Board Meeting Minutes (February 28th, 2006)

February 28th, 2006

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

Present

• Robert Butler - President
• Yesika Fletcher - Vice President / Volunteer Coordinator
• Howard Fisher - Secretary
• Beth Cline - Treasurer

Items discussed

• Beth gave an update on the 2006 dues collection so far, as well as delinquent dues and the status of the foreclosure on Oak Brook. Today we received a copy of the foreclosure notice that the lawyer wrote to Countrywide dated February 20th; however this was to have been completed in January according to the update Beth provided at that time. What is the reason for the delay?
• Beth should continue to process dues and mail out late notices as usual. Should the contact information on these notices be updated to have NMI's information yet or not?
• The NMI management contract is effective as of April 1st, 2006, so we will expect that Bee Line continue to work our account as normal until that time. On April 1st (a Saturady), we'll change the voice mail message on VRI to direct callers to the new phone number. Although NMI will assume primary responsibility, we'll expect that Bee Line will assist through the end of April during the transition. Bee Line's last effective date will be April 30th. If we need assistance from Bee Line after that date, we will pay their normal $50/hr rate.
• Set the P.O. Box to forward our mail to NMI's P.O. box; we probably need to keep this box active for at least 6 months to catch any stragglers. The voicemail line with VRI will also need to be kept alive for another 6 months or more. We have still in the last year had people try to contact Excel for information even though they've been out of the picture for almost 3 years.
• Beth should file our taxes for 2005. She has the best knowledge and documentation necessary to file.
• Beth will need to give a check to NMI with enough funds ($5k?) for them to open the new bank accounts with CAB and have enough opening balance to last for a month before everything gets transfered around. Howard will check with NMI on the amount they need.
• Beth will need to add NMI to the approved signers on the various accounts (savings / CDs, etc). Howard will check with NMI on the access they need.
• Beth will need to send a copy of the complete homeowner contact list in Excel format to NMI for importing into their system.
• Beth will need to send a copy of the financial information to NMI for importing into their system. Not sure if this needs to be in Quickbooks or another format. Also, is there a need to wait on this until more updated information is available.
• We will need to schedule a combined meeting with both Beth and NMI to go over transition issues / questions sometime in the next two weeks. Howard will check with NMI on the date, Beth is available any evening from the 1-15th except Wednesdays. We also schedule a follow-up meeting after the transition in mid-April.
• Beth brought up the collection of past dues on 1607 Oak Brook; there's a long history on this, but it comes down that we are still owed about $626 in late fees from a previous foreclosure, and the new owner is now trying to sell. He is requesting that we release our lien, however he also hasn't paid his 2006 dues yet. After reviewing some of the history that Howard and Yesika weren't familiar with, we decided to offer to settle at 50% of the past due amount, and all of the current 2006 dues. Beth will relate the offer back to the homeowner.
• On 1600 Woodstream (which was foreclosed on by the mortgage company), Countrywide is refusing to pay our lien, and refusing to divulge any details on how much they collected from the homeowner or sale. Because we haven't had great follow-through from the current lawyer, we'll move this item over to the legal team that NMI has.
• The sale of 1714 Oak Brook fell through for a second time, so it's still on the market.
• Before we transfer the collection of HOA / homeowner documents that Bee Line has to NMI, do we want to go through them and collect the contact details and any other information? Yesika will work on the information we have now, and maybe look through later. Also, Rob has a stack of various documents that need to be transfered to NMI as well, such as old meeting proxies, homeowner survey results, etc.
• Rob brought up the question from the February 6th meeting: Beth is the treasurer of the association. As we decided to go with another management company, it is doubtful that Beth will want to remain treasurer. That being the case, Rob asked whether Howard would be interested in taking on the position of treasurer, and whether Yesika would take on the job of secretary. Overall, none of the actual duties and responsibilities change, however Howard has been regularly reviewing the financial statements already, which matches the responsibilities of the treasurer. Section 9.1 of the Bylaws has details. Howard will take on the role of Treasurer, Yesika will take on Secretary.
• Discussed the topics and turnout at the open forum meeting last night. Yesika asked about incentives to offer homeowners to attend meetings, some suggestions from homeowners were:
  • a gift certificate for yard service
  • Starbucks gift certificate
  • Home depot gift certificate
  • Walgreens gift certificate
  Rob brought up the the previous discussions about also offering coupons for HOA dues that have been discussed a few times. Rob spent a few minutes and drafted a quick HOA dues coupon and showed samples of it at the meeting. Howard didn't like the idea of 'paying' people to show up at meetings, and we'll table the coupon idea for the time being. Rob reminded Yesika about the results of the 2004 homeowner survey. We'll give it a shot and see how it works, and is it worth the additional cost / effort. There will be some additional setup and cleanup time required before and after the meeting.
• A proposed project by one of the homeowners was to add landscape lighting to the center median on Maxwell Creek Dr., since it is very difficult to see at nighttime. This was a project that had been discussed previously, but it will probably be later this year or next year before we can schedule the work.
• Based on feedback from last night's open forum meeting, Rob created a new mailing list for resident notification only. So, if a resident wants to be notified / emailed when an event is going to take place, or news updates, add them to this list. The list address is residents@maxwellcreek.org, and it is moderated to keep out spam. This list should be considered separate from the existing volunteers list, which assumes that people want to help rather than just be notified. Yesika will go through and add the email addresses we currently have to the list.
• One of the homeowners at the meeting last night mentioned that she was approached as described in one of the scam alerts we had reported about on the web site. Rob added a reminder and posted about it again in the news.
• Annual meeting / elections. Everyone is planning to run for office again, and Howard and Yesika will submit updated platform running information that can be distributed with the meeting annoucement. We must provide at least 10 days notice prior to the meeting date; with the meeting scheduled for April 3rd, we need to send the mailing no later than Monday March 20th. Rob has drafted a preliminary notice and proxy for the meeting.
• With the spring block party coming soon, Yesika will need to call a meeting soon to figure out all the details. Rob also mentioned the door prize concept that was used at the spring block party in 2004.
• Rob finished the 1st quarter newsletter, and Howard and Yesika approved for distribution. Yesika picked up at the meeting, and will send out notices to volunteers about assembling and distributing to homeowners.
• Rob spent a few hours and assembled an updated aerial image of our neighborhood using the information provided by the City of Allen. This image was taken in January 2005, and the next scheduled flyover is in January 2007. Because of the large size of these images (27MB and 79MB), the direct links are not available from the web site. We currently have images of the neighborhood from 2001, 2003, and 2005, the last two being the most detailed.
• Rob had a 2x3' poster made of the 2003 aerial image, and it has come in handy several times at meetings. He'd like to go ahead and have a new one made, the cost for the old one was about $75.
• Rob emailed Bill Butt to ask him whether he was still interested in volunteering with the landscape committee, and if he would like to help out at the block party. Bill gave the older 2003 aerial poster of the neighborhood to Yesika some time ago.
• NMI had asked whether we would be interested in getting new bids from landscape companies for the HOA common areas. Yes, we would like them to arrange that and to make sure to include Perfecto in the bidding process.
• The insurance policy for the HOA comes due on July 6th. Every year so far we have been late in ratifying the new contract. Let's see if NMI can also get us new bids for insurance, and let's try to be done with time to spare.
• All of The common areas are getting very congested with weeds again, as apparently Chemlawn is not doing a good enough job. We are paying for full annual service with preemergents, etc., and their contract was just renewed for this year paid in advance. Rob asked Howard to follow up with Chemlawn and to watch the progress of the weeds over the next few months.
• Discussed whether to continue the yard of the month program. Rob requested that Howard and Yesika send candidate photos for March.
• The library has recently added a $50 rental fee to the meeting rooms at the library, where previously they were free. Howard sent a query to the city about the meeting rooms at the senior center to see if they are available / free, and Rob mentioned checking Joe Farmer meeting rooms (which cost $$$ but if we need to pay anyway we might as well have a shorter drive).
• It was suggested to Rob a couple of times that he consider accepting compensation for the work he does on the website and newsletter. Per our Bylaws, we cannot receive compensation for performing the duties of a board member; however, this work falls outside the scope of duty. After reviewing the various management company proposals that offered these services, the going rate for web site maintenance is $60/mo and newsletters are $100/mo. Using these estimates, Rob would consider a rate between $150-200 to be comparable, given that he also continues to do other documentation work such as the meeting minutes, welcome packets, meeting signs and announcements, and other miscellaneous documentation and updates. Finally, should any compensation be retroactive since Rob has been doing most of these same duties since mid-2002. After discussing with Howard and Yesika, the amount decided was $175/mo, with no retroactive payments.

