KFNA Board Minutes
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Board Members Present: Mark Brandow, Robyn Bipes, David Brauer, Chris DeParde, Arthur Knowles, Tom Parent, Dave Saddoris, JobyLynn Sassily-James, Diana Schleisman, Chris Sur, Marie Wolf.
Board Members Absent: Karen Pieper, David Potosky.
KFNA Staff: Sarah Linnes-Robinson.
Community Members: Dean Muldoon, Brian Voerding, Sarah Duniway, Jeff Berg, Emma Nadler, Scott Pampuch, David Nicholson, Robin Russell.
Community Forum:
Dean Muldoon reported that the city has recently boarded a window in a house in his block that has been vacant for about a year, and that the boarded window makes the vacant but well-tended house an eyesore. He complained to the city, which told him to take it to his neighborhood association. Suggestions for him included emailing his city councilperson and contacting his block leader. The redevelopment committee will discuss at its next meeting.
New Board Member: David Buchanan moved out of the Kingfield neighborhood and has resigned his position on the Board. Diana Schleisman moved to admit first alternate Arthur Knowles to the Board; Mark Brandow seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
Vice President: Buchanan’s absence also required the election of a new vice-president. JobyLynn Sassily-Jones nominated Knowles. Knowles nominated Brandow, who declined. Knowles nominated David Brauer, who declined. Chris DeParde nominated Dave Saddoris, who declined. Chris Sur seconded the nomination for Knowles, who was unanimously elected.
40th and Lyndale Task Force Member: The 40th and Lyndale Task Force is charged with long-range planning for that intersection. Dean Muldoon, the Board’s first alternate, volunteered to serve. Saddoris moved that Muldoon be elected to the task force as Kingfield representative at large; Sassily-Jones seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
NRP Elector for Policy Board elections. The election is being held on November 20. Knowles volunteered.
Treasurer’s Report: The 9/30/08 balance sheet was presented. Schleisman questioned why the current assets were not being held in an interest-bearing account. SLR said her understanding was that a minimum balance was required and that KFNA’s assets fluctuate from month to month. SLR agreed to check with the bank to find out what the minimum balance is and whether it is feasible for the funds to earn some interest.
Secretary’s Report: September minutes are still missing because of David Potosky’s computer glitch. If Potosky is unable to recreate, DeParde will submit minutes.
Committee Reports:
Redevelopment and Zoning: City licensing personnel present at meeting to discuss Driftwood’s compliance with requirements established for it. Other than a violation of the food-to-liquor sales ratio, which it is trying to rectify, there were no problems.
NRP: No report.
Green: No report.
Newsletter: No report.
King Bridge: No report.
CpaS: Attendance at meetings has been low. The committee came up with some strategies to publicize meetings and increase attendance. Police discussed increasing use of marijuana.
Farmer’s Market: The rest of the meeting was devoted to a discussion of the future of the Kingfield Farmer’s Market.
Joanna Hallstrom presented a history of the Market, and explained the evolution of goals and possibilities in the absence of NRP funding.
The committee recommends that the Market become an entity independent of KFNA as of January 2009, organized with a Board of Directors. The Market would agree to stay in the same location in the Kingfield neighborhood for the foreseeable future.
Committee member and attorney Sarah Dunniway explained that it would be structured either as an LLC or a 501 (c)(4). A 501(c)(4) is tax-exempt, non-profit but can engage in political campaigns and lobbying which a 501(c)(3) cannot. It is also not permitted to receive grants and donations are not tax-deductable. Neither structure would require a fiscal agent and neither would obligate KFNA financially.
The committee was questioned about its process in coming to the recommendation for independence. They had talked to other successful Farmer’s Markets, studied options for funding, looked at different structures, and put together three possible financial projections for 2009 (low, middle, and high).
Discussion about whether these projections were realistic. Brauer explained that the Market would still require financial assistance from KFNA for the first year, and pointed out that he believed that KFNA had allocated more money to the Market than it used in 2008. It was his opinion that it would be reasonable to give that money to the Market for 2009. Brauer said that the committee had already talked to vendors about prepaying their vendor fees, and vendors liked that idea.
Further discussion about the time line. Committee members said that it was important for the Market to know whether it would be independent because this is the time that farmer’s markets recruit vendors. Some Board members believed that there should be a vote on independence tonight; others believed that the proposal was not specific enough and they had not had enough time to consider this complex issue.
Questions about what would be gained by becoming independent. SLR pointed out that KFNA provided a safety net. Brauer responded that the committee believed that being independent would provide more incentive for people to volunteer their time.
Bipes moved that the Kingfield Farmer’s Market be directed to become an entity independent from the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, with authorization for continuing conversations between a representative from the Market and KFNA regarding issues of governance and finance, and with subsequent financial decisions brought to a future board meeting.
Knowles seconded.
The motion passed with Schleisman and Sassily-Jones voting no.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
Minutes prepared by Marie Wolf, approved by KFNA Secretary, Chris Deparde
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Addendum I to the Minutes:
The following e-mail was sent to the KFNA Board from Presdeint Tom Parent on 11/18/08 to clairify the action taken at the November meeting regarding the separation of the Kingfield Farmers’ Market from the organization:
Folks,
Just to keep everyone in the loop, there’s an unintended snafu with the Board motion that I want everyone to be aware of. The motion reads:
“Bipes moved that the Kingfield Farmer’s Market be directed to become an entity independent from the Kingfield Neighborhood Association, with authorization for continuing conversations between a representative from the Market and KFNA regarding issues of governance and finance, and with subsequent financial decisions brought to the December board meeting.”
While the direction to become independent is clear and not dependent on any conditions of continued conversations (money, infrastructure, governance, etc), the question of timing is ambiguous. Some understood the vote to be immediately cleaving the market from KFNA, while others recognize the wording (“directed” in particular) to indicate that the market should pursue independence with all due haste, but not before their infrastructure and incorporation were ready.
The big reason why this is even an issue is that the Holiday Market is next weekend, and by immediately severing the market, we might have inadvertently totally canceled it as there is no legal entity to run this event, much less provide insurance, cash checks or provide a tax-exempt shelter for many in-kind donations to the event such as the venue.
My understanding of the motion falls into the latter category, where once the market is ready to be independent (likely January 1, 2009) they shall become so, but in the interim they are still under KFNA’s umbrella. As such (and this is the understanding of the FM leadership as well), the Holiday Market will be run as KFNA event, with KFNA providing insurance, managing the accounting and generally making it as successful as all of our other events.
Unless you have a real specific concern about any aspect of this interpretation (and please speak up if you do), I am comfortable with having this be the understanding until the FM can stand on their own feet. Thanks and I apologize for the need to clarify.
Addedum II to the Minutes:
An evote was passed the board on 12/5/08 in favor of sending a letter to the City by in support of the folowing issue:
A neighborhood business owner is attempting to get the building she owns (514 W. 39th St) up to code and the use legally allowed. She is looking to amend the conditional uses on the property to include general office use (instead of strictly medical / veterinary uses currently allowed) so that her 2 woman design / build residential construction company can be headquartered there. Aside from 1 podiatrist many years back, the site has always been a commercial use outside the bounds of the conditional use permit.
Bipes moved to approve the letter and its’ sending. Wolf seconded. Saddoris, Knowles, DeParde, Sur, Brauer, Potosky, Schleisman voted ‘aye’.