ICRC chooses new board members: Sonnier accepts presidency

At its Oct. 9 board meeting, Dawn Sonnier acceded to prevailing board sentiment and accepted the presidency of the Idyllwild Community Recreation Council. The position has been vacant since the resignation of previous President John Simpson in mid 2011. After Simpson’s resignation, Sonnier, the Vice President, simply retained that office.

In addition, the board accepted the email resignation of Cheryl Vladika, and elected new Directors Rachel Teeguarden and Jenny Stepien. With their addition, the board now has five of the seven directors authorized in the organization bylaws. The board confirmed serving director Claudia Posey as the new vice president and Stepien as director at large. Teeguarden had been elected treasurer in an email vote in September.

In her capacity, Stepien takes over management of the popular ICRC Speaker Series. The first of the free events will be held at 6 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, at Silver Pines Lodge. As is customary, a wine and cheese reception at 5:30 p.m. precedes the speaker. At the first event, Bob Norman will talk about the “History of Lake Hemet.” Stepien has inked seven additional presentations including returns of popular presenters Dr. Larry Kawano and artist-educator Ken Young. The series runs through June 13.

In other business, the board reported it had decided not to file suit against failed ice rink promoter Gary Stephen, because a “small claims lawsuit will be too difficult because [Stephen] is self-employed and wages cannot be garnished.” When Stephen failed to open a much ballyhooed ice rink on the Idyllwild Community Center property in 2011, he also left ICRC saddled with bills for water and electricity totaling over $1,400.

In money matters, the board approved a motion that $10 from every playground picket sold from June 17 forward would go to the ICRC operating fund. In addition, 5 percent of all future fundraisers would go to its operating fund.