Strawberry Park NA - Board Minutes

Minutes of Strawberry Park Neighborhood Association Board Meeting
October 2, 2008 7:00 pm
West San Jose Community Center

Attendance:
Patty Brooks - President
Gary Cunningham - Vice President
Ed Brooks - Treasurer
Steve Ling – Secretary

Steve provided an update on plans for next general meeting

The next general meeting is Thursday Oct 23 7pm at West Valley Branch Library. Steve called and confirmed the community room is reserved.
A draft of the flyer for the meeting was provided for review.
San Jose City Arborist Ralph Mize is confirmed as speaker. He will discuss recent changes in city ordances, how to removing and replace a tree, etc.
Steve is working to identify a representative of Our City Forest (OCF) to attend as well to discuss free trees and tree care. Steve spoke with Amanda at OCF who it working on finding someone who can attend our meeting Oct 23.
Amanda said OCF is running a pilot program called Shade & Save sponsored by PG&E to plant 500 trees by the end of the year. They have 4 species of trees to choose from available for free. You can pick up the trees, or OCF will help plant the trees if requested. Details at the link below. (Reading the requirements I see that you must be a PG&E customer, and you must have air conditioning. This will limit the number of people who can participate.) http://www.ourcityforest.org/pge/index.html
The following statement was provided by Busara Melrose at OCF for us to use to promote: Interested in reducing your electricity bill? To see if you qualify to get a FREE shade tree planted in your yard, go to www.ourcityforest.org. You can also call Our City Forest at (408) 99-TREES for more details on how you can get a free shade tree planted at your home!
Amanda from OCF also mentioned a mobile tree education vehicle is in work. It will contain information on tree care and can be taken to events. It will be available in a few months.
Ed needs 10 minutes at the meeting to debrief on the neighborhood night out event
Patty needs 10 minutes to debrief on the emergency preparedness event
Steve needs 10 minutes to handle annual voting (see below)
The remaining 60 minutes will be split between Ralph Mize and OCF

Discussion on annual voting

Ed pointed out that memberships are good for a calendar year, so we need to hold our annual election for board members before the end of the year. The October 23 general meeting is our last meeting of the year. By unanimous vote the board agreed to hold annual election at the October 23 general meeting.
The bylaws state that to be eligible to vote a member must pay the annual membership fee and attend at least 2 general meetings. Very few will meet the meeting attendance requirement. By unanimous vote the board decided to change article 4, section 3 of the bylaws to read: “Voting Member: Any member who has paid the annual membership fee for the current year.”
Steve will add information on voting to the back of the flyer for the next general meeting. This will include: who is eligible to vote, a link to the bylaws, a description of the board roles, the name of the acting board member for each role, and how to nominate someone.

Update from Rhonda Farber, Superintendent of the Campbell Union High School District

Rhonda gave a short update on measure R, a parcel tax used to support Campbell Union High School.
She noted that there are exemptions for senior and disabled. Apply for the exemptions at the district office.
Part of Strawberry Park NA is in Campbell Union High School District.
Ed agreed to add information to the SPNA website.

Discuss 501.3C status

Patty noted that more grants are available to 501.3C organizations.
We agreed to table the topic until everyone has had an opportunity to read more about 501.3C

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Strawberry Park Neighborhood Association - Board Minutes - October 2, 2008