January 2022 APPROVED General Membership Meeting Minutes
General Membership Meeting
Jan. 5, 2022
APPROVED Minutes
1. Call to Order + Opening Remarks
a. Recognition of Attendees: Elected Officials, Directors & Officers, New Members
Jim Dallas called the meeting to order at 7:02 p.m.
Board Members present included: Jim Dallas, President; Michael Pastore, President-Elect; Debby Brown, Secretary; Chris Currington, Secretary; Neil Putz, Past President; Nancy Kelly; Margi Koors; Nancy Lambert; Karen Moske; Billy Tomber; and Gary Toribio.
Special Guests and Speakers included: Jack Coatar, Alderman Ward 7.
Committee Chairs present included: Julie Price, Membership; Andrea Maddox-Dallas, Safety; Bonita Leiber (Co-chair), Soulard Station.
The meeting was held via Zoom. Jim thanked Megan Mehrle for letting everyone into the Zoom meeting. Jim then welcomed all participants.
Jim asked if there were any new members or attendees. Kim Dann-Messier, from Trinity Lutheran Church (Community Care), introduced herself.
Jim commended participants for figuring out and joining via Zoom since The Blaster is now going out once a month (only one announcement was made regarding the meeting). The Blaster is only being sent the Monday prior to the General Membership Meetings. If the venue changes again, The Blaster will be the place to find out about it.
2. SLMPD Liaison Report
Jim Dallas said that Officer Christopher Murray, of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, was not on the Zoom call, so there was no police report during this meeting.
3. Secretary’s Report
Chris Currington said that the draft minutes from the November General Membership Meeting and the draft of the minutes from the December General Membership Meeting were both added to the SRG website Dec. 23. Chris said that he didn’t receive any questions or comments, and asked for a motion to accept the drafts of both sets of minutes as final.
Nancy Kelly made the motion to accept both the November and December General Membership Meeting minutes as final. Margi Koors seconded.
The vote was taken. All voted in favor. No votes opposed the motion.
The motion to accept both sets of minutes as final passed.
4. Financial Report
Debby Brown said that SRG is now six months into the fiscal year—July 1-Dec. 31. There has been amazing fundraising of ~$57,000, with expenses of ~$23,000. Net income is ~$25,000. However, Debby doesn’t anticipate any large fundraiser for the rest of the fiscal year. Cash-on-hand is ~$95,000. Debby asked if there were any questions. There weren’t. Debby said she would be working over the next weeks to assess financial statements and post something to the website in the month of January for calendar-year-end results.
5. Mardi Gras
Jim Dallas introduced Tim Lorson and Mack Bradley of Mardi Gras, Inc., both of whom provided an update.
Tim Lorson thanked Jim for having them on the call, and gave an update about Twelfth Night. Tim has been the MGI Executive Director since 2003. Mack was a founder. They met late the previous week as things began to percolate with the COVID-19 omicron variant and what would be done if it doesn’t calm down. For Twelfth Night, they didn’t want to cancel the event, but they decided to limit capacity inside the tent. They hoped to do the procession through the neighborhood, but because of bitter cold, it was postponed to Jan. 6, 2023. Mack said this year, the procession will be much shorter—from the tent to the flag pole at 7th and Soulard. Tim said that—for Twelfth Night—they have reached the 150-person capacity, so no more attendees will be expected. They are requiring proof of vaccination, or negative COVID test within 72 hours, and a photo ID for entry.
Tim said that they feel omicron will run its course in the next couple weeks and they didn’t want to cancel the Twelfth Night event and send a message that Mardi Gras is also canceled. MGI is also following CDC/City of St. Louis guidance as events come up. Mack agreed with Tim; they need to be as nimble as possible and able to react to the pandemic environment. The Family Winter Carnival is set for Jan. 22, and they’re watching to see what happens with that event.
Jim Dallas asked if there were any questions. There weren’t any.
6. Committee Reports
Jim Dallas moved to the committee reports.
a. Communications
Jim asked Billy Tomber and Megan Mehrle if there was anything to report. The next articles for The Renaissance are due the following week. If anyone is interested in submitting something, send an email to editor@soulard.org. Megan said she’s working on training for the SRG Cloud; a number of people have been waiting for access and she hasn’t forgotten them. She’s looking for a way to roll out training faster to more people, and hopefully by the next General Membership Meeting she’ll have more information.
Jim said that the ComCom has a wide umbrella of responsibilities—from The Renaissance to The Blaster and the website—plus they’re operating without a chair. Jim asked anyone interested in helping with the ComCom to send him an email.
Jim asked if there were any questions. John Haas said that he’s still not receiving The Blaster emails, and that it’s been over a year since he’s gotten any. Billy asked if he opted into receiving The Blaster, and said he would discuss this privately with John.
