2.                  Report from the Town Director of Public Works, Brett Warner and Town Horticulturist, Melinda Linde as response to concerns expressed to the BOD about the plant choices, cost and environmental impact.  (See the addendum for written report provided by Mr. Warner)

·        Brett Warner described the improvements over the past 26 years and distributed a written synopsis

·        Bethany Beach is a Tree City USA member and the Public Works Department provides mowing, planting, etc.  The key objective for the current horticultural program was a splash of color so that “you know you’ve arrived” when you get to Bethany.

·        The budget is $55K annually and includes fertilizer, mulch, pine needles, dirt plus plants.  Not labor –

·        2 million gallons of water is used for grass and flowers in town, compared to 600,000 gallons for washing folk’s feet. – Out of 180 million gallons produced per year.  Grass receives the lion’s share of water – median strips, Centennial Park and the Natter property taking most of the rest.

·        Melinda Linde reported that Bethany spent approximately $14K on annuals this year which produces the color from May to October.

·        Each summer Ms. Linde has added more shrubs and perennials to reduce maintenance – but the main objective is the color especially in the showpiece bed on Garfield.  Ms. Linde does mulching, weeding, pruning etc. 

·        This year there are only two dedicated staff to the plantings. 

·        Mr. Warner displayed a Map of planting areas throughout the town and explained that mowing is safer now that more landscaping has been added (mowers used to hit rocks and sticks). 

·        Planting areas in addition to the large beds noted above include trolley stops (annuals), planters and Savannah’s Landing property (only perennials).

·        Price, availability and quality of plants are the key purchase criteria for products used.

·        Mr. Warner noted that exclusive use of local plants would limit the variety to a few species.  He further explained that Ms.Linde wasn’t hired to plant only native plants – her mission was to add color – which wouldn’t have been effective with just natives.

·        Ms. Linde elaborated on some of the species used throughout the town - Crepe Myrtles and Regosa Roses are naturalized, Knock-out roses are used a lot now along with shrubs, Hawthornes and Hydrangeas – none of which are native but they do well here. She explained that she prefers to plant things that grow well here and are drought tolerant, etc.

·        Ms. Linde noted that if we replaced annuals with all perennials, there might be some savings but perennials are still susceptible to storm damage etc (as happened in May, 2008). 

·        Discussions amongst the attendees concluded that if one only had to replace ½ of plantings each year, we could save approximately $7k a year.

·        All told approximate $106k annually is spent on horticulture, including labor, plus the water (Mr. Warner did not have the cost of the water available.)

·        Incremental costs for the current program as opposed to native or perennials only are less than that as Bethany would still have to somehow maintain the flowers to establish a cared-for look that helps prevent trash problems and other disorder that could be more prevalent if the plantings weren’t there.  The “New York” model – taking care of the small things helps prevent bigger issues was mentioned.

·        Several BOD members expressed their very favorable views of the town’s horticultural program and their belief that the flowers greatly improve the appearance of the town. It was stated that we receive a lot of bang for the buck in terms of quality of life and the look of the town.

·        Other towns are joining the initiative to “keep up with the Jones’s” to beautify the entire coastal area.

·        John Himmelberg thanked Mr. Warner and Ms. Linde for taking time out of their weekend to come talk to us and noted that the town staff were very supportive to BBLA in answering our questions.

·        Mr. Warner also reported town is pushing sand to fill the swales that have formed on the beach and should be done next week.

1. Treasurer’s report from Tracy Mulligan - we have $28K net of outstanding checks.   Dues are annual.           Elections expenses with newsletter will be about $7k.  Misc other expenses will drop the balance to $20K without new dues.

1. Approval of Minutes of May 24, 2008 BoD Meeting –motion made, seconded and approved.

1. Report from Committee working on Election Newsletter, Absentee Ballots, and Candidates’ Night
• Steve Wode excused himself from the meeting as he is running for Town Council.  Margaret Young excused herself periodically as she deemed appropriate. 
• Dan Costello reported that the questionnaires have been sent to the candidates and are due Monday morning.  The printer should have final copy COB Monday for mailing. 
• He reported that we used the same printing/mailing vendor as last newsletter but Coastal Printing has new system (due to our complaints last time) that should result in a more timely receipt than occurred with the annual newsletter last spring. Due to the short time between the filing date and the election, the timing of request for absentee voting is critical.
• Absentee ballots are due by the date of the election – Ms. Denault reported that they do check the mail 3 times on Saturday. 
• Saturday walk-in absentee ballot voting will be available this year as well – providing a one-stop process.  The process will be described in the Town’s official elections letter.
• New plans for the BBLA newsletter include:

·  1 page per candidate

·  News letter will include the absentee ballot request affidavit and instructions – instructions for actually voting will come from the Town with the ballot after the affidavit request is fulfilled.

