Members gathered at the Firehouse Plaza on the morning of July 5, 2026, to hear a review of the organization’s activities, financial condition and progress in the Patterson Point Preserve (PPP). They also received updates about the proposed Enhanced Financial Infrastructure District (EIFD) for the lower Russian River and current efforts to address septic issues in our area. Finally, the group discussed how to improve caretaking of Firehouse Plaza for community events, including issues of private parking and dumping of yard debris.

• Membership has remained fairly stable and we have welcomed new members this past year, who already are integrating into and supporting our objectives.

• Our finances remain very stable and (due to our Schwab account) have improved over the past year. We will continue to hold our reserves in very safe investments in the event we need to do tree cutting, expand trail repair or undertake other expensive improvements to the PPP.

• We continue to improve and maintain the PPP, with each year yielding more native planting and fewer mounds of ivy. Next year we will need to do some tree pruning and cutting, for the safety of our visitors.

• The EIFD process is moving forward, which will establish a small but hopefully growing fund for the lower Russian River to help with infrastructure needs. This initiative will not raise anyone’s taxes — it just shifts governance over a small part of our annual property taxes to the local EIFD district to determine how to spend the tax funds. Please go to the District 5 website for more information and to make comments on the proposal.

• Our local FoVG experts in wastewater treatment options (Rich Holmer and Kyla Brooke) presented a possible alternative to hooking up to a sewer plant, which is to create a local septic district whose short-term purpose would be to create funding for inspection and repair of any septic systems in our area that are failing or need to be upgraded, and to be able to apply for state grants for septic upgrades as well.

• After hearing various member comments about use of the Firehouse Plaza, Rich and Kyla created an ad hoc committee to confer about problems and solutions, which will include new signage (thanks to Natalie Robb-Wilder) and potentially barriers to prevent vehicles from parking in the area.