Take good care of shopping carts—nthey won’t be replaced anytime soon | photo by Flo Hoylman | post by Larry Clinton
IN A ZOOM MEETING, THE FLOATING HOMES ASSOCIATION BOARD MET on july 14 FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE FEBRUARY. HERE ARE SOME OF THE ITEMS THAT WERE DISCUSSED OR DECIDED AT THAT BOARD MEETING:
Treasurer Teddie Hathaway introduced a revised 2020 budget with cuts previously approved by the Executive Committee. Without cuts, the FHA treasury would be depleted by 2022.
A small committee is being formed to explore ways other than private or public tours to increase income.
Membership co-chair Jill Sherman feels we should upgrade the FHA website to be more useful during this time of Covid. She recommended a more modern and user-friendly design.
Felicity Kirsch (Commodore) requested the support of individual Board members for our neighbors at Golden Gate Village in Marin City.
The Floating Times now has 282 subscribers. Larry Clinton expressed his thanks to everyone who has been contributing to this online newsletter. More articles and photos are welcome.
Membership Chairs Jill Sherman and Lisa McNelley are exploring how the FHA can build connections within our community, especially for emergency preparedness and home maintenance. They are putting a survey together and asked for guidance with various sections of questions. Eventually the survey will be emailed to everyone in the community. If we can identify those without email addresses, Jill and Lisa will attempt to have the surveys delivered to them in person.
Emergency Services Chair Flo Hoylman said we need to replace some medical supplies this year. The Board also approved Pete Hudson’s recommendation to buy masks and gloves to be kept in the disaster response trailer.
Flo discussed the need to be prepared for fire season and power shut-offs. Sausalito is creating evacuation maps with designated community refuge areas. She expects to provide the maps to all residents by the middle of August. Flo played a video of the new high/low siren system. If we hear this siren, we must evacuate immediately.
Flo will schedule a day for Firemaster to recharge or replace extinguishers.
Waldo Point Harbor purchased a generator to empty their main collector tank, morning and late afternoon, during a power outage. Once the collector tank is pumped out, residents with their own power can safely empty theirs. Peter will follow up with Ken Watsey to see whether Kappas is making similar plans. We need to find out who has auxiliary generators or solar power in their homes, and who plans to evacuate their holding tanks during an outage. These are good questions for the survey. Peter will also attempt to determine the capacity of the collector tanks at the end of each dock.
Peter plans to establish an FHA task force to assist those who need their tanks pumped. We need to send info to residents about how and when to do this. We have an action plan which Peter is updating. It will be sent to the sanitary district.
Environmental Chair Jennifer Gennari sent a written report confirming that the one-day statewide Coastal Cleanup event has officially been canceled, but they are encouraging local efforts (“Protect your happy place” is the slogan).This means no supplies, no data cards, no BBQ. As it is an event that usually involves people standing far apart, Jen could still organize it on 9/26 if there is interest. The Board will determine whether this can be done safely.
The Environmental Committee is exploring the feasibility of creating a solar structure with community-wide EV charging stations (most likely on the old railroad property parking lot by Bridgeway). Jen is also exploring the longer-term goal of building a microgrid to provide limited emergency power during power outages. (Note: A microgrid would provide enough energy to power cell phones and batteries; it would not keep refrigerators powered during an outage.) She is in an information-gathering phase.
The Board will resume monthly virtual meetings via Zoom as long as shelter-in-place measures remain in effect.
