Alpine Community Center

Alpine CC Board Minutes
6:00 pm Wednesday, May13th, 2020 Conference call at nnn-nnn-nnnn

Present: Dorothy Brinckerhoff, Roger Irvin, Kristen Norris, Rachelle Payne, John Scott
Absent: Dena Elliott, Joyce Long

1. Discuss & approve minutes of the previous meeting

Approved.

2. Review board email votes since last meeting

3. Prioritize Agenda

4. Financial Report

The board reviewed the financial reports for April. Among the expenses that have continued into the pandemic period is the rent on resale shop. The board decided to wait until next month before seeking an arrangement to postpone or reduce that rent.

Another strike on the P&L was a negative figure in the preschool tuition income. This was because we refunded prepaid tuition to the parents who paid ahead. One parent donated that refunded tuition back to ACC.

ACC’s monthly bill from Pioneer Telephone has gone up. They’ve started charging us for internet service that they hadn’t for the first couple years. Dorothy will follow up with Joyce and Pioneer.

The board accepted the financial reports.

5. Preschool Report

Kristen reported that parents are worried about next year, with some reluctant to turn in registration. There is uncertainty about whether school will resume in September. Many are nervous about sending their kids to the preschool, even if the schools are open. Next week Kristen will open up registrations to the public. The Board agreed to make deposits for next year refundable if preschool doesn’t convene or parents choose to keep their kids home.

Dorothy reported on the portion of the FFF grant balance that has been used to pay Kristen and Sarah’s wages for March and April, as well as the remainder. Roger moved that we use the remaining FFF grant funds for teacher salaries in May. Rachelle seconded. The board approved.

Scamper cancellation letters have gone out to sponsors from past years. One sponsor sent funds, but it needs to be clarified whether it is intended as a donation. Kristen will forward to the board the letter she used for potential adaptation into a communication to the general community.

6. Alpine Celebration Planning

The Board agreed that the 2020 Alpine Celebration will be cancelled. Rachelle will contact Andi Hooper, and ask her to pass along that news to Ol’ School.

7. Water leak, re-plumbing the bathrooms

Dorothy reported that the re-plumbing of the bathrooms has been completed. When handyman Chris Fitzmorris has inspected the work site for repairing the drywall, he noticed that the electric socket for the bathroom water heater was not up to code. JC Electric mounted the electric junction box and added the ground fault interrupter socket. Chris will do sheet rock and flooring. There will be delays as things dry. Dorothy will buy paint for repainting the walls.

Dorothy has received invoice from Albin’s Plumbing, which includes line items for some reinstallation work that hasn’t been completed yet. Dorothy will wait to pay until the reinstallation is completed. We have confirmed that the water meter no longer shows any leak flow.

8. Facility rental agreement

Report (Joyce): Presentation of draft agreement form, discussion. tabled.

9. New Business

The Board discussed our posture related to the anticipated relaxation of social distancing directives. Do we need to build in a plan for sanitation of the facility after each use? Charge a cleaning fee for all rentals? What liability concerns do we need watch out for? Kirsten recommends that we don’t expect renters/users to clean adequately, and instead hire professional cleaners and charge all renters/users to pay a cleaning charge.

10. Proposed agenda for June

Guidelines and procedures for cleaning the center after rentals and community meetings.

11. Schedule

ACC Board 6/10 on Zoom.

Alpine CC Board Minutes
6:00 pm Wednesday, March 11th, 2020 at ACC

Present: Dorothy Brinckerhoff, Roger Irvin, John Scott, Joyce Long, Kristen Norris, Andi Hooper, Christina Wickstein
Absent: Rachelle Payne, Dena Elliott

1. Discuss & approve minutes of the previous meeting

Approved.

2. Review board email votes since last meeting

None

3. Prioritize Agenda

4. Financial Report

Board reviewed the financial reports for February. Accepted.

