Board Meeting Minutes (March 5th, 2007)

March 5th, 2007

The meeting was called to order at 7:30pm at 1607 Woodstream Ln.

Present

• Robert Butler - President
• Howard Fisher - Treasurer
• Stephanie Butler - HOA Management

Items discussed

• Review meeting minutes and action items from the last meeting.
  • Rob - Get quotes for new signs specifically for the neighborhood garage sale, open forum, block party, and Halloween party. Got one quote, but Yesika took over and got another quote from Kinkos, we are going with her quote.
  • Rob - Contact City and try to get ordinance changed on contractor construction notification. Working, see comment below.
  • Rob - Drop off signature page at Chase.
  • Rob - Update violation category to allow for sending landscape crew.
  • Yesika - Take down Christmas decorations on Shelley. Done.
  • Howard - Get quote for having a printer print and mail meeting reminder postcards. Done.
  • HOA Management - Get bids for having the stone slabs (with the neighborhood name) at the entrances on Bethany and Shelley cleaned and repainted. Had trouble getting companies to return calls or show up for quotes. Got two quotes, one for sandblasting only, one for powerwash, clean and restain / seal.
  • HOA Management - Find an attorney to mail out default notices, and follow up on one to file foreclosures. Done, currently working with.
  • HOA Management - Find out when PO Box comes up for renewal, renew if necessary. Done.
  • HOA Management - Call Frisco Electric to look at the electric outlet on Shelley. Done.
  • HOA Management - Call First Texas again about the trash from workers blowing along Shelley and Fir Harbor Ct. Done.
  • HOA Management - Get fertilization quote from Perfecto. Done, the quote from mid-2006 is still valid, and on the floppy Marty delivered at the time. Rob checked, floppy cannot be read, asked Marty to send via email.
  • HOA Management - Get quotes for storage unit. Done, unit rented.
• Rob drafted and mailed a letter to the City Council about the amendments to the water restriction ordinance:

  Hello, I am writing about the proposed changes to the water restriction ordinance (Ordinance No. 2519-5-06). I was planning to speak at the City Council meeting tomorrow night, but a conflict came up and I need to try and express my concerns in email rather than in person.

  I am:

  • President of The Villages at Maxwell Creek HOA (SE corner Bethany and Malone), which has 303 homes.
  • We have approximately 3 acres of common area spread across 1/4 mile/square.
  • We have three completely separate sprinkler systems on 5 water hookups, consisting of 75+ zones and over 300 heads. Units are powered by both electrical hookups and batteries.
  • We perform quarterly inspections of the entire system, and replace all of the batteries yearly.
  • We do not have adequate volunteers (or employees) to monitor the entire property on a daily basis.
  • The HOA does not have the ability to program one of the three systems; it requires a special hand-held controller that is in the possession of our landscape maintenance company.

  Since August of last year, I have been speaking regularly with Andrea Smith and also had an hour and a half meeting with her and Steve Massey in October regarding violations and the water restriction ordinance. The proposed amendments do resolve a number of problems with the ordinance on file, however I feel there are still four areas of concern not addressed:

  1. As the only specified method of notification is by US postal mail, and given that Each and every day such violation shall continue shall be deemed to constitute a separate offense, it is therefore possible (and likely) that the customer will have passed from warning to violation by the time the original warning notice is received.
     1. During 2006, the water department was placing telephone calls to customers when they had the relevant contact information. However, there is no written provision to allow that method of notification.
  2. As written, the ordinance has a punitive slant rather than conservative; there is no allowance for damaged or malfunctioning equipment, and no allowance for repairs. The customer shall bear the burden of proof to show why, by preponderance of the evidence, the administrative fee should not be assessed. Given the ordinance verbiage, I cannot reasonably argue that a violation did not take place, even if it was beyond our control.
     1. In the past (our experience pre-2006), when malfunction was observed we either pro actively repaired it, or upon notice from the City, repaired, and then notified the City of the repair. This includes damage caused by NTMWD (sewer expansion on Malone and Bethany), the City (expansion of Bethany and Malone), and other contractors (Comcast, Verizon, etc.), which leads to:
     2. When damage occurs from construction (as frequently occurs in easements), frequently the first notice we receive is orange fencing and sprinkler lines protruding from the ground. There is no requirement for 3rd parties to notify the HOA when they commence construction, which has lead to at least three extensive repairs along Bethany and Malone during the last two years, and several repairs of "repairs" done by contractors. However, this is a separate topic and I have spoken several times with Janet Moeri and John Dostart about it.
     3. We have experienced several episodes of vandalism along Shelley which has damaged our sprinkler systems and border fences; this is beyond our control, and we should not be penalized for it.
     4. When the electricity (or a battery-powered unit) fails, the default programming on most sprinkler systems may cause it to inadvertently run even when initially programmed correctly.
  3. There is no provision for warnings or violations to expire; ie, the warnings we received last year automatically convert to violations at any future date. There should be a one calendar-year (or some other form) of expiration.
  4. Proof of a culpable mental state is not required for a conviction of an offense under this ordinance. Having very recently placed my wife's grandmother in a nursing home for psychiatric reasons, this sentence is troubling as the allowances made for contesting violations only apply to "non-single family water account holders".

