Steering minutes: 2006-09-03

Minutes:

Great Oak steering meeting September 3, 2006

Present: Amy H (convening), Rod, Jim S, Judith, Nancy, Tracy, Pam,
Malcolm (taking minutes).

Greeting new steering members: Pam, Jim S., Nancy

Discussed meeting time: the current time (5pm on 1st and 3rtd
Sundays) is not great, but acceptable to everyone. We will stay with
this time.

Roles for upcoming meetings:
Date
Facilitating
Minutes
9/17
Jim
Pam
10/1
Rod
Jim
10/15
Mac
Rod
11/5
Nancy
Pam
11/19
Jim
Amy
12/3
Amy


Discussion of parking lot fence: TS wants to look into putting a
hedge up between the parking lots (east of the garages) rather then a
fence. They will ask a person who does landscapes to recommend a
type of hedge plant and let us know what it is. Some concerns were
expressed about maintaining the hedge.

Sharing the plow: There was discussion at the 8/21 GO community
meeting about how to handle the logistics of sharing the plowing.
Grounds hasnA-a...-a...-t met yet and will contact Chet Rolka who is the contact
at TS.

Sign: Amy showed the latest pictures from Ted. According to JD, it
has to be at the location on the site plan (and the township does
care that it is there). This location is where the temporary sign
currently is. JD didnA-a...-a...-t have a specific budget, but had sent Chet a
note with some budget info on it that Chet will forward to AmyH/
Steering. We discussed desire for lights there (there is electricity
near the location) and an outlet.

Sharing Garbage/recycling:
TS would like to host the garbage and we would host the recycling.
We have a good place for the recycling to sit (straight shot in for
the truck), while our garbage enclosure is bigger than it needs to
be. If our garbage service moves to TS, we could remove our garbage
enclosure and recoup some parking spaces. Some discussion of desire
for a ramp as well as changing the curb at the bottom end of the walk
by the east end of the garages. TS is looking into the cost of
removing an increased volume of trash from their enclosure.

Committee reports:
Process: working with Diana for upcoming training date.
Building: discussing where to put gutters, survey going out. Rob
noticed the V on AdiA-a...-a...-s porch roof is not caulked, so they are now
going to caulk it and will see how that works. Also, one garage door
opener died and parts arenA-a...-a...-t available, so got a new one.

CH: Decided to use enamel on CH interior entry concrete since stain
didnA-a...-a...-t look good. LauraA-a...-a...-s taking care of old guff monitor thatA-a...-a...-s
sitting in the hall. Considering guff guidelines. Looking at how to
optimize furniture esp. in media room. Need to talk about reserving
guest room by non-GO people: how to bill, cleaning, etc. Rod shared
his experience staying at 3 Cohos across the country: each had a
single contact person who would deal with reservations, rules posted,
some had cleaning crews.

F&L: hasnA-a...-a...-t met recently. Any money that GO gets from room use is
taxable according to accountant. Annual inspection of fire
suppression system needs to be done ($1500) for insurance; this is a
line item in our budget. Also total insurance costs have dropped
$200 this year for not making any claims and some internal changes at
State Farm.

Meals: Considering another fundraiser to get a gas grill. Discussed
need to account for status of meals accounts.

Membership: had discussion of childcare at last meeting, hasnA-a...-a...-t met
since then. Some talk of how to handle contacts from outside.

Work: focusing on upcoming community work days A-a...-a... need to get job
details from committees that have jobs for the work day.

Grounds: Planning to buy more schlepping carts, hedge trimmer, etc.
Organic Lawn Care guy came out yesterday and suggested weed and feed
now and in spring (which Grounds will likely do), and also suggested
adding organic compost, but cost for him to do it is some significant
money. Will probably need 10 cubic yards of compost, so grounds will
organize a work party to spread the compost.

Ad-hoc hot tub committee: still meeting, getting estimates and
planning the enclosure.

Any big things that steering needs to look at this season? Changing
community meeting formats and frequency? Probably a process issue.
SteeringA-a...-a...-s budget still has money left in it. Will need some for the
sign. Discussed lights for parking lot (one out) and improving
lighting.