5. Preschool Report

Kristen reported that the preschool has been a challenge lately. Family issues have contributed to a significant decrease in co-op participation from parents. There is also a decrease in participation in parent group. Kristen has started taking an online class related to parent relationships.

Joyce will contact Old Mill School to explore options for supporting Kristen.

The play structure is having problems. The steps are coming loose. It needs to be re-stained, and anti-slip grit applied to the steps. The fence needs repair and a minor re-design to better contain the pea gravel.
John will contact All Aspects Handyman to get a quote for this work.

6. Alpine Celebration Planning

The board reviewed the lessons learned from 2018 & 2019 events:

• needed more shade (pop-ups)
• needed more publicity starting further before the event – 90day before, announce a save the date. Have fliers completed a month before. Send it out to the email list 30d before, 14d before, and 6d before. Put fliers up in Monroe and Alpine. Get listed on the reader board at the high school.
• Sandbags for the bouncy house, to keep it from migrating
• Hiring the band and catering worked well.
• John Gent (one of the music night regulars) may be interested in performing next year.

“The [2019] celebration was better-attended than the 2018 celebration. The additional effort we invested in publicity helped. The article from the Tri-County Tribune, and the cross-promotion with the softball tournament worked well. Multiple musicians or entertainment helped drive additional attendance. We agreed that we will hire someone each spring to do lawn mowing and weed whacking during the late spring and early summer, as there is no reason why the board members should take on this task each year.”

In the EOY newsletter we said the date would be Saturday, June 20^th 5-9pm. Chris Wickstein will ask the dance members of the Monroe Arts Association if any would be willing to do a short presentation. Andi Hooper will put us on her schedule to provide catering. Andi will also contact Ol’ School, to confirm them to perform.

Dorothy will send the save the date announcement on the listserve.
Dorothy will ask around for a local artist to design a flyer.

7. Water leak, re-plumbing the bathrooms

Report (Dorothy): recruitment of a plumber and bids for the work

Dorothy reported on the work to recruit a plumber to re-plumb the bathrooms at the Center. The first bid was $3400, second bid was $2600. Dorothy moved we hire Albin’s Plumbing to do the work during spring break week. Roger seconded, approved.

8. Facility rental agreement

Joyce is continuing work to draft a new form that is better suited to single events.

9. New Business

The board discussed the growing American consensus that COVID-19 will require adjustments to our ways of life. The preschool will follow the Monroe School District’s opening and closure schedule. The board will follow recommendations from the CDC and Oregon Health Authority.

10. Proposed agenda for April

Election of officers

?

11. Schedule

ACC Board 4/8, Monroe Festival 4/25, Celebrate Alpine 6/20

Alpine CC Board Minutes
6:00 pm Wednesday, January 8th, 2020 at ACC

Present: Joyce Long, Roger Irvin, Dorothy Brinckerhoff, John Scott, Kristen Norris
Absent: Rachelle Payne, Dena Elliott

1. Discuss & approve minutes of the previous meeting

Approved.

2. Review board email votes since last meeting

None.

3. Prioritize Agenda

4. Financial Report

Financial reports for November and December. Accepted.

5. Preschool Report

Kristen reported that the preschool just completed the 2^nd day back after the Christmas break. Several kids have been out from sickness. They are having all the children and parents wash their hands more rigorously. Kristen will be meeting with the parents in the coming month to start planning this spring’s Scamper.

Joyce reported that she has not yet scheduled for first aid training for parents and staff.

6. High water consumption rate, evidence of leak

John reviewed with the board the results of his recent testing. On two occasions in late December and early January he observed the water meter spinning at a pace of around 1/10^th gallon per minute while no one was in the building and all there was no evidence of water use at any of the interior fixtures. Closing the water shut-off valve just outside the building stopped the leak of water through the meter, demonstrating that the leak is under the building instead of between the meter and the building. Dorothy will call plumbers to get estimates for running new water lines from the cutoff valve to the bathrooms.  Board has designated John to be the ACC representative to the water co. board.

7. Facility rental agreement

Presentation of draft agreement form, discussion. Tabled.