• Faith Denault reported that Dan Costello, Tracy Mulligan and others provided input to the Town’s instructions, that will go to every household, that have been incorporated.  The letter has been reviewed by council and the Election’s Board
• Every house will get 2 affidavits, one from the Town and one from BBLA.  The same instructions will be included in both so confusion shouldn’t be an issue.
• A message was suggested for both letters, “every vote counts” – since elections in the past have been decided by only a handful of votes.
• Margaret Young excused herself as we prepared to randomly choose

the order of candidate statements in the newsletter by picking the names out of a hat.  Discussion ensued as to the importance of describing how the order was established. 

·  A Motion to use the random process, with explanation in the newsletter was made seconded and approved.

·  The hat was passed for picking the names by different BOD members.

• Dan Costello explained that Candidate’s night will be held in the fire-hall, same format as last year.  Steve Trodden will moderate and “collate” the questions again this year.  Four phases for the event will include candidate statements, advance questions, written questions to be collated that evening and then open questions from the floor.  A suggestion was made to publish the procedures in an agenda, with time allotments, so that citizens will understand the process and will be assured time at the end for any questions that they feel have not been addressed.


• A second random drawing to determine order of candidates’ speeches was held.

·  Sally Philips will collate the questions and read them to the candidates.

·  Lois Lipsett will man the BBLA sign-up table.

• BOD agreed to include Newsletter Blurb requesting folks to join BBLA.
• A motion was made, seconded and passed that John Himmelberg will send note to the Candidates addressing the defined process for Candidate’s night and how we chose the order. 

1. Contacts with other homeowners’ associations – A Motion was made, seconded and passed to offer to host the next ACTION (HOA group that already exists) meeting that needs to be hosted.  
• John Himmelberg reported that he did hear back from Gerald Hocker in response to his recent letter requesting that the speed limit be lowered on Route 1 north of town.  Rep. Hocker stated that he had contacted DELDOT about the 50 MPH speed limit request and that it is basically up to them. DELDOT reportedly does not support the request.  This may be theme of ACTION meeting.

1. Web-site and database for BBLA – John Vogt reported that Website and database may need some professional support – Website content should be kept current – he suggested list of service providers such as baby-sitters, contractors, etc., might be desirable additions.  The Town website does not refer to BBLA.  John noted that reliance on 2 volunteers to provide a mailing list for BBLA should not continue as it is not fair to them and is not efficient.  Issues around the current multiple database sources of mailing list data that led to an inability to send payment reminders last spring were discussed, including the need to separate cash receipts from maintenance of members for internal control, etc.  Discussions included professional services, suggestions of what to include in the website, including awareness that too much information is not desirable – and process for maintaining currency. 
• John Himmelberg announced that the next meeting will be in Oct/Nov timeframe and suggested that we have a report from John Vogt’s committee with recommended, quantified actions on the Communications issues then.

1. Beach Re-nourishment:  Discussion then proceeded regarding an ongoing concern about beach re-nourishment and future financing of the periodic work to be done over the next 50 years.   Where the money will come from and what options are available for funding sources was discussed.  John asked whether BBLA should take a “bur under the saddle” role and form another committee to chair this interest.

·        It was noted that the program plan agreement is between the Army Corps of Engineers and DNREC.  The question as to what the split of funding between State and Federal Gov’t is was left open.  It was also mentioned that Tony Pratt’s goal is to get all coastal towns on same budget cycle for re-nourishment.  A suggestion was made that we determine the budget cycle for the Corps and asked whether there is a 5 year plan that includes re-nourishment money. 

·        It was stated that DNREC decides when re-nourishment is needed based on unknown criteria.  What exactly is re-nourishment?  Bob Parsons reported that it is bringing the beach back to its “designed” state.

