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06.08.2010 KKB MinutesKeep Kennedale Beautiful June 8, 2010 Work Session Minutes Members Present: Wayne Wooten Michael Chandler Wilda Turner Special Guest: Carol Williams from Keep Haltom City Beautiful Wayne and James have confirmation from Bob Hart that the trucking company on S. Dick Price Rd. has given us the right of way to erect a Welcome To Kennedale sign. Speed Fabcrete will participate with their expertise and products making it easy to clean if damaged by taggers. It will be approximately 6' wide and 6' tall. Carol Williams arrives and is welcomed by Wayne with appreciation for giving her time to help us. Her information was invaluable and was as follows. KHCB has purchased long sleeve denim shirts with `Beautification Board" stitched on them. They also have polo shirts with their logo on them. They wear one or the other to all functions. The Governor's Award was the grant money they won. They submitted pictures showing proof of their projects and a summation of what they had done. A scrap book was made and divided into different categories such as hazardous waste, recycling, or whatever their projects were. The cities compete with similar size communities. Some of the grant money must be spent on designated projects determined by the State. She said we should apply for grants. Note to James from Wayne: Can you find out at the conference in Austin how do we become an affiliate to get the sign that says "This is a Keep Texas Beautiful Community "? KHCB maintains a tree farm. The farm provides trees to be used "in memory of', "dedicated to ", "in honor of that are planted in their city parks. Families or businesses purchase the trees and take care of them. If maintenance is discontinuted the "memory of sign is pulled and the tree is available for resale. KHCB has a Dumpster Day similar to our City Wide Clean Up days. Recycle tubs should be a pant of any event. Labelled for aluminum, trash, etc. School gardens (mainly vegetables) are popular with the State Awards Board. Would be good for winning the Governors Award. The schools conduct math and science classes using the gardens. 11 Their big event is at Christmas. Their businesses decorate with lights. Their funds come from hotel & motel taxes. We would have to do a fund raiser to raise money. They work with their Arts Group in wrapping signal boxes to prevent tagging. ( I didn't quite understand how this works.) They do Adopt -A -Spots with family names or business names on the signs. The areas can be very small to large. She said their city staff person was invaluable. I understood that the staff person's job description was mainly for KHCB with only a few other duties. Their city is much larger than Kennedale. They use the Micah Co., who makes signs for the highway dept., to make their signs. KHCB attaches the appropriate reflective letters. To do this they work closely with Code Enforcement Dept. She suggested we check with several sign companies. Sometimes they use just rocks or river rocks or crushed granite laid in a pattern instead of plants for landscaping. They have a garden club and do a plant exchange periodically. She suggested that since we don't yet have a garden club maybe we could do a Southeast Tarrant County event. The Kennedale News was suggested for advertisement. They installed cameras (the kind that film at night) to catch taggers and dumpers. KHCB has a mascot named Ben. The costume is worn by one of their members and appears at { ) different functions. Mike said we could have a Kenny the Kangaroo mascot. FYI: Pat said I wasn't wearing a kangaroo suit anywhere with him. WalMart has donated many damaged or broken bags of compost as well as fading plants. We should contact our local WalMart for the same things. Free giveaways are good to hand out at schools and city events. Wayne wants to get us a green house to be erected on city land. He said he would talk with Bob Hart and see if this is possible. Funding for our projects may be possible with financial help from the Rotary Club, Chamber of Commerce or EDC. Carol suggested we hone in on one project at first. And finally: Who put in the "Adopt A Highway" sign on the west end of the Parkway near Apache? Note to all: I will send Carol a Thank You Note for so unselfishly giving of her time to help us.