October 18, 2012 Meeting Minutes
ELK FOREST CIVIC ASSOCIATION - October 18, 2012
Attendees: Pam Brannon, Carlos Brannon, Cris Brookmyer, Deb Koehler, Mike Leshner, Ben Roth, Joanne Silverman, and David Silverman. Bill Alzos, Joanne DiMartino, and Ralph DiMartino were unavailable.
Board transition – Cris turned over the treasury files to Joanne in August. David and Ben did their transition. Joanne and David are now check signers.
APM – The contract is over for this year. They have one other customer for mosquito spraying, which helps us. Ben will begin negotiations for next year soon. They are pretty much the only company providing this service. Their service this past year has been good. Due to temperature, they did not begin spraying until mid-May. Had they been able to spray from the beginning of April, it would have cost roughly $2,000 more.
Web site update – Mike Leshner and Jerry Truitt manage it. They make updates as members present them. Carlos suggested an email group list. Joanne Silverman suggested a Facebook page. Ben agreed to set one up.
Newsletter – David wants to start a newsletter. Some of the items to include are mosquito spraying cost and benefit, rented equipment available for sharing, lost dogs, and stranger sightings. Cris, Bill and David will develop a draft newsletter. We only have email addresses for half of the neighborhood. Ben offered to do the printing. Mike said that it can also be put on the web. He suggested a flyer as a starter.
Welcome package – Ben used a welcome letter that Lule created last year. David will build a welcome package, including the phone list without email addresses, and information about the website.
FIOS – there is a federal mandate that by August 2013 fiber optic cable laterals be laid. After that, the “last mile” from the laterals to homes will be done by telecom providers. Ben has heard that it is unlikely that our neighborhood will get it in the near future. Pam heard the same thing when she contacted Verizon. They said that if there is enough demand, they will consider it.
Kayak ramp – Joanne and Ralph asked whether the civic association would provide a ramp for launching kayaks. David mentioned that there is a ramp at Welch’s Point that can be used by the public. It does not require a non-trespass pass to use the ramp.
Holiday Party – Joanne offered to host an adult holiday party if the Civic Association pays for it. We voted to do it. We will check with Joanne about when she wants to hold it.
Fall clean up – we liked the idea. Mid-September is a good time. It is too late this year, but we will do it.
Board Meetings – Dvid suggested 4 times a year. After the new year, before the spring clean up and before the annual meeting.
Halloween – Deb is working on setting up the Halloween parade for Saturday October 27
Follow up:
Cris – check with Joanne about whether any street has non-payers. Ask Joanne to add language to next year’s dues about the cost of spraying and what we took in for dues.
David, Cris, Bill – work on newsletter. Send draft to Board.
Ben – set up a Facebook page for Elk Forest. Check with Jerry about getting email address with “@ElkForest.com“.