North Fork CDC Regular Board Meeting Minutes

May 22, 2006

North Fork Mill Site, North Fork, Ca.

6:30 pm

Last Month's Minutes

Board Members:

Present: Chuck Borden, President, Dan Morris, Doug Waltner, Kathy Ellis, Mary Proper, Maryann McGovran, Paul Abram, Richard Hancock, Tammy Armstrong for Sandy Chaille, Tom Wheeler, Steve Christianson and Volney Dunavan.

Quorum present? Yes

Others Present:

Sharon Carter, Administrator, Alice Higman, Administrative Asst., Jean Hancock, Linda Morse, Steve Lawshe, Don Vasconcellos, Suzanne Foster, Don &V Sharon Grove, Michael Olwyler, Connie Popelish, Frank Verduzco, Ed Guzman, Chris Stanley and Shirley Geier.

Proceedings:

Meeting called to order at 6:30 pm by chair, Chuck Borden

Meeting Agenda

Motion by Volney to approve April minutes as written. Motion seconded.

Vote: Yes Doug, Richard, Mary, Kathy, Tammy, Paul & Dan.

Abstain: Maryann, Tom and Steve.

Motion by Paul to approve meeting agenda with the consent items moved to new business and the word proposed included in item 1 of old business. Seconded by Mary.

Vote: Yes Unanimous

Mary provided Status reports on the two (2) remaining grants that are open.

Motion by Paul to approve Treasurers report with the addition of a copy of the checking register for each grant and the general fund. Seconded by Volney.

Vote: Yes Unanimous

Committee Reports

Membership:

• Membership renewals. It was suggested that we ask Alice to send a post card to all prior members who have not renewed their membership.
• Hayrides. It was agreed to continue the hay rides on a regular basis on the 3 rd Saturday of each month. This month it will be May 20 th from noon to 4 pm. The rides will be every hour on the hour. We will have a table at the Fire Dept. BBQ with tickets available there. We will have an additional hay ride on 6-3 at the NFAC sidewalk Festival. We will give away free hotdogs to the riders in June. July’s hayride will be on the 15 th and August’s on the 17 th.
• We hope to host a reunion of all former employees of the mill site in the “History Building” on the mill site. We hope to record and videotape memories of these mill hands to have a living history of the mill before it is too late and they are all gone. This is something we hope to accomplish by next May.
• We would like to see the Fall Festival held at the mill site and will be contacting the Boosters, the Grizzly people, etc to explore the possibility.
• We would like to see electricity restore d to the old tire shed.

Planning:

• Paul reported on the bio-mass project. He stated he has no trust in the company. The contract they provided us has no monies for the CDC if they default on the deal. The contract is with the attorney for review. He suggested writing a letter to Silvan Company advising them to rewrite the contract to the terms that had been agreed upon in the past.

Motion by Volney to have Paul send the letter. Motion seconded.

Vote: Yes: Doug, Richard, Maryann, Mary, Kathy, Tom, Tammy and Steve.

No: Dan

Abstain: Paul

Administrators Report

• Received the contract from Silvan Power. The agreement has been sent to the attorney for review.
• Silvan’s rental agreement has been signed and we received the check for May’s rent.
• Paul, Richard and I met with Dave Wensloff from Integrated Engineers. He proposed to move on site and remediate our contaminated soil and water and to build a waste water treatment plant in exchange for land. We also met with EPA, County Environmental Health, Madera Co. Planning and the County Engineer. It is recommended to accept his proposal.
• A loan to the CDC for cleanup is progressing with the preparation of an MOU for the transfer of ownership from Madera County to the NFCDC. More info will be given to the Board as I receive true figures.
• CDC received notification from EPA that the CDC has been selected as one of the entities to receive a clean up grant for asbestos ($200,000).
• The carpet and wood floor are complete. Excellent job by Jeff McKinney.
• Robert Lewis has been hired to replace Jerry who broke has right hand.
• Audit is still underway and should be completed soon.
• RFP’s went out for Phase II and Phase IIIA of the Water System. Bids due 5-22-06 by 4pm. There were no proposals received.
• Still working with Paul Vining on the clean up of his site.
• Received a call from David Richards from Sierra Star. Per Alice Higman, who took the call, he is short staffed and unable to provide a reporter to cover our meetings. Paul Abram interjected by saying he went to see Mr. Richards in person and a deal was worked out that Paul would provide info to the Sierra Star and another reporter would write the article.
• A letter was sent to Derek Hitchcock of the North Fork Rancheria requesting the services of Mr. Gaylen Lee after I met with Mr. Lee to discuss and request a comprehensive report of any Native American activity on the proposed Pitcher Creek/Parkway Grant site.
• We will be receiving a TANF packet regarding employment program opportunities for local youth.
• Dan Morris and I met with Tim Snyder of Jones & Snyder re Tentative Subdivision Map.

