Chas. Stevens called the meeting to order at 6:00 pm on April 8, 2024.
Kevin Sluka conducted roll call the following Board Members were present:
Present: Tania Althoff, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Chas. Stevens, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Rick St. Pierre, Adrianna Popowych, Beth Akkaway
Late:
Absent:
Excused:
Approval of Meeting Minutes
There were no meeting minutes to approve this month.
Chairman Remarks
Chas Stevens welcomed everyone to the April meeting and mentioned that Natalie is no longer with the organization.
Chas thanked everyone on the board and community stakeholders for helping and continuing to move forward and he is confident that the DSA will be stronger.
A. Old Business
a. Greener by Design
Kevin mentioned that he met with Greener to discuss grants.
Kevin mentioned that the project with the trees, the railings, and the pavers will be continued, and the project maximum award is $150,000. He also added that it costs about almost $50,000 per tree, railing, or the pavers.
Kevin estimates about $164,000 for the project and it does require some staff time and some board dollars.
Kevin asked for a motion for the resolution authorizing submission of the grant for $150,000.
Vote to Approve
MOTION: RanD Pitts
SECOND: Chas Stevens
Vote to Approve:
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Rick St. Pierre, Chas. Stevens, Beth Akkaway
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
b. Rolling Thunder Event
Kevin reiterated that Rolling Thunder is coming the day before the Tour of Somerville.
The DSA had committed to buying small flags to be put in all the planted pots.
Rick St. Pierre added that anything over $500 must be board approved.
c. Tour of Somerville
Rick St. Pierre advised speaking with Kasey from TOS about marketing and discussing what the tour needs from the DSA.
He also added to discuss how the DAS wants to be identified as a sponsor.
B. New Business
a. PSEG Update
Kevin reiterated that the plan with PSEG was to have them do work between January and March.
Kevin mentioned that the state approved PSEG to do the work on Main Street between 9 am and 2 pm and they will begin right after Memorial Day.
Kevin added the work will affect some of the DSA events, but PSEG will be off the sidewalk for the most part.
PSEG also plans to do work on Division Street during the same time.
Natalia asked how long PSEG is anticipating it is going to last.
Rick mentioned it will probably be a 3 month project with Main Street being blocked for retail and parking from 9 am to 3 pm.
Rick also added that it will not affect the car shows or events happening after 3 pm.
C. Committee Updates
a. Infrastructure Committee
Kevin mentioned the DSA received proposals back from the Infrastructure Committee, but they will further discuss at the Executive Committee meeting.
b. Events Committee
Andrianna mentioned the committee is staying within the budget and working on proposals.
c. Marketing Committee
Becky presented a social media tracker for the past three months.
Becky mentioned the DSA social media is doing great and steadily gaining more followers.
d. Update on Paul Robeson Sculpture
Mike Kerwin and Tania Althoff met with Sterling Brown, the artist for the sculpture.
The artist will present a proposal of the sketch in the next meeting and the committee will begin to work on fundraising.
D. Finance Reports
RanD Pitts thanked Kevin and Chas for their hard work in putting everything together (banking, bookkeeping, payroll).
RanD added the board just needs to submit the minutes from the April meeting to make the changes.
Chas added that they had been working on invoices and that Natalie was the only check signer before.
Chas explained that according to the bylaws, the signers are normally the chairman, the treasurer, and the executive director.
Chas added they met with Imani, from IS Solutions, who is the DSA’s bookkeeper and she is handling bank recs and allocating the expenses to the right categories.
Chas asked for a motion to appoint Randall D. Pitts and Richard C. Stevens 2nd as signers on the bank account.
Vote to Approve
MOTION: Mike Kerwin
SECOND: Ed Rebenack
Vote to Approve:
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, Randall Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Rick St. Pierre, Richard Chas Stevens, Beth Akkaway
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
E. Payment Authorization
Rick St. Pierre asked if this is the last payment for CDS.
Chas added there is one more payment for next month.
Natalia asked about the INK Creative Strategies payment.
Chas added the bill listed is for February and the DSA just received the bill for March.
Vote to Approve
MOTION: Rick St. Pierre
SECOND: Chas Stevens
Vote to Approve:
Yea: Tania Althoff, Adrianna Popowych, RanD Pitts, Ed Rebenack, Natalia Kleyman, Kevin Sluka, Mike Kerwin, Rick St. Pierre, Chas. Stevens, Beth Akkaway
Nay: none Recuse: none Abstain: none
F. Comments from the Public
Beth Akkaway, the representative from RWJ hospital, asked how she can get involved in the activities to see how the hospital can partner with DSA and provide the resources to the town of Somerville.
Brittany, from Revive Consignment, thanked everyone for holding everything together and keeping things moving as we move on to a new chapter of the DSA and the business owners really appreciate it.
Brittany added her experience with construction happening on her street and how it severely affected her income.
Brittany suggested pushing PSEG to do the work in January.
She also asked if the DSA will be providing a trolly for girls night out.
Andrianna added they will be bringing back the trolly and working on getting a quote.
Nicole and Vito, community police officers of Somerville, offered help to the DSA move forward and added wanting to be more involved.
Vito added having the DSA involve the police sooner about planning and events.
Maria, from Osprey Lane, thanked the board for all they have done this past year and offered help to the DSA during the transition period.
G. Adjournment
Chas. Stevens made a motion to adjourn the meeting on Monday, April 8, 2024, at 7:00 pm.
