BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, October 24th, 2016
President Jacobs called
the meeting to order at 6:02 PM and Director Schendel led the group in the flag
salute. Directors Jacobs, Schendel, Stapp, Wilkey, and Hayhurst were all present.
There were no guests in attendance and thus, no public comments/questions.
The Consent Items were
reviewed. Director Schendel motioned to accept the Minutes of the September
26th, 2016 Meeting, along with the Financial Reports for September of 2016 as
presented. Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
The Correspondence file was
offered for review. Director Hayhurst reported that she would be attending the
November 14th Special District’s Meeting hosted by the Mojave Water Agency, as
a guest of Beverly Lowery (referencing the flyer in the correspondence file
advertising it).
Barstow Heights Park was
addressed. The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. There were no new safety
or maintenance issues listed in the past month. The report did confirm that all
of the fence safety hazards had been repaired, and that two new trash can lids
(with cable kits) had been ordered to replace the old rusted ones. President
Jacobs reported his belief that all of the ground squirrels had learned to stay
away from the grass, that currently most of them can only be seen inside the locked
up water tank area, and that he has continued set off just a few gas
extermination cartridges in recent weeks.
There was nothing new to
report regarding the remedying of the privacy concerns of the neighbors next to
the new shade canopy. The secretary had been directed to give Unique Landscaping
some time to fix the unresolved issues from the last tree-planting job they had
done, before requesting another estimate for the purchase and planting of a
creosote bush and a pepper tree in the right-of-way between the fences. The
secretary will send a friendly email reminder to John (including a copy of the
portion of the minutes that record precisely the decision that the Board had
made at the 9/26/16 meeting). If a response is not received before the next
meeting, the secretary will invite John to attend the meeting to discuss it
further with the Board.
The new sidewalk and curb
addition on the South side was addressed next. The General Manager updated the
Board about her conversation with John Siembab regarding prevailing wages and
how he would be requiring a project number from us (assigned by the labor
department to the specific job) before he would even consider bidding on such a
large concrete job. He also informed her that engineering plans would
definitely be necessary before he could submit a bid, because he would have no
other way of knowing exactly where all the county “right-of-ways” are in order
to know his boundaries for the project to determine his estimate/bid. The
secretary will call Merrill Johnson Engineering to make an appointment for them
to come out to survey the job and get an estimate on what it might cost for
them to do the engineering.
Venner Park was
addressed. The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. There were no new safety
or
maintenance issues reported in the past month. The report did confirm
that some minor fence repairs were completed (including the replacement of
missing post caps and fence ties). Director Wilkey added that he had inspected
the cement slab of the basketball court and could confirm that it was still
slick in one area (and hadn’t been roughed up as had previously been thought). The Secretary
will ask John Rowe if there’s anything he can do (perhaps a glaze) that would
roughen up the surface to make it less slick. The Long Range Plans list was
skipped over.
The Office Building and
Compound were addressed next. Proposals for the kitchen renovations had not yet
been received, but at least one bid (from John Rowe) was expected to arrive
soon. The Secretary reported that technicians had been at the office working another
long day (8 hours) to complete the install of the new Security Camera System. All
six cameras were adjusted and were now fully operational. Director Jacobs will
go around and check all of the entrances to make sure there are adequate signs posted
to alert the public that they are being recorded. As soon as the anticipated internet upgrade to cable happens, then Hi
Desert Alarm will be able to return to make the surveillance system accessible
via the internet and cell phones. President Jacobs related to the board his satisfying
experience contacting Frontier and Time Warner Cable (soon-to-be Spectrum), to
get information about switching over for a stronger cable internet connection.
The General Manager reported
all of the details about her first meeting with Nick Benson (computer install
consultant) regarding the new computer system for the office. He spent
approximately an hour looking over the current computer, testing internet
speed, and discussing with her his list of suggested specifications for a new
computer that will best fit the needs of the District. She had already picked
out the exact computer and accessories according to his recommendations and was
ready to get it ordered from Amazon.com, as soon as the Board approved of it.
The Board agreed that since the cost would be exactly $829.98 (and the Board
had already approved a motion allowing her to spend up to $1,500.00 on the
system last November), that she should go ahead and just get it ordered with no
further action required by the Board.
The General Manager
reported that the Audit work required of her was nearing completion, and that
she had just received a “rough draft” of the Audit Report for the board to
review, and to please notify her about any errors they might find. She also
reported that she had begun shredding some paperwork (so far, only some very
old utility bills) to try out the new paper shredder and to make more room in
the filing cabinet. She was looking forward to using the records retention
policy to help her determine what more she could begin shredding next.
President Jacobs asked for
the Directors’ reports. Director Wilkey mentioned that there had been a lot of
discussion in the Next Door online chat room about coyotes coming in late at
night and a suspected dog thief that might be responsible for a lot of missing
small dogs.
President Jacobs asked the
Secretary if there were any additional bills to be presented. She indicated
that there were none. Director Wilkey motioned to pay all of the bills as presented.
Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried 4-0, with President
Jacobs abstaining from the vote since his name was on one of the bills (reimbursement
for paper shredder purchase) listed on the Agenda.
There was no New Business
to address and no Executive Session requested. The next Regular Meeting was tentatively
scheduled for Monday, November 28th at 6:00 PM, depending upon the availability
of the Auditor. If he can’t attend that evening, it will be scheduled for an
evening when he can attend in early-mid December. The Secretary will provide a
pizza party for the Director’s at the next meeting. The meeting adjourned at 7:05
PM.
Submitted by: Jen Rubio - Secretary/General Manager
