West Norwalk Association Board Meeting
December 1, 2014
West Norwalk Association Board Meeting
December 1, 2014
Board Members Gay MacLeod, Linda Forcellina, Galen Wells, Ken D’Arinzo, Anthony Carrano, Lucy Arreco and Brian Forschino were present at the meeting. Board Member Ron Paladino was absent.
Bob Wagman and Stephen Galyas attended the meeting as guests.
Gay MacLeod called the meeting to order at 7:32pm.
Gay presented the November meeting minutes for approval by the Board. Galen Wells motioned to approve the minutes with the motion being seconded by Brian Forschino. The Board voted unanimously to approve the November minutes.
Treasurer’s Report: Ken D’Arinzo
Ken reported that the current balance $2,443.16. No outstanding checks. Expect a bill from Valerie for constant contact. Brian Forschino motioned to approve the report with the motion being seconded by Galen Wells. The Board voted unanimously to approve the Treasurer’s report.
Holiday Party Update: Gay MacLeod
Board member will meet at Dolce at 5:00pm to set up. There will be two tables for annual memberships and the $10 entrance fee which will be charged to adults only and can be paid on the same check. Invited guests will not be charged the entrance fee. Ken D’Arinzo will bring the wristbands and the name tags. Brian, Lucy, Anthony and Ken agreed to staff the tables.
A separate table will be set up for the food drive.
A membership table will be set up inside the room. Galen agreed to staff this table with and Stuart. Anthony will bring the scholarship collection hat to be placed on the membership table.
Ron will handle the 50/50.
Stephen agreed to take pictures at the party which he will post on the Website.
Anthony will update the membership forms for future board members and remove old board members from the template on the WNA website.
Anthony will put the signs out and Linda contacted the Norwalk Hour. A second e-mail blast was sent on December 1st and a third will be sent on December 8th. Stephen will put the invite on the Facebook page.
The Board has already paid Dolce a 50% deposit (approx. $1,500) with the remaining balance due at the end of January.
Technology Update: Ken D’Arinzo
The Board discussed how to proceed with technology needs going forward. Two options were presented. First, Valerie could continue hosting the website through her FTP server. Under this option, any changes would need to go through Valerie.
The second option was to sign up for our own WordPress account which would be a bit cheaper in the short term ($408 for 5 years under the first option vs. $210 for 5 years under the second option). The downside to the second option is that the full $210 is due and payable up front.
The Board Voted to proceed with the second option and Ken agreed to notify Valerie.
Stephen agreed to monitor the constant contact account and will start working on the Membership Database. He also will continue to monitor the Board’s Facebook page. He reported that we currently have 465 friends on the old Facebook page and 6 friends on the new Facebook page. Guest Bob Wagman questioned whether Facebook was the best way to reach West Norwalk residents given the age demographic of the neighborhood. The Board advised that it currently uses not only Facebook but also e-mails and paper mail to provide information to West Norwalk residents.
Oak Hills Update: Anthony Carrano
The Master Plan has been agreed and approved by the City Counsel. The Oak Hills Park Authority is now looking for $5M loan to finance the project. The loan will be discussed at the next town Executive Finance Committee meeting.
CNNA Update: Anthony Carrano
Washington Village is looking to split Ryan Park with an elevated roadway and are looking to circulate a proposal for the necessary zoning changes. Anthony will circulate a summary e-mail.
All Other Business
Gay advised the Board that she hand wrote notes to all residents who donated $100.
Gay also advised the Board that she had not received any feedback on the coyote information the Board posted on the website.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:24pm.