AUGUST 2022 BOARD MEETING MINUTES
August Board Meeting
Aug. 17, 2022
Approved Minutes
1. Call to order and opening remarks
Michael Pastore, President, called the meeting to order at 7:06 p.m.
Board Members present included: Michael Pastore, President; Chris Currington, Secretary; Jim Dallas, Past President; Margi Koors, Nancy Lambert, and Karen Moske.
Board Members absent included: Abbey Bethel, President Elect; Debby Brown, Secretary; Craig Markham; Stephen Shuman; and Gary Toribio.
General Member John Haas asked permission to attend and attended the meeting.
2. Secretary’s report
Chris Currington, Secretary, said that he’d sent the link to the draft of the July Board Meeting minutes to the Board the past Sunday. He received no changes and asked for a motion to accept the draft minutes as final.
Nancy Lambert made the motion to accept the draft of the July meeting minutes as final. Karen Moske seconded the motion.
The vote was taken. All voted in favor.
The motion to accept the July meeting minutes as final passed.
3. Treasurer’s Report
Michael Pastore gave the report in Debby Brown’s, Treasurer’s, absence. Michael said there wasn’t anything new to discuss. The cash balance is basically the same.
Margi Koors asked Michael if he’d received her email asking for a reconciliation of expenses for the Membership Party since she hadn’t gotten a reply. Michael said that he believes Julie Price, Membership Committee chair, has the reconciled budget numbers. Michael said he’d sent an email to Julie with corrected numbers for the budget, but he’s not received a response from Julie. Michael will ask Debby about this.
It was agreed to table any further budget or financial discussions until Debby is present at a Board meeting.
4. Updates/New Business
a. Concert on Saturday
Michael Pastore said the upcoming concert (part of the Soulard Concert Series) would have a bigger stage and it would be moved to a different location in Soulard Market Park. It was thought that where the stage was previously did a disservice to the Soulard Market building. Moving the stage will open the whole plaza. Jim Dallas had secured the permits, and there will be wine, soda, and water for sale. There was a crew ready to help facilitate getting the concert ready. The concert will be from 6-9 p.m.
b. Station Protocols
Michael Pastore said that he spoke with Gary Toribio, who wasn’t able to attend this meeting, and Gary asked to postpone the discussion about the Soulard Station protocols until he could be present. Jim Dallas said that he’s been working on the protocols, and he’d like to see the Board come to a resolution sometime soon. He found out about another group that uses the Station on a quarterly basis, and he doesn’t know who gave permission to use the facility. Jim said that CID did get a certificate of insurance for when they hold their meetings at the Station. Jim said that the Properties Committee would also like to see the protocols completed.
c. Community Improvement District (CID) traffic calming report
Michael Pastore asked if everyone present had a chance to review the CID traffic calming report and if there were any comments, concerns, or questions. Michael said he’d spoken to Terry Hoffmann, CID Chairperson, and he’s not soliciting input from other Soulard organizations, but there is a link on the CID’s website where people can add comments. At the previous SRG Board Meeting, however, a couple of Board Members thought it was important that the Board respond to the report. Nancy Lambert said her concern was for the Soulard residents who are not in the CID or SSBD. Jim Dallas said part of the traffic-calming plan is to cover non-CID areas with funds provided by the alderpersons. Nancy said that it should be remembered that the alderpersons can change. Karen Moske said that [Jack Coatar] would do what he could to help the non-CID areas.
Michael said that if anyone on the Board has specific concerns, ideas, or thoughts, they can send them to him and he will be happy to put together something, let everyone review, and then send to Terry. Karen said that we could say, as a Board, that it’s in favor of traffic calming and that she’s not sure about specifics. We can just make a general statement and ask SRG members to comment.
Margi Koors said that the study is very general and there’s nothing really of substance. But she supports Karen’s suggestion that it’s been reviewed by the Board and it supports the report, but it also looks forward to a time when the CID can address the entire Soulard neighborhood.
Chris Currington asked why the traffic calming process is taking so long when there are speed humps already on 9th Street (in Soulard) and in Benton Park.
Jim Dallas mentioned a letter that Craig Markham sent to the Board about the traffic calming study.
Michael said he would revisit that letter on behalf of the Board and send it to CID/Terry asking for more details and ask if there is something to speed up the traffic calming process.
d. Historic code update
Michael Pastore asked Jim Dallas if there was an update. Jim said the only update is that Meg Lousteau hasn’t responded to his two emails asking how long the review will take. Jim sent her the code standards, and he’s waiting to hear from the Cultural Resources Office (CRO) – he’s waited two weeks and sent a reminder and she hasn’t responded to either one. Karen Moske said that Lisa Otke (SRG General Member) has a good relationship with CRO and can reach out. Jim said this was a good idea. Jim also said that it will be a long process because the updates to the historic code are ~60 pages. Michael asked Jim to send the email to CRO again, with the historic code attached, and copy Lisa Otke.
e. Oktoberfest
Michael Pastore said that Abbey Bethel has started volunteer signups for Oktoberfest. He also encouraged all Board Members to volunteer. This event is rapidly approaching – Oct. 7 and 8 – and it’s a huge fundraiser for SRG. Michael said that he’d get more information out to the Board. The Soulard Business Association gets the permits for the event, and Michael has a meeting with Jim Lettau (with SBA) to go over details. Michael also mentioned that Abbey may lead a small committee of SRG volunteers to help with Oktoberfest.
f. Mardi Gras beer booth
Michael Pastore said he strongly recommends that SRG does a beer booth at the next Mardi Gras event after the Grand Parade. This has been a huge fundraiser in the past, but it hasn’t been done in about five years. In the past, Billy Tomber had the idea of an all-inclusive party, with a band and a stage, for $30 per person. Margi Koors said porta-potties were also included. Karen Moske asked if the beer booth was stopped because there are so many other booths out and SRG wasn’t making any money. The last year or two were break-even years.
