CHCA BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
Chestnut Hill Library
Thursday, August 28, 2008

MINUTES

Board Members Present: AnnMarie Arment, Margaret Brunton, Miguel Castaneda, Tony Crist, Brian
DeCesare, Joanne Dhody, Marianne Dwyer, Thomas Fleming, Stewart Graham, Thomas Hemphill, Dina Hitchcock (VP Operations), Eileen Jacobs, Pamela Learned, Janice Manzi, Margaret McNally, Ned Mitinger (VP Physical Division), Christopher Padova, Marilyn Paucker, Cathy Pimpinella, Joseph Pizzano, Ron Recko (Immediate Past President), Rob Remus, Brian Rudnick, Kristina Sullivan (Secretary), Brien Tilley, and Tolis Vardakis (President)

Board Members Excused: Elaine Aiello, Anne Anderson, Robert Bacino, Jane Becker, Carol Cope,
Michael Hickey, Kathleen Jones, Mark Keintz (Treasurer), Marie Lachat, Anne McNally, Patrick Moran, Jane Piotrowski (VP Social Division), Susan Pizzano, Robert Rossman, Meredith Sonderskov, George Spaeth, Jonathan Sternberg, and Pam Thistle

Board Members Absent: Virginia Mallery and Fran O’Donnell

Others Present: Steve Fillebrown (Budget and Finance Committee Member), James Foster, Jean
Hemphill (Chestnut Hill Community Fund President), Joel Hoffmann (CH Local Reporter), Philip LeCalsey (Community Manager), Mary Lynskey (J.S. Jenks School Principal), Stan Moat (Chestnut Hill Community Fund Secretary), and Noreen Spota (Administrative Coordinator)

Tolis Vardakis called the meeting to order at 7:35 PM and asked for a moment of silence. Noreen Spota conducted the roll call.

Approval of Agenda. There was a motion to approve the agenda; this motion was seconded and passed.

Approval of Minutes. There was a motion to approve the Board meeting minutes from July 31, 2008 as submitted; this motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Introduction of New Principal from J.S. Jenks School. Tolis introduced Mary Lynskey, the new principal of the Jenks School, who spoke briefly about her background and plans and welcomed all to visit or call her with questions and concerns.

Report from Chestnut Hill Community Fund Trustees. CHCF President Jean Hemphill distributed and reviewed a report from the Fund Trustees, which included:

• a brief description of the purpose of the Fund and its relationship with the CHCA
• sources and uses of funds
• investment performance and portfolio
• trends in income and expenses
• fiscal controls
• how the Trustees addressed three issues of concern including the 2006 DCED grant, the 2006 commission paid to Legacy Real Estate, and use of CHCF funds to meet CHCA/Local budget shortfalls
• the State Attorney General document request
• future plans
• the Fund’s budget for the fiscal year ending 3/31/09
• the Fund’s balance sheet and income statement for the fiscal year ending 3/31/08 (preliminary; audited statements will be available in October)
• history of investment returns from October 2002 to August 2008
• sample grant allocation letter and accountability report form

(This report is an addendum to the minutes.) In the ensuing discussion about the report, points that were raised included:

• a concern about the depreciation of the Merrill Lynch investments and whether more conservative investments may be more prudent
• as an endowment, the Fund is more interested in long-term investments for growth and income
• is the investment counselor paid a commission, and if so, would he agree to provide this service pro-bono?
• the Fund’s investments have done better than average for the period in question
• an arrangement with the fabric store to rent the 8436 Germantown Avenue space through the end of the year
• the $3,200 commission paid to Legacy Real Estate and the $2,650 fine paid due to a code violation at 8431 Germantown Avenue (both in 2006)
• the status of an estimated $180,000 transfer of monies from the Fund to the CHCA; according to Jean Hemphill, some of this appears to have been paid back and some was used by the CHCA for charitable community purposes, for example, the Pastorius Park summer concert series

In addition, Brian Rudnick asked whether any “social screens” are applied to the Fund’s investments. Jean’s response was that currently, social screens are not applied but that the Trustees can consider implementing that in the future. Brian then offered a motion that the Trustees consider a recommendation from the CHCA Board of Directors to apply social screens to the Fund’s investments and report back to the Board. This motion was seconded and passed with 2 votes opposed and 4 abstentions.

