Civic Association of West Springfield Village
General Membership Meeting Minutes
12 May 2022
Call to Order – 7:30 PM – President John Cooley. John determined that we had a quorum which allowed us to continue to vote as needed during the meeting. He explained why we changed meeting venues - FCPS now demands we have liability insurance to also cover them before we can use the school. Cost of such is above $300.00 per year and considered prohibitive for the two meetings we have each year.
Self-Introductions –
Minutes from Last (October 2021) Meeting – Secretary Molly Alonzo – report present by John Cooley - minutes from the October 2021 meeting were vetted by those who attended that meeting and then posted to our website. Similarly, those attending this meeting will receive draft minutes for your review and changes as may be needed before they will also be posted to the website.
Vice President Comments – Bernie Koehle – Bernie expressed concern about large trash items being left on the curbside. An article will be included in the next enews suggesting folks schedule special pickup by their trash company before they put such items curbside.
Past President Comments – Jeff Carter – NTR (nothing to report)
Financial Report – by unanimous consent – Jim Womack was confirmed to take over as Treasurer from Nelson Ritchie who was reassigned and relocated by his work. As of 9 May 2022, we have an adjusted bank balance of $11,864.97 of which $349 is prepaid memberships for FY23 and beyond. Have only had a couple expenses for photocopying plus the initial cost of RR median maintenance $536.25 leaving $1608.75 still owed for this cutting season. Depending on new President – plan to prepay 2023 mowing early in October this year.
Executive Council Reports:
1. Membership – Julia Hale – report presented by John Cooley - Our fiscal budgets are based on 350 dues-paying members. Ideally, each of our 438 households will want to be part of the community and willing to volunteer to do certain tasks as they arise. Based on a recommendation, we invested $185.50 in yard signs to put out during the membership drive (August – November each year). Folks can join at any time during the membership / fiscal year and can pre-pay for next year(s) after we set the dues amount during this meeting. New neighbors arriving our village after 1 November are granted free membership for the rest of that fiscal year. We are thankful for residents of the Rolling Valley (East) subdivision who have or will join our CAWSV.
2. Community Directory – Andrea Lewis – report made by John Cooley – constructive criticism and comments to improve are always welcome.
3. Website – Bob Havey – John introduced Bob’s report with praise of our professionally-managed website that attracts many outliers to our area. Bob reported that he welcomes ideas and constructive criticism. He also asked for more village-life pictures to post. Bob is also experimenting with an interactive calendar that may benefit all.
4. Neighborhood Watch – Jeff Carter - Incidence of crime in the village is still very low, but we aren’t insulated from it. We, like other communities, have experienced some random attempts to steal vehicles or stuff left stored in unsecure, parked cars. Now that warmer weather is here, suggest all conduct another security check of their home and yards. Check for locked vehicles, locked doors and windows before retiring, install motion-activated lighting, and get to know your neighbors so you can better spot when things seem out of sorts. Report any suspicious activities to the police non-emergency line at 703/691-2131. Help discourage thieves from returning by considering these simple steps.
5. FaceBook Group Moderator – Wendi Dorey – the group serves well over 600 subscribers and an excellent communications resource for our community. Group rules: 1) be kind & courteous, 2) no hate speech or bullying, 3) no promotions or spam and 4) respect everyone’s privacy.
6. Village Enews – John Cooley – it goes out every Thursday afternoon. With new mail merge distribution system – it goes one email at a time only to your address. This should have reduced or eliminated the enews ending up in Junk folders. Reminder, the enews is also posted to our website also on Thursdays.
7. Village West Pool – Pool President Jen Guernsey – This year, Village West Pool is converting to a self-management model, in which the pool will hire and manage its own guard staff directly rather than utilizing a pool management company. This change is expected to bring significant cost savings and added flexibility. The pool has expanded options for members by adding early-morning lap swim, yoga, and water aerobics offerings. The pool's overall financial position is stable. The Economic Injury Disaster Loan that the pool received as a result of the pandemic, along with strong membership numbers in 2021, have improved the pool's cash position, enabling it to save money by avoiding financing arrangements and purchasing better-quality, longer-lasting equipment. The pool continues to gradually pay off its remaining outstanding bond debt and its mortgage. Income from the cell tower continues to provide vital support. Financial challenges remain, as the pool is due for its periodic major renovation and the parking lot needs to be repaved. We hope that the combination of increased membership and savings from self-management will enable us to meet these challenges.
