PLAIN Monthly Meeting Minutes
September 6, 2007
The meeting was called to order at 7:07 p.m.
Attendees: Nicky Rosenbluth, President; Candy Howland, Vice President;; Mary Stuckey, Treasurer; Linda Orgain, Secretary ; Faye Ridling, Co-chair, Neighborhood Watch Committee; Greg Creech, Co-chair, Neighborhood Watch Committee; Anna Mae Creech, Pam Heiges, Ella Johannaber, Cre Secrist, Karen Styes, Penny White, Shon Workman, and Veronica Wright.
Review of August PLAIN Minutes – No official meeting was held in August.
Nicky – Today marks two years since Nicky became president, so she has completed her term. Since there are new activities being planned by many Pine Lake organizations, Nicky feels that PLAIN can now return to being principally a social organization.
Concert for New U.S. Department of Peace. A concert and activities in support of a new U.S. Department of Peace is being planned. The location is the Gazebo from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. This is part of a national effort to support a cabinet level position. There will be a September 15 concert at the lake – that will include musicians Melanie Hammet and Melinda Kingsley. The day will conclude with drumming and belly dancing. In addition, children will be able to draw a banner for the Department of Peace that will show their idea of peace. All these activities will be very family oriented. This will be advertised by a flyer that will be delivered to each resident’s home. In addition, an article about these activities will be posted to the Web site.
Action: Greg Creech will send a message to the PL Chief of Police to inform her about the location, purpose, size of the crowd. About 100 people are expected to attend.
Treasurer’s report. Mary Stuckey provided the report for July and August. There is $1,600 ready to be deposited. Today she deposited $796. Of this, $111 was for the playground fund. She provided a written treasury report.
Greg Creech – Stated that he has received $300.75 from the Memorial Day raffle, which was supposed to support the Pine Lake Environmental and Stewardship committee’s effort. The PLEAS Committee met and at his request, he asked that they allocate $500 for the playground committee. Mary will do that. The playground fund then will total $611.75. Currently, the Watershed fund has a little over $1,000.
PLAIN Talk Printing. Candy Howland reported that she had received an estimate from Mark Resources company of $185/month, for 4 pages, front and back, for a quantity of 450 copies. They can guarantee that price for 6 months. The group discussed the size of the publication, and the need to keep it to 8 pages. The last PLAIN Talk was 8 pages, but did not have a Meet Your Neighbor article. Cree S. feels PLAIN Talk needs to be 10 pages. Cree S. said that recently the cost had been 79 cents/copy. Nicky reported that Kinkos has been giving us a good price if we submit it online. Candy said that the current firm has been delivering it to us, ready to be delivered, and guaranteed to be delivered in time to distribute by the first of the month. Cree said that she supported whichever gave us the best price. Candy also mentioned that we need to put some copies in the box outside the Beach House.
Nicky – Stated that a lot of people are looking at the PLAIN Talk online. Casey is responsible for maintaining the Web site. PLAIN Talk can be accessed on the Web via www.plainhelps.org.
Playground Committee. This committee has a large membership and is working avidly. According to the current plan, everything in the new structure, which will replace the current play area by the Beach House, will be made from recyclables. The committee also wants the new structure to fit with the natural look of the PL community. There are three designs being considered. The playground is being designed to serve two to 11 year old children, although initially it was conceptualized to be designed for children aged birth to age 5. The majority of children in PL are between the ages of one and 12 years; however, the group will consider expanding the space to serve teenagers, if PL teens want to get together to prove suggestions into the design.
Nicky said that Hamburger Helper has a competition to support community projects. To do this, you need people to go to “My Hometown” on their Web site and can put in Pine Lake or playground. The more people who vote on the project or add comments to the project, the more likely the project is to get support. In the past, activities such as playgrounds have been sponsored. She asked for people to go in and support it.
There was discussion about the reason why the playground basketball hoops were taken down. The sense was that many complaints had been received by the town and police, because of the language being used by the teenagers who were using the court. It was also thought that nonresident teenagers were using the court and that they were keeping PL residents away from the playground. As a result, Phil Howland took it down at the request of the mayor. Questions were raised about why the PL police were unable to respond to bad behavior at the courts. Greg Creech says that police are stretched – we have lost one officer to the War in Iraq/Afganistan and another is about to be called up for service. Cree says the issue is what the PL police are willing to do. Nicky suggested that this is another issue where racial issues are involved and that it is a complicated issue; the PL police felt that enforcement is only applicable to a certain population. The police do feel that they are asked to deal with issues that involve racial lines, not curfew hours. She suggested that this issue be discussed at the Neighborhood Watch Committee.
