Members present are, Clint Robertson, Matthias Smith of GERC, Liz Walker, Sue Kozup, Michael Stockwell, Betty Newell, Eric Millard, Brian Long, Orris Hambleton, Andrew Jezioro, Samuel Good. Board members absent: Wayne Ford MVOA Representative and Steve Oliver. Also in attendance are Carter Miller, Administrator, Attorney Melisa Michelsen, Patty Watson of Villager Publications and Crystal Reamey as recording secretary and eleven property owners.
Issue / Discussion / Action / Due Date &
Assigned to
I. Regular Board of Directors
Meeting Call to Order / Welcomed Board members / Meeting called to order at 9:00 a.m. by President Robertson.
II. Pledge of Allegiance / President Robertson led all attendees in the Pledge of Allegiance.
III. Confirmation of Agenda / President Robertson asks if there were any additions or changes to Agenda. Board member Newell suggested moving comments from the floor from the end to the beginning of the agenda. She knew there were people in attendance that had questions and concerns. / President Robertson added mail boxes to unfinished business. Leaving comments from the floor in its place on the agenda.
IV. Approval of Minutes of
November 19, 2016 / President Robertson asks if there were any additions or changes to the November 19, 2016 minutes. Hearing none; President Robertson asked for a motion to approve the minutes as submitted. / Board member Long made a motion to accept the November 19, 2016 minutes as presented. Board Member Newell seconded the motion and the motion carried.
V. Comments on the Agenda
From the Floor / No additional comments.
VI. Officers’ Reports
A. Administrator Report - / Administrator Miller reported the house that burned down on Wilson Way is getting ready to re-build. MPOA did not have to take legal action against the owners. MPOA received a complaint from someone regarding our compost pile located on Bloomer Springs. Carter informed the person that we hope the Community Garden will be able to make use of the compost. This seemed to satisfy the individual. Carter is still working with the Post Office regarding the postal boxes. The Post Office has over 100 boxes that they are going to give us. Once the boxes are received, MPOA can build shelters for them based on the size. Parcels will be located at both mail stations. We will stagger some of them along the path at the Hawksbill mail station so they will be out of the way of parking and at the Flower Drive mail station we will place some of them along the downhill side of the parking lot. / No questions.
/ .
B. Treasurer’s Report – Liz Walker / We ended 2016 with revenue of $230,791 under budget. Expenses were slightly under budget for December and year to date, but it was not enough to overcome the revenue loss. Carter is carefully reviewing capital expenses in all departments in hopes of overcoming the situation by postponing some of the expenses. We currently have $639,000 +/- in cash and investment CD’s. The line of credit has an outstanding balance of $395,279. With assessments, due soon, we should have a good influx of cash. / No questions.
Issue / Discussion / Action / Due Date & Assigned to
C. Developer - Matthias Smith / At this point, Matthias Smith reported he is focusing on two tasks; first, hoping for colder weather and second, planning. They are planning on closing the slopes tomorrow afternoon for a couple of days until they get caught up. They are working on some small projects to be announced in March. One project is E-commerce; people like booking on their phones and need an app for that. He spoke briefly on the water line project. They are about a week behind on that. Owners should start to see tree cutting next week (Monday) and start seeing some line markings now. The trees further away with the ribbons are the furthest the project will go. Those trees will not be cut, only the ones inside. Matthias will meet with anyone who has general questions regarding the water line project and Mike Shifflett will meet with anyone who has specific questions.
Board member Newell had a question for Carter regarding the guardrails. She is aware of plans to replace the guardrails. Will the guardrails be moving up the hill as the water moves up? Carter indicated he is working with Mike Shifflett and they are looking at the guardrails that are in place right now. They will be pulling any guardrails that are worth salvaging. The guardrails need to come out towards the beginning of the project so when excavating is started down at the old pond near the sewer plant the spoils will be brought up to create the 8 foot of walking path and the guardrails will be brought back. We have Webster and Webster lined up to come in and replace and raise the guardrails.
Unknown property owner with question – Wanted to know if the partial road closures would start the same time the tree cutting starts. Developer representative Matthias Smith responded that would be later probably in March. He indicated Great Eastern would use the website to keep owners updated on when and how that would work. / No Comments.
