The November 12, 2013 meeting of the Parkwood Garden Club (PGC) Board of Directors was held at 471 W Parkwood Rd, Decatur, GA. The meeting was called to order at 7:06 pm. The following officers and committee chairs attended: Tom Bell, Christina Carter, Joe Dicks, Steve Elmore, Frances Finegan, Patti Paulino, Bob Stewart.
I. Consent Agenda
Approve September 9, 2013 Board minutes – All approve.
II. Treasurer’s Report – Treasurer’s report and (attached). After discussion, the Treasurer reconciled the Parkwood Park Committee Miscellaneous and Special Fund accounts
III. President’s Report
Old Business
1. PGC Website: Frances will ask Bryan Bell to remove the outdated information. The password to the meeting minutes will be printed in our neighborhood directory
2. MedPay for General Liability Policy
a. Frances provided a copy of an estimate from the Hartford Insurance Co. for a policy that covers volunteers for their medical expenses (up to $5,000) if injured while working in the Park. The annual premium is $310.00 while our General Liability Policy premium is $250/yr.
b. Frances also reported that Lullwater Garden Club has a general liability insurance policy which includes coverage of medical expenses for injuries to third parties.
c. This issue of medical expense coverage will be discussed at the next budget meeting. Tabled until January.
3. Wine Tasting Fundraiser: approximately $600 was raised for tree maintenance in the Park thanks to the generous support of our neighbors Adam Williams and Cindy Thigpen and The Ansley Wine Merchants.
4. Status of Tree Maintenance: There are two trees for which the PPC will obtain estimates.
5. New Policies for Communicating with the PGC:
Motion: Membership database is not available to anyone outside of the Board. – All Approve.
Motion: An outside group must first seek permission for the concept of its email before emailing it to the PGC members – All Approve.
New Business
1. Joe provided an estimate from Kinkos of about $25 to print 20 notecards with Powl on the front. The cards can be used by the Board and committee chairs for thank you notes and for welcoming new neighbors. Motion: To spend up to $50 to buy notecards – All approve.
IV. Committee Reports – Additions to submitted reports.
Civic Committee
1. Sign Reimbursement: from Civic Committee budget.
2. Little Free Library: Tom and Joe will try to incorporate Powl onto the Little Free Library.
3. City Hood Initiatives
a. Via e-mail, Jim Paulino expressed a concern that the Park may have covenants on it that need to be explored with regard to cityhood in Briarcliff, Atlanta or Decatur. PGC Board to investigate.
b. Via e-mail, Jim also commented that because the Park consumes the majority of budgeted funds, any increases in taxes would affect our ability to continue improving the Park for the neighborhood. According to Tom, the tax increase would be nominal.
c. Via e-mail, Jim asked if insurance premiums would change as a result of changes in fire or police services. Frances will contact the insurer.
d. Via e-mail, Jim asked if there was a plan to deed the park to Decatur, Briarcliff or Atlanta. Tom replied there was no initiative to deed the park.
e. Tom initiated a conversation about our neighbors circulating a petition requesting annexation into the City of Decatur that would include our neighborhood and homes on East Lake and Ponce. He suggested the Board determine how the vote of the land of the Park will be cast. Frances asked Tom to ask the group requesting annexation to formalize, in a letter to the board, its request for a vote on behalf of the Park. Anticipating that the letter will be provided to the Board this week, a tentative meeting has been scheduled for 11/20/13 at 7 p.m. to discuss the group’s request.
Parkwood Park- see attached reports.
Membership
1. Membership Drive Status – over 93 members for 2014 to date.
2. Fall Party – about 80 attendees, total cost was less than $200.
Secretary
1. Yard Sale Fundraiser – $300 to PGC
2. Idea of Parkwood Park Banners – sample picture attached. We will look into the cost for producing flags/banners for production.
Meeting adjourned at 9:07 pm. There will be no regularly scheduled meeting in December. The next meeting is scheduled for January 14, 2014 at 7:00 p.m. at Frances’ home, 471 W. Parkwood Rd.
Addendum to the Minutes.
About an hour after the meeting adjourned, on November 12, Frances, having skipped over an agenda item, sent an e-mail to the Board members suggesting we change our website, regarding the postings on annexation and cityhood initiatives, and model ourselves after the Druid Hills Civic Association: http://druidhills.org/cityhood-annexation-options/. Frances suggested we set up a tab on the website for the city hood presentations and links. This suggestion was approved by email. Frances contacted Bryan to modify the website.
Parkwood Garden Club 