BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
President Jacobs called
the meeting to order at 6:00 PM and the Secretary led the group in the flag
salute. Directors Jacobs, Stapp, Wilkey, and Hayhurst were all present. Director
Schendel was absent. There were no guests in attendance at the start of the
meeting.
The Consent Items were
reviewed. Director Stapp motioned to accept the Minutes of the August 24th,
2015 Meeting, along with the Financial Reports for August of 2015 as presented.
Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
The Correspondence file was
offered for review. President Jacobs highlighted two letters from the County
Elections office. One letter confirmed that Directors Jacobs and Wilkey will be
appointed in Lieu of Election. The other letter confirmed that one vacancy was
left on the Board and it gave instructions as to how the Secretary should
proceed to have another candidate appointed in Lieu of Election by the County
Board of Supervisors. The Secretary will recommend that Daryl Schendel be
appointed to fill the open position.
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 Secretary reported that
the new shipment of gas cartridges used to control the Ground Squirrels had
arrived. Director Hayhurst will talk with the water company to work out a time
that the gas cartridges can be set off inside the fenced area surrounding the
water tower. The Secretary reported that she hasn’t seen any ground squirrel
activity near the office compound in recent weeks. Director Hayhurst wondered
if perhaps the new electric fence was enough of an irritant to them that it was
keeping them away.
The Board discussed plans
for the Dedication Ceremony at Barstow Heights Park. Director Hayhurst
suggested Wednesday, November 4th starting at 10:00 AM. She had already confirmed with the keynote
speakers (Beverly Lowry and Dick Jacobs) that the date and time works for them,
as well as for the groundskeepers of the park and city employees. Donuts,
muffins, and cookies/lemon bars, were all suggested as possible options for the
refreshments. Director Hayhurst will try to get a portable PA system that can
be used. The Secretary will call and personally invite Barbara Kelley’s daughter
(Janet Fowler), as well as create a flyer/invitation to send out to the media
(Kay Lovato at the Desert Dispatch), City of Barstow officials and employees,
and especially Mark Gerardi and all of his workers/crew. She will also promote
the event on the blog, office bulletin board, Facebook, and the Next Door
online community page.
The list of Long Range
Plans for Barstow Heights Park was reviewed. The Secretary had nothing new to
report about progress on the Street Lamps, but she had made progress on the
“Fence alongside Ramp” project. Ellis Fence Company was scheduled to come for a
job walk through the next morning, so an estimate/proposal for that job was
expected to be received in the coming week. The Board decided to review more of
the items on Director Schendel’s list at the next meeting and merge his ideas
with the first list of ideas that had been started back in January of 2015. The
Directors agreed that Shade Covers for the playground equipment at both parks
and setting a more specific timeline of when the Board would like projects
started and completed would be a priority at the next meeting.
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 Board briefly reviewed the Long Range
Plans for Venner Park. A resident and guest, Gene Lowe, entered the meeting at
6:24 PM. He was welcomed to the meeting.
The Office Building and
Compound were addressed. The new office Bulletin Board had been received and
was hung securely on the outside of the chain-link fence by President Jacobs
near the end of August. The Secretary had purchased and added a small lock to
the cabinet and is happy about the extra space it now gives her for posting
things. The Secretary also reported that John Rowe was scheduled to begin the
repairs to the interior
walls/ceiling of the office within the next week or two, so she was
anticipating that the job was likely to be completed before the next board meeting
in October. A “work date” to assist the Secretary with cleaning out the kitchen
cupboards will be set for mid-late November at the next meeting. Director
Wilkey added that the dumpster gets emptied on Thursdays, so a Wednesday might
be a good day to fill it up.
The Purchasing Policy was
addressed. The Board reviewed the Purchasing Policy shared by Helendale CSD for
the District to use as a starting point and reference. The Board discussed at
length all of the details of the policy to determine which parts were relevant
and which parts should be revised to better fit the needs of the District. Director
Hayhurst will give her revised copy that includes notes on all of the changes
to the Secretary, so a final draft copy can be ready for board approval next
month. The Secretary will then begin working on updating the Banking Policy
(formerly known as the “Check Signing” and “Fund Transfer” Policies) in
November and the Secretarial Procedures list (adding a new technology “Back-up
Policy”) in December.
The General Manager
reported that she had talked with the Auditor about the accounting mistake she
had been making (the wrong amount deducted from her pay for social security).
He assured her that because the District had always paid the correct amount
required to the government and because she had reported it to him and to the
Accountant right away as soon as she discovered the error, there was nothing
further that needed to be done or to worry about, as long as the correct amount
is deducted from now on. She also reported that Deb from Stewart’s Business and
Tax Service would be coming to the office on Wednesday to reconcile the last
few months of accounting done on QuickBooks. Lastly, she reported that her
supply of official District letterhead (and envelopes) is running out and
inquired about whether or not the Board would like the opportunity to design a
new logo for the District or keep it the same. The Board agreed that it would
be a good time for her to update the logo if she would like to, but suggested
that she keep the design simple.
President Jacobs asked if
any of the Directors had Reports to discuss. There were none, but President
Jacobs did want to know if anyone else had received a questionnaire in the mail
from the U.S. Census Bureau similar to the one he pulled out to show everyone.
He was just curious if it was something that all were being required to fill
out or if it was more of a voluntary survey or scam that only he had received.
Only Director Hayhurst had ever received something similar.
President Jacobs asked
the Secretary if there were any additional bills to be presented. She indicated
that there were two new bills that had just arrived; one from The Pun Group for
$2,800 (the audit) and one from Hi Desert Alarm for $336 (annual service fee). Director Hayhurst asked that a check payable to the
Secretary for $75 also be included with the bills to be approved, so it can be
noted in the minutes for the benefit of the Auditor and Accountant. The $75
check was to reimburse the Secretary for pay she was owed (since she had been
deducting $25 from her pay for the last three pay periods) when she had mistakenly
believed that she would owe money back to the District because of the social
security deduction mistake. Director Wilkey motioned to pay all of the bills as
presented and discussed. Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried
unanimously. There was no New Business to address and no Executive Session
requested.
The next Regular Meeting
was scheduled for Monday, October 26th at 6:00 PM.
The meeting adjourned at 7:22
PM.
Submitted by:
Jen Rubio - Secretary/General
Manager
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