Eldorado at Santa Fe

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Minutes of the Information Committee, March 26, 2013

Present: Frank Schober (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Dag Ryen (Board Liaison), Marilyn Farrel (Staff Liaison), and Carol Leyba (Editor/Vistas)

Guidance from the Board, via Dag Ryen: Local developer Joe Miller has submitted preliminary plans for three new developments, all of which are likely to be approved by the County. One, called Cimarron Village, will be located between Amistad and the gas station on 285. It will include single-family housing as well as low-income housing. Dan has offered to write up a general description of what is being planned, with the notice that plans are available in the ECIA Office.

Minutes of February meeting were perused for follow-up on items discussed last month.

Marilyn found the guidelines for use of the marquee signs, "Draft Marquee Standard Operating Procedure," which she distributed to the committee. As they seem well written and appropriate, it was decided that she (MF) should forward a copy to the Board and ask that they be adopted formally, moving them out of the "draft" status.

Also, Frank asked that Bill Donohue be reminded to obtain the costs of installing a new marquee sign at the 3rd entrance. There was further discussion about signage in Eldorado and environs. Frank noted that the Community Center sign looks bent and worn, and suggested that the Facilities & Grounds Cmte consider replacing it. Perhaps they would also reconsider what it says, possibly adding "Eldorado Dog Park."

The monument sign at Amistad and 285 is still in poor condition. Apparently the sign was installed by AMREP and so is owned by ECIA, but is on land owned by Joe Miller and another landowner. ECIA would like to fix it, or remove it, but needs permission from the landowners. It's possible that ECIA could get some funds from Alteza and Belicia to help in its repair or removal.

There were some other minor corrections to the minutes, regarding the full name of ICIP, and other wording. Jack will take care of this.

No new information on the Chicken Lawsuit. A committee met earlier in the evening to discuss this issue, but nothing is yet known about that meeting. Dan suggested that the Board President be prepared to answer questions about the lawsuit at the Annual Meeting in May.

The ECIA Board has a new "civility policy" pending; it has been drafted but not yet accepted. The community should be advised that this policy is up for adoption--before the Board votes on it. Members may want to attend the meeting where this is discussed. Therefore, a notice about this should be posted on the ECIA website.

The ballots on the Bylaws Changes will be in the mail this Friday, March 29, along with the Annual Report and the April Vistas. The ballot does not have a copyright notice or a watermark, so it is possible that someone could send in a fraudulent ballot. However, because the proposed changes are not controversial, the likelihood of that occurrence is small.

Review of the website: Jack has added new links for PNM and the Gas Co. Mark Young asked that new links regarding green building be added as well, which has been done. "Eldorado 285 Recycles" has replaced "SERA" notices. Mark sent an article about trash can removal, which has been posted. Also posted are the bylaws changes. Jack has also made the suggested changes to the Wikipedia article about Eldorado (removing editorial comments by whoever posted the article). Frank wants to delete the picture of the yucca that accompanies the article. Jack will look for some better images to include.

May Vistas: Last year's May issue had articles about the dangers of wildfires; it was suggested that Don Dayton and Raven Hicks be asked to update their articles from last year. Frank offered to write an article on the Annual Meeting in May. This spring there will be a lot of rebuilding on the Community Center property--the tennis courts will be resurfaced and other projects will get underway. Before the work can begin, contracts must be signed with the contractors who will do the work. Once these are contracts are in hand, Dag will write an article about the reconstruction work.

May events that will be mentioned in this issue: Pool Opening, Flea Market (May 11), Garden Tour, Studio Tour, 4-evening workshop on energy by Robert Cameron.

Groundbreaking will be taking place on additions to the Senior Center and the Library. Carol will write to contacts at these organizations to ask for articles about this.

Dan will write the Recent Board Actions. Mark Young is moving his office and file cabinets into the Annex. This deserves some notice in Vistas.

We can expect submissions from Neighborhood Watch's Flora & Fauna Group and others, as usual. New Business: Marilyn brought information from a company called Liturgical Publications, Inc. (LPI)which publishes church newsletters and other community-oriented publications. These all carry local advertising. LPI has proposed that they print and distribute Vistas, to be paid for via advertising, which they would solicit and and handle. If ECIA were to accept this proposal, it would save $10-11K in printing alone, more with mailing costs--an attractive possibility. LPI's proposal also includes an offer to rebate to ECIA 30% of revenues over some basic amount. The Info Committee needs to review this proposal carefully; and Carol should discuss technical details with an LPI representative before coming to any conclusion or entering into any negotiations. This proposal is supported by a resident named Joe Lowie.

Marilyn brought freshly baked cookies; Frank brought organic chocolate candies from a local chocolatier. Many thanks for the goodies! Respectfully submitted, Carol Leyba

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Information Committee Meeting, February 26, 2013 Present: Frank Schober (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Dag Ryen (alternate Board Liaison), Marilyn Farrell (Staff Liaison), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer), Don Dayton, SuAnne Armstrong (visitor), and Claudia Daigle (visitor).

The agenda was reviewed and approved. Statements from visitors: SuAnne Armstrong, who is active with the Stables committee, came by to say hi and to thank the Info Committee for putting their sign about free manure on the ECIA's marquee. She said it was helpful for the timely removal of manure from the Stables. Frank noted that, in his opinion, it was put up for too long, making our community too identified with manure! Claudia Daigle: Stated she wants to become a member; and would like to discuss why SERA is listed on the ECIA website's list of community links. She feels it is inappropriate. Frank thanked her for her input, and said we would add her question to the agenda. As for her membership, our rules are that a person who wants to join a committee must attend 3 consecutive committee meetings and then be voted up or down by the Board. Frank assured her that we would follow that procedure.

Review of last month's minutes (primarily for purposes of followup): Dan tried to persuade member(s) of the F&G Committee to write an article on their projects, which spend a lot of ECIA funds. There were no offers from the committee members, but SuAnne Armstrong agreed to write an article, to be read and proofed by Dag Ryen, and then passed on to Vistas. Dan made the case that because F&G spends a lot of money, the Association needs to know what it is going for, and that information needs to be made available through our regular communication channels. There was some discussion about getting County funds for Eldorado roads and hike/bike path. Liz Stefanics has said she wants to spend $100K on Eldorado projects, but this is different from the list of county funding priorities on a document called an ICIP. Information on this may be useful for the website. Jack will coordinate with ?? [I missed this]; Frank will attend the upcoming meeting that will discuss these priorities. Jack's video on Eldorado is in development. At the end of the meeting, he will show a 4-minute draft of the work done so far. QR code: This is a scannable code that should be put on the Vistas; it was suggested that it be placed on the address page, under the return address, and that it should take the reader to our website.

THE MINUTES WERE APPROVED. Report from the Board / Dag Ryen: The story about the chicken lawsuit is prominently displayed on our website. Dag suggested that since this is now old information, it be made less prominent. Others suggested that, if there is updated information on this topic, it be added to the website; otherwise, the story can be placed in a less prominent position. Paul Jacobs and Jeanne Calzada are the Board members allowed to address issues about the lawsuit; Frank will contact Jeanne to see if the story needs to be updated. Discussion of the manure signs: Frank thinks that the manure signs are posted for too long, creating an embarrassment for ECIA. After some discussion, a motion was made and approved to ask the ECIA Staff to follow the guidelines outlined a while back regarding what was appropriate to post on the marquees. Within those guidelines was the idea that if there is nothing official going on that requires a sign, the space should be used to offer public safety, water conservation, and other similar notices. Marilyn said she'd never seen such guidelines; Frank and Dan said they could be redrafted if they couldn't be found. Website review: In reviewing the website, it was noted that the former "soccer field" is now called the "athletic field" as it is used now for other sports. Jack was asked to delete the photo of the former soccer field from the website. Also, the draft of the proposed new bylaws should be ready tomorrow, Feb. 27. Once the proposed text is available, Jack will post on the website. Also, the menu item called Budget Message 2012 needs a new title, as it is about the 2013 budget. Dan will work with Jack to fix this. Wikipedia: The committee looked over the article in Wikipedia about Eldorado. Jack pointed out two passages that need to be updated or deleted: one on water resources, the other about solar energy. Jack will delete the former and update the latter. Also, an update is needed in the Education section, as the school is now called El Dorado Community School, and it now covers elementary and middle school. ----

Discussion of April issue: Dan will write a short article with the wording of the proposed bylaw changes. He wills summarize the changes proposed and will send this to Jack for the website, to Carol for Vistas, and to Marilyn for the marquees (a terse version for the marquee). Frank made the point that the marquees could be used to direct people to our website for further information. Don mentioned that he had been asked by a resident to run an article about a program called Children Walking to School. This is a program aimed at getting parents comfortable with having their children walk to school rather than ride the bus or ride in their parents' car. Frank will find out if this program is sanctioned by the school and/ or the school district. Frank will cover the upcoming "Rock the Arts" event in April being put on by the school. SuAnne will write an article about the projects of the FAcilities & Grounds Cmte. A writer's group has recently formed. Marilyn has agreed to send the contact information for the group to Carol, who will contact them to ask if they'd like to put an announcement about their group in Vistas (or even to contribute other ideas to the newsletter). In reviewing last year's April issue, we realized that we had produced only a 2-page version, to be mailed with the Annual Report to all residents and members--something we overlooked in planning this year's April issue. After some discussion we decided to make this issue 4 pages rather than 8, and to have it ready to mail with the Annual Report, which is scheduled to mail on March 15. ---- Board/Committee Communication Dan D noted that Vistas carried no mention of an upcoming public forum on the proposed bylaw changes, scheduled for March 11. Unfortunately, the date of the forum was decided too late for inclusion in Vistas. However, it was decided that it would be appropriate for the Board to review their decisions in light of what needed to be announced in Vistas. Ed Moreno, ECIA President, happened to walk into the meeting during this discussion, and he thought it might be a good idea to include an agenda item at the end of the Board meetings, to review what items needed to be passed on to Vistas for dissemination. Dan D offered to be the person to whom such information could be passed; he could write up whatever needed to be said and pass it on to the Vistas editor and webmaster. Claudia's item re SERA: We looked at the link on our website and agreed that SERA has a political agenda, but that its subcommittee on recycling was an appropriate item to have a link. Jack will fix this, and will delete the SERA link, replacing it with an Eldorado 285 Recyles link. Marilyn will ask Raven to update his handy phone numbers list as needed. Marilyn reminded Carol that there will be an Earth Day event in April. Mark Young will write it up for Vistas. ----- Thanks to Marilyn and Frank for the sweets! Respectfully submitted, Carol Leyba

