PLAIN Monthly Meeting Minutes
November 6, 2008
The meeting was called to order at 7:39 p.m. by Gwyneth Butera.
Attendees: Gwyneth Butera, President, Lalah Manly, Vice President; Mary Stuckey, Treasurer; Linda Orgain, Secretary; Tim Conley (new resident), Greg Creech, Co-Chair, Neighborhood Watch Committee; Charlotte Neil, ,Kathie de Nobriga; Matt Pulsts, Faye Ridling, Co-chair, Neighborhood Watch Committee; and James Schwarzlose.
Review of the October Meeting Minutes. The minutes for the October 2, 2008, meeting were submitted and accepted with a few changes. Linda will make the changes and then send them to Gwyneth for posting on the PLAIN Web site.
Treasurer’s Report. Mary Stuckey submitted the Treasurer’s Report for October. The balance at the end of October is $1,892.53 for PLAIN, $2,144 for the Tree Fund, and $20 for the Playground Fund. Last month, there were a lot of debits for both the October and November breakfasts. There is a deposit of about $1,000 ready to go to the bank, except for one check from Nicky Rosenbluth. Breakfasts typically net $70-$90.
Non-Profit (501c3) Status Update. Gwyneth will send Kathie DeNobriga the tax identification (EIN) number so she can check the status online; Kathie is also willing to work with the bank (Wachovia) if needed.
Old Business:
Membership Status. Linda reports that PLAIN currently has 65 paid members who have joined or renewed for 2008; 6 new members joined in October at the Breakfast and LakeFest. However, there are still 31 people on the membership list who still have not renewed.
PLAIN Signs. The three signs that we currently have to announce the PLAIN meetings are disintegrating. Fast Signs on Memorial was been recommended, and also Sign-O-Rama at Memorial and Hairston. The group felt that a sign that says “PLAINTalk Is In” would be useful as well. There also are available dry erase boards that can be used with a marker that doesn’t come off in the rain. It was decided that 3 signs would be ideal, with one placed at each of the entrances. James S. volunteered to get quotes and email the information to the PLAIN leadership for later discussion. There was also some discussion about the best placement of signs for visibility; Kathie deN asked if a traffic study has ever been conducted to learn how (on which street) most people leave Pine Lake.
It was raised whether we would be allowed to put a bulletin board up in the Post Office. Greg Creech said the post office employees have turned him down every time he has asked about this. The general consensus was that this is not allowed.
Kathie DeN is continuing to work with a graphic artist to design the new community announcement boards.
DeKalb Forum on Diversity. There is a Forum on Diversity at Perimeter College scheduled for next Tuesday, November 11; Mayor Greg Zarus had asked for someone from PLAIN to attend. Greg Creech said he may attend; James S also was interested. Gwyneth said she will send James the Web site for more information.
Halloween Party. This year’s Halloween Party was very well attended, with the Beach House filled to capacity. James said it was still difficult to keep people from entering during stories. Kathie said perhaps next year we could invest in some fabric to make a story cave. One of the challenges is that there is a wide age range of children, so different story levels are needed. Story tellers this year were Shannon Turner (Kathy deN’s friend) and Ellen Mintzmeyer.
Caring and Sharing. Faye Ridling, who coordinates this project to provide food baskets for families in need, has not received many donations yet. The consensus was that more publicity is needed. Faye and Janes S. will make some signs to promote this. People can drop donations at Faye’s house (635 Ivy) or the PLAIN breakfast in Dec for the Xmas one. Faye will put out another announcement in a week. The deadline for suggesting names of families to receive for the Thanksgiving gift baskets is November 21. The baskets will be delivered on November 24.
LakeFest. Kathie reported that the LakeFest Committee met this past week to debrief. They have decided to keep this event on the first weekend in October. It was asked whether many of the vendors had attended the PLAIN breakfast, which is held the first Saturday of each month. Linda said that about a dozen of the vendors had attended the breakfast, and that the breakfast crew had accounted for this possibility and purchased extra food so there was plentiful food available. There were many requests throughout the morning for coffee. For next year, Kathie would like to purchase a block of breakfast tickets and give to these to the vendors. She also wants to set up additional coffee pots. This year, LakeFest had 29 vendors. Mary suggests giving each vendor a breakfast ticket and then billing the LakeFest Committee $5 for each breakfast ticket that is redeemed.
New Business:
Calendar for 2009. Greg Creech said that he is working to develop a calendar for the city’s 2009 events. He will place the PLAIN sponsored events on this calendar and send it out to the PLAIN leadership for review next week.
December Holiday Activities. Lighting of the Lake. These activities are scheduled for Saturday, December 6, at the Beach House.
Breakfast activities will include pictures with Santa. In the past, Karen Styes has been the photographer.
Evening Activities:
The Cookie Exchange will begins at 6 p.m. that evening. We need 3-4 volunteers to help package the cookies. Faye volunteered to be the co-captain but would like help; Gwyneth will ask for additional volunteers for this activity on the e-mail list. Faye will contact K.C. Wildmoon, who has been the cookie captain in past years to ask for more specific information.
Kathie informed the group that we have some entertainment lined up, including a brass quintet from 6-7 p.m. The lighting of the lake will take place at 7:30 p.m. Faye says we need some additional lights and perhaps a Christmas tree for the Beach House. The Gums (family on Lakeshore) have donated some of their Christmas decorations to the city. We will decorate the Beach House during the week of December 1st. Faye said that we also need an electrician to donate some time for the rewiring of the berm; the electrical outlets on the berm need to be repaired.
James says that he can organize the luminarias on the berm.
Holiday Progressive Dinner. Greg Creech again suggested having a progressive holiday dinner on the 2nd Saturday in December. This is December 13; the dinner would begin at 5 p.m. He asked whether we can get enough houses to host 4 courses; these include appetizers, soup/salad course, entrees, and desserts. Please contact Greg to volunteer your home for this event.
Events for Pine Lake Seniors. Linda recommended developing some activities for our senior neighbors. Greg mentioned that in the past, we have provided a certificate of recognition for our seniors. Faye says this was done in conjunction with our Spring Fest; this was about 10 years ago. In the past, this event has attracted at least 25 people. Kathie suggested that we could coordinate a similar event during the Memorial Day picnic. It was decided to further discuss this suggestion at the next PLAIN meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 p.m.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, January 8, at 7:30 p.m. at the Clubhouse.