Tuesday, February 23, 2016

Minutes from 1/25/16 Meeting (approved 2/22/16)

BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, January 25th, 2016

Vice President Stapp called the meeting to order at 6:01 PM and Director Hayhurst led the group in the flag salute. Directors Stapp and Hayhurst were present. The guests in attendance included the three newly re-appointed Directors, Dick Jacobs, Daryl Schendel, and Paul Wilkey. Vice President Stapp welcomed them to the meeting and the Secretary issued the Oath of Office to all of them. The newly sworn-in Directors signed their Oath of Office forms at 6:05 PM.

Vice President Stapp acknowledged that the Board was now fully staffed and that all Directors were present. The election of new board officers was addressed. Director Jacobs motioned to appoint Robert M. Stapp as the President of the board. He respectfully declined. Director Jacobs motioned to appoint Jeanette Hayhurst as the President of the board. She respectfully declined. Director Hayhurst motioned that the current officers remain as they were (Dick Jacobs as President, Robert Stapp as Vice President, Paul Wilkey as the Safety Coordinator, and Jeanette Hayhurst as the Clerk) for another year. Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried 4-1, with Director Jacobs being the only opposing vote. Director Stapp turned over the rest of meeting to be presided over and conducted by President Jacobs. There were no additional guests or public comments/questions.

The Consent Items were reviewed. Director Schendel motioned to accept the Minutes of the November 17th, 2015 Meeting, along with the Financial Reports for November and December of 2015 as presented. Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The Correspondence file was offered for review. President Jacobs reminded the board that Ethics Training (required course AB1234) is due to be completed again by four of the Directors (Jacobs, Schendel, Stapp, and Wilkey). The Secretary was directed to re-send the email that included the link and details about how to complete the course online, to those Directors that need to do it. The Secretary also called the Directors attention to the Christmas cards that had been received and displayed, as well as, the beautiful thank you card from Janet Fowler and the Kelley family, in appreciation for the Park Dedication Ceremony in November.

Barstow Heights Park was addressed. Director Wilkey reported to the Board that there would be no “Safety Check Lists” from the City to review this month. Mark Gerardi had contacted him to let him know that he had been sick and was not working for several days, so was unable to complete the report this time. He did confirm verbally over the phone that there were no safety or maintenance issues reported in the past month at either park. They will begin their annual tree trimming/maintenance soon, so the Board can expect to see that getting done within the next month or two. Director Hayhurst reported that she recently got a response from the water company about who to call when we are ready to set off more gas cartridges inside the locked water tower compound. Jesse Ramirez will be the contact person for that whenever we are ready to call again and coordinate that with them. President Jacobs reported that he had seen very little ground squirrel activity for the past 6-8 weeks, and suspects they had been hibernating. He did purchase some “solar-powered stakes” to use in his own yard and determine how well they work. Each stake creates a vibration underground that is supposed to irritate and keep ground squirrels away for up to 1/3 of an acre. He will let the Board know if they seem to work for him, given a little more time to see the results.

The newly updated list of Long Range Plans for Barstow Heights Park was addressed. President Jacobs reported that he had contacted Jerry Linebaugh for an update about the newest project (Bid 01-15), one shade canopy and tables to be installed on the south west side of the park. The County was still working with the shade canopy company to get their product certified/approved to be installed. The approval process shouldn’t add any additional costs to the project, but the manufacturer can’t manufacture them until they get the final approval from the County (which is why the order has been delayed for now).  President Jacobs also reported that in early December he had called and asked Jerry Linebaugh to “shoot us some elevations” to give the Board an idea about whether adding a retaining wall and sidewalk to the front (north) side of the park would be feasible. The grade between the end of the park and the road is over eight feet, which means that putting in a six-foot-tall retaining wall would not be up to code and thus, not allowed. It also meant there wouldn’t be enough room for a sidewalk/walkway outside of the wall, as originally discussed. The walkway would need to be located inside the retaining wall and fencing would need to moved, thus making the project more involved than originally anticipated. It doesn’t mean the project can’t happen, it would just require some extra work. Director Stapp asked about the possibility of setting-back the south side and adding a curb/sidewalk and main entrance to the park there. Director Hayhurst suggested that an entrance in the front could also be eliminated if need be to make it work. The Directors will think on it some more and continue discussing further ideas/options at the next meeting. Director Hayhurst asked for some clarification about a few of the items on the Long Range Plans list. President Jacobs directed the Secretary to add #10 on the list (Planting more trees on the south west side of park) to the Agenda to discuss at the next meeting.

