Leewood Home Owners Association

Board Meeting Minutes

May 9, 2017

Board Members Present:

President: Patricia Willingham

Vice President: Nathan Parsons-Schwarz

Treasurer: Leona Taylor

Secretary: Janet Rourke

At Large: Dayna Roy

Others Present: Catherine Perkins, Welcome Committee

Convening: The meeting was called to order at 7:33 pm at Phillips School on Braddock Road

Vote on Election of Officers: The Board voted to elect officers as indicated above under Board Members Present

Approval of Past Minutes: The Board approved minutes for the following meetings – January 2017, February 2017, April 2017 and the annual meeting in April 2017. As is practice, the minutes will be posted on the website Leewood.us.

Open Forum: During open forum, Catherine Perkins reported to the Board on the status of several trees in Braddock Mews which were encroaching on Leewood members’ property as well as common property. The offending trees have been removed by Braddock Mews HOA. The Board made the decision that Patricia Willingham would be the only HOA member to contact the Braddock Mews HOA.

Catherine also asked about disseminating an article on who is responsible for maintenance on trees that hang between property lines. It was suggested that the information can be excerpted for the website and newsletter. Leona will work with the webmaster on the website update.

Catherine also offered about a dozen small nandinas (shrubs) for use by the HOA in the common area or other homeowners. It was suggested that a notice could be put in the next newsletter.

Officer Reports: The President and At Large members gave their reports under Grounds and Maintenance and ARC as they also serve as liaison and chair of those committees respectively.

The Vice President and Secretary had no updates.

The Treasurer reported on delinquent assessments. 40 letters have been sent following up on delinquencies. Four cases are with the HOA attorney for adjudication and are in various stages of collection. The Board discussed the possibility of charging interest /penalties on delinquent assessments and the Treasurer is looking into that issue.

Financial statements for April were posted on the website. The only major variance so far is audit expense. The auditors were late in completing the 2015 audit so there may be expense for two audits in this year. Leona also asked if the new board wanted her to distribute copies of the financial statements at the meeting or continue with posting on the website. The board agreed that posting to the website was fine.

The Board reviewed the reserve study and identified changes basically related to timing of projects and costs. The Treasurer will send these comments and observations to Reserve Advisors.

The Treasurer also proposed some changes to the POA packet and created a procedures document to which the Board agreed. This will be used for training the volunteer assigned to the POA Committee.

With a recent CD maturity, there is over $120,000 in the reserve cash account. Leona provided an analysis of the scheduled maturities, reserve contributions, and expenditures to determine how to invest the excess funds. The Board agreed to continue with CD investments with maturities in 2019 and later. Janet will call Schwab to order investments.

Architectural Review Committee: Dayna Roy reported on the status of the Committee. She is in the process of contacting a volunteer and if the volunteer agrees, the Committee will be adequately staffed. Walk-thrus to inspect property will begin shortly. 23 first letters have been sent out to date.

Grounds and Maintenance: Pat Willingham reported on the status of tree work. There was general discussion about the two bids that have been received to date. Because of some confusion with the bids and the addition of several trees that need work, request for bids will be re solicited and another vendor (Richard’s Tree Service) will be solicited. The Board agreed that we need to update our tree plan and prioritize work since tree pruning/removal is expensive. Pat confirmed that Khaleaph Luis is the new Chair of the Grounds and Maintenance Committee.

There was discussion of a drainage project that had been requested by a homeowner. The Board had previously checked with our attorney and provided the homeowner with the conditions under which the project could proceed. The homeowner’s attorney has advised the Board that there is disagreement on certain conditions basically involving responsibility for maintaining the drainage system and who will bear the costs. The Board is in the process of preparing a response to their letter.

Pat reported on her research into solar lights. The Board approved the purchase of 2 solar lights to illuminate the entry sign on Leestone Street.

General Discussion:

The Board discussed assignments for those homeowners who volunteered at the annual meeting. There were 9 volunteers for various committees including POA package preparation, G&M, ARC and delivering items door to door. The Board wants to be sure that all volunteers are contacted. One volunteer has volunteered for website and POA. This volunteer has been contacted initially about working on the website so that we have a back-up for that position. Leona will verify if the volunteer still wants to do both website and POA. In going over committee assignments, the Board also decided to eliminate the Consumer Affairs Committee. Leona will work with the webmaster to update the website for the committee assignments made to date. The Board will finalize committee and work assignments by the June meeting.

The Board also discussed the email from a homeowner regarding promoting the SolarizeFC initiative to homeowners. Individual letters to homeowners and a newletter article were considered, but the timing of the project deadline and that many homeowners might not be able to benefit made these options not feasible. A notice was prepared by Leona for posting in the message boxes which the Board reviewed. Pat will post the notices.

The Board deferred decisions on a Property Management Company until a later date. Purchase of software to run the ARC program was also deferred. The Board will decide, when all information is received, whether to approve the drainage project requested by the homeowner. The Board still has to consider new landscaping for the mailbox stands and the bids on tree work. A decision on whether to charge interest on delinquent assessments needs to be made. Information on trash collection is being prepared for the newsletter including new info from American Disposal Services on types of trash bags that are recommended. Work on the tree plan will begin this summer.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:16 pm.

Certified for the Record

___________________________________Janet Rourke