Meeting Minutes for 7/6/2010:

Present – : : Sue Johnson, Jay Keyes, David Ramos, Pat Power, Patrick Gallager, Kim Porte, Ross Concklin and Gary Athanason

Board Members Absent: Jerry Murphy, Rosemarie Bonnington, Mara Basic, Sara Stauffer, Allan Avery, Ann Marie Krzesinski and Bobby Rowe.

Guests – Sgt. Fisherkeller, Erik Wilson, John Doran, Anne Garris, Vickie Jackson, Bill Johnson, Ron Delp

Sgt. Fisherkeller of the Clearwater Police Department spoke first. He took questions from the board and was asked by David Ramos to send his compliments and thanks to Lt. Young for what he has done regarding Eldorado and Gardenia Street. He then told us that Lt. Young would hopefully be at our next meeting at which time he would introduce his replacement, Lt. Gandy.

Quorum was determined and the meeting was called to order after  6:00 p.m.

Minutes as posted on the Website were accepted.

The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Bill Johnson. A motion to accept the report was made by Jay Keys and seconded by Ross Concklin. A vote was taken and the report was accepted.

Membership - Sue announced in Jerry’s absence that we now had a total of 99 paid memberships.

Fundraiser – Oktoberfest – Pat Power announced that she had booked the recreation center for Friday, October 29, 2010 for the event. She said a $50 check was needed to confirm the reservation. Bill Johnson said he would take care of it. Pat stated that she needed volunteers for this committee. Sue Johnson and Kim Porte agreed to help. Pat stated that she needed a budget for this event. Jay Keyes made a motion to not exceed $1000 dollars if a band is employed and not more than $500 if not. The motion was seconded and a vote was taken. The motion passed.

City Government – Ron Delp spoke to us regarding the 2010-2011 City Budget which is posted on the city’s website … www.myclearwater.com. He gave some quick and interesting statistics. Total Budget - $368 million. General Fund - $111 million. Millage Rate steady at 5.1% - Solid Waste up 5% - Storm Water up 6%. He noted that our property taxes peaked in 2007. Date to Remember – Tuesday, July 13 2010 at 9 a.m. a Special Budget work session will be held. Thoughts he would like us to ponder – Should we review/revisit the Sherriff’s proposal? Should the City bring in a consultant to review how each department operates?

CBA By Laws – A copy with revisions marked in blue were sent to each board member by Jerry Murphy for review and comments. The only comment noted was by Sue Johnson regarding an application/approval process for membership. It was discussed and it was agreed that that proposed change needed to be deleted as many board members did not agree with the change. Also regarding membership dues, one payment of $25 should be made in January, if late payment is made regardless of the time of year, $25 is still due. This was decided to be necessary to keep accounting as simple as possible. Ross Concklin asked if any changes needed to be approved by an attorney. John Doran commented that it was probably not necessary to incur such an expense as long as the Board practiced due diligence.

Crime Watch – Ross Concklin reported that Sgt. Stewart has retired and crime watch will now pass to Lt. Dalton. Ross will contact him and have emails routed to himself rather than Ray Massieu. He will then work on routing them to block captains where they exist.

Environment – Pat Power reported that “Keep Pinellas Clean” was organizing volunteers for a beach clean- up 72 hours prior to oil coming onto shore or 72 hours prior to a hurricane. The beach needs to be cleaned first because once oil is present, it must be cleaned by trained workers and debris can then not be put in landfills or dumps. They need the following: 1. Parking (she suggests Kipling Street) 2. Staging area (she suggests asking to use parking lot at 880 Mandalay) 3. Toilets (she suggests asking 880 for the use of their pool bath and possibly an additional area further north at the Carlouel Yacht Club) 4. A neighborhood representative should be present. It was asked, what are we doing in Pinellas County to stop the oil from coming? John Doran stated that any boons would be placed at estuaries and where sea life lives - they will not be used to protect the beaches. Ron Delp suggested we invite David MacNamee to speak with us at our next meeting. Pat stated that on July 10th the City intends to plant sea oats in the South Beach area for environmental reasons. She said that some business owners were complaining.

Friends of the Library – It was announced that the Library and Pool have been saved from this year’s budget cuts. Cheers and thanks to all involved with this effort, especially Pat Power, Ron Delp and all those that spoke to the City Council. Pat then said that the Friends intended to pay to keep the pool open on weekends through September at a cost of $250 per weekend. She asked if CBA could help with this effort. It was decided that she and Ron Delp would put together a plan and approach us at our next meeting. She still wishes for solar heat so the pool would be usable when it opens each March. Until that happens she plans to ask the City to consider not opening the pool til later in April or May 1st allowing it then to stay open through September and possibly into October when the water is still warm enough for swimming. It was suggested that she call Kevin Dunbar with the City to discuss this.

Island Estates Update – Bill Johnson reported that he attended their meeting and they agreed to support our efforts to keep the pool and library open via their newsletter.

SHORT TERM RENTAL (STR) – Sue Johnson reported that 976 Mandalay, 1044 Bay Esplanade and 172 Devon have all joined the Albritton group of homes with legal STR status, bringing the total to 36 homes.

New Business - Our next meeting will be held on Tuesday, September 7, 2010. Sue will notify the Police representative that we will not be holding a meeting in August.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:36 pm.

Submitted by Kim Porte