CDA Meeting Minutes 08/22/2019

Sep 18, 2019 | Meeting Minutes

Chelmsford Dog Association

Board Meeting Minutes

Community Room, Chelmsford Police Station, 2 Olde North Rd, Chelmsford, MA 01824

August 22, 2019  6:30 PM

  1. Call to order: 6:35 pm
  2. Roll call:
    • Board members present: Sarah, Will, Sandra, Danielle, Paul, Joyce, Kathy
    • Board members not present: Vivian, Beth
    • c.) Voting members present: Mark, Catherine, Carly, Randi, Alexa, Lauren, Rachel, Lisa, Jay, Cindy, Chris, Sue, Jackie
    • d.) Guests: None
  3. Approval of minutes from last meeting- Motion to approve the meeting minutes from the July 2019 meeting:
    • Presented: Sandra
    • Seconded: Danielle
    • Vote: Unanimous
  4. Officer Reports
    • Website and Media Report (Will)
      1. CDP Group: 2,704 (2,421 active ) – (503) (2,100) (11,217)
      2. CDP FB Page:  
      3. CDA FB Page:    
      4. Location: 0 (37)  4.7 (127)     3.8 (4/2)
      5. CDA Website: 303,062 total visitors (113/day), (July) 4,153 (June) 4,681 (May) 4,719
        Reads: (July) 6,634 (June) 7,194 (May) 7,401
      6. Paul mentions: Indoor/outdoor tracking clickers to track the traffic flow of park visitors. Will mentions this would not be completely accurate, as some visitors may exit the entrance, leave and then come back, etc. Jay mentions it may confuse people entering the park on where/how to enter the park. Group decided counters to be added, will see what results yield.
    • Treasurer’s Report (Sandra)- $8,033.60 balance after outstanding checks clear. Insurance check needs to clear, and check from Mark M. This is not counting money earned from the Navigation Brewery fundraising event. Last count of $2,591 for drainage project.
      • Board member brought up that if CDA makes more than $10,000 a year, then as a non-profit, we must pay taxes. Rental payments for use of the “agility area” in the park go to the town (goes through DPAC). We have a 99-year free lease of the park (town property). Town lawyer has the say.
    • President’s Report (Will)
      • CDA Memberships: 38 Ind / 34
      • Non renewed/expired. Automated system to remind members that membership is to expire soon. Have had difficulties with this, Will states that every few months he will send reminders out. Per board member, there should be an option through pay pal to make this a reoccurring payment.
  5. Committee Reports
    1. DPAC- No update, still waiting to hear from vendors.
      1. Gazebo (& fence work) (date?)
      2. Trees (?)
    2. Fundraising/Events Committee Report
      1. Donations-
        • Danielle presents chart for park box donations; Total donations from boxes at park from Aug 1- Aug 20th: $/ All side: $ / Small side: $/ Port-a-potty: $.
        • Paul mentions new people have no idea that donation boxes are there, despite signs being bright orange.
        • Lauren mentions many park goers purposefully do not bring wallets into park.
        • Rachel to make signage for kiosk – showing where donation boxes are located. Mark suggests having a sign at front of park that reminds park goers we run on donations/
        • Chris says maybe a sign that starts with “thank you” for your donations. Sign should be worded very carefully.
        • Will to look into other parks signs and how much it will cost.
      2. Dog Days of Summer @ Navigation (post event review)-
        • Shared Profit$ (check given)
        • Coins $ (cash deposit by Kathy)
        • Photos $ (cash deposit by Kathy)
        • 50/50 $ (cash deposit by Kathy)
        • Shirt Sales $ ( in square, in sales)
        • Donations $ ( check)
        • Raffles $  (cash deposit by Kathy)
        • =$ for drainage + $ to general fund for T-shirts
        • Rachel reports the event was very well attended by both dog park goers and non-dog park goers.
        • Joyce mentioned there was minor confusion upon arrival that the CDA’s contact was not at brewery and other staff unaware of event.
        • Lisa feels all in all it was a successful fundraising event. Suggest perhaps not do it during Lowell folk festival in the future.
        • Carly mentions maybe doing another venue for event as some people do not like beer.
        • CDA member mentions Brickhouse in Chelmsford center allows dogs on the porch.
      3. Farm Fair (Sept 21st, 12pm-4pm) –
        • Sarah, Danielle, Vivian/ Lisa to make fliers to hand out at farm fair for upcoming CDA events.
        • Kathy to give cash box to members working CDA booth/
        • Sarah and Danielle to get equipment.
      4. At the next DPAC meeting, aim to find out how to go about finding out what things would be denied and accepted. Would DPAC approve reimbursement for the work parties? Part of DPAC’s charter- is looking towards the future of the park- DPAC has pretty much had only grant money coming in up until now (with recent rental). Can renter theoretically rent for 5 years? Currently getting 10% DISCOUNT due to paying in advance. If she wishes to change the contract, will need to contact the town (Erik)- CDA is the liaison.
