The Walnut Creek Neighborhood Association held its annual General Meeting by Zoom on Tuesday, 22 February 2022, 6 to 8 pm. This meeting is required by the bylaws of the Association, and is ordinarily held during the first four months of the year. A peak of 30 participants attended, not counting the City of Austin officials.
The meeting opened with a PowerPoint presentation about the Association, detailing the activities of the Association in the recent past, currently underway, and planned for the future. This presentation is a good reminder of what your neighborhood association is about (community-building) and how it’s going about it. You will be able to view it on the neighborhood’s Facebook page, Nextdoor page, and website in the near future (see links for these in the box to the left).
The meeting continued with the Treasurer’s report. In 2021, the Association received about $4600 ($2200 dues, $280 donations to the park, $1700 general donations, and $370 donated to the Walnut Creek Cat Coalition), and spent about $3626 ($226 for the PO box, $2000 for the newsletter, and $1400 to rebuild the “Eubank Acres” pillar), for a surplus of about $1000, the first significant surplus in years (all figures are rounded). Among several reasons, this is a function of the exact timing of the reporting period, and also the reduced expenditures during the pandemic.
The meeting then proceeded with the election of Board members, who serve for a two-year period. As of the date of the General Meeting, there were 14 Board members, i.e., Directors. Luis Chapa is leaving the Board because he is leaving the neighborhood. Sara Breuer, Colin Haymes, Siobhan Blackburn, and James Miller were in the middle of their two-year terms and thus were carried over. Jill Leberknight, Bunnie and Dorsey Twidwell (Co-Directors), Tasha Bowser, Theresa Jones, Clay Smith, Pat Pitt, Robert Meadows, Sara Merrell, and Karen Watkins were standing for re-election to another two-year term and were re-elected by the membership in attendance. Melissa Huber was standing for election as a new Board member and was elected by the membership in attendance. Melissa also is taking the place of Luis as the liaison between the Board and the Safety Team. The Board thus continues to have 14 members going forward.
The Safety Team then made a short presentation to acquaint the membership with its role, function, and activities. Charter and block map handouts were provided, and these will be posted at the sites mentioned above. Christian Ninaud is now the primary point of contact for the neighborhood.
A presentation subsequently was made on the progress of the trail construction at the Walnut Bluffs Trailhead. This presentation took the form of a PowerPoint deck presented by Genest Landry, the City of Austin Project Manager for this project. Ana Sievert from the City of Austin was also in attendance. This deck will be posted at the sites as mentioned above. Basically, the trail leg from the Trailhead entrance to North Lamar will be completed by April, 2022, when we’ll once again be able to use the main trail as in the past, but with a wide concrete walkway. Construction also continues on the west side of North Lamar in the Walnut Creek Metropolitan Park.
Jill Leberknight then spoke about “Biscuits and Coffey” events. Jill used to perform with the Biscuit Brothers, as the character Buttermilk Biscuit (there is a Wikipedia entry for the Biscuit Brothers, as well as an eponymous website, to which the reader is referred for background). Beth Coffey is a resident of the neighborhood. The two have been making videos about the neighborhood, both in a talk show format and also in an “out-and-about” format, on landscaping and backyard design features. They are posted to YouTube, Nextdoor and Facebook (not all on each).
Finally, Jill spoke about the upcoming property protest season, making the point that information pooled by the neighborhood is a potent tool for dealing with rising property appraisals; see her agenda and schedule below.
