1.
Meeting Called to Order at 6:40 by President Maryann Polizzi
2.
A motion was made to amend the agenda by Kimberly Trainor. Seconded by Bob
Rashkin. The motion passed.
3.
Roll Call: Maryann Polizzi,
Chris Diserio, Irene Guthrie, Chip Guthrie, David Chapnick, Sharon Chapnick, Kimberly
Trainor, Lynn Foley, Bill Foley, Brian Luongo, Theresa Deveaux, Lauri Bigos, Jasmine
Bigos, Bob Rashkin, Cheryl Rashkin, Coleman Veach, Ted Johnson.
4.
A motion was made by Ted Johnson to accept the minutes from the general
meeting on March 9, 2015. The
motion was seconded by Kimberly Trainor.
The motion passed.
5.
Treasurer’s Report. Irene
Guthrie reported:
March
Balance: 3,027.63
Dues
Receipts: 140
Paypal
Receipts: 197.40
Total
Distributions: 314.95
Starbucks
gift cards: 50
Ted
Johnson reimburse: 20
Palm
Beach Post ads: 41.95
Bank
Charge: 3
New
Balance: $3,050.08
A motion was made by Cheryl Rashkin to accept the
Treasurer’s Report. The motion was
seconded by Bill Foley. The motion
passed.
6.
Theresa Deveaux made a motion to accept Chris Diserio as interim
secretary. The motion was seconded
by Chip Guthrie. The motion passed.
7.
There was a brief discussion about various SPPA committees including the
median committee, the social committee, the crime watch committee and the raft
race committee. Please volunteer
for any committees you may be interested in. Participation is appreciated.
8.
REAP Grant Report. Thanks
to Sharon Chapnick who has been taking the REAP classes to qualify us to apply
for various grants available through the county. Specifically, she has been working on three individual
grants: one to help fund the South
Palm Park Association Neighborhood Crime Watch (crime watch grant), another to
help provide funding for such neighborhood projects as all-encompassing SPP
agendas and calendars printed on card stock, new neighbor welcome bags and new
meeting signs (communication grant), and the third is to help provide funding
for tents, table and chair rentals, port-a-potty and food associated with the
SPP New Year’s Eve event (safety night grant). All three grant applications were due during the final REAP
class on the evening of April 7.
Applying for these grants has been challenging with
one of the biggest difficulties being obtaining timely and accurate quotes. The grant applications ask that all
expenditures be submitted with three identical quotes. Also, the safety night grant requires quotes
for food and vendors are hesitant to provide that information so far in
advance. The number of potential
vendors can be limiting as well as it is advantageous to use county approved
vendors as they can be reimbursed directly by the county with no outlay
required by SPPA.
Each of the three grants will require volunteer
hours to distribute literature, put out meeting signs, etc. Those hours will need to be verified
and turned into the county during the period of the grants. Suggestions were given for other
possible vendors. Three separate
motions were made regarding these grants.
With respect to the crime watch grant, Cheryl
Rashkin made a motion to accept the crime watch grant with the total project
cost being $7,436.08 with donations to the project totaling $5,246.22 and the
final amount requested from Palm Beach County coming to $2,190.49. SPPA is not required to guarantee or
put up any funds for the crime watch grant. Chip Guthrie seconded the motion and the motion passed.
With regards to the communications grant, $3,200
will be requested through the grant and SPPA would be required to have half of
the grant request in the treasury.
Chip Guthrie made a motion to approve and submit the communications
grant. Cheryl Rashkin seconded the
motion and it was approved.
With regards to the third grant, the safety night
grant, some discussion was had about charging a fee for the party on New Year’s
Eve and how that would affect the grant application. Specifically, if SPPA could show that money had already been
committed to the event, that would weigh favorably during the review of the
grant. It was mentioned that
charging for the event has been part of the problem, not only getting people to
commit to paying but to get them to commit to paying early, before the event
takes place. Chip Guthrie made a
motion to approve $750 out-of-pocket expenses for the safety night grant. It was mentioned that money for the
neighborhood banners (approximately $800) had been committed as part of the
median grant. About $600 of that
amount is expected to be reimbursed by the county. David Chapnick seconded the motion and the motion was
approved.
9.
Crime Watch Report. Chris
Diserio reported that much of what has taken place within the last month has
been the collection of information necessary to apply for the crime watch
grant. As a reminder, the grant
will provide funding and labor for the purchase and installation of the crime
watch signs as well as literature to help promote the program throughout
SPP.
Additionally, a meeting was held on March 17 to
discuss the possibility of implementing some sort of a text alert system to
more quickly notify neighbors of criminal activity in the area. The attendees were made up, in part, of
those who volunteered for the crime watch committee back in September of
2014. The text alert system was
not part of the crime watch grant application. No other decisions regarding the text alert system were made
and it will be discussed at later meetings.
Bob Rashkin reminded the group that SPP did not
have to wait for the crime watch grant approval to register with the PBSO as a
neighborhood crime watch. Pursuit
of the program had already been approved at the general meeting on October 13,
2014 and there were benefits to signing up while waiting for the grant to be
approved. Those benefits included
the fact that our registering with the PBSO could be included in our grant
application and we could benefit from communication directly from the PBSO if
they felt there was criminal activity in the neighborhood that SPP should be
made aware of. On March 19, SPP
officially registered as a neighborhood crime watch with the PBSO, with the
March 17 meeting qualifying as our first neighborhood crime watch meeting. Initially, the crime watch meetings
will be kept separate from the general meetings so they don’t get lost before
or after a meeting. The second crime watch meeting will be in South Palm Park
at the end of April and everyone is welcome to attend.
