March 2019 General Meeting Minutes

Mar 7

Minutes March 2019 SRG General Meeting

March 6, 2019

American Legion Hall Post 422

The meeting was called to order at 7:04 by President Scott Plackemeier.

Officers and Directors in Attendance: Neil Putz, Luanne Denten, Christopher Schwarz, Wade Weistreich, John Durnell, Scott Plackemeier, Billy Tomber

Officers and Directors Absent: Beth Bennett, Stephen Schuman

Aldermen Present: Dan Guenther, Jack Coatar

New Member Introduction

Welcome new members/guests!

Police Report (Officer Sherdon Douglas)

· 18 total crimes

· 2 robbery

· 9 larceny

· 1 aggravated assault

· 6 theft

SRG Board Elections – April 3, 2019

· Open positions include two directors, president elect, secretary, treasurer

· Elections will take place at end of April General Membership Meeting

· Nominations can happen at any time up until a few days before

· Floor is open for nominations. At time of meeting, nominations were as follows

o John Durnell, Beth Hoops, Dave Perry nominated for director positions

o Neil Putz nominated for President elect

o Megan Gooch nominated for secretary

General Meeting Location Discussion

· Although low attendance tonight, time to discuss a larger meeting place.

· Chris Schwarz has been a big help in setting up seats and closing bar, accommodating the needs brought up at board meeting.

· Discussion- Look into MGI being able to accommodate us as previously planned?

Historic Signage Program Update and Discussion

· Lots of talk about the project, the project is paused while issues are addressed (think of it as a recall)

· Signs on poles were removed prior to Mardi Gras for safety concerns while other issues are being addressed (sharp corners and long bolts)

· Discussion-

o What about contracts? Luanne- historic license agreement is just an agreement to put sign on house; presented multiple times via Nextdoor, Blaster, Renaissance. Agreement drafted by lawyer, full presentation at budget meeting, signage reception had another presentation, re-reviewed by 2 additional lawyers. This is a new project, working out kinks as we go, sorry for glitches, but committee is working on them.

o Great idea and as a group we will come up with solution.

o Some members had issue with the way the signs look, sun makes signs unreadable, don’t fit into the neighborhood, etc.

o 6 bids were obtained, sign prototypes were available for viewing before being installed

o When asked, Chair Denten answered that she was amenable to a future meeting dedicated to addressing this specific issue

Treasurer’s Report (Chris Schwarz)

· Recently received grant from Metropolitan Sewer District for Sidney Triangle Project

· Waiting for final count, but Vices and Virtues did make money

· Board recently allocated $5000 to trash program with St. Peter and Paul

· Wade moved to approve, Mark seconded. Motion passes

February General Meeting Minutes

· Ron moved to approve Minutes, John seconded

SRG Committee Reports

Soulard Station (Neil Putz/Tracey Laxton)

· Utilities- electric, sewer, water, trash

· Trying to figure out better waste management system, lots of money going towards trash

· Working on replacing door and mailbox

· More info on solar panels coming soon

Safety (Sergio Sevillano)

Not Present

Membership (Julie Price)

· Membership Drive is May 1st at Mad Art Gallery

· Looking for someone to take photos, any volunteers?

· If you have photos of SRG events past to present, send to Julie for slideshow- Comm Comm has dropbox of photos to share!

· STAR awards are next month

· Social tonight at The Doghaus, thanks for hosting!

Beautification (Richard Eaton)

· Work in Pontiac Square Park with Howard University students next week

· Next month students from SLU will help with clean up

· Please come if you want to volunteer 9-12!

Res Promo (Luanne Denten)

· Meets second Tuesday of every month, please come! Open meetings to all

· VandV was amazing, new space was great, still waiting to hear about profit from VandV

· Thanks to all who joined in on Fat Tuesday Stroll it was fun!

Comm Comm (Billy Tomber)

· Expanding membership and scope of what committee is doing

· Taking communication audit of members to see where members get their information from

· Shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes to complete

· We are cheerleaders of Soulard! Send good news to communications@soulard.org

· Communication protocol voted on at last board meeting to help members recognize official communication from official members

· Expansion on social media thanks to Beth hoops!

Parlour Tour

No updates

PRT/Code and Zoning (Jay Gibbs)

· Main project is New Construction and Rehab Star Awards for projects completed in the neighborhood

· Twisted Ranch mural- exceeds size of what we allow, can’t be more than 10% of size of building. Brick is not always allowed to be painted on, and it was done without permit

· Twisted Ranch awning is also an issue

· At this time, this is between the city and the business

· Reminder: SRG and Committees advise, city rules

Fundraising (Christopher Schwarz)

· Go Marathon April 7, still determining if that will be a fundraising event

· Soulard Concert Series kicking off May 11 with Patti & The Hitmen

· Full lineup coming next meeting

Legion (Christopher Schwarz)

· Bill unable to make meetings

· Mardi Gras helped raise funds for Legion

· This Friday is first fish fry 5-8 March 8, March 22, April 5 (fish tacos), April 19, first happy hour will be May 17

MGI