January 27, 2010 General Meeting Minutes
General Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
6:30 to 8:30 pm
Choir Room at Lynbrook High School
Welcome –Kim Worrall, President
Meeting called to order 6:33, general announcements for upcoming events. Murdock NA holding an e-waste Feb 6 9 am to 3 pm at Murdock Elementary, Going Native 8th Annual Garden Tour April 18 10 am to 4 pm Free but need to register at www.GoingNativeGardenTour.org, Community Breakfast Feb 18 7:30 to 9 am Convention Center- free view only seats or $25 for breakfast call 535-4800
Treasurer’s Report- Rich Woodward- year to date balance $3,567.09
Goals for last year.- Kim Worrall,
Increase membership, was 178 on list with 29 paid, now 282 on list with 88 paid.
Involve youth- Kayoung Lee and Nina Kamath, youth leadership, and Kimberly Toy and Patrick Lin, webmasters.
Hold another social- Held on August 23 with about 100 people in attendance.
Dumpster day- held May 30
Expand Neighborhood watch- did not complete this goal. Will continue with this in the coming year.
Increase emergency preparedness. Did not complete this goal. Will continue this in the coming year.
Survey and new goals for this year- Kim Worrall and Rich Woodward
We conducted a survey of about 1,600 homes and received back 127 surveys. The top issues were and in order of importance:
Voice to the City on issues 80 %
Speeding and safety issues- 66%
Neighborhood Watch-73%
Emergency Preparedness 59 %
Block Parties (socials) 50%
From the survey results we came up with our new goals for 2010:
Develop ways for your voice to be heard as one large voice to the City.
Expand The Neighborhood watch or create our own version- Cindi Bowen
Continue to grow the Traffic and Safety- Ron Olson
Expand the Emergency Preparedness Committee –Daniel Markert
Introduction of Daniel Markert, the new Chair of the Emergency Preparation Committee
Daniel has an extensive background in emergency preparedness. He is an Infantry Major in the National guard. His expertise extends to active duty in the following: 2008 North Cal firestorms, 2007 San Diego fires, 2006 border security mission, 1998 El Nino floods in Central valley, 1994 Northridge earthquake, and 1992 Los Angeles riots.
He is currently working on his masters degree in Emergency & disaster management, and has helped our local schools develop code red drills.
We are really very lucky to have Daniel Markert on board!
Daniel then introduced his goals for his committee and entertained questions from the audience. Have a plan established where do you go if you need help, or shelter. Also how to deal with the panic that usually follows this type of an event.
His goals are: Recruit volunteers to be CERT trained, communicate hazards risks for the neighborhood, provide practical preparedness steps and coordinate with the OES about other programs that might make sense to us.
Celebration of a Neighbor!- Our surprise honoree was our very own Rich Woodward.
Rich has shown great leadership and strength through out some difficult times in the association. He has stepped up to fill in positions and duties when the positions became prematurely vacant. This association owes its continued existence to his dedication and fortitude. Thank you! Rich Woodward for all that you give to your neighborhood.
San Jose Police Department update- Officer Chris Passeau was back with some very encouraging updates. Officer Passeau started off by speaking to what Daniel was saying about the importance of being prepared for emergencies as it could take 72 hours or more for the first responders to get to you in the event of an emergency so you will be on your own. He keeps supplies in plastic garbage cans outside with sleeping bags, food, water etc. He has been on this beat for 15 years and it is the quietest section in San Jose. Most of the calls are from accidents, primarily from speeders. There was an accident most recently during the heavy rains, where a speeder on Lawrence lost control and hit a tree. It took 20 minutes to get the people out, but lucky no deaths.
He answered questions about the frequency of the radio system and whether the other agencies can talk to one another yet in the event of an emergency. Because of budget problems it has not been implemented yet. Still can’t talk to fire for example. Hopefully in the future this problem will be fixed.
What can we do to help? If you see something, call it in. If it is an emergency, call 911, if it is a non-emergency, call 311. There are 7 officers assigned to our District, but about 4 or 5 officers are usually sent here.
Election of new officers was suspended because of a lack of nominations. The by-laws were suspended until April. If you or know someone who you can recommend to fill the officer positions, please let us know. Asap. Positions available for nominations:
a. President: The President shall coordinate all Association activities, plan for and preside at meetings of the Association and the Board, and shall have the general powers of supervision and management of the Association.
b. First Vice President: The First Vice President shall assume the duties of the President in that officer’s absence. The First Vice President shall also work with other officers as needed to maintain the membership rolls and to maintain responsibility for the email communication network. Other duties shall be performed as required by the President or Board.
c. Second Vice President: The Second Vice President shall ensure operation of committees and assist committee chairpersons as needed, including maintaining and communicating with a list of block captains. Other duties shall be performed as required by the President or Board.
d. Treasurer: The Treasurer shall be custodian of the Association funds and under the direction of the Board shall ensure that funds are used for the exclusive support of the RWNA mission. The Treasurer shall, with Board and Membership collaboration develop a budget, collect dues, make deposits, make payments, oversee all RWNA funds, keep proper financial records, and provide financial reports to the membership and Board regularly. RWNA checks shall be signed by the Treasurer and by one of the following: President, or if unavailable, by the First Vice President.
e. Secretary: The Secretary shall be responsible for recording and archiving minutes of the Association and Board meetings. The Secretary shall also be responsible for the written correspondence of the Association as needed.
District 1 Council Representative, Rhovy Antonio
Rhovy introduced herself, and explained that she is the eyes and ears of the district one council member Pete Constant. He is very accessible and we can visit him in person during the office hours, or e-mail or call him for questions and/or concerns.
Landscaping issues as to blight came up, and Rhovy talked about code enforcement hotline from 8am to 5 pm, Monday thru Friday if you want to report. Comments were made about trying to find out why there might be a problem with blight and try to find a solution first, rather than just reporting to the agency.
If anyone sees a problem, notify the neighborhood association first , so we might be able to try and mitigate the problem in a neighborly way first.
With Crime prevention, and neighborhood watch, the city has ways to help accomplish this. Call to ask for help.
Illegal sign clean up coming up February 27 at 8:30 to 11:30 at the West Valley Community Center. Lunch will be provided for volunteers. Come and volunteer and find out more about what makes a sign illegal.
The Federal census is coming at the beginning of March. Please be sure to fill it out. The City of San Jose relies on the statistics acquired to help receive Federal funding for the City. The census is confidential.
Next meeting: April 28, 2010