LEEWOOD HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION MONTHLY BOARD MEETING MINUTES

MEETING DATE: January 8, 2019

TIME: 7:30 P.M.

ATTENDEES

Board: Leona Taylor, Nathan Parsons-Schwarz, Gideon Abebe, Khaleaph Luis. Justin Edwards was unable to attend.

Sentry Management: Birgit Burton, Angela Weed and Dave Ciccarelli (V.P. Sentry Management, Virginia)

The meeting convened with a full quorum.

Approval of Agenda

Board approved the proposed agenda.

Open Forum: None

Approval of Minutes: The board deferred to approve December’s minutes in February 2019.

Dave suggested that motions should mention each board member by name.

Board Officer Reports:

· Khaleaph reported that we have $120,000 in a money market account. After speaking to Schwab, he reported that our investment is one step above most conservative. Our current investment distribution is: 13% equity, 21% cash and 66% mixed income. He also presented three investment options for the cash on hand.

I. Three CD's at 30K each (a total of 90K)

II. Money market account- it pays 2.33% in interest and allows for easy liquidity

III. Equity - depends upon how conservative we want to be.

· Sentry had Morgan Stanley review our portfolio and make suggestions to use their firm instead of Schwab. Dave indicated that Sentry has a lot of funds with Union Bank, and so Sentry can offer good CD rates through Union Bank. As part of their standard operating procedures, Sentry sends us the rate sheet each time one of our CD’s matures. If we move to Morgan Stanley or the Sentry-offered investments, we will need to close out the Schwab account and move all of our investments to the new account.

· After discussion, the board approved moving the funds in the reserve money market account to 3 CD's with differing maturity dates.

Other issues reported include:

o Parking issues at upper Leestone St. where a Chevy pickup truck was towed away as it has been parked at the same visitor lot for an extended period of time. In an email correspondence, the renter was reminded to review the parking regulations on the website.

o Nathan informed the board that he will be out of town in February and is not going to attend the next board meeting.

o Leona has mailed out the new ARC standards manuals and will submit the receipts to Sentry for reimbursement.

o The newsletter was not done in time to be sent out with the standard manuals, so the newsletter needs to be redone to rewrite the standards manual article and address some of the complaints received from residents about the late assessment increase notification.

o The Board received numerous e-mails regarding the late assessment increase notice. Leona contacted the attorney to verify that the assessment increase was valid even with the late notice (this was confirmed) and responded to the homeowners. The Board may want to go back and review the maximum assessment calculation, as no increase was instituted in the past when the notice was not sent or sent late.

o The drainage and tree removal scheduled for January 9 and 10 has not been done.

o Annual meeting planning notice has to go out at least 10 days prior to the meeting date of March 12, 2019. Sentry will contact Philips School to verify that the large room will be available. Sentry will prepare the Annual Meeting packets and will have a draft for the next Board meeting. Sentry will provide refreshments at no charge to the association. We need to find ways to increase the number of attendees so that there are enough votes to have the proposed covenant changes approved. The conversation regarding the covenant changes will be started at the meeting. The meeting will begin at 8:00 pm.

o We need to make sure we have a free means for home owners to communicate among themselves and with the board. Previously a chat room was used, but it became a hostile platform and had to be canceled. Currently, the newsletter is being used as the means for free communication. The Board also discussed whether op-in for eblasts could be the free means.

ARC

· Birgit reported that several requests have been received for extension until spring to make proper repairs related to ARC violation notices that residents received. Replies are being sent out with explanations and pictures as well as granting extensions until at the earliest April 1, 2019.

· Sentry asked about the status of the exterior light approval requested by 7027 Leebrad St. The ARC already reviewed and approved the request. The approval documents were given to Sentry for the association files.

· 7014 Leestone St. was cited for a tall shed (above 6 ft.) and sand bags. The sand bags need to be removed, and the Board approved a waiver was granted for the shed with a condition that the home owner repair the aged shed and maintain it in good condition. If and when the owner decides to replace it or sells the home, the shed will be replaced by a new one that meets ARC standard or removed.

