Preston Bend Cemetery Association Board Meeting

 

The Preston Bend Cemetery Association held a Board meeting on May 20, 2023, at the home of Virginia Thompson. Those in attendance were Jessica Adams, Stanley Thomas, Steve Lindsey, Virginia Thompson, Clifford Helm, Morgan Helm, and Marvelle Hudson.

The meeting was called to order at 4:18 by President, Jessica Adams.

Jessica Adams opened with a word of Prayer.

The minutes from the Board meeting on March 25, 2023 were read by Morgan Helm, Secretary. Motion was made by Stanley Thomas to approve the minutes, seconded by Virginia Thompson. The minutes were approved.

The Treasurer Report was presented by Marvelle Hudson, Treasurer. Marvelle presented a customer profile from First United Bank. The newly created CD is 4.89% interest. Virginia Thompson made a motion to approve the financial report, seconded by Stanley Thomas. The Treasurer Report was approved.

Old Business:

Stanley Thomas gave a summary of the recent work completed by SKAGGS Fencing to repair fencing and gates. Stanley and Steve Lindsey have also installed a new flagpole with a U.S flag.

No new updates on obtaining Liability Insurance.

Jessica presented photos of the memorial benches that have arrived and been assembled by Bryan Adams. Jessica and Bryan will be installing the benches beneath the pavilion in the coming weeks. Virginia will be looking into obtaining metal memorial plaques that can be coustom engraved and secured onto the back slats of the memorial bench. These plaques will be sold at the upcoming meeting.

Jessica presented information from her meeting at the cemetery with headstone preservation specialist, Rodger McWilliams. After walking the cemetery in its entirety with Jessica, Rodger gave an itemized list of headstones/cost. Steve Lindsey made a motion to budget $1000 each year to repair headstones, starting with those in dire need first, seconded by Stanley Thomas. Motion was approved.

Conversation about different forms of security including cameras and signs resulted in Stanley exploring ideas for wording and updating our current entry sign that might help deter criminal activity from happening at the cemetery. Also, contact information would be updated on a new sign.

Virginia and Cynthia have been hard at work creating an updated mailout with new photos and wording. These will be in the mail soon.

Conversations continued about enlarging the board. Clifford Helm made a motion to enlarge the board to a maximum of 10 members and minimum of 5 members. Seconded by Steve Lindsey. Motion was approved.

Conversations about physical and financial growth and awareness have been tabled until our next board meeting.

New Business:

Jessica brought up the idea of creating an annual budget so we can better plan our spending. This was tabled until our next board meeting.

Stanley presented a survey of the cemetery, created by Preston Trail Land Surveying and will file it with the county’s existing Preston Bend Cemetery file.

Stanley also presented renderings and bids for new main entry gate to be created and installed. Virginia made a motion to present the gate idea at the general meeting. This was seconded by Steve Lindsey. The motion was approved.

Clifford Helm made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Stanley Thomas.

Meeting was adjourned at 6:06

The next meeting is set for June 18th at 10:00AM at the Cemetery.

Morgan Helm/Secretary

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