  Again, while the current amendments do resolve several problems, I encourage the Council to postpone your vote until the above concerns have been addressed. Thank you for your time and consideration.

  Robert Butler

• Stephanie renewed the HOA P.O. Box for another year. Rob noted on the HOA calendar the renewal date so we'll be aware next year.
• We received a notice from PayPal that we need to provide them with proof of the HOA's corporation status in order to keep funds in the Money Market Fund. Rob faxed the necessary information on 1/31.
• We received end-of-year statements on the two remaining Comerica CDs that Beth opened; because Beth and NMI didn't roll the funds over into a new CD, they defaulted back to a variable 2.5±0.5% rate, which means we missed out on about $150 in interest. HOA Management will move these into new CDs at Chase when they mature. We're currently getting 5.30% on the existing CDs.
• We agreed at the last board meeting to write off the interest on any dues received late, but before 2/1. The total amount written off is $87.43 divided among 78 homeowners.
• Rob sent a message to Janet Moeri with the City about more new construction along Malone:

  Hi, Janet, I'm writing to you about some upcoming construction on Malone; the entire length of Malone from Bur Oak Dr. south to Chapparel is flagged. Can you provide me with some insight into what is going to occur?

  Our HOA still has unrepaired damage (primarily uneven dirt and missing sod) from the last two times construction was done along Malone. Can the City help with assuring that this work is completed as cleanly as possible and the land restored to the original condition?

  Finally, I would like to find out how we can assure that notification is sent to owners of commercial property (like the HOA) when construction is going to occur. I know there is an ordinance for notification on private property, but we seem to have a never-ending stream of work occuring along Bethany, Malone, and Shelley.

  Janet wrote back:

  The upcoming construction in the ROW along Malone is being done by contractors for Atmos Energy. They are going to be installing a gas line to feed the new subdivision going in south of Chaparral.

  I have informed the city's inspector about your concern of the restoration and he has spoken with the contractor and they have assured me that all restoration will be done and restored back to its original condition. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me at 214-509-4583.

• Rob noticed on his way to work that the Deerfield neighborhood in Plano had their neighborhood entrance signs recently cleaned. He contacted Deerfield to find out what company they used: Proofrock Wateproofing & Restoration, Inc.. Since we have been having trouble getting quotes to have the same work done in our neighborhood, he asked Stephanie to contact them for a quote.
• We had discussed getting a quote from Perfecto for fertilization at the last meeting, and Rob contacted Marty asking for one. Marty replied that it was on the floppy he had sent last year. Rob checked, and the floppy was unreadable; he asked Marty to resend the quote via email. Rob waited, but never heard back from Marty. Since we're having a number of weed issues currently in the common areas, Rob decided to go ahead and renew Chemlawn's contract for 2007. The full amount was prepaid so that we'll get a 10% discount.
• Rob received a quote from Perfecto for repairing and restaining the fence along Bethany and Maxwell Creek Dr. The quote seemed a little high, so he looked for the contact information for the company we used previously, Walt's Fence Staining, but couldn't find it. He asked Stephanie to try and find their contact information (possibly from Mandy).
• We've continued to receive water bills from the City showing water usage even though Rob has verified with Perfecto twice that all of our sprinkler systems are shut off at the double-check valves. He contacted the City and had them run a leak test, which verified that there is at least one leak in the system. Rob contacted Marty and asked him to come out and check all of the systems for leaks.
• Rob sent Marty Brandon with Perfecto an email about several landscape issues:

