Ocean Park Civic League

Minutes for the 3/4/2010 Meeting

OPVRS Meeting Room

Opening Presentation by Carolyn Weems, Bayside Representative to the City of VA Beach School Board

• Carolyn spoke at length about the budget issues facing Virginia Beach public schools.
  • She noted that the School Board has been fiscally conservative

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    • Last year, the School Board had 18 million left over at the end of the year, which allowed them to give funds back to the city to close gaps in the city’s budget.
    • Last year had to cut 30 million in expenses. This year, they had to cut an additional 32.4 million in expenses.
    • The School Board currently has an estimated budget in place for 2010-2011that balances the lost funding without affecting current instructional programs and without layoffs. There will also be no loss of healthcare or retirement benefits. However, if additional cuts are necessary, there will be some impact.
    • Since 85% of budget is compensation, the school board may have to increase class size by one student, which would provide 18 million dollars in savings. If this increase is needed, it would still provide lower class sizes than the state mandates.

• Ms. Weems then commented on the Legislative Committee Issues facing the School Board
  • The Virginia Beach schools have mastered the requirements of “No Child Left Behind”. She indicated that the schools will be moving forward on a 21^st Century Skills Initiative.
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      • Plan is to move focus away from standardized test and focus on time management, collaboration, writing skills and personal finance.
  • Ms. Weems commented on school calendar issues

• When Labor Day is so late in the year, as this year, the children are already in school until June 20^th.
• Since there were so many weather issues this year, and since they are mandated to have 180 instructional days, it causes issues when trying to make up lost days
• The school board is attempting to have laws changed that will allow the schools to start up to 5 days early when Labor Day is late. The proposal made it out of senate and house sub-committee, but it was pulled off the floor.

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  • The School Board is in pursuit of a Uniform Grade Policy
    • Until Va Beach instituted a 10 point grading scale, the students in Virginia Beach were at a disadvantage compared to students from other parts of the state.
    • The goal is to have all students in Virginia graded on the same scale.
  • The School Board is pursuing legislation that will disallow guns in all education buildings, not just schools (i.e. administration buildings)

 

Call Meeting to Order

• President Remarks
  • Rick proposed to streamline meetings, which will allow for the OPCL to have guest speakers give presentations at the general meeting
  • Rick proposed having all committee reports on the OPCL.org website only and reserving meetings for larger OPCL issues as well as budget items.
  • Rick also aims to increase the social aspect of meetings.
• Agenda Accepted
• Old Business
  • OPVRS Update – no update from the OPVRS members.
    • Rick proposed that the OPCL’s ultimate goal is to take the money that is set aside for a new station (that OPVRS says will never be built) and spend some of that money to improve the OPCL meeting space and the overall “curb appeal” of the station. money set aside for station to update meeting room for social purposes so that the civic league can once again use the space for social events.
    • Rick noted that OPVRS is in a current lawsuit with the heirs of the original owners who deeded the property to the rescue station.
      • There is a claim in the deed that the property needed to be used as a firehouse and social hall for civic league. Since the fire station has moved, the heirs of the Newton family have claimed that OPVRS is in breach of the deed and that there is a lawsuit attempting to work out the issue.
      • At the current time, they have re-stationed a fire engine to attempt to meet the deed requirements.
      • OPVRS is not a part of the city and has its own board of directors and operating budget.
  • Pound Nets Update
    • Appeals to initial ruling claiming that Mike Wills does not have standing have been initiated, legal briefs have been filed, and now he is awaiting a court date
    • Attempting to contact USCG regarding the lighting requirement for pound nets – as the USCG required lighting and markers for navigational hazards, however, they were not in place yet. Mike noted that the civic league might have to make a formal complaint
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  • 4^th of July Fireworks

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    • Rick is working with Scott Repert of Chesapeake Beach to have a 4^th of July fireworks display out on a barge in the bay. Rick is attempting to get Baylake Pines involved as well.
    • Rick commented that his plan is to solicit donations using direct mailers to fund the display – his idea for solicitation boundary is from the Lesner bridge west to Little Creek JEB.
    • Rick is looking for volunteers to help out with the proposals and marketing for this event.
    • Rick has not come up with a final dollar amount that will be requested from the civic leagues. His ultimate goal is to not use civic league funds for display

• New Business

• New Logo

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  •  
    • Rick presented logos to the OPCL. His goal is to use logo for marketing purposes and at some point for t-shirts/stickers/etc
    • Once approved, the logo will initially be used on beach bags for the welcome wagon committee to be given to new residents
    • Comments are welcome

