A new Board of Trustees in Burke Centre took on old business at its first meeting of the fiscal year, proving the Burke Centre Swim Club issue is still a hot topic.
After a short reception for both the incoming and departing trustees at the annual meeting, Thursday, March 8, the new board sat down and got to business. The first steps in establishing a pool task force were not as smooth as expected, though.
The request brought up a lengthy dialogue among board members about the details of the task force’s responsibility and the board’s expectations of it. Since the board would still need to appoint members to the task force at a later meeting, Denis Gulakowski, one of the new at-large trustees, questioned the immediacy to establish the group.
“I think the community needs some reassurance,” said Kala Quintana, the Woods trustee. “It’s more in the spirit of acknowledging that the board will look at this issue very seriously.”
THE NEED FOR the task force stems from recent meetings in which members from both the community and the Burke Centre Swim Club expressed concern about the operation of the pools. The swim club requested more hours for its team members and encountered some opposition from local residents. After concerns from both sides were heard, the board realized it needed to look at the pools more closely to determine how to approach the hours and other issues in the future.
“We uncovered a heck of a lot of issues,” said Jimi Grande, the Landings trustee and the new board’s president.
The board passed the establishment of the task force at the March 8 meeting, in a 4-3 vote, but it left the details and member appointments for a later work session discussion.
The pool issue is not the only old business left over from the last fiscal year. Patrick Gloyd, the Burke Centre Conservancy’s executive director, presented his annual report to the departing board members before they officially left their positions.
His report included updates on the Woods Community Center renovation project and the pending pond-dredging project, both of which began with the last board. The county recently approved the Planned Residential Community plan for the Woods center, and now the Conservancy is waiting for the minor site plan approval. Gloyd enthusiastically stated that he thinks the project would be complete by the end of the calendar year, which is also Burke Centre’s 30th anniversary.
The new Board of Trustees will also have to decide whether to move forward with biological or mechanical dredging in Burke Centre ponds. The last board approved a bathymetric study that produced pros and cons for both kinds of dredging. Gloyd said the community and the board will have to decide which approach is more appropriate.
Gloyd thanked the outgoing board members for their work during what he called an eventful year. The 2006-07 Board of Trustees accomplished a lot during the year, said Gloyd, including an erosion study, an update to the community strategic plan, the establishment of a community parking district, a revision to Burke Centre’s investment policy and a bathymetric study of Burke Centre’s ponds, among other business.
“[Burke Centre is] an amazing operation now,” said Grande. “The community owes [the departing board members] a debt of gratitude.”