Tuesday, January 24, 2017

Minutes from 12/12/16 Meeting (approved 1/23/17)

BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, December 12th, 2016 

President Jacobs called the meeting to order at 6:03 PM and Director Stapp led the group in the flag salute. Directors Jacobs, Schendel, Stapp, and Wilkey, were all present. Director Hayhurst was absent and unable to attend due to a prior family commitment. There were no guests attending.

The Audit Report was addressed briefly. A final copy of the Audit Report had not yet been received by the Secretary and the Report was not presented to the Board because the Auditor was not able to be in attendance as had been expected.

The Consent Items were reviewed. While reviewing the financial reports, President Jacobs had a question regarding a CD that would be maturing on 12/30/16. He inquired whether or not the Board was interested in cashing it in, since the interest rate on the CD account was lower than the interest it could make if moved into the Savings account. President Jacobs motioned that upon maturity, the Secretary cash in and close the CD account (ending in 1726), and deposit those funds into the Savings account. Director Schendel seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Director Stapp then motioned to accept the Minutes of the October 24th, 2016 meeting, along with the Financial Reports for October of 2016 as presented. Director Wilkey seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The Correspondence file was offered for review.

Barstow Heights Park was addressed. The Safety Check List from the City was reviewed. There were no new safety, or maintenance issues listed. The report did mention that a coat of Nitra King fertilizer for the winter had been put down. President Jacobs reported his belief that the ground squirrels must be hibernating, since he hadn’t seen any in recent weeks.

There was no new progress to report regarding the remedying of the privacy concerns of the neighbors next to the new shade canopy. The secretary had sent a friendly email reminder to John of Unique Landscaping two weeks prior to the meeting (including a copy of the portion of the minutes that state the decision the Board had made at the 9/26/16 meeting), but no response had been received yet. She was directed to send a follow-up letter by mail and another email in January, if a response is still not received before the next meeting. The Secretary will also call again to schedule an appointment with Merrill Johnson Engineering to come and give an estimate for engineering plans for a sidewalk, curbing, and gutters along the South side of the park (Beryl Street). The Secretary received a phone call from Mark Gerardi at 6:25 PM, and the board adjourned briefly so she could answer it (in case it was something urgent regarding the parks). Mark just wanted to be certain that the Board had received his Safety Check List Reports on the parks and the Directors were then able to ask him a few questions they had. The meeting reconvened at 6:29 PM.

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 state that a coat of Nitra King fertilizer for the winter had been put down. The Secretary will follow up with John Rowe again to find out whether or not there’s anything he can do (perhaps add a coating or use a grinding machine) to roughen up the surface of the basketball court at Venner Park to make it less slick.

The Office Building and Compound were addressed next. The secretary reported that a proposal for the kitchen renovation had not yet been received, but a bid was expected to arrive soon. The

Secretary was directed to invite/request a bid from Jerry Linebaugh also. When asked, the Secretary reported that the Security Camera System had been fully installed and was complete with the exception of it being connected for online accessibility. The online hook-up will be completed once the internet system is upgraded to achieve a faster connection speed. The Secretary was still in the process of trying to switch the current internet provider to a new provider (Spectrum).

Director Wilkey read the Safety Review Report aloud at 6:39 PM. President Jacobs motioned to accept the report as presented. Director Stapp seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously. Discussion about the “Director’s Vacancy” listed on the Agenda was postponed until next month, because the vacancy was still uncertain as of the start of the meeting.

The General Manager reported that the new computer system had been ordered and had arrived. After she had written the check to herself to cover the actual purchase price, the computer went on sale and its price dropped, so the final cost of her purchase ended up being $18.02 less than what the actual purchase price was expected to be. She will need to ask the accountant for advice on how to best handle reimbursing back to the District that $18.02. She’s hoping that the accountant will tell her that it’s okay to keep it simple by just putting that amount of cash into the “petty cash” fund. She explained that she had also received a refund check in the amount of $200 from Ellis Fence Company to reimburse the District for the $200 paid (back in May) for fence repairs, a bill that was then also paid by the City of Barstow (since the first $200 of any repair/maintenance is/was their responsibility). She will continue to work on getting the internet upgrade/installation re-scheduled.

President Jacobs asked for the Directors’ reports. Director Stapp had nothing new to report, but did request brief discussion of one item of concern to him during closed “Executive Session.” Director Wilkey reported that since his recent election to the Barstow Community College Board, he had learned that the City of Barstow had passed a resolution in support of Barstow Colleges’ “College Promise Program” and would like to see if the District would also consider supporting/funding the project. He did speak with the former city attorney to be certain that the District’s involvement would not be considered a “conflict of interest” and was reassured that it wouldn’t be unless the giving of outside donations is specifically forbidden by District policy. Director Wilkey also plans to approach other High Desert CSD Boards with the same inquiry/request and will report back with more information as soon as he has more specific details to present. President Jacobs reported that he had purchased and installed a new sign, so that park guests are notified at all of the entrances to Barstow Heights Park that the park grounds are under 24-hour video surveillance.

President Jacobs asked the Secretary if there were any additional bills to be presented. She indicated that there were three new bills that she had received in the mail that day. The new bills included one from Southern California Edison for $96.18, another from Terminix for $42, another from Frontier Communications for $83.51 (phone & internet). Director Wilkey motioned to pay all of the bills as presented. Director Schendel seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.

The Board entered a closed Executive Session at 7:07 PM. The Board reconvened to open session at 7:33 PM. President Jacobs stated that the Board had a productive discussion, and that no action was necessary. The next Regular Meeting was scheduled for Monday, January 23rd at 6:00 PM. The meeting adjourned at 7:35 PM.  

Submitted by:  Jen Rubio - Secretary/General Manager

Thursday, January 19, 2017

Agenda for 1/23 Board Meeting

A G E N D A
BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, January 23, 2017 - 6:00 PM

1.   Call to Order and Flag Salute

2.   Recognition of Guests

3.   Resignation Letter

4.   Roll Call

5.   Public Comments/Questions (Annexation)

6.   The Audit Report

7.   Consent Items:         Minutes – December 12, 2016
                                    Financial Reports – November and December of 2016

8.   Correspondence

9.   Parks:             Barstow Heights:          Safety Check List and Ground Squirrels
                                                                       Privacy concerns of neighbors next to shade canopy      
                                                                       Planting of four new trees
                                                                                          Long Range Plans List

                                Venner Park:                Safety Check List
                                                                Long Range Plans List

10.   Office Building & Compound:           Kitchen renovations
                                                                                           Long Range Plans List

11.  General Manager’s Report

12.  Directors’ Reports

13.  Bills:               Edison - $104.76                                      Terminix - $42.00
                               Frontier Communications - $85.73      Stewart’s Business & Tax Service - $50.00

14.  New Business

15.  Executive Session - Litigation GC54956.99 (A) and Personnel GC54957.1

16.  Adjournment