Tuesday,
229
Middlefield
Kathy asked if
we should make another proposal for an amount for a sign announcing the
meetings. After speaking with her brother, who can print vinyl letters, she
said the sign would still cost $70 to $100. Sandie said she would laminate a
sign for under $20. It will read:
Thursday 7-9 PM
Fairhaven Park Pavilion
Kathy inquired
of the members as to whether or not they were ready for the Dec.2nd
ENA meeting – letterboxes filed, newspapers notified. It was decided to re-submit our budget
proposal for a yearly mailing at the next meeting. Also a new list of committee members with
pertinent information is needed. (K. will provide.) Also K. requested that
committee members with expenses submit them to Lois now that a working budget
has been approved and also let K. now of the costs so that she can keep a
record of expenses. It was decided that
K. should contact Sue so that advertising on the website could be discussed at
the Dec. 2nd meeting.
Sandie asked
if the committee found any problems with the website. She asked communication
committee members to visit the website often to check if links are working,
graphics and files are loading quickly, etc. The left column will be the “hard
side” for ENA business and the right column will be the “soft side” for general
neighborly messages. It might contain photos in the future, history of
Edgemoor, spotlight on residents, social gatherings, etc.
Links to other
local websites were added to the right side of the website. This action increased
our ratings in the search engines. The ENA website now appears about 9th
out of 839 in Google and on the top of the
Advertising on
the website was considered to generate additional funds for the association.
Sandie showed the committee Happy Valley’s website and she will contact their
webmaster to find out what they charge for advertising. The following prices
were generally discussed:
$100
per year per 4 x 4 space with unlimited links
$25
for scanned business card which can link to email address or website
After lengthy
discussion the committee recommended we make a proposal at the next meeting.
Following are
the general parameters recommended by the committee:
1.
Include
a statement on the advertising page to be called “Business Friends”
2.
Include
statement: “ENA does not make any recommendations or endorsements of these
businesses”
3.
All
advertisers must be residents of
4.
Advertisements
will be business card size
5.
The
advertiser will provide all artwork
6.
There
will be a limit of 6 cards per type of business to begin.
7.
There
will be a downloadable form on the website, which the advertiser will fill out,
print and mail, with their check to ENA.
8.
All
businesses are subject to approval by the ENA Communications Committee
9.
Advertising
on the website will begin in January 2004, if approved by the ENA
The need for a
reporter to take and photos for the website and write human Interest stories
was discussed. We will contact WWU to see if any students would like to take
this job on. Carol will go to the library on Monday, Nov. 22 for the talk on
Galen Biery. She will see if we can get any photos for the website related to Edgemoor
neighborhood. We will post a request in the newsletter for a “reporter” to
write human interest articles for the website.
Dates
involving the ENA Newsletter were discussed and the following timeline was
agreed upon:
The Newsletter will go out one week
before each monthly meeting, with all information due 10 days before
the meeting. It was suggested we email Committee Chairs 14 days before the
meeting to ask them for reports for the website, accompanied by a brief lead in
for the monthly newsletter. Sandie will
ask Sue if she intends to continue being the liaison between the website and
the committee chairs.
The next meeting of the Communications
Committee will be in January. We will not meet in December due to everyone’s
busy holiday schedule.
The meeting was adjourned at
Minutes submitted by Sandie Koplowitz and
Kathy Kaiser