Thanks to everyone who helped clean up and decorate the front entrance off Western! The trees along the brick walls on Western and 197th were trimmed, the flower beds were cleaned out, pansies and mums were planted, Fall decorations were placed, and mulch was spread. It looks so much better!

Sargent Scalla from the OKC Police Department spoke first.  He said the #1 way to keep our neighborhood safe is for everyone to know our neighbors and to look out for each other.  Social events through the HOA are very important to foster this.  The second most important thing is environmental design for homes to protect against crime; specifically, keeping vegetation in front of windows to less than 24 inches and trees in our yard to less than 6 feet.  Blocked windows from this cause a big issue with crime.  Use LED lighting in the most vulnerable areas of your house, including the front porch, the outside side door that leads into your garage, and the backyard.  Motion detector lights also work well there. Alarm systems and cameras are important.  Signs that notify those are in place are good.  Dogs are a good deterrent to thieves. Document all the serial numbers of the items in your home, and don’t keep valuables in your master bedroom closet. Tell your trusted neighbors when you will be out of town so they may watch your house, and don’t post vacation pictures on social media while you are gone. Thieves use a selection process for break ins, and they look for the above items. For car break ins, the most important things are to not leave anything valuable in your car, especially at night, and to lock your car.  For personal safety, have a plan of what to do if someone breaks in while you are home.  The best thing to do is to run out the opposite door that someone is breaking into and run to a safe place while calling 911.  Shoot only as a last result. If you hear a neighbor being physically assaulted, yell at the person to stop as you are calling 911. Don’t open your door to strangers; use your glass door, and talk to them through it.  Make sure your house numbers are on the front of the house above the garage door in a contrasting color and lit at night and also sprayed on the curb.  Call 911 ANYTIME you feel your own or our neighborhood safety and security is in peril. This doesn’t have to be just for “bad guys,” but it can be if there are hazards in the street, teenagers violating curfew and/or being loud, or other issues that might cause personal or property harm.  The police are fine for people to call 911 anytime they have a concern.  Just tell them it’s not an emergency from the beginning of the call so they know, if it’s not a true emergency.  Call or email the City Action Line for code violations.  Sargent Scalla said that our neighborhood is extremely safe. We have limited street access into and out of our neighborhood, we have a lot of neighbors who walk around the neighborhood for exercise, and we watch out for each other.  A couple of things that he recommended that we do are to install street sign toppers to the street signs in our addition and to continue to have HOA social events.

The rest of the meeting was a general meeting.  The HOA is having a Work Day at the Western entrance of the neighborhood at 8am on October 12.  Please come out to help clean up the flower beds and trim some trees.  We had our landscaper trim the biggest trees, so only the smaller ones need to be done (note that we don’t pay our landscaper to do much with the flower beds because of budget restraints; he does what we pay him for). Immediately after, the Decorating Committee will be decorating the entrance for Fall, and they need donations of any outdoor Fall decor you might like to donate.  Contact Dana at whitmarshdavid@att.net. Our next event after that will be the Christmas Come and Go Open House at 1205 NW 199th from 2-4 on December 8.  Santa will be there for photos, so bring your kids/pets/self for that.  Goodies will be served, and it will be a fun way to meet your neighbors!  We will then have a HOA Meeting/Social in late January.

The Yard of the Month has been very popular and successful since we began it in May.  We have one more Yard of the Month in October and then a Yard of the Month for Holiday Displays in December. The recipient of the Yard of the Month gets to choose the winner for the next month, and they have all said it has been extremely difficult to narrow it down to one home each month.  That’s a good problem to have!  That shows that our neighbors take pride in home ownership, and the yards show it.

The Treasurer report shows a beginning balance of $5212.88 on 5/1/19, normal expenses of $3836.36 since then (including payments for landscaping, utilities, postbox, social events, sprinkler repairs, and tree trimming), dues and donations of $105, and an ending balance on 9/16/19 of $1481.52. The rest of 2019 expenses should be fairly low.  We do plan to look into buying a new neighborhood watch sign for the entrance, a sign for the north end of Lariat regarding ballfield parking, etc., a new garage sale banner, and the sign toppers the police recommended. We are also looking into having a section of the website dedicated to neighbor recommendations for vendors; something like the app Nextdoor, except all in one place and specific to our neighborhood.

The new neighborhood directories were printed and delivered a couple of weeks ago.  They are current as of that date.  If you didn’t get one or you have a correction, please email danforthfarmshoa@gmail.com.  We have about 92% of the emails for the neighborhood, which is phenomenal and helps with speedy and efficient communication. If we don’t have yours, please email the above email.  The website and our Facebook page are always being updated with upcoming events and information, so please check those out, too.

