisions of the bylaws. Wendy and Bonnie indicated they would be interested in assisting with this effort.
o Zoning Committee - Ben Blitz and Wendy Fearnside
o Ben indicated the committee is continuing work on an updated neighborhood survey. The draft survey will be sent to the council for review, comments and approval prior to issuing to the neighborhood in the Spring of 2021.
o The council approved a motion to retain Ben and Wendy as 2021 Zoning Committee.
New Business
Adjourn
Next Meeting: 1/27/2021.