BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
SPECIAL MEETING
Monday, April 25th, 2016
President Jacobs called
the meeting to order at 6:03 PM and Director Hayhurst led the group in the flag
salute. Directors Jacobs, Schendel, Stapp, Wilkey, and Hayhurst were all present.
There were no guests in attendance.
Item #3, the Emergency
Tree Removal was addressed. President Jacobs updated Director Schendel (who had
been absent from the previous meeting), that during the last meeting, a brief
field trip was taken outside to determine a more precise location of the cement
slab for the new shade canopy. While outside in the park, 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. An emergency motion
was passed to allow the General Manager to call Town & Country Tree Service
the very next morning to have the dangerous tree branches removed, as well as,
have the entire tree removed that week also if necessary. After discussing the
age of the other trees in the park with the tree professionals and learning the
risks that they too might pose to the public, President Jacobs and the General
Manager determined that a Special Meeting to address those concerns, should be
held as soon as possible, and thus, the reason for needing to have another board
meeting that evening (Monday 4/25), just one week after the Regular monthly board
meeting had been held.
While dealing with the emergency
removal of the broken tree on the morning of 4/19, the tree professionals warned
the General Manager that the large tree located in the North East corner was also
hollow, rotting inside, and dangerous enough that they recommended it be
removed as soon as possible as well. Because all of the trees in the park are
the same age and nearing the end of their lifespan, she asked the professionals
to take a closer look at each of them and provide a written estimate of the
costs to remove all of them (eventually), starting with the most hazardous tree
first. Because the tree in the center (West side) was located close to where
the new shade canopy would be constructed next month, the General Manager also
learned that the District could save $1,000 from the cost to remove that
specific tree, but only if it comes down before the new shade structure goes
up. Taking the tree down once the shade structure is next to and beneath it
would necessitate the use of ropes and other more time-consuming methods to
remove the large branches and take the tree down without harming the new
canopy, so Town & Country offered a better price if they can remove that
tree sooner and before the new obstacle is in place.
The Board discussed their
options in great detail (either removing just the three most urgent trees for
now or removing all five of them at once). Director Wilkey asked to take a
short recess to go outside and look at each of the trees again. The Board took
a short break to go inspect the trees at 6:12 PM. President Jacobs called the
meeting back to order and the meeting reconvened at 6:20 PM.
Director Wilkey motioned
that all five cottonwood trees in the park be removed. Director Stapp seconded
the motion. Further discussion and debate continued. The Board agreed that they
would like to spend a little more money to plant much larger/mature trees as
soon as possible, and asked the Secretary to add that item to the next meeting
Agenda. The Board eventually came to the conclusion that the last two trees,
that were not considered as immediately dangerous, could wait at least a few
more months to provide some shade through the hot summer. Director Stapp
withdrew his second and motioned for Director Wilkey to amend the original motion.
Director Wilkey amended his motion and moved that the Board go ahead and
approve the Bid to remove just the first three trees in order to eliminate the
danger to the public, as per the bid from Town & Country Tree Service, for
the amount of $7,100. Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried
unanimously.
Another update on Bid
01-15 (one shade canopy and tables) was addressed next. President Jacobs
reported that after the last meeting he did call Jerry Linebaugh again, and the
latest news is that the shade canopy is now fully fabricated and in the paint
shop being painted. He expects it to be shipping (on the road) within a week or
maybe two. Construction of the new shade canopy is therefore likely to begin by
the middle of May. The Board discussed the possibility of extending the cement
pad a few feet closer to the fence, to eliminate the need for upkeep of such a
small strip of grass there between the cement slab and the fence.
The General Manager
reported that she finally has an exact date scheduled for her surgery (Monday,
May 16th), and thus, will be needing to take time off the last two weeks of May
and probably the first two weeks of June to recover. The Board agreed that the
next Board Meeting could be held in mid-late June, or as soon as the Secretary
is ready to start preparing for one. She also updated the Board that she was
planning to have a few spare keys to the office made for the other Directors to
use, in case they need access while the President is away on vacation and she
is still home recovering. Director Hayhurst mentioned how much more convenient
a keyless entry system would be. The Secretary was directed to add that improvement
idea to the Long Range Plans List for further discussion.
President Jacobs asked
for Directors’ Reports. Director Stapp wanted to let the Board know that he got
into an interesting discussion with someone on Facebook regarding the water
tank next to the park recently. The tank is believed to be over 60 years old
and rumors that it is leaking and is supposed to be removed soon have been
ruminating for some time. This discussion made him curious about the status of
the tank and if we know any date for certain that its removal might happen.
Director Hayhurst shared her opinion that it is totally up to the BLM to
determine that and therefore, it’s hard to speculate on a specific date right
now.
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 date
was not scheduled, but anticipated to be held sometime in mid-late June. The meeting adjourned at 6:47
PM.
Submitted by:
Jen Rubio - Secretary/General
Manager
