April 2015 Meeting Minutes

Horner Park Advisory Council

Minutes

April 6, 2015

Meeting called to order: 7:05

• Minutes approved from last meeting

•  
• Reports

• Treasurer’s Report
• Here are the account balances:
• MB chkg $22,418.58
• MB savings      14,726.02
• Paypal           5,823.92
• Total           $42,968.52
• Tom has $100 coming back to HPAC from the cancelled Easter egg hunt. Discussion about how $15k commitment from the alderman for the dog park can be recorded. All online accounts reconcile with Quickbooks.John F. to check with Peter r.e. insurance being paid.
• Concert Committee
  • Movie in the Park – June 20, movie will be When the Game Stood Tall (2014 sports drama film, football movie)- June 12 is the first concert- Peter and Tom have been asked to ask Deb Mell for $2500 to sponsor the Horner Park show- State Sen. Cullerton is in for $600- Narloch piano recital moving to June 28
  • – If anyone has business contacts, the deadline is May 15^th for ads.
  • – John is looking for help with distributing flyers; Carol has volunteered to help distribute in the Manor, and has already done PEAP area
  • – John filling out permits for all shows
  • – Some money has been raised already (including 2 new ½ evening sponsors)
  • – All mailers are out
  • Dog Friendly Area
  • Progress Report: new fundraising ideas
  • Calendar: Dogs of Horner Park (goal is to produce over this year, selling in the fall)
  • Online auction fundraiser
  • The committee is talking about other fundraising ideas

• Go Albany Park (no report at this meeting)

• Park Briefs

• Horner Park
  • Doggie Easter Egg Hunt – cancelled due to dog flu and is not going to be rescheduled
  • Riverfront Restoration Progress: They have started planting along the riverfront and are going to start planting the oak savannah area along Irving Park
  • Farmer’s Market
  • We are lining up vendors and getting ready for our first market on June 6^th. Is it possible to re-seed the bald patches on the lawn now, so grass could be there for the first market?
  • Basketball courts and nets: work order is in for this.
  • They are hiring one new instructor soon. Eric is doing some additional work, has more hours but he isn’t full time at this point.

• Ravenswood Manor Park
  • Playground construction: construction is 3-4 weeks ahead of schedule; they are waiting for an inspection. The park has gone back to wood chip surfacing after foam surfacing due to costs; by reducing costs they can get more playgrounds replaced.
  • The ash tree has been cut down because it was beyond repair. They’ve negotiated for four replacement trees.
  • Lights – the lights are still out. Lawn is muddy and barren, it would be great if the park district could put some seed down to patch up the lawn in the middle of Eastwood (in front of the pergola)
  • Broken fence rail
• Jacob Playlot
  • Park Expansion Progress: We haven’t heard from downtown about this. Once Tom hears this, he will call a meeting with the Jacob people to discuss progress.
• Sunken Garden (river day the second Saturday of May)
• Buffalo Park
  • Funding for planters ($150 request)
  • Crab trees (outstanding issue)
  • Little Library (outstanding question for Tom if it is allowed. HPAC question is who would maintain this?)

• Stewardship Committee

• Earth Day – April 18 (site captains & volunteers needed).

• Peter has been handling signup. Still need people at the little parks and a lot of help in Horner.
• Amy to send out email and post on FB.
• Army Corps is giving HPAC all of the mulch from the riverfront project. Official time: 11 – 2pm or students, Openlands likes to start at 10am. Talking about having Mercer corporate project coming to help the following weekend, doing what everyone doesn’t finish. Still need to sign up with the other sites.
• Maybe the mulch project should take place on a day other than the 18^th? It’s difficult to get people and equipment on that day. John to talk to Gretchen about this. We will move this discussion to email.

• River Day – Sunken Gardens

• Luke will do this on the second Saturday of May.
• Liz O’Callahan: we may be able to do some swaps of native plants for our parks. We also need to have people who work in community gardens sign a waiver with CPD.

• Hydrant Permits

• John to submit hydrant permits for Sunken, Buffalo, Jacob and Manor parks in order to open these up to water a community garden. You must go to city hall to get this completed. Linda has volunteered to run the letter to city hall.
• Website Committee: No report

New Business

• Announcements
• Chicago Parks Foundation 2015 PAC Award: Amy to post on website, top 10 in the city. We get $500. Thanks to Tom for recommending HPAC, and Peter for completing the application.

Respectfully Submitted by Amy Jahnke

In attendance:
John Friedman, Vice President
Amy Jahnke, Co-Secretary
John O’Connell, Chair, Concert Committee
Carol Maher
Lynn Sheck