Board Meeting Minutes - March 28, 2019

Vista Las Palmas Neighborhood Organization Board Meeting
March 28, 2019, 4:00pm
501 S Palm Canyon Drive Palm Springs

The following board members were present:  Howard Hawkes, Mickey Puig, Kermit Ferrer (via phone), Robin Abrahams (via phone), and Gustav Swanson (via phone). 

AGENDA

  • Review/Approve Minutes from Feb. meeting

  • Review Action Items from Feb. meeting

  • Treasury / Finance Report

  • Follow up to Annual VLPNO Meeting: 11/18/18

  • Board Member Bios - Website update

  • VLP Modernism Week Home Tour Recap

  • VLP April Social

  • Neighborhood Activities Plan

  • 5G Towers

  • Historic District

  • SB50 (previously SB 827)

  • Next Meeting Dates for April & May

  • Other

RECAP / NOTES

Review/Approve Minutes from Feb. 7th meeting

  • Board reviewed and unanimously approved minutes from the Feb. 2019 meeting

  • Kermit to follow-up with Sally to coordinate w/ Imagine-IT to publish Jan. 17th & Feb. 7th, 2019 Board Meeting minutes on-line

Review Action Items from Feb. meeting

  • OPEN: Sally to publish minutes from December 5th, 2018 and January 17th’s Board Meeting on-line working with Imagine IT group

  • COMPLETE: Kermit to send out email requesting Board Member bio’s and photos to update VLPNO website. All bio’s received, edited to <200 words and forwarded to Sally

    • Next step: Kermit to follow-up with Sally to ensure that VLPNO Board Member bio’s and photos are uploaded to the VLPNO website

  • OPEN: Howard to locate current VLPNO By-Laws

    • Howard to contact Mike Ziskind Re: VLPNO By-Laws printed version he might have – possibly Nov/Dec 2017

    • Mickey to reach out to Jeff S @ ImagineIT to request version of VLPNO By-Laws that are posted on the website as well as who provided those to ImagineIT

  • OPEN: Howard to share (1) current VLPNO By-Laws and (2) Minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th with Glenn Cameron to provide legal counsel in the review of events occurred during the Annual VLP meeting (See minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th) against VLPNO by-laws and advise VLPNO Board.

  • OPEN: Howard to present offer to Glenn Cameron to become 2nd member of the VLPNO Advisory Board and become legal advisor/counsel

    • During MW VLP Home Tour Kermit talked to Glen about the open item notes above and the possibility of him joining VLPNO’s Advisory Board. Glen was willing.

  • COMPLETE: Kermit to send out Calendar Invite to the Board along with a GoToMeeting invite for March for anyone who might not be able to attend in person

  • IN-PROCESS: Mickey to confirm closing of Paypal account

  • IN-PROCESS: Kermit to continue to work with volunteer: John Criscuolo on validating/updating neighbor detail information – include database information from Jeff Shotwell - ImagineIT

  • IN-PROCESS: Kermit & John to create proposal up proposal for contacting all neighbors with draft content requesting neighbors’ input and/or update their personal and contact information as well as drive VLPNO membership

    • Kermit encourages all Board Members to reach out to new neighbors, inform them of the VLPNO Association, Invite them to the March Social Event & request that they submit contact info to Kermit to update database

Treasury:

  • Mickey presented Treasurer’s Report.

  • As a follow-up, he will update the Feb. Finance report to include Robin’s MW updated financials.

  • Mickey will finalize March 2019 Finance Report

Board Positions – Board Member Bio’s

  • Parking Lot Item to be revisited during a future Board meeting / Special project: Recommended an SP be written for Board transitioning members so that website can be updated ASAP after Board election

 Follow-up to Annual Board Meeting held on Sunday, November 18th:

  • See Minutes from January 17th Board Meeting and subsequent Follow-Up Actions for Feb. & Mar. Board meetings

 VLP 2019 Modernism Week Home Tour Recap

  • Robin provided recap of this year’s event

  • Estimated ticket sales @ Sold = 347 out of a Total 550.

  • There are a couple of boxes of 2019 VLP Tour booklets still available.

    • Robin proposed possibly having these for sale at the PS Visitor’s Center in order to capture more funds for the VLP

    • Kermit suggested having these for sale during the VLP Social

  • Robin proposes ‘Lessons Learned Meeting’

    • Lessons Learned Meeting is schedule for Wed. April 3rd @ H3K Conference Room

    • It is suggested that invitation be extended to other VLP MW leads

  • She also recommends the creation of a team comprised of 4-5 people to spearhead the MW2020 Home Tour if the VLP decides to schedule this event for 2020

    • Robin states that she is willing to assist in the early organization effort, though she won’t be Chair for MW2020

  • MW organization is launching workshops to assist neighborhoods in preparations and running of their tour

  • Parking Lot Item to be revisited during a April/May Board meeting: Discuss whether to host a VLP Home Tour in 2020

Neighborhood - Social

  • Confirmed: 1st 2019 VLP Neighborhood social is scheduled for Saturday, April 6th.

