HCTA Trustee June Meeting Minutes

HCTA Meeting Minutes- June 24, 2011 Reis residence

Present: K Reis, S Ellman, B Lewis, S Lewis, P Kunz, J Cadmus, J Loudon

Absent: B Lehman, B Frank, J Imperial, M Pasnick.

President’s report: Bryan Lewis reported the beach access points that needed to be re-worked have been completed and feedback from residents is very complimentary. We continue to work with   the Boro on the BLVD safety issue- although a few of us have been occupied with professional obligations and movement has been slow. Bryan has completed his edits of John I’s BLVD letter and will forward to Kathy for review before it is sent to the Sandpaper for publication.  We will attempt to set up an opportunity to show the AVI model to the JCTA at their next meeting on August 1. Phil  will contact Stantec to see if they could send a representative to explain it to the attendees and  Barbara L, our Rep will then facilitate this meeting appearance with the JCTA. John C stated he will create a template/outline for BLVD Safety ads to be published. Saul suggested sending out an email asking members for assistance if they possess ad background, etc.

Membership: Chairman Saul Ellman has completed his membership campaign. 700 letters where sent out as of  the third week of June, 200 have joined or renewed. These responders membership will extend thru August of 2012. It costs about a $1.00 per family to execute the membership mailing- Saul would like to explore a way to reduce the cost.

Extra- Saul suggested blurbs to go out reminding taxpayers of when taxes are due, community events and activities etc. Kathy agreed with this idea to increase awareness thru monthly community updates. Susan asked Trustees to write and send her ‘blurbs’ when they wanted something to go out and she would send it. Kathy brought up the idea of expanding Bryan’s newsletter and increasing its frequency- good idea. Again-we need assistance on this. Take a minute to write something and Trustees forward your ideas and text and we’ll combine it to be sent out.

Town Wide Annual Yard Sale: Chairman Kathy Reis felt the 3^rd Annual yard sale was successful- we had more households participating this year than the two previous years. 2/3 households sent in late registration and did not make it onto the “Treasure Map”, but they did receive a flag and signage to mark their sale- as per the original guidelines. For next year, we will investigate the idea of Goodwill or a similar organization coming to HC (possibly Sunset Park) on the Sunday after the sale to do a mass pick-up/donation of unwanted goods as an additional community service.

HCTA Annual Meeting: The date for our Annual meeting is Saturday, August 27^th at the Firehouse. The start time will be 10:00am with the doors opening at 9:30. Susan will confirm with Scott Wolfschmidt of the fire company and sign date stickers will be ordered. An email will be sent out to Trustees to sign up for work stations prior to the meeting.

Treasurer Report: Jim Loudon presented his report for approval. Jim asked and got approval to send in a sponsorship donation for the HC Dog Day Race in August. He also asked for approval to send in a donation to the Sargent Angelo Vasile Fund. This was voted down. The voting Trustees would rather donate something to the community in Sargent Vasile’s name than create a precedent of donating money to families.

JCTA: Barbara Lehman phoned her report in. The JCTA has put off elections until September. Their next meeting will be on August 1^st at 7pm at the Library in Ship Bottom. Barbara feels to assist with the BLVD safety issue we need to get a dialog going with the BL members to find a solution. She stated she also needs another HCTA Trustee to attend meeting with her. John C volunteered to be our second JCTA Representative.

Misc.: Trustees are asked to bring with them to the next meeting the names of anyone they feel would be interested in joining the HCTA Board that is a ‘doer’ and would be able to contribute to the group with their time and efforts on the behalf of the town.

The next Trustee meeting will be on Friday, July 22 at the Kunz residence. The meeting will begin at 8pm.

HCTA Trustee May Meeting Minutes

HCTA May Meeting Minutes  *  May 6, 2011 *  Loudon Residence

Present: Bryan Lewis, Jim Loudon, John Imperiale, Susan Lewis, Kathy Ries, Phil Kunz, Barbara Lehman.