      5. Howl’ween (planning status)-
        • -October 19th
        • -Zesty’s to be picked up at 11 am
        • – Judges: Erik Merrill, Asking: Tom Golden (state rep), Gary Persichetti (DPW), Steve Murray (HS principal).
      6. Holiday Party planning – Tabled
    3. Drainage Project Committee Report-
      1. Donations/fundraising- See above report under Treasurer’s report and Navigation Brewery.
      2. Minutes from committee meeting to be sent to the board.
    4. Volunteers/Membership
      1. Form a committee? – Will to put together for next meeting a charter and description for membership committee?
      2. Signed communication policies? -Last meeting this was brought up to events committee. Events committee to further work out. Will to re send to Events committee.
      3. Need meeting notes from Fundraising/Events Committee meetings.
  6. Old Business/Open Issues
    1. July Work Party – (review) Big items from to-do list taken care of, all the brush up front cleared, small trees pulled up from slope on the all dog side. Mowing and trimming done. New weed whacker. Work on the cabinet done. Lauren mentions that screws on hinges of book cabinet sticking out about ¼ inch, concerned about safety. Paul mentions some books are getting moldy. Will need to be replaced. Two big things that didn’t get done were finish filling pot holes in the parking lot, they tend to come back and get worse, but do help with speeding in the parking lot though! Lauren suggests pounding down with vehicle going over, as she did. Second, someone needs to go through parking lot grass area to throw out cigarette butts. No smoking allowed in the park. Chris mentions possible parking spot or two for veterans. Will mentions technically we must have a 3rd handicap spot due to lot expansion. Chris- car backed into light post. Bollards on our wish list (cement blocks at base of light posts).
    2. New Brick phase. Tiles for Memorial Wall? –
      1. Will presents demo bricks and tiles from Polar Engraving Laser Technology- they sent us a small presentation of samples/products they can produce. The company will set CDA up with our own website that people can order from. CDA would be able to review individual orders before placing overall order. Would charge $50 for 4×8 brick- $60 if you want clip art or $100 for 8×8. These bricks would be added to the entry way. Reaching a limit not a concern at this point. If we start getting to 100-200 brick orders, may start to think about cap. When the wall goes up- tile fundraiser to start. Sandra suggests not running two fundraisers concurrently. Staggered?. If run concurrently, language needs to be specific. memorial wall vs. donor bricks. //free shipping. Tiles- grey quarry tiles-/ Tiles are same price
        • Motion to use this company for bricks and tiles
        • Presented: Will
        • Second: Kathy
        • Vote: Unanimous
      2. Minimum of 5 orders for fundraising price. No etching of a dog, but will do logos. Will to call up and ask. Fundraiser until April- Brick install summer 2020. Planned wall tile install until the wall is done probably until 2021. Will to confirm logistics of payment from pay pal
    3. Pins- Tabled, waiting to hear about local vendor.
    4. Rental Space Issues- see above regarding Regina (renter).
  7. New Business
    1. Water issues- use of pools at park and hose to fill those pools. Pools were agreed to if pool and water was brought and removed when done. Had to turn on faucet DPAC- an extension of water line to add a fountain to the agility area, but people were not abiding by what was agreed to. Carly asks what are draw backs to pool Will: -1 mud puddles- can’t grow grass in mud- hose = chew toy or tripping hazard, etc. 2- would raise water bill a minimum of about $700. Lauren suggests to look at what is the meter reading. Will estimates 39k gallons used in the first year. Drainage committee will make it part of their discussion-once we get water bills from the town.
    2. If water emergency- have posting signage of who to contact (town/plumber/police/ etc./) if you find something wrong who do you call? What to do if dog bite and human bite info, put in kiosk. Needs to be discussed. Tabled for now.
    3. Weston Nurseries dog days of summer. – CDA decided not to participate.
    4. Mark would like code to small shed to adjust irrigation. Will to discuss with Mark at a later time.
  8. Next Meeting(s)
    • Sept 18th
    • Oct 9th
  9. Adjournment 8:56- Motion by Kathy
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