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Information Committee Meeting February 26, 2013 Present: Frank Schober (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Dag Ryen (alternate Board Liaison), Marilyn Farrell (Staff Liaison), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer), Don Dayton, SuAnne Armstrong (visitor), and Claudia Daigle (visitor). The agenda was reviewed and approved. Statements from visitors: SuAnne Armstrong, who is active with the Stables committee, came by to say hi and to thank the Info Committee for putting their sign about free manure on the ECIA's marquee. She said it was helpful for the timely removal of manure from the Stables. Frank noted that, in his opinion, it was put up for too long, making our community too identified with manure! Claudia Daigle: Stated she wants to become a member; and would like to discuss why SERA is listed on the ECIA website's list of community links. She feels it is inappropriate. Frank thanked her for her input, and said we would add her question to the agenda. As for her membership, our rules are that a person who wants to join a committee must attend 3 consecutive committee meetings and then be voted up or down by the Board. Frank assured her that we would follow that procedure. Review of last month's minutes (primarily for purposes of followup): Dan tried to persuade member(s) of the F&G Committee to write an article on their projects, which spend a lot of ECIA funds. There were no offers from the committee members, but SuAnne Armstrong agreed to write an article, to be read and proofed by Dag Ryen, and then passed on to Vistas. Dan made the case that because F&G spends a lot of money, the Association needs to know what it is going for, and that information needs to be made available through our regular communication channels. There was some discussion about getting County funds for Eldorado roads and hike/bike path. Liz Stefanics has said she wants to spend $100K on Eldorado projects, but this is different from the list of county funding priorities on a document called an ICIP. Information on this may be useful for the website. Jack will coordinate with ?? [I missed this]; Frank will attend the upcoming meeting that will discuss these priorities. Jack's video on Eldorado is in development. At the end of the meeting, he will show a 4-minute draft of the work done so far. QR code: This is a scannable code that should be put on the Vistas; it was suggested that it be placed on the address page, under the return address, and that it should take the reader to our website. THE MINUTES WERE APPROVED. Report from the Board / Dag Ryen: The story about the chicken lawsuit is prominently displayed on our website. Dag suggested that since this is now old information, it be made less prominent. Others suggested that, if there is updated information on this topic, it be added to the website; otherwise, the story can be placed in a less prominent position. Paul Jacobs and Jeanne Calzada have been apointed by the Board to represent the Board in discussions with thet attorneys. Frank will contact Jeanne to see if the story needs to be updated. Discussion of the manure signs: Frank thinks that the manure signs are posted for too long, creating an embarrassment for ECIA. After some discussion, a motion was made and approved to ask the ECIA Staff to follow the guidelines outlined a while back regarding what was appropriate to post on the marquees. Within those guidelines was the idea that if there is nothing official going on that requires a sign, the space should be used to offer public safety, water conservation, and other similar notices. Marilyn said she'd never seen such guidelines; Frank and Dan said they could be redrafted if they couldn't be found. Website review: In reviewing the website, it was noted that the former "soccer field" is now called the "athletic field" as it is used now for other sports. Jack was asked to delete the photo of the former soccer field from the website. Also, the draft of the proposed new bylaws should be ready tomorrow, Feb. 27. Once the proposed text is available, Jack will post on the website. Also, the menu item called Budget Message 2012 needs a new title, as it is about the 2013 budget. Dan will work with Jack to fix this. Wikipedia: The committee looked over the article in Wikipedia about Eldorado. Jack pointed out two passages that need to be updated or deleted: one on water resources, the other about solar energy. Jack will delete the former and update the latter. Also, an update is needed in the Education section, as the school is now called El Dorado Community School, and it now covers elementary and middle school. ---- Discussion of April issue: Dan will write a short article with the wording of the proposed bylaw changes. He wills summarize the changes proposed and will send this to Jack for the website, to Carol for Vistas, and to Marilyn for the marquees (a terse version for the marquee). Frank made the point that the marquees could be used to direct people to our website for further information. Don mentioned that he had been asked by a resident to run an article about a program called Children Walking to School. This is a program aimed at getting parents comfortable with having their children walk to school rather than ride the bus or ride in their parents' car. Frank will find out if this program is sanctioned by the school and/ or the school district. Frank will cover the upcoming "Rock the Arts" event in April being put on by the school. SuAnne will write an article about the projects of the FAcilities & Grounds Cmte. A writer's group has recently formed. Marilyn has agreed to send the contact information for the group to Carol, who will contact them to ask if they'd like to put an announcement about their group in Vistas (or even to contribute other ideas to the newsletter). In reviewing last year's April issue, we realized that we had produced only a 2-page version, to be mailed with the Annual Report to all residents and members--something we overlooked in planning this year's April issue. After some discussion we decided to make this issue 4 pages rather than 8, and to have it ready to mail with the Annual Report, which is scheduled to mail on March 15. ---- Board/Committee Communication Dan D noted that Vistas carried no mention of an upcoming public forum on the proposed bylaw changes, scheduled for March 11. Unfortunately, the date of the forum was decided too late for inclusion in Vistas. However, it was decided that it would be appropriate for the Board to review their decisions in light of what needed to be announced in Vistas. Ed Moreno, ECIA President, happened to walk into the meeting during this discussion, and he thought it might be a good idea to include an agenda item at the end of the Board meetings, to review what items needed to be passed on to Vistas for dissemination. Dan D offered to be the person to whom such information could be passed; he could write up whatever needed to be said and pass it on to the Vistas editor and webmaster. Claudia's item re SERA: We looked at the link on our website and agreed that SERA has a political agenda, but that its subcommittee on recycling was an appropriate item to have a link. Jack will fix this, and will delete the SERA link, replacing it with an Eldorado 285 Recyles link. Marilyn will ask Raven to update his handy phone numbers list as needed. Marilyn reminded Carol that there will be an Earth Day event in April. Mark Young will write it up for Vistas. ----- Thanks to Marilyn and Frank for the sweets! Respectfully submitted, Carol Leyba

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Information Committee Meeting

 January 22, 2013

Present: Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Paul Jacobs (Board Liaison), Dag
Ryen (Board Liaison alternate), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Carol Leyba
(Editor/Designer, Vistas), Bill Donohue (General Manager), Frank
Schober, Don Dayton, and (guest) Claudia Daigle.

Dan Drobnis, as Acting Chair, called the meeting to order, and read
the agenda. The agenda was approved.

Because of the resignation of our previous Chair, Dan asked for
nominations to fill the open position. Frank Schober was nominated
and seconded, and subsequently elected Chair.

The committee reviewed the minutes from the last meeting, in order to
ensure that items we intended to act on or discuss had been
appropriately attended to.

In doing so, the following issues arose:
We had asked that Jack task members of the committee with reviewing
articles and links on our website. Bill Donohue offered staff time to
check all the exterior links listed on the right side of the home
page. Jack noted that he reviews the articles every couple of weeks
for staleness and deletes those that are no longer current.

Paul mentioned that the article "SERA Recycles" should be changed
because the group's name is now Eldorado 285 Recycles.

Paul mentioned that he had encouraged other Board members to remind
their committees to send articles and current information to our
committee for inclusion in Vistas or the website.

Carol needs to remind committee chairs to submit articles, when she
reminds all regular contributors to do so.

The F&G Committee will have major projects coming up this spring,
which should be reported on.

In reviewing the issue of the "privacy statement" suggested by
Claudia last month, it was decided to include a copyright notice in
both the Vistas and the website.

Review of the February issue. Nods all around.

Board liaison report: Paul raised the issue of Vistas' editorial
policy, which was under review by the Board. They suggested some
alternative wording, which the committee discussed. Dag suggested
that the "excluded" items be described simply as "anything that is
inflammatory, biased, or inappropriate," which would leave a lot of
discretion to the editor. Also, the statement should advise
contributors to: "Please include full name and contact information."
The revised policy statement will be included in the March issue:
"Vistas invites ideas, stories, photos, and art from the community at
large. Please include full name and contact information. The
newsletter will not publish material deemed inflammatory, biased, or
inappropriate. Submissions will be selected and edited at the
discretion of the editor. Community announcements are welcome;
accompanying photos are welcome, too.

A question was raised about including the "full resolution" of the
chicken issue in Vistas. The January issue had the statement, under
Recent Board Actions, that "A resolution was adopted to end any Board
discussion of possible Architectural Guidelines regarding hens as
pets." Paul will check with Ed to see if we need to include anything
further, or to make the full resolution available at the office.

Review of ECIA website:
Frank asked Jack how often the photos are changed on the home page.
Jack said he changes them periodically, but would do so more often if
more photos were submitted. Both Vistas and the website should have a
notice soliciting photos for the website.

Re website security. Jack has undertaken several measures to provide
greater security for the site. The most vulnerable aspect of Joomla
sites is the administrator log-in, so Jack has made it impossible for
a hacker to get in through that door. He has also made changes in the
privileges, thus closing "back door" access. And he has also updated
some plugins which also makes the site more secure. Finally, Jack
noted that he backs up the database and the entire site once a month.

