Candlelight Oaks Civic Club, Inc
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting
December 12, 2019
2019 BOARD MEMBERS:
Sandy Ericksen President
Lori Bulla Vice-President & Pool Committee Chair
Charlie Bowman Acting Treasurer
Dan Gonzalez Co-Treasurer
Marilyn Harper Secretary & Acorn Editor
A.D. Koen Security Committee Chair
Michael Kuhnen Deed Restrictions Chair
Darin Lee Landscaping Chair
Cassie Ramsay Social Committee Chair
Johanna Wolfe Long Range Planning & Government Outreach
Present: Sandy Ericksen, Lori Bulla, Charlie Bowman, Johanna Wolfe, A.D. Koen, Cassie Ramsay, Marilyn Harper. Absent: Mike Kuhnen, Dan Gonzalez, Darin Lee. Guests: Amy Peck, Ricardo Valle, Roland Pena, E.B. Hawthorne, Ian O’Jon, Martin Reyna.
Sandy called the meeting to order at 7:35 pm. SEAL did not send a security speaker for this meeting. Johanna introduced the guest speaker, Amy Peck, runoff candidate for our City Council seat representing District A. Ms Peck said she has been the chief of staff for the outgoing, term-limited Brenda Stardig. Early voting results showed her leading the other runoff candidate, G.H. Zoes. One point Ms Peck stressed was that District A receives less than 1% of the project funding that City of Houston receives from taxpayers, while the average is 9% per city council district. She said District C receives the highest amount of city funding. Ms Peck said she intends to introduce a charter amendment to change the way funding is allocated, which is currently controlled by the Mayor. Our problems with traffic along Tidwell were described, including wrecks that break through CO backyard fences, but Ms Peck said that CoH does not have funds for reinforced fencing. The barrier fencing we see along some freeways was built by Texas Dept of Transportation. One item that she said she will ask HPD to use on Tidwell where it runs through our neighborhood is a new version of the unattended radar trailer. It reflects back each approaching car’s speed, but also sends data to HPD which identifies locations with speeding problems.
At 8:15, Mr Peck was ready to leave, and Sandy called for the board business session to start, so some of the residents who had come to see Amy Peck then left.
The Board then nominated and accepted the following officers and committee chairs: President: Sandy Ericksen; Vice President: Lori Bulla; Treasurer: Dan Gonzales; Secretary: Marilyn Harper. Board members who have been assisting Dan with particular Treasury chores — such as paying invoices that come to board email – Lori; checking the secure mailbox – Sandy; advice and assistance – Charlie — All agreed to continue doing these helpful things during 2020. There was discussion and consensus that the Board is not ready to let our “retired” banker Charlie Bowman retire completely yet, so we will keep him on The Acorn masthead for the coming year, as an assistant. All board members present who have a committee chairmanship agreed to continue for another year. These include Lori – Pool, A.D. – Security, Social – Cassie, Long Range Plans and Outreach – Johanna. Mike and Darin were absent, but assigned to their current chairs for Deed Restriction and Landscaping, pending their future agreement. Sandy then asked for committee end-of-the year reports.
Social: Cassie said everything was ready for the Santa event on Saturday the 14th. Santa Pat would be there for picture taking. She was bringing hot chocolate and snacks. The host homeowner Don Kiger was asking for Toys for Tots donations.
Deed Restrictions: Marilyn said that the next DR drive through would be sometime in January, but the date was not decided on.
Lights: Not a committee, but A.D. and Sandy were planning to take the Christmas Lights contest signs out for the judging on the evening of Sunday the 15th.
Pool: Lori said she was getting her 3rd bid for replastering the pool, and would be speaking with Darin’s referral. She expects to recommend a vendor to the board soon.
Security: A.D. said he still doesn’t have the sort of proposal he asked for from SEAL, showing the differences between the old contract with changes they want to make. The AGS security company that A.D., Sandy, and Marilyn visited in November finally sent the requested references. There was also a referral from Sgt Bonsey who used to patrol CO for Seal, to a friend of his who is a Harris County deputy, regarding security patrols conducted by deputies.
Landscaping: Darin could not be present, but he had sent an email earlier regarding a bid of $700, made by the landscaper who is mowing CO’s common areas, to do some tree work on the sidewalks on both sides of Tidwell. This will remove and haul away tree limbs that are hanging down over back fences and obstructing use of the sidewalks. Those trees belong to the owners of the back yards, but it was decided that cleaning up the sidewalks would greatly improve the appearance along Tidwell. Johanna proposed and Sandy seconded the motion to proceed with this job. The cost is covered by the budget line-item for Landscaping Extras for 2019.
Sandy adjourned the meeting at 9:20 pm.