Forest Park Civic Association Meeting Minutes: July 12, 2022

Forest Park Civic Association Meeting

Date: 12 July 2022

Location: Epworth United Methodist Church and Zoom

Meeting called to order @ 7:12 PM by Ed Vanasdale 

The Pledge of Allegiance was recited.

Attendance was taken via role call/Zoom Participant List by Lou Bernard

OFFICER REPORTS

President’s Report   Ed Vanasdale – ed1vanasdale@gmail.com

The 4th of July Parade was a huge success. Thanks to all who helped. Bikes-n-Trikes was a great success. Very solid turnout. Thanks to Rita Woeste for purchasing the gift bags to all of the kids who participated. Over 20 kids participated. A shout out to Mary Sguerra for creating a fantastic float for the FPCA. We won the Best in Theme Award.

Vice President’s Report  Trevor Secord – tsecord@unioncountyymca.org

NCC Meeting 

  1. Police report car thefts are still a high concern for our area with Kia and Hyundai vehicles being targeted.
  2. CPD Bike unit – “Street Team” was there to report on what they do and how they make an impact. 
  3. City attorney is continuing to work on the hotel issues and has two hearings this month
  4. NABA had their “161 Clean-up” on July 9th, and are asking for more volunteers to keep 161 clean. Only 2 volunteers showed up this month
  5. City of Columbus 311 event will be at the library to go over the new system-look for info in the news or the website.
  6. Special guest Emmanuel Remy was there to answer questions about city safety – he reaffirmed that the city changes to the police department were only codifying “best practices” they already had or were putting into place. No change to their funding. Youth Organization grants through the city will be available $500 each. 
  7. The Northland Parade was a success, but costs will go up in the next few years due to insurance. 
  8. Speaker was Dayna McCrary from the department of development discussing their program, the Columbus Financial Empowerment Center. Effort to help those who want to take charge of their life and their finances. Not just for those in financial need but anyone looking for financial literacy or guidance in their lives. FREE Program 
  9. NCC picnic is August 9th at Blendon Woods Park Dogwood Pavilion. This will replace the regularly scheduled August FPCA meeting.
  10. FPCA National Night Out is on Tuesday, August 2nd being hosted at the YMCA on Karl Rd. Food trucks, live music, and bounce houses are expected. More info to come!!

Secretary’s Report Lou Bernard –  loubernard3@gmail.com

  1. Attendance:
  • Officers/Committee Chairs Present: EV, TS, LB, CL, DVM, KVM, SL, AR, ER, SB, KG, DP
  • Officers/Committee Chairs Absent: FQ, MS, RW 
  • Area Reps in Attendance: 1, 2, 5, 6, 9, 11, 12
  • Area Reps Absent: 3, 4, 7, 8,10, 13, 14 (Areas 4, 13 and 14 remain vacant )
  • 1 person on Zoom/ 25 present
  • Officer Dan Yandrich – not present
  1. Official documents on the website updated to include a new copy of the complete constitution and bylaws. All fonts and spacing have been made consistent, and now include the new amendments passed in January.
  2. Minutes from the May meeting were approved as published.

Treasurer’s Report  Cheryl Lutman – cllutman17@gmail.com

  1. 41 household memberships received through PayPal. Of those, 25 households included the PayPal fee in their total membership. 80 household memberships mailed in.
  2. While we have received an additional 125 memberships in the mail, those weren’t processed until early-mid July. This does not include memberships received through PayPal. All will be updated in the July report.
  3. Advertising funds received were $920. The additional donations towards Supplemental Security were $855, Beautification $305 and the Forester $255. In addition, Garage Sale revenue was $135. Expenses for the Garage Sale advertising were $52.42.
  4. Expenses included funds on our bulk mail permit, more folders for the Welcome Committee, paying our security patrols and Forester Printing.
  5. We need about 560 households to join the FPCA to meet our basic budget dollars, so please continue to reach out to your neighbors to join.
  6. Treasurer’s Reports were voted on and approved.

Public Relations Report Mary Sguerra – Mary.Sguerra@HERrealtors.com   Absent – No Report

Forester Editor’s Report  Rita Woeste – forester_ed@fpcivic.org  Absent

  1. Deadline for Ads, articles, and photos is Thursday July 21st
  2. We are still looking for a delivery coordinator to help with the monthly Forester. If you know someone let me know…. Please. 

