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    Attending:  Nani Barretto, Al Feldt, Scott Hale, Jo Ann Marcoux, Sally Mitani and Tom Weisskopf attending   No visitors)

1,  Sally questioned whether it was worth continuing the newsletter.  Though well received, there has been little input from DexMil members.  Stories are needed, especially ones on local people and issues.   The Board felt that the newsletter was a useful representation of area interests and that it should be continued on a biannual basis.   Next issue will be in June and several board members offered to provide articles.  All DexMil members are invited to offer suggestions and articles for consideration. 

2.  Feldt  raised similar questions about the website.  Is it worth keeping up?  It is averaging 20-30 visitors a day and they are seeing an average of 40-50 pages per day.     Most agreed that it provides useful information, especially to outsiders but  that it could provide more helpful current information.  Scott offered to help Al with its content and organization.  Among other innovations, we will try to set up a website poll on the proposed bylaws allowing members to indicate approval and/or suggest changes to certain sections.  Possibly this might count as part of a DEXMIL wide vote on accepting or rejecting the bylaws. 

3.  The bylaws have now gone through their fourth and fifth revisions by Scott and Tom, respectively.  Tom will send the latest revision to Sally for one last review and publication in the June newsletter.    

4.  Feldt reported briefly on the combined flower order, the toxic waste pickup and the driving program for medical and grocery trips.  All are in operation and have been fairly successful. 

5.  We ;still have about 50 shopping bags unsold and efforts will be made to sell more of them at  upcoming picnics, general meetings, and garage sales.  The Board agreed to raise the initiation fee to $20 and provide new members with a free shopping bag. 

6.  Our annual picnic will be held at Maryfield Park on August 21st from 4 tog 6 pm. 
As in the past, DexMil will provide a variety of sausages and rolls while members attending are to bring beverages and a dish to pass.   A discussion and possible vote on the bylaws will be held beforehand at about 3 pm.   It is hoped that earlier discussions and approvals through the website and emails plus this final discussion will provide a clear consensus on approving the bylaws.  If not, a fall meeting will be held in the falll. 

7.  A supplement to the Directory will be distributed in July.  Ii will list new members and changes and corrections to existing members' listings.  Feldt will solicit changes and additions from all members during June. 

8.  We will  again attempt to organize a neighborhood wide garage sale in September, probably Friday to Sunday,  Sept, 10-12.  Nani Barretto is still willing to try to organize this and she hopes members will be more responsive to this effort and notify her of their interest well in advance. 

9/  Two new issues were briefly discussed:   Several of our members have been keeping "natural" yards to provide shelter for wildlife as well discourage the use of chemicals and pesticides.   There is some kind of city or county recognition of such efforts and Feldt will try to get more information so that these kinds of care can be more easily recognized and supported. 
    Recently, a 15 year old was elected as a neighborhood commissioner in Los Angeles, defeating an older middle aged person.  This seems to be something similar to a DexMil Director, though under municipal control.  Age limits on DexMil membership was briefly discussed and it was noted that until now we have accepted anyone of any age as a member who was likely to contribute one or more services to the community.  Under this practice we have several teenagers and sub-teens who are members of DexMil.  The board felt that since election to the Board is by open ballot with one vote per household, we could be reasonably assured that those elected as directors would continue to be responsible and active members, regardless of age.  Minimum and maximum ages for board membership might merit further consideration, however.  

10.  The next meeting of the Board of Directors will be at 7 pm, August 10th at Kathy West's House, 2113 Arborview. 

 Eight subgroups to deal with issues of special concern to some members have been identfied, Two have been in operation for some time and two others are being formed.  The other four are additional possibilities under discussion.  All are breifly identified in the page calle Subgroups. 

      Attending were:  Al Feldt, Scott Hale, JoAnne Marcoux, Sally Mitani, and Tom Weisskopf.  Nani Barretto was ill.  Melinda Todd was present as a member/visitor.  The board agreed to follow the proposed agenda in approximately the order listed. 

