Island Home Park Neighborhood Association
Board Minutes October 12, 2015
Health Room – Tennessee School for the Deaf
Present: Nancy Campbell, Carolyn, Williams, Jeanne Fair, Mary Wiginton, Jim Staubs, Amy Brooks, Robert Dziewulski, Nathaniel Hunter, Mike Martin, Joanna Pennoyer, Jessica Rodocker.
Unable to attend: Brian Douglas, Krista Wiegand, John Michael Scott
Nancy Campbell, President, called the meeting to order at 7:02pm. Nancy explained why several of the board members were unable to attend.
Minutes from past meeting – Copies of the minutes were provided. Discussion about the discussion in March about new pillars at the top of Fisher. Joe Hultquist had proposed a Centennial Project of adding the pillars. Jeanne will contact Joe to see the status of this project. Minutes were approved. (Mary/Nathaniel).
Treasurers’ Report – Mary gave out copies of the IHPNA Annual Budget that she had been given. There were several questions about the printout – one being it did not show any of the memorial gifts that were given to families. Also the marathon t shirts – should have been a money maker not a negative. It was also unclear as to how to interpret the Variance/Variance %. It was decided to hold approving the report until Mary can talk with Bobby and get further explanations.
Bob Dziewulski will look into paying dues online to make it easier for people to join. Checks and cash would still be accepted. January will be the start of the dues as we try to get on a new fiscal year from January to December.
IHPNA Budget – Jim Staubbs explained how the items had been budgeted in the past. He had looked at all the committees, figured out what they had spent in the past and adjusted the budget accordingly. There were a few items that can be changed: Marathon Best Neighborhood Prize – we can’t depend on that any more, COIN dues – are we still members?, the money still in the Historical Grant – what will we do with it? and the website charges which have been donated in the past.
Directory – Many people have paid their dues and have not received their Directory. Jim and other former board members will check to be sure they don’t have any extra copies. If not, enough directories will be printed, as is, to give to members and extras for new neighbors. Nancy will keep up with changes for the next printing. Approved. (Nathan/Mary) Jim also mentioned he has a lot of informational packets for new neighbors that he would like picked up.
Calendar – It was discussed and agreed upon that all the meeting dates need to be set up on a regular basis so people can make plans accordingly. Board Meetings will be the 2nd Monday of January 11th, March 14th, May 9th, August 8th and October 10th. The General Meeting will be in September.
Halloween Party will be on October 24th at the Williams’ house. Information is posted on the kiosk.
Tree Lighting will be on Sunday, December 6th from 5-7pm. This will be done at the Children’s Tree at the top of the park. Refreshments will be held at the park instead of the Staubbs’ house. Decorating the tree will be held on November 29th at 4:00pm. Please bring something to decorate the tree.
Nathan reported that he has been in contact with the city about the big tree at the entrance of Island Home. The shape of the tree and its’ size makes it difficult to hang lights. Nathan is working with the city to see if they can remove the lights since they no longer work.
The Adults only house tour will be held on Saturday, December 12th from 6-9pm. Jessica will be sending out more information on this event.
July 4th – Katy Graham will still be in charge of this celebration.
Communication
Greg Congleton has agreed to continue to coordinate the IHPNA email list serve.
Rick Alexander and Kurt Zinser have agreed to do the website.
Joanna Pennoyer will continue to do the newsletter but she really needs reporters to get her the information ready to go into the newsletter. Newsletters will go out in early November, January, April and July. The following assignments were made:
President’s letter – Nancy Campbell
IHPNA calendar items – Nancy Campbell
New Board members – Nancy Campbell
Halloween – Carolyn Williams
TSD Service Project – Jeanne Fair
IHPNA History – Skip Scalf
Garden Club – Connie Vogt
Holiday Parties – Jessica Rodocker
The newsletter distribution was a problem last year. Joanna emails the board members when the newsletters are ready and leaves them on her front porch. Each district representative is responsible to get the newsletters distributed in a timely manner. If you cannot do it, please ask an “at large board member” or an officer to do it for you.
Tennessee School for the Deaf Service Project
Information was distributed about a TSD Community Service Day on Tuesday, November 17th, 2015. Students and staff will be available to yard work. They hope to target neighbors who need help due to age or health, but it is not limited to those people. Anyone interested needs to complete the form and return to the TSD Security Center. Extra forms are available at security.
If you know of anyone who needs help, please pick up a form and get it completed. This is a great opportunity to increase cooperation between IHPNA and TSD. Forms should be turned in by November 6th.
South Knoxville Neighborhood and Business Coalition
Jim reported that this group was active and had informative meetings. Their last meeting included Mike Brown, County Commissioner, who spoke about the “slum lords” problems in the city and focusing on how to clean up these properties. Gerald Green also spoke of his high hopes for South Knoxville.
Keep Knoxville Beautiful
Right now they have been working to keep the trash picked up along this short stretch of road. Sue and Craig Wrisberg have done this for years.
Bob Cole will be meeting with Carolyn, Nathan and Nancy about sign consolidation in Island Home – especially at the entrance to the neighborhood.
Garden Club
The Garden Club will be meeting to make wreaths for the pillars at the entrance of Island Home for the Christmas season.
Island Home Park Improvements
Money from the airport authority was set aside to improve the park after tress had to be taken down or topped. Lori Goerlich, from the Knoxville Parks and Recreation Department, was asked to make a path from the top down to the swings. Laurie upgraded the path to 10’ – not what was in the original plans. Bill Morefield did some calculations and suggested that it would require a retaining wall to do this type of path. A copy of an email that was on our list serve from Nathan and Mike Rodocker suggesting the trail should just follow the street curb. Nathan will talk with Laurie and let her know we would like a new sidewalk that follows the curb and ask what the cost estimate would be for that project. He will invite her to speak at our next called meeting.
Mike Rodocker would like us to petition the city to connect the Greenway through Island Home to the Trails with Rails program. This would allow the greenway to follow the railroad tracks.
Parent School Support Group
Amy and Jessica reported that although we are no longer zoned for South Knox elementary school, it is now a Neighborhood School and many improvements are being made there. We are zoned to Dogwood, but there are currently no students from Island Home going there. Three students attend South Knox via a transfer. South Knox elementary had an open house and 27 adults from Island Home attended. Many of the new families in Island Home are interested in asking the School Board to zone Island Home back to South Knox Elementary. This would need an indorsement from the IHPNA. It was decided that this group needs to attend a general meeting and explain their idea.
TSD Construction
Jeff Caster from the Lewis Group, architect for the TSD project, is still working with the City of Knoxville Engineering department on the traffic pattern for all the trucks which will be involved with the construction projects at TSD. He has vowed to meet with us on a regular basis and to keep us updated. It was suggested to him that there be a temporary entrance off Island Home Pike to keep the trucks out of Island Home. He will be invited to our next meeting.
Special Called General Meeting
It was decided we need a special meeting to update/discuss the following items:
TSD Contruction – Jeff Caster
Island Home Park improvements – Laurie Goerlich
South Knox Elementary – Amy Brooks
Holiday Events – Jessica Rodocker
Rails to Trails/Greenway petition – Mike Rodocker
The meeting will be held at the TSD Ward Building Auditorium on November 19th at 7:00pm.
Meeting adjourned: 8:50pm.