Archives/Technology Note: Historical Register

The Historical Register will consider a location historic if:

The quality of significance in simmish history, architecture, archeology, engineering, and culture is present in districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects that possess integrity of location, design, setting, materials, workmanship, feeling, and association, and:

A. That are associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of simmish history; or

B. That are associated with the lives of persons significant in simmish past; or


C. That embody the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction, or that represent the work of a master, or that possess high artistic values, or that represent a significant and distinguishable entity whose components may lack individual distinction; or

D. That have yielded, or may be likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history.


As a result, some families are interested in rebuilding thier ancestoral homes from TS1. I think that instead families and the hood should focus on maintaining the historical locales here already, such as Celebration Park.

Medical Note-Pharmacy Expansion

The pharmacy is in need of expansion. Right now the gift shop is selling plenty of items and bringing in most of the profits. We're going to expand the product selection soon, however, the phamarcy needs to be expanded as well with more medicines and over-the-counter drugs.

Hood Council Note: Comp Plan?

Should we create a compehensive plan? The Comprehensive Plan would be the blueprint for growth and development of the community. It would describe the long-term direction and vision for the hood. The Comprehensive Plan would contain the long-term goals for the hood, such as providing a safe and healthy environment for residents, supporting businesses to help create jobs, and preserving the high quality of life the residents of Apple Valley have come to expect.

I will present it to the hood council members.

Hood Council Note: Calendar & Holidays

We had a need to establish a set holiday calendar-especially with the season's deal in place making keeping time much easier. We will have these holidays according to the time passed in the hood-international events-such as the Food Expo would be held concurrently with other hoods.

We go by season cycles and days, ie, Summer 1, Simday 3. These are the holidays the hood will observe:

Spring: Simday 3: Founder's Day
Celebrate the founding of Apple Valley by honoring the past founders of Apple Valley, Greymount. A day to celebrate the past by holding historical lectures, festivals and more.

Summer: Simday 3: Rememberance Day
Honor the residents of Apple Valley that lost thier lives in past crashes. The day will be marked with mourning and honoring the dead and those who have lost their lives to make ours better.

Fall: Simday 3: Blessed Harvest Day
Celebrate the harvest and family. Day will be marked with feasts and festivals.

Winter: Simday 4: Christmas
Celebrate the birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. Day will be marked with service projects, family gatherings and festivals.

Hood Council Note: Stock Market

Should Apple Valley create a local stock market? That was the question posed to me. It would help business owners with limited funds, but there is a loan program for them-which reminds me, should we manage business loans the same way as mortgages (using Monique's bill payer system). That would help in terms of new deals which have a tendency to wipe out old accounts and loans.


I'll did a survey amoung small business owners and found out the following:

-there are 5 community businesses owned by residents
--The Toy Shoppe
--CupaJava
--Herendez Art Gallery
--Tati's
--The Farmer's Market
--Fresh Flora



-there are 2 municipal businesses owned by the hood
--The Centre
--The Medical Centre


-there is 1 homebased businesses
--Apple Valley Historical Church Gift Shop


The municipal and home-based businesses had no desire for shareholders. Of the community lot businesses, there was little desire for shareholders. Mostly the businesses operate with business loans.

--The Toy Shoppe-$0 loan
--CupaJava-$0 loan
--Herendez Art Gallery-$0 loan
--Tati's-$10,000 loan
--The Farmer's Market-$3000 loan
--Fresh Flora-$12,000 loan

Total: $25,000 in business loans



At this time do not recommend a stock market, instead a simple listing of businesses and thier customer service scores and rank would suffice. This is done with the Yellow Pages service from Simmerville.

Archives/Technology Note: Website

Many residents have expressed confusion about the website and how often the website is updated and the difficulty in keeping up with updates. Not to mention the increased job duties of the Archives/Technology Officer (me).

As a result, the website will now be updated at least twice a month and at least one blog will be updated each day, however this will no longer be reflected be any special notation. Instead when the website is updated a list of blogs (by family) that have been updated will be listed.

This will be effective Dec 1, 2007

Hood Council Note: Publishing Hood Council Meetings

The online hood council meetings are not going well-residents are not visiting the online forum and there isn't much incentive to maintain the forum. Instead we're going to publish the notes of the hood council meetings. This will be done on the website-not a blog type posting-but actual minutes of the meetings and concerns raised.

Hood Council Note: Farming Rights

There's been a lot of discussion about farming rights and food produce for the hood, so I decided to do a formal report.

Number of households: 13 (not including house on BAP Campus-thier food source comes from national sources)

Current Number of Residential lots: 15

Number of ground plots needed to feed each lot: 5

Total number of ground plots needed: 75

Only one family has farm rights. These farm rights include:

• Must develop/harvest a minimum of 22 ground plots, 3 fruit trees or any combination of the two to equal 25 (ie 20 ground plots/5 fruit trees; 10 ground plots, 15 fruit trees, etc).
  
• Must develop at least one plot of each food: Tomatoes , Strawberries , Cucumbers , Pole Beans, Peppers , Eggplant.
  
• Must have at least two fruit trees variety: Apple, Lemon, Orange
  
• May reside on a 3x3 to a 4x3 lot
  
• $300 incentive each season

Mendenhall Farm: 30 plots (5 plots of each variety) + 6 fruit trees (2 trees of each variety) + 3 bee hives that each produce 4 jars of honey simdaily (12 jars (6 servings each (72 meals total)) simdaily)+ small pond with healthy fish population.