Absent: Barbara Frank, Saul Ellman, John Cadmus, Michael Pasnik

Treasurer’s Report: We currently have $8924.89 in our account. Jim has paid the JCTA dues, the state filing fees.

Membership Report: Saul has again created a letter to be sent to all HC Taxpayers asking them to join/re-join for the next season. The letter is being printed and he will mail it out in the next week or so.

JCTA: Barbara stated that we (the HCTA) need a second representative in case she cannot make a meeting. A second set of ears is always helpful. She tried to speak to the Barnegat Light Rep. about the BLVD and they would not speak to her. Someone at meeting stated that the BLVD Safety Stantec model did not include right hand turns?? Bryan and Phil stated that is a valid question, but they believe the model includes all  variables and will confirm. Barbara stated Leonard Connors thinks the other school should be closed- not the one selected from the consolidation study.

Town-wide Yard Sale-Sat. May 28: Kathy has put together all paperwork/forms and Susan has posted to the website. After a few edits, a blast email will be sent out to the membership announcing the event to be held Memorial Day Weekend (Sat and Sun). The event will include members and non-members. Non-members paying an additional fee giving them HCTA membership. All info must be into the HCTA no later that May 21 to be assured inclusion in the sale ‘Treasure Map’.

Saturday morning volunteers:

1.  Handing out Treasure Maps at 6:20: Phil, Susan, John I and maybe Barbara L. (Please be outside town hall no later than 6:10am. We will hand out maps until 9:00am.

2.  Handing out Sale Flags/Signage at 6:15am: Kathy, Jim Loudon and Saul. Please be ready to go at Town Hall no later than 6:05.

Sunday Flag Pick-up: Sellers are asked to leave the flag out by their front door or porch for pick up on Sunday. Kathy will arrange the Treasure Map assist? If some one knows of a student in need of Community Service hours, we will write them a letter for their assistance with pick-up. So far, Bryan ans Susan are the only volunteers for pick-up. Who else?

BLVD SafetyUpdate: The Sandpaper is not publishing all the letters they are receiving concerning BLVD safety. We have had a number of members writing in (Thank you all!!) and the letters are not being publisheed. We will ask people to re-send their letters in Bryan’s Spring update to members if their letters have not been published.

BLVD Questions/Brainstorming: How can we put additional pressure on the Freeholders? They talk about school consolidation, but they don’t represent our kids well being now re: BLVD safety. Besides cost savings, why would we want to consolidate with you Larson and Mancini? The BLVD safety project is not moving forward because of these two mayors. We a least have a dialoge with the Freeholders, Mayors Larson and Mancini will not even speak to us. BL Mayor Kirk Larson is responding to BL First Aid squad’s Bob Van Meter’s nay saying/misinformation. Van Meter doesn’t really care about emergency vehicles. The real reason is he doesn’t want to be slowed down in his personal life, has found his talking point with the mayors and he’s sticking with it.

Stantec told Van Meter specifically the ER vehicles have a BETTER response time. We need to educate the Mayors and/or the people who vote for them. We need the AVI model NOW and will again ask the Commissioners to help us acquire it. Both mayors have now seen the AVI model, but their supporters/voters have not and they are playing on those peoples fears.

Education is key and we cannot educate peole without the AVI. Who is personal friends with Larson and Mancini? Oldham.

BL Mayor Larson said “Put the lights in. My people don’t care.” We think people will care about more traffic lights. While that will help people cross the BLVD, it doesn’t help make the shoulders wider for those attempting to walk, ride, jog or push a baby stroller.

How can Jon Oldham help us?

How do we proceed from here?

1. We will keep writing letters to the Sandpaper to keep this issue current and in the public eye.

2. We will write an OPEN letter to  Mayors Larson and Mancini for the week of Memorial Day publication. Bryan, John I, Phil and Kathy will work on this. John I is the lead.