The key to this and any crime watch program is to
continue to look out for our neighbors and our neighborhood by notifying the
PBSO of any emergencies (911) or to report suspicious activity
(561-688-3400).
10.
Median Report. Chip Guthrie
reported that there was another complaint made to the City of Lake Worth
regarding the vegetation in the median, specifically the area of 14th
avenue. The City notified Chip and
he met with Felipe Lofaso from the City who clarified some of the median
standards that the City is relying on, specifically 20 feet from the endcaps
and 24-32 inches high. These
standards are different from DOT standards. Of particular concern are the split leaf philodendrons. Some replacements were discussed
including a type of thick ficus hedge used on Federal Hwy. just south of West
Palm Beach. It is dense and slow-growing
but does not flower. No decisions
were made regarding the ficus, but the City is going to continue to clean up
endcaps and clean up cabbage palms around lights. It was mentioned that the City is running behind and short-staffed
so they will be doing what they can, when they can.
11.
Ted Johnson presented the board with a $900 check from the county as
reimbursement from the median improvement grant. SPPA was not reimbursed for associated sales tax for the
2014 median planting as the county does not pay sales tax and therefore does
not reimburse for it either. Approximately
$800 associated with the median grant is still allocated for neighborhood banners
and SPPA should be reimbursed for all but about $200 of that. The difference being that there is not
as much labor involved with the banners when compared to the plantings. Mary Lindsay is ordering all of the
banners for all of the neighborhood associations. New butterfly gardens will be probably be limited to those
that have been planted in the park.
Some new hedges and / or coco plums to replace those that did not
survive may be considered.
12.
Social Calendar and Social Media.
The Easter Egg Hunt was changed to the morning and some changes
regarding the progressive dinner were suggested on the Nextdoor website. Those suggested changes to the
progressive dinner included changes to the method of reimbursing hosts as well
as the format of the dinner. Board
members reiterated that these types of topics should be brought to the board
first before any decisions are made and before they are made public through
social media or other public forums.
There was also a discussion about the SPPA Facebook
page. The page used to be secret,
meaning even if someone was looking for it, they could not find it or its
content in a search and needed to be invited to become a member. The page had recently been changed to
private, meaning somebody still needed to be invited to join and participate,
but its content could be viewed by outsiders. Members have been told that the page was only visible to the
group (secret). There was a
discussion as the whether the Facebook page should be private or secret. That led to a discussion of the
Facebook page’s effectiveness as a marketing / recruiting / communication tool
to provide information to prospective members as well as other
information. It was mentioned that
block captains and the website can serve those purposes as well. David Chapnick made a motion to make the
Facebook page secret. Cheryl
Rashkin seconded the motion and the motion passed.
There was further discussion about the Nextdoor
website. It was started as a trial
because it has some tools that the website doesn’t, namely classified
advertising, among others. The
Nextdoor forum will be discussed at a later date as well as clarification of
some sort of social media policy. In the meantime, a motion was made by Cheryl Rashkin to disable
the SPP Nextdoor site until there is further discussion. Brian Luongo seconded the motion and
the motion passed.
13.
A Raft Race Committee will be formed. The theme for this year’s race is “Books on Water.” Fifty
Shades of Gray has already been taken by another neighborhood. The fee to participate is $50 to the
NAPC. Please bring all raft theme
ideas to the general meeting on April 13.
14.
The Starbucks cards originally purchased to give to members of the PBSO will
be given out at future meetings.
15.
Maryann thanked those board members that continue to go out and talk to
neighbors on their blocks to promote the SPPA.
16.
Maryann still has not been given any more information about our share of
the tip money earned for volunteering at the Street Painting Festival.
17.
Thanks to all those who volunteered for Pride Fest and the St. Patrick’s
Day Parade, especially Maryann, Chip and Irene.
18.
SPP is responsible for staffing the beer tent and front porch at the Evening
on the Avenue on May 1. We will be
responsible to staff July 3rd as well. We are allowed to sell items to raise money for SPPA and the
July 3 date is always a very busy night.
Eight more volunteers are needed for each date, so please help if you
can. It’s a lot of fun and a great
way to meet people and possibly raise some money for SPPA.
19.
There was a discussion of how often to hold board meetings and general
meetings during the summer. The crime
watch group will meet during the summer.
No other decisions were made.
20.
The Progressive Dinner will be on Saturday, April 25. It will begin at 6:00 for appetizers. At 7:15-ish, the party will travel to a
different location for the entrée portion of the meal. At about 8:30 the party will head to
Jim Durbin’s house for dessert.
Tickets for the event are $10 per person. SPPA will receive 1/5 of the money collected, the dessert
and appetizer hosts will each receive 1/5 of the money collected, and the entrée
host will receive 2/5 of the money collected. It is important to get an accurate head count ahead of time,
so please sign up and purchase your tickets in advance. Volunteers are being sought for the
appetizer and entrée portions of the event. If you are hosting or thinking of hosting, others will be more
than willing to help out with food and preparations. It’s a lot of fun and one of the best events of the
year. David Chapnick made a motion
to have just one neighborhood-wide progressive dinner, on April 25, with no
limit placed on the number of attendees.
Theresa Deveaux seconded the motion and the motion passed. Cut off day for tickets will be Sunday,
April 19, so be sure to purchase your tickets before then.
21.
There was a brief discussion of advertisements on the website. The Beach House will be added to the
website at some point. No other
decisions were made.
22.
Ted Johnson made a motion to adjourn. Theresa Deveaux seconded and the meeting was adjourned at approximately
8:10.
Submitted
by:
Chris
Diserio