Thanks to Kathy for hosting! 
The neighborhood is looking great! The Yard of the Month has begun. It will be May-Sept for landscaping and in December for holiday decorations. The spotlights in the entrance planters need to be fixed. The Landscape Committee has the parts, and a couple of neighbors with electrical experience volunteered to help fix them.
Dues are still needed and are still being collected. In April, we began with $6103.89, had dues deposits of $100, had debits for landscaping and OG&E for $991.01, and an ending balance of $5212.88. We haven’t needed to run the sprinklers yet. When we do, we will have that repair cost and the monthly water bill then. $100 is being allocated for the Block Party in June and $100-$150 for the banner and signs mentioned below.
The Neighborhood Directory is almost finished. HOA Secretary and local realtor Linda Stillwell has volunteered to fund the copying, and then it will be distributed. Thanks, Linda! The email list is at about 91%, so that is a good amount! Email will be the primary means of communication between the HOA Board and neighbors. Facebook will also be used. The website will be used for big things and events.
The Welcoming/Activities Committee is planning a Neighborhood Block Party on Saturday, June 1st at 6pm on the north end of Lariat (in front of the big rocks). The HOA will provide the main dish, with neighbors bringing potluck sides. An ice cream truck will be there for neighbors to purchase treats, so bring cash for that. Kids activities will be planned. A survey will be going out via email soon to help in planning this. This will be the June HOA meeting, rather than on that next Monday, as is usual.
There is a possibility that the neighborhood covenants will need to be updated in the future. More information needs to be gathered on this.
Car thefts all around this part of Edmond have been going up. Please try to remove all valuables from your car and lock it if it’s not in your garage. We are going to try to ask the police to patrol this area more often, especially at night, if possible.
Because Danforth Farms 2 has decided to no longer post their second garage sale banner at the Western entrance for the garage sale each May, choosing to post both of them at the Danforth entrance, instead, we are going to have to buy a new banner. The cost will be about $80. We will also be buying signs to post at the north end of Lariat to remind people who are using the baseball fields that they should park at the church, and none of their children should be allowed to be unsupervised in our neighborhood. They will also remind Danforth Farms neighbors who walk their dogs on St. Monica property to bring baggies and clean up after their dogs.
The HOA will begin to meet quarterly, rather than monthly, in June. Meetings will be in June, September, December, and March then. There will be activities throughout the year in addition to this, especially around holidays. Please keep watching your email, our Facebook page, and our website to keep up with this.

Congratulations to the Boyles at 19800 Harness Court!

We had a good attendance.  Thanks to all who came.  We really appreciate your time.  Thanks to Kathy for hosting. A BIG thank you to all that have paid their dues!!!

Officers were elected by unanimous vote as follows:
President – David Whitmarsh
Vice-President – Kathy Morris
Secretary–  Linda Stillwell
Treasurer – Desirae Rota and Karen Blagg

We created some new roles to help:
Welcome Committee Chair — Helen McKay and Janice Bunas
Landscaping – Ron Visser
Block Captain Chair –Paula Miller
Entrance Decorations –Dana Whitmarsh

The new website danforthfarms.comis up and running. Thanks to DeeJay for making this happen. 

The new metal signs were placed at the main entrance off of Western and the corner of 197th and Lariat.  Reminder headers will be placed on the top of signs and will be updated with meeting reminders as well as upcoming events.

The Easter Egg Hunt is this Saturday, April 13, 1 PM to 2 PM at the south end of Harness Ct. in the cul-de-sac.  Remember to bring 12 plastic eggs filled with candy, etc. for each child.  Please turn in eggs by April 12 to 19600 Harness Ct.

The next meeting is on May 6th at 7 PM at 1205 NW199th  Street.

The neighborhood garage sale will be May 3-5, 2019.  Please remember you need a permit for the garage sale.  You can request this on line from Oklahoma City at okc.gov or call 405-297-2606 between the hours of 8-5.

It was discussed that everyone that has a storm shelter has to be registered with the City of Oklahoma City.  It might be wise to also register with the HOA so that you might receive help faster from friends and neighbors.

Once again, we had a great turnout and a pretty productive meeting. Thanks to all who came, and thanks to Kathy for hosting!
Subjects discussed included:
Encouraging our neighbors to be respectful and to take pride in their homes and landscaping. This will help to keep our home values high.
Everyone should help keep watch of the neighborhood and report any suspicious activity to the police. They should also alert other homeowners to issues when they are on vacation, at work, etc. This will help make our neighborhood safer.
Kathy encouraged all dog owners to keep watch for potential pet thieves and to lock gates on yards with dogs. There was also a consensus that dog owners should clean up after their dogs when they are walking them around the neighborhood.
There is a new website at danforthfarms.com that is in the works. Thanks DeeJay for your time and expertise on this! Look for that to be up and running soon.
New metal signs are going to be ordered for both the main entrance off Western and the corner of 197th and Lariat. These will have the website on them and will have reminders about meetings, etc. Thank you, Linda, for offering to pay for these!
The new landscaping contract is slightly less than last year, which is a good thing, but we will still need more dues to help cover the cost of that, as well as sprinkler repair, water, and electric. If you haven’t paid yet, there is still time. If you have, please encourage your neighbors to, as well.
The covenants have been emailed to all who we have emails for, and they were posted on Nextdoor and Facebook. An electronic copy was sent to the Edmond Board of Realtors to send out to all their members so all local realtors have those for prospective buyers and know to tell them about our HOA.
We will continue to have monthly meetings the first Monday of every month at 1205 NW 199th for the foreseeable future. The next meeting is on April 1st at 7pm.
Many wonderful people at the meeting tonight signed up to be board members, and several of them have formed a Welcoming Committee and an upcoming Women’s Club. Thanks Janice, Helen, Vikki, Desirae, Arabella, and Ann! If you are interested in being on one of these committees, please respond to this email. Thanks!
Board officer elections were tabled to the next meeting, but there are some great candidates who are considering running. If you would like to be considered for a position, please respond to this email.
A family neighborhood block party is being discussed for this summer, and the neighborhood garage sale will be the first weekend in May.
Everyone is encouraged to come to next month’s meeting and to bring a neighbor with them. If you can’t come, but you want to add a subject for discussion, please respond to this email. Thanks!