3. We will map out an Ad campaign.

Bryan made a motion to spend up to $2000.00 for ads. Phil seconded and the motion was passed by all Trustees present for up to 12 weeks of a large ad, plus up to $750.00 for a separate ‘Open Letter” to the Mayors. What is the Best placement for an Ad in the Sandpaper. Saul – what do you think?

- We will ask John Oldham and the Commissioners to partner with us on this effort both financially and work wise. We need to meet with them to plan strategy.Susan/Bryan will contact Jon Oldham.

4. Get the AVI Model. The town has asked for this and Freeholder Kelly has promised he wouid get it for us- BUT so far NOTHING. Ocean Co. Engineer Frank Scarantino also asked on behalf of our Mayor. Where is the AVI and why won’t anyone provide it to the HCTA/Boro of HC?

5. Could we contact: NJ Pedestrian Safety Impact Team for assistance? What about the NJ Pedestrian and Bike Safety Council? What about Channel 30- Free TV? Who in our membership has contacts or experience with this sort of campaign?

6. Once we get the AVI we could schedule a presentation to the JCTA, post it on our website and send out a blast email to the membership that the AVI model is there.

7. We could create “Burma Shave” type signs for put out this summer. Phil, Kathy and Bryan will work on this. Could we use Police Chief Preiser’s quote? Susan will check sign prices. (similar to what we use for our Annual Meeting)

8. We will revisit the idea of Road slow-down and a rally at our or other Town Halls (LBT or BL) at our next Trustee meeting in June.

Our next meeting will be on Friday, June 24th at the Ries residence.

April Board Meeting Minutes

April Meeting Minutes- Cadmus home

Present: B Lewis, S Lewis, J Loudon, P Kunz, J Cadmus, M Pasnick, S Ellman, J Imperial.

Absent: B Lehman, B Frank, K Ries.

President: JCT Representative Charlie Gaver emailed his resignation, stating he would like to complete his term as Secretary for the JCTA. Bryan agrees that he should honor his committement to that organization.  The HCTA Board thanks him for his service. After quick Board reports, this Trustee meeting will be a working/brain storming meeting regarding BLVD/Safety strategy.

Treasurer : Jim stated that we have $8924.89 on our account as of 3/31/11. He paid the bill for our beach umbrella donation to the HC Beach Patrol. Susan added that we purchased enough umbrellas to cover every life guard stand including the Bay Beach, with two extras as spares. They are dark green and white with ‘Donated by the HCTA’ printed on them.

Membership: Saul is working on the Spring membership drive letter and the group previously approved the expenditures associated with this. Saul and Jim spoke to businesses in the Fall- getting face time with about 65% of HC business owners. No new businesses joined. Two local businesses renewed. Saul will now seek businesses outside of HC as ‘Advertisers’ on our website for about the same price as a HC Business membership.

JCTA: Barbara is out of the country for work reasons and will update us at our next meeting. Note: They will have openings for Treasurer and Secretary positions on their Board in May.

BLVD/Safety: Phil and Bryan provided an update to current staus.  The HC Mayor and Commissioners wrote a letter in support of the BLVD re-striping that was sent to The Sandpaper, local officials and other papers in the area. We want our members to keep up the letter writing- at this time voicing their support for our Mayor and Commissioners and our right to have a safer road in HC.

We would like to produce a series of Ads in the Sandpaper. John Cadmus stated he has ‘connections’ and will check ad prices for us. John Imperial will look into robo call prices. Phil’s friend John Demming can advise os in AVI website and Susan will check with our site host Andrew on prices to create a BLVD specific site.

We need to address ‘talking’ points’,  BLVD website content, Ad series content, review results of brainstorming, etc. After working on this for 2.5 hours, the group decided to have a smaller committee complete the BLVD plans and then present to the entire group. This will consist of Phil, Kathy, Jim, Bryan, Saul with input from other Trustees as they desire and are available.

The next meeting wil be on Friday, May 6th at 8pm at the Loudon home.

