HUNGERFORDS HALLOWEEN HUNT

 

 IT'S HUNT TIME!

We ended up with 24 homes hosting clues so it's time to begin the hunting! Return your completed sheet to me and get a coupon for a free frosty from Wendy's! You can email me at laurencbopp@gmail.com or catch up with me at the neighborhood Trunk Or Treat on the 30th.

There are two ways you can fill out the form:

1. Via the interactive Google Form on your phone (you can save progress and come back to it later as needed): https://forms.gle/iFs7x6e2PwRQ9w8XA
2. Print out the clue sheet and fill it out by hand: https://docs.google.com/.../1R1mM4rp7BTIGlwuPOxvn.../edit...

And here is a map of the participating homes and their clues!

https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/0/edit...

Have fun and remember, please respect your neighbors and their property by not trampling yards and touching the clues/decorations!

Congratulations to the new HCA Board of Directors:

President: Patti Westenberg

Vice President: Marissa Aflleje

Treasurer: Seth Kraft

Secretary: Rebecca Plante

Many thanks to the outgoing board members (Jeff Perkins, Jackie Lin and Lok Wong-Samson) for their service! We could not have been an active association without your guidance to reinstate with the city and State of Maryland.

Thanks as well to Tonia Luk and Lesley Worth for coordinating elections as the nominating committee and facilitating our first on line voting.

Looking forward to continued comradery and events!

Elections!

 We are overdue for elections and the Board is looking to recruit some new faces and blood! Our bylaws require elections every two years (typically the first meeting of the year.) We are off cycle due to COVID but would like to get on track; the goal is to hold elections in September.

Each position (President, VP, treasure and secretary) are term limited to two terms, unless there are no other candidates- our President, VP and Treasurer have all finished both two year terms and should have new candidates.  

• President: The President of the Association shall preside at all membership and Executive Committee meetings. He/she shall resolve all points of order and questions of procedure using Robert’s Rules of Order whenever practicable and may appoint a Parliamentarian to assist in their application. The President shall serve as spokesperson of the Association in any matters in which the Association wishes to announce a public position, or at any function at which the Association is to be represented by a spokesperson or delegate. The President may assign or delegate this responsibility, in his/her discretion, to any member of the Association. The President shall appoint Chairpersons of all standing Committees mentioned in Article VI of these By-laws and may establish special committees and appoint the Chairperson and members thereof. The President shall be ex-officio a member of all committees.

• Vice President: The Vice President shall exercise in the absence of the President all of the duties and powers of the President. In the event of the resignation, death or disqualification of the President, the Vice President shall serve as President of the Association for the unexpired term.

• Secretary: The Secretary shall keep the minutes of all meetings of the Association and of the Executive Committee and shall keep all necessary records of the Association. He /she is responsible for giving notice of membership meetings, minutes of meetings, and financial reports by posting on the official media.

• Treasurer: The Treasurer shall keep the financial records of the Association in accordance with state and federal requirements. He/she shall sign all checks, purchase orders, and the like, for expenses approved by the Executive Committee. If dues are charged, he/she shall collect and record the payments. He/she shall give a written report on the financial condition of the Association at each regular membership meeting, and at all Executive Committee meetings.

We would love to see some new faces get involved! Another way to get involved is to consider joining, starting, or chairing a committee (ie: gardening/landscaping, social, etc... whatever is interesting to you!) The only current active committee is the social committee chaired by Patti, but the more the better!

Most of the officers will be at the National Night Out if you would like to chat in person about what is involved. Email me if you are interested in running and for which position or any other questions.

New Social Media Guidelines

1. Mutual Respect 

Be respectful and kind. Keep an open mind for diverse opinions and lifestyles. Kindness is required for healthy debates. Be inclusive. All are welcome here.

2. No Hate Speech or Bullying 

 Bullying of any kind isn't allowed. Degrading comments about race, religion, culture, sexual orientation, gender or identity warrant removal from the group.

3. Respect Everyone's Privacy

Do not post private information (addresses, occupations, phone numbers, etc…) of others.

