West Garland Neighborhood Association

Minutes of April 24^th 2014 Meeting

The meeting was called to order at 7:02p.m. in the usual meeting site of the First Christian Church by President Ricardo Rocha.   All board members were present except for Vice President Ellen Fong, Treasurer Robert Vera, and Secretary Leslie Henry.  The current treasury balance was unchanged at $550.97.

The night’s guest speaker was Brian Gaddis of the Garland Parks & Recreation Department.  Brian is the Bradfield Center Coordinator, and is quite knowledgeable about the entire system.  A good deal of his information was about the Hollabaugh Rec Center, located at 3925 W. Walnut.  He covered the various programs offered at this center (one of the few with fitness equipment).  Quite a bit of literature was distributed among the meeting attendees, and more detailed information can either be found at their website (click here), or by calling the City (972-205-2750).

WGNA member Jim Bell presented information about the “Solarize Garland” project.  This effort is a spinoff of “Solarize Plano” which is also a grass-roots program to get people to adopt solar energy as a means to reduce their cost of electricity.  Their website at: http://solarizegarland.blogspot.com describes the effort, and sets a target date of May 15^th to get as many people onboard before they proceed to the next step – selecting a building contractor.  The ultimate goal is to take advantage of various incentive programs (up to $3,000 off utility bills from GP&L, with a buyback plan for excess electricity) to help homeowners become more energy-independent.

WGNA Board Advisor David Morehead talked about some upcoming events at the Curtis Cullwell Center (4999 Naaman Forest Blvd, near the Sam’s Club in the Firewheel area)

Old Business.  Henry Peerman had suggested we try to get someone from the Streets Dept to speak, and President Rocha did try to arrange it.  However, there were conflicting activities for their team, so it was suggested that we try again for our 3^rd quarter meeting.

New Business:  Fran Brown mentioned that this year’s National Night Out event will be held on Tuesday 10/7, but at this point the consensus is that we should sit out this year and instead focus our effort on a rummage sale.  Thinking is that it will help with awareness of our organization, and also provide a little revenue.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:08 PM.

Respectfully prepared by

Ken  Agee (acting for Lesley Henry, Secretary)