Brookfield Heritage Neighborhood Association
Board Meeting Minutes
Date: August 17th, 2023
Board Members: Steve Beckman (Secretary), John Hays, Jeff Johnson (President), Matthew Kazmierski (Vice President), Gail Lytle Lira (Communications), Pat Poli, Alice Schehr (Treasurer), Mark Warner, Steve Whelan
Call to order: Jeff Johnson called to order this meeting of the Brookfield Heritage Neighborhood Association Executive Committee at 7:02pm ET on August 17th, 2023 at 144 Maplewood Dr.
Roll Call:
- Present: Steve Beckman (Secretary), Jeff Johnson (President), Matthew Kazmierski (Vice President), Alice Schehr (Treasurer), Pat Poli, John Hays, Steve Whelan, Gail Lytle Lira (Communications)
- Absent: Mark Warner
- Quorum present: Yes
- Others in attendance: Denise Moore
Approval of Past Minutes: A motion was made and seconded to approve the minutes from the Board meeting held on April 16th, 2023 as presented. The motion was carried without objection.
Treasurer Updates:
- Alice stated the association’s current account balance is $3,664
- Alice spoke with Pat Robinson about adding street-level trees due to the account surplus. Pat said to have interested residents contact her directly to request additional trees.
Old Business:
- Raising annual neighborhood association dues
- Make it a point of action at this year’s annual meeting in September to propose a vote to increase the annual dues from $20 to $25 to compensate for increased costs and inflation
- 2023 Neighborhood Garden Tour
- $327 of the association’s funds were spent to print reusable yard signs for the event. $580 of donations were made. The event brought a $252 profit.
- Attendance was down over the previous garden tour. Inviting the Meridian Township Garden Club will be considered for future garden events.
- Neighborhood covenants modification and renewal
- Steve Beckman reported that 37 addresses still need to sign consent forms to modify the covenants. Steve will review property owner records for addresses that have already signed to determine if owners have changed, which would necessitate document signatures by the new property owners.
- Several board members volunteered to visit addresses that do not currently have a signed agreement. Steve provided printed documents for them to use.
- Renewal of the covenants is due July 20, 2024. Signed documents to renew the covenants need to be obtained from 2/3rds of property owners and notarized, but consent documents to modify the covenants only need to include signatures from witnesses.
- The previous documents that were signed to renew the covenants use a date with the year 2020. Those signed documents likely need to be replaced in order to be accepted by the Ingham County Register of Deeds. John will update the form and the board will pursue their notarized signing.
- Board members will make efforts to have one or more notaries in attendance at the annual meeting on September 10th to facilitate the signing of new renewal documents
- BHNA website transition to https://www.eastlansingneighborhoods.com/
- Matt has contacted the city liaison and is exploring options for transitioning the content of https://brookfieldneighborhood.net/. Matt will email board members with his findings.
- 2023 Annual Meeting
- Will be held from 4-6pm on September 10th, with the rain date being September 17th
- Will be held on Oakland Dr this year. Jeff has contacted the city and reserved the dates for the street to be blocked off.
- The board will hold an additional meeting on Wednesday 8/30, at a time and place to be determined, in order to finalize details of the annual meeting
- Alice will purchase name tags, hotdogs, buns, condiments, and bottled water using funds from the association’s account
- Denise Moore proposed adding ice cream. Board members agreed to discuss all items that will be purchased during the meeting on 8/30.
- Board members discussed including yard games and entertainment activities for children
- The meeting is tentatively planned to be on the street in front of the houses of 237-252 Oakland. Denise will approach the homeowners for approval.
- Board terms for Jeff Johnson, John Hays, and Steve Whelan are ending this year
- John stated he will run again. Jeff stated he will not. Steve Whelan stated he is unlikely to rerun. One or more new board members will be needed.
- Covenants, trees, and luminaries will be on the meeting agenda
- Candidates for city council and East Lansing School Board were discussed as potential invitees. Would only be invited to be informal attendees, not official speakers. Final decisions will be made during the meeting on 8/30.
- The microphone and speaker that was used at last year’s meeting was provided by former board member Philip Eisenlohr. It’s believed that former board member Nella Davis-Ray is currently in possession of it. Nella will be contacted. Gayle currently has the yard signs that announce the meeting.
- Will be held from 4-6pm on September 10th, with the rain date being September 17th
New Business: None
Open Discussion:
- City of East Lansing updates from Steve Whelan: Crime is down overall, but auto theft rising for cars that have insertable door keys. Another reminder to keep car doors locked when parked at homes. Cut through traffic from Hagadorn and Grand River is down. Speeding in excess of 25 miles-per-hour has not typically been an observed issue.
Action Items:
| Name | Action | Deadline |
| All | Identify potential new board members | 2023-08-30 |
| John | Update covenant renewal form | 2023-08-30 |
| All | Invite one or more notaries to attend the annual meeting on 9/10 | 2023-08-30 |
| Alice | Contact Nella Davis-Ray regarding the microphone and speaker to use during the annual meeting | 2023-08-30 |
| Matt | Identify specific pros and cons for transitioning the https://brookfieldneighborhood.net/ website to https://www.eastlansingneighborhoods.com/ and email the details to the board | 2023-12-01 |
Adjournment:
- A motion was made and seconded to adjourn the meeting at 8:17pm ET. The motion carried without objection.
Next Meeting Date, Time, and Location: Wednesday, August 30th, 2023. Time and location to be determined.
Minutes submitted by: Steve Beckman
Minutes approved by: Board motion during meeting held on 2023-10-22.