Board Meeting Minutes - January 17, 2019
Vista Las Palmas Neighborhood Organization Board Meeting
January 17, 2019, 4:00pm
501 S Palm Canyon Drive Palm Springs
The following board members were present: Howard Hawkes, Robin Abrahams, Sheila Cobrin, Sally Hightower Lippin, Mickey Puig, Kermit Ferrer, and Amy Brinkman (via phone)
AGENDA
· Review/Approve Minutes from Dec. meeting
· Review Action Items from Dec. meeting
· Board Positions
· Follow-up to Annual VLPNO Meeting: 11/18/18
· VLPNO Modernism Tour Update
· Neighborhood Activities / Action Plan: Board Endeavors
· Next Meeting Dates for Feb & Mar
· Other
RECAP / NOTES
Review/Approve Minutes from Dec. meeting
· Board unanimously approved minutes from the Dec. 2018 meeting
· Sally to coordinate w/ Imagine-IT to publish Dec. 5th, 2018 Board Meeting minutes on-line
Review Action Items from Dec. meeting
· COMPLETE: Howard to reach out to Sheila Cobrin to talk about what she wants to do / what position she wants to hold on the VLPNO Board.
· COMPLETE: Robin to publish minutes from November 18th, 2018’s Annual Meeting on-line working with Imagine IT group
· IN-PROCESS (update below in ‘Follow-up to Annual Board Meeting held on Sunday, November 18th‘ portion of Minutes): Howard to share minutes from 11/18 meeting with Glenn Cameron to provide legal counsel in the review of events occurred during the Annual VLP meeting (See minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th) against VLPNO by-laws and advise VLPNO Board
· COMPLETE: Sally to reach out to IT consultant
· COMPLETE: Kermit to send out Calendar Invite to the Board along with a GoToMeeting invite for anyone who might be able to attend in person.
· COMPLETE: Kermit to retype full list of VLP neighbors
· COMPLETE: Kermit to begin process of validating/updating neighbor detail information
· COMPLETE: Robin to hand off treasury information to Mickey to include bank account, bank card, etc.
· COMPLETE: Robin to send out email with update on Modernism 2019 VLP Home Tour event and request for volunteers at homes and/or check-in
· OPEN (update below in ’Board Positions’ portion of Minutes): Howard to reach out to Gustav Swanson to see if he’s still interested in being part of the VLPNO Board to fill the newly opened position
Board Positions
· 2019 Officers
President: Howard Hawkes
Vice-President: Sally Hightower Lippin
Secretary: Kermit Ferrer
Treasurer: Mickey Puig
Board-At-Large: Amy Brinkman, Sheila Cobrin & Open
· 2019 Advisory Board:
Robin Abrahams
· Sheila was presented with proposal about what she wants to do / what position she wants to hold on the VLPNO Board. Sheila stated that she is willing to take any position. Sheila accepted Board-At-Large position as previously proposed and unanimously approved during Dec. 2018 meeting.