Michael said it was his personal opinion that the beer booth be located where the crowds are. In the past, it was at the Soulard Station, and that’s too far from the crowds. This is why Michael is throwing out the idea now so there’s enough time to prepare and find a better location.
Nancy Lambert said SRG needs to focus on getting a Development Committee chair to plan these types of events and to volunteer for Mardi Gras. Margi said that we’re still post-COVID, but a signup hasn’t been sent to the entire SRG membership in a long time. Oktoberfest will be the test. Karen said that we do receive emails from people who want to volunteer – there are people interested and we need to be reaching out to them.
Michael said that, for now, he wants the Board to be thinking about a beer booth at Mardi Gras. Karen asked Michael to find out what the deadline is for booths and what the possible locations would be. Michael agreed to this.
g. Nominating Committee
Michael Pastore said that the Nominating Committee (for the next slate of Board candidates) should be formed soon. There are some Board members not running again. He would like to get a list together from each Board member. This would be fair to Abbey since she’ll be the next President, and it’s worth getting the word out and discuss with other SRG members and neighbors about running for the Board.
h. Questions, concerns, and additional discussion
Jim Dallas said that he’d sent a note about the Policies and Procedures (Ps & Ps) Manual. It’s in the bylaws that we’ll issue a manual, there are a number of items we should be working on, and he wanted to discuss the manual at this meeting. Jim said that he’s willing to write the Ps & Ps; Nancy Lambert volunteered to help. Gary Toribio would also be good at helping to draft them, and it would be good to have Karen Moske review given her legal background. Karen said that the Board needs to tell the Ps & Ps subcommittee what takes priority (i.e., Standard of Conduct). There are already five or six Ps & Ps on the cloud, and we need to decide what’s next. Nancy asked about how to prioritize. Jim said he needs direction from the Board.
Margi Koors then made the suggestion to release the first portion of the manual, and then write one policy per month and let the Board review it. Jim said he needs people to take a look at what he’s produced and look at the list and help set priorities. Margi suggested looking at the order in the manual, start at the beginning, and then finish at the end. Karen asked Jim to resend the email. Michael asked if we could agree to start at the beginning and work through to the end. Nancy said she agreed unless the Board says something else takes a priority. Jim said he has the manual, with six Ps & Ps drafted that can be approved and put on the website. He has another list that has the ones that need to be worked on, and we can then amend the manual that’s online. Karen asked Jim to send an email to the Board, ask them to review before the next Board Meeting, and give a certain number of days. Then, at the next meeting, take the vote to accept what’s been completed.
Nancy asked if the new Board Members understood that some Ps & Ps have been reviewed and passed individually by the Board. There was then a discussion about adding the Ps & Ps manual to the SRG website.
Margi Koors made the motion that the Board release to the General Membership, via the SRG Website, the Policies & Procedures Manual approved by the Board. Karen Moske seconded.
Michael asked if there was any discussion. There was no further discussion.
The vote was taken. All Board Members present approved the motion.
The motion to add the approved Policies & Procedures Manual to the SRG website passed.
5. Liasson reports
a. Beautification Committee
Karen Moske, Board Liaison to the Beautification Committee, said the Art and Floral Design event was being held Sept. 10 from 3-6 p.m. There will be a silent auction, and tickets will be sold and used for wine and beer.
b. Parlour Tour
Nancy Lambert, Board Liaison to the Parlour Tour Committee, said the committee is now meeting every other Tuesday. The decision is leaning toward having a one-day event on Dec. 3. The reason is because of COVID and finding homeowners willing to let the number of people into their homes. The event will start around 10 or 10:30 a.m. and the committee is trying to get six homeowners to participate. The committee is trying to make this a “VIP event” for everyone, and they’re looking at a gift for those who purchase tickets. Karen asked about the ticket price. Nancy said this hasn’t been decided, but it’s likely the price will go up.
There will also be the Fete de Noel the evening of the Parlour Tour, and sponsors, homeowners, and volunteers can attend at no charge. The committee is also considering a discount for SRG members.
c. Safety Committee
Nancy Lambert, Board Liaison to the Safety Committee, said that there had been a meeting the previous night.
* They talked about creating a website that has the phone numbers of who to contact in certain situations.
* They’re promoting the camera program at the General Membership meeting. After the previous General Membership meeting, Andrea Maddox-Dallas, Safety Committee chair, was able to get some people to sign up for the camera program.
* The next Safety Walk will be Oct. 13, with a rain-delay date of Oct. 20.
* The National Night Out is Tuesday, Oct. 4. The Safety Committee would like six blocks to participate.
6. Questions
Before adjourning, Michael asked if there were any questions.
John Haas, General Member in attendance, asked about the status of the pub crawls. Michael said that SBA and the alderpersons are behind limiting the pub crawls, but they’ve made it clear that “those wheels grind very slowly."
There were no other questions.
7. Adjourn
Nancy Lambert made the motion to adjourn the meeting. Karen Moske seconded.
The vote was taken. All voted to adjourn the meeting at 8:48 p.m.