 

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  • Vote on FY 2010 Budget

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    • Rick presented an estimated budget to the OPCL. The budgets purpose is to allow the board to dispense funds up to the approved amount without having to have a member vote to do so.
    • Only expenses above approved amount or not included in budget will be brought to OPCL membership at large for approval
    • Budget reviewed and accepted with only 1 nay vote

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  • Future Programs

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  • Rick asked for the names of people that the OPCL would like to have as guest speakers. The following names were provided:
    • Chris Stolle – Sheriff
    • Louis Jones – Bayside Rep to city council
    • Capt. Smith – Police representative
    • Philip Roehrs – Beach Engineer and Head of Public Works
    • Jason Cosby – VB Director of Public Works

Committee Reports

• Finance (Mike Wills)

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  • Robbins Legacy Report as of Feb 2010
    • 190kcurrently in account from initial investment of 180k
    • There is 9k in cash interest that can be distributed
    • The current investment strategy is 75% fixed income/cash 25% equity mutual funds
  • Ad hoc Audit Committee performed the annual audit of accounts on February 21, 2010. The only accounts available for review were from March through December, 2010. No major deficiencies were noted; however, the Committee did make a number of recommendations for consideration by the Treasurer and the Finance Committee

• Zoning (Mike Wills)
  • No updates.

• Social Committee (Dove Field) 

• Neighborhood Crawl Out Event March 27^th
• Upcoming Social Events 

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  • June – BBQ/Happy Hour – Lost Luau in the park. Event will be child friendly and held in the city park.
  • July – 4^th of July Parade
  • Winter 2010 -Holiday Party TBD

• Welcome Wagon (Laurie Rogers)
  • No update

• SDCC and BAC (Grace Moran)
  • Water bill – opportunity to sign up to win lunch with the mayor.
  • Sign up represents SDCC and BAC trying to set up email database and this is the attempt to solicit email addresses to increase membership
  • City budget is coming before city council on March 16^th or 23^rd. Shore Drive CC on March 29^th council members to tell what Shore Drive gets to keep in budget cuts and what is proposed to lose, Our chance to tell them priority
  • Thursday 18^th at BAC – bikes and trails
  • Various meeting times update

• Membership (Rick Mercadante)
  • There will be a Membership drive at the March 27^th Crawl Out. There will be prizes for the members who bring in the most new members

• Communications
  • No Update

Meeting Adjourned

VB city page march 2010

Click the link for a copy of the flyer for this event: Gang_and_Delinquency_Poster[1]

VA Beach City Page – 2-11-2010

 

Ocean Park Civic League

Minutes for the 1/7/2010 Meeting

Bayvista Condominiums Meeting Room

New Officer Installation

• New Officers Installed.

 

OPVRS Presentation (Deborah Joyner)

• Damages to OPVRS Building

• The roof is the most major expense. The flashing is gone, which is allowing water to come right down between sections of building.

• The Nor’easter destroyed the interior pine walls. OPVRS attempting to salvage ½ the pine wall, roof, bay doors, ceiling panels.

• HVAC units are failing due to flooding

• Assistance Received

• The community assisted with cleanup as well as members of JEB Fort Story/Little Creek and the fire dept..

• Servpro assisted for free
• Haynes volunteered to provide all furniture for restoration
• JEB Fort Story/Little Creek offering labor assistance with non-skilled labor, such as painting and cleaning

• Impact to OPVRS

• OPVRS currently house in small space at station 22 with no access to computers, supplies, etc

• There is nowhere to offer training to the youths through the Junior Explore Post.
• OPVRS is expecting to be back into the building on Jan 18^th and they are hoping to have meeting room completed by end of January barring any issues.
• Official restoration date for the building is most likely in March

• Current Needs

• All work that could be done by unskilled labor has been completed. At this point, OPVRS needs to get professional assistance.
• Roof estimate through Ronald McDarry Roofing is $39,500

• They have no estimate as to how much money they have collected for the repairs other than a 5k donation – OPVRS hopes the rest of money will come from operational funds and money donated during pledge drive in January.

 

Vote on Agenda

• Nothing added.

