Steve's Report #1

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The regular meeting of the Board of Directors was held Aug 8, 2002, at Pinckney Hall at 8:30 am. The President, Ken Hull, was present and convened the meeting. Board members Hull, Koehl, McQuaid, Ragan, Rademacher, and Wiler were present.

 

The room was set up for 100 attendees, and it became apparent that there would be an overflow crowd. Shortly after the meeting really got under way, part of the adjoining room was opened to accommodate the crowd of just over 120.

 

The usual opening events took place: call to order, approval of previous minutes, ratification of unanimous consent items, in this case appointments of Kay Brower to Covenants Committee, Ella Davis to Modifications Committee, Robert Rademacher to the Board.

 

The Board then heard the Controller’s report. I hope to have a copy of this online in the near future. Briefly, our revenues are under what was budgeted and our expenses are under what was budgeted by about $123000 more—so we’re doing better than the budget. A detail is that golf revenues from the purchase of packages is reported as the rounds are played, not as accrued, so the accounting of the golf picture looks worse than it really is.

 

The Executive Director’s report followed. A new section of it lists those activities that were identified as management direction from the Board, falling below the level of formal Board action. The Executive Director covered many areas, opening with the new section covering direction he received from the Board. He then covered all areas of his responsibility. Board member Hull asked about progress on the purchase of new treadmills and was assured that the bottlenecks have been overcome and that 8 new treadmills are on the way. The full report will be contained in the minutes. 

 

Steve's Comment on Board direction: I feel that there is a large range of decisions that are within the prerogative of the management agent and do not require a policy decision by the Board. As a new Board member, I will say that I had a part in only the decision to build the Newspaper Kiosk.. I am very cautious about a change that either alters the appearance of the common area in Town Square or commits that precious area to a specific use. For example I agreed to build the Kiosk only if its design is subdued, similar to the large entry signs or the new neighborhood signs and if no advertising is visible; and I would not have agreed to the white benches or the basketball court. 

 

There was then a full slate of committee reports. Congratulations to all chairs for heeding the advice of “brevity.” My view of the highlights follows: The Finance Committee is going all out to revise the five-year plan. The Resident Communications Committee reports that work is underway to craft a job description for a “Communications Director” and that progress on Channel 50, 51, 52 is being made. Modifications and Covenants reported on their activity level. Jim Hamilton is the new Chairperson of Covenants. The Interclub Council reports that they are undertaking a study of use of facilities. The Golf Advisory Committee reported no unusual activity. The Safety Advisory Committee reported figures relating volunteer work over the last year and offered an optimistic view of the future.

 

There was no Old Business, and we proceeded with the New Business. The first item was the approval, effective immediately, of the new format for Board meetings. The President read the resolution and the ground-rules for the new format, Mr Wiler moved its adoption, Mr McQuaid seconded, it passed 6-0.

 

Steve's Comment: At this point the audience got a taste of how a Board operates under Robert’s Rules of Order. It’s necessary under Robert’s Rules for motions to be read. We did that. Perhaps in the future we’ll approach this aspect differently. For my part, I was able to get the text of one motion (Change in Solicitation and Use of Association mailbox) online for viewing ahead of time. Next time, we’ll do a better job—we might even suspend the rules. We all applaud the new format; I want to thank Steve O’Donnell for producing a workable format under heavy time pressure. The three resident members pushed very hard to get this going immediately.

 

The Board next adopted Charters for three new committees and made initial appointments, including the Chairpersons. This material was read into the record by the Executive Director. More detail about the goals of these committees is contained in the Committees section. Various Board members moved adoption and seconded the three resolutions. All passed 6-0. The results are:

 

Property and Grounds

Business Technology

Master Plan

Stan Raczkowski, Chair

Bob Rasmussen, Chair

Jim Hamilton, Chair

Ted Reedy

Ted Furst

Phylis Giglinto

Bill Heckman

open

Joe Fragale

Dick Swader

 

Rich North

Margaret Benjamin

 

Bob Replogle

 

The Board then took up the consideration of the change to the “No Solicitation” policy. Mr Wiler moved the adoption of the resolution, as read by the Secretary. Mr McQuaid seconded. Board members Wiler, McQuaid, and Koehl spoke briefly about the issue. They stated that they needed more time to consider the issue. Association Member Lou Herzog spoke against the change. Linda McCartney withdrew her request to speak. Mr Rademacher moved postponement until the next regular Board meeting of the main motion. Mr Wiler seconded. That passed 6-0. The question will be taken up at the next Board meeting. 

 

Steve's Comment: I asked for Member input on two issues: access to the Association mailboxes by newspapers and whether there is a fairness issue if we allowed political flyers to be distributed, since this would be limited to residents doing the distribution.

 

Next there was discussion on the date for the Annual Meeting. In the past this has been a meeting of the Voting Delegates, at which they got a look at the budget. It’s not clear about whether this meeting is now of the Membership or of the Neighborhood Representatives. The meeting will be in the first two weeks of November.

 

Then the Board took up the changes to the Community Rules as read by the Secretary to clarify the discretionary powers of the Executive Director and to set a new schedule of fines. Adoption of the Resolution was moved and seconded by persons at the other end of the table (I missed this; check the minutes). I offered an amendment to change the fine for First Violation from $50 to $25. Mr Rademacher seconded. Passed 6-0. The main motion then passed 6-0.

 

Next was consideration of the Modification Committee’s recommendation to impose a $50 fee for starting a project under the purview of the Modifications Committee before obtaining approval. Mr Wiler moved approval of this change, seconded by Mr McQuaid. Association Member William Brehio was recognized and spoke against the new fee. Linda McCartney withdrew a request to speak on the issue. Mr McQuaid spoke for the change. I spoke against it. It passed 5-1.

 

Steve's Comment: I'm against it on the grounds that the language is overly inclusive; there would be more exceptions granted than actual applications. We should craft our fee structure more precisely. I also think it’s really a sanction, not a fee. 

 

Then the Board considered the recommendation of the Finance Committee regarding the Fixed Asset Inventory. Adoption was moved by Mr Wiler, seconded by Mr McQuaid, passed 6-0.

 

Hope you’re still with me!

 

The Board now considered a change to the Credit and Collection Policy. The resolution was read by the Treasurer, adoption moved by Mr Wiler, seconded by Mr Koehl, passed 6-0.

 

Steve's Comment: It’s well to note that, for Association Assessments, this policy speaks in terms of the Statement Date, which is the day previous to the quarter for which fees are assessed, not the date the statement is received. Your quarterly assessment is due 30 days after the statement date, even if you don’t get the statement.

 

Steve Koehl