There were no more questions.
b. Fundraising
Margi Koors, Board Liaison to the Fundraising Committee, gave the update. Margi said that the committee needs a chair. Margi said the only update she had was that Chris Schwartz (prior Fundraising Committee Chair) had delivered—about 30 minutes previously—the kit to change her live Christmas wreath to a Mardi Gras wreath. Chris is also continuing to follow through on his commitments to this committee, and Margi thanked him for that. Jim reminded everyone that the Mardi-Gras-wreath-kit came from Chris because the live wreaths were a fundraising effort.
Jim also said that Smarty Gras—because of the COVID-19 omicron variant—has been postponed to April. Everyone should watch for more information as this develops in February and March as we get closer to April and see where the pandemic is at that point.
c. Membership
Jim asked Julie Price, Membership Committee Chair, if she had anything to report. Julie said that there are currently 356 members in SRG: 41 businesses; 38 Friends of Soulard; 196 household; 54 individuals; and 27 seniors. The SRG is growing, and Julie said we’re all ambassadors of SRG, so if anyone sees a new resident, please reach out, welcome them, and see if they want to become a member.
Julie said the Soulard Star award nomination form was in the previous email of The Blaster. It’s downloadable, and can be filled out and sent in. The committee would like to know who any nominees are and recognize them. The deadline is Feb. 15, and gives enough time to be reviewed and run by the Board before the April meeting (membership drive).
Julie said that she’s filled up the socials (get-togethers after the General Membership Meetings). We’ll be going back to homes, hopefully, but the committee will have to see how this goes given the pandemic.
Julie asked if there were any questions. There weren’t any. Jim thanked Julie for her report.
d. Parlour Tour
Nancy Lambert, Board Liaison to the Parlour Tour Committee, gave the update. Nancy said that Jeanne Kirby is still pulling together all the accounting for The Parlour Tour. Jeanne would like to thank all the homeowners who participated and prepared for it. The reports from the people on the bus were wonderful and they enjoyed it.
The Fete de Noel was also good; the food was good, the music was perfect, and the venue was the perfect place. Nancy thanked everyone who helped make it happen.
Jim Dallas thanked everyone who attended, said it was a huge success this year, and he was glad SRG was able to get in the Parlour Tour and the Fete de Noel before things got out of hand with the pandemic.
e. Safety
Andrea Maddox-Dallas, Safety Committee Chair, gave the report. She said that her number 1 priority is to continue to evolve the video camera data base. Andrea also said if anyone wants to be on the Safety Committee, she would love it.
Jim Dallas said that there was information in the previous Blaster about signing up for the safety camera program, and he hopes everyone sends Andrea an email at safety@soulard.org and signs up for the camera program. It’s a program that will allow the police liaison officer and committee chair to look in the database and see who may have camera footage after a crime that has been committed. Andrea said the purpose of the database is to expedite the information. She also said it keeps officers from knocking on doors and others seeing it.
Neil Putz said he wanted to give a quick shout-out to Andrea and thank her for her fast action. The City recently replaced a stop sign at 8th and Allen. Andrea said that she’s impressed with the Citizen Service Bureau. If there’s ever a concern, you can go to the city’s website, and they’ve been responsive when the committee has done the Safety Walks. Andrea said people can enter “tickets” into the system, or she can enter them for people.
Nancy Lambert said she put in a ticket for two trees—one for each side of her street that were covering lights. She quickly got a call from Forestry asking her to take a picture(s) and gave her an email to send it (them) to. The trees were taken care of within a week and half.
Andrea said that if it’s a street light, it would be a city ticket. If it’s an alley light, it would be an issue for Ameren.
Gary Toribio asked who the neighborhood stabilization officers were. Jim said that Mauria Tomlin is one of them (ward 7). Someone else said that Barb Potts is one of them (ward 9). Andrea said their roles are to handle more complex issues than what the Safety Committee can resolve.
Jim asked if there were any additional questions. There weren’t any.
f. Soulard Station
Bonita Leiber, Soulard Station Co-chair, gave the report. Bonita said the station is quiet now and there aren’t any events scheduled. Anyone who goes to the Station should wear a mask. The Station is also requiring proof of vaccination for any events.
The committee will gear up in March to work on the water feature and get it working. Bonita and her husband will do tree trimming in the next month or so. They’ve gotten some advice, but could use other advice as well.
Bonita said The Soulard Station is always looking for help—digging in the dirt, painting, hanging out and having fun, etc. They’re looking forward to events happening again in the Spring.
Debby Brown asked if anyone purchases a brick (back patio project), how long would it take to put it in or will there be a notification. Bonita said the person buying the engraved brick will get a notification, and hopefully they’ll be put in in April and there will be some sort of celebration.
