Board Meeting Minutes (May 19th, 2004)

May 19th, 2004

The meeting was called to order at 7:00pm at 1607 Woodstream Ln.

Present

• Robert Butler - President
• Jana Boss - Vice-President
• Pamela Pela - Secretary
• Beth Cline - Treasurer

Items discussed

• We will begin adding a $50 late fee to each letter that delinquent homeowners receive after their 2nd letter. In other words, people receive a dues statement in December. They receive the first late notice on March 1st. They receive their 2nd late notice on April 1st. For each letter after that, apply the additional charge. This would be in addition to the existing 18% interest that homeowners already pay, plus any other costs that are incurred (filing a lien, lawyer, etc.) This is needed to cover our costs of investigating, calling back, postage, etc. There was some question as to whether this was allowed, however the Covenants specify in Article III, Section 9, paragraph 3 that

  In addition, the Board of Directors of the Association may elect to ... pursue any other legal or equitable remedy which the association may have ... and all collection costs incurred by the Association...

  Long answer, but yes, we can. This information will be included in the next newsletter, and will become part of the annual dues statement mailed to all homeowners.
• Discussed our stance on (potentially) raising dues to cover the deficit as mentioned in the last newsletter. With the added late fees above (when eventually collected), as well as being more strict on collections, we'll be ok. This isn't really anything to worry about or consider until this fall (October / November), and we can review the budget then.
• Beth reviewed the current budget and our financial status so far this year in terms of expenses, income, and reserve account buildup.
• We will increase the amount paid by title companies for new homeowner packets and refinancing info. The current costs and information are shown here. Currently Beth gets all of that money. We will add $25 to each in order to cover our costs for preparing the packets as well as modifying / updating our records.
• Reviewed the insurance policy quotes that Pamela got. She asked Emil to assist her in contacting various companies. From what has been found so far, the current contract is fairly reasonable.
• Reviewed the discussions topics from the Open Forum meeting on Monday, specifically the upcoming retail construction along Shelley, enforcement of the deed restrictions, and increasing turnout at meetings.
• Discussed possible incentives for homeowners to attend meetings, such as distributing a coupon for $5 off their dues to all attendees.
  • Assuming we have seven meetings per year, and (very optimistically) have 50 homeowners attend each meeting, at $5 / house we're only looking at taking a $1750 hit to the budget.
  • We can vary when we distribute the coupons to homeowners to keep them from just showing up for the coupon and leaving -- or do we even need to since at least people would be attending, are likely to stay around for a few minutes, and we're not talking about a huge amount of money.
  • Homeowners would be responsible for keeping track of the coupons, and sending them in with their annual dues, meaning (given market studies) that 50% or less of the people receiving mail-in rebates actually do so.
  • Is this a legal liability? Could someone come after us and complain that we are discriminating or penalizing people who don't attend?
  Decided that we would rather provide positive incentives for attendance, such as encouraging involvement through yard-of-the-month competitions, etc.
• Rob asked Stephanie Butler to call A-1 Grass in Plano (972)423-8814 to explain the weed situation on Malone and ask them about sod pricing.
  1. Do they have any weeding / fertilizing recommendations?
  2. Would they recommend laying sod on top of the existing weeds?
  3. Is it worth the effort to put plugs instead of sod given the amount of weeds?
  4. Given the differing heat and water requirements, plus the differences in aggression, would they recommend Bermuda or St. Augustine? Does it make a difference if were talking sod vs plugs?
  5. How much it would cost to sod three strips (along each side of the sidewalk and one more along the tree line) -- 6000 sqft.
  6. How much it would cost to sod the entire area (24,000 sqft).
  Decided to wait until next spring before sodding (if necessary). We have the upcoming construction for the sewer line on Malone, and it's possible that some of the area will be damaged. If it occurs, we want the NTMWD to replace with sod. Additionally, with the new contract with Chemlawn, some of the weeds have already died. Given another ten months, sodding may not be necessary.
• Discussed making amendments to the Bylaws & Covenants.
• Approval of contract with Walt's Fence Staining to repair, clean, and re-stain the north neighborhood entrance fence along Bethany.
• Answer any questions about the voicemail system. Pamela and Jana both have not checked the system out yet, and will have difficulty monitoring the system due to their work environments / schedules. Jana will try and check it over the weekend, and Pamela will try to check it during the week. Stephanie Butler will continue helping out by monitoring it every few days as well.
• Decided to keep publishing newsletters at every 3 months, instead of reducing it to every 2 months. We have enough content to do newsletters more often, and it would allow us to get information out to homeowners more frequently. However, we would prefer to have homeowners use the web site and attend the open forum meetings.

Action Items

• Everyone - Come up with a list of questions to ask a lawyer.
• Everyone - Come up with a list of possible amendments to the Bylaws and Covenants to increase enforcement options and codify some of the restrictions currently listed in the Community Beautification Standards.
• Everyone - Review the budget information, and come up with a list of questions (if any) to discuss at the next meeting.
• Rob - Contact Chemlawn and ask whether doubling their schedule would improve the situation any more.
• Jana - Write article for newsletter about differences in property value in a neighborhood with and without an HOA.
• Jana - Work on starting a yard-of-the-month award.
• Pamela - Reserve library meeting room for open-forum meetings during July and September.
• Pamela - Get additional insurance policy quotes.
• Pamela - Follow up with City as to why they haven't removed the Deaf Child Area signs yet (they were supposed to last week).
• Beth - Check on status of getting new bank debit card for Rob.
• Beth - Provide additional insurance agent contact to Pamela.
• Beth - Provide updated / reworked wording on collection process.