Jack discussed the video he'd like to produce on the charms of
Eldorado. He has prepared a storyboard, which was well received by
the committee. He would like the video to set a mood, to show why
living in Eldorado is cool, covering the community history,
background, amenities, and the like. Committee members also suggested
covering the night skies, the special interest meetings listed in the
Vistas monthly calendar, the doggie pool day, and the Anasazi
archaeological site. Jack would post the final video on YouTube and
on our site. He would like to use photos and videos provided by
members of the community. Both Vistas and the website should include
a solicitation notice for material he could use in the video. The
committee gave Jack the go-ahead to proceed with making the video.

Makeup of the March 2013 issue.
Articles discussed and promised for the March issue are:
1. Homeowner responsibility in water line maintenance, in light of
the expected water shortage this coming year, by Don Dayton. This
would make a good page 1 story.
2. A vote on changes in the ECIA bylaws, by Ed Moreno or Jan
Pietrzak. This article should discuss the major changes and the
reasons for them, but not the entire text of changes. A final vote on
the bylaw changes will be taken in the annual meeting in May. 400-450
words.
3. The upcoming season at the Community Garden, by Marilynn Jacobs
(with a photo for the back page).
4. Something on the El Dorado Community School (what's new there,
what's the current enrollment, what new technologies are available;
do they have student writers who would like to contribute to Vistas,
etc.), by Frank.
5. Runover from Nolan Zisman's article in February (on ECIA members
making their voices heard).
6. A box on the Assessments coming due on March 15, by Dan.
7. Maybe a bird article by Pam Henline (there may not be room, but it
would be good to have, as Dan said, "a bird in the hand.")
8. Small article on the requirements to get a pool pass, by ECIA staff.
9. Possibly an update from Facilities and Grounds on upcoming
projects. Dag will talk to Jean Crawford, Chair of that committee,
about providing such an article.
10. We discussed the possibility of including an article about the
resolution of the embezzlement of ECIA funds a few years ago, which
is working its way through the courts. It was decided to have a very
brief article about it once the defendants are through all their
hearings, etc. That is, consideration of this article is postponed.

Annual Report
The Annual Report will be mailed to members at the end of March, but
work on it has begun. Frank, as the new Chair of our committee, is
responsible for drafting the Information Committee's contribution to
that report (to include mission, accomplishments in 2012, and goals
for 2013). Carol will also need some fresh photos, which she asked
Jack to provide (for the cover, back cover, and a few small ones in
body of the report).

Frank brought See's candy--yay! Thanks, Frank!

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba
 

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Information Committee Minutes,

Dec. 18, 7-8:45 pm

Present: Jim Daniel (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer), Frank Schober, Don Dayton, Paul Jacobs (Board Liaison), Dag Ryen (Board Liaison Alternate), and guest Claudia Daigle.

Jim made the announcement that Cheryl Ford-Mente has resigned from our committee.
New assignments for Board Liaison have been made, with the appointment of new Board members: Paul Jacobs is our regular liaison, and Dag Ryen will be the alternate. Dag attended our meeting for the first time.

Discussion of inclusion of non-ECIA-affiliated logos within Vistas: The January issue included a logo for the Green Cafe, which highlighted the group's upcoming public discussion of the possibility of having water from the Buckman diversion pumped through Eldorado. The use of logos such as this are carefully considered for appropriateness, but will be included if there seems to be no controversy attached to it.

Claudia Daigle attended as a guest but arrived late, thus missing the opportunity to speak during the open forum portion of the meeting. When she asked a question relating to our discussion, the Chair did not recognize her, as she was out of order according to our rules. Dan Drobnis took issue with this ruling and left the meeting.

Jack Arnold, our webmaster, was absent on account of illness, so we were unable to review the progress he's made toward increasing the security of our website. For the record, though, he had sent the group an email outlining his efforts:

> Here is what I have done on the site since last meeting:
>
>
> Added graphics to the articles (still need access to the Eldorado clip art subscription)
> Changed appearance of article headings
> Repaired the calendar, which had decided to quit working after 12/2012
> Updated Covenants Compliance and put an article link on the front page.
> Updated other articles, as listed in last month’s minutes
> Photograph the Board and add photo to the contact page
> Work on site security, including a meeting with Elan, which was very helpful. Currently I back up the entire site plus database once a month. I have also updated certain components in order to improve security.

We had some discussion of the usefulness of assigning web pages for each of our committee members to review on a regular basis, checking for broken links, outdated material, etc. It was decided that this was a good idea but would only work if Jack makes explicit assignments and reminds members of their commitment to follow up.

We had some discussion about requesting greater input into Vistas by ECIA committee chairs. Some committees report to us regularly, others don't. Paul said he would encourage the Board members to speak to the committees to which they serve as liaisons, asking for regular reporting to Vistas.

There was a discussion of the editorial policy as stated on page 2 of Vistas. Carol had been asked to edit the statement as it currently reads, which she did. But Bill Donohue asked that we delay publishing the new policy wording until the Board had a chance to review it. Carol left the earlier policy intact for the January issue, and gave Paul a draft of the new one, which he said he would take up with the Board.

Claudia was recognized to discuss a "privacy statement" which she feels is needed for the website. She said that the local (non-ECIA) Eldorado website routinely takes materials from ECIA, such as copies of the election ballot, and runs them on on their site. She feels that a privacy statement, such as the one that EAWSD uses on its website, would be appropriate for the ECIA website. We had some discussion of copyright law, thanks to the expertise of our new member, Dag, who has decades of experience in magazine publishing. He explained that any materials that are public documents, such as a ballot, are not protected by copyright, and that anything that is published is automatically copyrighted material and may not be reprinted or duplicated except by permission of the copyright holder, except in "fair use", which is limited in length and to purposes of commentary, news reporting, research, teaching, scholarship, and the like. Our question is, do we want to "police" the local Eldorado website for its use of ECIA materials. Not really. But if something problematic crops up on that site, a letter calling for them to desist would probably suffice. In any event, it was agreed that we should look at the EAWSD privacy statement and see how it may be adapted for our use on the ECIA website.

We had a discussion of the community announcements: what is permissible to include that is non-ECIA related. To summarize, and make a long discussion short, it was decided that the editor would make that determination based on a list of priorities that the committee drafted earlier this year. In general, commercial activities are not appropriate, though in some cases free seminars or workshops that may be deemed of general community interest but may result in commercial activity following the event, may be run, space permitting. When Marilyn receives a request to run an announcement in Vistas, she should forward that to Carol rather than to the entire committee.

Makeup of the February 2013 issue:
There will be no Board election this year because no elected Board members' terms expire this year. All but two of the Board members were appointed rather than elected, which makes the timing of their terms of service problematic, as the ECIA bylaws do not specify how to deal with terms under this situation. At the same time, a committee is at work drafting a revision of the bylaws. The draft is not completed, but when it is, it will be presented to the ECIA members for approval. Frank has agreed to write an article covering both the Board election process and the revision of the bylaws, in concert with Jan Pietrzak and Ed Moreno.

It was suggested that Joe Eigner of Eldorado Recycles may have something of interest to report on. Carol will contact him.

SPEC is working on updating the ECIA Master Plan, to ensure it is in accordance with the County's plans. Steve Rudnick is the new chair of SPEC. Paul will encourage that committee to report on their work.

Don offered to write an article about the demographics of Eldorado, based on the US Census data and some digest of that data that appears in Wikipedia.

Jim Daniel offered to write to school principal Anne Darnton to see what is new over at the school. If that is not fruitful, he will contact the Library to see if they are ready to report on their plans for expansion.

Jim also agreed to change the picture that accompanies the article about Eldorado that appears in Wikipedia.

We would also like to receive the usual Board Actions from Dan Drobnis, and we expect articles from the Senior Center, Neighborhood Watch, and from Mark Young.

Jack Arnold has already submitted a new photo of the new Board of Directors, for the back page.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45.

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba

____________________________________________________________

Informationa Committee

November 20, 2012I

Present: Dan Drobnis (acting chair in absence of Chair Jim Daniels, who was not present), Jack Arnold (webmaster), Marilyn Farrell (ECIA staff liaison), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer), Paul Jacobs (ECIA Board liaison), Frank Schober, Don Dayton, Cheryl Ford-Mente, Ed Moreno (ECIA Board President, alternate ECIA liaison), Jan Pietrzak (new Board member), and guest Claudia Daigle.

We discussed the policy on displaying logos on the website. As directed by the Board, we may do so as long as the organization provides a service to the community and does not represent a political or religious organization. This is now our official policy.

Review of December issue:

Review of website, item by item:

Each article posted was reviewed for continued relevance.

Is the burn ban extant?

The SERA article should be rewritten

Code of the West? Retain

County Improvement District: Delete

Volunteers needed for Fire Dept: Retain but delete the date

[Delete all the dates on the articles.]

The question of "freshness" of the site was addressed: Carol suggested adding more graphics to the stories; the ECIA has a subscription to clipart.com to help in that area. Additional photos are needed to keep the site fresh; committee members were solicited to send in any photos they have that would be relevant.

Carol will send jack login information for ECIA’s clipart site subscription.

Jack will reformat article headings to make them more attractive.

Jack discussed the search terms that users enter to find our website: Eldorado at Santa Fe, ECIA, and other variants of those terms were common.

Planning of next issue:

Don Dayton proposed using an "Article Status Record" form to document the stories agreed upon by the committee each month. Rather than use a form per se, this information will appear in these minutes. The following articles were agreed to. Articles should be submitted by December 5 unless a specific deadline extension was given during the meeting.

1. Completion of Trail 105, by Jim Daniels

2. Summary of important items in the new budget, by Dan Drobnis

3. Library construction activity and media upgrades, by Cheryl Ford-Mente

4. No More House Checks by ECIA Security, by Dan Drobnis

5. Summary of County Improvements and Impact on Eldorado from the Bond Issues just passed, by Don Dayton (front-page article)

6. New Board members (Jan Pietrzak and another to be named by Dec. 10), by Paul Jacobs (deadline extension to Dec. 12--half-page space to be reserved for this).

