Ingersoll Park Neighborhood Association

Meeting Minutes - March 2007

Apr 11, 2007

IPNA Meeting Minutes for March 2007



First Order of Business: Updates
Speaker: Graham Gillette

The IPNA Board met at LaMie on Monday, February 26th, to discuss some miscellaneous items. IPNA has re-instituted dues collection (Happened at the September Meeting) for IPNA Members. This collection will help cover some of the costs incurred by the association including mailing costs and expenses with the picnics.
IPNA does have some funds in the account. Some of these funds may be used for upcoming projects under consideration including the refurbishment of the traffic circle at the corner of 44th and Harwood Drive and the wrap-up of some other projects that have been started.
IPNA would like to coordinate more outdoor beautification this spring including coordinated neighborhood plantings in yards and on the islands. Benefits for doing this as a group would include a bulk discount on plants.


Second Order of Business: Des Moines Neighbors Association
Guest Speaker: Kimberly Hansen (president of the North of Grand Neighborhood Association)

The Des Moines Neighbors Association was founded in 1999 and includes all Des Moines Neighborhoods. The DMNA meets monthly in the Armory on the 4th Thursday of every month. The DMNA sponsors a free publication featuring all of the different Neighborhood Associations. March 15th is the last day to have any corrections you need to the publication submitted. The DMNA also sponsors a volunteer recognition dinner at the Nichols Center. Nominations for the volunteer recognition are due by the beginning of April to Amy Rodman. The DMNA also offers at the Nichols Center (1620 Pleasant) a computer lab, free meeting space, networking assistance for speakers. They also provide training on different types of software in their computer lab. IPNA is looking for a volunteer to attend the DMNA meetings. Please contact Graham Gillette or David Deforest Colvig if interested.


Third Order of business: The IPNA Housewarming Project
Speaker: Mark Kane

The IPNA Housewarming Project is a project to improve energy efficiency in our homes. This project would start with a list of volunteer households, ideally around 15, who would receive a list of information on tips and tricks that they can do in their home to improve energy efficiency. The household could then pick and choose the items that they would like to institute in their home. Mid American Energy has volunteered to bring in some people to help with this process. Benefits for doing this as a group would include bulk purchase discounts. (suggestion to keep purchases local ?– Ace Carver Hardware) The volunteer households would also report back which items they have instituted and when. This information would be stored in a database and would be used to evaluate how the change affected the efficiency of energy in the household. Drake University has some student volunteers that would help with instituting the tips and tricks in the households as we go. The over-arching goal of this project would be to become the first ?“green?” Neighborhood in Des Moines.

Next Steps:
1. IPNA will send out a mailing to all IPNA members asking for volunteer households. The goal for the number of households volunteering is 15.
2. IPNA will have another meeting on April 22 with the volunteer households to ?“Kick-off?” the Project and discuss next steps.
3. IPNA will have a Project Coordinator that will set up meetings with the volunteer households and Mid American Energy volunteers.


Fourth Order of Business: Miscellaneous Items


Freeway Clean-up is Saturday April 21 at 8:00 a.m. Meet at Roosevelt or show up at the Secret Sidewalk up. IPNA SCRUB Day will be August 25th. Please contact David DeForest Colvig for more information. North of Grand Neighborhood Association Scrub Day is scheduled for May 5th 2007. We are allowed to attend other neighborhood Scrub Days.

Memorial Day Picnic: We are planning to have the Memorial Day picnic for the second consecutive year. Last years picnic was a huge success. We would like to make this an annual event. This year?’s picnic will be planned for Sunday, May 27th , with a rain date of Monday, May 28th. The picnic will be pot-luck with a PM movie showing.