Oak Hills Citizens Association

Board Minutes of February 1, 2014

Purpose:  Initial Oak Hills Citizens Association (OHCA) Board meeting for calendar year 2014.

Location:  Starr and Bob Calo-oy’s home.

Time:  3:00 – 5:00PM

Attendance:

Name

Position

Present (yes / no)

Starr Calo-oy

President

yes

Della May Moore

Vice President

yes

John Moore

Treasurer

yes

Rebecca Smith

Secretary

yes

Cathleen Crabb

Architecture and Code Compliance

yes

Lance and Ellen Leone

Communications / Social Media

no

Bob Calo-oy

Events

yes

Nicky Evans

Hospitality  / Membership

yes

Wyatt Wheelis

Safety and Security

no

Wendy Long

Block Captains or Parks*

yes

 *Wendy identified that she will need to review the job description for each of the two noted committees to make an informed determination of the committee she will ultimately chair.

President’s Remarks

Starr opened the meeting extending her sincerest appreciation to each Board member for his / her involvement on the OHCA Board.  Star also expressed her personal commitment to the OHCA and her vision for Oak Hills to be a place to live “where neighbors know one another and help each other”.    Wendy further added to the sentiment by stating, “Neighbors should be witnesses for each other’s lives.”  

 2014 Events Calendar: Starr provided the Board members with a proposed schedule for conducting Board meetings, membership meetings and special events in 2014.  Starr reviewed the schedule and asked for comments from the Board members. The schedule was accepted as presented subject to the three modifications identified below:

  1. An additional Board meeting will be conducted on Sunday, March 2, 2014.  All other Board meeting dates stay unchanged. It was noted that the only Board meeting to be held at La Fonda will be on April 22, 2014. All other Board meetings will be conducted at Starr and Bob’s home.
  2. A motion was raised, which was passed, to delete the April 4-5, 2014 Neighborhood Garage Sale from the 2014 schedule.  As a separate but related matter, Starr advised the Board that Reagan Tucker will no longer be the lead for the OHCA garage sales.
  3. A motion was raised, which was passed, to change the location of the July 27, 2014 OHNA Quarterly Membership meeting. In lieu of La Fonda the meeting will be held at the “Muir Field Club House”.   Suggested formats for the meeting were discussed such as an ice cream social, a pot luck dinner, etc; however, the specific details of this event will be determined at a later date.

2014 Goals: Starr continued the meeting by requesting that each Board member identify goals for his/ her committee for 2014.  Starr also noted that she had several goals to share with the Board.  A summary of all goals is provided below for each committee.  In conjunction with the discussion of 2014 goals, Starr discussed a recent security issue within Oak Hills (theft of a truck and landscaping equipment) and noted that security should be considered a high priority when establishing goals.  All Board members were in agreement. At the conclusion of the identification of all potential goals, the Board unanimously agreed that to be successful in 2014 the goals must be incremental and achievable.

Starr advised that she will review the input from this meeting coupled with the budget plans that are to be submitted by each committee lead (see Treasurer’s notes below) to initiate plan building for 2014. The purpose of the above noted added Board meeting on March 2, 2014 will be to establish priorities and action items for 2014 to ensure goals are met.

Membership Drive:  OHCA is still striving to have 150 members.  As a part of the budget discussion it was identified that 109 members have paid 2014 dues. This is down from the 2013 membership level of 172.  John noted that reminder cards will be sent to all prior 2013 members who did not yet renew for 2014.  His estimate was that ~20-30 members would be added as a result of this reminder.  Beyond the reminder note cards it was discussed that Starr and each Board member could make a personal call to several neighbors who did not renew in an effort to gain more interest and membership in the OHCA. Details as to how this process will be handled are to be identified at a later date.

Specific Committee Information

  John Moore:   Treasurer

John’s Goal

  1. John will provide all Board members with a form via which each member is to identify specific events / expenses (i.e., budget) projected for 2014. He emphasized that it is imperative that any expense must be approved by the Board before it is incurred.
  2. The forms / budget information will be evaluated to determine priorities for expenditures in 2014.

John also provided the Board members with a comprehensive summary of the 2013 expenditures.

Lance and Ellen Leone:  Communications / Social Media

(Lance and Ellen were not present. Starr will conduct a follow-up meeting with both on February 7, 2014.)

Starr’s Goals

  1. Include a Real Estate Report in all newsletters.
  2. Update and enhance the neighborhood Website to include (but not limited to): A job description, phone number and picture of each OHCA Board member; covenants;  by-laws; photos of events; OHCA Calendar of Events; neighborhood history; directory for all members; Board Meeting Minutes; Security Alerts in “real-time” to all members.
  3. Solicit members to suggest creative ideas to enhance the Website.

A discussion was held that it may also be beneficial to include a clarification as to the purpose and use of the $50 membership fee via Website / newsletter.

Cathleen Crabb: Architecture and Code Compliance

Cathleen’s Goals:

  1. Investigate what the process / requirements are to conduct a successful Neighbor Home Tour in Oak Hills. She noted that Wendy, Della and she were meeting with Ernest Parker of “Monte Vista” on February 3, 2014 to fact find the process. The purpose of conducting a Neighborhood Home Tour would be to foster an awareness of the significant and beautiful mid-century architecture in Oak Hills in an attempt to attract new residents.  She noted that she would report back to the Board all details of this process for Board discussion of its merit.
  2. Archive paper plans / blueprints of neighbor houses.
  3. Pursue rezoning of Oak Hills from its current R5 (high density residential) status to a Neighborhood Preservation District.  She noted that Oak Hills is not an R5 area.

Bob Calo-oy: Events

Bob’s Goals:

  1. Evaluate the by-laws and pursue, as appropriate, establishment of a Ways and Means committee.  His overarching desire is to determine ways to raise money for the OHCA events.  An example provided was that the newsletter could have company sponsors.
  2. Determine what more could be done, if anything, to use the park area.
  3. In general foster new and creative ideas for events that will motivate member participation and attract new members.

Ideas such as conductiung Progressive Dinners and /or establishing a “yard-of-the-month” program were identified as possible events to consider.

Nicky Evans: Hospitality

Starr’s Goal:

Prepare a “Neighbor Welcome Package” for all new residents in Oak Hills.  The package would contain such items as follows: by-laws; neighbor association membership form; important area phone numbers (e.g., police, etc); garbage pickup schedule; Board member job descriptions, names and phone numbers; recent newsletter; current OHCA Calendar of Events; information regarding PAWS. The package would not be limited by the items noted but rather could be expanded, as seen necessary, to welcome new neighbors.

Nicki’s Goal:

Reinforce with the Block Captains the importance of advising her of:

1. All new neighbors

2. Feedback on any significant occurrences (e.g., serious illnesses, deaths, etc.) so that a card could be sent from the OHNA.

Wyatt Wheelis / Safety and Security

(Wyatt was not present. Starr will conduct a follow-up with him on February 7, 2014.)

Starr’s Goals

  1. Replace the signs for neighborhood watch.
  2. Change the “Block Captain” designation to another, more positive name such as “Street Representative” to foster more interest in the position.

Bob suggested an idea for having a private security guard for the neighborhood.

NEXT BOARD MEETING: Sunday March 2, 2014 at 4:00PM at Starr and Bob’s home.