7. Back page: Photo of ECIA staff; caption to include job titles; photo due by Dec. 13.

8. Story on rep. Easley (Ed Moreno)

Review of Committee policies:

A discussion was held about the new policy requiring that committee members have the opportunity to review a final draft of Vistas one day before it goes to the printer. Recipients of the final draft will have only 24 to request a change. If a new article is inserted at the last minute, or if there are content changes inserted after the first proof copy, the authors of the articles affected will be notified in time to request a correction before the issue goes to press.

Review of the policy regarding letters to the editor and opinion pieces:

Dan suggested that letters to the editor be published only on the website, not in Vistas. These letters should not contain anything inflammatory, political, or religious. It was suggested that a subcommittee be formed to review any such submissions--to consist of Jack Arnold, Carol Leyba, a Board member, and another committee member (probably the chair, Jim Daniel). This subcommittee will be in charge of deciding which opinion pieces and letters will get posted, and will do any editing required.

Ed said he thought an important issue is timeliness, and posting on the website would address that. He was also interested in maintaining fairness in the airing of issues.

Frank said his concern was appropriateness.

Paul Jacobs wants to make sure that there is a balance in the information presented

To this end, the committee needs to draft some new guidelines for what we would be willing to post online, in a new web page. Frank will take a stab at a first draft of the guidelines.

Because Vistas has a long-standing editorial policy about this topic, we need to have a new published policy to account for the change. Carol will write a first draft of this. Both drafts will be discussed at a later meeting.

Jack will plan to create a new web page for these letters to the editor.

Claudia Daigle asked that the ECIA create a telephone directory of residents. Apparently this was possible in the past, but in today's climate, people don't want their phone numbers listed in directories. Marilyn gave some examples of this. The consensus was that this was not a viable option.

Claudia also remade her case that ECIA publish the news that the enforcement of the chicken ban is now back in place, as a result of the subdivision-wide election on the issue. Dan reiterated the position discussed at the beginning of the meeting--namely, that the committee had already decided not to publish this information as it is already in the Board minutes.

Thanks to Frank and Marilyn for bringing goodies.

Respectfully submitted by Jack Arnold and Carol Leyba

____________________________________________________________________________________________

Information Committee

October 23, 2012

Present: Jim Daniel (chair) Don Dayton, Frank Schober, Cheryl Ford-Mente, Jack Arnold, Marilyn Farrell, Paul Jacobs, Ed Moreno

The minutes of the September meeting were approved.

The Board of Directors in their last meeting approved the election of Cheryl Ford-Mente to the information committee. Marilyn noted that in our May meeting minutes it states that “Because Frank has been elected to the ECIA Board, he's no longer
serving on the Information Committee”. Therefore we decided to reelect him to the committee to make sure there was no question of his membership. There was a unanimous vote to reinstate his membership and to waive the three meeting rule. The nomination was passed on to the Board of Directors.

Jim announced he will not be able to attend November 20^th meeting and Dan will chair it.

Jack presented some statistics on the usage of our web site. The access is quite good and has been consistently at or above 1500 unique visitors per month for this year, which compares to 234 when the new site was first established in January 2011.  Jack was asked to determine how many of these are from the local area. Jack will write a brief article describing these statistics for the Vistas.

Frank made a suggestion that we use the bar code-like QR code to link Vistas articles to the website. This may be particularly useful in the situation where an article is continued on the website due to space considerations. Jack said that he was able to generate these codes.

Jim asked Ed and Paul whether the Board has discussed the logos issue. Ed was of the opinion that we were free to set a policy on this issue. Jim suggested “that the Vistas and the Website may display logos of organization with a substantial positive presence in the Eldorado community”. This policy can be discussed further and an edited version adopted at a future meeting.

Jim brought up the issue of providing information to the members of Eldorado more rapidly than we have been able up to now. He suggested asking residents to signup for information bulletins by providing the Committee with their email addresses. He said we would reassure residents that their privacy would be maintained. Jack described a system that could handle this that was similar to that used by La Tienda. He could have residents subscribe to this service by signing up on the website. This system would have an advantage over Facebook or our website in that it would be passive, i.e. it would not require the user to visit a web page. The information bulletin could be tied a more detailed message on our website. This type of system might be very useful in emergencies where rapid dissemination of information is essential. Jim said that he would write a Vistas article that would tie into Jack’s website item. Jack will discuss this with Raven Hicks who has been working on something along these lines. All information of this sort will be filtered through the whole information committee and Ed and Paul prior to publication.

We discussed a request from the EHPOA that we reinstate a web posting announcing a organizational meeting on Nov 29^th. The consensus was that this was unnecessary since we have already announced this twice in the Vistas and once by Marilyn on the schedule of events.

It was proposed at the meeting that the Nov. issue include "the results of the County Bond Issues vote in the election". Don agreed to write it and will try to include comments from Commissioner Stefonics

Dan told Jim by email that he would write the summary of Board actions as usual.

Mention was made of a possible article on the budget initiatives to be proposed by the Finance Committee.

Cheryl will write a short article attempting to encourage interested participants to become members of all of ECIA committees. A new head for conservation is particularly pressing since John Parker wishes to step down as chair.

Frank said that he would write an article on the fact that “Jack Arnold won Best of Show on Friday at this year’s Common Ground art exhibit”. Jack said he would email an appropriate accompanying photo to Frank

Marilyn will write "Peter Pan" article for Eldorado Theatre for Children and Teens.

Marilyn said that we should ask Mark Young to summarize the activities of the architectural committee on a regular basis. After discussion it was decided that a year-end summary in January or February would be suitable.

Don has prepared an article and survey on the newly renovated hike/bike trails. Since they are no longer asphalt there may be some concerns about them. He will contact Ed to find out what the Board wishes to be included in this survey.

Several committee members were concerned that we do not see the final edited draft of each month’s Vistas prior to printing. Thus Carol is requested to supply this draft every month and allow one day for final comments.

Respectfully submitted

Jim Daniel

_______________________________________________________

Information Committee Minutes, Sept. 26, 2012 Present: Jim Daniel (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer), Don Dayton, Cheryl Mente, Frank Schober, and guest Claudia Daigle.

Absent were our regular staff liaison and a Board liaison.

In keeping with the committee's policies on guests--they are given 5 minutes to state their case, after which they may observe but not participate in committee business--Claudia Daigle was given the floor. She came because she wanted to announce her new organization, Eldorado Home and Property Owners Association, and see to it that it gets coverage in Vistas and on the ECIA website. She handed out a brief article on the organization and explained that this would essentially replace an earlier group, Eldorado Residents Association (ERA), which disbanded some time back. The committee reviewed Claudia's article, and except for a few words which could easily be edited out, found it to be suitable for Vistas.

Claudia also had an issue with the ECIA's Welcome Packet: she objected to it being distributed to renters, thinking it should be available only to lot owners. Accordingly, she had drafted a separate packet for renters. We had a short discussion about why the Welcome Packet was sent to renters--because renters commit a lot of covenant violations and could claim they didn't know we had covenants--but in the end, Jim informed Claudia that this was something for the Board to decide, not the Information Committee.

Dan Drobnis made an objection that no Board liaison was present. (Our regular liaison, Paul Jacobs, and our alternate, Ed Moreno, had both let us know via email that they would be unable to attend this meeting.) In an earlier meeting, Dan had stated that he felt we should adjourn if no Board representative was present.

The committee approved last month's minutes.

Dan D., after making a commitment to write the Board Actions and a short piece on the result of the Covenant Vote for the November issue, left the meeting, in keeping with his statement about the absence of a Board member (above).

Don Dayton pointed out an error in his front-page article in the October issue, related to the project expenditures for the Senior Center and Community Center. These changes were made by Carol (Editor) after he submitted his article. A correction will be issued in the November issue.

Re Facebook: Ed Moreno had asked Jim about the ECIA having a Facebook page. We had a short discussion about what this would entail. Jack ascertained that it was possible to block comments and photos from such a page, which were a concern of the committee members (the committee does not want to be liable or responsible for comments or other postings by the public on an ECIA page). After further discussion, there was general consensus that, Facebook being a selective kind of outreach (to Facebook subscribers only), this was probably not anything we should pursue.

Re updates on the website: Occasionally Jack is asked by a Board member to post an item on the website, without channeling the request through the Info Committee. The committee would like to clarify with the Board what the chain of command is. Frank made the statement that the Board sets policy, but the committee undertakes operations, which includes determining what items to include in our outlets at what time. This is a topic that needs to be settled between the Board and the committee.

In a review of the website, Claudia noted that there was some dated material regarding the survey and forum on chickens. Everyone agreed that this was stale information and should be deleted from the website.

Claudia had written a lengthy note to Jim about a variety of her concerns affecting Vistas and the website. The one issue that Jim felt was appropriate to take up by the committee was whether it was appropriate to cover stories from La Tienda, since the shopping center has its own newsletter and Vistas is paid for by homeowners and should, in Claudia's view, stick to ECIA business. Cheryl stated that in her view, information on local businesses is good for everyone--the residents as well as the businesses; coverage of their activities helps them succeed, which is positive for residents. Frank asserted that information on the community is helpful to draw readers to the Vistas, making the ECIA information more likely to be read. Claudia was asked why she objected to covering La Tienda. The answer: She wanted to make sure there would be room in Vistas to cover news of her new organization. We assured her that we would cover news of events being held by the EHPOA.

November Vistas: Frank was asked to write a short piece on the upcoming national and state election, to inform about polling place changes and any other administrative issues. We have an article on Kitchen Angels, which we will run. Mark has submitted an article on holiday lighting. Ed will write about the Covenant vote. This should go on the front page.

The back page will cover Jack's Best of Show award for photography (Frank will write). Don will write an article or draft a survey regarding the resurfacing of the hike/bike trails, portions of which now are covered by base course rather than asphalt. Don should check in with Mark before finalizing this. Is there anything to write about the delay in completing the new Preserve trail?Jim will check into this.

Don was asked to think about doing an article that pertains to the change in seasons. Nothing concrete was decided here. We discussed the use of goats for weed control. Some people are against this practice, but there are no acceptable alternatives. No article has been planned on this.

