Devonshire Civic Association DCA Meeting Minutes Date & Time: Thursday, February 1, 2018 at 7:00 pm Time Meeting Called to Order: 7:03 pm Place: St. Andrew Presbyterian Church Type of Meeting: Devonshire Civic Association (DCA) General Monthly Meeting Meeting Called By: President: Ruth Johnson ruth.johnson.laj@gmail.com 614-395-2142 Members Present: 15 + 2 Guests (Police Liaison Officer Larry Geis and Alicia Ward from the NCC) City Liaison Reports Ruth mentioned to Larry about the woman on Kildale North staying in her van. Larry will put in requests to the City and Social Services to get her help. A member mentioned a black Honda on Ambleside Drive parked near the entrance to the park that is smashed up and has been parked there a while. Larry will check into that. For anyone who needs Larry s contact information, it is as follows: Officer Larry E. Geis #1570 1 st Precinct Liaison Officer 614-645-1401 lgeis@columbuspolice.org One important fact to remember is that if you witness a crime or something suspicious, you must be the person to report it. If you have someone report it on your behalf it will be considered hearsay since you were not the witness. Special Presentation To report a non-emergency crime, please call 614-645-4545 To report online, you can do so at https://www.columbus.gov/police And of course in an emergency do dial 9-1-1 Mylia Eyer from the Devonshire Elementary School PTA spoke with us today about their Earth Day and Community Garden Events and Activities. On Saturday, April 21 st the school will be holding their Earth Day clean-up event. Please meet in the back of the school, time TBD. Supplies will be provided; bags, rakes and shovels. Please bring gloves just in case. They will be cleaning up the area and painting the trash cans in the park. Anyone interested in helping out is welcome to come join in! The school will also start work on their Community Garden project that day. They will start putting together the beds for the garden. If you are interested in helping with any aspect of this project, please contact Mylia. The vegetables from the garden will be open to anyone in the community to go and pick. The garden will be on the school s property as they do not have permission from the City to place it on park property. The school is raising funds to purchase flowers to plant during these projects in April as well as funds to purchase supplies for the vegetable gardens and maintain them. If anyone would like to donate February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 1 of 8
funds, please contact Mylia, or bring your funds to the School s office during school hours. A member mentioned to Mylia the school should check into Columbusfoundation.org if they haven t already as they could qualify for a grant. Mylia mentioned the school could take some of the funds they raise and purchase flowers for the DCA to plan at the Entrance Island. Ruth said we d let her know what the Board decides on that and get back to her. If anyone is interested in helping out with either of these activities, you can contact Mylia at devonshirepta@hotmail.com Best of luck to the School on these projects! Previous Meeting Minutes Treasurer s Report We will approve December, January and February at the March meeting. Ruth mentioned that our Treasurer, Kelly Becket, submitted her official resignation letter as of 1/31/2018 due to the fact she no longer resides in Devonshire. Kelly and Steve Beckett are still rental property owners here in Devonshire and will participate in the civic association as they can. Best of luck to the new home owners! That being said, we have an opening for Treasurer, if anyone is interested, please let Ruth know. Ruth Johnson gave our financial report as follows; For the months of December and January we had a beginning balance of $565.23 We had an income of $130.04 We had no expenses Our ending balance was $695.27 on 1/31/18 Ruth asked if there were any questions and there were none. Ruth stated that the report will be filed for audit as well as distributed with the meeting minutes. You can find a copy on page 5 of these minutes. Ruth has also placed a year in review finance statement on page 6. City Code Enforcement Also, per procedure, we do need to find a neutral party to audit previous reports when we are at the end of a year, or when someone s term ends. If there is anyone interested in auditing Treasurer reports, please let Ruth know. Ruth Johnson updated on the following requests: -There has been no word on our streetlight request for Ambleside Drive yet. -No update on the status of the Island Sinkhole repairs. -Tree trimming along Ambleside and Sunderland, still no update on when trimming will take place. -Dobson Sq House #1 has no update. -Dobson Sq House #2, still awaiting photos so we can report this. February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 2 of 8