HCA Meeting Minutes 4/17

 4/17 2:30pm 

Tax Update- Jackie Lin

• History: previously small groups such as ours were not required to file annually with the IRS.  The law was changed several years ago.  The HCA became non-compliant and lost our good standing with Maryland and the IRS.  We are currently several years into the process of rectifying this situation, mainly so that we are able to apply for and accept grants.  
• HCA is now in good standing with the State of Maryland
• 1024A for 501c4 status has been submitted to the IRS, they subsequently closed the case.  An appeal for a reopening of the case under the previous filing fee ($600) has been filed given the HCA followed all instructions and the IRS is responsible for the lack of communication that led to the closure.  We are currently awaiting a response.  
• Question was asked, has our federal representative been involved?  Answer, we have not contacted them.  A resident who works on Capitol Hill offered to assist with this process.  

Social Events- Patti Westenberg 

• All events are indefinitely postponed due to COVID-19 restrictions.  There are no rentals from City facilities at this time.  
• On a typical year at a minimum there would be a Memorial Day Picnic and National Night Out gathering

Elwood Smith Update- Patti Westenberg 

• Playground has been delayed due to weather.  After each rain the ground must dry before additional work can be done.  
• The hope is to install new playground by mid-May with completion of project by the end of May.
• It was noted by a resident and a Nextdoor.com post that signage at ES is not consistent between English and Spanish.  Specifically, the English signage lists alcohol as allowed by permit, the Spanish language signage bans all alcohol.  We will contact the City and ask for parity.  (Rebecca Plante to contact) 

Social Media Policy- Jeff Perkins 

• The Yahoo group has migrated to google groups.  Only 54 members are on the new email list.  Keep an eye out for further information to sign up.  
• The Facebook group does not currently have a specific code of conduct.  Having a code of conduct is now standard practice for online groups.  There have been several discussions over the past few years that would have benefited from ground rules and moderation.  Going forward a code of conduct will be released and the Facebook group will be moderated.  The intent is to allow for robust neighborhood discussion while also maintaining an environment that feels safe for all neighbors.  
• Suggestion was made to model rules after the Buy Nothing groups given they are clear, comprehensive, and open source.  
• The HCA has generally taken the position that it exists to facilitate interaction with the City not necessarily to advocate for specific outcomes, especially given that there are often diverse viewpoints within the neighborhood.  If residents have specific interests or concerns the City is very open to discussion with residents.  Most meetings are open to the public.  There are open office hours each Monday.  If you have questions on how to interface with the City reach out to the BOD and we will assist you.  

Traffic and Transportation- Jeff Perkins, Rebecca Plante, Marc Plante 

• A petition was done by residents concerned about speeding on West Edmonston.  The petition asked that the City investigate speeding, it did not have specific requests.  It did acknowledge that speed bumps were not the preferred solution of the petitioners.  
• The City completed a speed study and held an open community forum.
• Study findings: the average speed has decreased each year a study has been done, there is not evidence West Edmonston is frequently used as a cut through street.  
• Current proposal: Painting of shoulder parking lanes from Curtis to Maxim (photos of similar examples within Rockville are available in the Powerpoint slides) and addition of crosswalks running parallel to West Edmonston (not across.)  They will reevaluate traffic after the measures have been implemented.  
• If you have concerns you may reach out to the City.  The Traffic and Transportation Committee meetings are open to the public (currently on Zoom) and are available on the City calendar.  https://www.rockvillemd.gov/calendar.aspx
• I270 expansion: if community members would like a community meeting from the SHA regarding this project it may be requested.  No interest was expressed by those in attendance.  
• WMATA Rockville Metro Station project process beginning.  Watch your email for further information if you wish to be involved.  This is envisioned to be a large project to connect East and West Rockville and to transition to a transportation hub, similar to the Silver Spring hub.  
• Resident question: request for City to investigate the rise of speeding on Wootton Parkway, the BOD will inquire
• Resident question: what is the status of the possible addition of a turn lane from West Edmonston onto Wootton Parkway.  This was studied and the request was denied. 
• Resident question: what is the status of the mini parks at West Edmonston and Wootton Pkwy that were promised as part of the Wootton Parkway Plan?  The BOD will inquire.  

