Murdock Neighborhood Association Board Meeting -- Minutes

July 12, 2006

The meeting was held at the home of Larry Murchan.
The meeting was called to order at 7:45 p.m. by President Bob Fanjoy.
Board Members Present: Fanjoy, Murchan, Johnson, Jones
Board Members Absent: Livezey and Hsieh (both excused); Gomez submitted resignation on 7/12/06.
Others attending: Margie Murchan

Minutes

• Minutes of June 14 Board meeting were approved with 2 minor changes.

Treasurer’s Report (submitted by e-mail)

• Current balance is $1,495.57.
• Total expenses to date are $886.02.
• Added 7 new members and 2 renewal members in June.

Old Business

Nominating Committee

• Chappie Jones, committee chair, thanked Trixie and Larry for their suggestions to help recruit committee members. The Board and Margie suggested several names and offered to help contact them. Jones would like to have 4 members for an estimated 2 meetings.
• Names need to be distributed to the membership by the third week of September to meet by-laws requirements. Therefore, the list of nominees and any submitted bios should be available by the first week of September.
• Trixie should do an e-mail blast to recruit volunteers for the committee and for nominations (of self or others). Contact Chappie at ...mna-information@murdockna.org and ask to have the email forwarded to Chappie.

Annual Picnic – June 24

• Margie Murchan, picnic chair, joined the Board for the discussion.
• Discussed combining with National Night Out, but determined that the later hour would draw fewer people and not be as good for young children. As an alternative it was suggested that the picnic be moved to May, which would leave more time between the two park events.
• The games were a great success, especially the water games (hot day!) and races were difficult in the heat. Consider prizes for older children.
• The clown and balloons were a hit.
• The park was very crowded; need to arrive by 7 a.m. to protect sites that were "reserved" the night before.
• Total cash expenses were $137.07, with thanks to Margie for accumulating the Safeway certificates used to "purchase" many of the supplies. Also thanks to Mark Burns for drinks.

By-laws Changes

• Since the primary discussion of a change was for expanding the board, the decision was not to consider a by-laws change unless the nominating process turned up a larger number of willing volunteers for the board.
• By-laws changes can be submitted to members as late as 1 week prior to the meeting, so there will be time to consider this change if circumstances warrant.
• If more nominees than positions, then all could be asked if they would be willing to accept an at-large position if the board were expanded to include one or two such positions.

National Night Out (NNO) Plans for Tuesday, August 1

• Movie may not be feasible, since David Gomez might not be available for technical support. Discussion indicated less support for the movie, given the late hour to achieve enough darkness – could be a problem on a work night and for young families.
• Bob has registered our event with the SJ Police Department. Kim Gaddis of Crime Prevention, our Neighborhood Watch (NW}) contact, was also the NNO contact. Registration puts us on the list for a visit by an officer during the event.
• This is a NW opportunity. Each NW host in the neighborhood should contact their "circle" or attendees and ask them to invite their neighbors who had not attended the meeting. Use the event to recruit more hosts and blocks to participate.
• NOTE from Trixie – not stated at the meeting: For those who cannot attend, we should encourage them to do the original NNO action: at 8 p.m. turn on the porch light and step outside to greet your neighbors.
• Larry will be the event contact to follow through with Kim Gaddis.
• Start the barbecue at 6:30 p.m. This is a BYOM (Bring Your Own Meat) event, with families bringing a picnic dinner if they wish. The meeting will start at 7 p.m. and the total event should last no later than 9 p.m. MNA will provide barbcue, Make Your Own Sundae supplies (Larry will organize) and Starbucks coffee (Charles will organize.)
• Flyer should be distributed the weekend of the 22nd. A one-page flyer is enough, since this is not a regular newsletter.
• The flyer should remind everyone that membership dues must be paid as of August 1 in order to vote at the general meeting in October. We will have a membership table at the event to sign folks up. Last year's membership does not count!

Traffic Committee

• Judy Boehm has contacted the SJ Transportation Department about the possibility of doing the video when school starts again.

New Business

Tulip Tree Pilot Treatment Grant

• Doris e-mailed Linda's office about the number of trees with removal permit requests and the potential for injection treatment. The result was a $5,000 grant from Council Member LeZotte's office for a demonstration program to test the injections.
• Bob talked to City Arborist Ralph Mize. He would like volunteers for treatment and for the control trees. Given the timing and need for fast action, we should notify the neighborhood through the website and with an e-mail blast. (Trixie)
• Property owners can volunteer for the program by e-mailing the MNA information contact from the website (Trixie to arrange with Sigi, who will forward names to Bob. Bob will serve as the main contact with Ralph Mize.)
• This will be a first-come, first-served opportunity.
• Because of the large number of removal requests Mize has scheduled a consolidated protest hearing on Friday, July 21. There is also a request for a moratorium on further permits until the demonstration is completed.

New Newspaper – the West San Jose Resident

• Starting August 3 and every Thursday thereafter a new free community newspaper will serve our area. The publisher is Community Newspapers (also does Cupertino Courier, Saratoga News, Campbell paper, etc.).
• Bob and Trixie have both talked to staff members, including Lisa Sibley, the editor. They know about the MNA and National Night Out, and about the tulip tree issue and are anxious to get our news.
• Story deadline is noon of the prior Thursday.
• Local residents should encourage local businesses to advertise in the paper, which circulates for free. We want it to succeed -- have wanted this for a long time!

Board Vacancy

• David Gomez submitted his resignation this afternoon. The Board asked Bob to contact him before they declare an actual vacancy. All expressed concern and their desire that he remain on the board if at all possible.

Next Meetings:
August 9 Location: tentatively set for Jones'
September 13 – Johnson's
October – TBD.

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Trixie Johnson, Secretary