HomeMy WebLinkAboutFMinutes040313Friends of West University Place Parks Fund, Inc.
Board Meeting Minutes
Wednesday, April 3, 2013
Friends of West University Place Parks Fund, Inc. ("Friends") Board met on Wednesday,
April 3, 2013, 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
Sonny Brandtner
Katie Hill
Jeth Jones
Debora Connelly
Christina Milligan
Kristine Martinez
Grace Ebaugh
Executive Director
Donna LaMond
Staff
Tim O'Connor
City Council/Mayor
Susan Sample
Ed Heathcott
Dick Yehle
Guests
Judy Cheng
Deanna Gilder
Call to Order (Amanda McGee)
The meeting was called to order at 11:35 AM.
Welcome, Opening Remarks, and Approval of Minutes (Amanda McGee)
Welcome and thank you for attending today's meeting.
Please note that our May 1 Friends board meeting will be the annual Awards Presentation
Luncheon where we recognize our Fathers & Flashlights Co-Chairs for 2011 and 2012
and our Park Lover's Ball Co-Chairs for 2013 with Star Citizen Awards. Additionally,
we will be honoring Direct Energy as our 2012-2013 Friends Corporate Sponsor and we
will have Steven Murray and Monte Beck in attendance to accept the award on behalf of
Direct Energy. As you may know, Steven Murray is President of Direct Energy
Residential and resides in West University Place. The luncheon is in conjunction with
our regularly scheduled meeting date and the start time will be 11:30 AM with a brief
board meeting followed by the luncheon. The location for the luncheon will be
announced soon. It will be great to have 100 percent board attendance.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes of the March 6, 2013 Meeting of the Board were approved.
Treasurer's Report (presented by Donna LaMond, Courtney Archer absent)
See attached financial statements.
Fathers & Flashlights 2013 (Judy Cheng and Dee Dee Gilder)
As you are aware, we are happy to report that the date has been confirmed for 2013
Fathers &Flashlights. The event will be held October 5, 2013. As you can imagine we are
busy getting started and have many decisions to make in the next couple of weeks.
We are looking over the underwriting and sponsorship levels to see if any adjustments
need to be made this year. We will get together with Susan and Heather following this
meeting to discuss activities to have at the event. We have reserved 1 fish tank so far. We
have concerns with our space because it looks as if WUES will be putting in 2 additional
temporary buildings behind the school. This will take up much of our dining space and
may impede the ability to see the activities from the campsite. Therefore, we are
discussing some alternatives to the set-up. We have most of our committee chairs lined
up and are getting the date on the logo changed to begin sending out sponsor letters very
soon.
Parks and Recreation (Tim O'Connor)
An update of the Parks Master Plan was presented. The plan will be updated by the end
of September, 2013 based on a 5 year plan for funds raised by Friends. The Parks and
Recreation Board is scheduled to meet tonight.
Executive Director Report (Donna LaMond)
Kristine and I continue to work on closing out PLB 2013 with collection of payments.
We are almost there. The Cinco de Mama/Party is coming up next month which is a
sociable from the ball and money is still coming in from this. We are very grateful to the
hosts and hostesses of this annual PLB sociable.
We are continuing to talk to prospective ball chairs for 2014 and should have some good
news on this front soon. The date for PLB 2014 is February 8. The ball will be held at
the Royal Sonesta Houston Hotel, formerly the InterContinental Hotel. It is located on
the West Loop feeder road between San Felipe and Westheimer. Amanda and I met with
their Event Director earlier this week and the contract has been signed and the deposit
delivered. I think it will be a great venue for the ball. They are remodeling over the
summer so the new facilities will be ready in plenty of time. As you may recall, I am
also exploring other options for our check out services, etc., for 2014. Any
recommendations would be appreciated, as well as recommendations for MC types and
live auctioneers.
The donor wall project remains a high priority project. Ting and I have met since our last
meeting and made some more progress. We are in the final stages. Ting will provide a
report at the May meeting on the donor wall.
Amanda and I met with Christina Milligan last week and I am happy to announce that
Christina is our new marketing and development chair on the board. Her initial focus is
helping to market and sell the pavers and storks. She will get together with Matt and
Michelle and Grace accordingly to get the process underway. She will work with
Kristine Martinez to publicize the stork and paver sales.
Provided Friends financial information for City auditors.
We are looking into revamping the Friends website. I am meeting today with someone to
go through the website and explore ways to improve it and how we can get back into
accepting donations through the website.
Please refer to the weekly reports that you receive via email for an update on other
Friends activities.
Adjournment (Amanda McGee)
The next meeting of the Board is scheduled for Wednesday, May 1, 2013 at 11:30 AM.
The meeting agenda will include Board business followed by lunch and the annual
awards presentation. Venue will be announced prior to the meeting.
There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:57 A.M.
Respectfully submitted,
Debora Connelly Piccolo
Secretary