Meeting Thur Feb 11, 7-8:30pm – Different Location

Jonathan Goldberg, DPW; Julia Brashares, SFPA; Heather Clendenin, Nahal Sohbati and Eric Arneson, AAU

Thanks to Eric M. for hosting the meeting, and Scott for chairing.

January minutes were approved.

Julia reminded us that $85,000 of our City money (from Supervisor Avalos) has been transferred to our SFPA account, but the remaining $15,000 still has not made the transition yet. (Unclear as to what is holding that up).  Since this is City money, which had to be transferred under the auspices of the Community Challenge Grant, even though that is not where the money came from, Julia needs to submit quarterly progress reports. Information needed includes how we are spending our money; what sort of progress we are making with the project; number of meetings and attendance; tally of volunteer hours, etc.  Also photos portraying the site before, during and after work is completed.  The end of the first quarter will be coming up in March.   The money should be spent by Fall, 2016.

We also have the $5,000 grant Moneka got for us, which should be spent by June 30, 2016.  And we have the PUC $10,000 grant for the water meter installation, with an additional amount covering the back flow installation. It is unclear if there is a deadline on this.

It was noted that the CCG application window just opened.  It was suggested and agreed upon that we pass on that for this cycle, and rather concentrate on getting Phase I finished, and spending the money we currently have, which should cover that project.

Those who had visited the CatMex and Madrono sites spoke about what they had seen, and their impressions.  Basically, people were impressed with the range of work exhibited by CatMex, indicating their responsiveness to the individual sites and the desires/plans of the groups developing them, as well as their skill in executing those plans.  Only negative was the state of the gabions used as a retaining wall at the Angel Alley site, which did not look good.  Julia told us that that site was not yet finished, and that it would look different, and Nahal assured us that ours would not look like that, as they would be following our design plans.  The Madrono sites were not as impressive,  In some cases it was hard to tell just what they had done, and there were drainage problems at one of the sites.  Patricia expressed how much she had liked the feedback and vision that the Madrono owner had expressed on his site visit.

Other factors considered were the lower price of the CatMex proposal, which would leave us more room for unforeseen expenses, the collaboration they would have with Eric A. and Groundworks to produce the construction drawings, their willingness to have community members involved in all aspects of the process, including hands-on work, and their track record and greater experience working on SFPA and DPW projects, as well as working with the PUC.

The vote was unanimous to go with CatMex as our first choice.  Only concern was when they might be able to begin and get the project going (and finished in a timely manner).  Julia will find out.

NOTE:  Julia reported on Feb. 12 that CatMex is very pleased to have won our project and they are eager to get started  with the grading in mid-March.  An  on site meeting will be scheduled for reps from CatMex; Groundworks, Julia and RLN members to meet soon.

SFPA will draw up the contract which will include the time line and payment schedule.

It was decided upon that the RLN Steering Committee shall be empowered to make decisions on matters that arise, as long as they are not substantive changes from what was agreed upon by the group as a whole, in order to make the decision making process easier and quicker.

Mary Beth will have a  tentative flyer design for our project announcement at the March meeting.

The March meeting will be held on Thursday, March 10 at Patricia’s house, 24 Josiah at 7pm.  Starting in April, we will be able to meet at the Ingleside Library again.

Respectfully submitted,

Barbara