Venner Park was addressed. There were no safety or maintenance issues reported in the past month to discuss. No items on the Long Range Plan list were discussed.

The Office Building and Compound were addressed. Director Hayhurst suggested that the Board look at making some upgrades to the exterior of the office building. She suggested that in addition to the new landscaping that had already been discussed and replacing the roof (which is set to be done in 2018), the building needs new stucco/paint and new windows, so it doesn’t look so outdated and uncared for. The improvements would increase neighborhood pride and positively impact property values. Director Schendel added his opinion that the money might be better spent going directly to things the people will actually get/use directly (park improvements). Director Hayhurst continued with “planting the seeds for future discussion,” and expressed her hope that more building upkeep will continue to be considered. She also suggested the addition of wrought-iron fencing (to replace chain-link fencing) at the parks as well, because it holds up much longer over time and looks so nice. Director Wilkey asked whether or not it was known for sure if and when the big water tank was going to be removed. Director Hayhust answered that the date is uncertain, only that the BLM and water company are working out the details of where a new one to replace it will be installed elsewhere, and that it could take less than another year or more (several years). Eventually though, the property will be given back to the District which will make the park larger, if that is how the District wants to use the extra land/space. Director Schendel added his suggestion that the security cameras at the office building need upgrading as well. The Secretary will contact Barstow/Hi Desert Alarm for an estimate on a new security system. The Secretary is also still working on getting a new computer and paper shredder purchased for the office. She also reported that President Jacobs had recently done a beautiful job building a protective box for and attaching a new door-bell to the bulletin board/gate in front of the office. She also reported that Unique Landscaping would be coming on Wednesday morning 1/27 to measure for and provide an estimate on the landscaping work that the Board had requested at the previous meeting. Director Wilkey suggested that she go ahead and request an additional estimate for adding compacted hard dirt known as “DG” (Decomposed Granite), to the area surrounding and outside of the basketball court as well. Director Schendel shared his idea that a special area set aside as a “bounce house pad” complete with electrical hook-ups could be added to the space where the water tanks currently are, once they are removed.

The final copy of the Audit Report was addressed. Director Wilkey motioned to accept and approve the annual financial Audit Report for the fiscal year ending June 30th, 2015. Director Schendel seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The Policies and Procedures manual was addressed next. The Secretary reported that she was currently still working on a new draft of the Banking Policy. She also needed a signature from the Board President on the official copy of the Purchasing Policy that had been approved at the November meeting, as well as a signature on some legal paperwork she needed to send back to the Auditor, so those items were signed. Additional policies that still need updating were discussed.

The General Manager reported that she was finishing up the 1099 forms for Director’s compensation pay and that they would be receiving those in the mail within the coming week. Director Hayhurst asked about Form 700 and the Secretary replied that they are due April 1st, and therefore would be on the next month’s Agenda to address and sign during the meeting. Lastly, she reported that her newest top priority would be to get Southern California Edison to come and fix the two street lamps right outside of the office that are very dim and flickering off most of the time, as well as make some progress on getting a response from and estimate for the addition of a new street lamp/pole on the east side of the basketball court.

President Jacobs asked if any of the Directors had any Reports or anything further they wanted to discuss. Director Wilkey had one more thing to request. He asked the Secretary if she could have a newly updated list of the CD’s and their maturity dates/rates available for the Directors to refer to at the next meeting. She will add and include those figures on the next financial reports she types up for the next board meeting.

President Jacobs asked the Secretary if there were any additional bills to be presented. She indicated that there were none. Director Hayhurst motioned to pay all of the bills as presented. Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. There was no New Business to address and no Executive Session was requested.

The next Regular Meeting was scheduled for Monday, February 22nd at 6:00 PM.
The meeting adjourned at 7:06 PM.

Submitted by:
Jen Rubio - Secretary/General Manager

No comments:

Post a Comment