NCC The Board Members are currently deciding who to appoint as reps for each type of meeting and who shall be alternates. We need 2 representatives to always be in attendance at the General meetings and 1 for the Development meetings. If there is anyone else who is interested in becoming a rep or alternate, please let Ruth know. A question was brought up about where to park and enter at Friendship Village for the NCC General Meetings. You go in at the Forest Hills Blvd entrance and park wherever you can. Walk toward the circular drive where all the Police cruisers are parked and there is a non-descript door that is usually propped open, or that people are going into. Go through that door to get to the meeting area. And there is usually someone walking in you can ask if you are not sure where to go. NCC Meetings are held as follows: General Meetings of the Northland Community Council The NCC meets in full session at 7pm on the first Tuesday of each month. Meetings are usually hosted by Friendship Village (5800 Forest Hills Blvd. Columbus, Ohio 43229). Ample seating for guests is usually available. Common exceptions to the NCC's meeting schedule occur in January and August when the meeting may conflict with holidays or other events. Membership Report Devonshire Entrance Island Northland Community Council Development Committee The NCC Dev Committee meets at 6:30pm on the last Wednesday of each month. Meetings are usually held at the Franklin County Job and Family Services (use south entrance - 1721 Northland Park Avenue, 43229). The committee is a part of the City's community engagement process with regard to certain development requests in the Northland area submitted to various City agencies. Common exceptions to the NCC's meeting schedule occur in November and December when the meeting may conflict with holidays or other events. Our membership report is as follows; As of November 30, 2017, we had 28 members. On December 31, 2017 we had 35 members. And as of January 31, 2018, we had 37 households/businesses that have paid dues and become members. We are continuing to make a request each month for volunteers to help maintain the island. Is there anyone else who would like to help out with either mowing, trimming, clipping/pruning, picking up trash, mulching, planting, anything? If you are interested in being added to our list, please let Ruth know. Ruth previously mentioned that the electric was turned on at the Island in mid November. However, the lights are not on. It appears there may be a breaker, fuse, light burned out, or even possibly a line in need of repair. We are still trying to figure out what is wrong or in need of repair. We will look into this ASAP when the weather breaks. Lynda Fortner mentioned her father did some work on the electrical at the island and will look to see if there is any paperwork and also talk to him to see if he could help again. Devonshire Park Chris Brewer also mentioned her brother is willing to help out when warmer weather comes. There is no update on our request for lighting in the park as of yet. A member mentioned the path from the school s parking lot going into the park needs maintenance. It is cracked, grass is growing over it and it is always quite muddy. Ruth mentioned she has photos of that area of the path and it is on our list of requests to make with the City. February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 3 of 8
New Business or Issues? Anything we have not mentioned? New concerns/ideas? -A member of the Salem Civic Association passed on information of the Kick Butt Columbus event in March to clean up the freeway ramps. It is the 10-year anniversary of Kick Butt Columbus. If anyone is interested, we handed out flyers during the meeting, and you can find information here on their website; https://www.eventbrite.com/e/kickbuttcolumbus-big-ten-tickets-38549447435?aff=erelexpmlt -A member mentioned it is difficult to get out of Ambleside Ct, or other surrounding streets, let alone navigate Ambleside Dr when school children are being dropped off/picked up. It s also difficult because of the people who live in the apartments parking along Ambleside Dr since there is not enough room in the parking lots. There should be areas along Ambleside Dr where there is no parking. What would the Fire Department say about that mess, or even the Fire Liaison? Currently there are signs on the west side of Ambleside in the school s drop off/pick up area that state there is to be No Stopping 8am-4pm School Days, but people still park and stop on both sides. The DCA will look into what can be done. -Ambleside Ct was on the 2017 list to be repaved yet was not. All preparations were made; door hangers giving the heads-up, no parking signs, towing cars that remained parked on the street, marking things off. And then everything stopped. Ruth mentioned something could have happened between the city and the subcontractor who was doing the work, but she is not sure why the work was not completed. There is no mention anywhere regarding this, nor is the 2018 repaving list posted yet. Meeting Adjourned: Respectfully Submitted By: 8:30 pm Date of Next DCA General Monthly Meeting: Thursday, March 1, 2018 at St Andrew Presbyterian Church at 7:00 p.m. Ruth Johnson NOTE: These meeting minutes are but a Draft for final approval at the next general meeting. DCA Facebook page; https://www.facebook.com/dcacolumbusoh February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 4 of 8
February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 5 of 8
February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 6 of 8
February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 7 of 8
February 1, 2018 DCA General Meeting Minutes Page 8 of 8