BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, January 26th, 2015
President Jacobs called
the meeting to order at 6:01 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. President Jacobs noted a small change in
the Agenda as published; he requested that the Board address the “Long range
plans” for both parks and the office compound as one item of business, to be
discussed after “Office Compound” on the Agenda.
President Jacobs
requested a motion on the Consent Items. Director Schendel motioned to accept
the Minutes of the December 3rd, 2014 Meeting, along with the Financial Reports
for November and December of 2014 as presented. Director Wilkey seconded the
motion. Motion carried unanimously.
The Correspondence files were
offered for review. There were two separate files for the Directors to browse
through, one for items received by mail/email in December and one for items
received in January. President Jacobs highlighted a letter received in late
December from the County Auditor-Controller/Treasurer/Tax Collector. The letter
informed the Board that the Allocation money that the District can expect for
FY 2014-15 would be $58,097.83. Director
Hayhurst also mentioned an email in the file received from our current Auditor,
Paul Kaymark, that notified the Board that he has left the firm that he was
with (Charles Z. Fedak & Company), which as a result leaves the Board of
Directors needing to make a decision about whether to stay with the previous firm
or to re-hire the person (Paul Kaymark) at his new firm, to handle the next
Audit. The Secretary was directed to add the item to next month’s Agenda.
Barstow Heights Park was
addressed. The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. The report
indicated that there were no deficiencies noted and that the grass had recently
been fertilized with Nitra King, as well as the turf Aerated. The Ground
Squirrels continue to be scarcely seen, but President Jacobs will continue to
use the gas cartridges as necessary, especially as the weather warms up and
more holes start to reappear. Director Stapp reported that a patient of his recently
told him that they really liked all of the new improvements made at the Park.
This person also said that she had only one complaint about the park ever, and
that was that she noticed that during the Summer, the ants were horrible. This
was the first time any of the Directors had been made aware of an ant problem.
The Secretary was directed to ask Mark Gerardi if he has any suggestions for us
and look into further options we can try to reduce the ant population as the
weather warms up and they begin to increase.
The Secretary updated the
Board about the newest development with the Plaques (Outdoor Plates; 12x12”
engraved aluminum alloy) to honor Mrs. Kelley and Ms. Davis that had previously
been approved by the Board and ordered. She had just been informed that the
prices originally quoted were incorrect, so the Board would need to discuss and
consider the item again (with the price increase) before they could proceed
with finalizing the order/production of them. President Jacobs motioned to
accept the purchase of the two Plaques as presented with the revised price
($427.81 each, which includes the cost of sales tax and shipping). Director
Hayhurst seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
President Jacobs was
happy to report that the power pole anchor that had been installed and was blocking the back
entrance to the Basketball Court had been moved. He wasn’t certain who to give
all of the credit to for fixing the issue, but the Secretary first noticed that
the anchor had been moved when she arrived at the office on Tuesday morning,
January 20th. President Jacobs did leave a message with the Edison Company to
thank them and will also be thanking Bill Little with the County Roads Department
(in person next week at the High Desert Special District Meeting), for his
response and whatever he did that worked to help get it handled.
President Jacobs asked the
Secretary for an update on the status of the paint to cover graffiti on the new
shade canopies that Mark Gerardi, City Maintenance Supervisor, had requested.
She reported that she had purchased one gallon (of Behr Marquee Exterior Flat,
color 780C-3 Ocean Pearl) and notified Mark that she has it ready for them to
use. She was directed to lock it up in the utility room, so park employees can
access it, but to request (and write it on the can with a sharpie marker) that
they leave it on site (not on their maintenance trucks), so it doesn’t
accidentally end up getting used elsewhere.
Venner Park was addressed.
The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. The report indicated that
there were no deficiencies noted and that the grass had recently been fertilized
with Nitra King, as well as the turf Aerated. Director Wilkey suggested that
the other Directors stop by and see the new retaining wall and slab of cement
that John Rowe (JDR Construction) completed recently. Director Wilkey was very
pleased with the work that was done and the improved appearance and added
safety it provides.
The Office Building and
Compound was addressed. Director Jacobs asked the Secretary if she had been
able to reach B.E.S.T. Opportunities about coming to remove the weeds outside
of the office building. She replied that yes, they are scheduled to come and do
the work again on the morning of Wednesday, January 28th.