There are no grocery stores and Smokey Jane's reduced it's selection of fine wines and cheeses that can be purchased-thus families pay an additional $50 delivery fee for processed food. This is an incentive for families to buy fresh local produce from the Farmer's Market. As long as prices are kept reasonable, the hood council will be able to support the farm and local produce.

Hood Council Note: Hood Employees

The hood has several employees-most are paid according to a basic salary and fee, but others (like the pastor and teacher) are paid differently:

The Centre
Bank Teller (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)
Newspaper Editor (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)
Welcome Center Cashier/ Travel Guide (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)

The Medical Centre
Medical Center Director (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)
Nurse (fair salary scaled based on skill/badges)

AV Historical Church
Pastor (flat salary + benefits)

AV Secondary Academy
Principal/Administrator (flat salary + benefits)

The hood has numerous job openings-thinking about giving talks and assesment tests to the teenagers and university students to help them realize where they would fit into the hood's economy. Will talk to Rayne about this venture since it falls under her duties.

Hood Council Note: Musik Faire

The Musik Festival has been approved. It will be the last day of summer, a nice event for the teens, at The Foundry. It will be in the evening of the Summer Festival and we're importing special snack kiosks for the event, as well as making sure there is ample room and restrooms.


Performers
Sam Jones, Mayfair Plaza: pending
Selena Farrell, Mayfair Plaza: pending
Sergio Gitano, Harper's Cove: confirmed
The Fighters, Palatial Heights: confirmed

Special Guests
Chad Vanderburg, MC: confirmed


There will be a re-release of Alisa Crawston's CDs and concert tees; and the sales of the other performers CDs and tees. Tickets will be on sale for $50 and VIP tickets will be on sale for ~$150 and will feature access to the VIP lounge, meet and greet with performers and a special souvenior backstage pass. The profits will go towards the purchase of new computers for the school.

Archives/Technology Note-Update

Another update report:

Assist in the management of family tree information: Goal is to update the family tree document bi-monthly. Uploading this as we speak along with an updated map of the hood. Revamped the family tree to allow links bewteen each family and to allow the database to be smaller. This is taking more time than anticipated and will be uploaded later this year.

Collect community & residents registry: Template and tools are now online for other hood administrators to download. Trying to decide if we should collect skill and badge information since this is very dynamic.

Test and implement 3rd party technology: With the new deal working on implementing a "patch" to the hood's infrastructure. The testing folders are quite large as residents buy more items online and ask for it to be tested. Will look into limiting the amounts of items residents may purchase. Also, the folders are due for a cull-will do inventory of cc items and delete little used items by the end of the year.

Perform back-ups of resident information: Another backup was done right before the "patch" was implemented. Patch was implemented, still in testing to note any changes and ill-effects.

Serve as local reporter: on track.

Manage the local library: Still not so well. Plan on creating a reading incentive plan with the community director.

Hood Council Note: New Lot

The Garden Association met with me today. They presented a proposal for a botonical garden. The garden would reside on a lot as small as 2x2 to as large as 3x3. In addition to the numerous flowers, plants and walking paths, there would be a greenhouse (with a space for weddings), stage for performances.


The club even had a mock-up design of the garden with a japenese garden, country cottage garden, space for the stage, and coffee shop.


They emphasized that this would not duplicate the purpose of Celebration Park in that the botanical gardens would be mostly educational, an area for beautiful weddings and special events such as concerts. Which Apple Valley does need.


I reviewed thier proposal and looked at some numbers. Also I have determined a suitable location for the site-and the site is now nearing final construction.

Hood Council Note: New Tasks?

With the new deal, we're supposed to discuss how to manage the new task of overseeing the increased travel and vacation destinations. Since I'm in charge of culture, it falls to me :(

Thankfully there isn't much. So here's an update to my plan:

Secure family values, uphold rights for children and elders

• Encourage families to create wills by hosting a free class at The Centre, free donuts will bring a bigger crowd


• Research health insurance policies for residents


• Establish a play group system for children to meet thier neighbors

Ensure a family friendly and healthy community for current & future generations.

• Encourage residents to compost instead of trash (see report in paper)


• Install more lights and benches at the parks


• Obtain address signs for homes

Ensure adequate culture, local food produce, restaurants and bars, & social meeting places.

• Look into selling travel certificates


• Look into hosting charter tours


• Host a child friendly event: Children's Festival with free lemonade and sweets and local entertainment and games and prizes. Location: Celebration Park or Modern Sculpture Park, cost for residents: free


• Host a teen-friendly event.Musik Festival with concerts from local bands and maybe some international acts (contact Sergio Gitano of Harper's Cove, post notice on Career & Fame Board). Location: The Foundry


• Add a trend section in the local paper. Will review resturaunts, bars, etc. Also help residents stay abreast of the local trends.


• Allow local farmer's to reside on larger lots, thus produce more food.


• Build a public pool and gym for residents to enjoy in the summer time

Ensure a quality education system for residents

• Build a local school for the children of Apple Valley.


• Host graduation ceremonies for graduates of the school and the university


• Encourage more extracurricular activities for teens and children-start with debate team, chess club, and simscouting program Postponed until more information about Spring 2008 Deal is revealed.
  

Education Director Notes: Education Plan

The hood council wants me to create a report of my goals for the students and school.



Chose school colors and mascot
We need to chose 2-3 school colors and a mascot, apples are not very intimidating. Something to build school pride.



Chose an extracurricular for students
Should have at least one school sponsered extracurricular that students would enjoy and participate in. Sports teams are hard to do unless we travel to compete, maybe a club of some sort.


