Lewton-Rich Neighborhood Association Minutes – October 21, 2004


Welcome
Meeting started at 7:00 p.m. and was called to order by the Chairperson, Pastor Neil Davis.

Pledge
Neighbors, Guests, Officers and Board Members stood and recited the Pledge to the flag.

Introductions
Everyone introduced themselves. There were approximately 23 people present.

Minutes
They were looked over quietly and approved from our September meeting.

Treasurer's Report
Our Treasurer, Chuck Fleck, reported that we have $210.11 in the account. He reported that we spent $45.00 for a floral arrangement for our deceased member Gordon Steinhauer and $10.00 for the city of Lansing Neighborhood Council dues. After the first year of paying dues, it goes up to $20.00 per year. We are required to pay $20.00 next year and every year thereafter. Account Balance $200.11.

Police Department
Lansing Police Officer Sarah Nolen, our evening officer reported to us an incident on Belaire Street a few nights ago. It was a home invasion that the neighbors reported. 

The neighbor saw a couple of teenagers kick the door in and a few minutes later run out. The neighbor called the police. Officer Nolen came out to the scene, and didn't get a response from the residents that live there, so she left her business card. The owners still have not made contact with the officer, after several attempts to the home that was burglarized. Officer Nolen suggested that we keep a watch of our surroundings and continue to report suspicious activity in our area. Great Job Neighbor on Belaire!

A neighbor that lives in Grandhaven Manor Senior Complex heard about an automobile accident on Mt. Hope in front of the complex. Sarah has no record of this accident, but will check into it and report back to us at our next meeting.

Overnight parking is still an issue. Tickets are being written every night. Patty complimented Officer Jason Bock for monitoring the traffic jams at Lewton Elementary School. The traffic jams were hindering the residents from getting onto their streets during drop-off and pick-up times from the school. Officer Jason talked with the Principal, Mrs. Bernero, and was given a tour of the elementary school.

A neighbor heard about a drug bust on Belaire. The neighbor asked Officer Nolen if there is a
way to get a count of possible drug houses in our neighborhood. Officer Nolen will check into this. 


Neighborhood Watch Tip
Patty suggested to all neighbors who park outside their garages and have a garage door opener in 
that car, to please remove it from the car and take it inside with you every night. Leaving your opener in your vehicle gives a burglar easy access to your home, should he/she choose to break into your vehicle. So not only do you risk losing your belongings in your vehicle, but you could stand to lose items from your home and then run the risk of being harmed as well.

Citizen's Police Academy
Patty shared a brochure with everyone. The brochure gives details on the Citizens Police Academy that is available for citizens in Lansing. Lansing is the only city in the country that offers this program to its citizens free of charge. 

The program is ten weeks long and is scheduled every Tuesday for two hours. The program starts March 15, 2005. If you are interested in the Citizen's Police Academy, please see Patty Farhat, Vice Chairwoman of the LRNA.

City Council Report
Councilman Randy Williams reported about the traffic calming areas around Lansing. This is a project the city approved by resolution. There is no money available to finish the projects. The city 
will finish the traffic calming areas they have started, however no new projects will be done. There 
are a total of nine traffic calming projects on hold at this time. This does not affect LRNA because we did not request to have traffic calming areas in our neighborhood. (IE: Traffic calming areas are speed bumps or those brick, cement circles in the middle of residential streets, like Boston Blvd. has).

Council woman Carol Wood reported and distributed to everyone a "DRAFT #4" copy of the 
proposed Rental Moratorium Properties Ordinance. She is part of the inter-Governmental Committee that is heading up this ordinance to try to put a fix on rental property that is not being 
well kept by the landlords. As a result of this, more rental properties are being registered with the 
city. The Landlords and Realtors Association are attending these meetings and are being cooperative with the council.

To pass this ordinance it takes five votes. We are encouraged to email our city council at council@ci.lansing.mi.us to be heard on this issue. This is a general mailbox and every council 
member will receive your email. If you don't have email, please write a letter to the council and ask 
that copies be distributed to each council member.

This information was not shared with Colonial Village Association, because the city council met on this issue after the CVNA met. Patty will email the President of the Colonial Village Association and ask that they do the same.

The next time this issue will be before the Council for a vote to pass it is Tuesday, October 26, 2004--it will go to the Committee of the Whole on Thursday. Then if passed the ordinance will go 
into affect the first or second Monday in November and will be effective for six months.




