Leewood Home Owners Association

Board Meeting Minutes

June 13, 2017

Board Members Present:

President: Patricia Willingham

Vice President: Nathan Parsons-Schwarz

Treasurer: Leona Taylor

Secretary: Janet Rourke

At Large: Dayna Roy

Convening: The meeting was called to order at 7:30 pm at Phillips School on Braddock Road

Minutes: Minutes for 5/9/2017 Board Meeting were approved and will be posted to the website

Open Forum: None. No homeowners present

President: Pat reported that the river birch that was dead on Leestone Street had been removed. An immediate removal was required because the tree had fallen. The Board ratified the contract with Professional Grounds to remove the tree. Professional Grounds is awaiting Miss Utility’s assessment to see if the stump can be ground. We received a communication from a local Girl

Scout troop about “Going Green” and the efforts of the troop to promote the cause. The Board agreed to link a “green” website recommended by the troop to leewood.us, so long as the webmaster verifies that this is a valid/clean website. The current trash contract will expire in November and there was discussion about preparing an RFP for bid. As an adjunct to that there was discussion on how to share documents so that all board members could access draft and final documents. Nathan agreed to look into possibilities for this.

Vice President: No comments

Secretary: Janet brought several items to the Board’s attention. The fig tree on Leebrad Street is an eyesore and needs to be cut down or pruned. Dayna will look into this. In addition, a homeowner on Leestone Street had removed their back fence for some apparent work to be done. Dayna will keep an eye on this to make sure that the fence is replaced in an acceptable length of time. A soccer goal has been placed in the common area between Leestone Street and Bradgen Court. Dayna will check into that to make sure it does not remain there permanently. Janet also reported that new residents put out boxes for recycle on Friday, and she let the residents know that Tuesday is recycle day. The trash contractor did go ahead and pick up boxes on Friday. Pat will call the trash contractor about their practice of picking up recycling on Fridays.

Treasurer: Leona advised that the trash company has provided a notice of fee increase effective July 1 based on the landfill rate increase allowed under the contract. The fee increase is 2% lower than what was budgeted for 2017. Leona asked that CAI be advised of new officers on the Board so that their notifications come to the correct people. Pat stated that she would do this as primary on the CAI account. Re quarterly assessments, 13 are past due and 4 are with the attorney in various stages of collection. The Board discussed what is allowed in the governing documents to enforce collection of assessments. The Board agreed that Leona should send an inquiry to our attorney to get a legal opinion on what steps we can take to encourage timely payment of assessments. Leona is finalizing the update of Capital One and Schwab forms as a result of the change in Board members at the annual meeting. The Board approved the reserve study update and the final report will be posted to the website. Leona advised that the current financial statements are posted on the website. Leona presented a draft of the revised Welcome Packet. The Board discussed the changes and provided suggestions which Leona will incorporate into the package and give to the Welcome Committee. One suggestion was to include refrigerator magnets with pertinent trash information, i.e. pickup times. The Board deferred this until a new trash contract is negotiated and signed.

At Large: Dayna is purchasing software to automate much of the ARC process. She will be working to get the base data into the system. 33 violation letters have been sent. Bradgen Court still needs to be inspected. One ARC committee member resigned. A new member has agreed to serve. She was recruited through outreach for volunteers at the annual meeting. Dayna has obtained new McCormick Colonial color charts. The Board reviewed the new charts and approved the Colonial and Chesapeake Color Collections for exterior paint changes. The charts will be posted on the website. Dayna emphasized that the rules for changing exterior colors still apply.

General: A few of the volunteers from the annual meeting still need to be matched to an assignment. Pat is working to resolve this issue ASAP. Pat had previously sent a list of trees for immediate servicing to the Board. She asked if the list was complete. Pat will use this list to obtain bids from various tree companies. It was suggested that the bids be done by tree so that the Board can review and have the ability to approve all or just some of the work based on budget considerations. The Board urged Pat to have Professional Grounds to complete the tree work that is covered by our grounds and maintenance contract as quickly as possible since low hanging branches are beginning to impede sidewalk passage and hamper visibility at some street corners. In addition, the Board still needs to consider the proposal for landscaping mailboxes which has been tabled for the time being. As a follow-up to the last meeting, Pat will send out the letter to the homeowners’ attorney regarding the drainage contract.

The Board also discussed a homeowner’s request to post an article on the website about a Virginia Supreme Court ruling on liability for maintenance of trees between adjoining properties. The Board decided not to post the article, as there is no one to monitor subsequent changes that could make the article no longer relevant.

Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 9:16 pm