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Members in attendance: Lin Woodrich, Ethan Clevenger, Janice Kerber, Suzanne
O’Shea, Heather Quaas-Annsa, Jenelle Boyd, Bonnie Stone, Ed Farren
Absent: Douglas Barr, Pennie Moblo, Tai Pruce-Zimmerman
Guests: Jerry Finigan, past Chair, Santa Clara Neighborhood Association, Jon Belcher, Co-Chair, River Road Neighborhood Association, Diane Behling, ABC Civic Engagement Team, and Travis Johannes, ABC Civic Engagement Team
Meeting was called to order at 7:01 by Ethan.
Motion to approve the agenda made by Heather, seconded by Suzanne and passed.
Open Floor Comments:
Thank you to Jerry and Jon for joining us to explain the Santa Clara/River Road Area Plan process
Old Business:
Motion to approve April board minutes made by Lin, seconded by Heather and approved.
Explanation and questions about the ENI membership (Jerry Finigan)
o Eugene Neighbors, Inc (ENI) is a 501(c)(3) that was formed so that donations to member neighborhood associations would be tax deductible to donors.
Donations to ENI:
Tax deductible to the donor.
5% fee is deducted if ABC writes the acknowledgement letter (10% fee is deducted if ENI is responsible to writing acknowledgement).
Payment:
ABC submits request for payment and ENI writes vendor a check.
Since some vendors do not take checks there was a discussion about the possibility of ENI making payment by debit/credit card. ENI will look into getting a card once social distancing has been lifted sufficiently.
For recurring payments, ENI would not want to provide card information to the vendor so it will be possible for a check to be paid to ABC and ABC can use their card to pay vendor.
ENI maintains a separate line item for each member association so unspent funds are tracked and available.
In kind donations present a problem and Heather volunteered to help Jerry with some legal issues involved.
New Business:
Building a Better Bethel – First steps (Jerry Finigan)
Explanation of Santa Clara/River Road neighborhood planning process by Jerry Finigan and Jon Belcher
2007 – started with a team of citizens in the 2 neighborhoods and their ideas of ways to improve the neighborhoods.
2009 – implementation of the Santa Clara/River Road Outreach and Learning Project (SCRROL).
How to find out what neighbors actually wanted.
Questionnaire was developed and mailed to neighbors.
Tabling at neighborhood events and talking to constituents (more effective than questionnaire).
Required a major educational effort that lasted around 2 ½ years.
2001 – implementation of Santa Clara/River Road Implementation and Planning (SCRRIP).
Planned their process around the city’s goal of densifying on the main artery (in this case River Road).
One of the main problems was to tell the city what they wanted – had to make sure the city did not take over.
South University is next in line for an Area Plan but if ABC had a cogent plan it might be possible for ABC to move up the line.
Lin has emailed copies of all Santa Clara/River Road’s work to all board members.
River Road has a board and a general meeting almost every month with usually 20-25 people in attendance, although more if there is a hot issue to be discussed. They have found, however, that if they have a specific project to accomplish that they have more people than they do at their meetings.
There was a discussion on ways to involve our constituents (our email list, a Survey Monkey questionnaire through the city, a hard copy of survey to be mailed back or to be returned to area businesses).
Scavenger Hunt (Heather)
GooseChase:
The city of Florence is using GooseChase and Heather will provide links in CHAT.
$1,000 flat fee.
Can be modified in many different ways. For example, giving point values to different items. Prizes would be needed. Could include area businesses for participants to visit and ask the businesses to sponsor the event. Lin will find out if HRNI funds can be used.
Motion to ask Heather to pursue this possibility made by Suzanne, seconded by Bonnie and passed.
Committee Reports:
Finance (Suzanne emailed the Treasurer’s Report prior to the meeting)
State filings have been made for a total of $70. Ending balance in ABC bank account is $244.22.
There is currently $6251.23 in the HRNI Fund with another newsletter to be mailed out with the General Meeting – Building A Better Bethel Report. The cost will be around $1000 to translate into Spanish and $4,000 to print and mail.
Ethan will look into getting the money that was donated for the food pantries from PayPal.
Events (Lin emailed the committee report prior to the meeting)
ZOOM General Meeting on Saturday, April 25 was a success with 48 people on the call.
ABC Scavenger Hunt – see New Business above.
Need to plan for a 4th general meeting/event – possibly a scavenger hunt.
We Are Bethel cancelled for this year but planned for May 22, 2021.
Public Safety (Lin emailed the committee report prior to the meeting)
May 11 meeting was with Jeff Blonde’, EPD Bikes & Theft was recorded and can be posted.
June 1 meeting will be with Lindy Smith, EPD Volunteering.
No further meetings are scheduled at this time.
Beautification – no committee report
Lin reported on Friends of the Trees. Next planting will be in November. Cost is $35 per tree. Making this a competitive event was suggested.
The city will provide bark-o-mulch for parks if residents will spread it. Suzanne will get more information.
Food Pantry (Janice)
Kalapuya High School pantry is open to the public on Tuesday and Fridays. WHS is only for their students.
Janice received a donation of toothpaste and floss from Dr. Stephenson, D.D.S.
Business Relations – (Lin)
The Civic Engagement Team ZOOM meeting on Wednesday, May 27 will include a discussion of the formation of the Bethel Business Alliance. Brittany Quick-Warner with the Eugene Chamber has agreed to partner with ABC to help the businesses.
Communications
Lin will email a draft of the next newsletter for review.
It would be nice to have an article on the plans for the Golden Gardens Sports Park if someone would like to write one.
Civic Engagement Team (Lin emailed the committee report prior to the meeting)
The team has elected officials to discuss ways to Build a Better Bethel. They have crafted speeches that have been read at city council meetings.
The next meeting will be May 27 to discuss the formation of the Bethel Business Alliance. Brittany Quick-Warner with the Eugene Chamber has agreed to partner with us to help businesses. Lin will email ZOOM log-in information.
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Recycling – postponed until after social distancing order lifted.
Bylaws – no report.
A request was made for someone to connect with LTD to find a way to provide input. Lin volunteered to do this. Also, there is a trash can by some of the bus stops. It might be possible to have whoever empties those cans to also collect from other cans that we place around the Bethel area.
8:39 meeting adjourned.
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