Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutFBMINUTES050306Friends of West University Place Parks Fund, Inc. Board Meeting Minutes May 3, 2006 Friends of West University Place Parks Board met on Wednesday, May 3, at 11:30 a.m. at the West University Place Recreation Center, 4210 Bellaire. The following were in attendance: Board Members Joni Fichter Katy Holt Sue Jensen Susie Boyce Lynne Goddard Vicki Grams Diana Brown Executive Director & West University Parks Staff Donna LaMond Tim O'Connor Guest: Alan Speed Chairman's Report - Joni Fichter The City had presented Friends with an invoice requesting reimbursement for $23,852.10 for start up items at the Rec Center. Friends had previously (in another board meeting) approved reimbursement up to $25,000. Sue Jensen brought the check with her to this meeting and will hand over to Donna who will hand the check over to the City. Jack Loftis having major heart surgery today. Please keep him in our prayers. Vick Grams, Penny Grams, Donna LaMond, Tim O'Connor, and Joni Fichter met with Billy Burge, President of Houston Sports Authority, on Monday to go over things he might get the pros to help us with funding-wise as we attempt to meet the Lewis match. We will meet with his assistant soon who is a grant writer and will know the drill. Cindy Hassler will resign from board due to work travel schedule but will assist with fundraising, etc. She would like to roll over to the Friends advisory board, effective June 1, 2006. Joni made the motion to approve this and Lynne Goddard seconded the motion. Thanks for all you've done, Cindy. Thanks to all who came to the JMH Friends Round-Up ...thanks especially to JMH for underwriting lunch for all! Good press in both Examiner and Village News. Regarding Friends' support of the Parks Master Plan, everyone who responded was in favor (Joni, Margaret, Susie B, Maria Elena, Katy, Kim, Vicki, Donna, Lynne, Cece, Anne, Sue H, Stacey with a note) so a note has been sent to City Council via Tim O'Connor stating our support of the project without duplication of programs and within reason. Will Bertron's dad, Sam, passed away and services are today at 2:00 pm. Also, on another sad note, Lisa Head with Whole Foods, has passed away suddenly and services are today as well. Approval of the Minutes and Sign-in Sheet A motion was made by Diana Brown and seconded by Lynne Goddard to approve the minutes as sent to all for our last meeting. The motion carried. Executive Director's Report -Donna LaMond Met with Billy Burge along with Tim O'Connor, Joni Fichter, Penny Grams, and Vicki Grams, on Monday, May 1, to discuss new funding opportunities through Mr. Burge's contacts. Arbor Day Event on April 8, big success. Thank you to Susan White for pulling it all together, and to Vicki and Maria Elena for their efforts in coordinating the Friends activities in particular. They can elaborate more on this in their report. Many thanks to the other volunteers who worked a shift that day, Sue Hanna, Lynne Goddard, Renelle Cadena and Cece McCann. Thank you to Diana Brown and Sue Hanna for hosting a PLB06 thank you cookout party on the evening of April 8 at Diana's house. We continue to be so grateful to Diana and Sue for their great leadership and success with Park Lovers Ball 06. The Friends Rally at JMH on April 12 was a good community event. We had some new people show up and we collected their contact information. We had some donations that day as well and gave out some door prizes. Thank you to Jim Reid for hosting the event and for providing a nice lunch for everyone in attendance. On April 13, Vicki Grams, Penny Grams, and Donna met with Kleibert Estrada at the Intercontinental Houston Hotel to review the venue we are considering for the 07 ball. Penny and Vicki can elaborate more on this in their report. On April 21, Donna met with Cindy Hassler to review her role with Friends and to discuss her underwriter chair role for PLB06. During the meeting Cindy said that she will be submitting a letter of resignation to the Board due to her increased travel with her job. She would like to roll onto the Advisory Board and is willing to help with the Business Partners and Sponsorships committee and development. Cindy has also offered to meet with Penny Grams and Vicki Grams regarding underwriting for PLB07. Thank you to Cindy for all that she has done for Friends during her tenure on the board. Attended the PLB06 Crawfish Boil hosted at the home of Kelli and Chris Watson on April 29th. Surprisingly, the attendance was rather low, but this event still brought in some needed funding regardless. Donna met some new people who are interesting in becoming more involved with Friends and helping on some committees. Prepared the minutes from the April board meeting. Still collecting on some receivables from the Ball. Continuing to enter payments into Auction Tracker. Vicki Grams and her hosts/hostesses for sociables are continuing to sell slots for parties that did not fill up at the ball. So numbers will be inching up as far as total income. Helping the sociable hosts with gathering addresses for the invitees. Tim O'Connor and members of his staff met with Brent Gallagher of West U Fitness again to discuss more details about the proposed fall fun run. Tim can elaborate more on that for us in his report. Underwriter acknowledgements are still on the to do list. I will coordinate other underwriter benefits with Anne Steacy. Janine Schueppert called Donna Monday, May 1 s' to say that she got a commitment from Tim O'Connor to take care of the shade situation at Colonial Park and that she and her husband will be making a significant contribution to Friends for this project. She wanted to be sure we would set aside this contribution as restricted funds for this project. Donna assured her that would not be a problem. They wish to make the donation anonymously, but she did request a donor tile for some trees that will be going in at Colonial as part of the shading element. She will let Donna know how she wants the acknowledgement to read. City Council has requested that each Council appointed WUP board present a quarterly update to the Council. The format and how the reports will be facilitated will be forthcoming. Joni and Donna will work to accommodate this new request. Tim suggested that this is a great opportunity for Friends to prepare handouts for any media who attend the Council meeting. The presentation will probably be scheduled for Monday evening, May 22. Will continue to work with Penny Grams and Vicki Grams as they launch their big plans for PLB07. They have a meeting scheduled