Action Items

• Rob - Send Howard instructions on accessing the email mailing list configuration. Done.
• Rob - Send Howard instructions on accessing the insurance policies. Done.
• Rob - Send Howard a copy of his old platform information. Done.
• Rob - Work on the annual meeting and proxy mailing.
• Rob - Get information on NMI's resale / refinance costs and update the web site accordingly.
• Rob - Update the contact information page on the web site with NMI's information.
• Rob - Update the new homeowner information page on the web site with NMI's information.
• Rob - Update the board member information page with NMI contact information, and the updates to the mailing list configurations.
• Howard - Send updated platform information to be included in the annual meeting / election mailing. Done.
• Howard - Contact NMI about scheduling joint meeting with Beth. Done.
• Howard - Contact NMI about funds necessary to set up bank accounts. Done.
• Howard - Follow up with Chemlawn about weed issues throughout all the common areas. Done.
• Howard - Check with NMI about importing financial information; is Quickbooks format acceptable, and can they take incremental updates or just one monolithic?
• Howard - Check with NMI about landscape bids. Done.
• Howard - Check with NMI about insurance bids. Done.
• Howard - Send candidate photos for yard of the month for March.
• Yesika - Send candidate photos for yard of the month for March.
• Yesika - Send updated platform information to be included in the annual meeting / election mailing.
• Yesika - Contact volunteers for assistance with assembling and distribute the 1Q newsletter. Done.
• Yesika - Add email addresses to the residents contact list.
• Yesika - Send information on the garage sale banner she had received quotes on.
• Yesika - Comparison check into meeting costs at the library, senior center, and Joe Farmer.
• Beth - Send copy of homeowner contact list in Excel format to NMI.
• Beth - Send funds check to Beverly so she can begin setting up bank accounts.
• Beth - Get new bank signature cards so we can add NMI.
• Beth - Follow up with offer on 1607 Oak Brook.
• NMI - Get new bids for HOA landscape and insurance policies.
• NMI - Contact lawyer about pursuing collection from mortgage company at 1600 Woodstream.