Friends of Hill's Bark Park
General Meeting - Jan. 10, 2007
Snyder's Cabin, Gage Park, Topeka, Kansas
Shanna Dunn-Vigare called the meeting to order at 7:02 PM. There were 8 members present and Ron Cathey from the City of Topeka. Minutes from November 15, 2006 were passed out. Brad Noble motioned that the minutes be approved, Shanna seconded and the minutes were approved. Karen Walker reported our bank balance as $1150.16. A small deposit is pending and expected expenses include printing more brochures and some brick forms.
Debb Myers presented our new web site at www.hillsbarkpark.org. She has done a great job in getting this set up. It has several interesting pages and will be set up so people can donate or buy a brick online. She and Karen need to meet to review the PayPal information. We want to work on getting links back from some of the links we have, like HHHS and Dogster. Karen will work on some notes to post about our events last year and Brad will write a little about the brick program and history of the group. Debb asked if we want our pictures on the contact page. It was suggested maybe our dogs photos if anything. We are going to look into getting a banner to post our web site at the park. Mike Bauman volunteered to do the footwork on this.
Our brick patio has been installed with the first order of bricks. Mike was there to help and we are sending a thank you note to the City crew. We also had some media coverage, on Channel 13 and by the Capital Journal. A flower bed was created and will be filled with annuals and perennials in the spring. Roses will anchor the bed and hopefully discourage marking and digging by the dogs. We have another brick order ready to submit by the end of the month. Having the bricks down has generated a lot of interest in more bricks, so Mike has printed up some brick order forms to put out at the park. He and Brad are also working on updating our brochure and getting more of those printed.
We asked Ron about the cost of a bench to thank Hills for their contributions. He said they are $250 and a brass plate on a pedestal is $85. Wording is restricted by city regulations. He wants us to check with Terry Bertels before committing to this idea, as he may have some other ideas on the subject.
Ron reported that he was having trouble finding pre-made bulletin boards in the style we had discussed at our last meeting. He will have to order two and work the structure around them. The next project the city is planning for spring is to extend the sidewalk inside the parks from the entry ways to the water fountains. When asked about power for fund raisers, Ron said they have generators we can use. We also mentioned that the timer for the lights needs to be adjusted for the time change.
Our fund raising committee is gearing up for the Spring Fling, April 7, at Gage Park. Richard Bush, who organizes the Spring Fling, told Chris Macha that he liked the idea of us setting up at the Dog Park (as opposed to up near the Zoo). He would put information in the day's activity flyer that we are there. We are going to contact Shake's about coming out. (They have enthusiastically agreed to come) The Paw Prints 4-H agility group may also be able to come. We will have our t-shirts, brick forms and other items to sell. And we may set up an opportunity to have your dog's picture taken with the Easter Bunny. Chris mentioned she has a contact at the Capital Journal who can give us photography coverage, for their web page. She also has a friend of the park who is helping her with a spreadsheet to keep track of the t-shirts.
Shanna announced our new contact with Hill's is Diane Perkins. Brad will be the main liaison with Hill's and will be setting up a meeting with her soon. Ron and/or Terry will also be a part of that meeting. Hill's will also post our fund raising activities on their web site.
We have an estimate of $6000- $8000 for the lighting improvements. We asked Ron to get some estimates on fencing that would be used to create an agility area. We want to create it with the goal of being able to host Agility meets there, as well as have a place for our own dogs to enjoy the use of agility equipment. Karen has access to the AKC requirements and will work on walking the measurements out so we know how much fence we need. Ron reminded us that they have portable bleachers for events, so we want to keep an area for that in mind when we choose the location for our agility area.
The Board of Directors is working on some changes in the bylaws. Most will just adjust the bylaws to reflect changes we have made in meeting dates and committees. They hope to have the updated bylaws ready to present to the general membership at our meeting in March.
Shanna opened the floor for discussion on how we can get more involvement from people who visit the park. Chris is going to start carrying membership forms with her and get more volunteer names to draw from. Mike is going to contact people who have indicated they are interested in fund raising to confirm their commitment. Having more events at the park should help raise our visibility. We may also look at having some of the regular meetings at the bark park during spring and summer. We have a speaker for the March meeting lined up. Having these speakers or set topics seems to help get folks out for the meetings.
During open discussion, Debb brought up a warning she had found concerning USA Dog Training, the business run by Will Duncan, here in Topeka. Information about this can be Googled using Will Duncan Topeka for the search. Look for "Scammer Looking for Bait".
Our meetings for this year are tentatively set for March 14, May 9, July 11, Sept. 12 and Nov. 14. Members will be notified of any location and date changes. We will post calendar information on the web site, as well as the minutes from our meetings.
Brad motioned and Chris seconded that we adjourn our meeting. The meeting was adjourned at 8:00 PM.
This page was updated on 05-Feb-2007