Resignation of Board Members. Tom Fleming announced his resignation from the Board effective immediately, citing his belief that the Board needs new members and vitality. Tolis thanked Tom for his service on the Board and Jean thanked Tom for his efforts chairing the past two fund drives. Tolis also announced the resignation of Ed Berg from the Board and Executive Committee because he has accepted a job in northern New Jersey and will be leaving Chestnut Hill. Ed will continue to provide legal advice to the CHCA on occasion. Tolis then welcomed new Board members Tom Hemphill and Brien Tilley.

Approval of New Executive Committee Member. Tolis expressed his recommendation that Rob Remus replace Ed Berg as an at-large member of the Executive Committee. Christopher Padova offered a motion to approve Rob Remus to serve on the Executive Committee; this motion was seconded and passed unanimously.

Consideration of Treehouse Play Café Proposal. At the request of the developer, this issue has been tabled until the September Board meeting. Tolis issued the following statement:

“The Directors of the CHCA need to have the following information at least one week before the Treehouse Play Café proposal is to be discussed at the board meeting:

• The exact wording of the variances.
• The Development Review Committee recommendation. The DRC needs to give clarifications in some of the six conditions.
• Sanjiv Jain and Rachael Williams should submit a petition (if there is one) with signatures of those supporting the project as approved by the DRC.
• Susie O’Neil should submit a petition (if there is one) with signatures of those opposing the project as approved by the DRC.
• All petitions must be originals, show clearly the reason for the petition, the name, address, phone number, and signature.”

Report from Treasurer. In the absence of Treasurer Mark Keintz, Budget and Finance Committee member Steve Fillebrown provided a brief verbal report. He stated that for the fiscal year ending 3/31/08, the Local basically broke even, with a deficit of $306, and the CHCA produced net income of about $20,000. These are unaudited figures. Up-to-date income statements and balance sheets will be available by the end of October and the CHCA/Local audit for fiscal year ending 3/31/08 will begin in late October. Steve also mentioned the opinion of the Budget and Finance Committee that hiring an additional person to provide backup bookkeeping services is impractical, but documenting procedures, instituting an online bookkeeping system, and cross-training current staff members are more feasible options.

Report from Vice President, Social Division. In the absence of Jane Piotrowski, there was no report from the Social Division.

Report from Vice President, Physical Division. Ned Mitinger noted the postponement of the Treehouse Play Café deliberations by the CHCA Board and the fact that other proposals have been referred from the Development Review Committee to the Land Use Planning and Zoning Committee.

Report from Vice President of Operations. Dina Hitchcock had nothing to report from this division.

Report from Community Manager. Philip LeCalsey distributed and reviewed his report, which provided updates on the following topics: 1) plans for the Holiday House Tour; 2) plans for a community meeting on Wednesday, October 1 at the Chestnut Hill Library to address the issue of residential crime; 3) partnering with Springfield Residences; 4) the Morris Arboretum scarecrow design contest; and 5) a presentation by City Controller Alan Butkovitz on Tuesday, September 2 at the Library. The next meeting of the Holiday House Tour Committee will be held on Monday, September 15. In the ensuing discussion, the following points were mentioned: the possibility of having the next CHCA Blood Drive at Springfield Residences, the importance of getting feedback from Board members about how to make the Holiday House Tour even more successful, and preparation of a Power Point presentation of CHCA activities to show to prospective sponsors of our events.

Old Business: CHCA Conflict of Interest Policy. A draft Conflict of Interest Policy was distributed at the Board meeting held on July 31, 2008 and again sent to Board members for review prior to the current meeting. A discussion ensued about some of the specific provisions. Tolis then urged Board members to review the draft policy again prior to the September Board meeting, discuss the draft on the Board discussion list serve, e-mail suggestions to Philip or Noreen in advance of the meeting, and come to the next meeting with specific suggestions.

New Business: Petition from Aesthetics Committee. Joanne Dhody, Aesthetics Committee Chair, distributed and reviewed a community petition, prepared by the committee, to remove the neon lights at Commerce Bank. The petition states: “We, the undersigned, request that the Chestnut Hill branch of Commerce Bank, located at 8600 Germantown Avenue, remove the interior neon lighting that is visible from both Germantown Avenue and Evergreen Avenue. We feel that these lights do not reflect the historic village atmosphere of Chestnut Hill.” Joanne explained that the need for this petition arose from complaints from the community and subsequent discussion by the Aesthetics Committee. There was a brief discussion about the desirability of the neon lighting.

There being no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 9:30 PM.

Minutes prepared by Noreen Spota, CHCA Administrative Coordinator, on 9/8/08.

Respectfully submitted on 9/10/08 by:

Kristina Sullivan
CHCA Secretary