Urban Enterprise Association

Minutes Michigan City Urban Enterprise Association, Inc. Board of Directors Meeting Thursday, May 25, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. in the Access LaPorte County Conference room, located at 301 E. 8th St. Michigan City, IN 46360. Board Members Present: Tommy Amico, Jeremy Rossi, Dave Hartz, Rodney McCormick, Daren Huber Missing: Skyler York, Paul Pryzbylinski, Lawrence Zimmer Others Present: Gabrielle Chappell, Dwayne Hurt CALL TO ORDER The meeting of the Board of Directors of the Michigan City Urban Enterprise Association, Inc. took place on Thursday, May 25, 2023, in-person and on Zoom. It was called to order at 6:30 p.m. Reverend Hurt gave an informational session about the community garden project being planned prior to the meeting beginning. APPROVAL OF MINUTES Rodney motioned to approve the March 20th minutes, Dave seconded. All were in favor, motion carried. DIRECTOR & FINANCIAL REPORTS Tommy stated Gabrielle did an excellent job spelling out the financial claims and providing documentation for expenses. Daren motioned to approve the March and April financials, Dave seconded. All were in favor, motion carried. Gabrielle gave the Director’s report, and stated Martin Ulferts grant was the only grant that needed to be voted on. It had been on the table since about November. She also stated she updated EZB-R forms and mailed them out to companies, and had already started receiving some of them back. Gabrielle stated she met with CLH, CPA’s and they are putting a quote together for accounting support as well as taxes, and they filed the extension for taxes on behalf of MCUEA. NEW BUSINESS Rodney asked if the committee could consider reviewing the application for Martin Ulferts office. Rodney motioned to approve Martin Ulferts grant application. Jeremy seconded the motion. Daren was opposed to the motion due to the concern of the bids having very similar type face and formatting on the bids. Motion fails. Clarification was needed to verify the bids. The grant was sent to the review committee for clarification on the bids. The Executive Director position received one application in addition to Gabrielle’s application. An executive meeting will be held to discuss the applicants. The board met with the feds and received information about a revolving loan fund. Gabrielle included the application for the revolving loan program that is held through NIRP-C. Rodney asked if there was a pending application for Reprographic Arts, and Gabrielle stated the application was received after the agenda for May was completed so it would be on June’s agenda. OLD BUSINESS Community garden project is moving forward, and it will continue to be discussed. By-laws are on Google Drive, and board members were asked to note on the Google Drive to help update the by-laws. The strategic plan draft will be added to the Google Drive as well, and feedback is needed to continue to move forward. Jeremy asked for clarification of where MCUEA stands with reconciling the billing issues. Gabrielle stated after the training session she and the board attended in LaPorte, more clarification was needed from an attorney. She plans on meeting with Mr. Anthony Novak to obtain legal advice. Rodney asked to set a date to work on the strategic plan and by-laws. The potential date was set for June 8th. PUBLIC COMMENT Daren put out the idea once again about creating a website. Discussion was had about the website cost and feasibility of it. Reverend Hurt suggested having the city website updated to show current meeting dates and current location of the meetings. ADJOURNMENT Meeting adjourned at 7:13 p.m.