On the way out of the meeting, it was noted that Board Director Pat Lavengood is leaving Eldorado. Don has offered to write a thank-you and farewell to/for Pat. Perhaps the ECIA should have some kind of celebration for her contributions to the community.

At the end of the meeting, we found a pile of material that Marilyn Farrell left for us to see, as she couldn't be present. This included a sign for the Dog Park, which will be included in the November issue. She also had information on an upcoming art show at the La Tienda Exhibit Space, and some updates for the November calendar, including the time and date of Claudia's organization's first meeting. These will be included in Vistas. Jim brought brownies. Thanks, Jim!

Respectfully submitted, Carol Leyba _____________________________________________________

Information Committee Minutes August 21, 2012

Present: Jim Daniel (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice Chair), Paul Jacobs (new Board Liaison), Ed Moreno (Board Alternate Liaison), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer), Don Dayton, and Cheryl Mente

An announcement of the new Board Members was made: the two new directors are Nolan Zisman (who will be resigning from his role as Chair of the Roads Committee) and Paul Jacobs. As our first order of business, Cheryl Mente, who has now attended three Information Committee meetings, was voted in as a committee member. This now goes to the ECIA Board for approval. Since we had two Board members present--including new Board member Paul Jacobs, who has become our committee's Board Liaison--Jim asked if the Board had decided about:

a. Letting our paid staff--Jack Arnold, Carol Leyba, and Marilyn Farrell--vote on committee matters, as long as they don't involve salary considerations.

b. Our new, more cautious practice related to running non-ECIA logos in Vistas and on the website. Jim had written a memo to the Board asking for their guidelines. Ed indicated that he thought we were fine on both accounts, but he would make sure the Board would give these items their consideration.

A question arose from a member of the community about Elan Colello's credit line which has appeared on the footer of the ECIA website. Apparently Elan recently inserted this himself. It was decided that there was no problem with Elan's credit line, as he did the work as stated, but that his insertion of it indicates a security problem with the website. Our webmaster, Jack Arnold, should take the necessary steps to tighten security to block access from the outside. A question also arose from a member of the community about the choice of photographs on our website. It was quickly decided that Jack Arnold has authority on this matter (with input from our committee); this is not something to be decided or influenced by community members.

Jim distributed to the committee a draft of a survey for Eldorado Home Buyers, prepared by Nolan Zisman. The idea is to include this survey in the Welcome Packet that gets sent to all new homeowners. The survey asks new home buyers their reasons for buying in Eldorado (with a list of possibilities to be ranked). In this way, ECIA can gather timely, updated information on the priorities of our community. The committee thought it was a good idea; some minor additions and changes need to be made before it is ready to go, but the feedback was all positive. We had a quick review of our policy regarding what announcements are permissible in Vistas.

Jim has drafted a memo listing the priority rankings of different kinds of announcements, priorities that Carol should follow in making decisions about what to include or exclude. This document is helpful in cases that may be borderline appropriate. This brought up a discussion of an item in the September issue related to the upcoming bond issue in the general election. Because the committee steers clear of political issues, we discussed how we might handle coverage of the bond issues related to Eldorado. Frank Schober had noted in a September article that Fire Chief Tapke would make his case for supporting the bond issue that will help fund the Fire Department. We decided that we should have a fact-filled article about the bond issues, into which we could include a quote or other useful information from Chief Tapke, if he submits it. Other potential beneficiaries of the bonds to be voted on include the library, the senior center, roads, and water pipelines. Don Dayton will prepare the basic information for the October issue. Other articles for the October issue: Jim will write an article about the Boy Scouts and their trail work. Ed will write an article about the upcoming Covenant vote (to allow chickens or to ban chickens from Eldorado backyards). The timing of this is important, as Vistas usually comes out at the beginning of the month, and the Covenant Vote will be over, or almost over, by then. Without taking sides, Ed will write a get-out-the-vote piece, and we will try to publish the issue a little early. It would be beneficial if the vote could stay open until October 5, allowing homeowners time to vote, and time to be reminded (via Vistas) to vote. The language of the ballot issue will be finalized this week by the ad hoc committee for the Board. Dan will write up the Board Actions.

Cheryl has written an article on the school. It needs a couple of interior photos. Perhaps Jack can take. If not, Ed has volunteered. The school has new Smart Boards, which can project anything from a computer up onto a large screen for students.

There's also a new gymnasium. Jim offered to write an article about the upgraded power of the local Eldorado radio station (pending receipt of announcement sent to Carol via email recently).

It was suggested that we do an article (maybe not in October) on what the library intends to do with its expansion. The library's own public information person will probably write this. Dan said that Pam Henline has offered to write another bird article. Finally, regarding the Covenant vote, Ed mentioned that Bill Donohue is taking tips from the state retirement system for a way to mail the ballots in a secure manner. The meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Carol Leyba

_______________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________________

Information Committee Meeting, June 26, 2012

Present:

Jim Daniel;Jack Arnold, Webmaster; Marilyn Farrell, ECIA Staff 

Liaison; Carol Leyba, Vistas Editor/Designer; Don Dayton

Visitors: 

Joe Eigner, Cheryl Ford-Mente and Claudia Daigle

Jim Daniel presided over the meeting. The first order of business was 

to change the rules about voting members of the committee. Under the 

current rules, committee members holding paid positions with ECIA 

(Marilyn Farrell on ECIA staff, Jack Arnold, webmaster; and Carol 

Leyba, editor of Vistas) have not been considered voting members. 

However, that has left the committee without sufficient voting 

members to constitute a quorum. And it was pointed out that Mark 

Young, also on the ECIA staff, is a voting member of a committee, 

which otherwise would not have enough voting members. Jim Daniel 

proposed, and Don Dayton seconded, that the non-voting members be  

made voting members. There was consensus on the issue, and the rules 

are now changed to reflect this.

It was proposed, and seconded, that Jim Daniel be formally installed 

as the committee chair. With the new voting members  joining the 

other members, the motion was passed.

The July issue of Vistas was reviewed; no feedback of note was received.

Joe Eigner, member of SERA (Sustainable Eldorado Residents Alliance) and 

head of a SERA subcommittee that works specifically on recycling 

issues, was present to voice his dismay over the fact that links to 

his group's website had been deleted from the ECIA website. He was 

also concerned that the Recyclopedia Tips had been deleted, and that 

the Information Committee had decided to ban use of SERA's logo from 

eldoradosf.org.

Claudia Daigle was also present as a visitor, and she voiced her 

opposition to having SERA articles on our website or having its logo 

there. In her view, SERA is a political committee and does not belong 

on the ECIA website, other than as a link, along with other community 

links.

After much discussion and review of what is currently posted on the 

website, the committee voted that it was permissible to print (in 

Vistas) and post articles on recycling from Joe Eigner's SERA 

subcommittee. The committee now seeks further guidance from the ECIA 

Board regarding the use of logos from external organizations.

In the course of the discussion of SERA's articles and links, we 

reviewed the articles currently on the website, and gave feedback to 

Jack about which ones to delete, move, or keep as is.

Don Dayton will send updated information to Jack about County 

Improvement District FAQs.  Joe pointed out that the "Handy phone 

numbers" list was lacking ECIA phone numbers. (Jack will add them.)

Jack could still use additional photos of Eldorado to adorn the home 

page; Carol has a disk of photos from past calendars, which she will 

get to Jack.

Jim has been working on the concept of having all ECIA committees 

represented on the Information Committee, to ensure a better flow of 

information. He will be meeting with committee chairs to see if we 

can get liaisons specifically from SPEC, Facilities & Grounds, and 

the Architectural Committee. One obstacle to having a liaison from 

the Architectural Cmte is that they meet on the same night as the 

Information Cmte. For that reason, it was proposed that we consider 

moving our meetings to the Monday (rather than the Tuesday) following 

the monthly Board meeting. Jim will find out if that would make it 

possible for Jan Pietrzak to attend on behalf of the Architectural 

Committee.

Planning for the August issue of Vistas:

It was suggested that Ed Moreno write something regarding the 

vacancies on the Board, and about the process for filling those 

positions. Ed was not present to comment.

It was also suggested that an article be written about how the ECIA 

covenants can be changed; either Jim or Ed could write (or they could 

co-author such an article).

Jim will write a short piece soliciting letters from residents, 

stipulating the kind of letter that we would like to publish, and 

offering general guidelines.

Don would like to write an article, either for August or September, 

on viruses endemic to our area such as hantavirus, plague, and Rocky 

Mountain Spotted Fever.

August is the month of the Library's Ice Cream Social. Carol will 

make sure the Library submits an article to cover the topic.

If an End-of-Summer event is being planned, it should be covered.

An article, even a short one, should be published on the reopening of 

the school. Jack will get some new photos; Marilyn will get some 

basic facts. This will go on the back page.

The Conservation Committee may be ready to write something about the 

Eagle Scout project and the new horse trail.

At the end of the committee's regular agenda, Claudia raised the 

issue of the wording in the Welcome Pack regarding chickens "as 

household pets." Marilyn compared the wording in the Welcome Packet 

with the Covenants and it was apparent that the wording was, as 

Claudia indicated, different by one word, "as." Marilyn will take the 

matter up with Dan Drobnis, who updated the packet in the last six 

months, to see if it is appropriate to change the wording, deleting 

"as."

Joe Eigner also asked why the Recycling Tips were removed from the 

Welcome Packet. No one had an answer to that. Perhaps this will 

engender further discussion at a later time.

The meeting was adjourned.

(Jim brought sweets, in the tradition begun by Frank, as chairman. 

Thanks, Jim!)

