Great Cypress Village Board Meeting

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GREAT CYPRESS VILLAGE BOARD MEETING

October 12, 2015

Themeeting was called to order at 7:00 pm. All present stood to recite the Pledge of Alligence to the United States Flag. President Donald Rutherford, Jr. asked Secretary Catherine Beyer to call the roll of board members. All members were present.

Secretary Beyer then read the September 14, 2015 minutes. A few minor corrections were made to them and the minutes were approved.

Treasurer Joan Hood read the financial report. As of September 30, 2015, the operatingchecking account balance was $9,219.81.The reserve account balance was $150,024.82. These two accounts totaledto $159,244.63. She also stated that she checked with the Small Business Association and was told our SBA loan interest rate was 2.93%. A motion was made and seconded to accept the financial report. The motion was approved.

The committee reports were as follows:

Architectural – Director Zeb Probst stated that new requests for permission to work on some homes in the park were filed with and approved by the committee. The status of the past violations will be addressed when the winter residents return. Joe Dilandro raised his hand and was called onfrom the floor. He made a verbal request. Mr. Dilandrowanted to know what would be done about the unkempt yard at the house across the street from him. After much discussion between he and the members of the board,President Rutherford said the committee would write up the owner of the property and fine her if she does not comply with the request to keep her yard trimmed. President Rutherford, Directors Zeb Probst and Paul Bredlau would go to the owners home to inform her again of the complaints about herproperty and the possible fines whichshe may incur if she does not take care of the problemsoon.

Social Club– Tom Thompson said the Social Club has new officers. Tom Thompson is the president, Mary Thompson is the Vice President, Betty Kosko is the secretary and Joan Mellarkey is the Treasurer. Mary Thompson is still unable to take part in committee duties so Tom will need help fulfilling his role as president. Mr. Thompson suggested that Mary Hurst should get free tickets to the upcoming potluck events andgivethem to the new residents to help welcome them to Great Cypress Village. Tom reminded us there would be a soup supper before next board meeting on Nov 9th (soup supper 6 pm and board meeting at 7 pm)

RV area- George Thode was present and said nothing is new in RV area. He reminded all using the RV area to take care of their own space by trimming weeds and mowing.

Welcoming – Mary Hurst said Jane and Dean Bassett and Marian Scroggin are new residents of the GCV park.

Documents – No one from the committee was present so no report

Election – Nadine Alfred said the new 2016 nomination forms are ready and very easy to fill out. Please consider filing nomination papers for the next election in March of 2016. It was suggested that the election committee could go to the homes of the new residents to see if they would want to serve on next year’s board. When filling out the new form they could also prepare a brief statement describing whom they are and why they want to be elected to the new board. The final date for accepting nomination papers will be Feb 2, 2016. A sample of the ballot could also be printed in the newsletter after Feb 2nd deadline for nomination papers with all names of persons applying for each new board position.(example: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and three Director positions) Nadine also thanked all the committees for their hard work in making our community such a nice place to live.

Board of Trustees - Dale Alford said the 2016-2017 budget would not raise assessments.

He said the Board of Trustees also approved applying a $4,000.00 per month payment to the principal of the SBA loan. Vice President Brenda Cloukey said a question should be put on the March ballot whether the SBA loan should be paid off in full or keep paying monthly payment as we are now till it is paid off.

OLD BUSINESS –(Agenda items)