Rockville 2040 Comprehensive Plan- Jeff Perkins 

• The plan is available to read.  The section on Hungerford is brief.  It specifically addresses six possible projects to include several relevant traffic projects regarding connecting Monroe Street with Tower Oaks Drive and New Mark Esplanade as well as Elwood Smith updates and monitoring traffic impact of BRES.  
• Further information here:  https://www.rockvillemd.gov/203/Rockville-2040-Comprehensive-Plan-Update

NEW BUSINESS 

Leslie Porter

• Noticed the trash cans in the parks are drainless and must be flipped to empty. This leads to water accumulation that becomes contaminated with garbage and animal waste.  This water then splashes the workers who empty the cans and contaminates the ground.  A request has been put in to install cans with lids to prevent this.  

Bill Dillinger

• Bylaws require new BOD elections every two years.  The HCA is currently three months overdue. 
• Response: anticipate elections in August.  Any community members interested in running for a position please contact the secretary (rebecca.plante@gmail.com) to be placed on the slate.  Further details to be released at a later date.  

How time flies when you are adjusting to the new way of life? It has been a long time since we've all been able to get together with the cancellation of our summer events. To try to maintain some of that community connection, the HCA will be putting on a Halloween scavenger hunt in October. Keep and eye out on Facebook and your emails for details to participate. If you want to help organize, please write the board and let us know. 

As for "business" efforts, the HCA put in the following projects for the upcoming Capital improvement planning. The board took all the input and tried to group efforts together. What we put in can be found at this link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LSwnUQzUUL7BfsE4ZsDr-6GhR3HbpygkfFI2zI0ggPs/edit?usp=sharing. We even had some people submit project plans to go along with the attached which were passed along to the city as well. Thank you for the responses.

PLEASE NOTE: this does not preclude you putting in similar or even the same projects privately (deadline is this Friday) if you feel we did not capture the essence of your desired improvements. We wanted to keep them more global and hope to engage with the city at future meetings to promote these. They also accept projects from individuals so don't feel you have to work through the HCA if you do not want to.

Lastly, there have been requests about temporarily extending the lighting hours at Dogwood Park to 11PM during COVID because of the need for outdoor activities and uncrowded times for the more vulnerable. If you have an objection and live near Dogwood, please let the board know along with your address so we can pass it along to the city.

Stay Safe, 

The HCA Board

Capital Improvement Feedback

 Hello All, 

The HCA has been a little quiet recently as we are unable to host our normal events. This week would have been our normal National Night Out get together in fact. Obviously, this was disappointing to cancel and we are looking forward to seeing everybody again once the situation improves.  

During this downtime, we have recently made some progress at the state level reestablishing some legal standing and are awaiting a response back from the IRS on tax status. We anticipate having all these formalities complete and be back operating in good standing shortly. This opens us up to be more active participants in the various city programs and grant processes. 

The timing couldn't be better. The city just reached out for input for their capital improvement plan - essentially a 5-year infrastructure plan. They would like information regarding the condition of our streets and parks, and help us plan new facilities or changes to existing infrastructure to meet the needs of our community. Specifically, they are interested in neighborhood proposals that are one-time construction projects and will benefit the community for more than 20 years. There is more information here, ww.rockvillemd.gov/budget.

As the neighborhood association, we can help with the process and are happy to advocate for ideas. We'd love some input for new ideas and feedback on existing ideas. Please submit your project ideas and feedback here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/9S5MNJB 

As always, we are also always trying to understand what the community would like and interest in the HCA or "Village" concept. We had an e-mail and post earlier this year soliciting input on that topic and would love more responses. The average time to complete for the first round of responses was 3 minutes, so if you have a few spare moments, please fill this one out as well:  https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2NXBJCN 

Look forward to hearing from you and stay safe!

The HCA Board