Students learn average of one skill a day
Should students focus on specializing and learning particular skills (ie level 8 or higher on skills test in 1 or 2 skills) or leave school with broad knowledge (ie leve 3 and higher on skills tests in 5 or more skills)

Medical Centre Note-Health Insurance

I report to the Community Director and one of her objectives is to research health insurance options. Thus this assignment falls to me. I've looked at other hoods to see how thier health insurance works and if health insurance is a neccessary part of Apple Valley life.



The fundamental concept of insurance is that it balances costs across a large, random sample of sims. Apple Valley is a small sample of sims and in addition, medical costs are low in the hood and sims do not utilize the medical centre as often except for prescriptions. Also, there has not been a need for expensive procedures such as surgeries and intensive testing.


Current Medical Fees
Broken Limb $1,500 (0)
IVF Treatment $5,000 (1)
Induced Labor $2,500 (1)
Consulation with Doctor $100 (0)
Plastic Surgery/per part $3,000 (0)
Prescription Medicine $450 (4)
to be added
Rehabilitation Services/per simday $500 (0)
Midwifery Services (including pre-natal care, delivery, 1st check-up) $1000 (0)

There are numerous health care options, I would recommend a non-profit hood funded/managed healthcare system. This can be accomplished by having an additional tax for each household (say about $50-$100/simweek). This would currently provide about $900-$1800 a simweek for the healthcare bank. This money can be used to reduce the cost of services for residents that use it during the simweek. However, this would require more thought and planning.


Due to the lack of need for a health insurance and amount of difficulty in creating such a program, I recommend that the topic be shelved until next simweek to see if any changes have been noted in the hood and the health of the residents. Until then, residents can use the options currently available to them (installment plans, welfare assistance application, healthy living).

Hood Council Note: Financial Director Update

Update on Plans-need to start thinking about new set of plans now that the new deal is signed.

Local businesses and associated laws

• Establish a program for New Small Business Owners:
  Give new business owners $1000-$3000 credit towards purchase of a community lot.
  Help business owners network with other small business owners in other hoods, perhaps the resurgance of the Small Business Conference.

Implement taxes and welfare support

• Establish a program for Mortgage Loans:
  Borrower must provide at least 10% down paymentLoans must be paid off within 42 simdays (six simweeks) Payments will be daily.


• Increase rental fees:
  Increase rental fees on the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) due to promixity to main strip.


• Change tax structure:
  Instead of $750/simweek per residental lot, increase it to $750/simweek per family. Removes loophole where families in multi-family housing paid less in taxes than other residents.

Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood

• Decrease number of multi-family units from 10 to 4


• Build mixed income housing area:


• Renovate Pavilion


• Build Celebration Park II


• Revamp Celebration Park I


• Combine Celebration Park I and II


• Expand Modern Sculpture Park


• Renovate The Core

Archives/Technology Notes: Update Report

Another update report:


Assist in the management of family tree information: Goal is to update the family tree document bi-monthly. Missed August's deadline-next update is September, along with updated map of the hood.

Collect community & residents registry: Will offer template to other hoods by request.


Test and implement 3rd party technology: Going well, technology is held in testing folder and changes are noted due to the usage-however the folders are getting quite large as residents buy more items online and ask for it to be tested. SOLVED-recent apprearences of menu-options on fridges for "management/make single plates/bank controllor" or "management/make single plates/colonial window" due to the massive imports of new food items from TSR2. All new recipes taken out and will slowly be reintroduced to find the culprit-might be a conflict bewteen the foods and Monique's computer system the hood uses.


Perform back-ups of resident information: With the new deal -another backup was done right before the hood council signed it.


Serve as local reporter: online paper is published each simday, new section of paper added with reviews of local establishments.


Manage the local library: Still not so well, residents don't utilize the library, perhaps creating special events? Incentives for reading?

Hood Council Note: Mortgages II

After much complaint, the mortgage system has been altered.

After investigating the options and noting current technology Apple Valley will use the following system for mortgages.

Residents will use the Monique Payer/Payee Bills/Book for mortgages.

Mortgages will have a daily payment and must be paid within 42 simdays.

Families must have a minimum of 10% downpayment for thier home.

Current interest rate for all loans is 5%

The total amount of the mortgage will be calculated as:
( Amount of house - downpayment ) * (1 + interest rate)
(§20,000-§2,000)*1.05=§22,500 mortgage

The daily payment is calculated as:
mortgage amount/42 (rounded to nearest §10)
§22,500/42=§540 daily payment

The mortgage amount, interest rate and number of days remaining for the mortgage will be noted in each household's "bio" screen and maintained by the Financial Director.

All families that have mortgages less than five simdays old, their mortgages will automatically be recalculated using the new system.

Families are encouraged to meet with the Financial Director at the bank in order to discuss affordability based on daily salary and current debts.

Hood Council Note: Community Director Report

Update on my progress this term:

Secure family values, uphold rights for children and elders

• Encourage families to create wills by hosting a free class at The Centre, free donuts will bring a bigger crowd



• Research health insurance policies for residents



• Establish a play group system for children to meet thier neighbors

Ensure a family friendly and healthy community for current & future generations.

• Encourage residents to compost instead of trash



• Install more lights and benches at the parks



• Obtain address signs for homes

Ensure adequate culture, local food produce, restaurants and bars, & social meeting places.

