West Norwalk Association Board Meeting
October 1, 2012
Minutes of the West Norwalk Association
October 1, 2012
Board members present were: Linda Forcellina, Gay Mac Leod, Regina Krummel, Candide Valadares, Anthony Carrano, Ken D’Arinzo, Donna Dollé, Galen Wells and Ron Paladino. Bob Wagman and Bill Krummel were guests.
Co-President Linda Forcellina called the meeting to order at 7:30 and welcomed the Board and guests to the meeting.
Vice President Galen Wells presented the minutes of the September meeting to the Board. Anthony Carrano moved to accept the minutes and Ken D’Arinzo seconded the motion. The minutes were accepted.
Treasurer Ken D’Arinzo presented the Treasurer’s Report. We collected $2,075 from the combination of the Annual Meeting ($515) and the Newsletter ($1,560) plus an additional $50 for an ad payment. Candide Valadares moved to accept the Treasurer’s Report and Anthony Carrano seconded it. The motion was passed unanimously.
Co-President Linda started a discussion about next year’s Newsletter and the need to improve it. There was discussion of ideas and ways to save cost. It was decided that Gay Mac Leod would have Valerie send the format in Publisher to Secretary Donna Dollé. Donna will work on next year’s layout.
Co-President Gay Mac Leod presented:
1. Annual Meeting: Held at Sons of Italy on September 23, 2012. The microphones did not work which made it difficult to hear all of the speakers. All of the politicians with the exception of Jim Himes showed up and each gave a short speech. About 50 people attended which was less than hoped for however, there were other competing events going on at the same time. The meeting will not be held at Sons of Italy next year, as they are being sold and will no longer be available. Other places are being considered. Anthony suggested that we take advantage of our relationship with Fox Run to see if we could use their auditorium.
2. Attracting New Members: Regina Krummel was asked to come up with some ideas on how to attract people to join as dues paying members.
3. Anthony has started reaching out to local businesses to see if they would be willing to offer discounts to dues paying members as a way to entice neighbors to join.
Linda then presented a letter from Diana Cece in reference to the last CCNA meeting and the proposed driving range at Oak Hills Golf Course. Regina Krummel will attend next month’s meeting and Bob Wagman volunteered to attend the meeting also if he is able.
information from Linda and Gay have written a letter to the editor of the Hour stating that the Board will get more both sides before making a decision about the driving range.
There was discussion about the driving range and how to best approach the community’s concerns without causing the same reaction received from members about the Mosque issue. Questions raised:
1. Do we do a mailing giving both sides of the issue and asking members to go to the website to vote?
2. Do we make an announcement in the Hour asking members to vote?
3. Does the Board have an obligation to vote a yes or no on the driver range, or does the Board only have the obligation to present the votes of the community without taking stand one way or the other?
Anthony Carrano suggested that we not make any decisions until we know more facts about timing based on the Planning & Zoning meetings. Ken D’Arinzo and Anthony Carrano will do more research on the driving range and report their results at the next Board meeting.
NEW BUSINESS:
Co-Presidents Gay Mac Leod and Linda Forcellina started a discussion about the Holiday Party, which will take place on December 6, 2012. We need to keep the cost down with food, therefore we will not be offering chocolate covered strawberries, nor shrimp. The number of people to be expected is around 110 and the estimated cost will be about $1,600.
Donna Dollé will work on the design in PDF format of the post card invitations for the Holiday Party.
There were five volunteers for the greeting tables: Candide Valadares, Ken D’Arinzo, Jim Forcellina, Galen Wells and Regina Krummel.
Ron Paladino and Anthony Carrano will run the raffle.
Donna Dollé will bring the lists for the tables. The lists will have a column showing who has paid and has not paid their 2012 dues and a column available to record the $5 donations to be written in as received by the volunteers working the tables. Gay and Linda will get back to the Board with dollar amounts and clearer information about the Silent Auction baskets.
We are looking for cash donations and wine donations for one or two silent auction baskets. Ken suggested that we let people know that the money received for the basket will be used for the Scholarship Fund. This was a well received suggestion.
Ron Brown resigned from the Board on September 30, 2012 due to other commitments.
Bob Wagman will contribute $50 for the Silent Auction baskets.
Ken D’Arinzo moved to adjourn the meeting. Candide Valadares seconded. The meeting was adjourned a few minutes before 9:00 PM.
Respectfully submitted, Donna Dollé, Secretary