February 2017 Meeting Minutes

Meeting started at 7 p.m

​Present:

John Encomienda & Andrew Rickel
​​Micah LeGall  
Carter Faison & Russell Vannoy
​Barbie Smalley
Jenny Downey
​Francoise Bigot
​Chris Turner

Lori Longo
Nancy Kitchen
Justin & Deanne Cliburn
Donna Stiles
Greg Ennis
Dan Keefe
Rick and Cecilia Lane

1. Barbie Smalley explained that a General Bond Election will occur on September 12, 2017. This will be a vote for residents to decide to fund major infrastructure improvements such as road improvements, bike lines, walkability, parks, etc. If the election passes Oklahoma City will look at the neighborhood surveys to help decide priorities. She passed out and walked us through filling out the survey. For those absent, the survey can be found at www.okc.gov/go 
2. Justin Cliburn gave an update that the sign toppers have been installed at peripheral intersections and asked the membership to think about whether or not they would like to fund installing sign toppers on the interior sections of Crestwood. This would cost approximately $600 to complete.
3. There is a new dog waste station at the 2500 block; however, Nancy Kitchen informed the membership that the key does not seem to work well and this needs to be investigated. She gave Justin a key to check it out. The last one that needs to be installed is the 2700 Block and will cost $228.
4. Micah LeGall and Nancy Kitchen gave an update on their findings for getting the median on 19th street sprayed with pre-emergent. They found a very cheap price. Justin made a motion to approve the expenditure to spray the median and Nancy seconded. The motion passed unanimously.
5. Justin Cliburn made a motion to approve the expenditure for the dog waste station on 2700 block. Greg Ennis seconded the motion. All present voted to approve except for Micah LeGall.
6. Greg Ennis gave an update on OSU soil testing. Because it now costs money and takes five months of testing and subsequent fertilization, he recommended we not move forward with this unless we were dedicated to fertilizing the median. Discussion was held on the downsides of fertilizing the median.
7. Justin Cliburn informed the membership that OU’s Big Event (community engagement day) will send students to help clean up the neighborhood. They can work on the median, help to move big trash out to the front of people’s yards, pull weeds, clean up litter, etc. This will take place on April 1, 2017. He asked for other ideas and the general consensus was that pulling weeds on the median would be very helpful.
8. John Encomienda made a suggestion that there is a venue in the Plaza District that gives discounted rates to community groups. We could possibly hold a neighborhood party there. It would be $50 per hour. Others expressed concerns about lack of foot traffic holding the event a mile away. The general consensus was that a neighborhood event was a good idea, but that the venue should be on the median. 
9. Francoise Bigot asked about ads on the neighborhood website. Justin will look into whether there are advertisers on the website, and whether or not we should try to monetize ad space.
10. The newsletter needs to go out soon, preferably by Mid-March. John will take charge of it; Lori will help by writing an article. Greg volunteered Alicia to edit it.
11. Lori Longo questioned if there has been an uptick in violence/crime lately. The group seemed to agree. Chris Turner gave the suggestion that we follow other neighborhoods' example. Some neighborhoods partner with close-by neighborhoods and pitch in to hire an off-duty police officer to patrol their neighborhoods. John will look into the costs and feasibility of this.

​Meeting adjourned at 7:56 p.m.