BARSTOW HEIGHTS
COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
November 18th,
2013
President Jacobs called the meeting to order at 6:15 PM and
Director King led the group in the flag salute.
Directors Jacobs, King, Schendel, Stapp, and Wilkey were all
present. There were no guests present.
President Jacobs requested a motion on the Consent Items. Director King motioned to accept the Minutes
of the October 28th, 2013 Meeting, along with the Financial Report for October
of 2013 as presented. Director Stapp seconded
the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
The Correspondence was offered for review. The Secretary was asked to update the Board
of Directors about the Board Vacancies.
She confirmed again that Jeanette Hayhurst is set to be appointed as a
new Director and that Daryl Schendel’s term of office does not expire this year
as the Elections Office had originally notified us, but rather will continue
his term of office until December of 2015.
She was directed to contact the Elections Office one more time to be
certain that they have their dates corrected now and that everything is in
proper order so that we can swear in our two new Directors during the next
Regular Board Meeting in January of 2014.
H Street Park was addressed.
The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. The Secretary added that the City had just
notified her that they removed two of the swings because of defective hooks
that needed to be replaced but were not currently available. Mr. Gerardi expected the replacement parts to
arrive within a week or two, and will be able to replace the swings as soon as
he has them. Director Stapp reported
that the Ground Squirrels seem to have been remedied, and may possibly just be
hibernating, but that there are currently no new holes that need to be
addressed.
Bid 13-04, the removal of one Cottonwood tree, two Elm trees,
and a Creosote bush was discussed.
President Jacobs presented the two Bids, one from Town & Country
Tree Service of Barstow and the other from R&J Tree Service of Apple
Valley. Director Schendel expressed his
desire to continue hiring locally whenever possible. Director Stapp wasn’t in agreement with
hiring Town & Country based on past performance and because the competing
Bid was so similar. Director Wilkey
expressed his desire to give the locally-owned business another chance and
motioned to accept Town & Country Tree Service’s Bid of $5,350 and hire
them to do the job. Director Schendel
seconded the motion. Motion carried by
majority vote with 4 Ayes in favor of hiring Town & Country Tree Service
and 1 No from Director Stapp. The
Secretary was directed to write up a contract on our letterhead (that specifies
that the the Tree Removal job be completed before Christmas) and get it signed
right away so the work can begin.
Bid 13-03, the proposed Covered Picnic Areas, Tables, and
Benches, was addressed. The Secretary
reported to the Board that CSDA had confirmed that Prevailing Wages weren’t
required of the Contractor when she called to ask them about it. (PLEASE
NOTE: CSDA called the Secretary back again the next morning after the Board
Meeting, Tuesday 11/19, to let her know
that she’d been given the wrong information, and that our District actually
SHOULD require that Prevailing Wages be paid). President Jacobs asked for
opinions and discussion about the three Bids that were received. Director Stapp shared his opinion that he
believes that any and all of the three Contractors would do a good job. He knows each and has worked with all of them
in some way before and finds it difficult to recommend any single Contractor
more than the others. The Board also
agreed that the Bids were all so very close (within a less than 5% price
difference of each other) and that all of the Contractors have well-established
businesses and good reputations.
Director Wilkey suggested perhaps hiring Harris Construction because the
owner/contractor resides in our Community.
Director Stapp asked if that would be out of compliance with the
Conflict of Interest Code, but after some discussion the Board agreed that it wouldn’t
be since no one is related to or has anything to gain from the decision. They also agreed that it wouldn’t be fair to
exclude Harris Construction from getting the job because of the owner’s
residence either, but that the close proximity should only help the Contractor
to have improved oversight of the job when the job site is so close to
home. Director King affirmed that he has
been very pleased with previous work Harris Construction has done for him
before. Director Schendel stated that
Harris Construction was the only Contractor he had ever worked with before and
therefore can’t speak more highly about any of the others. Director Wilkey motioned to accept the Bid
from Harris Construction for $65,112.00.
Director King seconded the motion.
Motion carried unanimously. The
Secretary was directed to notify Wade Harris and all of the other Contractors
about the decision.
The Office Compound job (sprinkler system repair and weed
removal) was discussed briefly.
President Jacobs and the Secretary confirmed that Unique Landscaping had
been at the office the previous Friday and that they had trimmed the bushes and
removed all of the weeds. They weren’t
certain if the sprinkler system had been repaired yet (it didn’t appear to be
done), but John Heald would be calling the Secretary back soon to let her know
for sure once he was able to confirm the status with his employees that were
assigned to the job.
Venner Park was addressed.
The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. Low Wood Chips in the exercise area were the
only deficiency noted and the Board agreed that we can plan to take care of
that again in the early Spring.
President Jacobs reported that he just drove by to check and that the
New Irrigation for trees on the North West side job still hasn’t been started
like we were expecting. He also reported
that he had called Southern California Edison yesterday to report that the
Street Light in the South East corner was out and was very pleased that they
fixed it so quickly (it was on and working when he drove by tonight). Director Wilkey mentioned that he noticed
that the restrooms had recently been painted.
President Jacobs added that Mark Gerardi had called him a few weeks
prior to ask if we had any more paint left in the color that had been used
there previously since there was some new graffiti that needed covering. We didn’t have any more so the City asked if
it would be okay to use a different color paint (the standard color that they
use for all of their other park restrooms) and President Jacobs agreed that
would be fine, as it would just make the maintenance easier for them.
Director Stapp read the Safety Review Report. Director Schendel motioned to accept the
report. Director King seconded the
motion. Motion carried unanimously.
The Board reviewed the draft report of the Audit. President Jacobs moved to accept the Audit
for FYE 6-30-13. Director Stapp seconded
the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
The Policy and Procedure Manual was addressed. The Secretary reported that she continues to
make progress updating the Manual. She
provided the Board with the most current copy of the Purchasing Policy for
their reference. She also reported that
she is now beginning to re-type a new and more thorough list of all of her
Secretarial Duties to include in the Manual, as well as the General Manager
Guidelines. The Board requested that she
also add to her list a new Policy on Prevailing Wages.
The General Manager reported that she continues to keep the Blog
(BarstowHeights.blogspot.com) updated with the most recent Meeting Agendas and
Minutes. She looks forward to having
pictures of the construction plans and progress to update the blog with once
the big project at H Street Park gets going.
The Facebook page now has close to 100 followers, with no new activity
to be reported. She also reported that
the Security Camera System here at the office was affected by a power surge and
hasn’t been working. She will need to
call A2Z Lock & Security to come fix/re-set it in the coming week.
President Jacobs requested the Directors’ reports. Director King said farewell since this will
be his last meeting. The Board
encouraged him to stop by and visit at future meetings when he can. Director Stapp thanked the Secretary for her
work leading up to the meeting and acknowledged her improved preparation.
President Jacobs asked the Secretary if there were any
additional bills to be paid. She
indicated there were none. Director King
motioned to pay the bills as presented.
Director Wilkey seconded the motion.
Motion carried unanimously.
The Board discussed whether to hold a Regular Meeting in
December and they agreed that as per tradition, no meeting would be
necessary. The next Regular Meeting was
scheduled for Monday, January 27th, 2014 at 6:00 PM. President Jacobs motioned to allow the
General Manager to pay the regular bills that come in during December. Director Stapp seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. President Jacobs presented Director King with
a framed Certificate of Appreciation and thanked him for his 10 years of
dedicated service to the Board. The
meeting adjourned at 7:23 PM.
Submitted by: Jen Rubio -
Secretary/General Manager
