BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES
DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, June 16th, 2014
President Jacobs called
the meeting to order at 6:05 PM and guest, Clint Hiett, led the group in the
flag salute. Directors Jacobs, Schendel,
Wilkey, and Hayhurst were present. Director
Stapp had not yet arrived. There was one
guest, Clint Hiett, in attendance, and he had no public comments/questions to
address.
President Jacobs motioned
to accept the Minutes of the May 19th, 2014 Meeting, along with the Financial
Reports for May of 2014 as presented.
Director Wilkey seconded the motion.
Motion carried unanimously, with Director Schendel abstaining from the
vote due to his absence at the previous meeting.
The Correspondence file was
offered for review and the Directors passed it around to look through it. President Jacobs called attention to a letter
received from resident, Lucille Riddle, who expressed her growing concerns
about the neglected condition of some of the homes in her neighborhood. The Secretary was directed to write a letter
in response, to let her know that we share her concerns and will continue
reporting the incidents she had specified to us. We will ask that she continues to contact San
Bernardino County Code Enforcement to report any further incidents as well, so
that our combined voices will be heard and our continued efforts can make a
difference.
Barstow Heights Park was
addressed. The Safety Check List from
the City was reviewed. President Jacobs
asked the Secretary to update the Board about the situation we’d had getting
more “rodent gas cartridges” ordered to continue exterminating the Ground
Squirrels. Director Stapp entered the
meeting at 6:09pm and apologized for being late. The Secretary explained that there had been a
few setbacks in getting more of the gas cartridges ordered. She had to first get approval from the State
Wildlife Services program and then couldn’t submit the order right away due to
a price increase that put the final cost of the shipment just above her $200 a
month spending limit. President Jacobs
suggested that the item could just be added to the list of “Bills” to be approved
near the end of the meeting and the Board would address it again then.
The Plaque to honor
Barbara Kelley was addressed. The Board
agreed that the wording that began with “In Memory of…” was what they preferred
over the use of the words “Dedicated to”.
The Board began discussing the location/placement of the pedestal on
which the Plaque will be installed. At
6:19 PM they took a 5 minute recess to walk outside to visually examine the
exact location and help determine the ideal placement for the pedestal. The Board returned and reconvened the meeting
at 6:25 PM. Director Wilkey motioned to
approve the wording of the Plaque as presented and that the pedestal be located
just outside the chain-link fence at the front entrance to the park on Rimrock
Rd. (on the right/west side of the opening).
Director Hayhurst seconded the motion.
Director Stapp asked if the Board was certain that the location was on
our property. The Board agreed that the
property line had to be much closer to the road since the fence is so far back
from the street and the water company’s fence next to ours extends so much
further out than ours. Motion carried
unanimously.
Bid 13-03, the new
Covered Picnic Areas, were addressed next.
President Jacobs reported that after looking over the engineering plans
further, Wade Harris confirmed that to meet ADA requirements, additional
permits will be necessary which will add to the price of the Bid. Also, because there is “cut and fill”
involved in the work, the engineer will need to come back and put “cut and
fill” stakes in the ground which will be another slight additional cost for
us. Additional grading, concrete
sidewalks, added permits, and required inspections are likely to add another
21% to the cost of the contract increase for a total increase of 32%. Director Hayhurst added that she was
confident that because of the force being applied to us to meet County
requirements and that because it came unexpectedly and through no decision of
the Board or the Contractor, that approving the additional costs to fulfill the
District’s contract with Harris Construction and get the job done as the County
requires is all that can be done.
Director Wilkey agreed that re-bidding the job would only slow progress
further and there was no guarantee even then that the County would approve new/revised
plans, as their requirements can and may continue to change again as the
project progresses. The Board agreed that
they could only continue to move forward with the work that has already been agreed
to and approved, as the County permits us to.
Director Hayhurst motioned to appropriate up to an additional $17,000 to
pay for the unanticipated additional work necessary to complete the project. Director Stapp seconded the motion. Motion carried unanimously. President Jacobs will let Wade Harris know
and the Secretary was directed to follow up with an e-mail to Harris
Construction to let them know that they can proceed.
The Plaque to thank
Dorothy Davis was addressed next. Director
Wilkey suggested a slight change to the wording the Board had agreed upon at
the previous meeting. He felt that
changing “…dedicated to…” to “…dedicated in memory of…” sounded better. The Board agreed that it was a good
suggestion, directed the Secretary to revise the wording, and also decided to
wait until the project construction is in progress before determining the exact
location for placement of the Plaque.
The Secretary was also informed that the Directors had noticed that
evening that a large tree branch had fallen in the park, and to please notify
Mark Gerardi about its necessary removal in the morning. She agreed that she would do so if it wasn’t already
taken care of by the time she arrives at work the next morning, as those things
are usually noticed and fixed by the City very quickly. The Secretary was asked for an update on the
Wood Chips that were low and needed refilling and she reported that the Wood
Chips were delivered (half to the fitness station center at Venner Park and
half to the playground area at Barstow Heights Park) at 7:30am on Thursday,
June 12th. Turboscape, Inc. sent a
larger truck this time and sprayed into place 80 cubic yards of treated wood
playground chips (an increase, up from 60 cubic yards last time). The price had increased to $47 per cubic yard
(up $2 from last year) and the entire cost of the delivery and installation was
$3,760.00.
