September Meeting Minutes
6:30pm | Preservation Station | Bonnie Anderson presiding
Board in attendance:
Anderson Bonnie
Esquivel, Elijah
Dobin, Howard
Grassel, Kathy
Redford, Bruce
Sturge, Ben
Trefethen, Salley
Here is a summary of the HHHDA meeting on September 6th.
Minutes from the August Annual meeting/election were reviewed and approved.
Officer Report
Officer L. Davis, Crime Prevention Specialist from APD provided the crime statistics from the categories that are provided to him. There were no reported incidents in the past 30 days. Officer Davis gave the caveat that there may have been incidents which are in categories that APD does not make public. Residents asked if it would be possible for the report to include the number of calls for service, for example. The office will report back on whether this is possible. He also pledged to investigate the auto accident on Lead & High to see if the association can recuperate funds for our damaged sign from the offending party’s insurance company. Our efforts to discover a police incident report have not been fruitful.
Officer Elections for 2023-2024
The following members were elected to continue in their positions for the current year term: Bonnie Anderson, President; Moises Gonzalez, Vice President; Howard Dobin, Secretary; Sally Trefethen, Treasurer.
Holiday Hijinks
Bruce Redford, who co-chairs the committee with Fiona Cooke, reported on the progress the pair have made towards making our December 2 nd party and silent auction fund raising event at the Press Club successful. They have contacted Greg Swyden of Fundraising Nonprofits LLC to organize and manage the technology necessary to run a proper silent auction. Mr. Swyden has extensive experience in this online arena.
The technology will manage all the donated goods and services. Bruce and/or Fiona will provide graphics/pictures and catchy prose descriptions for 13-15 promised donated items. These will be uploaded onto the silent auction website Mr. Swyden will manage. The site will manage the bids and collect funds from the winning bidders.
As the date of the event is less than three months away, Bruce asked that we prioritize hiring Mr. Swyden as soon as practicable. The usual fee has been slashed to $50/hour and Bruce estimated ten hours of labor. Mr. Swyden will be on-site at our event to deal with any glitches. If the labor runs over the projected ten hours, Bruce generously pledged to cover the cost overrun. A motion to hire Greg Swyden to serve as advisor/consultant to our silent auction with a $500 budget was passed unanimously.
Bruce will inform our consultant that we are not a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Additionally, there was discussion on Mr. Swyden’s recommendation that we tie our fundraiser to another worthy organization to increase our impact and exposure. There were several organizations mentioned, but it was the consensus of those gathered that our association have the permission of any organization before we name them publicly.
The exact organization we will affiliate with our silent auction, as well as the percentage of the raised funs we will pledge to the organization will be determined by an email vote by the board prior to the October meeting.
Bonnie emphasized that publicizing this event will require the donation of time/effort to design a flyer, the publishing/printing/material for a flyer and volunteers to distribute the flyer. This will also be discussed via email before the next meeting in October.
119 High St
Lisa from Homewise unveiled their current plans to build six townhomes at the 119 High Street site. Five will be near identical two-bedroom/two-bathroom units of approximately 1100 sqft, with one larger two-bedroom/two-bathroom unit. Five parking spots will be off the alley behind the units and there will be one driveway parking space off High Street. Two of the units will be affordably priced with the remaining four sold at market value. Elevations of the design were distributed to those in attendance. Homewise is scheduled to present their plans to the Landmarks committee in October. Their hope is to begin construction in March 2024 and complete the project one year later, March 2025.
Attendees raised concerns about and had interest in the exteriors, the materials proposed to be used and landscaping plans. Lisa said there was no landscape architect hired yet. She pledged to consult with the architect for the project and report back to us any information she can gather for our October meeting.
Damaged Sign
The city replaced the plants that were damaged in the collision that destroyed our sign on the corner of lead and High. Ben will be picking up the new sign and has agreed to install it himself.
Lighting
Salley reported on the newly installed lighting and brightness issues that have impacted her and others at the intersections of Walter and Lead/Coal. The city has reduced the light intensity from the new fixtures. She has asked for the light to be focused away from the impacted residences with “blinders” to focus the light away from the homes. Salley will continue to seek further reduction of the light intensity and asked the association for our continued support in her pursuits.
Central Underpass
Howard reported that construction of the pedestrian overpass at Central and the railroad tracks is planned to begin in late September. This pedestrian walkway will replace the tunnel crossing for pedestrians that has been so troublesome over the years.
EDo Walkable Wednesday
EDo representatives were unable to make the meeting, so association members relayed their knowledge of the event scheduled for Wednesday September 20 th . Information and tickets for food are available online. Edith will be shut down from Central to Gold. The city is helping with funding and hoping to make this an annual event.
The meeting was adjourned. Next meeting will be on Wednesday October 4th.
