Heart of Lincoln Square Neighbors Association

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Board meeting: Nov. 12, 2019

Paige Worthy

MINUTES

HOLS board meeting
Date: Tuesday, Nov. 12, 2019
Convened time: 7:11 p.m.
Adjourned time: 8:35 pm
Location: Paige’s apartment

Who’s at the table?

  • Ransom

  • Stone

  • John

  • Paige

  • Adam

  • Ashley


Old business

  1. Approved previous meeting minutes (Stone, Ashley):

    1. September 2019 minutes

New business

  1. State of the Neighborhood recap (Paige)

    1. 170 RSVP’d

    2. 70 attended

      1. A lot of people showed up who weren’t on the RSVP list.

      2. A number of those individuals did sign up for email list and 5 signed up for membership.

      3. BlockClub is really helping getting information out to people and helped attendance. 

      4. Alderman Martin and other neighborhood associations were also helpful in getting word out. 

    3. Other events that day that impacted attendance:

      1. Halloween Holiday Parade

      2. CTU Strike

    4. Feedback from attendees:

      1. Felt informative but not ground-breaking

      2. County Commissioners were engaging

    5. We feel it is a flagship event for the association will proudly continue it. 

    6. Will look to make sure coffee comes from a local shop in 2020.

  2. Treasurer’s report (Paige on behalf of Treasurer)

    1. Haven’t spent a lot this year as we received a few donations offsetting costs for items like Beautification committee.

    2. Still working on best practices to link QuickBooks and membership.

  3. Committees

    1. Planning & Development (Adam)

      1. Learnings from first couple of presentations

        1. Have felt that the committee is functioning as intended thus far.

        2. Committee can always have more individuals volunteer but they must be members of the HOLS Association.

      2. Future developer presentations

        1. Brauhaus meeting has been postponed by developer.

        2. There is a residential change request as well in waiting. 

        3. Still looking to have informational/educational meetings for committee as well to help make informed decisions for the betterment of our community.

      3. Master Plan stuff

        1. Committee has reached out to the Chamber to see about having a discussion about the recently completed Master Plan to see if there is anything the committee can do/keep in mind during meetings.

        2. Chamber has told association to wait as there is a lot of work that needs to be done behind the scenes first.

    2. Outreach/fundraising (Paige on behalf of Katy)

      1. 11/21 happy hour - 

        1. YAY! - Gideon Welles -

        2. see the Facebook event

        3. Thank you Sheila Devi for making this happen.

      2. Neighborhood org brain trust (GRO/LSNN)

        1. Volunteer Snow Brigade

          1. Everyone is very excited especially with the positive media attention.

          2. 50 have signed up to shovel

          3. 3 have signed to receive

          4. Please spread the word to those in need to sign up to receive.

          5. And spread the word to get more “Snow Angels” signed up. 

    3. Beautification    (Ashley)

      1. Allen is finishing up the signage to go out by the area that was beautified by the beautification committee this summer.

      2. Committee meeting to be held in early 2020 to discuss spring cleaning and future projects.

      3. City Grange has offered courses to members during the winter time as well. They are awesome.

  4. EOY membership push?

    1. 650 on email list

    2. 81 members

    3. Can currently signed up to get rest of 2019 free with your paid 2020 dues.

    4. We should make up an email/communication from the Treasurer about “where does our money go”.

      1. Need to build out metrics to support:

        1. Number of hours volunteered at events

        2. Hours volunteered at Advocacy and Committee Meetings

        3. Etc.

  5. 2020 board elections

    1. Does this 9-member board structure still make sense?

      1. If streamlining can occur, what would that look like? What would the roles be?

      2. Everyone believes this 9 member team is good as a volunteer organization with everyone’s schedules and responsibilities.

      3. One question: what is the true role and responsibilities of the Vice President? What is the best use of their time and talents?

        1. Suggested that maybe this person works with the Executive Committee and Board in general for strategic planning initiatives for the organization and executing those plans. 

      4. Other defined roles:

        1. Past President - main responsibility is strictly to answer questions and ensure that knowledge is shared/passed.

        2. Member At Large - non-Executive Committee and non-Committee Chair position(s). Role is support all committee chairs and Executive committee in responsibilities. 

    2. Who is planning to run again?

      1. Not running in 2020: Jules, Stone (Paige not running for President)

      2. Up for election in 2020: Adam, Ransom, Allen (?)

      3. Beginning second year of two year term: Ashley, Katy, John, Paige

    3. Plan for officer succession (specifically president)

      1. Start scanning committees now for recruits to the board 

    4. How can Paige pass on institutional knowledge? What documentation needs to be created?

      1. Since Paige still has one year left on her two year term, she has agreed to stay on and will serve in a Past President role.

      2. This is a volunteer association. We must set and respect boundaries for those that volunteer. 

      3. Definitely make use of the shared drives for past information and knowledge.

      4. We really should look for someone with some IT/Computer/Marketing expertise to assist with all the newsletter, MailChimp, etc.

      5. Each person on the Board  in their role/position, especially Executive Committee and Committee Chairs should work on a “What did I do in 2019?”

        1. Intent is just to make sure we acknowledge the amount of work someone does in their volunteer position while also putting into writing for the next person what the role can look like. What if the Secretary of HOLS wins the lottery tomorrow? Need to make sure the work of that position does not have a gap.

        2. This will also help with the “metrics” as listed in Item #4.D.i. List out the hours worked/volunteered and what the tasks are so that we tell the world (well, Lincoln Square) what the association is doing on their behalf to make our community stronger.

  6. Next Meetings:

    1. January Meeting - location and date TBD

    2. Annual Meeting - Tattler - Looking at 2/5/20 or 2/12/20