VNA Council Meeting Minutes - 12/15/2021

VNA Meeting

December 15, 2021

Call to Order (7:03PM)
1. Sarah called the meeting to order.
  1. Sarah reviewed the meeting rules and asked members to be mindful of time.
  2. Sarah reminded members of the website, no longer requiring dues, but asking for donations now.
2. Approval of last week’s minutes.
3. Council member introductions:
  1. Sarah: President, lives on Jefferson, two kids.
  2. Ben: Ben Blitz, lives on Adams for about eight years now,
  3. Doug: lives on Oakland Avenue for about 20 years, 3rd tour, served two terms in the past, rep for about 10 years now, also helps to coordinate UW events.
  4. Bonnie: Bonnie Gruber, lives on Drake, for 59 years now, elected to council last year.
  5. Rachel: New to council, has lived in Vilas for 10 years now. Married with two teenagers, one in college, one at West, happy to be on council.
  6. Wendy: has been in Vilas for 42 years, main interest in urban design and features and those that contribute to quality of life. Was a city planner in the past, worked for the state for 38 years. Always had an interest and love of urban environments.
    1. Interesting project coming up in 2022. City undertaking big planning efforts leading to city-wide zoning. Opportunity for people to participate in a meaningful way.
  7. Regan: Moved from California in about a year and a half ago. Enjoying Vilas and Madison. Looking forward to connecting with neighbors.
  8. Pat: Has served as treasurer, and transitioning the position to Rachel. Also editor of newsletter.

New Business:
1. Meetings: Meeting dates for 2022: Jan. 26, Feb 23, March 23, April 27, May 25, June 22, July 27, Aug 24, Sept 28, Oct 26, Nov 16*, and Dec 14*
  1. Election in November if no objections.
2. Committee Review
  1. Review of committee members.
  2. Zoning: Ben Biltz and Wendy Fearnside Co-Chairs
  3. Joint Campus Area Committee Representative: Doug Carlson
  4. Edgewood Liaisons: Shawn Doherty and Craig Stanley
  5. Social: Bethany Nelson Chair
  6. Membership: Mary Clare Murphy
  7. Election: Mary Clare Murphy
  8. Nomination: Bonnie Gruber Chair
  9. Listserv: Brad Ricker and Ankur Desai
  10. Webmaster: Chris Kelly
  11. Vilas Inc: Pat Scheckel
  12. Good Neighbor Project: Roz Woodward
  13. Block Captain: Roz Woodward
  14. Bear Mound Park: Eileen Thompson
  15. District 13 Alliance Representatives: Sarah Bahauddin and Dana Scheckel
  16. Vilas Park Master Plan: Wendy Fearnside and Ann Rivlin
3. Communications
  1. Review of ListServ. Nearly 256 on lists, planning to send out reminder about appropriate posts.
    1. Recent questions: When you reply to email, ‘reply to group’ or ‘reply to sender’ only?
    2. Support changing so reply is consistent with other applications.
    3. Neighbor concerned about ‘io’ website.
      1. Reminder about appropriate content to post.
      2. Sarah will pass on to Brad to make changes regarding privacy so that content is not searchable.
    4. Rachel noted thanks for including VNA List Serv information on recent flyer.
    5. Flavia interested in starting Facebook page for the VNA.
      1. Discussion of ideas of how to build out Facebook.
      2. Facebook site would compliment listserv and website.
      3. Roz raised idea to include component of historic houses.
      4. Opportunity to attract the diverse group of neighbors.
4. Neighborhood Grant Program
  1. Applications coming in January and February.
  2. Ideas that you might want to work on, please see Sarah.
  3. Wendy noted that the home project might be applicable for neighborhood grant. Would be happy to share the Dudgeon-Monroe book that she has at home. Share idea on listserv for anyone interested.
5. Reports
  1. Pat and Rachel will transition in early January.
  2. Received some dues, but a significantly lower amount than collected at the holiday party in past years.
  3. Expectation that people will drop off or pay dues as they did last year.
  4. New budget in January.
6. Social Update
  1. Hot Cocoa Social taking place at Sarah’s house on Sunday from 6:30PM - 7:30PM.
  2. Garth’s Holiday Party went well.
  3. The auction is going well and people are very generous. Now following up on payment.
    1. Response so good now helping out five different organizations (Triangle, Bayview, Belmont, Tallgrass, Heritage).
    2. Priority to balance books.
      1. If there is excess money from these successful drives, money will go towards next event.
    3. Bethany is grateful for the generous neighbors helping with drop off. Pat’s daughter may be able to help with the Heritage drop off.
  4. Book club to be renewed in January. Bethany will send the email out soon.
  5. Bethany is looking for Social Chair support over the next few months.
    1. Bethany is doing an amazing job in this role.
7. Zoning Update
  1. ADU change did pass.
  2. Chabad House has submitted their paperwork to the city. Ben will reach out to council
  3. Wendy noted new zoning plans for the city. Vilas will be one of the first two areas will the planning process starts in 2022. Area goes up to Shorewood. Much larger than Vilas area.
  4. The District plans will be used as basis for zoning ordinances for city.
  5. Wendy encourages the VNA to stay involved as it is an important issue.
  6. Question regarding recent shooting on Regent. Ben noted his understanding was domestic issue.
  7. Wendy has Vilas Parks Division was going to provide some separation before Vilas Park Master Plan. They did put in a partial gravel trail but not connected to full area. There will be vehicular traffic on the drive during the winter.
8. JCAC
  1. Fourth Thursday of every month.
9. Edgewood Liason Committee
  1. Edgewood High School planning to add a second story to their commons. Liaisons met with them about a month ago. They presented to the Planning Commission last night. They will be moving ahead.
10. Other Monroe Street Updates
  1. Note of new restaurant: Stadium take outs.
  2. New clothing place new library.
  3. Marie’s Soul Food was closed for about a month, open now.

Next Meeting is on January 26.
1. Meeting adjourned at 7:59.
2. Happy Holidays.