General Meeting Minutes

May 19, 2003

Prepared by Mary Anne Corwin

Minutes of General Meeting of April 28
Janice Artandi read the minutes of the April 28 general board meeting. Dave indicated a correction to change Mike Brewer to Dave Brewer under Votes to Deviate from Bylaws.

Motion: Mike Brewer made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected and Tom Weber seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Agenda

Motion: Mike Brewer made a motion to deviate from the agenda to allow the guest speaker, Dr. Denise Lowe, Principal of the Phillips Avenue Elementary School, to talk. Dave Brewer seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously.

Guest Speaker
Dr. Denise Lowe apologized for not being able to make the prior meeting. She said she has been in the Riverhead School District for 11 years and Principal for 6. She has worked at the high school and now at the elementary school. She feels she has a good perspective on K through12. Dr. Lowe has a budget committee to make the budget process successful. The committee consists of her staff and teachers. Parents are welcome to attend. She felt it was important this year to bring the budget in lower than last year. Enrollment is currently 545 and the budget is $8,776 lower than last year since enrollment is down. She has to project 650 students.

The library utilizes a catalog system where other school libraries are automated. Due to the budget crisis, she had to eliminate the full-time librarian and automating the library. All classrooms are wired for the internet. Each student gets a half hour computer time each week. Dr. Lowe is replacing four of the oldest computers. There are 23 positions being eliminated in the district. The class-size grant has been re-approved so each will remain at 18.

Dr. Lowe stated that Mr. & Mrs. Rocco will soon be donating their services in putting down black top to expand the gym black top area in order to extend the time kids can be outside; there is no cost to the district.

Dr. Lowe then took questions from the floor regarding the following:

She indicated the budget for 2002-03 is $146,000 and 2003-04 is $137,900. Dr. Lowe provided history on the class size grant. Districts are eligible when in need and the grant must be set aside for K-3 grades. Phillips applied when the grant first came out. The money is earmarked for Phillips but can be used at any building. The grant is $280,000, of which 75% goes to the cost of portables and also for teachers and books. Last year, Aquebogue and Phillips benefited.

When asked by Mike Brewer why the budgets for all other elementary schools in the district are increasing while Phillips is decreasing, Dr. Lowe indicated she based her budget on 530 students and that current enrollment is 545. She indicated that the proposed increase is $9,000 for Roanoke, $12,000 for Riley, $7,000 for Aquebogue and that the proposed decrease for Phillips is about $9,000.

Dr. Lowe indicated that the equalization rate has not yet been set and believes that the school board will release the percentages when available. She said, as of now, the current budget voted on by the board results in a 9.91% for all areas for this year. The increase for last year was 4.41%. She feels we need to find another way other than property taxes to fund the schools. When asked about obtaining a copy of the line-item budget, she said we should be able to submit a freedom of information request for it and that Carol Perkins should provide it.

Dr. Lowe discussed the AmeriKids program sponsored by Southampton Town for kids in the district, held from 3:30 to 5:30.

Each child gets 60 minutes per week for physical education, one hour of art for 2nd, 3rd and 4th grades and 45 minutes for Kindergarten. Each receive a half hour of computer, half hour of music and half hour of library. There are 54 ESOL students.

Executive Board Meeting Minutes
Mike Brewer read the minutes for the Executive Board meeting of May 9, 2003.

Motion: Mike Brewer made a motion to accept the minutes; the motion was seconded by Lonaway Muldrow, which passed unanimously.

Meeting Signs: Regarding meeting signs as discussed in the minutes, Alan Perkowsky suggested to have a poster made up for the sign board they have in Northampton and felt it would be an inexpensive way of advertising the meeting.

Treasurer's Report
Eugene Rausch read the Treasurer's Report. Eugene indicated there are association expenses to be paid.

Motion: Mike Brewer made a motion to reimburse Tom Weber $11 and Mary Anne Corwin $183. Janice Artandi seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Beverly Perkowsky provided information for Eugene on how to change the account over for new signatures and the address.

Audit Committee Report
No meetings held and no report due.

Beautification Committee
Patty Hopkins read the report for the Beautification Committee

Code Enforcement Committee
No meetings held and no report due.

Education Committee
Lonaway Muldrow provided information on the budget vote for June 30 and indicated the budget meeting date was May 20.

Government Committee
Mike Brewer read the Government Committee report dated May 15.

Membership Committee
Janice Artandi read the Membership Report dated April 15.

Youth Committee
Dave Brewer indicated he would be having a committee meeting as soon as his phones are back in service. He announced he has flyers regarding roller nights at Red Creek Park and discussed a college preparation program but needs to secure more details.

Janice Artandi added that there was a Job & Internship Fair on May 10 at Hampton Bays High School and that there is a Guide to Employers & Internships and also a Guide to Committee Services Job Opportunities for Youth available.

Special Projects
Tom Weber indicated that the petitions to request a thorough review of Lena's has been submitted and that the State Liquor Authority hearing has been adjourned to May 29 in Patchogue. He indicated that Paris Auto is no longer closing on their real estate (a repair shop and a residence) and the property is being put back on the market. Tom indicated that since we now have a code enforcement committee, the special projects committee will no longer be handling any code related issues. Tom provided an update on the August picnic slated for August 24. He stated he needed more information from the general membership regarding the time slots available. Time slots are 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 9 p.m. The Pavilion will cost $20 and the Activity Area will cost $60.

Consensus Vote by General Membership: A general membership consensus was taken and it was decided that we should try to secure the Pavilion for the entire day (both time slots).

New Business

Beautification Committee Car Wash: Patty Hopkins added that the rain date for the Beautification Car Wash will be June 15 at the Flanders Nutrition Center.

General Election

Motion: Mary Anne Corwin made a motion to destroy the ballots of the election of the Executive Board held in April. Ellen Rausch seconded the motion, which was passed unanimously.

Old Business

Zip Code: Mike Brewer indicated that he has spoken to Chris Sheldon (Northampton Association), Carl Iaccone (Bay View Pines) and Tom Weber (FRNCA) regarding forming a committee to work on obtaining a zip code for our three hamlets. Mike indicated he will also talk to the Citizen's Advisory Committee to see if they have someone who might want to join.

Non-Profit Status: Mary Anne Corwin indicated that she received a letter from IRS regarding additional questions they have prior to issuing a 501-c3 status for the association. Mary Anne will get copies of the letter to the Executive Board.

Bylaws: Dave Fox wanted to be assured that any bylaws that members may want would be considered by the board, and the board assured him that they would.

Bicycle Committee: Dave Brewer indicated he has been accepted to the Southampton Bicycle Advisory Committee.

County's Route 105 Proposal: Mike Brewer indicated that the Riverhead Town Board passed a resolution against the County's proposal for reconstruction at Route 105.

Raffle
Rose Nigro won the 50-50 raffle. The amount to the association is $41. Rose also won $41, which she donated to the Beautification Committee funds.

Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 9:37 pm.

Motion: Following the meeting, Dave Brewer indicated that we overlooked discussion regarding the Juneteenth celebration and made a motion to ask the Executive Board to be called to back to order for an emergency vote. Mike seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.

Motion: Dave Brewer made a motion to write a check for $50 as a co-sponsor of the Juneteenth celebration. Mike Brewer seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.