· At December 2018 meeting Robin moved off of the VLPNO Board and became the 1st member of the VLPNO Advisory Board
That left one (1) open position on the VLPNO Board
Howard still needs to reach out to Gustav Swanson to see if he’s still interested in being part of the VLPNO Board to fill the newly opened position. Howard said he would reach out to Gustav before next meeting
Follow-up to Annual Board Meeting held on Sunday, November 18th:
· Follow-up required to validating whether the motions/votes taken during the Annual meeting would be valid enough to change the by-laws
· Howard had previously mentioned that Glenn Cameron volunteered to provide legal counsel in the review of events occurred during the Annual VLP meeting (See minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th) against VLPNO by-laws and advise VLPNO Board
· Howard has had introductory conversation with Glen Cameron
· Unfortunately, the VLPNO By-Laws that appear on VLP website aren’t the most current By-Laws
· Howard to locate current VLPNO By-Laws and give them a 1st pass review
· Kermit suggested that once current VLPNO By-Laws are available, these should be posted to the VLPNO website
· Howard to share (1) current VLPNO By-Laws and (2) Minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th with Glenn Cameron to obtain counsel on open topic with regard to Annual meeting proceedings
VLP Modernism Week Home Tour
· Robin stated that a lot has been accomplished in preparation of MW 2019 Home Tour
Orders: Signs to publicize MW VLP Home Tour, Booties, Glasses, Soft drinks
Communication & Printed Matter preparation
· Board applauded Robin’s ‘Save the Date for MW 2019 House Tour!’ email suggesting neighbors dress in their vintage Mid-Century best, pull out their vintage cars and call for Volunteers
· Robin presented vision of a vintage style Home Tour booklet to be in line with the original neighborhood brochure. She shared Graphic Design company’s preliminary electronic version of booklet. Sheila informed Board that she has original brochures of the VLP and offered to share these with Robin to compliment 2019 MW Home Tour booklet
· Robin estimated ticket sales @ Sold = 250 out of a Total 550. At present time, the finances of the tour are at break even. It was mentioned that there is a lull in the MW sales over the holidays and it is hoped that these will pick-up in early February. It was stated that the VLP Home Tour has been a sell out in prior years
· The Board agreed that ‘Home Owner / Docent’ party should be scheduled on evening of the day of home tour. This party still needs to be organized. Location for party is required
· Robin stated that she needs to schedule follow-up tour organizer meeting to discuss open items:
Organization of volunteers. Sheila to provide listing of previous docent volunteers to Robin for her to use as a reference to current volunteers
Libations for the neighborhood anniversary celebration events. Robin is looking for a ‘value’ sparkling alcoholic beverage
Further tour details and organization
Board Endeavors
· Kermit to send out email to Board members requesting Top 5 ‘Positives (Do More) & Negatives (Do Less/Stop Doing)’ about the VLP Board and/or Our Community.
· Kermit to affinitize and prioritize based on tally of records / input from Board members
· The top 10 would be discussed at future board meetings and could then be formulated into tasks and divided among the Board to create action committees and lead by Board members
Neighborhood
· Topic to be discussed at post February meetings to plan out activities for rest of year that would bring the community together
Advisory Board
· Advisory Board created during Dec. 5th, 2018 meeting.
· Purpose:
Assist in different projects / areas of the neighborhood
Provide SME (Subject Matter Expertise) to committees
· 1st member of the VLPNO Advisory Board: Robin Abrahams
· Kermit Ferrer proposes Glenn Cameron become 2nd member of the VLPNO Advisory Board to become the Legal Advisor
Passed unanimously by the quorum for this meeting
Howard to present offer to Glenn Cameron
Future Meetings
· NOTE: Board meetings scheduled for the 2nd Thursday of month @ 4:00pm
· February Meeting: Given that Modernism week begins Feb. 14th (2nd Thursday of February) and based on everyone’s February schedule, next meeting to be take place on Thursday, February 7th @ 3:00pm. Meeting will be held at H3K, 501 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA. (Yes, we know that this is the 1st Thursday of the month.)
This will also give Robin to give the Board an update on the 2019 VLP Home Tour
· March Meeting: Based on everyone’s schedule for March, next meeting to take place on Thursday, March 7th @ 3:00pm. Meeting will be held at H3K, 501 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA. (Yes, we know that this is the 1st Thursday of the month.)
· Kermit to send out Calendar Invite to the Board along with a GoToMeeting invite for anyone who might be able to attend in person
· Parking Lot Item to be revisited during a future Board meeting: Jade mentioned at January 2019 meeting that the Annual VLPNO Meeting date has proven to be unpopular. The Board discussed identifying three (3) alternative dates to send out to the VLPNO neighborhood members to vote on potential date change for the Annual Meeting
Treasury
· VLPNO Paypal account has proven ineffective.