8. New Business

Dorothy proposed that ACC sponsor the Monroe Festival for $100.  Moved by Joyce, seconded by Roger, approved.

9. Proposed agenda for February

Water leak remediation

10. Schedule

ACC Board 2/12, Monroe Festival 4/25

Alpine CC Board Minutes
6:00 pm Wednesday, November 13th, 2019 at ACC

Present: Joyce Long, Dorothy Brinckerhoff, Rachelle Payne, John Scott
Absent: Roger Irvin, Dena Elliott, Kristen Norris

1. Discuss & approve minutes of the previous meeting

2. Review board email votes since last meeting

Dorothy moved that we adopt, with a minor change to include our name, the policy draft that Kristen emailed on 10/10/19. Roger seconded. Joyce called for a vote and John voted for adopting it. Email votes from Dena, Rachelle, and Joyce did not reach the Secretary’s inbox. At the 11/13 meeting, Joyce and Rachelle voted aye. Approved.

3. Prioritize Agenda

4. Financial Report

Due to the demands of the Holiday Festival, financial reports for October were not available for the board meeting, but will be emailed within a week.

5. Preschool Report

Kristen reported that there was light participation from the parents in crafts for the Holiday Festival booth, but they still had plenty. Joyce reported that preschool is going well.

The preschool Holiday program is scheduled for early December.

6. Environmental Health concerns about the Center

Review final report from OSHA inspector. Tabled.

7. Year-end appeal brochure

The board discussed our production and mailing of the year-end donation appeal. John agreed to update the brochure text, Dorothy will generate address labels, get the brochures printed, stamped, and mailed.

8. Lessons learned from Holiday Festival 2019

Dorothy presented a spreadsheet with the statistics for Holiday Festival 2019 alongside previous years. Our net profit was over $2800. (Less than our best years, but still in line with recent years.) Dorothy and Jeanne got positive feedback from the vendors. We had some new volunteers.

Next year, we should use ACC’s sound board and speakers (will need microphones) instead of renting the entire sound system. The Health Dept. inspection was done by phone consultation this year, and the inspector told us to expect phone inspection in the future.

9. New Business

This month Jeanne reported (on behalf of the Alpine Water Company) that we’ve had unusually high water usage. Dorothy and John have each looked for signs of leaks, and not found any clear signs. During our meeting, Dorothy, Rachelle, & John read the meter together, observed it indicate no water flow, had Joyce turn on a faucet, observed the meter start spinning, then observed the meter stop when Joyce turned off the faucet. We take this as solid confirmation that we don’t have an ongoing leak. The current reading showed a pace of about 160-170 gal/day since Jeanne read the meter for the water company. We have had a couple facility rentals during the period, and perhaps they played a role in the high usage. We’ve asked Jeanne for more history to help gauge how unusual that rate is.

While looking for signs of water leaks, attention has been drawn to the kitchen sink, which is showing signs of age and wear. Dorothy has priced out a sink & faucet replacement, and has lined up a plumber who is willing to do the replacement at negligible labor cost. Dorothy moved we spend up to $250 on the replacement parts, Rachelle seconded, approved.

Facility rental. There is a hole in our facility rental procedures. Some recent renters have not cleaned up afterward and not returned the facility to its starting condition. When they fail, the burden to clean up and put things away falls to Kristen and the preschool. Joyce asserted that we need to strengthen our methods to establish accountability. We talked about this a year or two ago, but our current form isn’t serving us well for this. The rate sheet has language about a cleaning deposit, but it is not prominent and does not mention methodology for collecting and returning the deposit. In general, the form we publish on our web site is more geared toward repeated activities than single event rentals. Joyce will draft a single-use agreement form, to replace the existing.

ACC web site has been severely impacted by a volunteer’s recent changes to promote the holiday festival. Joyce and John will each try to find how to restore it in the near future.

