Friends of Hills Bark Park
March 14, 2007 -General Meeting
Snyder's Cabin, Gage Park, Topeka, Kansas
Friends of Hills Bark Park
General Meeting - March 14, 2007
Snyder's Cabin, Gage Park, Topeka, Kansas
President, Shanna Dunn-Vigare, called the meeting to order and introduced our guest speaker, Kerri Hudson, DVM, from the Highland Park Animal Clinic. We had 14 people present. Dr. Hudson presented information about common canine communicable diseases, such as distemper, parvo, and kennel cough. She also covered information on internal parasites, as well as fleas and ticks.
Richard Bush came to talk about Spring Fling, coming up April 7, at Gage Park. He commented that the Bark Park is good for Topeka and was excited that we were going to be a part of the activities at the park that day. We clarified with him our plans for set up and how it will compliment the other organizations that will be set up. He stated that there have been as many as 1000-1500 people participating in the children's act ivies at past events, with as many as 10,000 at the park in general. The main activities will be from Noon - 2.
Chris Macha and Mike Bauman reported on their plans to have a duck pond set up at the Zoo for the kids and have t-shirt sales and other activities at the Bark Park. The doggie shirts will be in for us to sell and the DeLaRosa's will make baskets for us to raffle, too. Karen Walker reported that the 4-H will be there from noon to 4 for agility and that Shakes will be there from 2-4 to sell concretes and give away puppy cups. Ron Cathey authorized us to use the generator from the park compound to run the sound system that Solid Rock Sound Machine will be setting up. The park will put up a temporary fence for the agility group on the Thurs. or Fri. before the event.
Karen Walker presented the minutes from the January 10 meeting. Brad Noble made a motion to approve the minutes and Andrew Walker seconded. Karen reported that we had $1674.58 in the checking account and $96 in petty cash. The bill for the t-shirts will be $480.84. We will be making a brick order after Spring Fling and will be spending about $600. There will also be some printing expenses coming up, as well as some costs associated with the bulletin board. We talked o Ron and Terry about getting a copy of the monthly Foundation Report from Terri Simpson, so we know what funds are available for projects.
The modifications to the bylaws that the Board of Directors has been working on were presented to the membership present. Brad made a motion to approve the changes as presented and Karen seconded. The motion was passed by voice vote. Karen will make the changes on the official copy we have on file.
Ron and Terry showed us the bulletin board that the crew at the park built for us. They were able to use some recycled materials and will be able to install it with only $300 to $400 coming from our foundation account. Mike will be getting locks and keys for the board. The city and several board members will have keys. We will start by just putting general bark park information on it. Ron and Terry will be looking into how to set any policies for ad space. Anything posted will need to be approved by the city. Brochure holders will be added as well. They cost $195 and are heavy duty with spring loaded tops.
Shanna noted that the lights are not coming on. Ron noted they are on timers and may have not been reset for the time change. With the money we have in the foundation, we should be able to proceed with getting the lighting expanded at the Bark Park. We would like to see the city start working toward that end. Water should be turned on at the beginning of April. Ron also noted that restrooms are scheduled to be installed in 2008 over by the horseshoe courts, north of the park. Last summer there was a porta-potty over by the other ball diamond. That will have to do for this summer, too.
Shanna let the membership know that she would be resigning as president on March 31. Mike will be stepping in as president until we have elections. The board is considering moving the elections to January, so our officers aren't coming and going while we are in the middle of planning summer activities, like Paws In the Park. Shanna encouraged us to continue to build active membership and work our volunteers into leadership positions. She passed along the task of getting started on planning Paws In The Pool. Ron noted that there is a new aquatic specialist, Chad Lady, who will be our contact person at the Pool. Mike will work to get together with him and the folks from the Humane Society to coordinate our efforts. Paws in the Park and Pool are a week later this year, on Sept. 15.
Open discussion was initiated by Virginia Sherrill with some questions about problems we have had with aggressive dogs at the park. She wondered about having someone from the city to be at the park all the time. Then when an incident occurs, they will be there as a witness. Linda Halford, from animal control, replied that their staff was already two people short, but they do try to patrol the area regularly. Terry replied that for the park to be staffed we would have to charge admission and that wasn't in the spirit of a public park. The number for animal control is posted and the response time is fairly quick. But, expecting them to be there to witness the infraction is like expecting a police officer to witness a crime before it happens. Linda noted that any citizen has a right to sign a complaint, which will initiate an automatic court appearance. The animal in question may also be taken into custody until the court date.
Mike noted that we have a Girl Scout, Angelia Garcia, who wants to help the Bark Park with her Gold Project. We told her about our ideas for an agility course and she thought that might be something she could help with. We will help her network with the 4-H group and the local Kennel Club, so we can plan for a course that can be used for regulation events someday. We were hoping to raise awareness of the need for the agility course this year and this may help us move that project ahead a little faster.
This page was updated on 07-May-07