Neighborhood Watch. Greg Creech stated that he wants to move the next Neighborhood Watch meeting to October 25, prior to Halloween activities. The meeting will be held at 7 p.m. at the Beach House. He said that the co-chairs meet with PL police chief Y’hudah Greene every month, and have a weekly conversation as well.
Nicky reinforced that PLAIN is primarily here to organize social community events. Other political or safety concerns should be taken to the Neighborhood Watch committee.
Nicky says that this past weekend some officers brought their families to attend the music performance at the lake.
Greg said that they will be planning a Police Appreciation Day. He also mentioned the need to strengthen and expand the role of the street captains. Chief Y’hudah Greene says that the best time for a police appreciation activity to be scheduled is on a court night when all of the officers are present.
Pancake Breakfasts. Penny White asked whether PLAIN would want to hold an extra pancake breakfast this month to benefit the Artists Market. The next Artists Market is scheduled for Sunday, September 16. Nicky said that none of the PLAIN members who are breakfast cooks are available that morning. Nicky says the Artists Market needs to be promoted more, and said that she will send out information if she receives notification. PLAIN would love to promote this. She asked what the process was for an artist to have a table.
International Dinner. The International Dinner (potluck) will be held on September 15, from 6-8 p.m. at the Beach House. Last year more than 100 people attended. Volunteers are needed to organize this event. Candy said that she will do signs. People are asked to bring tent cards with the name/description of the food. Veronica is responsible for the silent auction and lottery; this will provide funds for trees and shrubs. Currently they have commitments for approximately $600, including silent auction items and other items sold. She will have the items on display on tables in front of the Beach House during the dinner. Extra tables need to be requested from PL city administrator Phil Howland.
Halloween Party. The annual Halloween Party is scheduled for Saturday, October 27, at the Beach House. Nicky will write an article about this for the next PLAIN Talk. There usually is a spaghetti dinner, and fun and games for the kids. Volunteers are needed to help decorate. The decorations will be set up the night of the 26th or morning of the 27th. Pam Heiges said that she will take care of the dinner.
PLAIN Talk. Ella Johannaber says that she was sent an article about Rhonda Beard, a PL resident who recently died. Her family has started a non-profit that has gained media attention. We have received a request from them (from Albert Price) that PLAIN Talk publicize this nonprofit. The sense of the group was that we would like to honor this person, but need to confirm the information that was provided. It was suggested that an “In Memoriam” type article be developed.
Ella J. says that she always will acknowledge a submission to the newsletter, so if a person does not receive an acknowledgement, they should check with her.
Pam Heiges said there is a need to for more delivery people for the PLAIN Talk; a request for delivery people will be put in the next issue. She wants to give up being distribution coordinator at the end of the year. Cree S. says she will do assume this responsibility.
Greg C. said he is doing articles for the two meetings he is coordinating.
OLD BUSINESS
Yard of the Month– Greg Creech is responsible for the Yard of the Month program. For September, this is Athena Gemella’s house. Gardeners of Pine Lake chairman is Jeph Goldberg.
Pine Lake Welcome Kit – Ella J. requested a list of all of the Pine Lake clubs and organizations with their primary contacts. Greg will update this for the new PL Welcome Kit. The listings to be included are the clubs, organizations, city council members, etc.
He reported that the new Welcome Kit will be ready for January 2008. He also wants to include a calendar listing all of the 2008 committee meetings.
Greg asked for a request for this information to go out.
Pine Lake Monthly Breakfast – The PL breakfast is very important. Set up is at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning. Pam Heiges coordinates this and also does all the shopping.
Recruitment of New PLAIN President. Cree S. said that we need to put out another request for a president of PLAIN. Nicky says her work is stretching her, so she can no longer give PLAIN her full attention. She said that she will stay involved, but cannot be the president. The Bylaws of PLAIN will not allow a city council member or city official to be an officer of PLAIN. Greg recently ran for city council and won, unopposed. Because of this, he will be giving up the position of co-chair of Neighborhood Watch and PL Environmental and Stewardship Committee. Bitsy Pitts also ran for city council and won.
Mary S. says that she cannot take on the presidency of this organization but she can run the meeting next month if there is no one else to do that. She is not able to take on another major responsibility for about a year.
Greg C. defined the role/purpose of PLAIN – person who is president cannot take a public, political stand in any of our public meetings, because in a small community, it is difficult to separate this when a person is making a comment in a public meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:26 p.m.