RWC Meeting Minutes, January 28, 2015, 7:00pm
Tessa Halstead of Chocolateire Tessa presented
At the home of Nicole Julian at 2005
Jefferies Place.
The president, Marissa Miruer
called the meeting to order and summarized the previous meeting’s minutes.
Treasurer was absent so not financial notes
were read.
Leah introduced our speaker
Tessa Halstead of Chocolaterie Tessa, which is located at 7425 Burnet Road. Her
father was a chocolatier and she makes corporate gifts, weddings and party
favors. Samples of her delicious Madagascarian and Ecuadorian chocolates were
enjoyed by all.
First item on the agenda was
voting on November’s minutes. Bunny Michel makes a motion to approve the
minutes and Marie Timmerman seconds. The motion passes.
Announcements: Leah
Paulo announces the next meeting at Thinkery meeting at Feb 24th at
1830 Simond Ave. A host for March 24th and April 21st meeting is needed. If
none is found, the meetings will be held at City Hall.
Roseann Ferraro was announced as
5k Chair, which will be held Friday, April 17 at 6pm. Noting that entry fees
hadn’t been raised in years, it was proposed RWC raise prices Adults from $25
to $30, kids $15 to $20. Shanti Jayakumar voiced the opinion that the rate
shouldn’t be raised because RWC has plenty of money. No vote was called for. Roseann
passed a sheet around to sign up looking especially for a website coordinator
and help with sponsorship.
Catherine Hanrahan and Krista
Dillard are co-chairing the annual Fourth of July Parade.
Next item on voting on Membership
replacing Catherine Hanrahan with Bunny Michel. Christie Savarece makes a
motion and Tamera Mellon seconds. Motion passes.
Open Issues: The third
item was open issues, which was voting on motions that were proposed in the
November meeting concerning the gift for City of Rollingwood, as well as
reviewing research about the rubber playground surfaces. There had been
discussion if a gift for the City Hall was an appropriate gift given the RWC
mission statement (The Rollingwood Women’s Club
was founded in 1958 to promote the welfare of residents, to encourage
beautification of the city and to work with the mayor and the city council on
projects benefiting the community.). Marissa
Mireur reiterated the Treasurer, Marilyn Kounnas’s concern that should RWC be
audited buying a gift for the City Hall could be perceived as a misuse of funds
because City Hall is an office space and not a park, putting our tax-free
501c(3) status at risk.
The City requested two new
doormats, one plain and one personalized with the Rollingwood seal on it and
new blinds, totaling $2,195 plus $80 for shipping However, many members noted
that two plain doormats could be purchased much less inexpensively. Marissa
noted that we could change our mission statement to be more vague to avoid
future conflict. Leah Paulo makes a
motion to buy the City two plain doormats totaling $325. Natasha Harris
seconds. Judy Moore makes an amendment to increase amount to $2000 incase the
exterior doormat needs to be of a different quality. Kathryn Turpin seconds it.
Motion passes for $2000 for blinds and doormats including shipping and
handling.
Next, Maria Abernathy and
Natasha Harris presented their findings concerning the safeness of the rubber
decking in the lower playground. Concerns had been raised in the previous
meeting about its carcinogenetic properties, and if the rubber should be
replaced with wood chippings at the cost of $5,000. Marissa noted that if we do
not approve replacing the surface, RWC will still have $5000 left in the bank
account which could be spent on a shade structure over the playground. Maria explained
she only researched carcinogenetic properties of the surface, not which is
safest for falls. She also emphasized that she avoided manufacturer’s pages and
concentrated her research on governmental or non-profit organizations such as
EPA, Consumer Reports, National Commission of Heath and the International Play
Equipment Association. She could not find a credible link between cancer and
the surface in her research. The speakers note the government has been pushing
recycling used tires for playground decking for years.
Toni Hudson said Parks Commission
replaced rubber in the past year and is not due to be replaced for the next
three years, as it is on a four-year replacement schedule. There is no money in
the budget in parks and rec for replacement, but would be willing to replace it
if there was enough pressure and outside money allocated for it. Christie Savarece
noted the fumes were strong on a hot day. Toni offered the upper level playground,
which is new and has wood chip decking as an option for ages 2-12.
Both speakers were adamant that
they were not making recommendations on the surface, but as the parents of
small children, Natasha that she would not chose the surface again. Marissa
asks for vote on replacing the rubber surface with wood chips. Shanthi makes a
motion to keep the $5000 money in the bank and not replace the decking, Sara Hutson
seconds it. Christie says nay.
New Business: Rollingwood
Mayor, Tom Farrell requested that RWC to print more hats for sale for the 5k,
as well as t-shirts. He also asked, through his wife, Sandra Farrell, if RWC
would approve the auctioning off of street signs as a Fourth of July fundraiser.
No objection was made.
Meeting adjourned at 8:36pm.
Minutes submitted by Kelly Dixon
Minutes approved by Marissa
Mireur
