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Smart Planning for Los Altos Hills

Friends of Westwind Meeting Video

Friends of Westwind Meeting December 14th, 2005

Is the council failing its responsibility to maintain Westwind for the benefit of the Town? Over the years we've all heard stories about how the wait list for stalls was maintained in secrecy and how some Town residents felt they were passed over for non-residents. We've heard how residents would get the horses of their trainers into the Barn before residents, and so on. As far as we know, the Friends have tried to clean up their act, and are actually displaying the current wait list. If anyone has any complaints about how they were treated, please forward the information to the Hills2000 Webmaster. If you wish, we will keep your name confidential.

The following video is a regular Friends of Westwind Board meeting.

Members of the Board appearing from left to right are: LeeAnn Warshawsky, Susan Lam, Susie Holic (non-resident, acting Secretary), Sharon O'Malley, Harry Bahlman, Sara Fisher (non-resident and 4-H liaison), and Dan Alexander.

The people appearing in the audience include: Town residents and members of Friends of Westwind: Val, Jane, and Zsuza; and non-residents and members of Friends of Westwind: Therese, Diana, Nanci, Carol, Edie, Sharon, and Amy.

An email to Hills2000 on backyard horse fees, was reviewed and forwarded to the Friends Board. It was debated as the first item of business and the fee schedule was amended. Here is a portion of the confirming email to the original writer:

What seems to be your most important question pertains to the fees paid by residents like yourself with a backyard horse. On Wednesday, the board approved a membership for residents like you that requires that you become an Associate Member ($75 each year) and pay $5 each time you come to use the facility (we'll set up some kind of honor system for this). Westwind has a variety of approved instructors (independent contractors) who have their own fee schedules and are required to carry insurance and pay Westwind 10% of their monthly lesson/training revenue.

Of interest in this meeting is the passage of the new fee schedule as well as the policy of subletting. Later in the meeting, they return to the topic of repairs to the lower arena which was brought up by LeeAnn in the October meeting at an estimated $34,000. In the October meeting, Mordo suggested that the increased fees being considered at that time could pay this bill. The Board arrived at a different fee schedule which is now estimated to bring in an additional $5,000 which was somewhat short of the needed money. Other alternatives including fundraisers and bake sales are being proposed to raise the money rather than increase fees.

You can listen/view the meeting in two multi-media formats. These include a low speed video (56k modem), and (if you are watching on a Hills2000 supplied CD) high speed video (DSL or higher speeds).