  • Location: 849 Patio – Hor’s d’ouvres & No Host Bar (Cash Bar)

  • Amy has sent out an email blast was sent to all VLP members on Tuesday, March 26th and will be resent on Thursday, April 4th. The email requested everyone to RSVP to Amy.

  • Amy is handling all of the details with 849 while keeping Howard abreast of her decisions.

  • If, it turns out, we have more RSVP's than usual (around 50) then Amy will let the Board know via email. She may request that we up our budget for this event, especially since we are thanking the many docents who helped with our Modernism week.

 5G Towers

  • Gustav provides information on 5G technology

  • New towers will be required to support this platform. These new towers would have to be placed 500 ft from each other. The installation, appearance of these towers could impact the aesthetics of our neighborhood

  • Kermit asked about the potential to have a camouflaged option where towers look like palm trees

  • The FCC oversees the installation

  • There is no impending date for this to occur. This is purely an FYI / Be Aware topic

Historic District Letter

  • Letter from Department of Planning Services received by some VLP Home Owners RE: OPEN HOUSE TO PREVIEW THE UPDATED PALM SPRINGS CITYWIDE HISTORIC RESOURCE INVENTORY

  • Robin proposed inviting Ken Lyon, Associate Planner – Historic Preservation Office from the Planning Dept to educate the Board on Status

  • Howard said that he would reach out to him to invite him to our next Board meeting

 SB50 (previously SB 827)

 Future Meetings

  • NOTE: Board meetings scheduled for the 2nd Thursday of month @ 4:00pm

  • April Meeting: Based on everyone’s schedule for April, next meeting to take place on Thursday, April 18th @ 4:00pm. Meeting will be held at H3K, 501 S Palm Canyon Dr, Palm Springs, CA. (Yes, we know that this is the 1st Thursday of the month.)

  • May Meeting: Thursday, May 9th @ 4:00pm.

  • Kermit to send out Calendar Invite to the Board along with a GoToMeeting invite for anyone who might be able to attend in person

  • Parking Lot Item to be revisited during a future Board meeting: Jade mentioned at January 2019 meeting that the Annual VLPNO Meeting date has proven to be unpopular. The Board discussed identifying three (3) alternative dates to send out to the VLPNO neighborhood members to vote on potential date change for the Annual Meeting

Other

  • Gustav proposes we write a newsletter to post on site highlighting Board and neighborhood activities

    • Kermit requests delaying this until he can coordinate updates with Sally

  • Robin had stated in an email that there might be paperwork required for the taxes that VLPNO should (or should have already) filed. It appears there previously was hand-off from Mike Ziskind to Jade Nelson when Jade was President

    • On March 25th, Sheila responded via email that VLP already has an exempt status. Sheila double checked with the IRS on the morning of the 25th and stated that this exemption continues as long as we are in existence as VLP.

ACTION ITEM

  • Howard to invite Ken Lyon, Associate Planner – Historic Preservation Office to next Board Meeting RE: Letter from Department of Planning Services received by some VLP Home Owners RE: OPEN HOUSE TO PREVIEW THE UPDATED PALM SPRINGS CITYWIDE HISTORIC RESOURCE INVENTORY

  • Sally to publish minutes from December 5th, 2018, January 17th and Feb. 7th, 2019 Board Meeting on-line working with Imagine IT group

  • Kermit to follow-up with Sally to ensure that VLPNO Board Member bio’s and photos are uploaded to the VLPNO website

  • Howard to locate current VLPNO By-Laws

    • Howard to contact Mike Ziskind Re: VLPNO By-Laws printed version he might have – possibly Nov/Dec 2017

    • Mickey to reach out to Jeff S @ ImagineIT to request version of VLPNO By-Laws that are posted on the website as well as who provided those to ImagineIT

  • Howard to share (1) current VLPNO By-Laws and (2) Minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th with Glenn Cameron to provide legal counsel in the review of events occurred during the Annual VLP meeting (See minutes from VLPNO Annual meeting held on Nov. 18th) against VLPNO by-laws and advise VLPNO Board.

  • Howard to present offer to Glenn Cameron to become 2nd member of the VLPNO Advisory Board and become legal advisor/counsel

  • Kermit to send out Calendar Invite to the Board along with a GoToMeeting invite for April for anyone who might not be able to attend in person

  • Mickey to confirm closing of Paypal account

  • Kermit to continue to work with volunteer: John Criscuolo on validating/updating neighbor detail information – include database information from Jeff Shotwell - ImagineIT

  • Kermit & John to create proposal up proposal for contacting all neighbors with draft content requesting neighbors’ input and/or update their personal and contact information as well as drive VLPNO membership