• Host a child friendly event: Children's Festival with free lemonade and sweets and local entertainment and games and prizes. Location: Celebration Park or Modern Sculpture Park, cost for residents: free



• Host a teen-friendly event. (What's cool now?): Musik Festival with concerts from local bands (contact Selita Grey) and maybe some international acts (contact Sergio Gitano of Harper's Cove, post notice on Career & Fame Board). Location: The Foundry



• Add a trend section in the local paper. Will review resturaunts, bars, etc. Also help residents stay abreast of the local trends.



• Allow local farmer's to reside on larger lots, thus produce more food.



• Build a public pool and gym for residents to enjoy in the summer time

Ensure a quality education system for residents

• Build a local school for the children of Apple Valley.



• Host graduation ceremonies for graduates of the school and the university



• Encourage more extracurricular activities for teens and children-start with debate team, chess club, and simscouting program

Hood Council Note: Hood President Report

Update on my progress this term-I must say, things are going rather well.

Construct a Bank

• Add bank office at The Centre.

Re-Establish fines/community service for conflicts

• Construction of jail .


• Find Jailor: Interiem jailor will be Jarvis Forrester-Miller.


• Update Fines


• Create a process for punishing residents and townies.


• Renovate The Centre to add a courthouse.

Increase tourism

• Order additional custom objects: maps, cups, postcards, poster prints, trinkets, etc. Also get map created of the hood to hang in the Welcome Center instead of the TV.


• Keep online Office of Tourism updated with flights and events.


• Hold raffle for a free trip to Apple Valley. Including airfare, accomadations, food, and spending money. ($5000)


• Create a Apple Valley Flag

Change timetable

• Follow Baleen Island's way of keeping time: instead of simdays, use Season # Simday #

Further relationship with affliates

• Email/chat with spokessims from affliate hoods more often


• Travel to affliate hoods

Hood Council Note: New Deal

Apple Valley will sign the new deal allowing access to popular vacation locales. As a result, the hood council has voted not to resume rotation until after the new deal is finalized. We're at a great point-simMonday-to resume a new deal. We're expecting a great deal of residents to take advantage of the new deal and plan vacations for thier family. We don't know as much about the vaction homes option, but we're exploring levying a tax on such luxury items.

Medical Centre Note-Lectures

To get more patrons out to the clinic and learning about thier health, I started a series of health classes at the clinic. The classes are held outside, so passerbys would be interested to stop by. The lectures are every simMonday, simWednesday and simFriday at 3pm (about three lectures a season). There is wheat cake and herbal tea for refreshments and Q&A as well.

Lectures Schedule:
Keeping Cool this Summer (Summer 1, Day 1) -Ellsworth Dawson

Exercise and Health (Summer 1, Day 3)-Jan Dawson

Basic First Aid (Summer 1, Day 5)

Preparing for Cold & Flu Season (Fall 1, Day 2)
Safe Babysitting Practices (Fall 1, Day 5)

Pastoral Notes: 1st Service

I can't believe it, we finally had our first church service. A few sims showed up and there as a very generous offering. Thanks to the offering and the fundraisers from the Food Expo, we were able to do some remodeling of the church. I now have an office to counsel and the gift shop is larger. Nicole found some nice bibles to sell in the store during the weekdays and after services. Now I must start work on the second sermon!

Medical Centre Note: Stone Veins

There is a case of stone veins in the hood. The first case I ever saw, but after looking back through the records, there may have been another case, but simply undiagnosed. From my research:



Stone Veins

1. What is Stone Veins?


2. What are the sign and symptoms of Stone Veins?


3. How is Stone Veins diagnosed and evaluated?


4. What is the treatment for Stone Veins?

1. What is Stone Veins?
   Stone Veins is a rare terminal blood disorder that affects less than 1% of the sim population. The condition develops when the arteries that supply blood to the internal organs, arms, and legs become completely or partially blocked by the tightening and imflammation of the blood vessels. Stone Veins has a strong hereditary tendency, although the exact cause is unknown.


2. What are the sign and symptoms of Stone Veins?
   The inflammation of the arteries can lead to poor blood supply to tissues of the body in patients with Stone Veins. This can cause painful, cool or blanched extremities, dizziness, headaches, chest pain, and abdominal pain. Other early symptoms can include fatigue, weight loss, and low-grade fever.


3. How is Stone Veins diagnosed and evaluated?
   During a physical examination, the doctor will look for signs that are indicative of periphStone Veins, including weak or absent artery pulses in the extremities, specific sounds that can be heard over the arteries with a stethoscope, changes in blood pressure in the limbs, and skin color and nail changes due to tissue ischemia. In addition to the history of symptoms and the physical signs of Stone Veins described above, doctors can use imaging tests and blood tests in the diagnosis of the disease.


4. What is the treatment for Stone Veins?
   If Stone Veins detected early enough, it can be treated by suppressing the inflammation with medication. However, most patients do not improve, and stronger medications which suppress the immune system and relieve pain are used until the patient's demise.

Hood Council Note: Networking

I've been networking with residents of the hood, basically having espresso, chatting with them in the park or in stores. Anything to see how the pulse of the hood is going. Making sure that all concerns are being voiced and met. We have re-established the online forum for hood council meetings. It was a good place to sort out ideas and residents could submit thier concerns without fear. My goals are going along nicely, we have a nice surplus in the budget which means we can afford to be aggressive with our plans.

Hood Council Note: Mortgages

A Mortgage system has been approved. After investigating the options and noting current technology Apple Valley will use the following system for mortgages.


