Friends of Hill's Bark Park
General Meeting - Sept. 12, 2007
Snyder's Cabin, Gage Park, Topeka, Kansas
Mike Bauman welcomed 6 members and Ron Cathey, from Topeka Parks and Rec., to Snyder's Cabin and called the meeting to order at 7:05 pm. We reviewed the minutes from July, then Brad Noble motioned and Chris Macha seconded that we approve them as reviewed. Motion passed.
Karen Walker reported that we made $175 at the Paws in the Pool event. Ron added that we brought in $557 at the gate, which went straight to the Parks and Rec. Foundation. Karen filed forms with the State of Kansas required to collect and pay sales tax and Consumers Use Tax. The $400 we intended to pass along to the Foundation was kept in the account to cover the cost of the Hollywoof T-Shirts we ordered for Paws in the Park - $524.36. After paying for Shirts and other expenses, we have a balance of $629.09 in the checking account and $51 in petty cash. Expected expenses for Paws in the Park include frames for the pictures, developing costs and food for resale. We will have people prepay for pictures and any T-shirts we sell beyond those in stock.
Ron let us know that the city attorneys are not really concerned with a ruling on how we sell ads for the bulletin board, since the money would go to the group and not directly to the City Posting Dog Related items as they relate to the Bark Park is OK. As a general guide we should probably limit any ads to dog related items only.
Under other old business, getting the park rules to become ordinances will be an ongoing process. It will have to be put on the City council agenda and go through a public comment process. Signs for the handicap stalls are on the City's to-do list. Ron will also check with the traffic dept. about getting a traffic counter out to the park. That could be delayed due to a change of directors in the Traffic Dept.
We had not heard from Angelia, our girl scout who had indicated she had an interest in helping with our agility area. We thought she was still waiting on a letter from Ron. He thought he had sent it long ago, but admitted it might have gotten sent to her school and she might not have gotten it. He will resend the letter to the home address we gave him.
New business started with our lighting issues. We related to Ron that there was a light out that needs to be fixed. Safety has been an issue, with a couple of reports from the park involving persons in the bushes hanging out near the parking lot. We expressed to Ron that we want them to pursue getting more lighting installed with the money in the Foundation account, the sooner the better. We will transfer additional funds after the Paws in the Park event.
The reputation of our park is getting widespread. We have received an email from Dr. Kim Perez from Hays, asking our advice on getting a dog park started. Mike has replied to this. Karen brought information from Manhattan plans their Shelter has for 4 dog parks, including one that would include some playground/agility equipment. Their plans have been slowed by scheduling issues with the City of Manhattan. Our park has been one reason they came up with these plans. Mike McCary noted that there are many cross country travelers who have discovered our park and come after finding out about us on the internet. Even Debb Myers Dad, in Indiana, heard someone talking about our park here in Topeka. We thank Nadine Barnhill for a great letter to the editor of the Capital Journal, which touts the benefits of our park.
We will delay getting the fencing for the agility area installed, until we have the equipment drive rolling. We need to reconnect with the 4-H and the AKC to confirm the size requirements for any meets we want to host in the future. Meanwhile, there is a repair needed to the fencing on the North side of the little dog park. Ron made note of that to get repairs done as soon as possible.
We thanked Ron for the support the city gave us for the Paws in the Pool event. It was a roaring success. Thanks go to Spotted, from the Capital Journal, for their coverage of the event. We found that by having the event on a different weekend than the Paws in the Park event, the dogs had more energy to enjoy the afternoon. Carol, at HHHS, indicated they moved Paws in the Park to try and get away from the other events going on that weekend, like the Duck Race and Huff n Puff. We'll see how that decision works out next week. In the future, Ron suggested we utilize the service of Doug Stillings, the media specialist for the City of Topeka. (dstillings@topeka.org) He can help us get print ads and PSAs out. Since it is benefiting the city, they will help with the ad costs.
We will be setting up for Paws in the Park at 6 AM. The event runs from 8-Noon. Our Photographer, Elizabeth Jackson, will be available for most of that time. Chris has volunteers scheduled for 2 hour shift to run the concession area. Drew and Karen will help out with the picture booth. Mike and Drew will bring the tents and tables and have gotten the decorations for Hollywoof squared away. There was a little accident when we set up for a practice run and Mike's ceramic fire hydrant was broken. The Walker's have bought a prop to replace it and will donate it to the Bark Park for future use. It can be used as a storage unit for drinks or whatnot.
There are a couple of other events coming soon, where we could promote our group The Blessing of the Animals is Oct. 7 and Yappy Days is being promoted as a pet fair at the end of Sept. We have no available volunteers for the Blessing of the Animals and didn't feel it was worth the time last year, so we passed on that. In the future, if we have volunteers, it would be good to have a presence there. We don't want to spend the money on Yappy Days and it's too soon after Paws in the Park for our volunteers to want to put more time in. (We learned later the event wasn't held anyway)
Mike presented his idea for a donation drop box. Many park patrons have indicated they would put a little in regularly if there was a place to drop the gift. We will need to have envelopes for people to use, if they want tax credit for the donation. Ron suggested a simple box, like the city uses for traffic tickets downtown. We were concerned about the security of a box like that and feel a safe box encased in brick would be a better alternative. Mike passed out flyers for one that is $199.95 that would be about the right size. Even though it's not "city" money being spent - we would pay for it out of our checking account - Curtis Cox, the city treasurer, might be able to suggest some ideas for the safety of the box. The city could look into installing a camera to cover the area where we put the box, too. It might be able to cover the parking lot, too, while it's up there. Power should be available from the new lighting that will be installed. The Board of Directors will discuss this further next month, before deciding which direction to take.
We need to work on recruiting more members and volunteers so we can promote the park better. Word of mouth is the best recruitment tool and having our brochures handy in the racks at the park should help with this. We also need to have presentations at the general meetings that will draw folks in. Then spend less time at the general meeting with business that the Board can take care of. Just a quick report from the Board on action taken would be fine. Maybe Doug Stillings can help us here, too, in promoting the meetings better. Also, in promoting any special events we have. A membership drive could involve a pancake feed (Perkins has expressed a desire to help here) or a BBQ. We could use Gage Shelter or the Zoo and bring in a National Speaker, relating to dogs in some manner. Or have a special event involving trained dogs in a performance setting. Ron said we can have people park next to the park in the Ball Diamond Parking for a special event at the Bark Park. Meeting topic ideas included Natural foods and nutrition, general vet care topics and some sort of winter activity, like building snow dogs. The Board will work on some of these ideas.
Our meeting was adjourned around 9:00 PM.
This page was updated on 10-Nov-2007