Venner Park was
addressed. The Safety Check List from
the City was reviewed. Director Wilkey
had one additional thing to report about an incident at the Park. Mark Gerardi had reported to him that a child
(girl) had fallen and hit her mouth on a cross-bar on one of the slides at
Venner Park. The family had informed the
City, but didn’t intend to file an “official” report of the incident. We currently do not know any names or further
details about the situation, but Mark Gerardi did follow up with the family to
check on the girl’s well-being and to let them know he had inspected the slide
and cross-bars to make sure everything was as it should be (all equipment was
original as it came from the manufacturer and had been assembled properly). Terri Peralta, also with the City, sent
Director Wilkey an email to confirm the situation and he will include copies of
that correspondence with the Quarterly Safety Review Report due to SDRMA in
August, as well as an update on any further details he may learn.
President Jacobs
requested an update from the Secretary on the letter she was asked to send to
the County regarding the numerous cracks in our Roads. The Secretary reported that it had not yet
been sent due to a few questions that she’d had about it. She had been asked to send the letter to the
offices of County Supervisors, James Ramos and Robert A. Lovingood, as well as
to the local County Roads office.
Director Hayhurst explained that the Secretary should not send a copy of
the letter to Lovingood after all, as she had learned since the previous
meeting that it is not proper etiquette to involve another Supervisor, even
when in a neighboring district, as it might imply that we are not satisfied
with the response we’re getting from our own district Supervisor (when we are
satisfied and do not want to give the impression otherwise). The Secretary will make sure that the letter
requesting help goes to the County Roads office as well as to District Supervisor,
James Ramos only. Director Hayhurst also
reported that she had called Code Enforcement regarding the dangerous
obstructions at intersections that we have concerns about and was transferred
to the Fire Department before calling the County Supervisors office to ask who
she should talk to. Finally, resident
and friend Beverly Lowery was able to confirm that the County Roads Department
was the correct organization to notify and that as a fellow concerned resident,
she would let them know since she has a regular meeting with and a good working
relationship with them. Director
Hayhurst will update the Board again once she has more information about what
kind of response we might expect.
Director Schendel suggested the Board consider hiring a “tractor for a
day” to help any residents or land-owners that are in need to clear the corners
of their properties for free if there is enough interest. The Board agreed that would be a great idea
to pursue if the County Roads Department isn’t able to help remedy the
situation sooner. Director Stapp
expressed his concern also about the uninhabited properties with naturally
growing creosote bushes as well as homes that have obstructing brick walls and
fences built too close to the street. Director
Hayhurt stated that the Board could wait until next month to write a letter
addressing the dangerous intersection situation with the County Roads, to allow
the Board a little more time to determine where and which intersections are
most in need of clearing. President
Jacobs reminded the Board that there are more than 30 miles of Roads in the
Heights, so it likely won’t be something that can be resolved in just one day
or even one month.
The General Manager
reported that she had an appointment scheduled for R. Sanchez Roofing to come
and give an estimate to repair the roof (water leaking in when it rains) the
next day (Tuesday 6/17). The Directors
asked her to have Ralph peek over at the roof covering the Restrooms also while
he is up there to see if it appears to need any work done as well. She also reported that she had an appointment
to meet with the new Accountant, Deb Bolton of Stewart’s Tax Service, for the
first time on Wednesday, July 2nd, so they can get started using QuickBooks for
all of the District’s future Book-keeping.
She continues to keep the website (blog) and Facebook page (106
followers) updated. Director Wilkey
asked if the Secretary had seen his message sent to her through Facebook. She had not.
He reported that neighbors should be on the
look-out for a white male, nicely dressed, going door to door representing GE
Alarm systems. He had an ID badge, but sounded fishy, so his wife told the man
to leave. Then when they called GE alarm to ask about it they were told that
they don't do door to door soliciting! They reported it to the Sheriff and
Director Wilkey asked the Secretary to please warn residents of the potential
danger through Facebook. The Secretary
thanked Director Hayhurst for helping her to purchase QuickBooks at Costco
recently for use in the office. Director
Hayhurst reminded the Secretary to ask the new Accountant about how/where to
get another copy of the District’s 401(c)3 designation letter that she had been
unable to locate.
President Jacobs requested
the Directors’ reports. They had nothing
further to report.
President Jacobs asked
the Secretary if there were any additional bills to be paid. She indicated that yes, there were three more
in addition to what was listed on the Agenda: The Verizon bill for $90.32 had just arrived,
plus the Costco receipt for the purchase of QuickBooks (reimbursement to
Director Hayhurst for $155.19), as well as the Rodent Gas Cartridges purchase
from USDA APHIS Wildlife Services for $217.46).
President Jacobs suggested that the statement he saw in the
Correspondence File from State Comp. Insurance Fund for $1055 annual coverage
be added also, so it can be paid for all at one time. Director Schendel motioned to pay the bills
as presented. Director Hayhurst seconded
the motion. Motion carried unanimously.
There was no New Business
to address. No Executive Session was requested. The next Regular Meeting was scheduled for
Monday, July 28th, 2014 at 6:00 PM. The
meeting adjourned at 7:12 PM.
Submitted by:
Jen Rubio - Secretary/General
Manager
