Horner Park Advisory Council
Meeting Minutes
November 2, 2015
John F. called the HPAC meeting to order at the Horner Park Fieldhouse at 7:05pm; Peter was unable to attend.
Previous Minutes:
The minutes of the Oct. 2015 meeting were approved, pending changes.
Treasurer’s Report:
The following funds are in HPAC accounts:
Checking $30,030.87
Savings $14,728.23
PayPal $9,015.41
Total $53,774.51
All accounts reconcile with QuickBooks. Deb is taking over as registered agent.
A motion was made to approve $50 to $75 for a non-profit version of Quickbooks. The motion was approved unanimously.
Kevin has a new version of Quickbooks.
Stewardship Committee
On Oct. 9, WMS and HPAC volunteers worked on Wendell’s Gardens and distributed mulch to 125 trees.
Farmer’s Market:
We concluded our 2nd successful year of the Horner Park Farmers Market on Saturday, October 24. This year saw greater participation than our inaugural year, both from the community and from our participants. Our 21 markets generally had more than 500 visitors a day, some weeks even exceeding 750. We were very pleased with our community support, especially in light of the extra Saturday rains we had this year. Our vendors were pleased with their earnings and are excited to return next year.
Financially, we started the season with $3,416.89 from our 2014 earnings and are projecting that we’ll close with $7,131.07 for an anticipated net gain of $3,714.18 for 2015.
I would like to thank the HPFM Committee for their extra work this year, shouldering more of the load while I was unavailable: Amy Jahnke, Jason Sperling, Molly Maier, Jennifer Grunstad Woosley, Jillian Dorrestein, and Mary Brush. Thank you as well to our many volunteers throughout the season and our volunteer coordinator Kate Barthelme. A big thank you to Deb Groh for jumping right in and being extremely helpful to us this season with setup, takedown, and staffing.
Finally, a special Thank You to the Horner Park Advisory Council for supporting our farmers market. We would love to have HPAC’s continued support in 2016. With HPAC’s approval, we will begin the planning for HPFM 2016 in the coming weeks.
Dog Friendly Area Committee:
Midnight circus was successful and busy and should bring in several thousand dollars.
DFA proposed 2 possible dates to meet with the Planning and Construction, one in Nov. and one in Dec., but these dates don’t work.
There is an Easter Event for the dogs. This year it will be a park function sponsored by HPAC. That means HPAC will take the money directly. Easter is March 27 and St. Patrick’s Day is the 17th. Taking these dates into account as well as the weather, Sat. March 26 was selected; the event will run from 10am-12pm. The entrance fee will be same as last year. Deb will get a banner and flyers made. Amy suggested offering a small discount to the entrance fee if the owners pre-register.
Erica said that the DFA will assume responsibility for planning this event with Deb.
Concert Committee:
The first meeting is on Nov. 22 for planning the 22nd season of Concerts in the Parks. Carol asked the purpose of the concerts. John said there are 4 goals: foster community, support artists, exposure of HPAC, and to expose children to music.
Carol suggested that more concerts should be at Horner, which has greater visibility than Ravenswood Manor.
Park Briefs:
Horner Park:
Deb reported that Wendell’s gardens looks terrific. Now that the area is more visible, the homeless are easier to see. The police are reminding the homeless that they need a permit for a tent.
The lights are fixed.
Deb is requesting a steamer for the woodshop and wheels for the hand-truck. A motion was made to cover these items, up to $100. The motion was passed unanimously.
Deb reseeded the Framer’s Market area.
In addition to the dog Easter Egg Hunt, Deb would like to have a parent/child lunch with the Bunny and an egg hunt. Erica suggested Lou Malnati’s because they contacted HPAC and expressed interest in getting involved. Deb will plan the entire event, but is asking for funding and volunteers; because there will be a sign-up fee, the funds will probably be returned. Previously, Deb ran such an event for 150 people and participants payed a $10 entrance fee.
A motion was made to provide up to $1000 for both child and dog Easter events. The motion was passed unanimously.
John F. reported that iron posts on Irving Park have been removed; Deb is going to investigate.
Ravenswood Manor Park:
A free library is being considered for the park. Next Door is offering to fund it.
John reported that on Oct. 10, new trees were planted all around the neighborhood and one on the parkway, with 50 people from Open Lands.
Jacob Park:
There is a hole in the fence, which could be a safety problem if it gets larger. Deb is looking at possible solutions.
Buffalo Park: No Report
Sunken Gardens: No Report
Website Committee: No Report
Landscape Committee for Ravenswood Manor Park: No Report
New Business:
HPAC congratulated John F. for the fantastic article in DNA magazine.
Amy is going to look into using gmail instead of Dreamhost.
Deb reported that there is parent interested in a splash pad.
The December meeting will be at Angelo’s Restaurant at 7pm on Dec. 7.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:20pm
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Cleveland Co-Secretary
Attendance:
John Friedmann – Vice- President , Kevin Anderson – Treasurer, Amy Jahnke – Co-Secretary, Lisa Cleveland – Co-Secretary, Deb Groh – Park Supervisor, John O’Connell – Chair, Concert Committee, Erica Beutler – Chair, DFA, Alan Mueller – RMIA Representative