·        Bob suggested BBLA consider joining the ASBPA (American Shore and Beach Preservation Association), an organization that provides a forum to lobby our representatives on this or other issues ASBPA will hold an annual summit meeting in the February-March timeframe. 

·        Discussion about reaching out to join with Rehoboth and Fenwick on this issue touched on the facts that Bethany was last on the schedule to receive our initial reconstruction due to prior efforts here, and Rehoboth has a very effective liaison with state. The members seemed to agree that we should explore a liaison with Fenwick and Rehoboth – realizing that our interests may diverge.  Perhaps this should be a topic for ACTION as well.  Tracy reported that Fenwick, BBLA and South Bethany have strong organizations that should be interested – not sure about Dewey and Rehoboth.  Even North Bethany could have an interest based on indirect benefits.  At least one North Bethany resident was very helpful in supporting on the initial project.

·        John Himmelberg would like to nominate a committee to get this going to educate ourselves and provide informal prodding that the Town Council may not be able to do.  John requests interested members to contact him.

1.  Lois Lipsett proposed a letter from BBLA to Town Council to make recycling mandatory.  It was suggested that it should be part of tax payment vice a voluntary payment.  There are 400 properties recycling now.  Execution of the program and the size of the bins and the fact that folks are not here daily to move the bins in and out, etc. all contribute to the low adoption now.  It was suggested that those issues should be addressed prior to making it mandatory.  Recycling is mandatory in South Bethany, but there are community issues that may prevent Bethany from making it mandatory.  This topic will be discussed at the next meeting.

1. Motion to adjourn made and passed at 12:11 pm.

Addendum:  Report on Bethany Beach Horticultural Program from Director of Public Works Brett Warner

As the Public Works Director for the Town of Bethany Beach for eight years, an employee

for twenty-six, I feel compelled to respond to concerns regarding the Towns horticulture efforts. Since I have been an employee with the Town, I cannot recall any one thing that the Town has done that has generated more positive feedback from residents and visitors to our community. On any given day, whether at work or not, the positive comments that my staff and I receive regarding the plantings throughout the Town are numerous. Not

only have our efforts made Bethany Beach a beautiful place, it has inspired surrounding communities to commit time and resources to their own beautification efforts.

I would offer that annuals have been used in the Town's planting beds since I can remember. Prior to the Town doing their own landscaping, we paid an outside contractor to plant all beds in Town using annual plants. The only difference was, the same plants were planted year after year, and the maintenance of the beds was lackluster at best. Although there was some shrubbery in those beds, annuals were used every year. The shrubbery was never maintained, looked badly and was decimated by disease and eventually had to be removed.

The Town has planted annuals in its flower beds as long as can be remembered.

Flower beds for us are the median in front of Town Hall and the bed diagonally across from Town Hall. Annuals make up the majority of those plantings, as they have in front of Town Hall for decades. As a matter of course our philosophy has been to plant flowers in flower beds. ALL of our other plantings are a mix of perennials, shrubbery and annuals. Perennials depending on the application are not necessarily the panacea that some believe, and many do not respond well to the wind, water and weather we are subjected to. Our efforts throughout Bethany Beach have been recognized by one of the most prestigious Horticultural Societies in the world.

Our previous Horticulturist was not a big fan of color in our plantings. However, what people in the trade call "exotics" were used extensively. Many of these plantings were expensive and non indigenous. They required as much or more care as annuals and gave the overall impression of a jungle rather than a well designed and cared for planting area. Unfortunately some thought all ~se plantings were indigenous gardens, they were not.

.' .'

Some speak about the need to plant indigenous species in flower beds as opposed to cultivated annuals and/or perennials. This is often presented as the environmentally correct thing to do but there is nothing environmentally incorrect with planting cultivated species in area where they do not pose a threat to the ecosystem. It is simply a matter of taste and should not be presented as harming the environment, it doesn't.

Over the last several years we have increasingly evaluated existing plantings, removing many invasive plants and planting natives in their place. Long before there was a Millville Town Hall, Bethany Beach had taken advantage of grant monies and planted its own Native Plant Garden at our Nature Center. The Center for Inland Bays has partnered with us in these efforts .