Town Hall Meeting Minutes May 15, 2018

WHEN: Tuesday, May 15th 2018 from 7pm-8pm
WHERE: Peace Lutheran Church (Near main entrance of N. Cedar Bluff Rd.)
FOOD: Complimentary hors d’oeuvres and beverages
PRIZES: Drawings for multiple Gift Cards and Door Prizes

AGENDA:

1. Introduction of Gulf Park Civic Association Officers: Your newly revitalized GPCA officers and members are dedicated to bring back the prestige of Gulf Park and its community.

President: Phil Dampf – lives on Sarasota for 2 years with his wife, Megan.
Vice President: Nicole Phillips – grew up in Gulf Park on Sarasota and purchased her family home where she lives with her husband, Jedi and two children.
Treasurer: Jane Magee – moved to Gulf Park in 1999. She lives on Sarasota with her husband, David, and two boys.
Secretary: Francie Brodman – moved to Gulf Park in July 1993. She lives on Gulf Park with her husband, Jay, after raising their three children here.

Board of Governors: Megan Dampf (Social Media) and Jay Brodman (City/County Liaison)

2. Budget and Neighborhood Dues: (Jane Magee) See 2017 Budget listed on the Gulf Park website. (COMING SOON)

3. Entrance Beautification and Maintenance: (Phil Dampf) The front entrance to Gulf Park is in desperate need of a face lift. We have finally saved enough money over the past few years to do an overhaul of the front entrance beds which have deteriorated over time due to lack of participation, funds and volunteers. This will be done in the near future. We have recently updated the lights to LED in an effort to reduce the electric bill for keeping the lights on. We thank American Lighting for facilitating in the much needed improvement. GPCA has contracted to have the front entrance landscaping revamped. It has been years since any improvements have been done to the entrance and is in need of renovations. Some of the larger plants will be removed since they are diseased and slowly dying. Some existing plants will be rearranges and additional new plants will be added. We are striving to achieve low maintenance landscaping.

4. Street Resurfacing: (Jay Brodman) GPCA has been in contact with Knox County Dept of Engineering and Public Works about resurfacing our roads. It has been over 20 years since they were last resurfaced completely. We were informed that we are on the county budget for this to be done in the Fall of 2018 or Spring of 2019. Of course their budget is tight with only 2 million dollars available for 4 million dollars of work needed to be done. We continue to ask that residents contact our Knox County District 3 commissioner, Randy Smith to voice their opinion on this import project. Newly paved roads would enhance the look of the subdivision immeasurably. CONTACT YOUR KNOX COUNTY COMMISSIONER

5. Purpose of dues: a. Lights b. Maintenance (Jane Magee) The dues are only used for paying the LCUB monthly electric bills and maintenance of the front entrance area off Cedar Bluff Road, and administrative cost necessary to facilitate the GPCA boards purpose. GPCA ByLaws

6. General Safety Concerns: (Francie Brodman) Traffic in Gulf Park:
a. speed humps results. A petition was available to sign last fall to add speed humps to our subdivision. Step 1 failed to obtain 50% of the residents signatures to the petition must request the feasibility study. Therefore, Step 2- the 70% approval of residents to actually install them will not occur.
Please set an example for others driving in the neighborhood by following the 25 MPH speed limit ourselves.

b. Sheriff’s Office patrol cars: GPCA has contacted the Knox County Sheriff’s office to have patrol cars stationed near Biloxi and Venice cul-de-sacs before and/or after school hours to help deter speeders.

7. General Curb Appeal and Neighborhood Expectations: (Francie Brodman) – From time to time GPCA will share helpful information to residents in regard to a variety of topics. These articles will be available on our website for you to view. The current topic is curb appeal.docx. If you have any suggestions for future informative information please email GPCA @ gulfparkcpca.gmail.com, your ideas to us.

8. Community Events: (Nicole Phillips) GPCA would like to reinstitute the neighborhood events such as the 4th of July Bike Parade, Halloween event and Block Parties. Please email GPCA @ gulfparkcpca.gmail.com, your ideas and to volunteer.

Gulf Park Pool update: Pam GPRA Pool 2018
Visit the Gulf Park Recreation Association website or for questions email

9. New neighbors Welcome: (Francie Brodman) Please email GPCA when you notice a new neighbor or a home near you is for sale. The board will reach out to them and share contact options. 2017 Welcome to Gulf Park Neighborhood

10. Volunteers for 8 more Board of Governors members: 8 more Board of Governors members have volunteered, to bring total to 10. The Volunteers are: Alison Ross, Dina Kramer, John Wendelken, Leona Porteous, Mark Barber, Tami Whitson, Wilma Branner, and Zach LeVasseur.
THANK YOU for caring and helping to make Gulf Park into the best subdivision possible.

If we have missed your name, please email GPCA @ gulfparkcpca.gmail.com.

11. Question and Answer Session:
Additional discussion about the street lights – As survey was posted to Nextdoor.com to determine if it is feasible to pick up the residents lights bills. 78% responding said they don’t pay for a street light as opposed to 22% who said they did. The board is going to request again that LCUB do an audit of the street lights the association pays for and the ones the residents pay for. Currently, it doesn’t seem possible. It may be the only way to get the information needed is for “volunteers” to walk around all of Gulf Park and make the list and do the audit ourselves. It looks like WE need to do it because it isn’t in the interest of LCUB to do anything.

With only 44% participation of our residents this barely covers the current LCUB monthly bills, minimal front entrance maintenance, and the new resident and dues flyers. If everyone paid the minuscule annual fee so much more could be done for the upkeep of the neighborhood and curb appeal. But as it is we are fighting an uphill battle just to keep the current lights on.

Dealing with LCUB should be a priority for the coming year. (1) Identifying the lights we pay for and those paid for by residents (2) met with LCUB (3) bargaining for the amount paid per light for uniformity (4) do all other subdivisions pay for their lights or are we on an outdated system and (5) can appealing to our county commissioner for the county to pay for the lights help?

Additional discussion about more transparency with the board – It was requested the Board could, for the sake of transparency, post the budget, meeting minutes etc. on the Gulf Park website or Facebook page. The board will post this information on the Gulf Park website as soon as possible.

Door Prize Winners: Thank you for coming to the Annual Town Hall Meeting for the Gulf Park Subdivision. The winners were Alison Ross, Mark Barber, Shay Boswell, Wilma & Charles Branner, Ryan Ginder, and Sandy Wright.