Westwood Landowners’ Association

Special Meeting on Drainage Section 3

Meeting Minutes

July 29, 2016

Magnolia, TX 77354

Special Meeting:The Board of Directors of the Westwood Landowners’ Association

(“WWLOA”) convened special meeting open to members of WWLOA

Quorum Present:Mr. Emmitt Hippler, President

Mr. Mark Tarhalla, Member at Large – Not Present

Mr. Rick Bridges, Vice President

Mrs. Debbie Sulzer, Secretary

Ms. Makana Hansen, Treasurer – Not Present

Call to Order:Mr. Emmitt Hippler called the meeting to order at 6:00 p.m.

Old Business:

President Hippler discussed plan and bid for easements and drainage for the Westwood area for Section 3 as noted in the meeting notice agenda. He would like to move forward with approving the bid to clean the easement from Teakwood to FM 1488 as was done 8 years or so ago. This should help relieve Section 3. Three bids were reviewed in detail from TexStar Services, Devine Landscaping and Turfco.

Comments from the Floor:

Resident stated concern from 5507 Teakwood Lane that ThruBore Valve behind him is building a retention pond and was concerned this would add to the flooding. VP Bridges knows the owner and provided– Dickey McGee of Leopard Properties is the owner and can be reached at 713-249-8771.

Clean out ditch to FM 1488 – who will maintain it? Knows $9,000 was spent before per Danny Boyd

511 Shadberry – Culverts Flow two directions by her house – Spoke with county and they have it all on hold until studies are done per the county. Commissioner’s study on Section 3/ Phase 1/ East side is done. Engineers are now in section 3 West side known as Phase II.

Resident Brian stated he digs out ditch every time it rains – Culverts by apartments on private drive was removed when apts were built causing issues. Referencing behind 4 mailboxes area on FM 1488.

Resident from Douglas Fir area wanted to know what the long term plan to maintain the easements would be once cleaned out. Someone stated the county should be held accountable.

President Hippler stated the County replaced the culvert on Mahogany Way between Weeping Willow and Weisinger going North and South after requesting for nearly 2 years.

President Hippler stated we are working on getting one project done at a time. Plan will be to maintain the cleaned out ditch with LOA funds. Easements behind the properties would continue to be the responsibility of the land owners requiring notices to be sent.

VP Bridges wants county to maintain the ditch going forward once we have it cleaned noting we pay tax dollars to have this taken care of. It’s not our land to maintain and county should do it.

One culvert crosses Sugarbush onto Douglas Firin Section 3 to move water to another side of the street and this does no good.

Resident asked how that will be enforced. Response from board was that letters are sent giving 30 days to correct the issue, if arrangements are not made, it is then handed over to our attorney. President Hippler also stated that our patrol person, Joel, works hard to stay on top of and address the issues as well as the ladies in the office.

Resident inquired about the possibility of raising the dues or doing an assessment to cover maintenance of all the easements. Board stated it is likely that an assessment or fee increase will be deemed necessary, however, we have to identify the needs and cost first. An open meeting would be scheduled to discuss the findings to determine any changes. VP Bridges also stated that we needed to work on changing classes of membership as well prior to any assessments. We are taking the projects one at a time and moving through them once the data is fully compiled.

Resident asked if the board has a copy of Commissioner Riley’s report. Response was no copy but we have seen the report. In phase 1 of Section 3 there were 134 culverts that need to be reset. Mesquite alone had 66 culverts of which 30 plus need to be reset. We do not feel it is feasible that all 30+ residents will cover the estimated $1,200 to $1,500 to replace the culvert and their driveway.

Resident on Pacco and another on Teakwood stated concerns about their garage and back yards flooding. Concerned their septic system would be ruined and the ditches do not handle the flow. Feels every resident should do their part to keep the areas flowing.

VP Bridges recommended working with County Commissioner Riley to install underground storm system to handle all the flow of water from Westwood to Lake Creek.

Debbie announced WMPID authorized LRJ to commission a flow study on Nickaburr Creek from North of Durango to FM 2978 at their July board meeting.

VP Bridges reviewed the bids again and answered questions from the floor. He then proposed we needed to vote. VP Bridges made a motion to approve Turfco as the contractor to clean out the 1400 to 1600 feet ditch $14,600 dollar from Mesquite to FM 1488. Inducing to clean and regrade the ditch 4’ at the bottom and 12’ at the top. Haul off all dirt and debris. Then do erosion control.

Discussion on motion- will we be able to dispersethe water at FM 1488. EJ Smith offered to 2nd the motion. Debbie provided the 2nd to the motion and the motion passed unanimously.

Additional areas of work discussed included:

  • Douglas Fir to Shadberry, Shadberry to Mesquite $10,050 each.
  • Fairbanks for Douglas Fir Easement did not appear to be an issue.
  • Easement once cleaned up will be property owners’ responsibility beside and behind properties.
  • Culvert that goes under Douglas Fir – identify the culverts in the area to help redirect the water.
  • Requested to know what was to be done on Conroe Huffsmith. This area is still under review.
  • Issue on Sugar Bush in Section 4 is under bid process and review as well. First bid came in at $45,000 from TexStar Services.

Motion from VP Bridges to accept the $22,000 bid for easement(s) with the provisions that Debbie would meet with the contractor to clarify the bid includes a sufficient scope from TexStar Services. It needs to remove the stumps that would impede the water flow and address tree removal. Motion was 2nd by Debbie. Motion was passed unanimously.

Additional Comment from the floor:

Resident of Section I wanted to verify something was going to be done in Section 1 and 2 along Nickaburr Creek. His concern was that all the funds would be spent in section 3 and 4 leaving zero funds to address creek flooding. Debbie advised that we had to take the projects step by step and that we would have to look at an assessment or other resources to handle the creek which would be done at a later meeting.

Debbie advised that a map was on the front table identifying all the areas of flooding that she was aware of and requested name and contact info of anyone else that wanted to be included on the drainage issue emails. She also advised that we would continue to work with County Commissioner to attempt to keep moving projects forward, as well as, attend WMPID meetings and Commissioners Court when related.

Several residents thanked the board for staying on top of this and taking the steps to get this approved.

Adjourn: Meeting was adjourned at 7:20PM.