Board Meeting: August 23, 2017

Fort Washington Estates Civic Association

Meeting Minutes

August 23, 2017

Opening

The regular meeting of the Fort Washington Estates Civic Association was called to order at 8:00 pm on August 23, 2017 at the home of Carolyn Stevens.

Present

Carolyn Stevens, Michele Livingood, Clem Gaynor, and Sandra Stephon. Brittany Carey joined the meeting by phone.

Agenda

I. Review and Approval of Minutes: Carolyn Stevens raised a motion to approve the minutes for the meeting on July 19, 2017; the minutes were approved by unanimous vote.

II. Report on Fall Fling: Michele suggested the event be held on October 21, with no objections from other members. Hot dogs, hot dog buns, and drinks will be provided by the Civic Association; all other refreshments will be provided by residents, potluck-style. Michele will contact our COPS officer to see if they (or another officer) would be willing to attend the Fall Fling and provide information to and answer questions from Cove residents.

Michele will draft a flyer for the Fall Fling by September 8. The flyer will be added to the Cove newsletter for distribution on September 30, and Michele will post the flyer to NextDoor.

III. Committee Role Clarification: To prevent confusion between the Government and Public Utilities Committee and the Beautification Committee, we outlined several key issues the respective committees would handle:

Beautification: wildlife issues (deer population, etc.), community parks;

Government and Public Utilities: abandoned/dilapidated properties, IHHAAC, WSSC

IV. Government and Public Utilities Committee: Joe Federline submitted a two-page summary of issues the committee would like to address, including but not limited to: DPIE targeting of abandoned/dilapidated properties, a Cove-wide fall clean-up event (for which a flyer would be distributed), posting information regarding County collection services (yard waste, recycling, trash collections, bulky pickup) on NextDoor, distribution of WSSC water main replacement project map and updates to affected Cove residents, and coordinating with the District VII Station to provide information residents regarding safety issues. The Board approved of the committee’s list of target issues and it’s posting of information on NextDoor and in the newsletter.

V. Membership Drive: Results to Date: Clem reported that very few membership dues have been submitted for the fiscal year. He will send another update on membership by August 30.

VI. Communications Committee: Minutes from the committee’s meeting of August 17th were attached to today’s Board meeting materials. The committee plans to release three newsletters during the fiscal year. Newsletters will be distributed to each home in the Cove, as well as being posted to NextDoor. The committee will also distribute flyers for FWECA events and activities, as needed. The Fall newsletter will be completed by September 20, for distribution on September 30. Brittany Carey committed to reviewing the list of article topics (see meeting minutes) and submitting an article for the newsletter by September 8.

The committee emphasized the importance of a printed directory for Civic Association members. It is the preference of committee members that the new directory be printed in the same format as in previous years. The Board discussed whether to keep the directory format the same or to move to a binder format, where the directory is printed on 8.5” by 11” sheets and placed in a three-ring binder (old directory pages can be removed and replaced with the new directory pages every other year). Members were divided as to which method they preferred and decided that cost should be the deciding factor. Michele volunteered to research the cost of each directory format, and will report back to the Board at the next meeting.

Great discussion was given to approaching local businesses to sell advertising space in the newsletter to cover some, if not all, of the printing costs. The cost of ads will be as follows: $10 for business card; $25 for ¼ page; $50 for ½ page. Each business is responsible for providing a business card or print-ready ad by September 8. Several Board members offered to seek ads from local businesses; Sandra will speak with Silesia Liquors, Silesia Antiques, Charlie’s, Fort Washington Tire, and a local childcare provider, Carolyn will speak to Mark Krueger, Asian Star, and Sophia’s dog sitting service, Michele will speak to Sylvestre Chicken, and Brittany will speak to Legacy Carryout.

VII. Other Business: Board members whether the Board should contact Dave Freeman about rescheduling the block parties that were previously cancelled in order to prevent a scheduling conflict with the National Night Out event at District VII Police Station. Joe Federline is currently out of town, but once he returns, the Board will vote (via email) to release a $25 stipend to each block party coordinator for refreshments. Park Lane has a block party planned for September.

Adjournment

Meeting was adjourned at 9:26 pm by Carolyn Stevens. The next general meeting will be at 8 pm on September 26, at the home of Carolyn Stevens.