Meeting of the Executive Committee of the Community Club of Brookside – January 13, 2002

 

 

Attendees:  Fran Plodkowski, Jesse Smith Sara Czarecki, Irene Daley, Denis Menton, Tracey Morrison, and Howard Helms

 

Call to Order:  Denis called the meeting to order at 7:30 pm. The minutes were approved.  Howard reported that the website received 1.4 hits per day during a recent 39-day period.

 

Buildings & Grounds:  Jesse said that the owners (Mike and Kathleen Holmes) of the property at 4 Cherry Lane asked for permission to place a gazebo in the back yard.  We made no objection.

 

Coombs Fill Suit: After being briefed by Denis, we voted to authorize to pay up to $5K to an attorney (David Michelman of Michelman & Bricker, Cherry Hill, NJ) to pursue 1) reducing our exposure (currently $20K) to damages and 2) going after the insurance companies to honor their liability policies (of which we have located only two policies).  Jim Porter, who used to own the Holmes Insurance Agency, will provide an affidavit testifying that the insurance companies sold us general liability insurance for the period covered.

 

New Year's Eve Party:  Denis said that this was cancelled because only 24 persons signed up.  Consequently, we lost $500 to Growth Catering and $100 to the DJ.  (The latter loss would have been greater except that the DJ was used for a New Year’s party at the firehouse.)

 

Treasurer:  Jesse Smith will take over the Treasurer's job for two months while Carole Slavin is away on vacation.  Denis said that we have a total of more than $50K in the bank and CD, but this could diminish if we are held liable for the Coombs Fill damages.

 

Buildings & Grounds:  Jesse reported that the owner of the first house east of the Community Club offered to have his insurance company write a letter stating that the Community Club will be held harmless for any accidents on the parking space located illegally on our property.  Jesse pointed out that this homeowner might not have insurance coverage even though he was paying for it, since he was occupying the house illegally in the absence of a Certificate of Occupancy.

 

Woolsey James put up siding for a value of $1,080.22, which will be used to offset his rent.

 

Rentals:  Tracey said that a fellow who was part of a wedding installed a Direct-TV dish gratis.  He also offered to install loudspeakers without charge. 

 

Tracey said that the rate of new rentals was down during the holidays but is returning to normal levels, even though one or two out-of-towners grumbled about the higher rates.

 

Membership:  To make it easier to collect dues, we voted that dues be collected on Jan. 1 instead of April 1.  Since this requires a change to the bylaws that can be made only at a special meeting of the membership, we will call a special meeting to be held on Feb. 10 at 7:30 pm at the Community Club.  This meeting and the proposed change in the bylaws will be advertised on the website and posted at the Brookside Post Office immediately.

 

Adjournment:  We adjourned at 8:15, in record time.

 

Next Meeting:  The special meeting of the membership will be held on Monday, Feb. 10, at 7:30 pm at the Community Club.

 

Respectfully submitted,

 Howard Helms, Secretary