President David Kout wasted no time in introducing our guest speakers for the evening, Interim Director Cathy Swanson-Rivenbark and Finance Director Matt Lalla. Matt took the floor and went over the budget, then Cathy made some comments and asked for questions. There were a number of questions that followed and Cathy said to have her back when people had more questions. Louie started to thank our guests, but was interupted by David saying he was a little remiss earlier because he did not introduce Chief Wagner or Commissioner Dick Blattner who also was in attendance. Beam was absent because it was his wife's birthday.

We thanked our guests who then departed, and our regular meeting began with Louie leading the pledge.

David told about a study that was done by an organization called The National Conference on Citizenship.The study was called "Civic Health and Unemployment. Can engagement strenthen the economy?" They didn't actually say there was a direct connection between civic engagement and unemployment, but it did show there seems to be a correlation between the level of civic engagement and unemployment. The states that had the highest level of civic participation had the lowest level of unemployment and visa versa. Unfortunately, Florida falls into the second group. So by attending these meetings and staying involved, you may be helping. David then encouraged people to stay involved and please invite your neighbor to come to these meetings.

He then called on Ofc. Cormier for his report. The stats for September are as follows: There were 5 auto thefts, 4 vehicle burglaries. Residential burglaries have increased but are down in auto and vehicle burglaries. There was 1 business burglary and 1 robbery. Eighteen of the twenty residential burglaries were reported, but not seen happen. People came home to find they had been burglarized. Two were in progress and arrests were made. One was on a tented house. Derek suggested calling the police and getting a watch order on your house if tenting so they will do extra patrols. One of the homes was UNLOCKED! That made for easy entry. Detectives are working to see if any of these burglaries are linked to others in the neighborhood. Most occur between 7:00 A.M. and 6:00 P.M. when people are at work. Two of the four vehicle burglaries were on UNLOCKED vehicles and could have been avoided if cars were LOCKED! Most common methods of entry into homes are thru rear sliding doors, kitchen or bathroom windows and jalousie windows. Code Ofc. Tommy Pinder and Ofc. Cormier have been working on vacant houses in the neighborhood trying to catch sqatters. Detectives are working on fake leases. Some of the homes are being occupied by those committing the burglaries and they're hiding stolen property in the houses as well as staying in them. Derek reminded us to report anyone staying in what you think is an abandoned house and he will check on them. A discussion followed with some questions being asked and some houses reported. Code Ofc. Tommy Pinder took over. There were four special magistrate cases last month that were taken care of, this month he had four scheduled, but one was changed to an LLC and will have to be set for next month. Code performed a sweep with Tommy's area being North and South Central areas. This was for obvious violations. There was a landlord training shop last week resulting in some areas being cleaned up.

Moving on....
Old/New Business
Maria gave a report on the Community garden. We still don't have our fence and some grants are being worked. She also announced a Cert Training program coming up.
Chris showed our new sign. She ordered 25 and can order more in groups of 5. There are two code classes coming up for volunteers. Our yard sale is on Oct. 22nd. Spread the word. The neighborhood forum is scheduled for November 3rd.

Financial Report...
We started with a balance of $822.68. Adding deposits of $22 for membership and a $100 donation brings us to $944.68. We have another $5 to add and still to come a $200 check from the church for National Night Out.
Just a reminder...Shirley is taking pictures of members for photo ID's. These can be worn to the meetings and for special events like fund raisers.
A report on Crimewatch Mobile Patrol was given. Mobile Patrol has grown to 38 members. We will be adding more cars as they become available. The police dept. is fully in support of Crimewatch and Mobile Patrol.

David announced that next month Dale's son will be giving a martial arts presentation and in Dec. we will be having a party.

Elizabeth announced that the CEC can help anyone who might need assistance with rent or utilities, clothing, food, etc. David has been working with Marty Jacobson who gets organizations to do recycling, and the money goes to the CEC. Boxtops for education is another program that was also mentioned.

There was nothing else so David adjourned the meeting.