SBA Loan –Regarding the SBA loan, it was asked by June Stevens, “Who authorized the extra large payments made in August and September?” President Rutherford said he and the Board of Trustees asked Treasurer Hood if she felt it would be safe to send larger payments ($10,000 one month and $3,000 another month)to take the principal balance of SBA loan down. Treasurer Hood looked at past balances and said she felt it would be safe to make these larger payments at that time as we had over twenty some thousand dollars in theoperating checking account. President Rutherford called on Isabelle from the floor, who stated the budget that was voted on in the past did not allow for these larger payments to be made. It was then mentioned that the Board of Trustees decided that when the monthly bills were all paid we should still consider making larger payments toward lowering the principal balance on this loan. Isabelle said, “we only took in five thousand some dollars last month and you want to make a four thousand dollar payment? How will we have enough to take care of our bills?” President Rutherford said the four thousand dollarpayment would only be made when the accounts were stable enough to do so. President Rutherford called on Mrs Rutherford from the floor who asked,“is the SBA loan considered a bill each month?” Yes, was the answer. She wanted to know,“why you would not want to pay off this loan like you would pay off your mortgage?” Further discussion on the floor brought up the subject that the roads are in need of repair and common area sidewalks need to be pressure washed. After the discussion dwindled down, June Stevens wanted to know if we would still pay the four thousand dollars a month, when we can, or are we going to possibly put the question of extra monthly SBA loan payments on the March 2016 ballotto be considered in the up coming budget for the resident owners to decide? President Rutherford asked if the residents wanted to put the question on the ballot. All present said “yes”. Director Probst stated he was all for paying off the SBA loan, but he had looked at loan payments statementsin the past and said we had paid over forty thousand some dollars alone in interest since we have had this SBA loan. He asked again, “who decided to pay the ten and three thousand dollar payments in the recent past?” Again the answer was, “the Board of Trustees.” President Rutherford said that TreasurerHood felt it was all right to pay the amount or she would not have done it. Director Probst asked if this was the proper way to get permission to pay this. Director Probst said maybe the community or the board of directors at least should have been consulted before it was done. He said the GCV board members are the people elected to run this park, shouldn’t they have been asked about this? Isabelle was recognized from the floor and said the Board of Trustees is there to only recommend a budget, not to give permission to take money out of our checking account for extra payments. If we wanted to pay larger payments on the SBA loan it should have been included in last years budget and to make them in the future should be included in next years budget. Many conflicting opinions were expressed from those present on this decision to make larger loan payments outside of the budget of last year. The point is, who has the authority to make these financial decisions, period! Nothing further was discussed on this matter because the time was getting late and we had many more topics to discuss.

9 to 5 Communication and email list–Dale Alfred wanted to have anemaillist of all the residents.He wanted to be able to communicate with them when items needed to be discussed. The “9 to 5” designation was brought up by Treasurer Hood so if you were calling board members to discuss things it might be better to call them between the daily hours of 9 am to 5 pm only.

Make up of committees - Dale Alfred said having an odd number of members per committee should be addressed in documents committee meetings and be a suggested change in the By Laws/Declaration documents. This was a tie on decisions could be averted.

Non owners coming to meetings – Director Hamilton wanted to know why husbands or wives or year round renters not listed on the ownership papers could not attend our board meetings. All the residents began to speak at the same time saying “no way “or “it is in the by laws that they cannot attend”. Director Hamilton still wanted to know why. Was there something secret being discussed? These renting persons not on the deedmay someday want to buy a home here and they may base their decisions on our monthly informative meetings. Mrs. Rutherford said it is not right and they don’t do it at other places. To which Director Hamilton said yes, they are allowed in some other parks asshe has been to their meetings. President Rutherford asked if this question should also be put on ballot. Director Hamilton said yes.

Lightbulbs burned out in club house ceiling – President Rutherford had talked to Chet about this matter and Chet had already replaced them. Director Bredlau said usually in November we have had a volunteer club house cleaning by our residents. We may want to consider doing that again this fall and spring to help keep costs of maintenance down.

Last date to fill nominationsfor March 2016 elections would be February 2, 2016.

Seven bids for Pest Control Companies – President Rutherford got the following bids:

Florida Lawn Pest Control - $250 to do lawn every 8 weeks, the club house $50 per month.

Pest Away - $65 per month outside, $75 by monthly to do club house.

Massey - $120 initial service fee then $125 monthly or $684 annually to do clubhouse. Outside = $160 initial fee then$145 per month or 625 a month to do lawn.

Nelson – cheapest one, lawn $79 per month, club house $79 per month

Trouly Nolan - $220 initial, $90 per month to do club house,, $105 initial, $95 a month to do outside.

Knights Pest Control – Initial $125 clubhouse, $89 initial lawn, $129 every 6 to 7 weeks.

Orcon – the rep came and will get in touch with us later.

Discussion was held with all in attendance and it was suggested to go with the Nelson Pest Control company for both club house and lawn pest control. A motion was made and seconded to use the monthly services of Nelson. The motion was approved.

