SRG Board Meeting Minutes May 2025

Jun 23

Soulard Restoration Group | Board Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, May 21, 2025 at 7PM
Soulard Station | 1911 South 12th Street

Minutes prepared by Andrew Paniello, Secretary

Present

Officers: Amanda Ramcharan, President; April Flores, President-Elect; Neil Putz, Treasurer; Andrew Paniello, Secretary

Directors: Beth Bennett, Joy Christensen, John Cline, Paula Dostal, Bob Printz, Wade Weistreich

Regrets

Officer: Adriano Martinez, Past President

Agenda

Call to Order/Opening Remarks

Amanda Ramcharan called the meeting to order at 7:12pm. The board then heard budget presentations from several committees:

Community Improvement & Events (Brad Pitlyk)
Brad Pitlyk, chair of the CI & E Committee, presented his proposed budget for the upcoming year. While last year was about building momentum and establishing routines, this upcoming year will be about refining events and establishing new traditions.

Several points were raised, including the potential to combine more events, host a bags (cornhole) tournament, host a neighborhood block party, and host a trivia night. The trivia night could potentially create positive revenue. Excluding the trivia night, the final budget request came in a little over $5,000. The board was generally supportive of this proposal.

Development (Jim Dallas, presented by Andrew Paniello)
Andrew Paniello spoke on behalf of Jim Dallas, the chair of development who could not be in attendance. The committee projects nearly $35,000 in revenue, compared to just $26,000 of expenses. Key sources of revenue include merchandise, the concert series, and Oktoberfest. Major expenses come from the same categories but are lower than the revenues. The board discussed sharing Oktoberfest revenues with the American Legion volunteers, which had strong vocal support.

Safety (Andrea Maddox-Dallas)
Andrea Maddox-Dallas is stepping down as head of the safety committee, though she is willing to keep running things until we have a new head. In the meantime, the safety committee will be using the same budget as last year, which the board accepted. The board also discussed potential replacements for Andrea, noting that a person who lives near Pontiac Square Park would be ideal.

SRG Board Budget
Amanda Ramcharan presented the budget for the SRG Board, which was fairly straightforward and had the board’s general support. However, there were several items related–both directly and indirectly–to the budget that spurred some additional discussion.

Topics of conversation included the current church at 1222 Allen, which the board is exploring ways to motivate improvement and Legal Services of Eastern Missouri is helping us with for free. The board also discussed the prospect of the Boy’s and Girl’s Club leaving its current property, which would open up about 6 acres for redevelopment. The Club has decided it will make a decision by July 1 and has expressed that if it does leave, it is willing to cooperate for the good of the neighborhood.

Amanda and April Flores discussed issuing requests for proposal regarding a community benefit plan–this will help give us leverage when pursuing a neighborhood-friendly redevelopment, if that ends up occurring. The board also further discussed some of the things we would like to see done with the space and related points were raised, such as redoing the 1970s building survey and the effects of the historic code.

Lastly, the board supportively discussed making a 5K contributions to an organization, such as the Urban League, to help victims of the tornado earlier this month. Joy to follow up on connection to Urban League.

St. Peter and Paul Shelter Update
The board welcomed Michelle Northington, a guest representing St. Peter and Paul Shelter. Michelle discussed the history of the organization–which has split into several groups, with similar names–and the work that is being done to help the poor and homeless. There is currently a building in the Kosciusko neighborhood (112 Sidney that is being used as an occasional emergency shelter (such as extreme weather) that the charity hopes to acquire. Unsheltered numbers have gone up from 2024 to 2025. 1524 in 2024 to more than 2000 in 2025. They are raising funding to continue operation of emergency shelter and expand to 150 beds. Emergency shelter has been operating for 2 years. We will follow up with Peter and Paul shelter to get more details.

The board discussed the pros and cons of this decision, expressing a general desire to support efforts to help the poor, along with some concern over the impact this might have on the neighborhood. We also discussed that we should be proud to have support for the poor in our neighborhood, even if it isn’t always the most aesthetically pleasing thing in the world. The final consensus was that the board does not need to vote on anything related to the proposed shelter until we receive more information.

Secretary’s Report
Andrew Paniello–the new secretary who is glad you are reading this–announced his plans to prudently share the board notes from May, as well as retroactively piece together better minutes from April, when there was a lapse in the transition.

Treasurer’s Report
Neil Putz updated us on our current financial status. The most notable change since last month was one account being about $11,000 lower, which was almost entirely due to the membership party–an expense we were well prepared to cover.

The growth account currently sits at $44,900, which Neil astutely pointed out is quite a bit higher than it would be if these funds had been kept in a traditional checking account earning almost no interest. The discussion, once again, turned to whether we want to use Stripe or Square; the board is currently system agnostic and wants to explore the benefits and drawbacks of both. However, there was also a mysterious $535 charge, related to these systems, which Neil promised to further investigate.

Committee Roundtable

Beautification: Wade Weistreich discussed the successful cleanup at Aboussie Park, plant potting efforts, and an additional cleanup at Pontiac Square Park.
Community Involvement & Events (CI&E): see notes from budget presentation
Communications (ComCom): There was no ComCom meeting this month, due to Brenton Henry being gone. Recent areas of discussion include the Square versus Stripe debate and members having concerns about fronting certain costs.
Development: see notes from budget presentation

There was some additional conversation relating to a suggested neighborhood scholarship; reception was lukewarm, however, with some concerns about whether the scholarship relates to our mission.

Historical: Beth Bennett reported that the ghost tour is coming along.
Membership: The membership party/drive was a success, with decent turnout and enthusiasm from the members. There was, however, quite a bit of alcohol leftover–a sentence rarely uttered in Soulard. The leftover drinks are being stored at MGI headquarters, with plans to move it and possibly use it during the concert series.
Parlour Tour: Joy Christensen was proud to announce that the new ornament is ready and looks amazing. The Parlour Committee is actively looking for additional houses.
Planning Review Team (PRT): A window to door conversion was recently denied (11th and Barton). There was also substantial discussion about dead trees, debris from the tornado, and other related issues.
Properties/Station: April Flores reported plans to replace some of the bottom panels at Soulard Station. The panels were made of cypress. The committee is seeking three quotes. There is also interest in getting quotes on the front windows, as well as a quote for doors.
Safety: Wade Weistrich did not have an update.

Old Business

The board revisited the recently proposed amendments to our bylaws:

Section 2. Purposes.

10.) To enhance housing opportunities through housing conservation and development.

11.) To protect residential and community property values; and

12.) To perform community service or economic development activities.

The goal of these bylaws is to help make it easier for SRG to push the improvement of certain properties–such as the one at 1222 Allen–that are neglected or otherwise hurting the neighborhood. Wade Weistreich motioned to vote on presenting the amendments to the general membership. Neil Putz seconded. The board voted nine yes, zero no, with one abstaining.

There was substantial discussion regarding the use of the term “property values” in Purpose #11. The board is considering different terminology for the amendment; in the meantime, it remains “passed.” Amanda to reach out to Peter Hoffman.

New Business

Liasons
Soulard Organization Liaison Discussion: CID, MGI (Wade and Abbey), SBA (Allyson potentially, John Cline will ask ), SSBD, STL Neighborhood Alliance 8th Ward Consortium (Adriano), Landmarks Association (Neil to reach out to Andrew)
Concert Contracts
John Cline motioned to vote on contracts for the summer concert series. Joy Christensen seconded. The board unanimously voted to approve the contracts. Amanda will sign contracts.
Renter Outreach
The Board briefly discussed the inclusion of and outreach to renters within Soulard. However, given the hefty length of the meeting, this topic was tabled for the future.