Meeting Minutes for 9/6/2011:

Board Members Present: : Patrick Gallagher, Jerry Murphy, Jay Keyes, Anne Garris, Despina Athanason, Wendy Hutkin, Kim Porte, and Ron Delp.

Board Members Absent: : Pat Power, Sam Hutkin, Lillian Johnson, Ross Concklin.

Guests: Erik Wilson – City of Clearwater, Officer Williams – Clearwater Beach Police

Quorum was determined and the meeting was called to order at approximately 6:05 p.m.

Officer Williams was asked to address the group first. He reported that the Marine Unit was up and fully functional throughout the summer. They were very active along the inter-coastal waterway and on the gulf. They will be reducing their time out on the water to one day on the weekend during the fall and winter due to fuel costs and other expenses. They will devote their time to learning the fishery laws.

Minutes - A motion was made by Anne Garris to accept the Minutes as posted on the Website, Jerry Murphy seconded the motion and the motion passed.

The Treasurer’s Report was presented by Bill Johnson. A motion was made by Jay Keyes and seconded by Jerry Murphy to accept the report as written, the motion passed.

Patrick Gallagher reminded us that we will need a new Treasurer in January 2012 as Bill Johnson will be stepping down. Bill briefly explained what the duties entail. Bill has served in this position for two years in a non-board member capacity. The Treasurer can be a board member however.

Patrick Gallagher asked if we should consider beginning the process to officially lower the number of board members required. Discussion followed. Jerry Murphy stated that we tend to lose one or two board members during the year for various reasons. Sometimes we are able to replace them and other times not. Anne Garris commented that we tend to get committee help from within the board. If we had a smaller board we may be forced to seek help from outside the board which would be a good way to encourage community involvement. It was decided that we continue to operate under the current requirements.

Government ... Ron Delp updated us on the situation involving the fines for the uncompleted Scientology building in downtown Clearwater. The fines had mounted to 450 thousand dollars. The Scientologist had asked for the fines to be reduced to 45 thousand dollars. Ron reported that the City had denied that request but did agree to reduce it to 413 thousand dollars due to some work that was completed in 2006. The Scientologists are appealing this decision. Ron commended the City for sticking to their guns on this. The board agreed with Ron. Jerry Murphy commented that the City holds themselves accountable to these same rules when constructing a project and so it only seems right that they should hold others accountable as well.

Short Term Rentals – Ron Delp continued to report that Sand Key is experiencing Short Term Rentals in three of their Condominiums. He explained that the City sees condos differently because of the condo documents. He continued to update us on the Short Term Rental situation on N. Clearwater Beach. He said that Code Enforcement keeps him informed and he expects an update this week. He will continue to keep us informed via e-mail. He reminded us all to use C-tracs to report any suspected violation. This can be done anonymously.

New Business – Ron Delp informed us that he had been asked by Pinellas Alternative Analysis if CBA would be interested in hosting them for a brief presentation regarding alternative forms of transportation between Clearwater and St. Petersburg. Anne Garris suggested we combine forces with Sand Key and Island Estates for such a program. Ron said that would not be necessary, they would speak to any size audience. Wendy Hutkin asked if we could encourage the community to attend. Anne was asked to put something in the newspaper and Wendy offered to place it on our Facebook page. Anne continued on this subject by mentioning that she was contacted by someone in Sarasota that wanted to speak to us regarding a way to stop Red Tide. They are in need of research grants and want as much exposure as possible. The Red Tide topic sounded interesting to several board members.

Pat Gallagher asked Erik Wilson about the possibility of getting the new Chief of Police to come and speak to us. Several people were interested in hearing from Chief Holloway. Erik assured us that the Chief would be very happy to speak to us as would many other City Officials. It was decided that many of these topics could be used to encourage community involvement. It was suggested that we hold our meeting from 6-7 p.m. with the speaker to follow at 7 p.m. when more people from the community would be able to attend. Pat reminded us that we only have two meetings before our annual meeting in December which is more of a social event.

Ron Delp made a motion that we invite Pinellas Alternative Analysis to our October meeting. Jay Keyes seconded the motion, a vote was taken and the motion passed. Jerry Murphy added as a discussion point that we only have ten, two hour meetings per year. He does not feel that these speakers should be tacked onto our business meetings as we can hardly accomplish what we need now. Wendy Hutkin wondered if we could have quarterly speaker nights with more than one speaker in an evening. Ron Delp made a motion to invite the Red Tide speaker to our November meeting. Jay Keyes seconded the motion, and the motion passed to invite them. Anne Garris will contact them.

Patrick Gallagher brought up the subject of the need for an Executive Committee to advise and assist the Board. This committee would be chaired by a past president. Jay Keyes, Jerry Murphy, Wendy Hutkin, and Ron Delp will make up this committee. Jerry Murphy will chair the committee. They will meet and brainstorm soon.

Patrick Gallagher stated that he had put the coupon fundraiser to rest over the summer but that he and Jay Keyes will soon begin to work on that project. Patrick encouraged the residents/members attending the evenings meeting to consider working on the Board next year. It was decided that the Executive Committee just appointed would act as this year’s nominating committee as well.

A motion was made by Jay Keyes that we plan to attend the meetings and speak on a designated topic. Lillian Johnson seconded the motion. Discussion followed, stating that the Sand Dunes was currently on the City’s plate and should be brought up first. It was decided that Lillian Johnson would set up a schedule of topics. A vote was taken and it was agreed that we would begin attending the meetings on the 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at 6:00 p.m. prepared for 2-3 people to speak on a previously determined topic.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:18 p.m.

Submitted by Kim Porte