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HomeMy WebLinkAboutFMinutes110712Friends of West University Place Parks Fund, Inc. Board Meeting Minutes Wednesday, November 7, 2012 Friends of West University Place Parks Fund, Inc. ("Friends") Board met on Wednesday, November 7, 2012 at 11:30 AM at West University Place Recreation Center, 4210 Bellaire Blvd., West University Place, TX. The following were in attendance: Board Members Amanda McGee Susie Boyce Ting Bresnahan Matt Foytlin Debora Connelly Piccolo Michelle Huth Katie Hill Kristine Martinez Staff City Council Tim O'Connor Dick Yehle Call to Order (Amanda McGee) The meeting was called to order at 11:34 AM. Welcome, Opening Remarks, and Approval of Minutes (Amanda McGee) Welcome and thank you for attending today's meeting. Donna is out of town and Tim O'Connor will be presenting her Board Report. Our primary focus continues to be PLB 2013. Remember our Wine Harvest party on December 12, 2012. Mark your calendars! There will not be a board meeting next month (December). Minutes of the October 10, 2012 Meeting of the Board were approved. Park Lovers' Ball 2013 (Kristine Martinez) Underwriting and Sponsorship as of November 1, 2012 was $96,000. Fair Market Value of Auction Items in hand is approximately $45,000. Courtney Archer trained Christina Milligan and me on how to use Auction Tracker. Christina will enter all auction items received to date and we should have a correct FMV by Friday. Reminder that all Board Members are responsible for bringing in 5 auction items, minimum of $100 each item. If you choose to give money instead of items, the money will go toward our "Man Cave" pull or item. We are having a difficult time creating and executing "harvesting" events for this pull but really would like to offer this new idea at the Ball. Money will be used to purchase items for the pull! Thank you to Sonny who has already given $1,000 to help with this effort. If anyone has any ideas for "harvesting" events, we can use the money from Sonny to assist with the costs of the event. Thank you to Frost Bank for sponsoring our Invitations this year. Thank you Michelle and thanks to Frost Bank for their continued and generous support of Friends. Frost also underwrote the Wine Pull harvest event October 26, 2012. Frost gave $1000 to help with the Wine harvesting efforts. I hear the food and wine and party in general were fantastic and I believe we still have some money left for the upcoming events. Thank you Frost and thank you to Susie Boyce, Cheryl Butler, Debbie Crow and Sue Jensen for their hard work in planning this first wine pull party! Please remember to get your table information into Donna as soon as possible. I would love to see that underwriting number have a huge increase before we get into the busy holiday season. Please encourage others to get their tables/tickets in. I want to give away that room at the Hilton the night of the event! Get people to get their info in and win a room, champagne and breakfast! ! 2nd place price also! Decorations will be finalized soon. We've met with Password Productions for our lighting, AV, decor needs. They are willing to offer us the same price they did last year but upgrade some of their services. We are currently working our budget to be able to include fantastic lighting and effects. The Invitations Chair and I meet with a printer this week to discuss our invitations. It is our hope that we will have the basic invitation printed and back in our hands before December. We will include up to date underwriting and sponsor information with an insert to be printed at the end of December. Carolyn Tanner may have worked out some pro-bono design work for the invitations. Other sponsorships that have been secured: Kroger- Centerpieces Village Plumbing - Bid spotters Heidi Dugan - Ice Sculpture Kristine Martinez - Photo booth Invitations - Frost Bank Light up the Room Bidding Frenzy - Mary Frances DuMay The Sponsorship/Underwriting ladies are working hard at getting all our sponsorships secured. If you have ideas that you would like to pass on to them regarding businesses to contact, please send me an email and I will pass on that information to them. Committee meeting this Friday, November 9 at 9:00 AM at Tiny's #5. Executive Director Report (Tim O'Connor for Donna LaMond) Please pardon my absence from today's meeting. I had a scheduling conflict. Thank you to Tim O'Connor for serving as my proxy and presenting my report at today's meeting. The primary focus is all Park Lovers' Ball. Kristine is doing a fabulous job and it continues to be a pleasure to work with her. She is aggressive and creative and has a vision of over the top PLB2013 success that she is pursuing with a vengeance. For the record, her husband, Joaquin, is not a silent co-chair. He has been instrumental in securing some big auction items as well as helping with the underwriting campaign. We are very fortunate to have such a dynamic couple at the helm. We have a block of rooms reserved for the night of the ball at the Hilton Americas. They are offering rooms for our guests at $144 per night. A link will be emailed out along with a phone number for those of you wishing to take advantage of this offer. Rooms must be secured by January 19. I am working on an article for the next City Currents due to arrive in West U households the first week in January. The article will highlight the upcoming