Respectfully submitted,

Carol Leyba

_______________________________________________________________________________

INFORMATION COMMITTEE MEETING, May 22, 2012

Present: Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Ed Moreno
(Board Liaison), Frank Schober (alternate Board Liaison?), Carol
Leyba (Vistas Editor), Jim Daniel, and Don Dayton; Claudia Daigle was
a visitor to the meeting

Because Frank has been elected to the ECIA Board, he's no longer
serving on the Information Committee, but came to say good-bye.
During the course of the meeting there was some mention that he may
be the alternate Board liaison with our committee.

Being without a chairperson at this point, Dan Drobnis chaired the
meeting.

It was decided that Marilyn Farrell (absent on account of illness)
should bring the office calendar to our meetings, so we are sure to
know what is scheduled for the time period covered by our upcoming
Vistas.

Dan asked Jack to bring up on-screen the July 2011 issue of Vistas to
see what we had covered in that issue. It was largely about fire,
drought, and water shortage, with a little 4th of July.

For July 2012 issue:
Don D. has submitted an article on the history of Eldorado, for an
article on Eldorado's 40th anniversary. There is one original
resident still living in Eldorado, whose picture is in the Windmills
book (p. 97). Marilyn, do we have original documents from that book?
We could scan the photo but it probably wouldn't come out that well,
so the original would be far better. If we no longer have the
original photo, Dan offered to take a current picture of the
resident, if Don can arrange it.'

What will the 40th Anniversary celebration entail? This hasn't been
decided, but planning should begin ASAP.

We will reserve the back page of Vistas for a picture of the 4th of
July parade from last year. Both Dan and Jack will send photos.
Frank offered to contact veterans' groups to get small flags we can
distribute during the parade / celebration.

Dan suggested we have a boxed reminder in Vistas about the August 1
deadline for split payments for Association assessments. He will
write this.

We should have a small announcement about Elan Colello's resignation
from the Board, even though that information did make it into the
June issue. Jack should put the announcement on the website.

Should we have an article about the Amenities Survey results? Ed has
already discussed it in broad strokes in an article, and the results
have been posted on the website. It was decided that no more need be
written about it at this time. There were some comments from
residents who completed the survey. These should go to the Facilities
and Grounds Committee, in case there is anything in the comments that
the committee might find helpful.

The F&G Committee has asked Jack to put together an online form for
reporting problems about the amenities--about such things as graffiti
or vandalism. There is already an online form to report problems
about roads, and there is a county website for road problems as well.
Jack will use the online road report as a template for the amenities
problem form, and the F&G Committee will receive any submitted reports.

Chickens--what's the next step? Ed said there was a committee formed
of public survey professionals who would meet to decide on how best
to construct a survey of the community on this issue. Ed's idea was
to have the survey, followed by a covenant amendment vote. There was
much discussion about this process. Ed's column for Vistas will
discuss whatever is decided about this next step.

There was discussion on how to drive more traffic to the website, but
nothing conclusive was arrived at.

Claudia brought up the issue of having the SERA logo and article on
our website, which she thought was inappropriate. There was much
discussion about this, and it was decided that Jack could rewrite the
information about recycling and remove the SERA logo from the
website, but that we should have a link to SERA's website.

Before adjourning, Carol noted that we needed a process to select a
new chairperson. There are only 3 non-staff, non-Board liaisons on
the committee: Dan Drobnis, Don Dayton, and Jim Daniel. Since Dan
already chairs the Finance Committee, and Don travels a lot, Jim
offered to take on this task.

It was clear that the Information Committee could use additional
members. Ed says that he would like to get a person from each of the
committees to either join the committee or have greater communication
with this committee.

Frank brought chocolates--which were much appreciated by all! And our
congratulations to Frank for his election to the ECIA Board.

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba

____________________________________________________________________________

INFORMATION COMMITTEE MINUTES, APRIL 24, 2012

 Present: Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Ed Moreno (Board Liaison), Marilyn
 Farrell (Staff Liaison), Carol Leyba (Editor of Vistas), and Jim Daniel.

 Marilyn noted that in the June issue we inadvertently missed carrying
 a notice about how to obtain pool passes. We will do so in June. Dan
 agreed to write a short blurb about it; Marilyn will send him the
 particulars about when the office will be open on weekends to handle
 this business.

 Re the website: The committee still feels we need to refresh the
 pictures more often on the home page. Anyone who has pix should send
 them to Jack. And, Dan thought that he was remiss in passing on the
 Declaration of Covenants to the webmaster, but Marilyn pointed out
 that this document was recently posted (under Governing Documents).

 Ed reported briefly on the Chicken Forum and the Candidate Forum. We
 looked at the video of the Chicken Forum posted on our website.
 According to Ed, all events at La Tienda's Performance Space are
 recorded and posted on La Tienda's YouTube channel. We should add a
 link to this on the Eldorado website. (Jack: please note.)

 There will be a survey, both on our website and in Vistas, concerning
 the "chicken issue." Ed noted that a committee is meeting this coming
 weekend to draft the questions for the survey, and, if there is an
 election on the issue, for the ballot. In Ed's view, it is likely
 that there will be a covenant change ballot/election, unless the
 survey shows residents to be overwhelmingly against the proposition,
 which would make any ballot measure moot.

 To include the survey on the chicken issue in the June issue, Ed will
 have to get the questions readied sooner than planned. He will
 attempt to get the survey material to Carol in time for the June
 Vistas deadline (May 7).

 Ed will use his column in Vistas to discuss this issue.

 Jim Daniel has undertaken the updating of the Wikipedia article on
 Eldorado, using the new (2010) census figures. He announced that he
 was not able to edit anything on the website CityData.com, as there
 appeared to be no way to do so and no information about who to contact.

 Other items for the June issue:
 Dan will write about the new Board members who will have been
 elected. He will bring a camera to the Annual Meeting on May 7 to
 photograph the newly elected members. This should be a front-page story.

 A Person of the Year will be announced at the Annual Meeting and we are hoping that person will be the Grand Marshall  for the 4th of July
 parade. We would like to get Mark Young to write an article about the
 person whose name is being floated for that honor.

 A special report on fire prevention in our greenbelts was
 commissioned and brought to the board by Lynn Mortensen. Jim D will
 write something about the recommendations of this report. He will
 include mention of Eldorado's use of goats as weed control. Marilyn
 has agreed to write a separate piece about the plans for the goat
 herd again this spring/summer.

 Ed has some good goat pictures.

 In the first meeting of the newly elected Board, new officers will be
 chosen. The June issue will include a simple list of the new
 officers. A more full treatment of this topic has been scheduled for
 the July issue.

 Eldorado's 40th anniversary is coming up in July. We would like Don
 D. to mention this in a short article in the June issue, but we
 thought we would reserve a larger piece about this topic for July.
 The most likely time to celebrate this milestone event is at ECIA's
 4th of July event.

 Marilyn asked that we revisit the idea of whether or not we could
 include in Vistas something about the Capoeira studio opening in La
 Tienda. We rejected mention of this in May, but we should reconsider,
 since this is just another business opening in the area.

 We spent some time discussing whether ECIA has a need to collect
 residents' email addresses. This is something the Board should
 consider. Presently, the most effective way to get immediate news of
 happenings in Eldorado is via La Tienda's weekly e-newsletter.

 Marilyn brought totally delicious brownies (Ghiardelli's) plus some
 seaweed(!). Thanks, Marilyn!

 Respectfully submitted,
 Carol Leyba

____________________________________________________________________ I

nformation Committee Meeting, March 20, 7-9 pm

 Present: Frank Schober (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Marilyn
 Farrell (ECIA Liaison), Ed Moreno (ECIA Board Liaison), Carol Leyba
 (Editor/Designer, Vistas), Don Dayton, and Jim Daniel

 Frank would like to establish an Executive subcommittee of the
 Information Committee, a group of a few people (he suggested himself,
 Jack Arnold/Webmaster, and Carol Leyba, Editor of Vistas) who would
 be the first to receive information that may be pertinent to the
 whole committee and would disseminate that information as needed,
 instead of trying to arrive at a consensus via email with all members
 of the committee.

 The Committee reviewed the website: Comments included:
 Need to add / change the pictures of Eldorado more frequently. If
 anyone on the committee has images that would be appropriate for this
 forum, please send them to Jack.
 The External links need to be checked regularly for relevance/quality
 and timeliness. For instance, the site that is linked for Emergency
 Preparedness is too long and not as helpful as it could be. Frank
 knows of other sites that might be more useful for residents, and he
 will forward any such ideas to Jack.
 It was suggested that committee members be assigned a set of links to
 review on a regular basis.

 The Wikipedia article on Eldorado needs updating, especially with the
 new census information. Jim suggested another good site that covers
 Eldorado, called CityData.com. We looked at that site, and it has
 good information, though not all of it is current. Jim will check
 into both sites (City Data and Wikipedia) with an eye to updating
 them. We should add the CityData.com link to our website.

 Frank queried Marilyn whether the ECIA was successful in gathering
 emergency phone numbers for most residents. She will report back on
 this. Frank suggested using the assessment letters / invoices sent
 out annually as an avenue for gathering other emergency phone numbers.

 ---
 Articles for the upcoming Vistas:
 What will school look like when completed? Maybe we could get some
 pictures. Carol will contact Anne Darnton, principal, to see if we
 can get an update.

 We have an article from Ron Duffy about leading bird walks in Eldorado.
 We have a holdover article by Jim Daniel about bike riding. He wants
 to revise this, in light of the article we ran in March on a similar
 topic.
 Frank wants to write an article on the process that Neighborhood
 Watch uses to alert residents of potential problems. Because NW
 submits regular articles, Frank will contact Marilyn Walker to
 discuss his article.
 Mark Young will have an article on dogs.
 Dan will write an article on the ECIA election: Who's running, etc.
 [Ed wants to have a separate webpage for the elections--not just a
 pdf version of the Vistas story, but it's own page on the website.]
 Ed will probably write something about the Amenities Survey, but
 Marilyn F. has data that has not yet been tabulated. Jack's graphs do
 not include the data gathered by the ECIA office; his includes only
 responses from the website.
 There will be further information in the May issue about the chicken
 question. Ed told us about the Somoan circle method of discussing an
 issue, a process that will be used in the next public meeting on this
 topic. Everyone agreed that this sounded very intriguing.
 Ed will also be writing another article, which will not be on the
 Amenities Survey or chickens.

