Minutes — January 27, 2025

Posted on January 27, 2025 by Robert Cox

Minutes for OMVNA Steering Committee Meeting: Monday, January 27, 2025, 2025 7:30-9:00PM

  1. OMVNA Leadership Team Members Present: Robert Cox, David Lewis, Melanie Kaye, Carola Thompson, Susan Bickford, Jamil Shaihk (came late after votes), Shivika Nayyar, Max Hauser, Jerry Steach, Carol Lewis, Kristin Bailey, Lorrie Wormald Absent: Sherril Brennan (substitute: Jim Whitfield) Others: Judi Harrison, Maureen Blando, Scott Hobin, Mark Flider, Dan Swett, Hala Alshahwany, Deborah Vasquez, Jim Whitfield, Kevin (Unknown Last Name). A quorum of 7 members was present (actually 12).
  2. Approval of Minutes from the December 2024 Meeting (Deborah Vasquez): Motion to approve minutes with corrections sent by Robert Cox made by Kristin Bailey, seconded by Susan Bickford. All OMVNA Leadership Team members voted YES. Motion passed: 11 YES (7 YES required).
  3. Date and time of the next meeting: Monday, April 28, 2025. Motion made by Jerry Steach to approve April 28, 2025 as the date of the next steering committee meeting. Motion passed: 11 YES (7 YES required).
  4. Changes to the OMVNA bylaws (Kristin Bailey): Two changes: (1) Minor grammatical updates. (2) Adding two optional additional At Large members to the OMVNA Steering Committee. Motion: Max Hauser, Second: Susan Bickford. 15 OMVNA members required voting YES to pass. A total of 16 OMVNA members voted YES. Motion passed.
  5. Fill vacant At Large position (Susan Bickford): Susan nominated Shivika Nayyar as a candidate for the vacant At Large position. Shivika accepted the nomination. Jerry seconded the nomination. Motion passed: 11 YES (7 YES required).
  6. Social Committee Budget (Kristin Bailey): Kristin showed a spreadsheet with a list and cost of recent events. Kristin asked for a budget of $5640 discretion funds for the 2025 year. She would not necessarily spend all of the money. Melanie volunteered to work on a cohesive brand for our neighborhood. Carola suggested an ad hoc meeting with Kristin and Melanie offline to discuss Melanie’s ideas offline. Motion by Max, second by Lorrie, to approve Kristin’s request for funds. Motion passed: 11 YES (7 YES required).
  7. Grants for Block Parties (Kristin Bailey): Kristin proposed grants of $100 (10-19 neighbors),  $150 (20-39 neighbors), and $200 (40+ neighbors) for block parties. Grants require an application. A sign-in sheet will be submitted with those in attendance. Less than $500 was distributed in 2024. Kristin moved, Melanie seconded, to approve the above amounts with an annual cap of $2000 for 2025. Motion passed: 11 YES (7 YES required).
  8. Neighborhood Initiative Grants (Kristin Bailey): Kristin proposed grants for open-ended neighborhood-oriented projects. Robert suggested that those wishing to get grant money write up a half-page proposal to be reviewed by the Leadership Team, who would then approve a dollar amount for the grant. Kristin will work with others on an application form.
  9. (Web and other) Technology Subcommittee (Kristin Bailey): Kristin would like this to be a standing subcommittee. She would like someone else to volunteer to do the webmaster work. After much discussion, Carola offered to set up an offline meeting to discuss this item further. She will invite Jim Whitfield, Jerry, Susan, Kristin, and Robert to the meeting.
  10. Ecology Educational Events (Deborah Vasquez): Deborah is hosting a March 22 10-2PM event to educate people on how to recycle at Sunshine Gardens. She also is hoping to start a soap-refilling station, so that people can reuse their empty soap bottles. Max suggested that Deborah announce her events on OMVNAtalk, where she would reach more people that at a steering committee meeting. Carol Lewis and Shivika suggested Deborah set up a meeting at the library.
  11. Additional R3 city meetings (Robert Cox): Eric Anderson from Mountain View Planning Staff wanted to alert OMVNA that precise maps for R3 areas (i.e. smaller multi-family housing, e.g. Sunshine Garden Apartments) that will be upzoned will be voted on by the council soon. The Planning Commission will review the areas on February 19 and the council will vote on them on March 25.  On Monday, February 3, 6:30PM city staff will host a virtual Q&A where residents can ask questions of staff.
  12. Treasurer’s Report (Carola Thompson): Opening checking balance $12,302.15 Current checking balance: $12,228.18. Expenses we due to domain name and private registration fees. Total balance with CD is $27,703.97. Susan noted that some of our advertisers do not want to pay by check anymore. Carola replied we already have Zelle and ACH (automated clearinghouse) as payment methods.
  13. Social Committee (Kristin Bailey): A February mixer at Mediterranean Grill is planned.
  14. Downtown Committee (Jamil Shaikh): The next meeting of the Downtown Committee will be February 4. Jamil encouraged people to play the outdoor games at the downtown pedestrian mall.
  15. Newsletter (Susan Bickford): Susan reviewed the articles and Valentines for the upcoming newsletter. All advertisers renewed, except for Front Porch. Susan and Kristin are exploring using EDDM to deliver newsletters once a year. Susan and Kristin think Alpha Graphics is not a good company to work with on this. Susan is exploring translating the newsletter into Spanish, possibly by using AI to help. One advertiser (unnamed) has been problematic. Jerry suggested using a QR code to see if people are reading the newsletter.
  16. CERT (Jim Whitfield for Sherril Brennan): Next city-wide CERT meeting will be February 12. An association of neighborhood CERTs will meet the same night. The OMVNA CERT steering committee will meet February 18. They will plan an OMVNA CERT training meeting in May at Fairmont Park. Sherril may transition out of being the OMVNA CERT subcommittee chair. Kevin said he saw a pile of ten Christmas trees that could cause a fire. He reported this to the fire marshal. Attendees discussed fire prevention measures and education.
  17. Historic Preservation (Jerry Steach): Jerry is keeping his eye on what is happening with the Ames building. A company that was thinking of putting a restaurant in there has renewed their application. This is positive news!

Action Items:

  1. Carola: Meet with Kristin and Melanie to discuss what has been done with swag design in the past and the possibility of creating a coherent OMVNA brand.
  2. Kristin: Work with others on a neighborhood grant application form.
  3. Carola: Convene a meeting with Jim Whitfield, Jerry, Susan, Kristin, and Robert to discuss (web and other) technology for OMVNA.
  4. Susan and Kristin: Explore EDDM for a newsletter issue this year.
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