The list of Long Range
Plans for improvements to both parks and the office compound were addressed.
The Board reviewed the list together, adding more detail to some of the items
and sharing some new ideas they wanted to add to the list. The Secretary will
type up an updated complete list and provide each Director with a copy to refer
to for the next meeting.
The Board reviewed the
final hard-bound copies of the Audit report for FY 2013-14 that was completed
in December. They were pleased and impressed with the report, including how
much easier it was to read and understand, as well as the great service provided
by the Auditor Paul Kaymark. Director Stapp motioned to accept the final Audit
as presented. Director Wilkey seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
The Safety Review Report was read aloud by the Safety
Coordinator, Director Wilkey. Director Hayhurst
motioned to accept the Safety Review Report. Director Schendel seconded the
motion. Motion carried unanimously. The Secretary will submit the report to
SDRMA.
The maturity of Bank CD’s
was addressed next. The Secretary provided the Directors with a file folder
that included printed statements from each of four different local banks she
had visited, so the Board could compare the variety of account options and
interest rates that are currently available. The research revealed that the
savings/money market account the District currently holds is yielding the best
possible local interest rate available at the time (0.45% as long as a $100,000 balance is
maintained). The system of having various “laddered” CD accounts had been
working, but because the savings account was now yielding a lot more interest
than the CD’s were, the Board agreed that moving CD funds to the savings
account as each CD matures would likely be the best strategy to consider for
now. Questions were raised about whether or not all funds in each of the
separate accounts at one bank are fully insured by the FDIC (believed to be up
to $250,000 of protection per official custodian). Director Hayhurst will
research it more and the Secretary will also ask the bank some of the questions
raised (like what constitutes an official custodian?) to be certain that all of
the money the District has is safe and fully insured. The Board will discuss
again and determine whether or not to cash in the next CD (that will mature
March 22nd) at the Board Meeting in March 2015.
The General Manager
reported that all of the Board Members are current with their Ethics Compliance
Training (AB1234) Certifications. She, however, will be taking the course again
soon because her certificate has expired. The Secretary explained a new
record-keeping procedure that the Auditor instructed her to begin doing back in
December. She now has a spreadsheet she will be using to keep track of the
property tax incomes that are received from the County. She will be
marking/totaling the receipts with a red pen and categorizing the funds
according to whether they are income received for the current year or back
taxes from prior years. This was something the Auditor had done for the
District in order to complete the Audit, but it will now be her responsibility
to maintain. She was also happy to have finally received the new printable
checks, so she can begin printing (instead of hand-writing) checks to pay the
bills using QuickBooks. She also reported that she was following up with Cal
OES to confirm that they did receive the Resolution (Form 130) that the Board
passed at the December Meeting, since she had received a letter in January stating
that they hadn’t received it, when she had in fact submitted it to them in
early December. President Jacobs asked her if she had reimbursed herself for
the mileage (she drove) to attend the Cal OES meeting in Rialto yet. She
hadn’t, but the Board encouraged her to be sure to do that. President Jacobs
then asked her to work on getting the Policies and Procedures that need reviewing/updating
back on the Agenda for next month. President Jacobs also directed her to plan
on enrolling to take the Records Retention & Management training webinar
that is being offered by CSDA online again on April 15th, 2015.
President Jacobs requested
the Directors’ reports. Director Stapp reported that in December he learned
surprising news from Mrs. Tricia Sheppheard; that the Smoke Tree they were so
upset had been destroyed (believed to have been run over/cut down by County
Roads department crews two years ago), has grown back, is now about 7 feet
tall, and expected to bloom again soon (located on the South side of Crestview
between O and P streets). They were so excited to see it come back and are
hoping the County will allow it to stay and be protected or to be removed and
planted where it can be cared for.
President Jacobs asked
the Secretary if there were any additional bills to be paid. She indicated that
there was one ($93.48 to Verizon). Director Wilkey motioned to pay all of the bills
as presented. Director Hayhurst seconded the motion. Motion carried
unanimously. There was no New Business to address and no Executive Session
needed. The next Regular Meeting was scheduled for Monday, February 23rd at
6:00 PM. The meeting adjourned at 7:28 PM.
Submitted by: Jen Rubio - Secretary/General Manager
