Meeting Minutes – February 2020

Sunset Village Neighborhood Association

Madison, WI 53705

Date of Meeting: February, 20, 2020

Meeting Location: Midtown Police Station

Attendees: Sue Reynard, Ulrike Dieterle, Liz Vowles, Ken Raffa, Anne Badey Raffa, Carl Baumann, Liz McBride, Linda Fahy, Roger Kruk:

Meeting Opening:

The meeting was brought to order at 6:30 p.m.

Election Results:

 Twelve votes were cast. The Slate was voted in for the next two years.

Sue Reynard and Ulrike Dieterle will be co presidents

Anne Badey Raffa will remain Secretary

Rick Kedzior will be Treasurer

State of SVCA:

Our membership is holding steady. We currently have $5,725.24 in our budget.

Membership dues per household has been $15.00 and will remain that amount.

Liz raised the issue of getting more members to form communities.

Sue felt perhaps we should have a table with membership information at the Halloween Parade similar to the one that we have at The Ice Cream Social. Ulrike suggested that we explore the concept of Block Captains.

SVCA Re-incorporation (Sue Reynard for Rich Kedzior)

While trying to make Rich the new Treasurer, he and Brian A. discovered that SVCA had let its Employer Identification Number (EIN) lapse. Future discussions will include how to obtain a valid EIN, close an old bank account and open a new one. We will need a resolution.

Theme-Year Activities (brainstorm)

Following on the discussion during the November meeting, it was recommended that SVCA adopt a theme this year entitled: “Act Locally” and look for ways to highlight steps everyone can take to reduce our climate impact. We could brainstorm ideas for activities, newsletter articles, meetings etc. that we can do to promote this theme.

Liz McBride referenced how David Thompson wrote a letter for the newsletter about electric cars. She offered to interview a neighbor with solar panels for a potential article for one of our upcoming newsletters. Liz also mentioned a mission called “ripple effect” about keeping leaves off the street and ultimately ending up in our lakes. Interested citizens could obtain a packet of information on how to become involved. They have a template article for neighborhood newsletters as well. Liz said we could include this template. Liz will look into a speaker to address this who would attend our August meeting.

Sue suggested having these packets available at our Ice Cream Social in August.

Liz McBride also discussed getting rain gardens during construction and to determine which homes would be eligible. This will be tabled until 2021 for Sunset Village when construction resumes there. The county will pay for these rain gardens.

Sue made a formal resolution about exploring climate change and Linda seconded this. It passed by unanimous vote.

Getting membership Input:

Ulrike said we should look into placing a survey in the newsletter for input on articles, meetings and events.

Ken stated how we have several grass roots events that are well attended throughout the year. Even though we only have a limited number of people attending our quarterly meeting, these social events are well attended.

The survey is still a good idea. Ulrike will pursue with support from Sue.

Anne Badey Raffa: Friends of Hoyt Park

Our annual meeting has a date change from April 16 to Monday, April 20. It will be held at Midtown Police Station. The time frame is 6:30 to 9:00. Our speaker is Daniel Einstein, Historical and Cultural Resource Manager with the University of Wisconsin, Madison. His topic will be based on the Brittingham Family and their contributions to the community and campus. Their legacy and influence on Madison, WI includes work with Hoyt Park, Devil’s Lake Park, The Lincoln Statue, WARF and The Fred Mohs Cancer Research. Light snacks and beverages will follow.

The Family Sledding Party in January and the Full Moon Owl Walk in February were well attended and hopefully, will return next year.

The third Saturday of the Month are Hoyt Park Work Days. Please meet in the parking lot by the main entrance at 10:00 a.m.

Our first gathering is Saturday, March 21 with general cleanup in the park. The Earth Day Challenge will be April 25 and involve trash pickup and removal of Garlic Mustard. May 16 will involve removal of Garlic Mustard, Dames Rocket and Celandine.

Misc. Reports:

Ken stated that at the last meeting we passed a formal resolution to write a thank you letter to then Chief of Police, Mike Koval, for his services. He received a beautiful thank you letter from him.

Ulrike suggested we send a thank you letter to Brian Andersen for his years of service as our Treasurer. Ulrike made a formal motion and Sue seconded it.

Ken mentioned that we should suggest that newsletter delivery be contingent on a shoveled driveway and sidewalk.

Ken offered to invite a guest speaker for our November meeting.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 pm.

Minutes submitted by

Anne Badey Raffa, SVCA Secretary

Dancinthrulife14@gmail.com