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Minutes

SCNA Board 5/14/19

Present: Gabe Ciociola, Jane Carroll, Milo Martinez, Dennis Maroney, Jen Hagar, Lynn Murray, Jenn Santo

Guest: Ward 2 Councilor Christine Madore

President’s Report

  • Councilor Madore to join us tonight – welcome!
  • Thanks to all on successful Common Clean Up & Derby/SW party.
  • Common Fence Restoration. Sections by Hawthorne & WSE will be removed in Sep-tember and reinstalled in April 2020.
  • Bandstand short, interim & long-term plan discussed with Planning Dept. – the lights will be fixed, electrical outlets & windows secured & a new hatch will be installed in 2019.
  • No Smoking signs still on order by Planning Dept for specific areas.
  • City plan for Common included all of the above & was distributed to Board.
  • At NAIC May 8th meeting these issues were raised. Per Planning Dept, damaged Fence areas at Hawthorne & Washington Square East will be removed this September for reinstal-lation in April 2020. Electric issue on Fence lights on all day appears to be resolved. Band-stand immediate open issues of securing electric outlets and windows remain open. Inter-im repairs to Bandstand such as lighting, new hatch, basic masonry & landscaping also re-main open. Planning Dept still needs to provide update on final Non-Smoking sign delivery and installation dates. Three signs have been requested for playground and heavy smoking areas at either end of Washington Square East. Communication remains an open issue as noted by bike rack installation. There seems to be a spreading ant infestation and we need a date for action to share with the neighborhood. Old trees seem to be decaying rapidly and we need a plan from City Arborist.
  • Kids Fest OK with City. We & Fiesta need to submit combined application.
  • Exploring possibilities to link to National Guard Museum and Mass 400/Revolution 250 initiatives with City and Paul DePrey of National Park Services who plans he or his col-league Gavin Gardner to attend an upcoming SCNA Board meeting.
  • Kim Emerling (Veterans Director) wants to meet with Board on 6/11.
  • Jenna Ide (Capital Projects) would like to attend our July meeting.
  • Gabe getting artist quote on Arch carving work using modern techniques.
  • City approved SCNA proceeding on Arch sign design with vendor directly.
  • Gabe has a great idea of Board meeting in public places; Cinema Salem Café
  • Jane to follow up with Barb on mailing membership renewal requests

Meeting with Councilor Christine Madore

Councilor Madore stated that she appreciated being invited to meet with the SCNA Board and looks forward to ongoing interaction with the SCNA board and membership. The Common is important to her for personal reasons as it is the playground for her two young children. Her priorities are to keep the Common safe and clean. From the Board perspective, there is no one City entity that has oversight of the Common, instead the DPW, Parks and Recreation, and others play varying roles. The Board believes that it is in need of comprehensive leadership and oversight. It would be ideal to have a dedicated person from the DPW for maintenance issues otherwise issues are treated somewhat sporadically. Christine asked Jenn Santo to copy her on all SCNA generated issues related to the Common sent to the City. Jenn stated that maintenance issues are reported to the DPW and are put onto SeeClickFix. Madore promised to look into the hold up on the “No Smoking” signs for the Common. The Councilor was supportive of initial efforts to ban smoking on parts of the Common to be followed by expanding the ban to the overall Common

Madore stated that her overall priorities are housing, traffic, and parking. Right now, there is work going on to effect a broad reform of the resident parking program as there are many inequities. She will be sure to share with us all information about the fence schedules and building phases. She will also work with us to ensure the continuation of the Kids Fest on the Common. She mentioned a local group, “Salem Mamas” as a great way to disseminate information about upcoming events on the Common.

The Board was very appreciative of the Councilor meeting with them and looks forward to working closely with her in the future.

Treasurer’s Report

  • Total Funds: $22,813.33
  • Savings $3,005.21
  • Arch Fund $7,079.47
  • Checking $12,728.65

No donations/expenses for this period

  • New Memberships: $206.63
  • 3 individual, 2 family, 1 upgrade to business
  • Donations: $71
  • Muster $13
  • Movie Night $58

Expenses

  • Kentucky Derby Party Proceeds: Netted $63.20
    • Square Ticket Sales $811.74 (2.9% + .30 fee)
    • Donations, Raffles and Door Sales $229
  • Kentucky Derby Expenses:
    • Village Tavern for Room & Catering: $917.54
    • Permit for Raffle: $10
    • Lottery Tickets for Raffle: $50
  • Salem Chamber of Commerce: $250

Anticipated Expenses:

  • Membership renewal mailings
  • Fourth of July
  • Summer Concerts
  • Movie Nights
  • Lawn Party
  • Kids Fest
  • Holiday Concert

Common Committee Report

This was covered in the President’s report and the discussion with Councilor Madore.

Events Committee Report

Milo and Jane attended the Chamber of Commerce dinner representing the SCNA. It was agreed that we need to find additional ways to leverage our Chamber membership.

Milo reported that he was working on updating the Business members page on the website and needed to upload last months’ minutes. He had put out a request for volunteers to serve as moderators of the SCNA Facebook page but no takers thus far. In the meantime, Lynn and Ann will continue to oversee it. It was also recognized that we need a way to capture those who sign up for the Facebook page and are interested in becoming members of the SCNA or becoming involved with it.

The Derby party was a great success and slightly more than broke even.

Milo is setting the dates for the two summer concerts. The Merrimack Valley Concert Band will be featured at one and will perform again in December at the Holiday Concert. Jen Hagar is working to set the schedule of dates and movies for “Movies on the Common” in August.

The next meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 11th at 7:30 pm.