February 15, 2007 Issue                                       

©2007 The Chestnut Hill Local

CHCA Executive Committee welcomes tree committee chair
by PETE MAZZACCARO

The Executive Committee of the Chestnut Hill Community Association on Feb. 8 approved the long overdue revival of the association’s Street Trees Committee and named Ken Leroy, an arborist and Chestnut Hill resident, as committee chair.

LeRoy, who worked at the Morris Arboretum before opening his own tree expert service, was introduced to the committee by Susan Pizzano, vice president of the CHCA Physical Division, which encompasses several committees that have to do with zoning, aesthetics and other physical features of the neighborhood.

LeRoy said he was eager to revive the Street Trees Committee and help plant trees in what he called “an urban forest” and “the best tree neighborhood in the world.”

He said he felt that he and the committee could consult with neighbors on different blocks engaged in replanting or planting street trees.

He was unanimously approved by the committee.

The committee also received updates on several ongoing issues: the Oversight Committee, the Ad Hoc Committee on the CHCA/Bowman properties issue and proposed amendments to the association’s bylaws

Oversight Committee

The work of the Oversight Committee was discussed briefly. The committee and a report given by its chair, Jim Foster, sparked significant controversy at the last meeting of the Board of Directors (Jan. 25) after president Ron Recko confronted former president Maxine Maddox Dorneman with a loan document she signed as president of the Chestnut Hill Community Fund. The position does not exist, and Recko said he believed the signature constituted fraud.

Foster said that he intended to deliver a full report at the next board meeting on Feb. 22.

“We will be very specific in exploring what has been done and what future changes are needed to keep this [the CHCA] from going off the rails.”

Other business

• Tom Fleming, a member of the Executive Committee and the Ad Hoc Committee charged with examining the dispute between Bowman Properties and the Chestnut Hill Local asked for an extension of the committee’s term. He said they were still working to “make peace in the community.”

The Executive Committee voted to extend the committee’s term until Recko decides to disband it.

• Fleming, who is also chair of the association’s Fund Drive Committee, reported that this year’s fund drive had collected more than $50,000, halfway to the goal of $100,000.

• Board member Joseph Pizzano pointed out sections of the association’s bylaws that he believed were inconsistent. He noted that a rule in the bylaws concerning the placement of interlocking directors with other community bodies, such as the Chestnut Hill District and the Chestnut Hill Parking Foundation, required the board to appoint people to serve. In four further entries proposed by the current amendments to the bylaws (printed in last week’s issue), language concerning such appointments was removed.

Pizzano said he believed the practice of interlocking directors should be uniform or the language should be removed.

Several members of the bylaws committee present said they thought Pizzano’s motion could conceivably be offered as an amendment but did not want to entertain discussion about the bylaws at the next board meeting for fear that such discussion would exceed the meeting’s time constraints.

Bylaws committee member Howard Lesnick said he felt the bylaws could be offered up for a vote and simply voted for or against. The bylaws will be sent to the membership for a vote at the association’s annual meeting in early May.

• Recko said he had appointed three people to a committee organized by Chestnut Hill Hospital to help in moving forward the hospital’s renovation plans. The three are: architect Jeff Kreiger, Tom Fleming and Dr. Joseph Pizzano.

• Recko also said he had met with the trustees of the Chestnut Hill Community Fund and that the five new trustees — Jean Hemphill, Edward Putnam, Fred Walker, Stan Moat and Keen Butcher — were already busy gathering information to assess the status of the fund and would be reporting regularly to the board.

Three trustees who were involved in the controversial sale of a fund property at 8431 Germantown Ave. to Bowman Properties — Tom “Chip” Butler, Barney Johnston and Jim Sicks — accepted the board’s January request to resign.