       This person would need to:

  • maintain records of delivery people
  • send a monthly reminder to delivery people that Foresters are coming to deliver
  • help count out some sets & deliver them to delivery people, half of it is done for you already and everything is stuffed into bags when you count.
  • check volunteer list to fill in gaps of streets not covered 
  • you only have to do this 10 months of the year. The January issue is online and May or June issue is mailed

Supplemental Security Report  Daryl Van Mercetta – dvanmercetta@gmail.com, 

  Katie Van Mercetta – kvanmercetta@gmail.com  Dan Yandrich (CPD Liaison Officer) dyandrich@columbuspolice.org

  1. There were more vacation checks in June and July so far.
  2. In May, a woman reported that she lives near Northland High School and when she got out of her car, a youth jumped in and tried to steal it. Luckily she had her keys with her. Stay aware of your surroundings.
  3. Continuing to talk with security company about upgrading services. If this is going to happen, we need more neighbors to join the FPCA.
  4. Remember to keep your lights on at night. Don’t let your vehicles run without you in them. Stay vigilant. Look out for your neighbors!

Business Representative  Sheridan Landin – sheridanlandon@yahoo.com 

    Alan Ray – aray.bergahorn@gmail.com(Absent) 

  1. Sheridan is continuing to canvas the area businesses trying to get more of them to join. He spoke with the owners of the Toro Meat Market on 161. We will be having them as guest speakers soon.
  2. Thank you to all those people who helped to get the business members listed in the Forester.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

Welcome Committee Chair Ellin Ray – eclaire1226@gmail.com ABSENT-No Report

Passed out many Welcome Folders to Area Reps to deliver to the new neighbors. She is continuing to make more regularly.

Volunteer Coordinator Scott Biggs – volunteerfpca@gmail.com

  1. Thank you to everyone who is volunteering and helping with the civic association.
  2. Thanks to all for the great Membership stuffing event, 28 volunteers. Thanks to Mike Stone, Dave Paul, Andy Hunt, Mary Sguerra, Rita Woeste for all of the prep work and delivering the massive amounts of envelopes to the post office. 
  3. Thanks to all who participated in the parade on the 4th!
  4. Will be processing a lot of volunteer applications soon. Look for a call from Scott!
  5. July’’s Volunteer of the Month is Ed Vanasdale, our president. Thank you for your countless hours and stepping up to fill in the role of president in an emergency.

Social Activities Report Position Vacant  ABSENT-No Report

NCC Representative  Ken Gilbert – kgilbert78@att.net

  1. Beware-catalytic converters are being stolen in large amounts.
  2. Dave Leland, our state representative, will not be running in the fall. He will be running for a judge position.
  3. NCC picnic is August 9th at Blendon Woods Park Dogwood Pavilion. This will replace the regularly scheduled August FPCA meeting. There will be NO August FPCA meeting.
  4. 161 Clean-up dates: Aug.13th, Sept.10th, Oct. 8th, Nov. 12th

NCC Development Representative Ed Vanasdale – evanasdale@insight.rr.com 

       Dave Paul – dwpaul@fpcivic.org 

5 Cases were heard, only 1 relevant to FP area:

Case #3 A woman was applying for a variance to permit the operation of a Type A family child care facility in the Devonshire area. It was approved.

Website Administrator Dave Paul – dwpaul@fpcivic.org  Scott Biggs – volunteerfpca@gmail.com

OLD BUSINESS

  1. No movement on the FP Block Watch. Still looking for a captain.

NEW BUSINESS/ANNOUNCEMENTS/IDEAS

  1. Northland Unity Festival: LOCATION-North YMCA,1640 Sandalwood Pl, Columbus, OH 43229. The event will take place from 2:00 p.m. until 6:00 p.m.on September 18th. Zaki Grill and Tibetan Momo will be on-site serving food, support our vendors! The first 100 people to visit our sponsor’s table, The Economic & Community Development Institute (ECDI), will get a $10 voucher for the food trucks! More than 3 dozen vendors, including local makers and services. Entertainment, including a Nepali dance troupe, Zumba, theater groups and more! 
  2. Beware of scammers using false email addresses from civic association’s officers. We will never ask you to buy gift cards for us.
  3. We received an email from one of our past presidents expressing the nice job that everyone is doing. Thank you George Schmidt for your kind words! We appreciate it. We wish you luck recovering from your foot surgery!
  4. We are looking to get someone from the Toro Meat Market to come in as a guest speaker in September and Columbus 311 to come in as a guest speaker in October. 
  5. Construction on the roundabouts on Maple Canyon will begin sometime this summer.
  6. The next FPCA meeting will be September 13th at Epworth United Methodist Church and Zoom at 7 PM.

Meeting adjourned at 8:17 PM

Minutes submitted by Lou Bernard, Secretary