Road Repair on DeKoster – President Rutherford got two estimates as follows:

Rosser Construction will for $5960 dig the pipe, fix it and resurface the road.

Blue Works would use a camera to inspect the pipe, remove the hazards then re-line the pipe. They do not dig up road. It is a new procedure. $4325 includes using camera, hydro jet cleaning vacuum, de-silting ($1650)and replace with 18”CIPP liner. This bid does not however fix the depression in the asphalt sothere would be an extra cost to fix that. Patch includes DeKoster only. A heated discussion commenced after which President Rutherford said he would call them to come out to use their camera to find out more about the problem. A decision to table this work was defeated with a 4 to 3 vote by the board. A motion was then made and seconded to go with the Blue Works Company $4325 total bid. The motion was approved.

Sidewalk Repair - The two sidewalks where trees were removed are in need of repair.

ABG Concrete would grind down and replace damaged sidewalks for $650. A motion was made and seconded to have this work done. The motion was approved.

Replacement Trees- A list of Pasco County approved replacement trees was given to those residents who had their trees removed. They have a month to reply with their tree of choice. Preferably a Palm tree as shade trees are not recommended by the county in common areas.

Men’s Room Toilet – A compliant was filed that by Garry Stewart that the men’s room toilet was not high enough. He fell while using it and hurt his knee.Chet says this toilet is working fine and is the highest style available. It was decided by the board not to replace the toilet at this time as there is a handrail available to use.

Parking on streets overnight – Joan Ray asked that no one park on the streets at night as it is difficult to see the parked cars if they are not under a street light. The Great Cypress

Village By Laws only “suggests” that no one park on streets at night. It was agreed by all present not to park on streets at night whenever possible.

Revitalization Documents - President Rutherford finally got our approvedrevitalization documents back from our attorney on the Saturday before the October 12thmeeting.

Our attorney says,“as of October 1, 2015, all homes are now responsible for paying their dues in the amount of $62.00 each month.” He also said the 2009 Revitalization package has to be reprinted and given to all residents. The newly approved 2009 documents have a “date and time stamp” on each page which shows theirnew approval status. It was suggested to throw away all your old 2009 copies and keep only the new approved documents when you receive them. This copying procedure takes a lot of our copy paper and our board members timeso,President Rutherford got estimates from two copy companies as follows:

Staples - 150 copies of packet made for $482 but w/o holes punched

Office Depot - 150 copies of packet made for $365.94 with holes punched

A motion was made and seconded to have 150 copies of the new revitalization packets made at Office Depot. The motion was approved. This packet will also contain an explanation letter from our attorney as to what this new filing means to each resident. When each resident receives this packet they will be asked to initial the master list of Great Cypress Village resident addresses to prove they received their documents. President Rutherford wanted to get the documents copied and in the hands of residents as soon as possible. Director Probst asked if the new approved documents have been reviewed upon receiptto make sure everything was all right this time. President Rutherford said Director Probst could review them over night and return for copying. Director Probstmade a motion to review the new documents to make sure they are the same as the old 2009 documents that we all agreed to use. He asked to take a few days to review them before they go to Office Depot for printing. The motion was seconded and approved.

Statements in By Laws and Declarations –As an example:(At the June 9, 2015 special meeting) it was discovered that the Architectural Committee duties were conflicting between the Declarations and By Laws. One states the Board of Directors makes final decisions on granting requests submitted and the other statesthe Architectural Committee makes final decisionson granting requests submitted with the board only stepping in to settle a dispute between the resident and the Architectural Committee. It was asked that the members of the Documents committee review all By Laws and Declarations in the future to find such errors and submit corrections.

NEW BUSINESS –

George Thode wanted to know if any architectural committee member had special treatment. George observed that grass mowing waste was not being picked up after mowing. Mr. Ed LaFountain should have taken away all grass clippings left on the street. Parking his lawn mower in the neighbors yard without permission is also a concern. Mr. LaFountain said on that day there was no electricity at the lot in question so he could not blow away grass clippings. Also, Mr. Thode said that there had been a car parkedover the sidewalk for a long time. A heated discussion commenced between the men. It was suggested by Director Probst that arguing during board meetings is not the place to handle these disputes.

No other new business was discussed so amotion was made to adjourn the meeting.

The motion was approved.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.

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