 

Old Business

• Pound Nets Issue (Mike Wills)

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  • Mike Wills updated the OPCL on the issue of the pound nets. He is currently appealing his case to the Virginia Court of Appeals and he is expecting a court date to be provided by the end of January. He is anticipating a court date in 6-9 months.
  • He also contacted Congressman Nye in an attempt to receive an official report from the Coast Guard regarding the alleged accident involving a Cost Guard boat and the pilings. Congressman Nye responded that there was no report of the boat hitting the piling and no report can be found.
  • The appeal will cost the OPCL 2500.
  • The Army Corps of Engineers investigated the Coast Guard incident but nothing they can do to address the issue.
  • Proposed pounds nets near Cape Story pound nets have been rejected.

 

New Business

• Proposed Amendment Change (Rick Mercadante)
  • Rick Mercadante proposed the following amendment change:
    • Since the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue station sustained substantial damage to its facilities during the storm last November, I propose we amend our motion form dated March 6^th, 2008 to read: “The membership of OPCL authorizes a pledge of $50,000 to the Ocean Park Volunteer Rescue Squad for the purpose of repairing the roof of the existing facility on Shore Drive. The remaining funds not used for roof repairs may be used for internal repairs as approved by the executive board.
    • There were not enough members to reach a quorum to vote on the proposed amendment. There is no plan to call a special meeting to address the issue.
    • The change was proposed because OPVRS has come out and said that no building new will be built.
• OPCL Treasury Audit
  • OPCL is in need of three individuals to audit the treasury.
  • Lew Mabie, Grace Moran, and Leo Wardrup volunteered

 

Committee Reports

• Finance (Mike Wills)

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  • Committee Update will be posted in the newsletter.
  • Budget to be provided for next meeting.

 

• Zoning (Mike Wills)
  • Don Julio’s ABC Request to Change ABC License

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    • Don Julio’s is requesting to amend their ABC license from restricted to unrestricted.
    • Rick spoke Capt. Smith at the VA Beach Police Dept. and they indicated that they do not have any reasons to challenge the change to the license, as police activity has not been an issue.
    • Current restrictions on the license are: closing times, live music, attire of servers – Don Julio’s owner is appealing for all of them lifted, claiming other local businesses do not haves such restrictions.
    • ABC board has not set a meeting yet.
    • OPCL is opposing the change, except for special events.
    • There is a hearing to be held in Chesapeake. Time TBD.

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  • Building on Jefferson at Powhatan is in violation of building permit for lack of progress in 6 months.

 

• Social Committee
  • Looking to host an OPCL social at Don Julio’s. Date TBD.

 

• SDCC and BAC (Grace Moran)
  • Meeting times to be posted in the newsletter.
  • New Issue- Krogers wants to put in a fuel station at supermarket located on Shore Drive.
• Membership (Rick Mercadante)
  • Paypal is now working to accept OPCL membership fee. OPCL Board hopes this will increase membership.
  • Newsletters were delayed this month.

 

• Communications
  • No Update

 

Meeting Adjourned

 

Respectfully Submitted,

Kathleen Fitzpatrick

Date: Tue, 9 Feb 2010 09:48:46 -0500 

I KNOW MANY OF YOU CAN’T GO TO THE MEETING, BUT I URGE YOU TO LOOK AT THIS FLYER* AND PASS IT ON TO YOUR FRIENDS WHO LIVE IN VIRGINIA BEACH. AND TO YOUR NEWS DEPARTMENTS IF YOU ARE IN A POSITION TO DO SO.

IN A CITY WITH THE RESOURCES OF VIRGINIA BEACH, THE CONDITIONS OF THE VB ANIMAL CONTROL SHELTER ARE DEPLORABLE AND SHOULD NOT BE TOLERATED.

IF YOU’D LIKE TO SEE HOW A SHELTER CAN LOOK, TAKE A TOUR OF THE NORFOLK ANIMAL CARE CENTER (NACC) AND THEN ASK YOUR CITY COUNCIL IN VA BEACH HOW THEY WOULD LIKE THEIR OWN ANIMALS TO HAVE TO SPEND SOME TIME IN THE CITY’S CONTROL CENTER.

SHAME ON VIRGINIA BEACH. PLEASE SPREAD THE WORD!

Debbie Donour, ABR, SRES, Realtor
Licensed in Virginia
Coldwell Banker Professional Realtors
3300 Virginia Beach Blvd. Suite 100
Virginia Beach, VA 23452
Cellular 757-478-9410
Office 757-463-1212
Toll Free 800-225-7452

*Click this link to see the flyer: pet flyer

See the most recent City Page on the link directly below. You can have a copy mailed to your address by subscribing on the City Page link under “Links” elsewhere on this site.

city page jan 27, 2010