1.  The proposed Bylaws were discussed at some length.  One of the members felt they were overly concise and could use with more details on our early history and a mission statement.  He suggested a delay in presenting them to the membership and formally adopting them in order to avoid the need for later revisions.  He offered to propose some additions in time for the May meeting of the board.  The board agreed and suggested a general meeting of all members in June rather than April.  A copy of the currently proposed bylaws, (Revision 3A) is attached for members’ consideration.  Further suggestions for changes are requested from the entire membership, preferably in advance of the May board meeting or the general meeting of all members which may be held in June.   .

2.  Five members discussed the creation of a group flower order in order to reduce shipping costs.  Three finally placed a joint order from Bluestone Perennials.  There has been some interest in creating a few community gardens in the area and Al Feldt has been putting interested members in contact with each other as inquiries are made.  Michael Andes, Lyn Meadows and Lauren Zinn and the three persons most directly involved. 

3.  Scott Hale will establish a set of group email addresses for Dexmil households with related interests.  Once established, members will be able to use these addresses to contract only appropriate subgroups of members rather than the entire membership. Initially groups will be based upon the kinds of services offered but other special interest groups may be added as needed. Anyone interested in the creation of a special subgroup should contact Scott with the name and email addresses of those to be listed. 

4  The board set the Dexmil neighborhood garage sale for May 21, 22, and 23 a Friday Saturday and Monday.  Nani Barretto will be arranging details and would welcome one or two persons to help her.  The board approved her spending up to $100 for advertising, posters, and maps.  Others in the neighborhood who are not Dexmil member may also be listed on our map if they contact Nani in time.  Although the sale will run for three days, individuals may participate for only one or two days.

5.  Several board members questioned raising the initiation fee to $20, suggesting it sounded both too arbitrary and commercially predatory.  It was suggested that shopping bags be offered for sale at members’ garage sales together with applications for membership.   Questions were asked about how eager we were to recruit additional members and the idea of keeping the group fairly small at about fifty households was discussed again.  No group decision on size has ever been fully discussed or agreed upon. The board and the entire membership at some future meeting should take up this question.

6.  The need for better computer support for some members was discussed briefly.  Scott offered assistance in wiring problems and Al and Sally both offered help in Macintosh software. 


7.  It was quickly agreed that the entire community could continue to cover postage costs for those few members we cannot reach by email. 

8.  After some discussion, board members agreed to make additional personal contact with the half dozen or so members to whom they distributed Directories.  Such contact might involve phone as well as email contact and could result in smaller group meetings to discuss community issues, possibly including the upcoming bylaws.   The subgroups assigned to each director are as follows:

Nani Barretto  -Daher, Katie Jones,  Scheider, Shaffer, L. Slomovitz, S. Slomovitz,

Al Feldt: Andes, Davis,  L Feldt,  Kaimowitz, O'Neil, Rinne, Stribe

Scott Hale:  Brumley, Gerstler, Klim,  Lathin,  McCrumb, Sestili,  Todd,

Joann Marcoux::, Baird, Broos, Gardner, Katherine Jones, Manko, Meadows,

Sally Mitani: Antonakos, Herskowitz, Kelley,  Ormand, Paasuke, Zinn  

Tom Weisskopf: Cooper, Corwin-Renner, Holzman, Hufstutter, Rodocker, Warner                   

 9.  One of our members, Melissa Todd is planning on providing periodic pick up and disposal of toxic wastes at the County facility on Zeeb Road.  Details remain to be worked out and there will be a charge of one DEXMIL or more per pick up.  Special handling may be required for certain substances.  We hope to get the first pick announced and scheduled out in April. 

10.  Feldt reported on the Local Currency effort funded by the Downtown Development Authority, It received mixed reviews from participants but on the whole appeared to be well documented with short descriptions of four major variations in use.   DEXMILS received a brief mention as a related effort. 

11.  Minor adjustments to the application and overview were approved subject to minor typgraphi8cal corrections.  

12.    The May meeting of the board will be held at Tom Weisskopf’s house, probably on the second or third Tuesday.  Time and location will be announced at least ten days before the meeting.