ball, including photos of the chairs and the honorary chairs and will shed some light on some of the fun surprises planned for the ball. The invitations to the ball should be arriving in West U households around the same time. Direct Energy has already given us a check for $50,000 as our 2013 Friends Corporate Sponsor. We will do the mock check presentation at the ball instead of trying to squeeze in a separate media event. We are inviting media to join us at the ball so that they can help us publicize this extremely generous donation. As Amanda previously mentioned, we are planning a Wine Harvest and Friends Holiday party on 12/12/12 at the home of Vicki and Dana Grams. We are encouraging all attendees to bring a bottle of wine valued at $25 or higher, or a check, to the party for the popular wine pull at the ball. Look for your invitation to the party to arrive soon. Thank you to Susie Boyce, Sue Jensen, Cheryl Butler, and Debbie Crow for hosting Mummy's Night Out at the Boyce residence on October 26. This was our first wine harvest event for the upcoming ball and they collected $360 in cash and checks and 50 bottles of wine. Great start to stocking the wine pull. Regarding Fathers & Flashlights, we are ready to close the books on this hugely successful campout as soon as we receive the check from the City for the registration fees that they collected. Our net of $62,000 is something we can all be proud of. Thanks again to Sara and Chip Edgecomb and Amanda and J.R. McGee! Please be reminded that all board members are expected to bring in at least five auction items, each with a value of at least $100. If you prefer to make a cash donation in lieu of auction items, that is fine. You can also donate wine for the wine pull as part of your auction donations. We are also looking to each of you to sell at least one table at the ball. The Donor Wall Committee has postponed its report until the January board meeting. Please refer to the weekly reports that you should be receiving via email for an update on other Friends activities. Parks and Recreation (Tim O'Connor) Whitt Johnson Park 2 -5 Year Olds Play Feature: Purchase Order has been issued to GameTime for the new play system. Color Scheme has been selected - Green, Brown & Beige (comparable to our other neighborhood park play structures). System has been ordered from the factory and is currently being fabricated. Goal is to have the new system installed by the end of February 2013. Playground will be closed for approximately three (3) weeks. Whitt Johnson Park 5 -12 Year Olds Play Feature: Refurbishing of this system will be facilitated during the same period as the 2 - 5 year olds play system is being installed. Wier Park Artificial Shade Structure: Purchase Order will be issued on or before 12/14/2012. Once P.O. is received, the process of the shade structure install will commence. Shade panels will be beige and green in color - post will be beige in color. Estimated 4 - 8 weeks for engineered drawings, permits and fabrication. Installation is estimated to take 2 weeks and project completed by 03/08/2013 All portions of the park, other than the 5-12 year olds play area, will remain open to the public during the project. New Colonial Park Play Features: Purchase Order issued to GameTime on 12/06/2012. Color Schemes have been selected - consistent with existing structures. Specific Play Features: See-Saw, Talk-Tubes, GT Jams Fun-Semble and Rockscape Rock & Web Climber. Portions of the Playground will be closed for during the installations. Goal is to have the new play features installed by the end of February 2013. Judson Park Tennis Court: We have received two quotes to date but have notified those vendors that we will be requesting they resubmit their quotes once we have facilitated an engineering study. Soils samples must be taken ahead of the concrete pour and stabilization specifications being prepared. Estimated date for the specifications to be finalized is January 16, 2013. Quotes will be solicited and reviewed through January 25, 2013. Project will be awarded by January 29, 2013. Construction is expected to take between 30 to 90 days, with 30 of those days being dedicated to allowing the concrete to cure. Weather permitting, the estimated date for opening the new court will be May 6, 2013. This project will not require the closing of any other portions of the park except the area where the existing tennis court is located. City Council Update (Dick Yehle) City Council has been most active on the parking issue. Council has decided not do anything dramatic at this time. However, West U Police will begin tagging/warning illegally parked automobiles. City Council approved maintaining the current tax rate, recognizing that the increase in property values will increase tax dollars collected. As you may know, the Metro initiative was passed in yesterday's election and will run through 2025. This is significant to us in that $450,000 per year (and this amount will continue to rise over the next 10 years) will be directed to West U for the improvement and maintenance of roads, sidewalks, streetlights, etc. Adjournment The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for Wednesday, January 9, 2012 at 11:30 AM in the Conference Room, West University Place Recreation Center. There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 12:17 PM. Respectfully submitted, Debora Connelly Piccolo Secretary