Candlelight Oaks Civic Club, Inc.
Minutes of Board of Directors Meeting
May 10, 2018
Present: Jill Prado Salyers, Lori Bulla, Darilene Bonnet, Michel Kuhnen, AD Koen, Richard Solis. Absent: Sandy Ericksen, Amelie Fredland, Darin Lee. Residents: Marilyn Harper. Guests: SEAL Sgt Bonsey
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 7:39PM, meeting was called to order by Michael Kuhnen.
SECURITY: Sgt. Bonsey reviewed the monthly SEAL Report, showing the most prevalent concerns were the heavy trash piles related to Harvey (approx.. 22 piles) scattered around the neighborhood, heavy traffic on Tidwell causing drivers to cut through our neighborhood, drivers not respecting the stop sign at Bolivia and Fallen Oaks, and door-to-door solicitors, which were approached by SEAL officers. As for the Bolivia stop sign: On April 19, 18 cars ran the stop sign (16 were known residents), 38 did a slow-roll through and 27 cars did stop, all within a 30 minute period. On April 4, a total of 53 cars passed through this intersection; 11 cars ran the stop sign and 23 cars did a roll-through (10-11 were known residents), which shows this intersection continues to be a concern. The Board has started to use the Post Order Form to request additional services from SEAL during their shifts. Residents are encouraged to call 311 for trash issues and related support. On April 23, there was a two-car accident on Bolivia; HPD was not called and both drivers were able to drive away.
A.D. will send to Amelie the new SEAL Vacation Request Form to post on our website. Marilyn will put in next Acorn a writeup about the Vacation Watch and the Security Contacts on the back page will include the online Vacation Watch form. A.D. followed up with the SEAL signs proposed at the April meeting with Gill, and Gill gave a very competitive bid to produce the same signs. A.D. visited the various sign locations to determine which posts were reusable, may purchase 1-2; will need 5 signs plus one at pool entrance. Gill quoted $80/ea for 18×24”reflective signs and will make a mock-up sign first. A.D. will determine best place to post the pool entrance SEAL sign. A.D. spoke to Gill about SEAL receiving CO maps with actual addresses on them.
TREASURER REPORT: Nothing to report. Charlie is helping Jill with collections. Currently there are many residents past due, some of whom owe for past years.
LONG RANGE PLANNING: Michael will continue to keep the playground fence pickets in good shape and research other fencing options for 2019 budget.
POOL: Lori reported we now have 11 (up from 8 last month) memberships, 1 party is booked, and all membership cards have been activated and are working properly. We received the Pool Permit paperwork from the City of Houston; Jill will insure payment is sent in time. OSL will start their swim classes first week of June for 2 weeks, and then have their Friday swims. Lori will continue to explore options to replace some of the pool fencing; one photo was sent to the Board. Currently, a tree near the front entrance is the only thing holding up the broken wrought iron fencing. Michael motioned to remove the broken fence section including the outer gate at the Oakhaven cul-de-sac; seconded by Lori. Ray Cowart will be paid to do this.
PLAYGROUND: Slide is still broken, as stated in 2 previous monthly Minutes. Michael will contact Kaboom for a solution. The Board thanks resident Dave d’Agrella who smoothed out and filled potholes on the road from Tidwell leading to the playground. Marilyn will write this up in the next Acorn.
DEED RESTRICTIONS: Michael, Sandy, and Marilyn drove through in May. Michael will work on a spreadsheet to track violations, which may help during drive-throughs to monitor response to DR letters.
LANDSCAPING: Darin was absent, but the board is beginning to look at bids solicited by Darilene and by Darin. Darilene wants to hire a landscaping company she had used before on a job, and they bid on an initial massive cleanup on both fenced sidewalk sides of Tidwell running through Candlelight Oaks. This involved cutting down trees that are growing there and branches hanging over the fences, trimming all overgrowth, trimming and filling in the grass area from the sidewalk along Tidwell to the resident fences so as not to have any more vegetation here, and hauling off all debris. Board members advised Darilene that the sidewalk area between the fence and the Tidwell curb belong to each homeowner, and COCC cannot cut down any trees there. The Board also cannot cut any trees on the Tidwell esplanades, as those belong to the city. Darilene is concerned about excess leaves that fall from trees ending up in curb drainage system.
SOCIAL: The next event will be the Memorial Day & Splash Day party on May 28. Richard will provide Gabby’s BBQ, with side dishes brought by attendees. Marilyn asked about progress with the Children’s Lending Library boxes that were offered to us by HISD Trustee Rhonda Skillern-Jones. Richard will need volunteers to help him pick up the Libraries, which are attached to a concrete pad and very heavy. The boxes are at an HISD storage site. Discussions involved providing a park bench beside the library boxes, a dedication event, and possible locations in the neighborhood. Marilyn suggested getting the Cardozas involved once the boxes are brought here, since the original idea came from Mrs Cardoza.
OLD BUSINESS: Marilyn gave feedback to Darilene regarding the Board Meeting Minutes, incomplete and misspelled names, and format; feedback was accepted.
Meeting adjourned at 9:25PM.