Residents will use the Monique Payer/Payee Bills/Book for mortgages. Mortgages will have a daily payment and must be paid within 21 simdays. Families must have a minimum of 10% downpayment for thier home.


The total amount of the mortgage will be calculated as: ( Amount of house - downpayment ) * (1 + interest rate). The daily payment is calculated as: mortgage amount/# simdays. The mortgage amount, interest rate and number of days remaining for the mortgage will be noted in each household's "bio" screen and maintained by the Financial Director.


Families are encouraged to meet with the Financial Director at the bank in order to discuss affordability based on daily salary and current debts. Interest rates are based on your financial history and ability to pay.

Medical Centre Note-List of Services

Decided to make a list of the services available from the Medical Centre in addition to primary care and diagnosis:

Inpatient Care
Plastic Surgery: includes pre-surgery consultation to determine what the patient desires and how to accomplish this, the surgery and one day of inpatient admittance to monitor the patient's health.
Childbirth: includes pre-natal visits and check-ups, deliver either in hospital or at home, and first healthy baby check-up.

Out-Patient Care
Setting of Broken Limbs
Weight Loss Assistance: consultation with doctor to determine a healthy plan to lose weight with regular check-ups to monitor progress.
Physical Rehabilitation: consultation with doctor to determine a healthy plan to gain use of limbs again with regular check-ups to monitor progress.

Pastoral Notes: A Season for Planting

and a season for harvest. Not only in the natural world are there seasons for harvesting crops and planting crops, but spiritually as well. I am continually reminded about my flock, the residents of the hood and how like the plants in my garden I am to nuture them, prune them at times, toss fertilizer on them and water them. God will cause the growth and then they will be ripe and ready for harvest. I have been praying about the spiritual state of the hood, residents seems to coast through life as if there is no God, that life is simply a state of wake up-work-eat-sleep. As if they are robots. I hope to get through to them that they are more than that-life can have purpose and meaning, but...well I struggle with how. Thank God for my lovely wife, Nicole. She thinks of the best ideas to spread the message around the hood, be it lectures, opening our home for dinners or what have you. She is truly my helpmate, I don't know what I would do without her in my life.

Hood Council Note: Population

The population is decreasing. It's nothing to be concerned over especially since Apple Valley totes a philosphy of quality over quanity. SimMonday started with 81 sims, we end this term (simSaturday) with 66 sims. The decrease of growth has come mostly from death: many sims were elders on thier last leg (accounting for 33% of the loss), there was a tragic accident (20%), and a suspicious death; then there were several families/sims that emmigrated to other hoods including Simmington Hills, Harper's Cove and Riverdale. Couple that with the low birth rate. Though I do think Apple Valley will approach another plateau soon.

Medical Centre Note-Pharmacy

Too many sims are trying to buy prescription drugs in bulk. This means that we keep large amounts of drugs in inventory, which isn't good. From now on, I will have to personally give each sim the appropiate prescription and only sell over the counter drugs at the pharmacy.


Right now there are three prescription drugs with regionally imposed expiration dates-so they must be taken within two simdays of purchase, so it's not good to save for future usage. :

-A pill (available by prescription only from Katy76) that cures the common cold, flu or pnemionia pretty quickly. I will now only prescribe the drug in cases of pneumonia, flus and colds that have been longer than two simdays and virus. The sufferers from the common cold can buy OTC drugs, drink lots of orange juice and rest.

-A pill (available by prescription only from Katy76) that aids in weight loss. Will only be prescribed in extreme cases after a battery of tests measuring fat percentage, family history, and pysche evaluation. Otherwise, sims can consult with me and we'll create a fitness and health plan that includes dieting and exercise to lose weight.

-A pill (available by prescription only from Katy76) that aids in insomnia.

Archives/Technology Notes

Apparently I must submit regular reports to the hood council on my tasks and progress.

Assist in the management of family tree information: the family tree will be updated in August. Goal is to update the family tree document monthly.

Collect community & residents registry: going well, the file is rather large, perhaps we can offer the template to other hoods to manage thier resident data.

Test and implement 3rd party technology: Going well, technology is held in testing folder and changes are noted due to the usage. Currently investigating recent apprearences of menu-options on fridges for "management/make single plates/bank controllor" or "management/make single plates/colonial window"

Perform back-ups of resident information: Going well, perform back-up of data each simday

Serve as local reporter: going well, online paper is to be published each simday, new section of paper to be added with reviews of local establishments.

Manage the local library: not so well, Community Director wants a children's reading hour established, need to encourage more residents to utilize the library.

Hood Council Note: Bank

Finally, the bank is complete...well, at least the construction is. There's the main lobby, ATM, and a small cubicle/office to meetings regarding financial discussions (college funding, mortgages, etc). In the lobby residents can also pick up bill payment invoices and books to keep track of regular payments, such as taxes, tithes, etc. Checkbooks and investment silver and gold will also be sold.

The bank offers these services:

Savings/Checking Accounts

Checkbooks (available for small fee, can send a check to sims in the neighborhood)

Mortgages***

Loans***

Credit Cards***

ATMs and Online Banking

Automatic Payments

***more information later***

We will open the doors soon, but we need to find a banker to manage it. I suppose I could do it, but...I'm not sure if I'm ready to leave my job yet.

