Horner Park Advisory Council
Meeting Minutes
January 4, 2016
Meeting called to order 7:05 pm
Attendees:
Peter Schlossman
John Friedmann
Kevin Anderson
Amy Jahnke
Erica Beutler
Gretchen Helmreich
Deb Groh
John O’Connell
Carol Maher
Alan Mueller
Lynn Sheck
Larry Hodak
Minutes from December 2015 meeting were approved.
Reports
Treasurer’s Report
Here are the account balances at the close of last month:
MB checking 30,131.04
MB savings 14,728.23
PayPal 9,151.13
total 54,010.40
All online accounts reconcile with QuickBooks.
Stewardship Committee
* Ravenswood Manor Park western garden: Planning meeting to happen soon
* Horner Park – New treekeepers want to do trimming of young oaks before springtime. John F. to schedule with Danielle.
* HPAC to possibly apply for Openlands grant for parkway trees on Montrose? The SSA has a multi-year plan for maintaining the urban forest in the SSA district.
* PEAP will be asking for Openlands money for the fall planting, coming up (grant due March or April)
* Is it a possibility to use the Wendell’s Garden area as a picnic grove in the future? There are a lot of trees there already. Maybe chess tables could be set up here? Maybe we could start with one? Deb G. to possibly look up costs.
* Erica B. proposed the idea of fitness stations around the running path as a possible future project. These would be noticeable but not ostentatious. Deb G. to look up costs.
* Is it a possibility to put distance markers around the path loop?
Dog Friendly Area
* CPD meeting has been set up for Jan. 12 (Jason Hernandez and Deb Mell both called to get this meeting set up). Point of the meeting is to present a plan that Peter put together that’s ¾ of an acre. Main topics will be a discussion of natural grass and total area. Ald. Deb Mell, Ald. Ameya Pawar and Pat Lavar will all be there. Erica, Peter and Deb will all be in attendance and a walk-through the park will happen. The goal is for this to be a conversation, not a presentation.
* The previous year’s preliminary design provided by CPD was 12,000 sq ft
* DFA had a holiday party at Dog-A-Holics, made a couple hundred dollars.
Park Briefs
Horner Park
* The fencing along Irving Park Road was not stolen! Ironworkers took it.
* EASTER EVENTS: We need to start getting registration for Easter events online. The registration needs to have a count of kids and count of adults for lunch with the bunny (Saturday before Easter); $10/person. It’s already on the events page of the site. Maybe brownpapertickets.com? Look into Lou Malnati’s stewardship email (Hayley Justice) for sponsor information (donate or give discounted). Or ask Angelo’s. HPAC needs to provide beverages and silverware/plates as well. Maybe a veggie tray instead of a salad; perhaps look into Costco for providing these things?
o Deb to get costs for crafts and goody bags to HPAC. $1,000 for these costs was approved by HPAC in November.
o Deb handling printer, ink and camera for dogs. HPAC DFA has a backdrop and photo frames left over from last time.
o Dog and kid parade will happen
o Promotion thoughts for lunch with the bunny: ask Bateman or Scientific Games to sponsor a kid? We are doing banners and flyers already. Goal is 150 total people for this starter year. Maybe we do more promotion if we don’t meet this attendance goal by late February? Deb feels this will fill up, that park patrons will look for this!
o Need to put this event up on hornerpark.org and FB
Fitness Center: Locker room access is now open, and paper towels and spray are available in the center. The staff does clean the machines as well.
Farmer’s Market
* $3,716.18 net total from 2015, total $7,133.07 for two years of markets.
* Leftover merchandise from last year will be used this year
* Permit & partnership proposal will be in soon; no big changes from last year.
* Looking to establish a start date after we talk to produce vendors
* October didn’t go well this year; the weather didn’t cooperate, so this season we won’t extend (dates will be firm)
* All vendors have expressed wanting to come back, still looking for a good bakery (one is going up by the French School?). Maybe Nadia’s Cupcake from Portage Park?
Ravenswood Manor Park
* Little Free Library: They’re looking at putting it in the parkway across from the ballet school, not in the park itself.
* North point planning – possibility of using this space for a time capsule; Peter to connect with RMIA
* Fallen tree: thanks to Deb for removing this so quickly!
* Looking to get a group together to help maintain the north point of the park
Jacob Playlot
* No complaints after “no dogs allowed” sign was posted
* Space under the fence just north of the trestle is still an issue due to erosion. John F. to talk to district people about a potential fix.
Sunken Garden
No report
Buffalo Park
No report
Concert Committee
Rough drafts of budgets and calendars available. Already have a few acts expressing interest. 2-day event planning in the works with John F. for July 15 and 16. Motion to approve the draft budget of $15.9k was passed. Thanks again for John O’s hard work!
Website Committee
Amy to talk to Kevin about getting Google Apps set up for nonprofits (need EIN).
Article for fitness center and Easter events to be posted.
Nominating Committee
Officers will be turning over at the end of October.
* New Business
* Announcements
Meeting adjourned 8:15pm.
Next Monthly Meeting
February 1 @ 7:00 pm – Horner Park Fieldhouse
