Community Enrichment Corporation

Michigan City Community Enrichment Corporation Mayor’s West Conference Room Regular Meeting Minutes: September 14, 2016, 6 p.m. Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President Sue Webster at 6:10 p.m. Roll Call: Present – President Sue Webster, Vice President Ron Miller, Chris Carter, Jack VanEtten, JoAnn Engquist, Jack Elia, David McCray and Attorney Jennifer Koethe were present. Treasurer/Secretary Steve Janus and George Kazmierczak were absent. A quorum was reached. The Board wishes Steve Janus to get well soon. Approval of August 10, 2016 Regular Meeting Minutes: Jack Elia moved to approve the minutes as written. Chris Carter seconded. All in favor. Claims: Catalyst Marketing submitted a statement in the amount of $740.00, however the statement did not reflect the previous payment in the amount of $150.00 leaving a balance of $590.00; Ron Miller moved and Chris Carter seconded the motion to pay the balance of the claim. All in favor. Financial Statement: No financial statement was presented due to the absence of Steve Janus. Attorney Update: Attorney Koethe reported that the Board Member Conflict of Interest Disclosure Statements were forwarded to the Indiana Gaming Commission and confirmation was received that they received all the information that they had previously requested from the Board. Attorney Koethe indicated that David McCray and Chris Carter have executed the Oaths and they accurately reflect the new expirations dates as required by the amendment to the Bylaws. Sue Webster will be filing the Oaths with the Clerk’s Office. Old Business: A copy of the Welcome page was submitted to Board Members. Sue Webster reported that the Welcome page for the website had been changed to reflect that applicants applying for more than one (1) grant, will need to use a separate email address for each grant and that applicants will be able to read and print their grant applications. There was an update from Sue Webster regarding quarterly reports. Sue Webster had to re-open Challenger’s quarterly report because they needed to submit more information and she still has not received the updated information and has not heard back from them. Festival Players Guild has not submitted their quarterly report. Young Peoples Theater entered their expenses on the quarterly report but never hit the submit button, so their quarterly report has not been received. A representative from LaSalle Boy Scouts had contacted Sue Webster about the process of submitting quarterly reports and she responded by email, however no June quarterly report has been received. The new principal from St. Stans asked for access for submitting quarterly reports and then submitted an unacceptable report. No acceptable quarterly report has been received. Parents and Friends submitted their September quarterly report incorrectly and tried to also submit their next quarterly report. Board Members requested that Sue Webster send an invitation to all prior grant applicants to attend the upcoming workshop and to include strong language that if an agency’s quarterly reports have not been submitted correctly, that they should attend the workshop. Sue Webster will place notes in the comment section of the applications that are submitted in the next grant cycle to be reviewed online by Board Members that indicate if quarterly reports have not been submitted, have not been submitted correctly or on time. Pursuant to the Board’s request, there will be no notification to applicants regarding September’s quarterly reports and Sue Webster will report the status of September’s quarterly reports at the next Board Meeting. Twenty-five (25) quarterly reports have been submitted correctly. Jennifer Koethe will draft a release to be submitted to an organization, which would allow the organization’s grant application, quarterly reports and receipts to be used for training and education purposes in the upcoming workshop. Jennifer will email the release to Sue Webster. If the release is signed by the organization, Sue will use it as an example and bring the information up on a computer screen during the workshop to show workshop attendees how to submit the application, quarterly reports and down load supporting documents. Changes to the website’s welcome page were further discussed. Board Member Jack Van Etten requested that the welcome page also include information that once an application is submitted, no changes can be made to be inserted as follows after the section in all capitals that reads FAILURE TO SUBMIT ALL ASPECTS OF THE GRANT APPLICATION WILL DISQUALIFY YOUR GRANT FROM CONSIDERATION. ONCE THE GRANT APPLICATION HAS BEEN SUBMITTED, IT CANNOT BE EDITED IN ANY WAY. The application submission deadline will also be added to the welcome page after Scott Wills performs practice runs. Any other requested changes should be submitted by noon on September 15th to Sue Webster. Sue Webster will issue a press release around September 20th which includes the information that the grant application submission deadline will be November 30, 2016 by 11:59 p.m. Ron Miller will also announce the application deadline at the upcoming City Council Meeting and indicate that the Board will be vigilant about the applications being submitted correctly. Applications will be available for Board Members to review any time after the application has been submitted online. The December Board Meeting will be held on December 7th at the Boardroom located at the Blue Chip Casino, if available to discuss grant application issues. The January Board Meeting will be held on January 11th at the Boardroom located at the Blue Chip Casino, if available to deliberate on the grant applications.  There was a motion to table site visits by Jo Ann Engquist until new applications have been reviewed and deliberated on. David McCray seconded the motion. All in favor. Jennifer Koethe will put together the legal parameters for conducting the site visits when the issue is brought off the table. Ron Miller reported to the Board about his visit to the Indiana Gaming Commission Meeting in Indianapolis with Clarence from the Redevelopment Commission. Ron reported that at the meeting Clarence went first and discussed the exciting development projects underway in Michigan City including the Luxury Development to be located at the old Memorial Hospital site and the demolition of the Michigan City Police Department. Then Ron addressed the Gaming Commission and talked about the Zoo, several other individual projects and the grant awarding process. Ron reported that it was an excellent experience and told the Gaming Commission that Boyd Gaming was truly committed to the Michigan City Community. New Business: Sue Webster appointed a Committee including JoAnn Engquist, David McCray and Jack VanEtten to prepare a newspaper advertisement for Jan’s replacement, to review applications submitted and to interview candidates and report back to the Board. Sue Webster provided a copy of the advertisement used for the attorney position and the job duty list provided by Jan. Once the advertisement is re-written the Committee will submit it to Sue Webster to take to the News Dispatch for publication. Board Comments: Sue Webster reported that the Board should be hearing back from the accountants Rowley and Bushue regarding the upcoming tax return. A copy of the Zoo presentation press release, as well as save the dates and invitations sent to the Board were made available to Board Members for review. Next Regular Meeting: October 12, 2016 at 6 p.m. in the Mayor’s West Conference Room. Motion to Adjourn: President Sue Webster adjourned the meeting at 7:53 p.m. Minutes recorded by: Attorney Jennifer Koethe