Hood Council Note: Phase One School Curriculm Proposal

Curriculm
Classes will be held simMonday-simFriday, 9am-3pm.
Teens: Level 3, simyears 14-18 (pupil count 4)
Teens: Level 4, simyears 18-22 (pupil count 0)
*Teens: Level 5, simyears 23-28 (pupil count 0)
9am-11pm: Morning Period
11am-1pm: Lunch/Break
1pm-3pm: Afternoon Period


Level 3 Class Schedule (AM/PM)
simMonday:Golf Clinic III/Science III
simTuesday: Art III/Shop Class III
simWednesday: Science III/Physical Education III
simThursday: Golf Clinic III /Shop Class III
simFriday: Art III/Physical Education III


Level 4 Class Schedule (AM/PM)
simMonday: Science VI/History IV
simTuesday: Physical Education VI /English VI
simWednesday: Home Ecomonics VI/Science VI
simThursday: English VI/Physical Education VI
simFriday: History IV/Home Ecomonics VI

*Level 4 Class Schedule
Optional for teens opting not to attend university.
Encourage teens will join a trainee program with a local business.
Teens can also take classes of thier choice.

Class Descriptions
-Science III (cleaning): students will learn how to find lurking bacteria
-Shop Class III (mechanical): students will learn how to craft small electronics
-Physical Education III (body): students will learn healthy habits through kick boxing
-Art III (creativity): students will learn the basics of cubism
-Golf Clinic III (charisma): students will learn how to play the game of golf
-Science VI (logic): students will study microbiology
-Home Ecomonics VI (cooking): students will study spaghetti techniques
-Physical Education VI (body): students will learn healthy habits through yoga
-English VI (charisma): students will learn how to effectively give speeches
-History IV (creativity): students will learn how to write historical research papers'

Extracurriculars (TBD): chess club, debate team, sports team, theater, yearbook, etc

Hood Council Note: Food Expo

The kickoff ceremony for the Food Expo has begun! I gave a speech and introduced some key players. Thankfully, the Food Expo is pretty standard in Apple Valley, we've been participating for so long that things run like clockwork. I've been trying to encourage other hoods to participate in the Food Expo as well, who knows, maybe we'll have the honor of hosting the Expo again someday...we'll see.

Hood Council Note: Proposal for School: Phase One

Purpose
There is a need for the hood council to build a local school instead of bussing off the children and teens to other public schools where parents and the council can not monitor thier curriculm and education closely. This effort would take a considerable investment, but it would provide more jobs for residents and give us more control over the curriculm and education our children recieve.


State of the Hood's Education System
Currently the hood counts 9 teens and 10 children that are bussed off to nearby schools. It would take about two simdays to establish the Apple Valley school so that it can open on simMonday (if construction starts this simSaturday). By this time the pupil count would be 16 pupils. If we look at the number of students currently enrolled in private school: 5 teens and 2 children, that would ease the load of pupils for the school. Then that would leave 12 students to start the school.


Phase One
It will be best to slowly intergrate the students into the school and start with high school students and then add elementary students in Phase Two. With the increased requirements for university, the high school students are in danger of not being prepared for thier future. That would give the school 4 students to start with, also would only require 1 teacher. With this in mind:


Potential Jobs
1 Secondary School Teacher
-suggest teacher moves into an apartment on school grounds. If not possible, then at least the caretaker must move into the school.

1 Principal
-suggest that the Community Director holds this position to oversee the curriculm, will not increase duties of the CD too much, also will not cost the hood extra money to pay the principal.

1 Part-Time Cafeteria Worker or Delivered Pre-cooked Meals
-suggest delivered meals to save on cost. Can try to work a contract with Tati's

1 Part-Time Caretaker
-suggest either teacher does this afterschool or hire a worker to come in during afterschool hours to clean. Local maid service will be disruptive to classroom environment.

Classes/Grade Levels
Classes will be held simMonday-simFriday, 9am-3pm.
Will submit a more detailed curriculm proposal if the school proposal is approved.
Teens: Level 3, simyears 14-18 (pupil count 4)
Teens: Level 4, simyears 18-22 (pupil count 0)

Curriculm
Nationally Approved Curriculm/Subjects: use basic gradebooks
Extracurriculars: chess club, debate team, sports team, theater, yearbook, etc
Skill Building Classes: art, physical education, home ec, music class, shop class, etc


Investment
School Building
-believe this will be about $50,000 for the initial construction. Then another $30,000 for furnishing the school with neccessary equiptment.

Salary for Teacher
-can be a flat salary (suggest $1000/simweek) subsidized by the fact the teacher lives on campus and has room and board

Maintanience of School Building
-cleaning, repair work, landscaping, school supplies


Total Initial Investment=$90,000


We can qualify for the New School Education Grant ($35,000) and the Small School Iniative Grant ($40,000) which would require the hood to provide $15,000 towards the cost of the school, which is well within the budget.

Hood Council Note:My Plans for the Term

My plans for the term as Community Director:


Secure family values, uphold rights for children and elders

• Encourage families to create wills by hosting a free class at The Centre, free donuts will bring a bigger crowd
• Research health insurance policies for residents
• Establish a play group system for children to meet thier neighbors

Ensure a family friendly and healthy community for current & future generations.

• Encourage residents to compost instead of trash
• Install more lights and benches at the parks
• Obtain address signs for homes

Ensure adequate culture, local food produce, restaurants and bars, & social meeting places.

