Minutes of Officer Meeting of 10/13/10

Parkwood Garden Club Officer Meeting
October 13, 2010

In Attendance:
Katie Black, President
Sheri Kennedy (notetaker), Vice President
Beverly Greene, Treasurer
Mary K Jarboe, Secretary
Bryan Bell, Civic Chair
Frances Finegan, Neighbor Care Chair
Bolot Kerimbaev, Communications Chair
Rebecca Kerimbaev, Communications Chair
Karna Candler

The meeting was graciously hosted by Beverly Greene, and delicious desserts and wine were served.

The following reports were presented by the committee chairs:

I.  Civic Chair Bryan Bell:

1. Train noise: The train whistle will continue to blow.  Because of safety and liability issues DeKalb County did not want to restrict the trains from blowing the whistle to alert drivers.  Safety arms would need to be funded ($100K) and then the county accept responsibility.
2. Pot holes: The pot hole on E Parkwood near East Lake circle has been repaired (yeah).  Bryan will submit requests to repair pot holes on Upland at the E Parkwood stop sign as well as all along E Parkwood and W Parkwood across from the park.  Bryan will also make a request to have the neighborhood repaved.
3. East Lake/Parkwood Circle signs: Bryan is also working to get signs replaced around the curve on East Lake.  Also discussed a sign on W Parkwood at the south end of Parkwood Park being down.
4. East Lake/Parkwood Circle: Along with replacement of the signs, another suggestion was to look at the possibility of placing a guard rail at this location.
5. Sidewalk hazards: Bryan will identify houses that we can offer help to in cutting back plants overhanging onto the sidewalk.  Bryan/Katie will contact those people and offer to help with cutting back the plant material.  Bryan may try and schedule a Saturday workday to help our neighbors.
6. Parkwood as a cut through: Bryan will also start work to see what can be done to restrict through traffic on the Parkwoods.
7. Holiday Decorations: Bryan also suggested putting red bows on the street signs along with natural greenery from our area.  Everyone agreed.  Karna offered to buy the ribbon at a discounted price.  Bryan will investigate cost to discuss with Beverly.
8. Rats: Karna mentioned the rat problem in the neighborhood.  The rats have  ‘homes‘ along the sewer line.  Several years ago a smoke test in the sewer lines identified the holes in people’s yards.

II.  Treasurer Beverly Greene:

1. Balance: Current overall balance from checking and savings is: $6216.  Last year PGC added $2920 with $190 designated towards the ravine.  The PGC spent $2660 but didn’t specifically spend the $190 towards the ravine.
2. Budget: Beverly requested we develop a more detailed budget for the future especially for the social events since many of the other costs are fixed costs (taxes, insurance and park maintenance).  We especially want to keep track of donations designated towards the ravine so we can communicate how the donations were spent.
3. Party Expenditures: Discussed serving wine at the Fall Party.  Since the block party application specifically limits the distribution and sale of alcoholic beverages, the PGC will not supply beer and wine which was going to add significant cost to the party and exceed the $200-$300 budget.  Beer and Wine may be served at the Holiday party and spring party since they will not require a Block party permit.
4. Park Expenditures: Discussed future possibility of having to remove trees/tree limbs in the ravine.  The Parkwood Park Committee will work to obtain estimates over the next few weeks and provide that detail to the PGC Officers.

III.  Communications Chairs Bolot and Rebecca Kerimbaev:

1. Memberships: Rebecca indicated 17 households have paid for their membership with an additional $220 specified to the ravine, as of today’s date.
2. Directory: Rebecca is keeping a spreadsheet of those that have paid and is contacting them to confirm payment has been received.  Also sending thank you emails.
3. Mailing List: As membership forms are received, the email addresses are being updated within the electronic mailing list.
4. Web hosting: Bolot updated us on moving the website from Google to WordPress.  Bolot indicated the move will help in the future if we need to find other Webmasters for PGC.  WordPress provides similar capabilities of having a public and private space.  At some point we may need to pay a nominal annual fee to support the website.
5. Passwording: The secure area on the website will require the user to enter their password multiple times to view multiple postings.
6. Distribution: Katie mentioned a request to create a restricted and non-restricted distribution of notifications.  Bolot will research the possibility of creating one mailing list for official PGC notifications and another mailing list available for neighbors to use for ‘unofficial’ PGC notifications.  Neighbors will have the ability to sign up for the unofficial notifications.

IV:  Vice President Sheri Kennedy on Parkwood Park Report & Fall Party Update:

• Since time was limited and emails have been sent with status reports on both events the only comment was:  EVERYONE PLEASE COME!!

V.  Neighbor Care Chair Frances Finegan on Non-profit corporation update:

1. Non-profit Status: Frances investigated the insurance policy and will report on the non-profit status at a later meeting.
2. Insurance: The insurance policy includes a general liability total of $200,000 with a $100,000 limit per occurrence and costs $250 per year.
3. Coverage: Since the current ‘assets’ of the PGC consist of the ~$6000 in savings/checking and the park is valued at $600 (per the DeKalb County tax land value estimate) the insurance coverage seems adequate.
4. Liability: Frances also felt that PGC officers could not be held liable since PGC is incorporated.