Friends of Hills Bark Park
May 9, 2007 -General Meeting
Snyder's Cabin, Gage Park, Topeka, Kansas
Interim President Mike Bauman called the meeting to order at 7:05 PM, there were 14 people in attendance. Due to the absence of our Secretary/Treasurer Mike presented the minutes from the March 14th meeting for approval, they were approved without discussion by a majority voice vote with a motion to approve by Brad Noble and a second by Chris Macha. The finance report prepared by Karen walker was then presented as follows:
Expenses:
$480.84 - Dog Shirts
$38.97 - Printing Costs
$45.00 - Locks & Keys
$195.56 - Brochure Racks
$609.90 - Brick Production Order
$113.82 - Park Employee appreciation lunch.
The balance on the checking account stands at $1,049.65 and the balance on the foundation account stands at $8,273.66.
Linda Halford from animal control attended at the request of Board member Chris Macha. Linda clarified the pit bull ordinance, again noting that even though we are an off leash park the ordinance still applies there. If pit bulls are 10 weeks old they need to be muzzled and leashed or they are not allowed in the park, if not they will removed by the animal control officer responding to a call. She also cautioned us about keeping immunizations current and dogs' massing at the entrance gates, as it is confronting to the dogs as well as people entering the park to fight through the pack to get in. Also a reminder that we need to watch and respond to our dogs better for infractions such as humping. There was a lengthy discussion about dog size and which park to use. It was brought to the board's attention that small dogs in the large area are becoming a problem and some thought it was not fair that they could come to the large area and the large dogs could not come to the small area.
Mike explained that the large area was always for mixed dogs from the beginning of the park, many have both small and large dogs and need the area to run all of their pets, that said it is primarily a large dog area and they should have the benefit of any dispute with a small dog. The primary purpose for the small area was to protect the smaller breeds from harm, or rough play by larger dogs. Large dogs meaning size that does not indicate that they are good or bad dogs or necessarily mean dogs just big in size and weight. Several small animals were injured at the time we had one area and people were leaving rather than feel unsafe there with their dogs. The Pomeranian that was killed there without question emphasized the need for a safe area for small dogs. A small area planned in the master plans for the bark park development. Mud, shade, lack of dogs in the large area and other reasons are not acceptable reasons to enter the small area with a large dog. The safety of the small animals is primary and any decisions will need to be considered with the primary purpose for the area in mind at all times.
We had a request for some mulch for the large area and also to remove a pipe that was sticking up from the ground part of the old fencing. (The much was requested by Mike already we are waiting the park crew to deliver it so we can spread it around.)
Ron noted the pipe to be removed and will contact the staff. He also said they were planning to install signs on the handicapped parking stalls.
Next item was past business and an update was requested on two items from the city. The first being the bulletin board posting rules from the city for the new board, the second being the progress on getting the park rules changed into ordinances. Ron had no progress to report on either pending information from the city attorney.
We then moved forward to New Business:
Ron discussed the plan for the city to build a restroom in our section of the park according to their plan for park improvements sometime in the next year or so. Until then the Porta-Potty that is in the ball diamond lot to the east of the bark park is available to use. It is paid for by the Athletic department for the record, if we want to have our own he had no objection but the city will not pay for it we would need to raise the funds for it. Mike noted that we can post a note on the Bulletin board for the locations of other restroom facilities in the park.
Mike presented a request to purchase some bag holders to dispense the plastic recycle bags and to help eliminate the problem of trash and waste being placed into the barrels that hold the bags rendering them useless. After discussion Brad motioned to approve ordering some for trial. Motion was approved by majority vote. Mike will get with Karen and order them this week.
The next item was Tax Questions we discussed Terry's response by email to the boards question about paying sales tax on items sold. It was decided that we need to pursue getting a sales tax ID number for the bark park association to start doing so. Ron also will ask on the foundation meeting agenda about the tax deductible status of donations to us that are deposited into our checking account under the less than $500.00 rule in our bylaws. He mentioned that there were some CPA's on the board that should know the answer
There being no further business the meeting was adjourned at 8:30 PM
This page was updated on 06-Jul-07
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