• Host a child friendly event: Children's Festival with free lemonade and sweets and local entertainment and games and prizes. Location: Celebration Park or Modern Sculpture Park, cost for residents: free
• Host a teen-friendly event. (What's cool now?): Musik Festival with concerts from local bands (contact Selita Grey) and maybe some international acts (contact Sergio Gitano of Harper's Cove, post notice on Career & Fame Board). Location: The Foundry
• Add a trend section in the local paper. Will review resturaunts, bars, etc. Also help residents stay abreast of the local trends.
• Allow local farmer's to reside on larger lots, thus produce more food.
• Build a public pool and gym for residents to enjoy in the summer time

Ensure a quality education system for residents

• Build a local school for the children of Apple Valley.
• Host graduation ceremonies for graduates of the school and the university
• Encourage more extracurricular activities for teens and children-start with debate team, chess club, and simscouting program

Hood Council Note: Future Plans

With the new term, here are my plans as the President

Construct a Bank
Add bank office at The Centre. Possible on bottom floor of the ballroom and decrease ballroom size to upper floor only. Bank would have ATM capabilities, office space for Financial Director to assist with loans and savings accounts. Financial Director will oversee this renovation and implementation.

Re-Establish fines/community service for conflicts

• Construction on jail due to be complete on simMonday. Will have three cells, recreation room and cafeteria, outdoor exercise space and jailor's apartment with two bedrooms.
• Jailor will be Jarvis Forrester-Miller, due to possession of aging wavier and position on the force. No salary will be given except a small stipend when inmates are housed.
• Fine list needs updating as well as a process for punishing residents and townies.
• Renovation of The Centre to include a courthouse for conflicts and office space to process data. Can reduce size of library so that it resides in the upstairs office space, renovate lower space to have the courtroom for trials and administrative offices.
• Judge will be Hood Council President or the sim that holds that position downtown. If jurors are needed, a random selection of adults from the hood will be chosen to serve for the trial.

Increase tourism

• Order additional custom objects: maps, poster prints, trinkets, etc. Also get map created of the hood to hang in the Welcome Center instead of the TV.
• Keep online Office of Tourism updated with flights and events.
• Hold raffle for a free trip to Apple Valley. Including airfare, accomadations, food, and spending money. ($5000)
• Create a Apple Valley Flag

Change timetable

• Follow Baleen Island's way of keeping time: instead of simdays, use Season # Simday #

Further relationship with affliates

• Email/chat with spokessims from affliate hoods more often
• Travel to affliate hoods

Hood Council Note: I'm the Financial Director

Since I have an anti-aging wavier, I now have the lifetime (or as soon as my wavier expires or I chose not to) position of Financial Director.

This term I plan to:

Local businesses and associated laws
Establish a program for New Small Business Owners:
Give new business owners $1000-$3000 credit towards purchase of a community lot.
Help business owners network with other small business owners in other hoods, perhaps the resurgance of the Small Business Conference.

Implement taxes and welfare support
Establish a program for Mortgage Loans:
Borrower must provide at least 10% down payment
Loans must be paid off within 21 simdays (three simweeks)
Payments will be twice a week (simTuesday and simThursday)

Increase rental fees:
Increase rental fees on the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) due to promixity to main strip.

Change tax structure
Instead of $750/simweek per residental lot, increase it to $750/simweek per family. Removes loophole where families in multi-family housing paid less in taxes than other residents.

Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood
Decrease number of multi-family units from 10 to 4:
Condemn and bulldoze the Fuji Flats (three two unit multi-family units)
One lot is ready for demolition, give other families 3 simdays (until simMonday) and $1000 for inconvience to find new housing (total $4,000)
Would decrease rental income for the hood, however would promote home ownership
Still maintain the Starr Grey Townhomes (two-2 unit townhomes on McIntosh) and AVBH (4 rooms available for rent)

Build mixed income housing area:
Build three small lot homes on Fuji Court. At least two homes must be at least two bedroom and one bath, less than $15,000, other must be bewteen $15,000 and $30,000. At least two homes one story, one home two story.

Renovate Pavilion
Renovate skating rink so more sims can enter rink to skate.

Build Celebration Park II
Small grill area, playground, bathroom on 2x3 lot

Revamp Celebration Park I
Demolish grill and playground area to create more open space. Add chess set, focus more on the lake and fishing activities

Expand Modern Sculpture Park
Demolish small 1x3 lot and build on larger 2x3 lot
Buy Euphoria from Tatiana Garris, use additional land space for the new park
Will increase value of new homes on Fuji Court


Renovate The Core
The Core is too bulky and hinders views of main street (McIntosh)
Demolish 2nd level.
Create 5-9x8 office spaces for the following retailors: The Green Paw Pet Shop; Gears & Beyond; Snips; Wearable Art; I-Scream Icecream & Pizza
Retailors are paying for renovation-no funding needed from hood council, only approval on final design.

Hood Council Note: Last Update

Ayanna called and starting asking me some tough questions about the status of my goals on the hood council. This is not whatI needed, especially with managing the Farmer's Market and preparing for the Food Expo and the interruption with the whole Season's chaos. I'm not as young as I used to be. Thankfully my term is almost complete and I don't plan on running again. I want to enjoy my elderhood.

• Establish a Family Day for residents to go outside the home/at home entertainment: Not accomplished-will promote families to use simSaturday for this day. Should a fine be instated for defiance of this?



• Increase number of parties thrown: not accomplished-most families celebrate with cake inviting only immediate family members. Perhaps give out best party awards. Best party of the simweek?



• Build a university house: Done, however the house functions as a dorm to house ten students: five males/females in two double rooms and one single room (for the RA) per sex.



• Reduce discrimination amoung elders: not started. most elders are content with jobs in the city, did set up a automatic pension plan for OFB elder employees.



