Board members present were: Arnold Martin, Charles Schmidt, Anna Walther, Charles (Chuck) Hosler, Barbara Hull, Nell Anne Hunt, Jim Wells, and John De Marco. Committee chairs present were: Pat Andres and Fred Odell. Also present was: Allen Taylor, Deputy Chief of Area B.

Board members not present were: Esther Nachimson, Felix Fenter, Don McGee, Martin Kahn, and Linda Oliver.

Arnold called upon John to act as Secretary for the meeting. John noted that the minutes of the July meeting had been prepared by Esther in early July and forwarded to Arnold for review. However, inasmuch as Arnold was unaware of their whereabouts, the minutes of the July meeting had not been posted to the UH website. John offered to arrange to have the minutes resent to Arnold.

Prior to making the Treasurer’s Report, Chuck wrote checks in payment of two invoices; one to Jim Wells for computer equipment and the other to Barbara Hull for the Texas Blues Machine performance at the Spring Fling. Chuck also acknowledged receipt from Arnold of two checks for UHAOH membership dues.

Chuck distributed the UHAOH Balance Sheet and P &L Statement for July 31^st and remarked that there were no significant changes since the June reports. Charles commended Chuck on these reports and added how pleased he was to see their regular issue to the board for its monitoring of UHAOH’s financial condition.

John expressed thanks to Chuck for adding the Directory expense as a separate line item in the Special Events section of the P & L. This allows the board to assess both the one-time expense for the Directory publication as well as the on-going expenses for printing & reproduction incurred in the conduct of other UHAOH activities.

Chuck drew attention to the income amount year to date for advertising sold in the 2009 UH Directory of $1,550. This was about $400-500 less than the amount of ads. Chuck offered to help collect the amounts due. John noted that Marqueax Price-Black had coordinated the sale of these ads and sponsorships, but unfortunately could not attend today’s meeting. He will alert Marqueax to the apparent non-payments.

Chuck suggested that it was an opportune time to put together a "budget" for the balance of the year as there were several major expenditures being contemplated. He will prepare a draft for the next meeting which offer was gratefully accepted.

It was motioned to have the financial reports approved as rendered. The motion was seconded and it passed.

Nell Anne circulated a Real Estate Report showing active listings for homes in UH as well as completed sales in UH for year 2009.

Jim advised that he has encountered some problems in the operation of the Auto-Dialer System hence the absence of a telephone message notice for this meeting. It is not clear what might be the cause and the services of the software consultant may be required. Jim added that our period of free consultancy has expired so the next servicing will require an expenditure of funds. Jim will pursue this and report back before any major expense is incurred.

John remarked that the Lost & Found service that Jim is providing through the UHAOH email system is most beneficial to our residents.

Anna added that the email notice Jim sent around about the problem some residents were incurring with their cable service was most worthwhile. This prompted several other residents to include their experiences in the report to TWC such that TWC has now made some enhancements to the system.

Charles followed up on an advanced insecticide being used by the City of Irving for vector control. This had been mentioned at a previous Neighborhood Roundtable Meeting. Its name is Bio-Mist. While very effective, it is expensive and cannot be purchased at hardware or garden supply stores. Only professional Exterminators are allowed to dispense this chemical.

Charles advised he is submitting documentation to the City of Irving for the 2009 Community Grant that UHAOH was awarded. The funds ($1,000) were disbursed directly to the Great Flag Caper Program. This current paperwork, in which the volunteer hours expended and other details are recorded, will complete the process.

Charles asked that everyone give their thought to what our association might wish to propose as a project for the community grant for 2010.

Charles reported that the Albert Farine Elementary School had achieved an Exemplary rating. Under the new rules for the TAKS, it is not necessary that 90 % of the students achieve passing scores in all categories to be designated Exemplary. If it can be ascertained that the students will achieve this level within the next testing period, then the latter result applies. Charles noted that the volunteers sourced from three homeowner associations in Farine School’s surrounding area await a signal from the administration at Farine School as to when their offer of assistance will be accepted.

Respecting another topic from the Neighborhood Roundtable Meeting, Charles reported that the homeowner associations were offered help in their fund-raising through a $5 commission on the sale of season tickets to the Irving Community Concert performances. There was no interest from the UHAOH board.

Charles noted that TLCA had restored the operation of the fountain at the northern-most lake in Rochelle Park. Its control box has been elevated so that the problem caused by the high water level in early June will not recur. Arnold added that we should all take pleasure in the fountains that have been installed in the UH lakes as TLCA will not be placing any new fountains in service.

Charles brought everyone’s attention to the severe deterioration that has occurred over the years in more than several UH sign-toppers. The sign-toppers were installed in 2001 and had an estimated life of 5 years so they have served well. But there is need for rehabilitation and/or repair. In this connection Charles has established ground rules with The City of Irving Traffic Sign Department: The city will remove the sign-toppers and re-install them at no cost to us. But any repairs and/or refurbishing are for our account. No sign-topper can be installed at the corner of Rochelle & Northgate as that is a non-conforming location. (The sign toppers are to be placed only at the rear of stop signs.)

