Saturday, November 14, 2015

Minutes from 9/29/15 Meeting (approved 10/26/15)

BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, September 29, 2015

President Jacobs called the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and the Secretary led the group in the flag salute. Directors Jacobs, Stapp, Wilkey, and Hayhurst were all present. Director Schendel was absent. There were no guests in attendance at the start of the meeting.

The Consent Items were reviewed. Director Stapp motioned to accept the Minutes of the August 24th, 2015 Meeting, along with the Financial Reports for August of 2015 as presented. Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The Correspondence file was offered for review. President Jacobs highlighted two letters from the County Elections office. One letter confirmed that Directors Jacobs and Wilkey will be appointed in Lieu of Election. The other letter confirmed that one vacancy was left on the Board and it gave instructions as to how the Secretary should proceed to have another candidate appointed in Lieu of Election by the County Board of Supervisors. The Secretary will recommend that Daryl Schendel be appointed to fill the open position.

Barstow Heights Park was addressed. The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. There were no safety or maintenance issues reported in the past month. The Secretary reported that the new shipment of gas cartridges used to control the Ground Squirrels had arrived. Director Hayhurst will talk with the water company to work out a time that the gas cartridges can be set off inside the fenced area surrounding the water tower. The Secretary reported that she hasn’t seen any ground squirrel activity near the office compound in recent weeks. Director Hayhurst wondered if perhaps the new electric fence was enough of an irritant to them that it was keeping them away.

The Board discussed plans for the Dedication Ceremony at Barstow Heights Park. Director Hayhurst suggested Wednesday, November 4th starting at 10:00 AM.  She had already confirmed with the keynote speakers (Beverly Lowry and Dick Jacobs) that the date and time works for them, as well as for the groundskeepers of the park and city employees. Donuts, muffins, and cookies/lemon bars, were all suggested as possible options for the refreshments. Director Hayhurst will try to get a portable PA system that can be used. The Secretary will call and personally invite Barbara Kelley’s daughter (Janet Fowler), as well as create a flyer/invitation to send out to the media (Kay Lovato at the Desert Dispatch), City of Barstow officials and employees, and especially Mark Gerardi and all of his workers/crew. She will also promote the event on the blog, office bulletin board, Facebook, and the Next Door online community page.

The list of Long Range Plans for Barstow Heights Park was reviewed. The Secretary had nothing new to report about progress on the Street Lamps, but she had made progress on the “Fence alongside Ramp” project. Ellis Fence Company was scheduled to come for a job walk through the next morning, so an estimate/proposal for that job was expected to be received in the coming week. The Board decided to review more of the items on Director Schendel’s list at the next meeting and merge his ideas with the first list of ideas that had been started back in January of 2015. The Directors agreed that Shade Covers for the playground equipment at both parks and setting a more specific timeline of when the Board would like projects started and completed would be a priority at the next meeting.

Venner Park was addressed. The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. There were no safety or maintenance issues reported in the past month. The Board briefly reviewed the Long Range Plans for Venner Park. A resident and guest, Gene Lowe, entered the meeting at 6:24 PM. He was welcomed to the meeting.

The Office Building and Compound were addressed. The new office Bulletin Board had been received and was hung securely on the outside of the chain-link fence by President Jacobs near the end of August. The Secretary had purchased and added a small lock to the cabinet and is happy about the extra space it now gives her for posting things. The Secretary also reported that John Rowe was scheduled to begin the repairs to the interior walls/ceiling of the office within the next week or two, so she was anticipating that the job was likely to be completed before the next board meeting in October. A “work date” to assist the Secretary with cleaning out the kitchen cupboards will be set for mid-late November at the next meeting. Director Wilkey added that the dumpster gets emptied on Thursdays, so a Wednesday might be a good day to fill it up.

The Purchasing Policy was addressed. The Board reviewed the Purchasing Policy shared by Helendale CSD for the District to use as a starting point and reference. The Board discussed at length all of the details of the policy to determine which parts were relevant and which parts should be revised to better fit the needs of the District. Director Hayhurst will give her revised copy that includes notes on all of the changes to the Secretary, so a final draft copy can be ready for board approval next month. The Secretary will then begin working on updating the Banking Policy (formerly known as the “Check Signing” and “Fund Transfer” Policies) in November and the Secretarial Procedures list (adding a new technology “Back-up Policy”) in December.

The General Manager reported that she had talked with the Auditor about the accounting mistake she had been making (the wrong amount deducted from her pay for social security). He assured her that because the District had always paid the correct amount required to the government and because she had reported it to him and to the Accountant right away as soon as she discovered the error, there was nothing further that needed to be done or to worry about, as long as the correct amount is deducted from now on. She also reported that Deb from Stewart’s Business and Tax Service would be coming to the office on Wednesday to reconcile the last few months of accounting done on QuickBooks. Lastly, she reported that her supply of official District letterhead (and envelopes) is running out and inquired about whether or not the Board would like the opportunity to design a new logo for the District or keep it the same. The Board agreed that it would be a good time for her to update the logo if she would like to, but suggested that she keep the design simple.

President Jacobs asked if any of the Directors had Reports to discuss. There were none, but President Jacobs did want to know if anyone else had received a questionnaire in the mail from the U.S. Census Bureau similar to the one he pulled out to show everyone. He was just curious if it was something that all were being required to fill out or if it was more of a voluntary survey or scam that only he had received. Only Director Hayhurst had ever received something similar.

President Jacobs asked the Secretary if there were any additional bills to be presented. She indicated that there were two new bills that had just arrived; one from The Pun Group for $2,800 (the audit) and one from Hi Desert Alarm for $336 (annual service fee). Director Hayhurst asked that a check payable to the Secretary for $75 also be included with the bills to be approved, so it can be noted in the minutes for the benefit of the Auditor and Accountant. The $75 check was to reimburse the Secretary for pay she was owed (since she had been deducting $25 from her pay for the last three pay periods) when she had mistakenly believed that she would owe money back to the District because of the social security deduction mistake. Director Wilkey motioned to pay all of the bills as presented and discussed. Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. There was no New Business to address and no Executive Session requested.

The next Regular Meeting was scheduled for Monday, October 26th at 6:00 PM.
The meeting adjourned at 7:22 PM.

Submitted by:
Jen Rubio - Secretary/General Manager

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