President David Kout welcomed everyone to the meeting. We had no meeting last month due to National Night Out. David exercised his perogative as chair person to take a few minutes to make some comments about the vote that took place in September concerning pensions. His comments were very well taken as no one disagreed with him. He then called on Commissioner Furr for his report.

Beam followed up on what David said and agreed that it was a tough vote for everyone on all levels. There will be a tax increase of 11 percent; also a $30 increase in the fire assessment. He talked about layoffs and services provided, and did say the garbage rate would go down a dollar or two right now. Maybe more later. He talked about what this vote did.
A $100 donation from Beam to our National Night Out was happily accepted, then he announced the Need to Feed group would be joining our Community garden starting with a planting on Sept. 24. They have some big plans and they are funding it. Everyone is invited to come and observe the kids working on Saturday. We need to get together about the fence and other things for the garden.

Ofc. Cormier gave his report at this time. He started with giving the crime stats for August. We've been having a lot of problems with people breaking into houses and renting them to unsuspecting people. Big time scam in this neighborhood. Beverly gave him an empty house to check out. He let us know that street crimes unit in unmarked cars are better in the neighborhood to observe certain things because a marked police car alerts them.

Code Ofc. Tommy Pinder backed up what Derek said by observing them in action. He didn't realize at first that they were the police. He mentioned the tree planting coming up on 24th Ave. He asked that he be kept in the loop so he would know what's going on. Louie asked about a number of "souped up cars" parking on sidewalks. There's a lot of high grass and weeds in the neighborhood that needs attention. Tommy asked that you email or call him with these complaints. Everyday, sweeps of all kinds are being done. Dale did thank Tommy for taking care of some problems he had.

David announced that we lost our treasurer so he gave the financial report. We did have some deposits to make which brought the balance to $822.68.

Old Business....Chris took over and talked about getting new signs to replace the old ones.

New Business....Louie let us know that there is a new snail smuggled in from Africa. It is bigger than normal and dangerous. They carry a bacteria. So, if you see one, do not touch it, but call the Dept. of Agriculture.
David announced that the garden will stay on Adams St. Maria will be taking over as manager, and Shirley will stay as the treasurer for the time being.
Chris announced the coming yard sale to be held at McNicol. It will be on Oct. 22. Spaces will be $10 a spot. Spread the word.
The Christmas Party was mentioned. Anyone interested, we need to start planning for that. The Candy Cane parade was also mentioned.
David answered a few questions about what was happening with the Adams Street project.
The membership list was brought up. A new one is being made. Shirley is taking pictures of our members so they can have a badge to identify them as a member when working on projects for the association.
Last of the new business....Broward County received a grant from the Federal Energy Dept. They are giving $150 rebates to people who buy energy star rated washing machines or refridgerators. The information is on the Broward County website. One of our vistors let us know that their is also a rebate program for the low flow toilets. Be aware that they may not work for everyone. You should check with your plumber before buying.

Our guest speaker, Dale Bryant, took over. He is a landscape architect. He has a number of ideas for beautifying our neighborhood besides planting trees. He showed us some very interesting drawings that he proposes to put on the street at certain intersections. We're hoping to be the test area for this project. The cost seems to be minimal. There were questions about the paint to be used, how could it be repaired if damaged, etc. The main thing is to sell the idea to the city and find a place to test the idea.

Shirley asked Beam about the playhouse. A lawsuit is being filed by the city to take back the playhouse. More to come.......

Tommy returned to give us the sad news that Jim McGee, one of the Code supervisors, has pancreatic cancer. He will be retiring. It's our loss.

The meeting was adjourned.