Community Enrichment Corporation

Michigan City Community Enrichment Corporation Virtual Zoom Meeting Regular Meeting August 8th, 2020 Call to Order: The meeting was called to order by President George Kazmierczak at 5:10 p.m. Roll Call: Present — President George Kazmierczak, Vice President Jack Van Etten, Secretary/Treasurer Steve Janus, Connie Anderson, Rudy Kohn, Pete Xidias, Bret Cox and Sue Webster. Absent was Chris Carter. A quorum was reached. Board Attorney Mary Lake was also in attendance. Approval of Minutes: Motion was made by Bret Cox to accept the July 8th Minutes as presented; Steve Janus seconded. All in favor. Financial Statement: Secretary/Treasurer Steve Janus presented the Harbour Trust July Financial Statement. Beginning balance was $30,403.53. Disbursements totaled $289.95 which included support services and supplies for Administrative Assistant Susan Webster and Administrative Expenses were $10.00. Total Investment Income was $3.90. Investment change was $0.00. Ending balance for July 2020 was $30,107.48. Connie Anderson motioned to approve the July statement as presented. Seconded by Sue Webster. All in favor. Claims: President George Kazmierczak presented one claim for payment. The Invoice for Administrative Assistant Susan Webster for $210.00. Motion made by Steve Janus to approve, seconded by Bret Cox. Sue Webster abstained. All in favor, Motion passes. Attorney Update: Attorney Lake has mailed the signature pages for filing Resolution Number 2020-1. They are making their rounds to the Board Members and will be returned to Attorney Lake for filing. President George Kazmierczak had requested that Mary and Sue get together to review the Grant Contract for Grant Awards and they will do that in October. The Board will then review what is discussed and the Grant Contract will be updated prior to mailing it out in February. Attorney Lake will review the Gaming Commission Contract and check to see if anything in it needs to be addressed because of the COVID 19 Pandemic. Old Business: Sue Webster reviewed the June Quarterly Reports for the Board. At the July 8th Board Meeting the Board discussed three Quarterly Reports that were opened for questions. The Arise & Shine was reopened several times and is now submitted correctly. Junior Achievement needed to resubmit including some additional documents which has been done. American Red Cross has still not supplied the necessary documents. Attorney Lake will send them a letter asking them to provide the necessary receipts needed. The June Quarterly Report for the Indiana Black Expo has not yet been received. The Stepping Stone June Quarterly Report was submitted on July 11th. Kenneth Fly who received a grant of $2,000.00 in this grant cycle for his organization Fly High Youth Services had not submitted his June Quarterly Report. On July 2nd he emailed the Board requesting additional funding from our grant award monies if there are any funding dollars still available since Fly High Youth Services had spent their grant award in June. Ms. Webster responded to Mr. Fly that he will need to submit his June Quarterly Report before the Board could consider such a request. He submitted the report on July 20th, 2020. The Board will discuss his request during New Business. New Business: The Board discussed the dates for the 2021-2022 online Grant Application. The application will become available on Monday, September 21st at 9:00 am and will be accepted until 11:59 pm on Monday, November 30th. At that time the application program will be closed. Jack Van Etten moved those dates be accepted, seconded by Steve Janus. All in favor. The dates were accepted. The Board received a check from the Blue Chip Casino for $182,583.00 for our July deposit. The $100,000 grant award to the Zoo was discussed. George Kazmierczak will deposit the check at Harbour Trust and request a check for $100,000 be mailed to the City Clerk’s office. We will then deliver the check to the Washington Park Zoo Director Jamie Huss and she will have it deposited. Since she or a representative attends our Board Meeting and presents a yearly wrap up of the Zoo, that will not be happening this year due to the Pandemic. Instead we will request that she email us a report for our September Board Meeting. The Board also requested that we send the new Park Superintendent a letter describing this process of awarding the Zoo $100,000 annually. The letter will be copied to Mayor Duane Parry, the City Council President Shaun Fitzpatrick and also a similar letter sent to the Park & Recreation Board. Susan Webster will compose the letters and Board President George Kazmierczak will review them. The Board then reviewed the request from Mr. Fly regarding any additional funding for his Fly High Youth Services program. Due to the shortage in our July payment from Blue Chip Casino due to their closing because of the Pandemic the Board discussed not paying out any further requests to grant recipients. Jack Van Etten moved to not make any additional grant awards this year regarding Pandemic or any other needs. Seconded by Connie Anderson. All in favor. Motion passes. Fly High Youth Services request was discussed. Motion made by Jack Van Etten, seconded by Pete Xidias and Steve Janus to deny the request due to the Board’s discussion and motion of no more additional funding this grant cycle. All in favor. Motion passes. Board Comments: Bret Cox wished good vibes for all of us and other Board Members echoed his wishes. Sue Webster said she thinks our January deliberation meeting will need to be in person if possible. Prior to that meeting Zoom or in person meetings should be considered. Next Board Meeting: Wednesday, September 9th, 2020 at 5:00 pm and it will probably be a Zoom Meeting. Adjournment: Motion made by Pete Xidias to adjourn at 5:59 pm. Seconded by Connie Anderson, all in favor. So adjourned. Submitted by Susan Webster