Civic Association of West Springfield Village
14 May 2020 General Membership Meeting Minutes
Call to Order – 7:30 PM - John Cooley
Introductions – This was the first village meeting to be conducted via zoom conferencing. Each participant introduced themselves, some on video and audio conference, others connected by audio only. Bottom line, we had a quorum.
Minutes from Last (October 2019) Meeting – Secretary Kim Brown – report submitted by John Cooley - minutes we approved by those who attended the meeting and are now posted to our website. Similarly, we will ask each of you to review minutes from this meeting, make necessary corrections so that they also will be posted to our website.
Vice President Comments – VP Bernie Koehle – report made by John Cooley – VP contacted American Trash Services to see if they will compete with Republic. American offers 2X household trash collection, 1X recycling and 1X yard debris for $37/month or $117/billing quarter. They want 100+ residents for that rate. Rate includes fuel surcharges and environmental fees. They also include a 64-gallon trash cart and 64-gallon recycling cart for new customers. Existing customers can also access that rate in their next billing cycle if we get enough participants. Interested? Contact John Cooley by email to say if you want to switch to American. Question – will American offer a once per week collection of household trash at a reduced rate? If we determine that if the interest is sufficient, we will continue to negotiate with American for better rates and a separate rate for those wanting once per week collection of household trash.
Financial Report – Treasurer Liz Greene – see attached. Liz pointed out that even though we were light on membership, the cancellation of events (see schedule below) will leave us in good stead.
Village West Pool – Pool President Jen Guernsey – The pool board decided soon after the pandemic started that it would not be feasible to open the pool this season. The expected decrease in memberships would put too big a dent in the pool budget, which does not have a lot of cushion. Given the current restrictions, this was and still is the best course of action.
The pool applied for a disaster loan from the Small Business Administration, which was granted and will shortly be presented to the pool membership for approval. These funds will enable the pool to cover its operating expenses through this season despite having no membership revenue.
The pool will be cleaned out and refilled as usual, and will be sufficiently chlorinated so that it remains sanitary and mosquito-free, though not safe for swimming. There is concern that the clean water may tempt fence climbers.
Swim team hopes to conduct a social event once it is safe to assemble. The suggestion was made that CAWSV and VW Pool host a post-pandemic social whenever the restrictions are lifted.
Committee Reports:
- Membership – Julia Hale – As of 14 May 2020, we have 321 members for this FY20
- 15 are prepaid for FY21, 2 of those also paid for FY22 and also FY23
- 68% membership of our Village
- 3 arrived after 1 November 2019 and granted free membership for the rest of this FY.
- 20 of the 320 are from neighboring subdivisions2 no longer live here, but wanted to continue their membership
- Several are non-resident home owners also wanting to retain membership
Note: Remember, residents can still join anytime during the membership year 10/01 – 09/30/following year for only $10/annum. New residents arriving during the membership year can join at no cost the remainder of that year. It is your Civic Association; please support it.
Suggestion made by Jen Guernsey – also use yard signs listing our CAWSV with email contact and website to help make new residents aware of our voluntary civic association.
- Community Directory – Kirby Myers – report submitted by John Cooley and Bob Havey – we’re looking at how we can do an online directory that is accessible only by CAWSV members. We have no plans to discontinue the hard copy directory, just looking for options and contingencies. Some at the meeting suggested we simply go with online version; others want their hard copy. If we do try online directory, it will not replace the paper version, at least not until Printing Ideas can’t make a profit with a print version.
- Village Enews & Newsletter – John Cooley – Village Crier was replaced with weekly enews and mailed newsletter if/when warranted. Next hard copy newsletter will be mailed early August only to those who have not provided their email address. That newsletter’s purpose is to at least introduce the membership drive, update status of Rolling Road project, zoning changes and any other topic that should be meaningful for residents.
- Website – Bob Havey – rearranged the website and started pulling Corona Virus and Rolling Road info out of the enews and the Herrity Report to post onto the website.
- Will start removing items under “Neighborhood Chores” (under Resources in the left sidebar) every 6 months and Recommended Contractors after 2 years. Recommended Contractors who are also Resident Businesses or Directory Advertisers will not be removed. I will wait until September to start removing these items. In the meantime I would appreciate it if everyone would get a look at what is there now and let me know if something should not be there.
- Still asking to be made aware of all resident businesses.
- Neighborhood Watch – Jeff Carter – passive, neighbor-watching-neighbor only. News reported an uptick in crime other than crimes against persons, but a Police Officer from here suggested very little activity to investigate.
Old Business: none
New Business:
- Calendar of Events:
May 23 Memorial Day Picnic & Pool Party – Cancelled
May 30 Village Wide Yard Sale – Cancelled, we’ll try again this coming fall.
