NAN Board Meeting Minutes 

2008 and 2006 NAN Executive Committee Minutes  

Executive Committee Meeting: January 19, 2008 

The following NAN members were in attendance: Larry Shapiro, Judy Scott, Mary Rozum, Roy Treadway, Charles Alsberry and Dawn Wilson. Meeting began at 9:07 a.m.

Roy noted that the last NAN executive committee was September 2006. 

The following were the agenda items as discussed by the group:

1. Revisions to the bylaws of NAN. The bylaws have not been revised since they were originally adopted on July 24, 1993, 17 ½ years ago. Judy mentioned she was involved when the bylaws were developed; Ed Jelks was also involved with enacting them originally.

Charles, Dawn, and Roy had felt we should bring the by-laws up to date, in particular to include the use of e-mail, add to the purposes to be consistent with what we are actually doing, provide for a mechanism to fill a vacancy in the offices of Vice-President and Secretary-Treasurer (as we have had to do at times), permit appointing members to committees (as we have done), and clean-up some grammar and punctuation. Thus, the proposed by-laws were attached to an email sent to all members of the Executive committee via a PDF file. Items that we proposed to delete were in brackets and to add were in italics.

The process for amending the bylaws are to have them approved by 1) two-thirds of the full Executive Committee, that is, six of the eight active members of the Executive Committee (or by a petition of ten members) AND 2) two-thirds of members at a Quarterly Meeting (or a mailed ballot). Roy suggested having a vote by membership at the February 2nd meeting.

At 10:06 a.m. the revisions were approved by the committee members in attendance with a vote of six in favor, none opposed, and two absent. Thus, more than two-thirds of the Executive committee approved the revisions as suggested.

2. A request from Fell Park for support for the Fell Park Monument. Judy gave us some background on the fundraising for the Jesse Fell monument. They need $30,000 and they’ve raised $6,000 thus far w ith individual donations as well as some corporate donations. They’ve been fund-raising since September 2007. Judy suggested some recognition for NAN on the plaque with a short statement of our purpose or mission of some sort and asked for a donation from NAN to help fund the project.

April/May of this year the park improvements will be taking place. Roy mentioned we could possibly fund up to $100 with membership approval or contribute in another way. There was some mention of Alikat Publishing possibly helping to add some advertising on the neighborhood newsletters they publish.

3. Discussion of long-term plans and programs for NAN. Suggested were an increase in advertising or marketing to others and enhancing communication among groups. At a future meeting we might invite someone from Heartland Community College to discuss opportunities for the community, plans for student housing and activities, and the funding of improvements.

The meeting concluded at 10:30 a.m.

Dawn Wilson, Secretary-Treasurer   January, 2008

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NAN Executive Committee Meeting: January 28, 2006 

Present were Jim Sedgwick (President, Maplewood), Judy Scott (Program, Fell Park) , Mary Rozum (Warmmm Neighbors), Warren Craig (Florence-Hester-Foster-Payne), Charles Alsberry (Beland), and Roy C. Treadway (Secretary-Treasurer, School St., Old North Normal Historical District).

Jim announced that Vice-President Dave Wiant was slowly recovering from his surgery, but Dave’s wife has recently broken her leg.

The Minutes of the 2005 October 15 Executive Committee were approved as written. Roy presented the Treasurer’s report of income and expenditures since the November meeting and the current balance.

Roy presented a draft of a questionnaire, proposed by Dave Wiant, about the issues and concerns about neighborhoods and communication in Normal. The committee discussed it at length. While the format was generally satisfactory, two additional questions on the best time to have the NAN meeting and on membership criteria for NAN were suggested. Roy will make changes in the draft. Roy urged all persons at Executive Committee to review the draft questionnaire carefully for clarity of the questions and answers. 

The committee approved sending the questionnaire to persons active in NAN, that is, those on our mailing list, except Town officials, when a final version of the questionnaire is completed. Jim will ask Geoff Fruin for Town of Normal assistance in copying and mailing costs.

We discussed several topics for future meetings. One topic focused on current planning in Normal, including downtown planning, businesses in and around downtown, the roundabout, property taxes, new developments, Town spending, student housing, zoning for apartments, and traffic. Of particular interest was the implications on the older sections of Normal and the status of the McLean County Comprehensive Plan. Roy will contact Mercy Davison, Normal Town Planner, to discuss these issues at our May meeting .

A second topic focused on disaster planning for neighborhoods. Such disasters for central Illinois include tornadoes, flooding, blizzards, fuel tanks, hazardous materials transport, or an accident at the Clinton nuclear power plant. Warren Craig had experience with hurricane relief in fall of 2005. We will consider a program on this topic, possibly presented by the Red Cross, for our August meeting.

For our February 11 meeting, Karen Schmidt from Bloomington will present on the experience of neighborhoods in Bloomington.

Jim discussed various ways we might attract more people to NAN. Charles suggested giving awards for neighborhood beautification. We also might become involved with a national organization of neighborhoods with dues of $50. We wanted more information on that organization before deciding whether to join. Jim will get that information. Jim reminded each of us to recruit one person to come to the next NAN meeting At our February 11 meeting, we will either appoint or elect a Nominating Committee of two or three persons to nominate candidates for officers to be elected at our November meeting.

Jim briefly reported on the activities of the Storm Water Advisory Committee for the Town of Normal. Jim, Dave, and Roy are members. 

Judy encouraged NAN members to attend the groundbreaking of the McLean County Museum of History’s Merwin Gallery with a program at 10:00 a.m. on February 4 on Presence, Pride & Passion: A History of African Americans in McLean County.

We adjourned at 11:45 a.m.

Roy C. Treadway, Secretary-Treasurer - January 2006

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