Wednesday, October 10, 2007

FIDO Quarterly General Meeting Minutes

South Euclid FIDO Quarterly Meeting
Oct. 09, 2007
Held at: The Community Center Rm. A

Board member Attendees: Carolyn Wadatz, Jean Durant, Denise Hatala Lewis, Danielle Merriman, Kevin Wachs and Laura & Chuck Berk

The meeting was called to order by the President at 7:07 p.m.

The President had all of the board members get up and introduce themselves to those in attendance.

The president then called for the Secretary to read the minutes of the last quarterly meeting in July.

Treasurers Report: Kevin reported that Fido had a total amount of $8,229.00. Fido owes the city of South Euclid a total of $824.11 for the last mailing fundraiser. It gives us a total of $7,404.89 in our Fido account.

Elections: The Elections for the officers of the board were held at the meeting, and results from the Electoral Committee’s chairman Cynthia Hale are as follows: We had 40 votes out of a total of 57 members, which equals a 70.2% voter turnout.

For President, Chuck Berk ran unopposed and received 38 votes (95%) of the vote.

For Vice President Jenn Bartlett ran unopposed and received 37 votes (92.5%) of the vote.

For Secretary Laura Berk ran unopposed and received 37 votes (92.5%) of the vote.

For Treasurer we had 2 people running for the position. Judy Henderson received 32 votes (80%) of the vote. Carolyn Wadatz received 7 votes (17.5%) of the vote, making Judy the new treasurer for FIDO.

Congratulations to all.

Thanks to all who participated and voted.

President’s Report: Chuck reported that he had tried to get an update on the water/lights/dog park rules sign. He was unable to get a hold of Ed Gallagher of the S.E. maintenance dept in time to make the meeting. He will keep everyone informed as he receives the information from the city.

Creation of new committees: Ken Roehl and Philip Wolpe have been approached about the new committee, and have accepted the positions of members of the Maintenance Committee: Ken said that the first job will be to fix a couple of spots in the fence that need mending. Thank you to both of you for accepting the job.

Communications Committee: Denny Hatala, Jean Durant, Laura Malto and a brand new active member Ashlee Brand. Thanks to all of you for your tireless efforts. In addition to serving in the
Communications Committee Ashlee has graciously volunteered to create an electronic newsletter to be e-mailed to all members of FIDO and to be posted on the website. Welcome aboard Ashlee!!

Jean Durant’s report:

The coyote roller will cost approximately $4,936.00, which does not include the cost of labor. This cost is prohibitive for the benefits we would receive.

Magnetic latches for the dog park Jean researched the latches and found that the latch would cost around $800.00 to install and that it wouldn’t work with the current gate configuration.

Enlarging the park, Jean has been asking people at the park if they think we need to enlarge the park. The general consensus is that everyone likes the park the way it is. Any bigger and people might not be able to keep an eye on their dog or dogs.

The artificial turf ground cover - Jean brought and passed around a swatch of artificial turf from a manufacturer of dog park artificial ground cover. She found that it was very expensive and the ground cover we had already chosen was much better and less expensive. Thanks Jean for all of your hard work on the research.

Kiosk posting rules: Danielle Merriman will be creating and laminating a sign to put up on the kiosk. The agreed upon rules are:

1. Postings over 1 wk old will be removed.
2. No staples or tacks. Tape ONLY
3. No advertising.
4. Fido reserves the right to remove any posting.

Events/Fund raising: Howl-o-Ween Event to be held on Saturday, Oct. 27th. It will begin at noon and end by 3:00 p.m. Judy, Jean, Ashlee and Cat are all selling a lot of raffle tickets for the event, a big THANK YOU for all the hard work.

For anyone wishing to buy raffle tickets, they are 1 ticket for $1.00 and 6 tickets for $5.00.

Marianne Reeves has been in contact with the new PetSmart in Golden Gate and was finding out if we could do a Santa paws photo event with our dogs. The corporate offices of PetSmart only do business with humane societies and animal rescues, so we turned over the research she had done to the S.E. Humane Society so that they might pursue this opportunity. We are still pursuing a Santa Paws event with our own photographer and Santa to take holiday photos of our pups. Good job and good thinking Marianne.

Mayor Welo stopped by to compliment FIDO for reenergizing the neighborhood, and to also let us know about the new website for the city of South Euclid, FIDO will have our own webpage.

Thank you Mayor Welo, it was great news.

A motion was made to end the meeting, which was overwhelmingly seconded.

The meeting adjourned at 8:10 p.m.

Monday, October 1, 2007

What's Happening at the Dog Park!!

Hi fellow dog park users,

Here is a quick update on what FIDO has been up to at the South Euclid Dog Park lately:

1. The Bricks have been installed in the area between the entry gates, along with a concrete pad to help keep the mud off those little paws. It is a little dusty up there now since there has not been enough rain to let the bricks settle in, but with a little rain it will clean up nicely. Come and see your brick if you purchased one, and see what the other patrons have written on their bricks. If you have not purchased yours yet, There is still time, they are always on sale. We have already placed our 2nd brick order which will be shipping in the next few weeks. We are also going to be adding some more bricks along the top edge of the concrete pad, and also around the water concrete pad when it has been poured.

2. We will be having the water line run in the next few weeks I have been told. The city needs to rent a trencher to dig the run for the water pipe and they will be doing this along with another project they are working on.

3. The city is working with CEI on having the 2 lights that point to the dog park fixed so that they will stay on for a longer period of time. I am waiting for an eta from the city on when this will be repaired.

4. Don't forget that the FIDO general meeting is on Tuesday, October 9th at 7:00 pm at the South Euclid Community Center. FIDO members will be able to vote for president, vice president, secretary and treasurer.

5. Please buy a raffle ticket. FIDO members are selling raffle tickets for our Howl-0ween bash. They cost $1.00 each or 6 for $5.00 There are wonderful baskets created just for this raffle. One from Trader Joe's and a beautiful basket for your four legged best friend. The Howl-oween party will be on Saturday, October 27th from noon to 3:00pm. South Euclid's K9 officers, either Rex or Recon will be doing a demonstration for us, and there will be lots of activities and prizes for you and your best friend.

That's it for now, Stay tuned for more exciting news....

Chuck