· The Board also approved a waiver for 5261 Leestone Ct. which also has a shed extending over the fence. The same conditions of maintaining the condition and replacing with conforming shed/removing on sale or subsequent update.

· 7050 Leestone St. requested to change door and shutter color. The color picked is not in the approved ARC color collections. Request was denied, and owner requested to select from the approved color collections.

· We need to get a status update on 7036 Leebrad and the request to waive for the missing screen. Alternatives were provided by ARC for Sentry to communicate with the homeowner.

· It was discovered that the letters for the 10/3 inspection file were not sent to homeowners. Sentry will prepare and send out the letters.

Grounds

· Pro Grounds was asked to provide notices for the three annual raking dates so that it could be announced in advance to homeowners. This will allow home owners to rake out their flower beds. The first leaf removal was planned for January 3^rd.

· Pro Grounds performed tree trimming that was requested by the home owner at 7053 Leestone St.

· Sentry will distribute the spreadsheet of Pro Grounds work performed to the Board when it is available

· Tree at 7043 Leestone St. was cut without prior notification to the home owner. And Pro Grounds also went into the homeowner’s backyard. Leona contacted the home owner via email and explained the reason and apologized for not knowing that Pro Grounds would enter the yard.

· Birgit and the board received complaint letters from 4 home owners who reside on Bradwood Ct. Leebrad St, and Leestone St. related to the work that Pro-grounds does in the spring to prevent crab grass. The company responded to their complaints. The board discussed inviting Pro Grounds to the annual meeting to address questions from residents.

Old Business

· Parking spot swap on Bradgen Ct. was completed by Sentry.

· The new ARC standard manual was mailed out to all.

· The contract for sidewalk and asphalt work has not been granted yet. Still waiting for RFP from potential contractors. Finley Contracting has been contacted to present an RFP but requested the presence of an engineer and to meet with board. They recommended that Greg Budnik, an engineer whom the board has consulted with regarding on drainage issues, be consulted on the street repairs. The consultation fee that the engineer charges is $175 an hour. Leona suggested that Greg needs to be consulted with other RFP’s besides Finley’s. Greg asked to discuss the proposal with Leona, so the Board approved that she meet with him prior to the next meeting. It was asked and Sentry agreed that the consultant fees related to the road work could come from the reserve account.

· Fencing- Three firms submitted proposals for the fence repair. Sentry discussed the proposals with the Board. The Board approved awarding the contract to NOVA Deck and Fence at price not to exceed the bid price of $4,412 and provided that the “solid board 1x4 w/ gothic milled top” is the type of standard stockade fence used by Leewood for the common area fencing.

New Business

· Contribution to Philips School has been made.

· American Disposal’s rate is going up. Angela indicated that the new rate would not result in being over budget for 2019. However Leona reminded everyone that American can also increase rates in July and December, so we may not remain under budget. There is no rate cap limit in the contract. There are 3 more years left on the 5 year contract.

· December statements are not yet available. Financial statements through November have been posted on the web site by the webmaster.

· 2019 annual report signed and provided to Sentry for submission.

· A number of homeowners have complained about the price of the POA packet charged by Sentry. The cost of doing business for LWHO has gone up as a result of the switch from self-managed to Management-run community. The law allows Sentry to charge higher fees, and they are in compliance with the law.

Executive session

· The Board reviewed the outstanding A/R report. Reminders for 2018 balances are expected to go out in mid-January. Sentry is notifying those who paid the old assessment rate for January sine the increase notice was sent out late.

· Leona indicated that homeowners are charged $185 by Sentry when an account is turned over for collection to the attorney. The Board should remember when sending assessments to collection that the past due must be more than three quarters.

· Attorney recommendation regarding one past due account was reviewed. This recommendation had been previously communicated to the Board and resolved at the September meeting.

· Sentry indicated that homeowner names discussed for waivers should not be detailed in the minutes. Sentry clarified that we should not mention names with regard to past due assessments going to collection in the executive session, whereas ARC violators and related violations can be mentioned.

The meeting adjourned at 8:52 PM