Steering minutes: 2008-11-02

Minutes:

Steering Minutes - November 2, 2008

Attending: Mel for Meals, Sarah for Membership, Gail for Process, Jim for Work, Malcolm for CH, Katie for Grounds.
Unable to attend: Judith for Buildings who sent a report
Also attending: Rod with year-end steering special fund request from grounds.

Agenda:
1. Monkey Report
2. Requests for allocations from Steering “Fund” - garage lighting project
3. Communication across communities
4. First aid training
5. Committee Check-ins
6. Steering Work Roles for Jan-April 2009 work season

Decisions:
1. Members approved spending up to $600.00 for Garage Lighting Project
2. Requests from TS or SW members or committees for information or special considerations or permissions should be set to     *Steering at gocoho.org*

1. Monkeys:
Gail’s report on GO CH usage related to TS request to share GO CH

Gail has assembled her report and will send out on GO-Talk for everyone’s information.
Related point of information/discussion: Sarah and Mac note that Dale’s office will be open at the end of November. Mac will check with Kelly if she is interested in moving in to the larger office. Otherwise, if there does not appear to be other GO members interested in renting an office, we will check with TS representative if they are interested in renting one of GO’s offices.

2. Requests for allocations from Steering “Fund” - garage lighting project:

Rod reminds us that almost two years ago we we going to     install lights on the ends of the garages to light the dark areas of the parking lot better. That project hit a snag when the electrician quoted us a much higher figure than we could afford ($2400) and all the money got rebated. Rod recently met with Bob from Vedder Electric who's going to be overseeing the electrical work on the CH. He looked around a bit and gave an initial estimate of about $150 per light. Since there are 4 lights, that means the total bill would be $600-ish. He then gave a real quote which turned out to be closer to $400.00 which is a more reasonable price, but Grounds has committed all our $     resources for the year already, mostly to the shade structure     project. So Grounds is requesting Steering money to cover the cost as this is an enhancement the community has been needing for a long time, and the costs are reasonable. Rod adds that he’s hoping when they're installed
and they work out we can dismantle and sell the tall parking lot light standard in the west end and maybe recoup some costs--should be worth a couple hundred at least. Grounds has not planned to use motion detectors because it would require a new circuit to be installed and they would not provide adequate lighting soon enough.
Discussion and Decision: Members support this use as it’s been identified as an important need for a few years now. Members approved spending up to $600.00.

3. Communication across communities:

Referenced recent e-mail from Rowena at Sunward about uncertainty how to get permission to harvest native plants on GO property. Discussed this and other ongoing difficulties knowing who to talk to and how to communicate about tri-community concerns, requests for information or permissions, etc.... Noted that LiLaCC is not active at this time, and in any case use of that e-mail list does not guarantee a response.
We decided that such requests or communiqués should be to a single designated group. We recommend that any request from TS or SW members or committees should be set to     *Steering at gocoho.org*
Sarah will send an e-mail to the TS group list and to Michael McIntyre to forward to SW group list informing them of this method of communication to send an e-mail directly to GO Steering. The Steering Convener will forward the request to the appropriate or applicable committee, and then follow-up to insure that a response to the request is made.

4. First aid training

Malcolm will lead the alternative meeting in December on 12/03 and will present on a number of relevant First Aid topics including the use of the AED (automatic external defibrillator)

5. Committee Check-ins:
MAC for Common House

Reviewed minutes that were posted today on GO Talk regarding use of steam cleaner. Recommend that whoever makes the new reservation book (Dale?) include instructions that people should use that book to sign out and return the steam cleaner.
Recent cloth napkins decision and new blinds for kitchen are noted. Mel observes that paper napkins are purchased by Meals pantry fund and since implementation of cloth napkins plan as described will impact meals cleaners and diners, Meals committee should probably be involved in this discussion and decision.

Katie for Grounds

A good amount for weeding and planting bulbs, and perennial plants transfer to barren spots was accomplished on work days.
Grounds needs to meet again to come up with a date for Grounds Master Plan Visioning weekend. Looking at January dates and will talk about whether to use 2008 process training $ to bring in an outside facilitator, or to use GO facilitator.
Outside shade structure needs to be finished . Structure needs to be further stabilized and additional cross slat boards added to the top to finish the top per plan Current favored method is paint it white to match porch posts. If you have a strong opinion, contact the committee.
Katie is researching how or what to do to make the Hot Boxes go away.
Sidewalk solutions for drainage problems for some units is still under research

Jim for Work

Committee needs info from all committees by Thursday or else new season survey will go out with same jobs as last season. Thanks to those committees who have responded already. Next work season survey will be coming very soon as the work allocation party is schedule for 11/22.

Gail for Process

Quorum question: Do we need to change our understanding of quorum? Look for more discussion at next community meeting.
Process has been instructed by the community at the last budget meeting to bring the question of funding community training in the future to a future community meeting.

Sarah for Membership

Committee is looking into idea of keeping bees.
They will continue to request $ for tri-community outreach projects, like the 4th of July parade, Art Fair, etc...

Buildings report from Judith:

Buildings committee at the last meeting talked about:
Fire suppression inspection is on hold.     We have 2 new leaks.
Refrigerators on GFI circuits-perhaps we'll consult an electrician (perhaps Vedder)
Ted's to-do list:     we are catching up.     Patrick Shaffer has finished some drywall/paint repairs from the last round of window/chimney/roof/fire suppression leaks.
Big basement windows - Ted has talked to Rob Marshall about caulking them.     No further progress.
Work day jobs:    
                     1.            rain barrels on CH are almost done
                        2.        Knox boxes have not been installed

Some upstairs bedrooms are cold.     We recommend a booster fan available on eBay and other places.     Mine is called an Equalizer, and it works with both heat and air conditioning.
    
6. Steering Work Roles for Jan-April 2009 work season:

Melissa cannot continue as Steering Facilitator for next season.
Sarah says she will continue as Membership steering rep and volunteers as Steering facilitator for next season.
Katie will became the new Grounds committee convener so will look to her committee to find a different steering rep.
Mac will continue as CH steering rep.
Jim is stepping down as Work steering rep
Gail will continue as Process steering.
We ask all committees to let us know at the December meeting who are their new steering reps.
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