February Board Minutes

Harvey Cedars Taxpayers Association

Board of Trustees Meeting

2/18/11             Lewis Home, 7:30pm

Present: Kathleen Ries, Susan Lewis, Bryan Lewis, Phil Kunz, Saul Ellman, Barbara Lehman, Charlie Gaver, John Cadmus, John Imperiale.

Not present:  Michael Pasnick, Barbara Frank, Jim Loudon.

HC Volunteer Fire Company:

HC’s new Fire truck is coming from South Dakota; arriving mid-March.

HC Boro:

Working on handicapped ramp at Mercer.

HC Boro budget “workshop” 2/23/11; Phil  to attend for HCTA.

Police:

New Class 2 officer hired from Beach Haven.

Beach Replenishment:

HC completed all paperwork for maintenance permit to keep dunes at 22’.  Trying to change rules for HC only. The paperwork for this has now been completed & submitted to DEP.

Beach Badges:

There is a shortfall w/ lifeguard & beach workers, as always; alignment w/ LBT & BH (likely $5, seasonal add-on).  Surf City & Barnegat Light are not in agreement.   Ship Bottom not mentioned by Mayor Jon Oldham in this discussion.  Typically, taxpayers buy seasonal badges; weekly & dailies usually purchased by visitors, the feeling seems to be that they should endure the higher-priced badges.  HCTA is of the opinion that there’s no big benefit to promoting reciprocity for HC; passive reciprocity will promote a pleasant vacation experience.

Town-wide Yard Sale:

Jon Oldham approved the plan (verbally) Yard Sale plans for Memorial Day weekend -Saturday.  Need to follow up w/ Boro in writing.

Membership:

We have new listing of residents & businesses.  It will be $1,000 to do the Membership mailing.  Discussed the idea of offering businesses the opportunity to stuff the mailer & support the organization.  Generally approved.

Treasurer’s Report:

Handed out at the meeting.

Schools:

Charlie: The Board is restructuring report… refused to release report ‘til mtg.  General recommendation to close SB, expand EJ ($9 million).  Have not addressed staffing & other issues; history shows that if these issues are never dealt with the change will never happen.  4% increases every year, avg teacher salary here $75k.

Boulevard:

County Meeting re: Blvd. moved to 3/2; HCTA is not invited

Mayor Jon O.ldham wants meeting w/ HCTA board members after that.

Sandpaper article re: lights appeared.  Mayor Oldham talked about misconception.

Mayor Mancini was supposed to be getting a meeting together w/ Barnegat Light & one or both Loveladies organizations.  Mancini reported to not  want the mtg. Doubt Jon O‘s actually pushed for the mtg.  Ocean County Commissioner Jack Kelly called for a meeting w/ Mancini, Jon O. & Barnegat Light Mayor Kirk Larson.  Jon O. says he met w/ Mancini, Frank Scarantino-OC Engineer- and that Mancini’s comment was “I can understand why you want this”.  Larson’s concerns supposedly are about travel time to get to Barnegat Light.  Larson & Mancini, evidently, aren’t communicating w/ their taxpayers.

Action items:

1.) Bryan to address Mancini issue in a letter to the editor to convince folks north of us:

o      There will be change one way to the other, the alternative (Larson argument) is worse than the proposed.

o      Fallacy of Larson argument

o      Transit time will be worse

2.) Susan to double check current website content.

o      Get the software available to produce a video to post on our website (Phil)

o      Draw attention to article online

o      Want to support the safety?  Join.

Traffic light scenario:

o      Target people in Barnegat Light – to make them award this could happen.

o      Make three flashers fully functional and delay traffic by even more time-won’t help pedestrians on shoulders, but could slow cars for those crossing.

o      Every week a letter from a different person to the Sandpaper: FACTUAL STUFF… “Good Old Boy Network putting public safety at risk.”

o      JD. (member) may be interested in staging a protest, HCTA will be aware but not endorse: One mile walk… 3-abreast, every Saturday in season.

o      Charlie recommends letter from HCTA to JCTA as well (next JCTA mtg 3/7/11)

Next trustee meeting: 4/1, 8pm at home of John Cadmus