Organizational Reports

• N.F. Arts Council

The purchase of Old Town is moving along.

They have 9 volunteers to start the preparation of the murals on the Grease Building at the CDC site.

Sidewalk Festival will be 6-3-06. They have 17 booths and hope the CDC will have a booth and offer free hayrides.

• Squirrel Cage Theatre Company

The children’s summer theater workshop will now be every other year on the odd years only.

The picnic will be 6-4-06. See Volney for additional info.

• N.F. Mono Rancheria

BMX track is moving along nicely. Received support from Madera Co. Board of Supervisors.

Appointed Urion Heath “Laughing Coyote” to fill the vacancy on the Tribal Council until elections are held in November.

There is a lot of bad publicity going on between the Chukchansi tribe and the Rancheria.

• N.F. Chamber of Commerce

No report from new representative as he has not yet attended a Chamber of Commerce meeting.

• N. F. Boosters

Jamboree tickets are on sale for $3 presale and $5 at the gate.

Alarm system has been installed at Town hall. It was paid for by the Lions Club.

The Car show will be the first Saturday in August.

The last bingo made a profit of only $5.49. Tom advised a great dinner would be served at the next bingo on 6-6-06.

A big “Thanks” to the N.F. Women’s Club for the food on Candidates Night.

• N.F. Women’s Club

The Annual Yard Sale at the “Crazy Y” will be 5-27-06.

They will be giving a scholarship to a Sierra High School student on 6-24-06.

The Craft sale will be 6-3-06.

A Mountain Oak student will receive a scholarship on 6-12-06.

Their building fund now has $12,000.

• Chawanakee Unified School District

They are working on the plans for the new high school.

There will be an all day meeting at Spring valley School. The new mascot will be unveiled. They will be “The Minarets Mustangs.”

• North Fork Volunteer Fire Department Aux.

240 dinners were served at the Bar-b-que. $1350 was raised from the raffle and the total profit was $3500.

Old Business

• Motion by Volney of the Governance Committee to table changes regarding job titles to next month’s meeting. Seconded by Tammy.

Vote: Unanimous

• Sierra Star issue was handled under the Administer’s report.

New Business

• Election of officers

Tom Motioned to reelect Chuck as “President”. Motion seconded.

Vote: Yes Unanimous

Tom moved to reelect Doug as “Vice-president.” Doug opted to resign his position.

Tom made a motion to elect Maryann as “Vice-President”. Motion seconded.

Vote: Yes: Unanimous

Motion by Tom to reelect Volney as “Secretary”. Motion seconded.

Vote: Yes Unanimous.

Motion by Tom to reelect Mary as “Treasurer”. Motion seconded.

Vote: Yes Unanimous.

• Ed Guzman from Sierra Ambulance gave a presentation regarding the new building. They wish to lease the land rather than own it.
• Dave Wensloff gave a presentation on the pilot project he has going on at the mill site to do site clean-up. He expressed interest in relocating his company, Integrated Engineers, to the site as defined in the Administrators report.
• It was proposed to bring electricity to the tire shop on the mill site. The board asked to have a cost estimate done before making any decision. Jeff will be asked to prepare an estimate for the cost.
• Sharon advised the Board we have two engineering firms working on the proposed Pitcher Creek project. The contract from Wallace Group is with the attorney as it has expired. The attorney will advise whether we can legally terminate that contract.
• The Board was advised that Chuck, Sharon and Paul met with Madera Co. to discuss the draft MOU with the County for the transfer of the land to the CDC. Paul advised the County of changes the CDC wanted and they were made. The final MOU with the County is now ready for signature and will be presented to the Madera Co. Board of Supervisors, if signed, on 6-13-06.

Motion was made by Paul to sign the MOU. Motion seconded.

Vote: Yes Unanimous.

Public Comment

None

Meeting adjourned at 9:15 pm

Minutes submitted by Alice Higman