The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm.
The first item on the agenda was the election of new board members. There were four vacancies; three regular and one created by the mid-year resignation of a board member. Attendees checked their membership status and were given a ballot if their membership status qualified them to vote. There are six candidates; two incumbents seeking to serve a second term and four new candidates. The candidates with the top three highest votes will fill the regular three-year term vacancies; the candidate with the fourth highest votes will fill the mid-term vacancy and will be eligible to run for another term in the fall of 2025 to serve a full three-year term beginning in January 2026. Results to be announced at the end of the meeting. The candidates or someone on their behalf spoke briefly about their reasons for running for the positions. Votes were submitted and taken out of the meeting for counting.
At the conclusion of the meeting the election results were announced. Please welcome to the Hill 2000 Board Leslie Agusti, Jay DiMaggio, Rick Brazzale, and Tom McCarthy!
The following guests spoke to the group: Fr. Jack, St Ambrose Pastor, Joe Vollmer, Alderman, Justin Rohloff, Neighborhood Improvement Specialist, and Nick Kimble, State Representative.
Committee reports:
- Events, presented by President Jen Gianino. The final event for 2024 will be Christmas on The Hill on Saturday, December 7. The daytime event will take place from 11am to 3pm and will be family friendly. There will be crafts and items for sale at the Neighborhood Center and in the church basement; Santa in the Piazza, La Befana at Gelato Riso, chestnuts, snacks and beverages in front of the Church. The nighttime event will take place from 5-8pm in the Pagano parking lot, at Edwards and Daggett. There will be thirty or so food and merchandise vendors.
- Financial, presented by Treasurer Leslie Agusti. A profit and loss statement is available. The Board placed approximately half of the money received from Draper Kramer when the park property was deeded to Hill 2000 in a Certificate of Deposit. The Giro bike race event netted under $19,000. There have been over $11,000 in donations from memorials. The fundraising account has approximately $40,000. Do not have final earnings from Italian Heritage Day as there are still some outstanding expenses.
- Safety and security, presented by Devoti.
- We have a new initiative with Officer Amesquita called Beacons on The Hill. Crime most frequently occurs where it is dark and quiet. One, if you’re out at night wear bright clothing and carry a light. The center has free rechargeable lights (donated by Casey, Devoti & Brockland) while supplies last. Two,make noise, talk with a companion, talk to your dog, put a bell on the dog. Three, be focused, watch your surroundings, maybe use only 1 earbud. Four, report to the police if you see something out of the ordinary, even if not sure if it is criminal. Call 911 if needed. But get to a place of safety before calling. Take a photo with your camera if it is safe to do so. Don’t confront anyone.
- A recent series of reports in LaCollina about people jumping fences and pulling on doors. Always lock your house doors and garage doors. Leave lights on in the back of your property as well as the front.
- The Hill has 92 blocks and we currently have 52 block captains. Please consider volunteering.
- Last item, on January 29 there will be a joint Hill 2000 and Hill Business Association meeting in Polizzi Hall regarding the Campbell Security contract. This will be an opportunity to hear from the head of Campbell Security about the security initiative.
- Announcements: The Board has posted the position of Operations Coordinator for the Neighborhood Center. Copies of the posting are available. Pass the information to anyone who might be interested. Some of the fundraising money was spent on archive supplies and training for the volunteers so we can continue the work of preserving the documents and photos in our collection. We also purchased new laptops and a scanner so that the records and information can be digitized and more readily accessible.
- The golf cart parade and collection for Toys for Tots will take place on Sunday, December 1st.
Meeting concluded at 7:50pm
Board members in attendance: President Jen Gianino, Vice-President Liz Pulliam, Treasurer Leslie Agusti, Secretary Teresa Mayhew Hess, Matt Devoti, Jay DiMaggio, Vince LoRusso, and Cathy Buckingham
*Minutes are incomplete as the Board Secretary was responsible for tabulating votes and was not available to take minutes for that portion of the meeting.
