Long Branch Civic Association

Board of Directors Meeting (Zoom call)

Thursday, October 22, 2020; 7:00pm

MINUTES
Directors Present, constituting a quorum were:

Jim Sherwood, President/Grounds and Maintenance

Rachid Benjelloun, Social Events
Martha Bernardi, Membership
Donna Nelson-Schneider, Membership
Roger Hartman, Neighborhood Watch
Stephanie Murphy, Treasurer/Secretary

1. Call to Order
The meeting was called to order at 7:10 p.m.

2. Membership Drive
Ms. Bernardi and Ms. Nelson-Schneider gave an update on the membership drive to date. 180
households have signed up. Of those, 80 paid on-line. A reminder will go out shortly. It is hard
to gauge where we are compared to two years ago because the street reps typically didn’t turn in
the forms and payment until the end of October.

Advertising will be difficult this time around. We have sold the back cover as usual to the local
roofing and siding contractor, Eastside Contractors. Outreach is still being done to prior
advertisers and some new ones.

3. Events

a. National Night Out – Attendance at NNO was approximately 30-40 people. Pictures will
be forwarded to Ms. Visioli and Mr. Alvo for posting on Facebook. We had attendance by
the fire department and police department. Even the Chief of Police attended. Mr.
Walkinshaw and Ms. Watts both attended. Mr. Connelly was unable to attend.

Mr. Hartman gave a shout out to Ms. Nelson-Schneider and her daughter Abigail for their
help at the event.
 MINUTES
LBCA Board of Directors
Thursday, October 22, 2020
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b. Halloween – It was reconfirmed that Ms. Murphy has agreed to take the pictures on
Halloween morning for the door and yard decoration contest. Ms. Bernardi shared the
yard signs she created to recognize the winners. Pictures will be provided to the Board
for deliberation by noon. The Board will meet at 2pm to select the winners.

c. Turkey Trot – The planned date for the Turkey Trot this year will be Thanksgiving morning
on November 26th. The email still needs to go out. Ms. Visioli will be asked to send it
tomorrow. When the t-shirt orders are placed, we will order a few extra. Possibly 3 adults
in size large and two kids in child-large. The police has approved our permit. VDOT replied
today. They approved the event and noted that we didn’t need a permit from them for
the event. However, it was agreed that we would continue with the permit process in the
future to be safe, but it will be noted that VDOT didn’t require one this year.

d. Luminary – After some discussion, it was determined that the luminary would not be done
this year due to the pandemic and the need for close contact by 10-15 people in the
preparation for the event. This will be announced in early December. This is also an
expensive event with no revenue in a cycle when our budget may end up tight.

e. Lunar New Year – This will be discussed at a future meeting. It will have to be changed
significantly to hold it in January/February to a possible outdoor event without the food
buffet.

4. Board Membership and Representation

The Board discussed possible expansion of board membership and neighbor representation.
Steve von Christierson has volunteered to be the LBCA rep for the Long Branch Stream Valley Park
renovation plans by the County. We discussed asking Mr. von Christierson to be our new Parks
and Recreation Board member on a regular basis. Mr. Hartman will discuss this option with him.

We also discussed expanding board representation for the Asian community in our neighborhood.
It was agreed that we have better success recruiting board members when we approach specific
people. Putting out a request by the newsletter or email hasn’t worked well in the past. Ms.
Nelson-Schneider has agreed to approach a few folks that she knows. In terms of a position on
the board, Ms. Murphy is currently both the Treasurer and Secretary and would be happy to have
someone else step up to take on the Secretary role.

5. Upcoming Meeting
The next meeting date is scheduled for Saturday, October 31 at 2pm.

6. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at 8:15 pm.

Respectfully submitted,
Stephanie Murphy
Secretary