MINUTES FROM THE WECA GENERAL MEETING OF APRIL 17^th 2008

Patricia Woodward, President, called the meeting to order at 7.02pm and distributed an agenda to all present.  She noted that Wayne Knoll the City’s Forester could not attend as previously scheduled due to an emergency situation.  However, it was noted that he could be present at a future WECA gathering.  She then noted that there had been a very good attendance at the March meeting and was much encouraged by this participation.  She noted that at the May meeting the topics for the upcoming year would be discussed and welcomed residents input with those ideas.

MINUTES:  The February Minutes were reviewed and approved, a motion was made by * and seconded by *.  The March 13^th ‘Town Hall’ style meeting Minutes were also approved with one correction needed, noted by *.

TREASURY REPORT:  * reported that the current balance of the operating account was $1251.55 and the T Rowe Price account held $2359.75 – this represented the market fluctuation (a minus of $295).

OLD BUSINESS: 

WECA NEWSLETTER:  * noted that in September residents should solicit advertisements and submit interested parties to Mimi Vitol and Pat Schultz, who have kindly volunteered to assist with this project.  It was stressed that service providers and businesses do not have to be residents of the West End.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE:  * thanked her fellow members of the Nominating Committee for all of their input and presented the slate. They are as follows: President - Patricia Woodward , Vice President – Andrew Field, Treasurer – Helen Hillstrom, Recording Secretary – Jan Balkam, Corresponding Secretary – Susan Prince. A motion was made to approve the nominees by * and it was seconded by *, the motion was carried.

NEW BUSINESS:

TOPICS TO BE DISCUSSED FOR NEXT YEAR’S CALENDAR:  Patricia encouraged all present to present their opinions and ideas concerning interesting topics for the upcoming year. Some discussed were: - *Homeless persons living in Rockville - * recounted incidents where people had broken into a storm water management area and set up home within the actual storm drain in the Rose Hill Falls area during the cold weather in January. Also in the same area, at night a man had pretended his car had broken down and requested help and a ride in a resident’s car.  Sgt Over said he’d look into it and feed back to the group at the next meeting. Another resident mentioned that a young girl was loitering on the steps of the Presbyterian Church and mentioned that the shelter in Rockville was now closed until the winter.*Traffic in the City and * care of trees.

TRAFFIC COMMITTEE: Patricia noted the cordial working relationship between Emad El Shafei and WECA and discussed some of the areas they’d been examining during their three meetings. 

The committee included Sgt Eric Over of Rockville’s Police Dept. Patricia and another seven participants whose mission statement was to work mainly on pedestrian safety and related issues. Some places discussed were – crossings at Monument Street, Henderson Circle( Beall and Mannakee), West Montgomery Avenue near 500 West Montgomery ( Chestnut Lodge). Also the traffic flow on W Montgomery and whether it should be made one way during certain rush hours, the latter was not agreed as emergency vehicles needed access and residents were not in favor either. Safety at the Asian Market on N Washington and finally a left hand turn signal was discussed at Laird. Patricia once more requested any resident to submit their suggestions about traffic related issues to her directly. Some residents complained that pedestrians should be more careful and that some accidents were caused by their neglect.

PROPOSAL FOR A 34,000 SQUARE FOOT CHURCH AT FALLS AND MONUMENT:  PATRICIA DISTRIBUTED A LETTER FROM RESIDENT *. * is the ‘point person’ concerning this situation.  * was asking along with many other residents, if WECA would consider writing a letter informing the City Planning and other relevant parties of their support for his complaint about zoning changes in cases like the above proposal.   After lengthy discussion about freedom of expansion for existing churches, parking, whether the church would be in keeping with the neighborhood, concerns about renting out parts of such a building and the hours in which the church would be utilised -  a motion was made and carried that WECA would support issues raised in *’s letter, there was one abstention.

CITY NEWS: Various leaflets were distributed by Jenny – the City liaison person.  She also named the new person to take her place had been appointed and was Rocio Estrada. Some attendees voiced that certain planning requirements had not been carried out and that the City seemed to be oblivious to these facts.  Jenny said that she will look into these matters and inform us of any changes at the next meeting.                                                                                                                                                                    DOG PARK:  * pointed out the celebration of the one year anniversary of the dog park at King Farm.

BEALLS GRANT: In February the owners of the Bealls Grant property requested a letter be sent to the Secretary of State as they are applying for tax concessions also, the Mayor & Council also wrote a letter and voted unanimously in favor of their request.

Patricia asked once more for ideas concerning topics of interest for the upcoming calendar and encouraged people to spread the word so that suggestions would cover points of interest for all residents of the West End.  She adjourned the meeting at 8.20pm.

THE NEXT WECA MEETING WILL BE HELD AT 7PM, ON THURSDAY, MAY 15^th AT Rockville Presbyterian Church, Harrison street entrance.

Respectfully submitted – Jan Balkam, Recording Secretary for WECA.