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Westside Improvement Association
Board Meeting
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Burdette Park Shelter House #18
4:00 p.m.
Board Members Attending: Berning, Dot; Cleek, Linda;
Euler, Skip; Farmer, Paul; Gerteisen, Wayne; Harty, Bill; James, Shirley; Moers,
Joyce; Nix, Ava; Outlaw, DeAnna; Padgett, Fred; Runge, Mel; Sensmeier, Bernice;
Stagg, Carolyn; Wentzel, Sam
Other Members Attending: Craig, Steve; James, Richard
Excused Absences: Lockard, Michael; Thompson, George
Guests Speakers: Gerald Reutter, and John Blair
Secretary’s Report: Brenda Jeffers passed out the minutes from the last
meeting, March 22. Minutes were approved on a motion and a second from Farmer
and James.
President Linda Cleek called the board meeting to order at 4:00 p.m.
President Linda Cleek announced that Secretary Betty Baumgartner has resigned
and asked for someone to take the minutes for this meeting until a replacement
is found. Joyce Moers volunteered to take the minutes for this meeting only. A
replacement is needed by the May meeting.
Treasurer’s Report: Fred Padget presented the treasurer’s report for the
month of March 2006, and passed out a comparison report for the actual expenses
for the calendar year 2005 along with a year-end comparison for the years of
1995 thru 2005.
Announcements and Comments:
Jim Gillenwater has sent a letter of resignation to President Linda Cleek. This
creates another vacancy from the board. This vacancy can be filled or can be
left vacant.
The budget for 2006 needs to be approved. The board discussed the suggestion of
creating a line item for donation requests .
Old Business - none
New Business - Action Items
Cleek asked the board to pass the budget for the current year of 2006. The
question “how much do we have to spend on donations?” was asked at the last
meeting. Discussion was held on the suggestion of adding a line item to the
budget for donation requests. This would give the board an idea of how much to
give to various requests when they come up. Any amount left at the end of the
year will roll over to the next calendar year. The amount can be adjusted at any
future date if the board so chooses to do so.
Padget informed the board of donations approved during the previous years:
Jan, 2003 Wabash $2500
Mar. 2003 Howell Wetlands $450.00
Apr. 2003 Pigeon Creek Greenway $350.00
Oct. 2004 W.S. Soccer Club $1400.00
Sept. 2005 Nut Club Booth-Electric $800.00
Scholarship each year $2000.00
Brief explanation on the different types of accounts, restricted,
non-restricted, and scholarship was given by Padget.
Hardy suggested to leave budget “as is”; Jeffers commented that it is good
business practice to have an amount set aside for donations; Runge suggested
that we have a 2/3 vote to use funds from the restricted account and asked about
the interest rates currently being earned; Padget said he would look into it.
Cleek suggested that we set in a donation line item $4,000.00 from the
non-restricted funds for one year then review it next year; Berning and
Gerteisen agreed; Farmer felt that we need to study the restricted funds more
and should make sure there are sufficient funds for the annual scholarships; to
set in $4,000.00 in a donation line item was approved on a motion and a second
from James and Farmer.
One opposed.
Cleek suggested that we also add a line item for the National Night Out Event,
general meeting expenses and our Annual Picnic. $200.00 set in line item for
National Night was approved on a motion and a second from Jeffers and James.
$200.00 was agreed on for general meeting expenses and should be paid as
necessary - no line item is needed. $600.00 set in line item for Annual Picnic
was approved on a motion and second from Jeffers and James. Padget accepted the
budget with the approved amendments.
Guest Speaker: Mr. Reutter came before the board to ask for our help to petition
against an new development and rezoning at the corner of Hwy. 65 and Hwy 66.
They had been successful in the past and do want to see this corner rezoned
commercial. He has been told by the land owner that they want to put a tractor
shop in there. He lives right across from this corner has heard it could
possibly be a gas station and mini mart. Reutter passed around a petition for
signatures. The board passed a motion of support with a second from Runge and
Padget.
John Blair: James introduced Mr. Blair as the Valley Watch President since 1981.
Blair explained that Valley Watch is a watch group for public health and
environmental issues. He is requesting money to help him pay legal fees to block
the construction of two power plants owned by Peabody Energy that has Evansville
right in the middle no matter which way the wind blows. After much discussion
and explanation from Blair the board voted to donate $750.00 this year toward
the cause to challenge these two power plants and to revisit the issue again
next year for a possible additional donation of $750.00 by a motion from
Gerteisen and Farmer. More detailed information can be found on their website
www.valleywatch.net .
Committee Reports
Land Use - Padget reported
Padget reported that there are some rezonings coming up on Broadway and the
Mayse Market which he will have more on later. The rezoning for corner Hwy 65
and 66 will be discussed by Mr. Reutter who is here today.
Berning reported that when she began to check into the needed cleanup at the
corner of Diamond and Hwy 66 that it had already been cleaned up and everything
was gone. It was suggested that they have moved to Covert Ave.
Picnic Committee -
Moers reported that she met with her committee on Apr. 20 and have outlined the
picnic plans to date in a handout she gave each member. Picnic will start at
12:00 noon on Saturday, Sept. 16 at the Shelter House #13. Horseshoes,
basketball and cards will be available for those interested. Food will be served
at 1:00 p.m. The planned program will be entertainment by “Elvis” an
impersonator immediately following the meal. Then a park tour will be given
highlighting all the recent improvements being done at the park and future plans
for the trail connecting Burdette Park and USI. At the last picnic the tour was
focused on the history and historical aspects of the park. Food and drinks will
be provided by the Westside Improvement Association.
Parks -
Craig reported that James, Moers and himself attended at meeting with Ray Irwin
from INDOT that sparked a lot of interest in bike trails and that they can be
added by just putting up signs. He informed the board that he is working with
Dave Stensass from MPO and some of the bike clubs in town to develop a bike
trail in the bottoms with an Oasis at Dogtown. He said there are even some
sponsors interested in helping to develop this bike trail. There will be 4
trails from easy to more difficult. He will have more at the general meeting to
report.
UNOE Committee -
James reported that the date needs to be set and a letter sent for the clean up
day with the Westside Nut Club and USI. It was also reported that Hilltop had
their clean up day and they got 23 bags and Mt. Auburn had a clean up and they
used a dumpster. All were successes.
Jeffers reported that the WAVE flyer had been added as an insert into the Earth
Day newsletter.
Due to the time all other reports were deferred to the next meeting.
Next Meeting
The next meeting will be general meeting and will be held at Burdette Park on
May 18 at 7 p.m. Location will be determined at a later date .
The meeting was adjourned at 6:45 p.m.
Joyce Moers
Acting Secretary
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