County Commissioner Report
County Commission Chairman Vic Celentino reported the following:
The budget was passed and will take effect October 26, 2004. There were $2.1 million in cuts but 
the budget is balanced. No employees were laid off as a result of balancing the budget. Ingham County Commissioners had a meeting with Clinton and Eaton county to ask them to join in with Ingham County on the Airport Authority Association. Clinton County has committed to join Ingham County on the Airport Authority Association, however it is going to be some work to get the Eaton County on board. The Association is also going to talk with Delta Township as well.

The animal Control Shelter Director has retired. The County Commissioner is involved in interviewing candidates for this position. They hope to make a decision next week. Once a decision is made, Commissioner Vic will bring the Director to one of our meetings for us to meet him/her.

Code Compliance Officer
Greg Scrimger is definitely a man on his job. He has gone to several homes in the neighborhood 
of LRNA that are in violation and he has assisted in several homes being red-tagged for code
violations, and he has had a commercial vehicle tagged. The house at 2608 Bedford that was a nuisance has been sent a couple of letters. The owner is complying with the complaints and he has 120 days to get them completed. The Code Compliance Officer, somewhat suggested to the owners that his family should reside in the home and not try to use it as a rental, for the people that live around the area care about the value of their homes and would rather it be owner-occupied than a rental.

Public Comment
Joe McDonald, Senator Bernero Legislative Aide passed out information on the ballot proposal. He reported that the Senator has a bill that was signed by the Governor to get hi-tech jobs here in 
Lansing. The Senator is also in talks with Bio-Port to try to get the flu vaccine made here in Lansing.

Old Business
The LRNA has an at-large board member seat up for grabs tonight. This was discussed at the 
meeting last month. The individuals that were interested are Clarence Conyers and Mike Flaga.After the vote was taken, motioned and approved, Mike Flaga was voted in to be our newest board member replacing our deceased board member Gordon Steinhauer. Welcome aboard Mike! 

Also, Mike has accepted the appointment of being the Web Master for the LRNA website that should be up and running soon. (That web address is: www.lewtonrich.org).

Mike is asking each board member to supply him with their email address and a phone number to be posted on our website. Mike also took pictures of our board members to be posted on the website.

New Business
There is a Mary Margaret Woll Award that is offered in the city of Lansing for outstanding people in Lansing. The LRNA would like to nominate our deceased board member Gordon Steinhauer. 

Patty will talk with Gordon's wife and get the credentials on Gordon so the nomination can be submitted ASAP. Pastor Davis will talk with the chairwoman of the Mary Margaret Wall Award nomination committee and ask if we can still submit our nomination or if we should wait until next year.

Lewton Park Update
Pastor Davis attended a Lansing Parks and Recreation meeting. There is a five-year parks up-grade plan in the works for various parks in Lansing. Pastor Davis would like to have the Lewton Park included in this five-year plan. (the park is across from or adjacent to the Lewton Elementary School) However, a form needs to be completed and submitted to the Lansing Parks and Recreation Department. What Pastor Davis would like to see happen, is for the neighbors in and around Lewton Park get involved in the focus group and attend various meetings regarding this plan so Lewton Park can look nice. This five-year plan will include new swings, slides, etc. for the local kids to play on and be safe.

Cathy Flaga volunteered to be a part of the focus group when it gets started. We need others to jump on board as well.

LRNA Logo & Brochure
The Elmhurst elementary school kids created a logo for the Colonial Village Neighborhood Association, which is very nice. CVNA has used this logo on their neighborhood brochure and will use it on the new neighborhood sign that will soon be installed. They had some help from Councilman Brian Jeffries. Patty suggested that LRNA have a similar logo produced so we can put it on our brochures and possibly on a neighborhood sign. She has suggested that perhaps LRNA request the Lewton Elementary School kids do the same thing for us. The board will explore this project more with CVNA and our Web Master, Mike Flaga to move forward with this project.

Neighbor Comments
Thank you Annette Voorhees for the delicious chocolate chip cookies.

Pastor Davis has Salisbury Steak Dinners and desert every 4th Saturday at his church, which is Faith Fellowship on South Waverly Road. Each dinner is $10.00. 

Raffle
The winners were Jack Stark and Cindy Quillan. 

Adjournment
Meeting adjourned at 8:44 p.m.


Respectfully Submitted,


Angela James, Board Member
and Acting Secretary for
Micki Fuhrman, Recording Secretary