BARSTOW HEIGHTS COMMUNITY SERVICES DISTRICT
REGULAR MEETING
Monday, January 22nd, 2018
President Jacobs called the meeting to order at 6:01 PM and Director Schendel led the group in the flag salute. All five directors were present (Jacobs, Schendel, Stapp, Hayhurst, and Low). There were no guests in attendance.
The consent items were reviewed. Director Stapp motioned to accept the minutes of the November 27th, 2017 meeting, along with the financial reports for November and December of 2017, as presented. Director Low seconded the motion. The motion carried unanimously.
The correspondence file was offered for review. President Jacobs called attention to the Christmas cards received from various agencies that the district does business with.
Barstow Heights Park was addressed. The safety check list from the City of Barstow was reviewed. There were no new safety or maintenance issues listed. The report stated that the City provided five new inserts (plastic liners) for the new trash can receptacles recently installed by JDR Construction. President Jacobs reported that the ground squirrels continue to be controlled. President Jacobs also reported that the City of Barstow had remedied the rust problem on the metal foundation plates that support the picnic canopies. The City sanded the plates and sealed them to prevent future corrosion. The pepper tree that had been replaced three weeks prior was discussed. There was some uncertainty about which of the two trees had been the dead tree, until Director Low confirmed that Unique Landscaping did in fact replace the correct tree. Unfortunately, the other pepper tree that had been healthy a few weeks prior, was now currently dead also. The Secretary will report it to Unique Landscaping. The need for two more trash cans, one near the south exit of the park and another one to replace the 55-gallon metal drum can (that tips over easily) near the restrooms at BHP, was discussed. President Jacobs informed the board that there were three left-over pedestal mounts for the trash cans, since a few of the cans were able to be bolted into a cement slab foundation instead. The Board will discuss the need for more trash cans again next month.
Venner Park was addressed. The safety check list from the City of Barstow was reviewed. There were no new safety or maintenance issues listed. The report stated that the City provided ten more new inserts (plastic liners) for the new trash can receptacles recently installed by JDR Construction. Director Hayhurst reminded the secretary about the safety issue at Venner park that she had been made aware of when she had been visiting the office the week prior. The secretary had received a message on the office answering machine from an unknown resident who let us know that a piece of metal re-bar was sticking out from a plastic bridge (part of the children’s playground equipment). The secretary called Mark Gerardi to inform him right away and his crew found and fixed the issue immediately. She will talk to Mr. Gerardi again about the two missing caps on the exercise equipment that need replacing.
Director Stapp updated the board about the most recent progress made on the shade cover project (two canopies to cover the playground areas at Venner Park and one to shade the playground at BHP). He’s now working with the third representative of the company put in charge of the project. The color choices were emailed by the secretary (again) to the newest project manager. After several weeks of email correspondence, Director Stapp was reassured last Friday (1/19) that the permits were finally approved by the County and that APC Play had begun the construction of the structures. The construction process is expected to take approximately 4-6 weeks, and then the install is expected to be scheduled to happen in mid-March.
The need to have the old concrete trash cans removed (9 at Venner park and 4 at BHP) was discussed. The excessive weight of the trash cans means they can’t just be hauled away easily and will require the use of heavy-lifting equipment. The Board reviewed the estimate from John Rowe to remove and dispose of all of them. Director Hayhurst motioned to approve the bid to remove all 13 concrete trash cans and hire JDR Construction to do the job for $2,200. President Jacobs seconded the motion. A few more ideas and options were discussed. The motion passed with 4 votes in favor and 1 against.
The office building and compound were addressed. The secretary reported and showed the board that the kitchen renovations were now complete, including new linoleum flooring that had just been installed two weeks prior. A few small touch-up items still need to be addressed, including the painted wood-trim border on one counter that was missing and the door to the hallway that needs painting, but overall, everyone was pleased with the updated look of the kitchen. She also reported that Director Hayhurst had come to the office the week prior to help her sort through the old boxes of files that had been stacked and stored in the hallway. A few (very few) things of historical interest were saved, but most of it can and should be disposed of. The secretary will be hiring Shred Your Docs to come and shred approximately ten boxes full of paperwork at very minimal cost.
The general manager updated the board about her recent meeting with the accountant and what needed to be done to reconcile a few checks that had remained uncashed by the directors. She also reported that the 1099 (for one director) and 1096 forms that required filing by the end of January were going to be handled and submitted by Stewart’s Business and Tax Service. Options for designing and printing up new official district letterhead were discussed. She also reminded the Directors that four of them need to complete their ethics compliance training courses online by March 15th.
President Jacobs asked if the directors had anything more to report. Director Schendel reported that potholes on his street had been filled and fixed recently. Director Stapp reported that County road crews had been working on his street also. He went out and talked with them and learned that there are two different crews; one that fills in all the smaller cracks that are 1-3 inches in size with hot tar, and another crew that fills in the larger cracks/holes. The larger repairs require more time to fix. The crew is on a rotating schedule, where they do as much as they can in the Heights for a week or two, and then are assigned to other areas in the County, before coming back about 4-6 weeks later to do more work in the Heights. Director Hayhurst confirmed that she had also been told again that the upper heights can expect to get some much-needed chip sealing done by April or May. She was also anticipating that the water company will be ready to remove the water tower in front of the office building near the end of the year. President Jacobs confirmed that the new water lines up near his home had been installed and tested and are ready for service. The construction of a new water tank at the top of the Heights is still in progress, but its completion is also expected by the end of the year.
President Jacobs asked the secretary if there were any additional bills to be presented. She indicated that there were none. Director Schendel motioned to pay all the bills, as presented. Director Low 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, February 26th at 6:00 PM. The meeting adjourned at 7:04 PM.
Submitted by:
Jen Rubio
Secretary/General Manager