• Encourage groups to meet regularly and correct current group lists: not done, with the Seasons chaos this is better to be put off for next term.

For the next term recommend delegating tasks to other sims as such:

• Community Director Tasks: Secure family values, uphold rights for children and elders, ensure a family friendly and healthy community for current and future generations. Ensure a quality education system for residents. Ensure adequate culture, local food produce, restaurants and bars, and social meeting places.



• Medical Director Tasks:Perform research about medical issues of sims, ensure the quality of living in the hood via environmental testing for viruses, educating residents on healthy habits and staying abreast of the latest medical advancements.



• Archives and Technology Director Tasks:Assist in the management of family tree information, collect community & residents registry, manage the local library. Manage the website.Test and implement 3rd party technology and perform back-ups of resident information.

I also suggest that we give those sims a small stipend for thier duties, however they would not have voting rights on the Hood Council, but would merely serve as directors of hood related tasks. This gives more residents responsibility for hood matters and spreads the burden off the hood council members who are not paid as full-time employees and must manage other duties and jobs.

Hood Council Note: Hood Council Report

The new term will begin soon and Ayanna asked us all to submit a council report of our tasks and recommendations.



My goals for the term:

• Build upon the current business laws: done, a very intensive law has been drafted and approved



• Revisit taxes and find an easy system to deduct taxes and fees: done, taxes are now taken every simMonday. Residents must obtain thier payment invoices by this simFriday and set-up the payments to the hood council. This makes the payments automatic, need to determine where the payments will go.



• Establish a program for Small Business Loans: not done



• Build a Community Memorial Gardens: done and successful



• Revamp Celebration Park: done, but a bit crowded with the new features, may have to build a second park

Recommendations:

• Might need to divide tasks a bit more. It is difficult to manage the real estate of the hood, especially things like parks, however do not see a clear way to divide the tasks as of yet, except to have more resident input or maybe hire a part-time consultant to control the real estate issues of the hood since this isn't a full time issue.



• Financial Director Tasks: Oversee hood finances, implement taxes and welfare support. Coordinate local trades and import based on needs of the community, oversee local businesses and associated laws, collect taxes and fees from residents.



• Real Estate Consultant Tasks:Manage community lots, construction of new homes and destruction of homes. Manage the local real estates and architectural planning of the hood, including any community lots, general beautifying and landscape community gardens, recreation areas and health of animals and native plants.

Hood Council Note: Hood Council Report

Things have been flying in my mind regarding the hood council and the administration of the hood. Should we elect the council members for life terms? or remain with the two simweek term? Should we try to have more residents manage hood businesses like the medical center and The Centre which is home to the hood council offices and gift shop. We're looking into creating customized Apple Valley paraphernalia like cups and t-shirts and maybe some photo prints. I need to sit down and focus on the hood a bit more, it's hard to focus on it when I have another job as well. Perhaps we can look into making the hood council members full time employees and increasing thier salaries as such...or at least the hood president should become a full time employee. Hmmm, so much to think about.



With the new term approaching I need to complie a report of the hood council's tasks and achievements.



The status of my goals this term:

• Host a family for the SUN Exchange for one simweek: looking for a family to host, sent one family to Palatial Heights, budgeted for a family to come to Apple Valley and have a family signed up for the SUN Exchange.



• Participate in all SUN Activities: done-Food Expo starts this June, budget for the event is set and business owners have applied for grants, signed up a family for the SUN Exchange



• Re-Establish fines/community service for conflicts: not done, looking at the need to establish a jail or simply impose fines. Might need to start charging fines for damage to trash cans, stealing of newspapers and other minor events. At the moment, no distrubrances noted.



• Increase local military by building military base and offering military scholarships to university students in exchange for service: not done, military career is full, no need for additional sims, however with the two military sims approaching elderhood, this scholarship may need to be offered during the next term. Must need to stay prepared.

Recommendations for next hood council term:

• Finding a Security Officer to train local troup for secret commands, maintain international security including the transport of deadly viruses via object deliveries. Prevent criminality, solve local conflicts, manage domestic security. Also, would oversee the jail if one is ever built.



• The Hood President would focus on the following tasks: Coordinating the Hood Council's work, being the voice and face of Apple Valley, coordinate hood council meetings, official spokesim for the hood. Manage foreign alliances, enforce laws and immi-/emigration, serve as SUN Core member.



• Increasing the salary of the council members



• Making the hood president a full-time position with an increased salary to manage thier livihood



• Taking over The Centre as a OFB lot and hiring local residents to manage the gift shop, and the newspaper office.



• Creating Apple Valley paraphernalia like cups, t-shirts, photo prints, etc.

Pastoral Notes: Construction Starts

Spring is here and construction on the rebuilding process is underway. It is fascinating to watch something come out of the ground from nothing. Perhaps I will have my first sermon about that amazing phenomenon.

I am nervous about taking my post as the new pastor. Nicole and I have been given a modest bonus as an incentive, besides we are able to live in the house-rent free, as well as recieve a modest weekly salary. Not much, about $500 a simweek which equates to about $70 a day. Nicole wants to get a job at the new resturaunt, Tati's. That should bring in some additional money, not much more, but a little bit more. We're also going to plant a small garden and fish in the local ponds for extra income/food.

The most exciting news is the addition to the Humphrey family and which will keep me rather busy when not drafting sermons, preaching or tending our garden. We're going to adopt a child. Hopefully this will be the first of three, but we shall see. It was a disappointment that we could not bear children, but at least now we will give a needy child a home. I am anxious to see the little one.