- OMVNA Leadership Team Members Present: Robert Cox, Melanie Kaye, Susan Bickford, Jamil Shaikh, Max Hauser, Shivika Nayyar, Jerry Steach, Lorrie Wormald, Kristin Bailey Absent: David Lewis, Carola Thompson, Sherril Brennan, Carol Lewis. A quorum of 7 (actually 9) members was present.
- Time and place of the next meeting: Monday, October 27, 2025: No vote taken, no objections.
- Formation of nominating committee (Jerry Steach): Jerry Steach volunteered to be the Chair of the Committee for those to serve in 2026. Jerry took a show of hands of those existing committee members who would like to continue for 2026: Lorrie, Susan, Melanie, Shivika, Jamil, Robert, and Jerry confirmed that they would like to continue serving in 2026. Susan said that she would be running an article in the next newsletter to encourage involvement. Jerry said that he would reach out to people on OMVNAtalk. Jerry also noted that Julia Ha and Paul Lansky will also serve on the nominating committee. Jerry noted that people can always throw their hat into the ring on election night. Melanie suggested that we let the neighborhood know what the neighborhood association is and what it means to be on the Leadership Team. Lorrie noted that the November newsletter will be MAILED to residents. She also noted that OMVNA does not take a position on political issues. We will send out an email on October 15 to Leadership OMVNA announcing the nominated slate and give members of the OMVNA Leadership Team one week to approve the slate. Susan will need it for the newsletter by October 24.
- Using EDDM to mail the newsletter (Susan Bickford): Susan notes that the August newsletter was done at a different printer in color for only a few hundred dollars more than what we were charged at Alpha Graphics. She noted that there are about 3500 households in OMVNA, but that we reach only 2400 through door-to-door newsletter delivery. Susan proposed to deliver the newsletter through EDDM (every door direct mail) once per year. This year it will be the final issue. Susan will send out an email to Leadership OMVNA detailing the cost. 4000 issues will be delivered, which is the minimum. Kristin noted the cost will be $2500-2800 including printing cost. Kristin added that we could save about $300 if we were to do some of the prep work. People in OMVNA could be trained to do that prep work. Robert asked whether the newsletter would still make a profit doing an EDDM mailing once a year. The answer was no, but Kristin noted we can look at raising advertising rates to cover the difference. Lorrie, Susan, and Kristin argued that we should do this at least for a year or two. Susan will work with Carola to create a detailed statement of the newsletter finances, which will be reflected in the OMVNA annual budget. Kristin noted that if we did 3 issues hand-delivered and one issue EDDM per year, it would cost about $6000, while we take in only $4600 in ad revenue, so we would lose about $1400 per year on the newsletter. Shivika said the actual ad revenue was $5636. Kristin noted that with EDDM there will be delivery to some households in the Sylvan Park area and a few which are not covered by direct mail that will be hand delivered. Susan will send out a proposal to Leadership OMVNA for EDDM for the November 2025 newsletter.
- Presentation on State and Local Legislation Affecting OMVNA (Robert Cox): Robert gave a PowerPoint presentation summarizing state and local legislation affecting OMVNA. He will post the presentation slides on the OMVNA website. SB79 is the key pending state legislation that would affect OMVNA. The R3 zoning update and new streamlined gatekeeper sites are the are the two local projects that would affect OMVNA. On SB79, Melanie Kaye and Susan Bickford asked whether we should be reaching out to a wider audience than those attending the steering committee meetings. Robert noted that he wrote an article in the newsletter. Melanie suggested we take action to inform people about SB79. Robert suggested forming an ad hoc subcommittee to discuss how to do this. Lorrie, Melanie, Max, Jerry, and Robert volunteered for the subcommittee. Kristin suggested using yard signs to inform people. Susan will send out a Zoom link for the subcommittee meeting.
- Approval of Minutes from April 2025 steering committee meeting (Melanie Kaye): Melanie will send out minutes for the April 2025 steering committee meeting. The OMVNA Leadership Team will approve them through email.
- Treasurer’s Report (Melanie Kaye for Carola Thompson): Tax returns were filed, both to the FTB (state) and IRS (federal). We set up an account with a new printing vendor for the newsletter. We researched not auto-renewing our CD. Changes need to be done when the CD renews. Our opening checking balance was $19,898.62. Current checking balance is $16,540.30. Total funds with CD are $32,016.09. We will be looking for a return on the CD greater than 2%.
- Social Committee (Kristin Bailey): The ice cream social is the next big event. Face painting is in doubt. We have one face painter and no adult leader. Shivika will reach out to people she knows. Kristin called for steering committee people to sit at the head table and collect money, etc. Lorrie volunteered the use of her truck. Jamil suggested jugglers. Kristin noted musicians will be there. Scouts are coming this year. Melanie and/or Kristin will reach out to the Wagon Wheel Neighborhood Association president on entertainment (not face painting) that they had at their ice cream social. Scott Hobin will help set up tables for organizations. Kristin also asked that people reach out to church groups for volunteers.
- Downtown Committee (Jamil Shaikh): The committee was off for the summer. The next meeting will be September 2. Jamil noted that “Downtown is Sizzling!”. There are concerts on the plaza. Max asked Jamil for info about downtown restaurants.
- Newsletter (Susan Bickford): Susan displayed a copy of the new color newsletter. Shivika got color ads from the advertisers. Susan detailed articles that would be included. She wrote several articles herself as submitted content was sparser in this issue. Susan will work with Jim Whitfield on a file sharing plan. Susan suggested putting in a QR code so people can join OMVNAtalk. The EDDM issue will be delivered in November 2025. The new printer can deliver the newsletters to Lorrie’s house and do it quickly, but that will cost more money. We are looking to be financially responsible.
- CERT (Jim Whitfield for Sherril Brennan): CERT has some new steering committee members. A CERT drill was held, and will be repeated periodically. Jim made a call for new CERT members and offered training.
- Newsletter Distribution (Lorrie Wormald): We lost 3 long-time carriers. Joan Karlin helped recruit people through her weekly soup meal. Susan noted that community soup meals are common in New England. Lorrie might write an article for the newsletter about this. Kristin noted that if people want more events, they should step up and organize them.
- Historic Preservation (Jerry Steach): Jerry will be doing a ride along with the police. He will also write something about the new police/fire building which will be replacing the historic Robert Shatz building.
- Parking (Robert Cox): Robert noted that daylighting (needing to leave 20 feet unparked near a crosswalk) has been enforced starting in March 2025.
Action items:
- Jerry: Send an email to Leadership OMVNA with the slate of nominated leadership candidates for 2026 asking for approval. 7 votes required for approval. Assuming approval Susan will include the slate in the November 2025 newsletter.
- Susan: Write up a proposal to Leadership OMVNA to use EDDM for the final issue of the 2025 newsletter. 7 votes required for approval.
- Robert: Will convene an ad hoc subcommittee meeting to determine how to best educate our neighborhood about SB79. Melanie, Max, Jerry, and Lorrie will serve on the subcommittee. Susan will send us a Zoom line for the meeting.
- Melanie: Will send out minutes to Leadership OMVNA for the April 2025 steering committee meeting. 7 votes required for approval.
- Melanie and/or Kristin will reach out to the Wagon Wheel Neighborhood Association president on entertainment (not face painting) that they had at their ice cream social.
Robert