Old Business: none
New Business:
1. Dues Amount for FY22 (1 October 2022 – 30 September 2023) – We see no extraordinary expenses for FY23 other than what has to be an inflationary increase in cost of Rolling Road median maintenance. We have enough carry-forward money to cover unforeseen expenses or shortfalls in revenue until the Rolling Road project starts when we will not have the need to maintain the median at least for the two-year construction window and probably a year or two after the project is completed. That expense is the largest in our spend plan. We should be financially secure out to the project completion date in 2026 without raising dues, but then we may want to contract median maintenance again and to relocate our existing or new village sign(s). At that time, we may then need to raise our annual dues.
We do need to rely more on Paypal for dues payment, but that adds another $1.00 to the cost to pay their transaction charges.
A motion was made and seconded to raise the dues to $20.00 per household per year, but it did not pass. Another motion was made and seconded to keep the dues amount at $10.00 per year. That motion passed by majority vote.
2. Status of Rolling Road Project – We have yet another Project Engineer overseeing this project, Mr. Minwoo Ha. I asked the same specific questions previously to which he answered but promised additional help as we may need.
- What is status of property acquisition? Are there any holdouts? All parcels except one will be cleared within the next couple of months.
- What is current schedule for utilities relocation? Our current schedule shows utility relocations starting for the project in the next few months and being completed in early to mid-2024. We do not know exactly where the utility companies will start their relocation work. We do not have any more specific dates for the utility relocations near this community.
- What traffic calming devices or techniques will be employed to tame cut through traffic in our village during construction? Specific traffic calming devices or techniques to be incorporated during construction have not been included in the construction plan set. Traffic calming on neighborhood roads is typically initiated through Fairfax County. Additionally, prior to construction, the Contractor and VDOT will host a “Pardon Our Dust” meeting that will provide an opportunity to discuss construction related topics and concerns.
- There had been some issues surrounding the water catchment system. Our 39” conduit was again overwhelmed with recent heavy rains causing some real doubt about any additional storm water runoff being added to the equation. Per VDOT and County requirements for stormwater management, the project will not create an increase or create additional stormwater runoff to the existing water catchment system.
PH II of the project is fully funded and on the revised schedule to start in 2024 and be completed by 2026.
3. What is the Future of the CAWSV – John Cooley again appealed for someone to take on the role as President. Elections will be in October, but John may be gone by then. He offered to do what he can to ensure success for the next President but wants to get started on that transition ASAP – even before the October election.
4. Calendar of Events:
- 28 May Community Wide Yard Sale / Free for All
- 4 June Rain Date – Community Yard Sale / Free for All
- 23 July Secure Document Shredding at Rolling Valley Kiss & Ride
- 13 October Village Fall Meeting (Audit Report, FY23 Budget & Elections)
5. Community Cleanup - Introduced from the Floor – Jason Henry suggested we conduct a community cleanup using commercial rolloffs. Pool President, Jen Guernsey offered the pool parking lot for this event if we go with it after the swim season. Jason and Mark Gregris will research the costs and then we can decide. We have sufficient carry forward money to finance this activity and can, if need be – add this cost also to our future decision about raising our dues. John Cooley was to appeal to county again about supporting our cleanup as they had done before the pandemic. Follow on note – he did, and they (county SWD) won’t, but did provide the forms for a no-fee dumping permit. Jim Womack said the scouts may have an Eagle Scout candidate willing to take on this project and will check to see.
Adjourn – CAWSV President – as promised, we adjourned at 8:30 PM to socialize over snacks and drinks provided by John Cooley & Suzanne McCormick. NOTE – Jane Ray also provided cookies, but they were deemed too good to share and must have been lost in John’s house. They are good, very good!
Minutes from one of two General Membership Meetings. Both are on the second Thursday in May and again in October each year.