in Donna's office on Friday. Katy Holt and Donna will work on the Membership campaign and the next newsletter. Donna emailed information to be included in the newsletter along with some pictures to Katy on Monday, May 1. We will highlight our major underwriters for PLB06, announce PLB07 event, and spotlight ways to be involved with Friends, and of course, the membership campaign itself. Donna updated Friends website. Treasurer's Report - Sue Jensen Acting Tres Total Checking/Savings as of May 3, 2006 $450,464.28 Blanket & Golf Shirt Inv. as of May 3, 2006 $2,611.00 Total Current Assets as of May 3, 2006 $451,972.03 Total Income as of May 3, 2006 $143,128.76 Net Income for Quarter as of May 3, 2006 $56,516.73 Board Reports PLBO 2007 -Vicki Grams (present) Penny Grams (not present) The ball will be co-chaired by Vicki and Dana Grams, and Penny and Drew Grams. Vicki reported that she and Penny are currently trying to select a venue for the ball. The Discovery Ballroom is still tentatively booked at the InterContinental Houston Hotel and the contract is pending, but they are quite interested in Hotel ZaZa, formerly The Warwick. The biggest concern with both venues is the limit on number of guests. They are talking to Don Nelsen and Tom Koch about being the live auctioneer for the ball, and most likely it will be Tom Koch. They are also researching bands. The honorary chairs are confirmed: Carol and Ross Frazer and Beverly and Jack Loftis. Vicki and Penny are talking to a graphic design student, and West U resident, about taking on the PLB invitation as a class project and donating the design time. Vicki also announced that they are planning a kick off party at Vicki's house on Thursday evening, May 18, from 7:00 - 9:00 via an evite. It will be a wine and cheese type set up and they will be recruiting committee members for the ball. Donna suggested posting the kick off party announcement on the electronic marquee. E-store - Diana Brown No new activity. Working on getting the beach blankets set up to be sold at City facilities, including Community Bldg. and Colonial Park. An email was sent to Tim requesting feedback on how to handle income and inventory at each location. Also, the issue of sales tax was mentioned. Admin Committee - Margaret Wallace No report. Margaret not present. Sponsorship/Development Committee - Stacey Speier No report. Stacey not present. Membership & Marketing/PR - Katy Holt Katy is working on the membership newsletter. She suggested putting up multiple signs around the City, particularly at the Rec Center since that is where we are trying to maximize donations because of the Lewis match. She talked about promoting how everyone can take part in our parks, via membership, stork rentals, attending the ball, etc. A board wide discussion ensued and included ideas/comments about remembering the West U Elementary School Monday folders to publicize our matching efforts as well promoting WU parks in general. Should a brochure be developed? Donation boxes at the various parks? Banners at parks? Laminated fact sheets about each park displayed at the parks? T-shirts promoting parks and meeting the match? Setting up a Friends booth at Concert in the Parks series at Colonial Park to sell beach blankets? Katy suggested holding some of the concerts at the Rec Center to promote our needs there. Setting up a Friends booth at the West U Swim Team Meets? Someone from Friends to make Friends announcements at the concert series? Get the dates from Susan White for the concert series. Partner with the Parks and Rec board to be in the parks on Saturdays to promote PLB07 and meeting the Lewis match? Parks Bulletin Boards, with park facts, maintenance issues? Tim brought up that Ambassador Program is a new proposed project of the parks and Rec Board, and that some of these ideas could be jointly implemented. Signage in general was discussed, for Rice Pocket Park and at the Rec Center in particular. In general, a Friends Awareness Campaign was suggested. Wish List/Special Projects - Maria Elena Herbst and Vicki Grams Easter Bunny Photos income was $330 at Arbor Day Celebration. Business Partners, Storks - Lynne Goddard Shape Express has offered a donation back to Friends with membership. Some recent stork activity. Contract, Nominations, Bylaws - No report. Donna will check with Margaret Wallace about new board prospect, Candace Levy. Council Report No report. Parks & Rec Report - Tim O'Connor A meeting took place last Wednesday regarding Rice Pocket Park with White Oak/Jim Patterson. Moving forward with proposal for Council to finish design element and get it approved by Council. The next step is the development of construction documents with ground breaking anticipated within the next 3-4 months. Two renditions of the Rice Pocket Park are on the table. It will be a quiet, passive park. Park Master Plan Task Force - Has identified seven issues, including parking, no restrooms, an aversion to splash pools, and shade. Colonial Park Pool is the most immediate need and biggest priority. Tim stressed that the Master Plan is a visionary tool and that when the time comes for part of the plan to be considered for implementation, residents will have the opportunity to express their concerns and needs. The need for an indoor playground is noted. It would be climate controlled and supervised during certain hours, an attendant would be on hand. Sue Jensen raised some (maintenance) issues at some of the parks and a dicussion of some of these issues took place. Tim is continuing to work on a comprehensive Parks and Rec sponsorship package and investigating an adopt a park program for West U. Tim provided an update on the Fun Run planning which his department is working on with Brent Gallagher of West U Fitness. They are in touch with Brent and had another meeting recently. Things are moving along and a big priority is setting the date, which is tentatively October 21, 2006. Lynne Goddard will confirm dates of West U Elementary School carnival and auction to avoid a conflict. Friends will be the beneficiary of this Fun Run. Parkland acquisition - For now, the Council sessions about this are closed sessions. They will be open to the public once things progress to a certain point. It is noted that additional parkland is needed and there are five potential locations the City is looking at. Exploring project ideas for Eagle Scout projects that could help with Lewis Matching campaign. Old Business No old business. New Business Next meeting - June 7, 2006 at 11:30 a.m. at Rec Center. Adjournment: With no further business the meeting adjourned at 1:20 p.m.