BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, February 22nd, 2016
President Jacobs called
the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and Director Stapp led the group in the flag
salute. Directors Jacobs, Stapp, Wilkey, and Hayhurst were all present.
Director Schendel was expected to arrive late. There were no guests in
attendance.
The Consent Items were
reviewed. Director Stapp motioned to accept the Minutes of the January 25th,
2016 Meeting, along with the Financial Reports for January of 2016 as presented.
Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
The Correspondence file was
offered for review. President Jacobs announced one item, a letter from LAFCO
seeking an “alternate public member,” for their Board. The Secretary will post
the notice outside on the Bulletin Board. Director Schendel arrived and entered
the meeting at 6:05 PM.
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 grass had been
fertilized with Nitra King Fertilizer. President Jacobs reported that he hadn’t
seen very many ground squirrels. He chased one into a hole last week and set
off a gas cartridge right then, but other than that one, he hadn’t seen any
others in weeks.
The Long Range Plans and
an update on Bid 01-15 (one shade canopy and tables) was addressed next. President
Jacobs reported that he had talked with Jerry Linebaugh again, and unfortunately
no new progress had been made that he was aware of. The County and the supplier
were still working together to get their product certified/approved to be
installed. He hopes to have more information about progress made by next month’s
meeting. The installation of shade canopies over the playground equipment was
discussed briefly, and the Director’s agreed that the costs of the project were
so much higher than anticipated and were not a good enough value to justify
spending tax-payer money on. The secretary will file away the estimates for
future reference if they decide to visit the idea again, but all agreed that
the project be put on hold for now.
The planting of more
trees (south west side of park) was addressed next. President Jacobs stated
that this was the right time of year to be planting them, but until the new
canopy is completed and in place, it will be difficult to determine the best locations
where to plant them. Director Hayhurst reported that when she had visited the
City recently, the groundskeepers had told her that they were really concerned
about the Cottonwood trees. Most are past their life expectancy (of 30 years),
have begun dying, have root balls that are above the ground, and are at risk
for blowing over in the wind. They asked her to encourage the Board of
Directors to consider removing and replacing them as soon as possible. After
further discussion, President Jacobs suggested that he would come back next
month with a sketch prepared to help the Board determine at least a few places
where new trees can be planted as soon as possible (more trees near the canopy area
can always be added later). Director Wilkey suggested that the Board consider spending
a little more money this time to purchase more established/grown/larger trees
to replace any that may need removing. They will also discuss next month
whether or not planting new trees in the 15-foot easement area (just outside
the fence on the west side) is a possibility.
Lastly, the Secretary
reported that she was really pleased that after she had called Edison to report
dim street lamps a few weeks ago, they did come and replace the light bulbs in
the two street lamps (one outside the office and the other near the basketball
court/restrooms) that needed them. She had also been successful at reaching
them by phone to discuss the addition of a new street lamp on the east side of
the basketball court. She was reassured that they will be calling her to set up
a meeting time to get that project started finally. President Jacobs added that
he happened to be here when the Edison worker was up in his bucket changing the
bulbs, and that the worker reminded him that our security cameras are illegally
mounted to their poles, so that is also something that needs fixing. The
Secretary reported that Hi-Desert Alarm will be coming on Wednesday 2/24 to
give an estimate/bid on a new security system and that she will be sure to ask
that the bid specifies that cameras will not be mounted onto Edison’s poles.
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 grass had been fertilized
with Nitra King Fertilizer. Director Stapp reported that he had recently
noticed that metal caps along the top edge of the chain-link fence were
cracked/broken (as if someone may have taken something heavy and intentionally
crushed them) and he was concerned that the sharp edges might be a safety
issue. The Secretary was directed to call Ellis Fence Company and ask them to
come inspect and give an estimate to fix/replace them. If the cost is less than
$200, the General Manager can give the approval to fix them right away.
The Office Building and
Compound were addressed. Director Hayhurst was excited to show the Board how
clean and organized the kitchen was now that she and President Jacobs had come
and cleaned it out last Friday. In just one hour and a half, they had made a
huge difference in how nice and clean it appeared (even the insides of the
cabinets were cleaned out). She proposed that the Board consider painting the
cabinets, replacing the hardware, adding new countertops, new faucet hardware,
and new lighting over the sink, as well as new flooring (covered, not
replaced). The Secretary was directed to go ahead and request an estimate from
JDR Construction and someone else if necessary.