  Marty, there are several items that I'd like you to get to as soon as you have a chance:

  1. Please let me know whether you came out and sprayed the weeds in the common areas that we spoke about. You were going to use round-up or another chemical, I believe.
  2. I'm still waiting on a quote for filling in and sodding the areas along Bethany.
  3. The one tree on the north end of Malone (I believe it's a Pistachio) is still leaning and has not been tethered / straightened as I'd asked several times. Please take care of it ASAP.
  4. All of the common areas need to be mowed very soon, even though the grass is still dormant, there are a number of areas with weeds that are growing and look poor.
  5. We had the City check for leaks because we're still receiving excessive water bills for a system that's supposed to be shut off. They verified that leaks are present in the system. Please investigate and repair ASAP.
  6. Please come out and replace all of the batteries in the system where necessary so we don't have a similar problem as last year with them dying and causing a citation to be issued.
  7. Please check all sprinkler systems on the property, and program them to begin running once per week on Thursdays between 12:30am and 6:00am. Also, please set the soaker hose in the median on Maxwell Creek Dr. to run three times per week for an hour in the early morning, and please check and make sure it won't drain onto the street (we received a citation for that last fall). If necessary, drop the time back to make sure we don't get a citation.
  8. We spoke about tree trimming in the fall, and you recommended waiting until the spring. Please investigate, and tree / prune the trees where necessary.
  9. Please check all of the landscape beds for weeds or other growths that need to be removed. I noticed several remnants in the median of Maxwell Creek Dr. that were missed when the dead flowers were pulled.

• We reviewed the 1Q newsletter content, Rob removed the kids corner from this issue primarily due to time constraints.
• Howard announced that he is not planning to run for reelection when his term comes up in April. Rob and Stephanie asked him to reconsider, but he said he had been thinking about it for a while, and he didn't see the action or reaction from homeowners he was hoping for. He will send his resignation letter in the next few days.
• Rob made several changes to the board member info page to update some of the recent changes.
• Rob had the web site moved to a new server at our provider that supports PHP5 and MySQL5 so he can do some new development work. There's currently an issue uploading DB changes that he's working with support to narrow down.
• We received another call about missing bricks along Shelley. We'll have to discuss repair options at the annual meeting, because the ongoing vandalism is costing a lot of money to keep repairing.
• Because of the low turnout at meetings, we discussed dropping the open forums to once a year, so that basically there is a meeting every six months (Annual Meeting in April, open-forum in October).
• We discussed a dues check received from a homeowner after 2/1 but dated 1/31. The board has received many calls and emails asking for leniency, but we are cracking down on due to the still very-high number of delinquencies. All assessments were due in full on 1/1 with 30 days notice, we added the option of paying by credit card, and we're emphasizing the ability to follow a payment plan for anyone can't afford to pay the full amount around Christmas. The homeowner asked to speak with a board member, Howard will give her a call.
• We discussed again problems with follow-through and response time with Perfecto. Rob will contact Chemlawn and ask whether the quote they sent last fall is still valid.

Action Items

• Rob - Finish 1Q newsletter, print and mail. Done.
• Rob - Create annual meeting notification letter, proxy form. Done.
• Rob - Write code to export homeowner list into comma-delimited format, import into Excel for use by Kinkos or other company for mailing. Done.
• Rob - Update violation category to allow for sending landscape crew.
• Rob - Contact Chemlawn, inquire about quotation for service. Done.
• Yesika - Reserve meeting room for the Annual Meeting.
• Howard - Send resignation letter. Done.
• Howard - Call homeowner, discuss dues check, interest and late payments owed. Done.
• HOA Management - File lien releases on properties that have paid. Done.
• HOA Management - Mail annual meeting notification. Done.
• HOA Management - Call TXU to find out why we are still being billed for sales tax; Stephanie already sent in the exemption form months ago.