Steering minutes: 2005-08-07

Minutes:

Katie - convener
Adi - work and F&L (for Jim G) also took notes for Jim
Gail - process
Becky - CH
Heather - membership
[[Jenny]] - buildings

Next meeting minutes by Grounds (Tim)

MONKEY: Steering would like Tim and the volunteer to draft an email to CDC
about the 4 pressing grounds items and let Steering know what help is needed
in getting this communicated.

MONKEY: Steering will ask CDC for a timeline of any more TS related
construction through GO.

MONKEY: Katie will ask Mimi if a child-safety session either at a
parents meeting or a community meeting would help? Katie will also
talk to Mimi about the process of bringing a proposal to the community
and bring her a copy of the Proposal proposal if appropriate.

* Steering Emergency fund discrepancy?

The actual problem is that the project contingency did not have line
items in the operating budget and so project contingency expenditures
were incorrectly assigned to steering emergency fund. This will be
cleaned up by Finops.

* Decide on a course of action for the following Grounds problem areas
in order of priority:

- Erosion problems on slope next to Mac and Amy's

Not seeded properly, and due to storms, there are erosion gullies that
need to be fixed.

- Playfield grading

Now that DTE has trenched and connected Touchstone, the playfield
grading can probably proceed.

- Native flower/grasses parking lot slope

JD is probably waiting for the fence before seeding the slope,
esp. since it is somewhat stablized by the grasses. This is not a
real priority till TS folks start parking there.

- Remediating damage done by SBC crew at the east end

Need to let CDC know that we would appreciate reseeding at least, and
repair of any planting beds that were damaged.

Tim would like help following up on these, do we have a volunteer?

MONKEY: Steering would like Tim and the volunteer to draft an email to
CDC about these 4 items and let Steering know what help is needed in
getting this communicated.

How many people feel frustrated about the unfinshed landscaping at GO,
be it CDC's perogative or our own (like mowing?)?

CDC is probably waiting for major TS construction to start winding
down before they will start working on GO stuff as the trenching
activity should decline. However Steering will remind/ask CDC for a
timeline about any more projects that will require the easement
through Great Oak that could tear more property up.

MONKEY: Steering will ask CDC for a timeline of any more TS related
construction through GO.

One comment is that more mowing/weeding would do wonders for the
appearance of the community, especially for very visible areas.

* Giving Mimi guidance on which direction to go in the child safety pond issue

Melisa noted that there is more plant life growing in the West
detention ponds which makes them less attractive to kids.

Perhaps a general child-safety community meeting session would be
useful?

MONKEY: Katie will ask Mimi if a child-safety session either at a
parents meeting or a community meeting would help? Katie will also
talk to Mimi about the process of bringing a proposal to the community
and bring her a copy of the Proposal proposal if appropriate.


* [[Committee]] updates

. CH -- Laura will step down after this work season, and Becky will
take over. No one has volunteered to be the steering rep.

. Process -- facilitators meeting on Wednesday, August 10, night. The meeting aims
to clarify/help expectations for facilitators. Also, working on how to
respond after a meeting to concerns.

Process would also like to have a list of "communicators" for committees --
those on committees who are willing to talk/communicate with the community.

because of a lack of work to do, it was just that we found that increasing our
meetings per month did not lead us to do that work any faster, so we figured
we might as well save ourselves one meeting per month.

. [[Meals]] -- back down to one meeting a month since more per month did not lead
to getting work any faster.
There will be a demo of online signup at the August 15 community meeting.
Online signup will start on September 1.


. Membership -- will be setting the date for picnic next year. A TV Ad
about Touchstone paid for by CDC will be filming at GO this coming week --
email was sent around about opting out of the footage.

. Buildings -- Ted and [[Elph]] will be meeting with Phoenix about window
wells. Ted and [[Elph]] have looked at gutters on building 4 and will try
rain barrels.

. Work -- nothing new to report.

. F and L -- committee budget reports for YTD were prepared by finops
and given to conveners. The reports should have more detail and should
be ultimately shared with the entire community.

. Steering -- continue with the 1 hour work credit for steering reps.
Thanks to Jillian for being the Steering rep from Process. Welcome to
Gail as the Process rep to Steering.

END.