Three Corners Neighborhood Association

April 10, 2008

Attendees:

Steve Boehlen – president

Shirley Hyer – vice president

Linda Boehlen – sectary

Paul Novotny – treasure

Claudia Knepper – board member

Henry Wickman – board member

Emily Ysebaert – board members

Amy Kocha - Alderperson

Absence:

Tina Novotny – excused

Judy White – excused

Mark Piepenburg – leave of absence

• A motion was made by Shirley Hyer and seconded by Paul Novotny to call the meeting to order at 6:36pm
• A motion was made by Paul Novotny and seconded by Shirley Hyer to accept the minutes from the March 13^th meeting into record.

Old Business:

Newsletter – Steve Boehlen said that he has received comments from neighbors stating that they think this past newsletter was one of the best done. He and other members agreed that the complements have all been nothing but great reviews.

The information gathered by Steve Boehlen was that added the two extra pages to extend the calendar of events to include the months up till the next newsletter will not be that much of a cost issue. As we use the city to print out the newsletters and to do the mailings we are still saving money compared to the newsletter that we had printed up by Insty Prints.

Also it was mentioned that we should include the city counsel meetings and the MNLC meetings to the calendar. Also to double check the mayors email address listed in the contacts page.

Mini Grants – Steve Boehlen announced the amounts that were awarded to the Neighborhood Association for the six mini grants that were submitted.

• Movie in the Park and Winterfest were awarded $1000 to share
• Paver Pathway that would run from Proper to Main Street was awarded $2500
• The Custom Street signs for Main Street and University Avenue was awarded $2000

Of the $23,000 submitted for mini grants the Three Corners Neighborhood Association was awarded $5,500 the most of any other Neighborhood Association that submitted mini grants.

The Movie in the Park event was explained more in depth, as the original bid for the blow up screens was $1800 by a company called Fun Play Inflatable out of Madison, WI. Steve Boehlen explained what the event was for they were willing to work with him and lowered the cost to $1000 and included a snow cone machine. Once the mini grant money was awarded and he explained to them how much we got they then lowered the offer to $750 per night. That included the setting up and taking down of all the equipment and the sound system. Steve had advised the board that Camera Corner also rents out the equipment, however it is not an inflatable screen it is a standard pull down screen and they do not do any of the set up or take down and the cost to rent their equipment is $500 per night. So for the extra $250 it was worth it to go through Fun Play Inflatable. There were many questions surrounding where we would get the extra money, and security during the event. To better address these issues it was suggested that a special event meeting be set up to discuss them in more depth and set up a meeting for April 17, 2008 so that we can move on with the meeting.

The mini grant for the memorial bench for Mary Klein was another topic that was discussed. As the city did not want to award the money for that mini grant based on the fact that BB’s bar is right across the street from where the bench would be placed, they did not want the issue of drunks loitering on the bench. Steve Boehlen posed the idea of changing the bench to a flagpole where we would be able to display the American Flag, the flag for the state of Wisconsin, and create a Three Corners Neighborhood flag. Paul Novotny and Emily Ysebaert posed the question about how to light the flag and the cost to maintain the flag. Steve Boehlen tried to defend the idea as it would a nice way to still honor Mary Klein and something that the city would be happy to back. The idea was tabled for the time being.

The mini grant for the Paver Pathway was addresses as the money awarded was for a cement pathway. Cheryl Renier-Wigg advised that if the cost of the pathway did go over the $2500 awarded then to let the city know and they would also cover the cost within $500 or so because the estimate was proposed a few months ago. Steve Boehlen stated that he was hoping that the city would be more on board for a brick pathway or something more decorative. Emily Ysebaert suggested that we contact the horticultural program at NWTC to see if they would be able to use us as a project and we could donate the $2500 to them as a scholarship.

Updated on Bullfrogs Night – Linda Boehlen created a flyer and sent it out to the other neighborhood associations. She would also like to do a flyer drop at the end of April so that we can sell the tickets at the May meeting. The flyer advertises Neighborhood Night with the Bullfrogs on Sunday July 20^th and tells that the tickets are $4 each person with children under 12 years old receiving a free hot dog and soda, and the first 500 kids will get a batting glove as well. It also tells of the Neighborhood that sells the most tickets will get a chance to award someone the chance to throw out the first pitch. Paul Novotny was concerned that if we did not generate enough sales for the tickets we would be charged the difference for the cost. Steve Boehlen, Shirley Hyer and Linda Boehlen all tried to explain that to sell 100 tickets for an event like that should not be that hard combined with the other Neighborhood Associations also doing the same thing. This discussion was also pushed to the April 17^th meeting so that we can move on with the meeting.

Welcoming Committee – Shirley Hyer brought in 3 different baskets that she picked up and the dollar store that she thought would look good. We all agreed that one particular basket would work the best. She is going to put one together for the next meeting. Emily Ysebaert suggested that we invite the new neighbors to the meeting to pick up their welcome baskets for a better chance to meet the association. Also the idea that, this way we at least got them to come to a meeting to see what we are all about.

New Business:

Amy Kocha had asked if there were any concerns that we were hoping that she could address. Steve Boehlen stated that he was concerned with the graffiti in the alleyways and would like to see if she would propose the city to put more lighting in the alleys. She stated that she believe that the issue was raised in the past. Emily Ysebaert stated that she has an issue each year with her neighbors lighting off fireworks on the 4^th of July. She would like to see the city counsel do something in advance to hinder people from getting away with it. Amy Kocha stated that she would make a point of bringing attention to the issue.

Gift for Gary Kriescher – Steve Boehlen wanted to propose the idea of doing something for Gary for all his years of service to the neighborhood. Emily Ysebaert thinks that we would be remiss if we didn’t do something to thank him. Shirley Hyer, Paul Novotny, and Henry Wickman agreed it on.

A motion was made by Linda Boehlen to adjourn the meeting at 8:27pm and was seconded by Shirley Hyer.