Utopia HSA Annual General Meeting

Our little neighborhood park at La Playa and Ventura was the setting for our Annual General Meeting on sunny Sunday, January 26. Over 60 members, including three brand new members, as well as several beautiful and helpful children, gathered to hear news, challenges and updates. As our neighbors gathered, everyone enjoyed refreshments—brownies, cookies, fruits, cheeses, chips and beverages– created and donated by fellow members.

AGM Report

President Corinne Collins called the meeting to order and began the agenda by noting the large and engaged crowd.

Police Liaison

Gale Patron, police liaison, reported, with a graph show-and-tell chart that revealed that our neighborhood is demonstrably the most crime free in the entire City of Miami. Gale introduced Sgt. Alberto Perez  who supported the neighborhood safety statistics while encouraging all to lock their cars, report out-of-place people or occurrences and generally be aware. Both the Sgt and Gale emphasized that our Association is about security. Questions were asked about traffic control; while our police patrol has the authority to stop and ticket yet that is not their mandate. It was emphasized that we need to be vocal with the city about encouraging our fair share of police visibility and coverage.

Treasurer’s report

Glenn Patron, treasurer, reported that our finances are strong due to our stable and growing membership, despite the City of Miami’s required pay increase for off duty police this past September.

Membership

Lucas Azar, membership chairman, gave a report on the state of our membership (now 141 homes), noting that “new members tend to be new arrivals to our Utopia neighborhood.    Yet, we continue working toward helping each member reach out to  our established neighbors who have not yet joined for one reason or another.”

The meeting wrapped up with Corinne thanking everyone for their comments, participation and enthusiasm.

Utopia Homeowners Security Association 2020 Board members

  • Corinne Collins, president
  • Sean Reichert, Jo-Ann Forster, & Annette La Greca,  Members at large
  • Maureen Pelham, secretary
  • Glenn Patron, treasurer
  • Gale Patron, police liaison
  • Lucas Azar and Mat Dillon, membership
  • Sam Dobrow, website and technology
  • Cheryl Andrews, communications