Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Minutes from 4/18/16 Meeting (approved 7/25/16)

BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, April 18th, 2016

President Jacobs called the meeting to order at 6:02 PM and the Secretary led the group in the flag salute. Directors Jacobs, Stapp, Wilkey, and Hayhurst were present. Director Schendel was not able to attend. There were no guests in attendance.

The Consent Items were reviewed. Director Wilkey motioned to accept the Minutes of the March 28th, 2016 Meeting, along with the Financial Reports for March of 2016 as presented. Director Hayhurst seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The Correspondence file was offered for review. A letter sent from the Secretary to Jan Fowler was noted. The Secretary had been unable to reach her by phone or email in recent months, so tried to notify her by mail that the District had a typed copy (transcript) of the November 4th Park Dedication Ceremony completed and ready to share with her, as she had requested. The letter had been returned to the Secretary (marked unable to deliver/forward) and it now appears that the Fowlers have moved from their home on Brucite Road, so the Secretary has been unable to contact them for now. She still hopes they will contact her. The Board also addressed a letter from LAFCO regarding its Board Member Election. Director Hayhurst motioned that the Board vote to elect Kimberly Cox to fill the vacant position. Director Schendel seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. The Secretary will submit the Board’s vote to LAFCO. Lastly, President Jacobs highlighted a copy of the letter of opposition that the Secretary had been directed to type and submit (during last month’s meeting) regarding Senate Bill 885. The Secretary had submitted six copies of the letter to the proper elected officials and authorities (by fax and email), as instructed to by the CSDA.

Barstow Heights Park was addressed. There was no Safety Check List from the City to review. President Jacobs was happy to report that no new ground squirrels had been seen in recent weeks.

The update on Bid 01-15 (one shade canopy and tables) was addressed next. President Jacobs reported that while the District continues to wait on County approval for and fabrication of the shade structures, he would like the Board to help him determine the exact location where the shade canopy should go. The Board adjourned at 6:15 PM to take a quick field trip outside to the Park, so the Board could assess and determine the location visually. President Jacobs called the meeting back to order and the meeting reconvened at 6:31 PM. The Board had agreed on the exact location of the shade canopy next to the fence (as was marked with paint on the grass by President Jacobs), approximately ten feet away from the fence, with some additional concrete slab necessary to fill-in all the way right up to the edge of the chain-link fence if possible (as long as that will be in compliance with County regulations and standard engineering procedures). President Jacobs also updated the Board that he had recently met and talked with John Heald, of Unique Landscaping, at which time John had recommended fruitless mulberry trees, and perhaps a very large one in the North West (front) corner. He will submit a Bid/Proposal for adding more new trees to the South West side of the park before the next Board Meeting.

Venner Park was addressed. There was no Safety Check List from the City to review. The secretary reported that she had been in contact with Ellis Fence Company to have the cracked/rusted fence caps at Venner Park inspected and repaired. The quote she received for the work that needed to be done was exactly $200, so she was able to give them the “go ahead” to schedule the repairs, which will be completed by the end of the coming week.

The Office Building and Compound were addressed next. The new security camera system bid from Hi Desert Alarm was discussed. The Board had a few questions regarding whether or not the system runs on motion sensors and also, how many weeks-worth of recorded surveillance will be saved for playback at a time. Director Hayhurst motioned to approve the proposal (dated 2/28/16) for the new 6-camera system installed on two buildings at Barstow Heights Park for the price of $3857.86. Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The Records Retention Policy was tabled for another month to allow the Secretary and Director Hayhurst more time to gather the necessary references to begin creating this new policy for the District.

The General Manager reported that medical insurance approval for her upcoming surgery was taking a little longer than expected, and while she was still uncertain of an exact date, she was anticipating that it most likely would be scheduled as soon as early-mid May. She reported that she would continue to work on getting ahead on tasks at the office so she will be prepared to take the 3-4 weeks off (without pay) that she will likely to need to recover. She also reported that she would be meeting with the accountant, Deb of Stewart’s Business and Tax Service, very soon again to reconcile all of the accounts and make sure the QuickBooks files are balanced and up to date before her surgery.

President Jacobs asked for Directors’ Reports. Director Hayhurst thanked all of the Board Members for attending the MWA (Mojave Water Agency) High Desert Water Summit held at Barstow College on Wednesday 4/13. They agreed that it had been a well put-on event and that the speakers were really great.

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. President Jacobs seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

There was no Executive Session requested, but there was one item of urgent New Business to address. While taking a brief recess outside to determine the location of the cement slab and new shade canopy that evening, Director Stapp noticed that a large heavy branch on the cottonwood tree in the North West corner had broken off and was resting on top of a smaller/lower branch. It looked as though weight of the larger branch could cause the lower branches to break and fall at any moment, and these branches were located directly above one corner of the children’s playground area. The Board recognized immediately that this was quite dangerous and needed to be dealt with right away. Director Stapp motioned an emergency call to action, that the General Manager should contact Town & Country Tree Service the very next morning to have the dangerous tree branches removed, and if necessary (and cost-expedient), also have the entire tree removed including the grinding up of its stump and roots and the leveling of all dirt in the area. Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The next Regular Meeting was tentatively scheduled for Monday, May 23rd at 6:00 PM providing that the Secretary might not have had her surgery yet and is still available. The meeting adjourned at 7:09 PM.

Submitted by:
Jen Rubio - Secretary/General Manager
 
 

No comments:

Post a Comment