D. Mountainside Villas
Owners Association
Report by Wayne Ford. / Absent – no report
Issue / Discussion / Action / Due Date & Assigned To
VII. COMMITTEE REPORTS:
A. Executive - Report presented by Vice President Brian Long / Nothing to report.
B. Architectural & Ecological - report given by Liz Walker / There were 10 requests for improvements/tree removal/additions, 1 new construction and 1 construction modification since the last board meeting. In 2016 there were a total of 77 improvements/tree removal/additions and 3 new constructions. The committee is beginning its review of the Design and Ecology reference guide. There are no issues or problems to bring to the board. / No Comments.
C. Long Range Planning -
Report given by Sam Good / Met last night (Friday). Goal is to meet once a month to get things up and running and get a report to the Board by the July meeting. / No Comments.
Issue / Discussion / Action / Due Date & Assigned to
D. Social Committee -Report given by Eric Millard / In December the Social Committee had the Tree lighting in Hopkins Park and had a great turnout. Thanked everyone who came out and participated in the event, thank you to the Social Committee members who volunteered their time and to the staff for getting the tree ready and Carter for getting supplies. A special thank you to our “Santa and Mrs. Claus” Harry and Flo Hall. We appreciate what they do for us. The support from everyone is very helpful. This year at the cabin we had something new and hoped everyone enjoyed the all Ladies Capella group from JMU.
The next event scheduled is the Committee Appreciation Dinner. All the details are not finalized, but the plan is to hold the event on the evening of our next Board Meeting, March 18th. Board member Millard requested that all the Board Liaisons or Committee Chairpersons get a list of active participants within the past year to him so we can get an invitation list together within the next month. We don’t want to miss anyone.
The Social Committee will be planning a meeting between now and our next board meeting to plan a list of events for 2017. If anyone has any suggestions or comments they would like considered please get those to Eric Millard as soon as possible. / No Comments.
E. Welcome Committee - Report given by B. Newell / The directory will soon be ready to print. We will be asking block captains to help with delivery or people can pick them up at the office. We will be printing them in house. The staff has come up with options for printing. We have the data base that the office will maintain. Printing in house means we can print as many or as little as needed. Board member Newell would still like to get it on the website at some point. / No Comments.
Issue / Discussion / Action / Due Date & Assigned to
F. Rules Committee Report given by Brian Long / Did not meet.
G. Nominating Committee Report – Mike Stockwell / There are four seats available for the election coming up. Clint Robertson, Andy Jezioro, Brian Long and Steve Oliver. Steve Oliver’s position is a vacant position and will be a two year term and the other three positons will be for three year terms. Clint will not be re-running; Andy and Brian will seek re-election. The Nominating Committee will be recruiting for applicants. They will need at least six. There will be an article going out in the next Villager requesting board nominations. Nominating Chairperson Stockwell also reported that Steve Oliver was his Co-Chair for the Nominating Committee. With Steve’s vacant position another Co-Chairperson would be needed. Board member Orris Hambleton volunteered to Co-Chair on the Nominating Committee. The Nominating will hold a meeting soon to go over plans and set up interview dates. A recruitment event will be planned for some time in February to help recruit candidates. President Robertson will write an article for the Villager in hopes to draw some interest for Board candidates. He also suggested to Developer Matthias Smith that maybe some of his employees that are homeowners might be interested. Developer Smith said he would encourage no less than one and no more than two apply. Board member Kozup stated it is important that if elected, they understand that the needs of the homeowners come first. Board member Stockwell responded that maybe this is a legal question in the event of a financial negotiation. Attorney Melisa Michelson replied it would depend on their position. As a general employee they may have personal conflicts where they may want to vote one way but feel their employer may want them to vote another. However, she didn’t see where we could prevent anyone from being on the board. Great Eastern could say they prefer their employees not to run or be on the board. Developer Matthias Smith responded that is their current position.
H. Web Committee Report – Andy Jezioro / Passed out a draft document from the committee requesting input from the Board to determine what the Web objective should be. Would like to get the information back over the next couple of weeks. This is what will help determine what we are going to be doing over the next year or so.
As far as web updating, Web Chair Jezioro had a meeting with Carter and Crystal and they have the resources to take care of the updates.