June 6 Yard Sale (Rain Date) – Cancelled
June 13 Village Cleanup – Cancelled – we will ask county SWD for a fall cleanup.
August – November Membership Drive
October 8 Fall Meeting (audit report, FY19 Budget, Elect New Officers)
- Dues Amount for FY21 (1 October 2020 – 30 September 2021) – vote required. Given current financial situation brought on by the pandemic, it was determined it was not a good time to consider raising dues. By unanimous consent, dues will dues remain at $10.00 for FY21.
- Status of Rolling Road Project – property acquisition phase has begun. We conducted an online session with an eminent domain lawyer. He represents the second firm willing to represent owners in their negotiations with VDOT. Received this update from Chris Barksdale, VDOT PE for the project:
Both Rolling Road Projects (Phase I & II) are still moving forward. Phase I (Intersection improvements) is gearing up for Advertisement, which is currently scheduled to be this Summer. Phase II (Rolling Road Widening) is in the Right of Way Acquisition phase and property negotiations will begin shortly if they haven’t already. Both projects are funded and I’m not aware of these funds being reallocated to other projects, but if anything changes I will let you know.
- Confirm VP appointment – Bernie Koehle volunteered after the October meeting and was appointed by the Board of Directors with votes also from the Executive Committee. As promised, we ask the membership to ratify with their vote BOD/EC decisions made between the meetings. By unanimous consent, Bernie is now dutifully confirmed as VP. Thanks to former VP Don Hale for job well done during his watch.
Adjourn – Meeting deemed a success with only minor technical glitches. Adjourned at 8:30 PM - CAWSV President
Program – None.
Attending: Bob Havey, John Cooley, Liz Greene, Don & Julia Hale, John & Lois Hoffmann, Kathy D’Amato, Ming Fang, Jason Henry, Jen Guernsey, Becky Duckworth, Bradley Swain, Bob Lomax, Jane Ray, Jeff Carter, Jim Kirkpatrick, Rob Muegge and one mystery observer.
CIVIC ASSOCIATION OF WEST SPRINGFIELD VILLAGE
Financial Statement
5/10/2020
|
REVENUE |
2020 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
|
Starting FY Balance |
9,488.51 |
7,817.42 |
7,039.76 |
6467.52 |
|
Membership Revenue |
3,500.00 |
3,279.38 |
3,634.00 |
3290.38 |
|
Interest Income |
2.50 |
1.87 |
7.02 |
2.65 |
|
Total Revenue |
3,502.50 |
3,281.25 |
3,641.02 |
3293.03 |
|
EXPENSES |
|
|
|
|
|
General Operating Expenses: |
|
|
|
|
|
Crier |
175.00 |
- |
177.00 |
200.43 |
|
Membership |
150.00 |
143.49 |
134.25 |
244.60 |
|
Neighborhood Watch |
|
|
|
|
|
Meetings |
25.00 |
6.95 |
4.23 |
8.47 |
|
State Corp Fees |
25.00 |
- |
25.00 |
25.00 |
|
Membership/Council/Federation |
80.00 |
- |
- |
40.00 |
|
Miscellaneous/Admin |
25.00 |
|
- |
|
|
P.O. Box Rental |
206.00 |
- |
206.00 |
200.00 |
|
Website Maintenance |
50.00 |
129.05 |
23.88 |
40.34 |
|
Community Services: |
|
|
|
|
|
RR Maintenance(Image Works) |
1,800.00 |
472.50 |
1,785.00 |
1469.50 |
|
Community Yard Sale |
150.00 |
- |
78.24 |
99.99 |
|
Community Clean-up--Total |
75.00 |
- |
37.70 |
38.73 |
|
Pohick |
25.00 |
- |
- |
|
|
Village |
50.00 |
- |
37.70 |
38.73 |
|
Community Parties-Total |
410.00 |
80.51 |
327.06 |
353.73 |
|
Pool Party |
260.00 |
- |
249.65 |
259.15 |
|
Halloween |
100.00 |
80.51 |
52.41 |
65.55 |
|
Christmas Party |
50.00 |
- |
25.00 |
29.03 |
|
Donations |
300.00 |
- |
65.00 |
|
|
RR Maintenance (Sign Area) |
|
- |
|
|
|
Total Expenses |
3471.00 |
832.50 |
2863.36 |
2720.79 |
|
Net Income |
31.50 |
2,448.75 |
777.66 |
572.24 |
|
Ending Balance |
|
|
|
|
|
9520.01 |
10266.17 |
7817.42 |
7039.76 |
This was the first village meeting to be conducted via zoom conferencing. Each participant introduced themselves, some on video and audio conference, others connected by audio only. Bottom line, we had a quorum.