An article on Eldorado's 40th anniversary will be placed in the June issue of Vistas, including a photo of Julia Weil, the earliest resident.

 Newcomer packet: Work still needs to be done to make this a more
 attractive packet. This has been talked about for a long time and
 needs to get done. Frank and Carol will discuss this further.

 Frank brought some great new candy. Yum! Thanks, Frank!

 Respectfully submitted,
 Carol Leyba



_____________________________________________________________________________


Minutes of the ECIA Information Committee

February 21,7 pm

Present: Frank Schober (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Carol Leyba
(Vistas Editor/Designer), Elan Colello (Board Liaison), Ed Moreno
(ECIA President and backup Liaison), and Don Daytom (member)

The meeting opened with a discussion of our organization and
procedures, led by Frank. He urged discussants to keep to the
"Gettysburg rule" based on Abe Lincoln's 2.5-minute Gettysburg
address--meaning "keep it quick and to the point." Frank also noted
that this should be our rule for visitors to the committee: they
could have their 2.5 minutes of public comment, and then we would
move on.

There was also a discussion of the process by which we agree on what
articles would be written for Vistas and by whom. In Frank's view, we
generally do this well, but lately, particularly in regard to the
upcoming forums on household pets, Board members have initiated
email discussions of who would write what--which is not efficient or
in keeping with our usual process. Also, sometimes letters arrive via
ECIA staff, and an email discussion among members ensues; Frank would
like to see these first and then decide how to proceed, rather than
doing an email round-robin.

There was much back-and-forth about this general issue. There was
also some discussion of how ECIA might cover the forums--perhaps with
a video recording of the meetings, which could then be posted on
YouTube or on our website. This would require someone to handle the
videotaping and uploading. Perhaps we could get some public access
personnel through SF Community College. Maybe Jack could do the video
recording.

Elan suggested that perhaps the Board should issue a policy about how
to handle controversial topics in Vistas. It is his belief that the
community would be well served by broaching, in an even-handed
manner, topics that occasionally come up and cause controversy--in an
effort to head off a deepening of such problematic issues down the line.

The committee briefly reviewed the March issue.

Website review: Using a new projector (which worked great), we looked
at our website projected on the wall; there was general consensus
that it's looking very good and is quite user-friendly. We checked
that the Road Conditions site was up (but Jack, does it have the
5-1-1 number there?), and that the site map is now on the first
page. Also, it was mentioned that the notice "Run for the Board"
should be taken down by March 1. Jack, please note!

Dan mentioned that an attorney told him the website should include a
previous set of articles of incorporation because they are referenced
in the by-laws. Dan will scan these documents, and Jack will post
(Jack, again, please note!).

The annual report is coming up soon. There will be six candidates for
the Board, which is more than usual and may require that the Annual
Report, which publishes the candidates' statements, run more than the
usual 16 pages.

The April issue of Vistas will be a single sheet, 2-sided, 8.5 x 11",
which will be mailed along with the Annual Report. In this
abbreviated version, we will include a short article by Frank
explaining why we are doing this (to save money on printing and
mailing in the month we are sending out the Annual Report). Other
than that, we will include Community Events only, both the listing of
meetings and the short blurbs about upcoming activities and events.

On July 21, 2012, Eldorado will have been an official subdivision for
40 years. Don will write an article about this anniversary for the
May or June issue. The first Eldorado resident still lives here!

Dan noted that Vistas gives a lot of play to La Tienda's events, and
we should contact Pete Vogel of the Agora, to solicit event news from
him.

Frank brought candy! Again, thanks, Frank!

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba
____________________________________________________________________

Minutes
Information Committee Meeting, January 24, 2012

Present: Frank Schober (Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Ed Moreno
(ECIA President/Board liaison), Marilyn Farrell (Staff Liaison),
Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer, Don Dayton, and prospective
member, Jim Daniel

Information from the Board, from Ed M.:
Ed presented his amenities survey, and the reason for it. (It appears
in the February issue of Vistas and on our website.) He explained
that it was spurred by the raise in assessments this year. And the
reason that the assessments went up was because of the many ECIA
facilities that have to be put on a maintenance schedule, including
all the amenities. The increase was not really needed because of
inflation. The survey will, it is hoped, give support for the
continued maintenance of the amenities.

Will there be people who may want to cheat on the survey by
submitting more than one questionnaire? It would not be difficult to
do, though Jack (webmaster) has or will institute some safeguards,
such as making sure that only one survey per IP address will be
counted in the online survey.

Ed also presented a chart showing the process for the ECIA's
consideration of farm animals being kept as pets. This process will
allow time for experts to explain what would be entailed in keeping
such animals as chickens and goats, and for other community members
to weigh in. Hopefully this carefully planned process will make the
effort run smoothly.

Discussion of website: Jack was unable to be present, so this
discussion was brief. Frank raised the issue that the site map should
probably be moved out of a drop-down menu and onto a direct link from
the home page to the site map. Jack--can you please take care of this?

Signage: Frank commented that the bulletin board at the Agora needs
cleaning--but perhaps it is just discolored from UV rays.

Makeup of the March issue:
Carol has in hand for the next issue: an article from Mark Young on
dog regulations; an article on the Stable amenity (maybe Jack can get
us a photo?) from Lisa Bessone; a blurb about a horseshoe tournament.
And she is expecting an article from Ron Duffy, who used to give bird
walks in Eldorado and wants to write up some of his interesting
experiences.
Marilyn presented material from quilter Jean Stokes, who is going to
be in a quilting exhibit. This material was given to Carol.
Ed's process form (see above) will be reformatted and included in the
March issue, along with his article.
Dan will write up the Board Actions and also a piece about the Annual
Report that will be mailed in April. That mailing will also contain
an abbreviated version of Vistas, a 2-page issue only. This co-
mailing of a 2-page Vistas with the Annual Report will help cut
expenses for the month, in printing, editing/design, and mailing.
Marilyn gave Carol a blurb on another La Tienda event, on March 3.
Jim D. agreed to write an article about who should/should not be
riding a bike on the road vs. the hike/bike trails--with a view to
safety and road etiquette.
Ed's piece will cover the barnyard pets issue.
It was suggested that perhaps Mark Young might write a piece about
setback infractions, many of which originated in the boom years of
the 1980s but are just being noticed now.
There may be a solar fair coming up. Greg Bundrick will be involved
and should be contacted about this.
Frank agreed to write, with assistance from Don, an article about the
deliberations of the Eldorado Water company regarding a county water
pipeline possibly running through Eldorado.
We need more information from the school. We need to send a
delegation to meet perhaps with the PTA. Frank, Ed, and Carol agreed
to arrange a meeting.

Frank brought candy. Yum! I vote yes on that!

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba



_________________________________________________________________________________

INFORMATION COMMITTEE MEETING, Dec. 20

Present: Frank Schober (Acting Chair), Dan Drobnis (Vice-Chair), Ed
Moreno (Board Liaison/ECIA President), Elan Colello (Board Liaison),
Marilyn Farrell (ECIA liaison), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Carol Leyba
(Editor/Designer), Jackie Koger, Don Dayton, and Jim Daniels
(prospective member)

The meeting was held at the home of Marilyn Farrell and was preceded
by a potluck dinner. Thanks to Marilyn for hosting, and to all for
bringing food and good holiday cheer.

Jim Daniels was introduced as a newcomer who may be interested in
joining the committee.

The committee made of quick review of the January issue, hot off the
press. The comments were generally positive, though it was agreed
that Mayor Coss's photo was not the most flattering.

Planning for the February issue:
In hand for this issue:
1. Amenities use/value survey. Ed Moreno is preparing a survey to
ascertain the views of ECIA members regarding the value of ECIA's
amenities. Carol had prepared a draft layout for review. Ed will let
Bill Donohue look over the questions to make sure the questionnaire
is comprehensive, and Carol will make some adjustments to the layout.
This will run at least one full page in the February issue, and will
also be available on the website.
2. Mark Young has submitted an article on neighbor-friendly
construction projects
3. Pam Henline has submitted Part 2 of an article on the American
Kestrel.
4. We have an article remaining from last month (which we couldn't
fit in) called "Vigilance" concerning purse snatching and other
similar crimes and how to prevent them. There was some feeling that
perhaps we are running too many of this kind of "watch out!" article,
as they may be creating a fearful attitude about Eldorado, which is
unwarranted.
5. We have a short piece about an upcoming horseshoe event.

Other articles discussed/offered:

Dan Dayton has offered to write an article on trees as part of the
changing landscape of Eldorado.

Jack Arnold has offered to write up the results of the survey about
Vistas (how ECIA members would prefer to receive it, whether they
read it, etc.). It was suggested that he also include a Quick Links
portion, pointing out how to find various items of interest on the
website.

Dan D. will write up the Board Actions, and will also write a short
piece reminding people that ECIA Board elections are coming up, and
anyone interested in running should get their signatures and apply.
Elan suggested that something be included in the Board Actions about
the changes in lighting in the parking lot.

Ed mentioned that there may be some followup to the Goats and Hens
issue.

There was some discussion about a problem with horses being allowed
to cross private property across Hwy 285 in order to access the
Wilderness Preserve. Apparently this is a difficult and thorny issue.
Carol was asked to contact the Stable Committee to comment on this.

For a future article, Dan D. will review newly released census data
to see if there is anything of interest there to report.

This was a quick meeting, owing to the holidays.

Happy holidays to all.

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba

_______________________________________________________________________________

INFORMATION COMMITTEE MEETING NOV. 22, 2011

Present: Frank Schober, Don Dayton, Ed Moreno (Board Liaison), Elan
Colello (Board Liaison), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer),
Marilyn Farrell (Staff Liaison), and guest Claudia Daigle.