Charles obtained an estimate of $35 per sign for removal of the old logo and repainting the UH logo. The new materials have an estimated life of 9 years. (Jim Wells thought that he might have the CD-ROM with the UH logo.) The total number of sign toppers in UH was not known at this time but John thought it might be about 20. All agreed that the sign toppers ought to be repaired and returned to their original condition.

Arnold mentioned that he had 3 UH sign-toppers in his garage.

Charles made a motion to repair up to thirty UH sign-toppers at a cost of no more than $35 each. Anna seconded the motion and it passed.

Apropos discussions at the June board meeting, Charles reiterated the need for repainting of the curb numerals. Reports by the Deputy Chiefs from the three Areas were now available and these indicate that some 65-70 numerals were illegible or completely obscured. All agreed that this situation was not tolerable as the curb numerals are important to the safety and well being of our community.

John made a motion to expend no more than $1,000 for the repainting of these illegible curb numerals (65 at $15/house = $975) and to have this done soonest possible. Charles seconded the motion and it passed.

In the absence of Linda, Arnold noted that the recent receipt of some additional checks for membership dues might bring us close to 300 dues paid memberships for 2009.

Arnold initiated a discussion about National Night Out. It is to be held this year on October 6th which date is a concession to Texas as other parts of the USA celebrate NNO in August. Arnold passed along a Neighborhood Crime Watch pamphlet to Anna and asked that she coordinate a review by the Deputy Chiefs about whether or not UH ought to participate in NNO this year and, if so, the nature and extent of our participation.

Fred advised that an invoice from United Services had just arrived. It covers the supply of portable potties for this year’s Spring Fling and for last year’s Spring Fling as well. It seems the bill for last year’s event was over-looked. There were no other items to report about the Spring Fling.

Arnold asked Fred to be ready to assist with his organizational skills if an event were planned for NNO.

Nell Anne advised that this year’s 4^th of July Flag Display Program was an astounding success. Over 40, 000 flags were planted throughout the City of Irving by over 100 volunteers. The Great Flag Caper board of 19 members, several of whom are from UH, managed a budget of some $10,000 which funds were obtained by donations and there was a balance of $2,600 to be carried forward to next year. The display of flags on July 4^th was awesome and was especially appreciated by military families. The participation of residents in South Irving was also noteworthy. This increase may have been the result of efforts by the new South Irving HOA that was formed earlier this year.

Arnold mentioned that Nell Anne’s efforts in developing the 4^th of July Flag Display Program were recognized at the recent Keep Irving Beautiful fete where she was the recipient of local, state, and national awards.

Barbara outlined her plan for the Deck The Hills event to be held on the first Monday in December. She passed around photographs of two large lighting displays that we might acquire at a cost of about $900 each. She noted that, if the order is placed promptly, a 20 % discount applies which helps defray the cost of shipping.

Barbara suggested that a special feature of the event would be the turning on the switch to light all the displays. A child chosen by raffle would do the honors. All agreed this would have impact and would attract more families to come out to see the lighting ceremony.

In response to a question about the increased electric power needs for the new displays, Barbara said that some of the tree light windings can be reduced so that there will be no increase. She will be getting together with Steve, the electrician who had handled the installation of the lighting displays in previous years, to ascertain our requirements.

Chuck asked that Barbara provide a rough draft of the expenses for this event much as done by Fred for the Spring Fling. Because the bills for Deck The Hills event usually fall into two different years, it is difficult to assess the total expenditures.

Charles asked about the status of the President’s letter to be sent to UH residents which letter was discussed at the last meeting. Arnold acknowledged receipt of the draft prepared by John and thought that it might be sent out in October prior to the Annual Meeting held on the second Tuesday of November.

Charles suggested that the issue of the letter ought to be at least a month earlier as it will apprise homeowners of the 40 Year Home of Distinction Program for which judging is done in October. Arnold agreed to this earlier schedule and will proceed accordingly.

Pat Andres announced that the Yard of the Month for August is 3908 Cabeza de Vaca, the home of the Gabriel’s. A photo-op is scheduled there immediately after the meeting.

Arnold noted that the Annual Transportation & Infrastructure Summit will take place at the Omni Mandalay Hotel next week (August 11-14, 2009). This is the 12^th such conference to be held in Irving. Attendees are dignitaries from governmental, transportation, and civic organizations from around the world.

The next meeting of the Board of Directors is scheduled for Tuesday, September 1st, at the Las Colinas Country Club.

At the behest of the president it was motioned that the meeting be adjourned. The time was 12:58 PM.

Respectfully submitted,

John De Marco on behalf of the Secretary, Esther Nachimson,