Candlelight Oaks Civic Club, Inc.
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting
April 12, 2018
Present: Sandy Ericksen, Lori Bulla, Darilene Bonnet, Michel Kuhnen, AD Koen, Richard Solis.
Absent: Jill Prado Salyers, Amelie Fredland, Darin Lee. Residents: Marilyn Jo Harper. Guests: SEAL Sgt Bonsey, SEAL Officer Malcolm, and Laura (SEAL Management)
2018 BOARD OFFICERS:
Sandy Ericksen President
Amelie Fredland Vice-President; Deed Restrictions Support
Jill Prado Salyers Treasurer
Darilene Bonnet Secretary
Lori Bulla Pool Committee Chair
A.D. Koen Security Committee Chair
Michael Kuhnen Deed Restrictions Chair; Long-Range Planning
Richard Solis Social Chair; Acorn Delivery
Darin Lee Landscaping Chair
Charlie Bowman Asst. to Treasurer / Financial
*Marilyn Jo Harper Acorn Editor 2018
At 7:34PM, meeting was called to order by Sandy Ericksen.
SECURITY: SEAL presented their monthly report, explaining a collision that occurred on Tidwell and Antoine which ended at the entrance to the pool. Although SEAL was not involved, they were called and said they considered this a bad accident, where a lady had been driven over by an 18 wheeler truck, survived and was taken to a nearby hospital. HPD was promptly on the scene. Also a concern is the soliciting challenges in Harris County. SEAL stated that 99 % of the door-to-door sales people (appointment setters) in our neighborhoods are 3rd party vendors, not people casing our homes. This is not a top priority for HPD; cable, newspaper, electric companies actually have permits to come door-to-door.
We now have a new SEAL contract for 2018 to replace the one from 2015, the provisions of which were discussed by Laura & Malcolm (SEAL managers) with AD and Sandy at the SEAL offices; changes were made, although the hourly rate for this service will remain the same. The Board reviewed the annually renewable contract, was asked their opinion on changes. Prices will remain the same, however, some of the changes will enhance SEAL’s services to Candlelight Oaks. The Post Order Form was presented, whereby the Board may specifically request SEAL officers to report on Deed Restrictions, trees down and a variety of additional services during the officer’s patrol, simply by completing this form. Other services are: (1) SEAL can study traffic patterns at intersections where drivers are not respecting stop signs; (2) make lists of Harvey related-trash with the addresses so 311 can be called for pick up; (3) change officer schedules to overnight or late, to mention a few. AD will look at reports and trends, to make recommendations to SEAL for adjusting the summer schedule. Any schedule changes will not be shared with the Board prior to the changes.
Our Security Budget is a total of $50,000 and currently we are below this amount. There was a discussion to raise the hours of coverage by 10 hours. Signage, electricity, fencing, lighting, gate system, and a few other expenses are in this budget and must be considered before adding hours. With the new pool card system, Lori now has the ability to lock residents out after 10 PM.
AD looked at SEAL security signage at all the entrances, made note of our needs, and will work with Michael to get them ordered. Michael also wanted a sign at the entry to the pool road; AD agreed. There was a motion to approve a sign budget of $825.00, and seconded. The signs will be a purchase for COCC by AD and he will consider the one with the K-9 included. Michael wanted a formal sign proposal from SEAL, which will be provided. AD will send this proposal to the Board for review prior to his order for 6 signs. It was decided to ask printer Gill Daoust about some additional signage around the pool, including PRIVATE PROPERTY, NO TRESPASSING, CO physical address, pool hours, which can be “reflective” for easy reading.
TREASURER REPORT: Jill was absent due to illness; there was nothing reported. She has been working very hard on ledgers / bank deposits, collecting past dues and is making good progress on 2017 final P&L. Michael, Charlie, Jill and Sandy met to review the 2 boxes of Records, to find they were in pretty good shape. Proledge will be called to help once things are in good order for an audit. Darilene sent to Jill 2 samples of Check Request Forms which Michael thought were a good idea to use moving forward, to help her tracking checks to projects/expenses. Board discussed looking at how to make forms available on our website.
LONG RANGE PLANNING: Michael brought up the fact that we need to plan for Budget 2019, projects, fences, landscaping, improvements, picnic tables, etc. and getting prices for these projects in June/July 2018.
POOL: Lori reported we have 8 memberships so far, and will use a spreadsheet to track memberships. OSL has paid to use our pool and the new card reader will allow the class to enter on the agreed upon days. In order to clean the pool after closing, Lori has changed the gate closing time to 9:00PM, but those already swimming may stay until 10:00PM. Ray capped off a pipe that was leaking, which was at one time an input of water to the pool underneath the diving board, and he painted the restroom floors. Richard has some repairs to handle before pool gets busy. Marilyn suggested that Amelie post the Pool Membership Form on our website.
DEED RESTRICTIONS: Drive-through was done on March 24th, and visible improvements were noted, per Michael. Harvey debris is still a problem, but is currently being resolved because Board members are calling 311 to identify the locations; SEAL has helped in this regard noting problem areas in their reports. Drive-throughs happen every 6-8 weeks, next being May 5. Gill Daoust, who prints the Acorn, has undertaken a personal project to print up the Deed Restrictions for all 4 sections of CO. This will be Gill’s gift to Candlelight Oaks, including a map of CO. The Board will give him feedback before the DR booklet is released.
LANDSCAPING: Darin was not in attendance.
SOCIAL: Our Easter Event went very nicely, the Board agreed. The next event will be the Memorial Day party & Splash Day. Marilyn suggested BBQ, a break from chicken. Richard will make sure it is a crowd pleaser.
PLAYGROUND: Last month it was reported that a slide was broken, which has not yet been fixed. Sandy will follow up with Kaboom on this. The playground fencing is still in the works regarding a proposal by Lori, to replace the often vandalized white picket fence. Marilyn asked what happened to the idea of the Children’s Free Library which many residents had expressed interest in last year.
OLD BUSINESS: There was another discussion about a financial Audit, but as yet, we do not have a timeframe to schedule one. The Board will collect bids. Darilene made a motion to budget for an audit, which was not seconded. Michael stated it was not budget time, however, if we can carve out some money this year, we will. It was agreed this is a normal business practice and Board agrees to have one.
Meeting adjourned at 9:25PM.