Presently, this committee is without a chairperson--since the
resignation of Frank Schober. Until we find a replacement, and when
Dan Drobnis, who is Vice-Chair, is absent, we will simply follow our
usual agenda.

Directives/information from the ECIA Board:
Ed explained that the ECIA's consideration of regulations regarding
the keeping of chickens and goats is starting to heat up. There are a
lot of rumors swirling around about this topic, and the issue should
be clarified. Ed agreed to talk to Board Member Greg Bundrick about
writing something about this. If he's unable to do it, Ed will follow
up and may write something himself on the subject.

Discussion of the survey conducted about residents' preferences for
the medium in which they receive Vistas:
Jack Arnold, our webmaster, has compiled statistics on the responses
received in the online survey (which would mean a sample biased
toward frequent Internet users):
Of 75 respondents
92% read Vistas regularly
60% would like to continue receiving Vistas by mail
48% would prefer to go to the website to read Vistas
20% of respondents are lot owners who live outside of Eldorado

Marilyn has collected responses to the same survey--but from those
who turned in marked up paper surveys and those who called in their
responses (which would mean a sample biased toward those who are not
inclined to use the Internet). Her tally is as follows:
34 of 35 read Vistas regularly
31 of 35 would like to continue receiving Vistas by mail
4 of 36 would prefer to go to the website to read Vistas

More responses may yet come in, but it seems clear to the committee
that, based on this feedback, ECIA members seem to approve of Vistas
(based on percentage who actually read it) and to prefer to continue
receiving it by mail.

As an alternative, we may eventually send out an email reminder that
Vistas is also posted on the web, and include a link to the current
issue. Elon indicated that he and Jack were working on the mechanisms
to do this.

Ed M., as Board president, seemed to agree that the Vistas has, once
again, proved itself worthy of continued Board support--with no
diminution of production quality or change in the US mail
distribution. However, we should continue t to investigate ways to
cut printing costs, if possible, and without loss of quality. Carol
and Marilyn will confer on getting additional printing quotes, and
samples.

Regarding the ECIA Annual Report, which will be mailed to residents
in April:
1. We need to start working on it earlier, to ameliorate the
"boilerplate" quality of many of the reports.
2. We may do an abbreviated April issue of Vistas--maybe only 2 or 4
pages--which we would mail along with the Annual Report. This will
save some printing, editorial/design, and distribution costs for that
month.
3. The Annual Report may be in black/white instead of two-color.
Marilyn will get quotes from the printer on this smaller version of
Vistas.

Make-up of January 2012 issue:
Ed will write lead article on ECIA goals for the year; the amenities
survey they are planning to conduct, and position openings on the Board.
Carol will write to the Board members to solicit a paragraph from
each on what it's like to work on the Board--in order to interest
others in joining the Board.
Marilyn will write an article on the new ECIA staff and their positions.
Mark should (and likely will) write to remind residents to take their
holiday lights down after the holidays are over.
Frank will write about all the folks with advanced degrees who live
in Eldorado, examining what this means, or could mean, for Eldorado's
governance and quality of volunteers.
It was suggested that someone write about de-icing products and
safety issues. I will ask Bill D. and Dana Richards of SPEC to
consider such an article.

In the future, Don would like to write an article on Eldorado's
environmental features and history, including the petrified forest on
ECIA property.
He may also write, in the future, about trees and what they do for
the environment. This was in response to Marilyn's report that some
residents are enraged by a lot owner who has planted hundreds of
trees on a 6-acre parcel.

We had some discussion with Claudia Daigle, our guest, who is pushing
for more "transparency" and open discussion in Vistas of issues of
interest to residents. The committee members made it clear that
Vistas is the official communications vehicle for the Board to bring
information to ECIA members. It is not an appropriate venue for the
expression of opinions on issues under consideration, especially
controversial issues, unless the Board so deems.

Dan Drobnis, who was unable to attend the meeting, wrote to say he would like to continue contributing the monthly Summary of Board Actions.

Marilyn brought some snacks--thanks, Marilyn!

The meeting was adjourned at 8:15.

Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba

__________________________________________________________________________________
INFORMATION Committee Meeting, October 25, 2011

Present: Don Dayton, Ed Moreno (Board Liaison), and Carol Leyba
(Vistas Editor)

Because we had so few present, we focused mainly on planning for the
December Vistas:

Don offered to write an article on Who Governs Eldorado. He has been
researching this topic and has discovered that there are 12 federal
agencies, 32 state agencies, 18 county entities, plus various
utilities, each of which has some jurisdictional authority in Eldorado.

Ed is working with the ECIA Board on a survey of members' wishes
relative to ECIA amenities. The Board is planning to include such a
survey in the mailed invitation to the annual meeting. He will write
an article about this.

Ed mentioned that the Board is also working on a 10-Year Plan for the
Replacement Reserve. He will try to write an article on this as well.

By mid-November, the Board will have decided on the change in the
assessments. We will reserve a small box to announce this news, which
means we will have to delay printing by one day (the meeting will be
on Nov. 17; we will go to press on Nov. 18). Dan was assigned (in
absentia) the task of sending this information to the editor as soon
as the decision is reached.

School construction: It was discussed that we should have an update
on school construction. Carol will write to Principal Anne Darnton to
see if we can't find someone to send us an article about it.

In our meeting last month, Jack Arnold gave a presentation on user
statistics from the ECIA website. Jack was assigned (in absentia) the
task of writing up this information for the December issue.

We discussed the letter about Waste Management from Susan Daniel. Ed
expressed the opinion that this is not an urgent matter, but we could
write something up if we have the time and space to do so.

It was also mentioned that there are now new county commission
districts, and the 285 corridor has been broken up into two
districts. It was suggested that we could find current information by
contacting Julia Valdez, administrative asst. for the county.

We also discussed printing the statistics from Mark Young's work as
covenant compliance rep. We will include these in the print version
of Vistas as space allows. It is likely that we will be able to
include them in the December issue.

Other issues:
Marilyn Farrell left us a copy of SERA's (Sustainable Eldorado
Residents Alliance) information packet on recycling, with a note
asking if this could be included in the newcomer's packet. Ed was
informed of this request but had no clear opinion about it at this time.

As Ed mentioned in an earlier memo to committee chairs, the
Information Committee needs additional members. We would like all
members to ask their friends and acquaintances if they'd consider
joining our committee. We would especially like to recruit someone
with school-age children, so we could address issues of that age group.

The meeting was adjourned by 8 pm!

Frank Schober left us a box of See's Candy. Many thanks, Frank!


Respectfully submitted,
Carol Leyba
Editor/Designer, Eldorado Vistas

_________________________________________________________________________________

Information Committee Meeting Minutes, September 20, 2011

Present: Frank Schober (Chair), Jack Arnold (Webmaster), Elan Colello (Board Liaison), Marilyn Farrell (ECIA liaison), Carol Leyba (Vistas Editor/Designer), Don Dayton (member), and Claudia Daigle (guest)

News from the Board:

Elan noted that the ECIA budget for 2012 is currently being drafted, and the Finance Comte is looking for ways to save money. Ed Moreno, ECIA President, had asked the Information Committee to come up with ways to trim the Information Committee budget. Frank is of the opinion that it is not our job to bring in revenue or to reduce our expenses; our job is to produce the communication from the Board to the community. It is the Board's job to set their priorities, which we will follow. Elan said he would take this up with the Board: what is their priority for Vistas?

Claudia noted that she heard that the Finance Comte was considering asking us to run a big headline: "We are going electronic; if  you want to continue to receive your printed copy of Vistas, you should let us know."This would be asking Vistas readers to "opt in" to receiving the printed Vistas, rather than to "opt out" of receiving it in favor of getting it from the Internet. There was much discussion about how this did not seem a good option. Nor have we actually received that directive from the Finance Comte or the Board-- at this point it's just an idea.

Re the ECIA marquees: Weed control is needed around the marquee signs. Marilyn will take that up with the staff.

Todd Handy (Treasurer) and Bill Donohue (Gen Mgr) are working on fulfilling the requirements for putting a new marquee in place.

Bill Donohue is also working on soliciting bids from printers to see if we can get less expensive printing of Vistas.

Jack gave a presentation on the viewing statistics of our website. In August 2011, the Eldorado website had over 1400 unique visitors and over 17,000 page visits. There were also numerous downloads from our site, including 106 greenbelt maps, 70 Architectural Guidelines, and

36 copies of the Handy Phone List that Raven Hicks produced. Half the visitors spent 30 seconds or less on the site, 25% spent 2 minutes or more, 25% spent 5 minutes or more, and 7% spent 15 minutes or more.

Also, Eldorado was Googled 1100 times in one month. These are excellent statistics and very encouraging that people are using the site. Jack will write an article about this for the December issue (not the next one, in November).

Re the Artist of the Week on our bulletin board: Jack has been asked to make their presentations larger, which he will do. Right now, paper and ink are being funded by ECIA; Jack will ask the EACA to help pay for this.

Topics for the November issue:

We have on hand, or already promised, several articles:

      Don's article on gold mining in the Ortiz Mountains

      Frank's article on what ECIA members get for their money (he will include the fact, supplied by Elan, that our extensions to the hike/ bike paths are the most requested new amenity, and refurbishment to the existing paths the most requested upgrade request; also that the ECIA recently spent money on the soccer field and for new water lines)

      An announcement from Principal Anne Darnton of the Community School

      Dan's Board Actions Report

      Dan's article on the Budget hearing

      A bird article from Pam Henline

      An announcement from SPEC seeking new members

Carol asked Jack (or Elan) to get a picture of the Doggie Pool Party (being held on October 1) for the back page of Vistas.

Frank announced that, owing to his taking on a consulting job, he will be stepping down as Chair of the Information Committee, but will remain a member of the committee. (We will miss him in that role!)

Munchies supplied by Marilyn, Frank, and home-grown tomatoes from Elan. Thanks, all!

Respectfully submitted,

Carol Leyba