The Committee had given some thought to putting the directory on the web in PDF format. Without password protection the committee felt uncomfortable with that because anybody could access it. One option, if the board is still interested, we could look at adding one web page that would have the ability to load a PDF file and we could put password protection on that and it could be affordable. It will not be fully automated or full service but we could avoid some of the printing cost.
Board member Newell is still interested if a quick quote can be obtained without going through a lot of trouble.
President Robertson responded that he would like to go to as close to zero cost on that when we are talking .50 to .60 cents per copy.
Board member Millard – directed a question to Board member Newell. While seeking directory information, did you have a large amount of owners request electronic version of the directory emailed versus the hard copies? Board member Newell responded they did not ask the question but feels there may be an interest from some. She also stated it would be nice if they could have both available.
Board Member Walker suggested instead of printing a directory for every owner we just say copies will be available to people that want them. They can pick them up at the office versus giving to someone that’s going to pitch it in the trash can.
Issue / Discussion / Action / Due Date & Assigned to
I. Hopkins Park - Report by Sue Kozup / Nothing to report
VIII. Unfinished Business: / Garden Committee update reported by Board member Stockwell. Darlene Baugh is heading up the committee now. There have been two meetings since the last board meeting. Members have great experience and things are going great. Two members worked on the fence and layout. Darlene and her husband worked on the logistics, legal, financial etc. There was a meeting with Carter to talk about the fence. We are hoping to do a low voltage electric fence that can be turned off when gardeners are there. The next meeting is scheduled February 22nd.
Board member Long had a question regarding the fence. Have you thought about solar fences?
Board member Stockwell indicated that Tom was looking into the solar fences and that was an option.
Attorney Melisa Michelson understands the goal is to keep out animals but as an attorney she has to think about liability. She expressed her concerns of having an electric fence. If the voltage is high enough to keep out an animal it is high enough to shock a child or elderly person.
President Robertson stated the garden would be by the maintenance shop. Electric fence signs could be posted and the fence would be turned off each time someone went to the garden.
Board Member Stockwell – has had the same concerns and is open to input.
Board Member Walker – directed a question to Carter, has the insurance company been consulted about the electric fence?
Attorney Melisa Michelson said that would be a good idea.
Darlene will be putting together a presentation for the next board meeting.
Mail Station update reported by Carter Miller. Still waiting on the Post Office to get the parcels boxes to us. They have provided MPOA the sizes but we do not want to build the shelters for them until the boxes are here.
President Robertson wanted to express his condolence to former Board member Jan Lorette with the passing of her husband Richard “Dick” Lorette. He served on several committees and was a great asset to the community.
Board Member Newell – suggested anyone who wanted to make donations, do so to the Lions Club for the New Park.
A.
IX. New BUSINESS: / We had a Fire Wise Committee that consisted of Jeff Bolander, Steve Kozup and Carter Miller. Jeff Bolander no longer has the interest to serve on the committee. There needs to be at least one meeting per year to keep yearly status as a Fire Wise Community. Administrator Miller is looking for a Board Member to join so they can re-establish the committee. Board member Brian Long agreed to serve on this committee. / Brian Long volunteered to join the Fire Wise Committee.
X. New Business from the Floor / Property Owner Steve Kozup also echoed kind words and a condolence for Dick Lorette’s passing. Steve suggested to Board Member Newell a way to get confirmation that Block Captains had made contact with new residents. He suggests that once the Block Captain has been contacted regarding a new resident in the area, they would report back that they have contacted the new resident.
Board Member Orris Hamleton – Briefly gave a Military history of Dick Lorette’s volunteer career starting with the Korean war in the 1950’s and ending with the Vietnam War and then 25 years of community service for this community.
1. / XI. Executive Session / President Robertson asks for a motion to go into executive for legal consultation. / Board Member Eric Millard made a motion to go into Executive session. Board member Liz Walker seconded the motion and the motion carried.
2.
XII. Adjournment / No action taken in executive session. With no further business President Robertson called for an adjournment. / Board Member Brian Long made a motion to adjourn. Board member Board Member Newell seconded the motion and the motion carried.
Minutes of _January 21, 2017 Board of Directors’ Meeting. / Crystal Reamey,
Recording Secretary
MINUTES NOT APPROVED BY MPOA BOARD OF DIRECTORS.