__ of 26 (50%) houses present, Quorum of 40% achieved. Cluster President Mike called the meeting to order at 7:30PM.
· Mulch will be delivered by Lions club on Saturday, March 24th with 3 cubic feet hardwood mulch at $4.50 per bag. Please identify on the sign up sheet how many bags you would like.
· Gutter Cleaning will occur in late May, interior units will be $99, exterior units $125. Please let us know if you would like to schedule your gutters to be cleaned.
· Brookshire Cluster Website recreated on line with cluster documents, by-laws, minutes, guidelines for paint etc online – www.brookshirecluster.org
· Spring Cluster Cleanup will be scheduled for one of the last weekends in April, tentatively set for April 21st.
· Mulch will be delivered on March 24th in time for the cluster cleanup and private events.
· Common area shrub replacement:
· Equipment:
· Mosquito’s: We contracted again for the Mosquito spraying for 6 times (vs 9) this year. Cathy will send out a note to neighbors when spraying is scheduled to occur.
· Contract Cardinal: Lastly on the landscape information, Cardinal renewed contract for the year with small cost increase for the standard maintenance. Over and above that is the new garden (with two years labour) and maintenance of drainage area.
o Fun year was had with a lot of social events, some planned, some impromptu.
o New schedule for upcoming events will include dates for:
o Yard Sale (May sometime)
o Summer Picnic
o Halloween Festivities
o Holiday party in December.
· See the online calendar of events - http://brookshirecluster.org/Calendar.html
· There is a general opinion to add more philanthropic activities for the cluster to engage, such as “Relay for Life” support. If you have an idea for volunteer work and would like to share it with others, please notify us http://brookshirecluster.org/contact.html to co-ordinate activities.
o Capital Reserves –2012 Budget Plans:
o The budget for 2012 includes the new billable items such as D&O Insurance coverage, Web Domain and Hosting. All other categories accounted for a 3% annual increase.
o Based on some unexpected costs in 2011, the reserve budget is currently under target for the long-term Repair/Replace/Restructure plan for the cluster. Based on a time and cost estimate for the following services, we need to raise the reserves by at least $3,300 each year for the reserve budget to cover the long-range planned activities, any other expenses will require an assessment:
o Repaving (Sealing) 5 years
o Resurfacing 20 years (or sooner)
o Sidewalk fixes
o Retaining wall repairs
o Based on this re-allocation of funds, there will be no increase in dues for 2012 pending no unforeseen changes or disasters.
Just a reminder - each house and resident needs to:
o Follow trash guidelines: Trash goes out no earlier than sun-down night before pickup, pull your trash can and recycle bin in asap next morning, hide the trash can in your back yard or in an obscure place where it will not cause consternation with neighbors.
o Tidy front yard: Remove any item that is not in line with the neighborhood or general aesthetic appearance. Notice most houses have greenery and shrubs and nothing else.
o Unclutter Decks: Decks are not extra storage units, and for those houses whose backs are exposed to walking areas – keep your deck clear of clutter.
o Sow Grass: We can each promote our own grassy area. In Spring, we’ll hand out small bags of Kentucky bluegrass (bright/drought) or fine-leaf fescue (Shade) to upkeep your own area.
o Clear Chatham area: Apparently there are things between our cluster and Chatham that we need to clear away. (Cluster cleanup item).
o Keep an eye on Electric Lights: Keep the lights burning. If you notice common area or path area lights out, let us know so we open trouble tickets with Dominion.
o Plant Replacement trees: Chris noted that we can help our cluster with buying seedlings, then coordinating our planting of the seedlings to replace the lost trees throughout the cluster. Click here for seedling form:
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/nvswcd/orderform_2012.pdf
o Mike H - Unanimously re-elected as President
o Cathy F - Unanimously re-elected as Landscape Director
o Ann D - Unanimously re-elected as Treasurer
o Amanda and Shari – unanimously re-elected as Social Directors.
o Deirdre – unanimously re-elected as Secretary.
Meeting concluded at ___.