10. Proposed agenda for December

Year-end appeal brochure

Water usage

Environmental health inspection report

Facility rental agreement

11. Schedule

ACC Board 12/11

Alpine CC Board Minutes
6:00 pm Wednesday, September 11th, 2019 at ACC

Present: Joyce Long, Roger Irvin, Rachelle Payne, John Scott, Kristen Norris, Jeanne Anne Lindsay
Absent: Dorothy Brinckerhoff

1. Discuss & approve minutes of the previous meeting

Approved as amended.

2. Review board email votes since last meeting

None.

3. Prioritize Agenda

4. Financial Report

The board reviewed the financial reports for August, and accepted them.

5. Preschool Report

Kristen reported on the first week of school year. The Bigs class is full; we still have 2 openings in the Littles.

We have one application for tuition assistance. The board reviewed the application, and agreed to offer tuition assistance for a 54% reduction, providing the student attends regularly.

Tuition collection for September is solid.

The Board discussed the salary for Kristen and Sarah. John moved we approve a raise for Kristen and a particular wage for Sarah, Roger seconded, approved. (specific amounts omitted for privacy)

During the first week of September, the furnace thermostat wasn’t turning the furnace on. Joyce replaced the batteries in the thermostat and it is working now.

Kristen reports that she has had no symptoms this week similar to last spring’s, which seemed like building environmental problems.

Kristen has collected the background check forms from all but one of the co-opping parents. She has heard rumors of multi-month delays this year with Oregon Dept. of Education (ODE) background checks. Delays or no, we will go ahead to run this year’s checks through ODE.

6. Procedure for preschool parents who don’t pass background check

No progress was made on the draft procedure we discussed last spring.
Action Item (Joyce): edit and circulate by email a candidate policy & procedure.

The 2019-20 preschool parent who was flagged by our ODE background check last year approached Kristen about clarifying the circumstances, with the goal of being cleared to co-op this year. Dorothy ordered a more detailed public records check through a well-recommended online service. (The Board approved payment for this detailed check.) The board reviewed the summarized public record of the charged offenses and the volunteer’s account of the circumstances. The board’s judgement was that the parent history represents no clear risk, and approved the parent to participate in co-op assistance in the preschool.

7. Environmental Health concerns about the Center

The OSHA inspector returned on 9/11/19 to take readings while the building was occupied. His readings showed slightly high CO2 levels in the classroom. He recommended leaving the window cracked (year-around) when the classrooms are in use. He will be writing up and sending a full report.

8. Prep for Holiday Festival (11/9)

Jeanne Anne reported that vendor reservations are full, with more asking (new high water mark). Dorothy is working on donations and volunteer staff assignments for the raffle, John & Roger affirmed their volunteer commitment to staff the raffle ticket sales table. Posters are ready to go up. Rachelle will post them in Harrisburg and Joyce will post them in Philomath. Jeanne has coordinated with Kristen for the Preschool Parents booth. Sherrie Deaton will be organizing the funky fashion show. Beatrice is organizing the music. Rachelle volunteered her family members to put up the road signs the Sunday (11/3) before the Festival.

9. Recycling Center abuse

Joyce reported no progress on configuration of video recorder to the network.

10. 2012/2014 Trust Mgmt Grant Implementation

There was no report on progress on the final report to Trust Mgmt.

11. New Business

A correspondent sent questions about the decision to use the ACC email list to send an announcement message about a music event on 10/6/19 at the Center, in which voluntary donations would be collected for the band. The board discussed how the event and the use of the email list fit into our existing policies. The Board has affirmed Dorothy’s commitment for ACC to co-sponsor the event, and to send the announcement about an ACC-(co)sponosred event.

We received a request to rent the facility in July 2020 for a lunch stop of a bike event. The Board decided that the request best fit our rental pricing schedule for Group 3 (people outside the community), kitchen-only rate, 4-6 hrs, with a rental rate of $60 (plus $150 refundable security deposit).

12. Proposed agenda for October

Holiday Festival preparations

13. Schedule

ACC Board 10/9, Holiday festival 11/9