President – Tonya Knauth

My husband Rick and I moved to Garden Oaks in 2004, put down roots and expanded our family here. Our three children all attended GOMM, and we have been active in GO Kids and Boy Scouts, to name just a few of the groups we have enjoyed being part of. We feel fortunate to live in a small-town environment in the middle of a big city. I have volunteered and served the neighborhood in many capacities, and I have a strong desire to continue to work for everyone to improve our community.

Vice-President – Kevin David

I moved to Garden Oaks in 1994. As a child I spent a lot of time in Garden Oaks with my aunts and grandparents. My mother was raised in Garden Oaks and my father was raised in Shepherd Park Plaza. My wife, two daughters and I really love the subdivision and all the wonderful people who reside in GO and make this such a great community. Over the years I have seen many changes. I witnessed farewells to some great neighborhood staples but we have had several family-friendly new businesses open to replace them. I look forward to serving and doing my part to make our lovely community a better and safer place for all of us to enjoy.

Treasurer – Jeff Martin

– My family has lived in Garden Oaks for 11 years. We love our neighbors and the community and are proud to call Garden Oaks home. The three of us have volunteered at GOMM in various ways over the last 10 years and made friends with many wonderful GO families. I am the Vice President and Treasurer with my current employer and served as Treasurer for our local Cub Scouts for 3 years.

Secretary – Adam Pryor

– My wife Kendra and I are both new to Garden Oaks, having moved into the neighborhood in August of this year. With a two-year-old daughter and a newborn on the way, we were drawn to the family-friendly nature of the neighborhood, while still providing the access to great restaurants and shopping in the immediate area. Being new to Garden Oaks, I have chosen to serve on the board to get better acquainted with my neighbors and to help foster a greater sense of community.

Joe Casarez, GOCC President

Fellow Garden Oaks residents, please join us for the December Civic Club Holiday Party on Tuesday, December 3rd, at 7 PM at the American Legion Post 560 on Alba. The Civic Club will provide a main dish as well as iced tea, and we ask that each attendee bring a side dish or a dessert to share. The bar at the Post will be open if you want to celebrate with an adult beverage. Also, if you could bring an unwrapped toy for the Constables’ Toy Drive, that would be great support for their annual effort to make the holidays a bit more special for some children in need.

December’s gathering will be my last meeting as GOCC President. We will be voting on the 2020 budget and new officers for 2020. The past three years, for me, have been very rewarding, having served first as secretary, then vice-president and now president. I have enjoyed meeting a lot more people in the neighborhood and have seen how much the Civic Club has been a huge benefit to the neighborhood.

I have been truly impressed with the commitment of a core group of volunteers, especially those who give up their time to run our committees and major events. Their contributions are the backbone of our organization and frankly we would be lost without them. The Civic Club is a volunteer-driven organization, and we can always use more people and their talents. The benefits of getting involved include not only learning more about the neighborhood, but also giving back and meeting a lot of good and interesting people. I urge you to be more involved in the Garden Oaks community in 2020. There are so many ways to be involved.  Join us at the GO Civic Club meetings and let’s work together to find a place where your ideas and talents can best be utilized to make Garden Oaks the great community that we love so much.

The GOCC Nominating Committee has generated a slate of candidates to stand for election at the December meeting.  Volunteers can also be nominated for  election to any position from the floor at the December meeting.   Voting will be done by those who are present and are current civic club members.  The nominated slate of officers is presented below.

I have enjoyed serving as your President and will look forward to continuing to see you at our meetings and neighborhood events.

My warmest regards and Happy Holidays!

Slate of Candidates for 2020 GOCC Officer Positions:

President – Tonya Knauth (currently Vice-President)

My husband Rick and I moved to Garden Oaks in 2004, put down roots and expanded our family here. Our three children all attended GOMM, and we have been active in GO Kids and Boy Scouts, to name just a few of the groups we have enjoyed being part of. We feel fortunate to live in a small-town environment in the middle of a big city. I have volunteered and served the neighborhood in many capacities, and I have a strong desire to continue to work for everyone to improve our community.

Vice-President – Kevin David

I moved to Garden Oaks in 1994. As a child I spent a lot of time in Garden Oaks with my aunts and grandparents. My mother was raised in Garden Oaks and my father was raised in Shepherd Park Plaza. My wife, two daughters and I really love the subdivision and all the wonderful people who reside in GO and make this such a great community. Over the years I have seen many changes. I witnessed farewells to some great neighborhood staples but we have had several family-friendly new businesses open to replace them. I look forward to serving and doing my part to make our lovely community a better and safer place for all of us to enjoy.

Treasurer – Jeff Martin

– My family has lived in Garden Oaks for 11 years. We love our neighbors and the community and are proud to call Garden Oaks home. The three of us have volunteered at GOMM in various ways over the last 10 years and made friends with many wonderful GO families. I am the Vice President and Treasurer with my current employer and served as Treasurer for our local Cub Scouts for 3 years.

Secretary – Adam Pryor

– My wife Kendra and I are both new to Garden Oaks, having moved into the neighborhood in August of this year. With a two-year-old daughter and a newborn on the way, we were drawn to the family-friendly nature of the neighborhood, while still providing the access to great restaurants and shopping in the immediate area. Being new to Garden Oaks, I have chosen to serve on the board to get better acquainted with my neighbors and to help foster a greater sense of community.

The speaker for the November meeting will be Nick Freeman with 911Wildlife (911Wildlife.com). Nick will talk about how 911Wildlife humanly removes animals from houses, apartments, etc. No traps or poisons. One-way doors are installed to evict unwanted residents. Babies relocated so moms can move to new location. Come join us. Free pizza from Brother’s Pizza provided.

Hello neighbors, I hope everyone is doing well. The Garden Oaks Civic Club will be having its annual officers elections at the upcoming December holiday party. Every year, a nominating committee made up of GO Civic Club members is created to seek out neighbors who are interested in serving our community by filling any open officer position on the civic club board.
Sometimes the committee’s job is made easy because the current officers will decide to fill the position for another year. This year however, we have 3 officers who will be stepping down. The nominating committee will then meet to seek out neighbors who are willing to serve our community. This slate of candidates will then be presented at the December meeting and voted upon by the civic club members in attendance.
The Garden Oaks Civic Club (GOCC) provides a forum for the residents to actively engage, provide input on neighborhood issues, problem solve and become more cohesive as a neighborhood.
My message today serves two purposes. The first is to ask for volunteers to form and fulfill the task of the nominating committee. It is a pretty straightforward process that usually only requires a couple of meetings. The committee uses the current civic club member list to seek out volunteers to serve on the civic club board and then present that list to the current board for an election to take place.
The second purpose of my post is to ask for volunteers from the neighborhood to serve in the positions of secretary, treasurer and vice-president. I will be stepping down as President as will Teresa Coleman as Treasurer and Helen Sestak as Secretary. Current Vice-President, Tonya Knauth, will run for the President position.
This is a great opportunity for you, our neighbors, to provide a fresh new look and opportunity to share new ideas and perspectives to the benefit of our neighborhood.
I have served as secretary, vice-president and now president and it has been a great experience. I have met neighbors from every section of GO and have made many new friends.
I hope that you give some thought to volunteering to serve on the nominating committee or to fill one of the officer positions on the GO Civic Club board. If you are interested in either group, please contact me or any of the other officers. Our contact information can be found at the Garden Oaks website: https://www.gardenoaks.org/gocc-home/
We would like to complete the process sooner than later so I will check back in one week and provide an update on our request for volunteers.
Thank you all for your time and consideration.
Joe Casarez
Garden Oaks Civic Club President