The Landscaping Bids from
Unique Landscaping were addressed next. Both Estimate 81 (new landscaping
around the office building) and Estimate 82 (new landscaping around the
basketball court) were discussed in detail. Director Wilkey motioned that the
Board approve Estimate 81 and hire Unique Landscaping to do the work specified outside
the office building for $9,650. Director Hayhurst seconded the motion. The
motion passed unanimously. Director Hayhurst motioned to approve Estimate 82
and hire Unique Landscaping to do the work specified for $26,800. President
Jacobs seconded the motion. Discussion about the Estimate continued, including
discussion about the additional bid from New Desert Gardens Nursery and
Landscape for $27,980. Director Wilkey raised a point of order. He asked to
abstain from the vote due to the fact that his daughter is married to the son
of the owner of Unique Landscaping, just in case there is any potential that
conflict of interest concerns be raised. He didn’t feel that there were any
conflict of interest concerns with the first bid (Estimate 81), because the job
was for less than $10,000 and therefore, there were no competing bids to be
considered. Discussion continued on the larger Bids and not all of the
Directors agreed that a “beautification project” was worth spending that much
money on. Director Stapp had concerns that the two figures received were “too
much on the high side”, and suggested that the District reach out (even beyond
Barstow if need be), to get at least a couple more bids for the project before
approving it. The Secretary was directed to try contacting a few more
landscaping businesses (located in Barstow or High Desert only) to get at least
two more bids for the project. Director Hayhurst reminded the board that there
was already a motion on the table, so after further discussion they decided to
kill the motion with a vote of 4 Nayes, 0 Ayes, and 1 Abstained (Director
Wilkey).
President Jacobs
presented a sketch (drawing) that he had come up with detailing the
measurements of the easements and right-of-ways surrounding Barstow Heights
Park. At this point, the diagram is for informational purposes only, to help
the Board determine at future meetings whether adding sidewalks and curbs will
be feasible. Director Schendel suggested that a DG (decomposed granite) pathway
could be put in as an alternate way of beautifying the outside perimeters of
the park, if sidewalk improvements that fit within the public right-of-way are
not possible. President Jacobs provided a copy of the sketch to the Secretary
also.
Form 700 was addressed
next. Directors were given their copies to review and sign or notify the
Secretary if any corrections needed to be made. The Secretary will submit them
to the County Board of Supervisors.
The Safety Review Report
was read aloud by the Safety Coordinator, Director Wilkey. Director Schendel
motioned to accept the Safety Review Report as presented. Director Hayhurst
seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. The Secretary will submit
the report to SDRMA.
The Policies and
Procedures manual was addressed next. The Banking Policy was reviewed and a few
minor changes were made. Director Hayhurst motioned to approve the Banking
Policy as amended. Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried
unanimously. The Records Retention Policy is the next one on the list to be
reviewed and updated next month.
The General Manager reported
that she had added the CD account balances, maturity dates, terms, and interest
rates to the bottom of the monthly Financial Statement (as Director Wilkey had
suggested at the last Board meeting) and that she will keep that information
updated on future Financial Statements. She also informed the Board that she
was dealing with some health issues and that she recently learned that it is a
real possibility that she may need surgery (a Hysterectomy) within a few
months. The Directors reassured her that a Board meeting could be skipped if
she needed a few extra weeks off from work to recover. The Secretary agreed
that she will work on getting ahead on her “to do” lists so that when the time
comes, she will feel prepared to take the time off.
President Jacobs asked if
any of the Directors had any Reports or anything further they wanted to
discuss. Director Wilkey reported that a member of the public had brought to
his attention a really neat piece of playground equipment. It was a swing that
seats both a parent and a child together (separate seats facing each other on
one swing). The Board agreed that they were interested in looking into it
further. The Secretary will research it and get more information about
purchasing and installing one. Director
Schendel reported a very large pothole on O Street and DeAnza. He also reported
that a video camera suction-cupped to the interior of his neighbor’s car windshield
was stolen recently by someone walking by. Director Hayhurst encouraged the
entire Board to attend the MWA High Desert Water Summit coming up on April 13th
at Barstow College and suggested that perhaps the District could cover the $10
cost for each of them to attend. The Secretary will add it to next month’s
agenda for further discussion.
President Jacobs asked
the Secretary if there were any additional bills to be presented. She indicated
that there were none. Director Stapp motioned to pay all of the bills as presented.
Director Schendel 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, March 28th at 6:00 PM.
The meeting adjourned at 7:32
PM.
Submitted by:
Jen Rubio - Secretary/General
Manager
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