7. President’s Update
Jim Dallas thanked everyone for switching to a Zoom meeting. After he polled the Board, the changes to this meeting format and Smarty Gras had to change in a very short timeframe. Jim told everyone to stay tuned about the February General membership Meeting and if it would be a Zoom meeting. The Board will discuss it at their January Board meeting.
a. By-laws
Jim said that the Board approved revisions to the by-law, and they were presented at the December General Membership Meeting. The version was posted on the website, along with a side-by-side PowerPoint comparison of the current to revised by-laws, along with instructions to submit any questions or comments.
At this meeting, Jim presented two slides with minor changes to the Board-approved by-laws. He screenshared the two changes. One change was to Article 5, Section 4, and the derivation of ‘Majority Vote’.. The second change is Article 6, Section 3, and the description to the Treasurer position, and a suggested change from the current auditor. The auditor suggested that the by-laws require a periodic “review” instead of an “audit”, and the review should be done by an independent professional. The by-laws with these changes have been posted on the website, and can be found under Neighborhood Association.
Jim then asked anyone who had questions or comments to send them to him at president@soulard.org and Chris Currington at secretary@soulard.org. If there are no other modifications, then the posted version will be voted on at a future meeting; likely February.
There was a question from Bob Officer about the independent professional and if they would be the auditor. Jim said that as it’s written, it wouldn’t have to be an auditor, but anyone the Board chooses. Debby Brown said we would likely still use an auditor, but we wouldn’t have to. And they would likely be a CPA. Jim said that he doesn’t think the language says they need to be a CPA; just an independent professional. Jim also said that if anyone thinks this needs to be changed, then they can send him an email.
Nancy Lambert asked what the title of Linda Howdeshell (currently performing the SRG audit) is. Jim said she’s a CPA.
b. Nominating Committee
Jim said the Nominating Committee has been formed and is composed of: Neil and Veronica Putz; Michael Pastore; Karen Moske; Scott Plackemeier; Jeanne Kirby; Andrea Maddox-Dallas; and Jim.
The Committee’s goal is to vet and help encourage people to run for office with a goal of announcing the slate of candidates at the February General Membership Meeting. Nominations will remain open after the announcement at the February meeting, and the Nominating Committee is encouraging people interested in running to contact Jim at president@soulard.org or Michael Pastore at preselect@soulard.org. Also, if anyone has ideas about anyone who may be interested in running, they’re encouraged to contact Jim or Michael as well.
The open positions are Secretary, Treasurer, President-Elect, and at least 2 directors.
c. Crow Bar Request
Jim said that at the previous Board Meeting, a request was considered from The Crow Bar, which is the restaurant planned for the space formerly occupied by Nadine’s at 12th and Allen. This additional request was for a Letter of Support for their zoning despite not having dedicated parking spaces. The Board voted and approved that SRG send a Letter of Support, and Jim sent the letter.
d. Request from The Island
The Board also received a request from The Island, located at 1005, 1007, and 1009 Russell Blvd. The owner—Jason Stump—reached out to SRG for support for his new venture, a take-out (pressure cooked) chicken restaurant next door to The Island.
After some discussion, the Board asked Jim to contact Jason and ask him some questions concerning the request. Jason would like a letter to the city in support of the expansion of his restaurant at the location; one of the places is empty, and he wants to expand. He already owns the space and lives above it.
8. Adjourn
Before adjourning, Jim Dallas asked Michael Pastore if he had anything to add or if there were any questions. Michael said there wasn’t anything pressing to discuss. Jim asked if anyone had any additional questions. There weren’t any.
Jim reminded everyone to watch The Blaster for information about the next General Membership Meeting (Zoom vs. in-person meeting).
Gary Toribio made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Nancy Kelly seconded.
The vote was taken. All voted in favor of adjourning the meeting.
The meeting adjourned at 7:52 p.m.
Notes from the Zoom chat function:
19:19:48 From Billy Tomber to Everyone:
Next ComCom Meeting - Mon Jan 17.
Physical Location or Zoom info to follow.
Contact: Communications@soulard.org
19:22:00 From Soulard Restoration Group [Megan Mehrle] to Everyone:
For the Mardi Gras issue of the Renaissance, please submit a first draft of your article by Wednesday, January 26th. To editor@soulard.org. Please also touch base in advance to let us know you’d like to submit something!
19:26:49 From Jack Coatar to Everyone:
I have to jump for one more meeting this evening. Happy New Year’s, everyone! Look forward to seeing you all around for Mardi Gras festivities! If anyone needs me, i can be reached at coatarj@stlouis-mo.gov or 314-374-0691
19:36:37 From Kim Dann-Messier to Everyone:
I’m happy to help with tree trimming.
19:37:33 From Soulard Restoration Group to Everyone:
Kim - you can email Bonita at station@soulard.org. Thanks!