MORGANTOWN BEAUTIFICATION COMMISSION MEETING MINUTES

                                                            June 14, 2006

 

 

Attendees:  Bill MacDonald, Sandy Poulson, Kara Hurst, Frank McGreevy, Don Spencer, Marilyn Bowers; special guests: Bob Hammell, Airport Director and Mary Lou Baker and Russ McCormick of his staff

 

SPECIAL TOPICS

 

South University Ave. Islands – Kara and Bill and met with Dan Boroff last Wednesday to present the latest plan from Biafora’s.  Mr. Boroff is awaiting a written narrative document from the contractor.  At that point, the package will go to the State for approval and then on to City Council.  The plan was positively received.

 

Mississippi Ave Exterior Screening – Since Ralph LaRue is not present, we don’t have a an update on this issue.  As far as we know, no one has talked to Terry Hough regarding this issue.

 

Membership – Marchetta has an e-mail from Linda Little noting that we have 2 deficits in our membership for the 1st and 4th wards.  Don Spencer has 4 people as candidates for 1st ward and he has asked Council to consider an Emeretis status for the 5th ward.  This member would be able to attend meetings but not have voting rights.  He will suggest the the councilperson for these 2 wards make a recommendation for who might fill these positions.

 

            Frank suggested that the Commission might develop a brief synopsis of our current issues and past projects to help new members familiarize themselves with the activities of the Commission.  Marchetta suggested that she might give the new people a brief tour of Morgantown and the areas that the Commission oversees.

 

Public Education – The Commission agreed that the “mock-up” of the Proud of our Town Awards pamphlet was ready to go to print.  We received  an invoice from Rob Wolfe for his excellent work and the cost was a mere $15.90!  Marchetta will check with the City to get their blessing on this document.  Sandy will check with Linda Little to see if there is a city-wide mailing going out that we might “piggy-back” with.  We also discussed areas where we might distribute the pamphlet – neighborhood association meetings, airport, chamber of commerce, Morgantown rest stops, greenhouses, etc.  Sandy will check with the Dominion Post to see the feasibility of having them inserted into the newspaper.  She will also check with Morgantown Printing and Binding to determine the cost of a smaller run (they quoted $2,045 for 50,000 copies).  It was also noted that the Dominion Post ran an article about the Beautification Commission and the Proud of Our Town Awards in the June 8 edition.

 

Adopt-a-Street – Donna could not attend the meeting but sent an e-mail to tell us that she e-mailed the Adopt-a-Street list in early May and has heard from a few groups but most are out of town for the summer.

 

PROJECT REPORTS

 

Marchetta’s report is attached to the minutes.  Don suggested that we check into getting a student for an internship that might help us with our many administrative duties. He asked that this topic be put on the next agenda.

 

Bill noted that the Krepps Park Pool house project and the Sabraton gateway project were omitted from the project list shown in the May minutes.

 

We noted that in the last month’s minutes it was agreed that Bill would meet with Dan Boroff regarding our lack of input in the Mountaineer Heritage Park.  Don said that Ron Justice told him that the person we need to talk to is Mary Collins who heads this committee.  Before we meet with her, we need to have a plan as to what we as a Commission would like to see happen in that Park.

 

Marchetta distributed copies of the plan for the High Street project.  It was suggested that the High and Walnut street work should be on our next agenda.  There was a question whether the plan we have is the most current one.

 

Don is meeting with Dan Boroff next Monday regarding the Spruce Street tree project.  He also asked that street signage be a topic on the next agenda.

 

It was noted that the Florence Merow plaque is to be installed in September and we need to review it prior to the installation.

 

Bob Hammel gave an intensive presentation of the current activities and plans for the future for the Morgantown Airport.  That presentation is attached to the minutes.  He asked that we meet at the airport next month and plan time to take a short tour of the facility.

 

Meeting adjourned at 6pm

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

Sandy Poulson