· VLPNO neighbors who set up auto-pay of membership dues are getting charged but it appears that information isn’t getting passed to VLPNO
· Board agreed that the account needs to closed and if any balance $’s exist in account, these need to be transferred to VLPNO bank account. Present owner: Mary Jo Potts. Howard to contact Mary Jo’s and introduce Mickey so they can work on closing account
· Board suggested possibility of opening a physical mailbox for things such as communication to VLPNO, membership dues, etc. Topic to be further discussed
Neighbor Database
· Kermit shared update on creation of database VLP home owners and their personal information as no electronic copy of the file existed.
· John Criscuolo, volunteering neighbor, began compiling an accurate database of the current homes and owners in the Vista Las Palmas neighborhood by:
Manually recreated June 2015 roster of homes off of original print out provided by Robin
Subsequently created a 2016 version of the 2015 spreadsheet noted above and updating the 2015 names and/or addresses using the 2nd print-out from 2016 provided by Robin
Lastly created a DEC 2018 version for further update. Confirmed, updated and/or added addresses via Google Map and neighbors via Nextdoor.com
All information may not represent 100% of the population as some owner info is outdated or incomplete
Note: Lead for VLP on Nextdoor.com is Karen Strickland (814 High).
Question as to what homes belong in VLP.
· Follow-up actions to database update (Volunteer: John Criscuolo):
Include all homes in the attached map. I've confirmed with the Board that these are all part of the VLP neighborhood. This comprises homes in:
The two gated communities: (1) at the end of N Rose and onto W Coronado Ave and (2) Las Palmas Heights just off of N Monte Vista
Homes South of W Vista Chino and North of W Stevens Rd all the way East up to N Palm Canyon Drive
Homes on W Via Sol, N Kaweah Rd and N Wawona
Condos on Wanona Road
Kermit & John to create proposal up proposal for contacting all neighbors with draft content requesting neighbors’ input and/or update their personal and contact information as well as drive VLPNO membership. Initial suggestion was a mass mailing (ie. postcard) to every home requesting they go into the VLPNO website to update their information.
· Follow-up actions (Sally):
Follow-up with Jeff Shotwell @ Imagine It Media to find out best way to:
Format John's spreadsheet to download contact information input into VLPNO website
Collect neighbor data / information on VLPNO website and advise of updates required to database
Update / Replace owner names for homes that have new owners
Use of VLPNO database contact information for emailing neighbors on VLPNO updates & activities
Research with Jeff from Imagine It Media and Mickey possible websites that would allow more user-friendly sharing of information between neighbors
ACTION ITEMS / OWNER
· Sally to publish minutes from December 5th, 2018’s Board Meeting on-line working with Imagine IT group
· Howard to reach out to Gustav Swanson to see if he’s still interested in being part of the VLPNO Board to fill the newly opened position
· Howard to locate current VLPNO By-Laws
· Howard to share (1) current VLPNO By-Laws and (2) Minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th with Glenn Cameron to provide legal counsel in the review of events occurred during the Annual VLP meeting (See minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th) against VLPNO by-laws and advise VLPNO Board
· Howard to present offer to Glenn Cameron to become 2nd member of the VLPNO Advisory Board and become legal advisor/counsel
· Kermit to send out email to Board members requesting Top 5 ‘Positives (Do More) & Negatives (Do Less/Stop Doing)’ about the VLP Board and/or Our Community
· Kermit to send out Calendar Invite to the Board along with a GoToMeeting invites for February and March for anyone who might not be able to attend in person
· Howard to contact Mary Jo Pott’s and introduce Mickey so they can work on closing Paypal account
· Kermit to continue to work with volunteer: John Criscuolo on validating/updating neighbor detail information
· Kermit & John to create proposal up proposal for contacting all neighbors with draft content requesting neighbors’ input and/or update their personal and contact information as well as drive VLPNO membership
· Sally to follow-up with Jeff Shotwell @ Imagine It! Media to discuss neighbor database vs website management