community meetings, Volume 7 number 5, May 2005 ECA Spring Meeting Yours truly was a tad late to the spring Ester Community Association meeting, which was itself a tad late in the season (usually it is held before Easter, not after, in order to plan for the egg hunt, but a certain Somebody didn’t check to see if the hall was available that day and…well, it didn’t matter anyway, as both the egg hunt and the chili feed were spectacular successes this year). Where was I? Right—so I was late, but I got the good stuff. Assistant Überczars Needed for the Park Don is becoming a Park Czar Emeritus, and so Mark, who is still the defacto Chief of the EPD, is in serious need of some assistants. Frank and Hans and Columbo, he said, were doing a great job, the former as Rink & Outhouse Czar and the latter as Trash Czars. People are needed in the winter, said Frank, to help plow the snow off the ice rink. Park projects for this summer included the park cleanup (Accomplished by a huge crowd on May 14, thanks to everyone who showed up and pitched in, with special thanks to Phil & Genevieve Carboy for the picnic supplies and food, to Lynn & Ray Kulp for the fantastic homemade ice cream, to Kate Billington for cooking duty, and Amy Luick, Maggie Billington, Amy Simpson, Mike Musick, Don Cameron, and the scads of other people who provided food and tools and muscle on a beautiful summery day. Amy Luick, Carol Hoefler, and a ton of sturdy energetic children made a beautiful trellised flower bed for the park—it’s great!). Other park tasks are: the pavilion sprucing-up project, the park furniture project, the trash can repair and beautification project, the O.M.S. (Old Mining…Stuff) project, and the picnic table building project. If you want to work on any of these, contact Mark Simpson or Frank Therrell, ECA president. New Eggman Needed Mindy Gallagher, longtime Egg Czarina, announced that her youngest child will be too old for the egg hunt next year (the limit is age 11), and so a new czarina is needed. Mindy is retiring. She was very emphatic about that point. Parents with young kids were recommended, including Verice Doble, who played the Eggman recently. Verice was not at the meeting, and thus endangered himself by not being there to refuse the honor. Look out, Verice, you may have been volunteered! Library Report The library hauled in almost $4900 during its March Lallapallooza and afterward. The librarians are seeking prospective landowners willing to let the library use or buy land cheap in the village area, and investigating possible grants. The library has around 90 members (only half of whom are current on their dues—ahem) and pretty close to 3000 books, videos, cassettes, and puzzles. Trails Geoff Orth gave the trails report. He and a couple of others brushed out the Ester Trail last fall and discovered a great quantity of old birch taps and tubing still left there from several years ago. He contacted the owner, who was astonished that he could have forgotten all that stuff; he will hasten out to pick it all up. Orth showed multi-use etiquette signs to the group, asking about buying some for the local trails. The Willow Creek Trail was suggested as the next candidate for brushing. Planning Committee Roy Earnest, chairman of the Ester Planning Committee, is resigning in July or so, when he and his family will move Outside for a while. He suggested that the ECA, through the EPC, should look at forming cooperative efforts with other community planning groups, and organize by project. This organization structure, with a contact person for each project, would be easy to adapt for the website and make it easier for people to organize behind specific areas and issues they have an interest in. The EPC, due in large measure to the concerted efforts of people like Bruce Jamieson, Carey Brink, and others, Roy said, had been very effective and organized. A couple of people pointed out that Roy himself had been instrumental in the success of the committee, and the meeting gave him a thumping round of applause. A discussion of what constituted Ester Proper, versus Ester Improper, occupied the attendees for a little while, specifically in regard to the question Roy encountered at the borough: “Just how big is Ester?” Ester, being a state of mind, is pretty big if you want to include Ester Improper, but very small if you consider only the strictest physical limits (the village), and even smaller if you consider only the legal ones (the inside of the Ester Post Office). Much amusement was had. At Mark’s suggestion, a copy of the Borough Comprehensive Plan will be printed out and available for the public to read at the Ester library. Events Frank Therrell and Charley Gallagher are point men on the Fourth of July organizing. The garage sale is scheduled for June 11 at the fire department; ten percent of the proceeds go to the firefighters’ auxiliary. GVEA Board of Directors Tom DeLong is running for a position on the GVEA board (District 2), and spoke to the meeting about his goals and concerns regarding current lack of openness or board member turnover, and about his hopes for improving conservation and getting more alternative energy sources like wind power into the local grid. Three people are running for the board position from our district: Tom DeLong, Pete Haggland (the incumbent), and Brendan LaBelle-Hamer. GVEA has sent out ballots in the mail, with statements from each of the candidates. | ||
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