TANNERIE WOOD
HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING
MINUTES
October 20, 2005
Attendance: Board Members Present: Carol Cohen, Tom Garvey, Lloyd Kern, David Mallin , Carole Witt
Board Members Unable to Attend: Yefim Manevich & Larry Keeley
Management: Carolyn Penta
Prior to the meeting, the Board of Directors arranged for a social time with light refreshments.
Call to Order: David Mallin called the meeting to order at 7:35 p.m.
Minutes: A motion was made by Carole Witt to approve last years annual meeting minutes and the motion was seconded by Lloyd Kern. The motion was carried unanimously.
David stated that the primary purpose of this Annual Meeting was to elect new members to the Board and elect new officers. Adding that there are three open positions on the Board up for re-election: Carole Witt (Carole has graciously decided to run for another term); Lloyd Kern and Larry Keeley (both Board members have elected to not run again due to business commitments). David thanked both Lloyd and Larry for their service to the Association and to the Community.
David continued, discussing some issues that came before Board and the overall approach he has been using. To ensure that the Board is reacting to concerns based upon the majority opinion of the community, a polling process was implemented to capture the preferences of the community at large on specific issues. The political and security sign issue from last fall was the first issue to test this approach. The Board received responses from 88 homeowners and the indication was that the community wanted to change the rules. The Board consulted with our attorney, Hal Barrow, who reviewed the process needed to make these changes. Hal has agreed to go over the various issues with you tonight. In particular, he will discuss (1) security and political signs (presently, changes cannot be made without 99 residents signing a petition), and (2) an additional amendment that will bring the Association in line with current legal standards regarding changes to the Declaration, Covenants and Easements, and By-Laws.
David continued describing the creation of a committee to review the various Association documents, and work with the attorney in an effort to update them to current standards. Adding that a separate committee which would meet separate from the regular Board meetings would be required, due to the time involved in the process. The committee would present recommended changes to the Board. David encouraged all homeowners, in particular, those who have not been active on the Board in the past to participate and join this committee.
David introduced Hal Barrow.
Hal began by summarizing the structure of the Association’s operating documents.
Stating there are three categories of documents:
- Declaration (Covenants and Easements)
- By Laws
- Resolutions
The Declaration is the fundamental document governing our Association. It is a legal document that was required to be filed with the court, and in essence created the Association. The By-Laws contain more specific details about the Association and it’s operations and the Resolutions which are created by the Board.
Hal continued to discuss our documents stating that they were written before communities like ours were commonplace. In the 1970’s these communities were just being built and as a result many of the Associations created in that time period have problems with their documents. There has been much legislation passed, and the documents used today look and work differently then ours do today. Many of the issues that have come before the Board in recent years would be eliminated with the refreshing or modernization of our documents.
The Board asked Hal to review the Association’s existing documents and make recommendations and address the sign issue where the community at large has expressed a position. After reviewing the polling results, Hal drafted an Amendment to the Declaration, prohibiting political signs and allowing security signs. Hal also recommended and drafted another Amendment to reduce the percentage of signatures required from the community to change the Declaration from 75% written to 67% written or voted on. (The 67% coming from the Uniformed Planned Community Act) The Uniform Planned Community Act is the legal statue by which all associations created since the passing of the Act are based upon.
Hal added that the idea of a separate committee that meets outside of regular Board meetings is a great idea to get this moving. Hal encourages all homeowners to participate. Being as the sum of our documents govern the Association, Hal suggested calling the committee the “Constitution Committee”.
David added that there is much to review and discuss under the context of a “Constitution Committee” and that the Board could not conduct normal business in tandem with this project. However, this project is very important to the future of the Association and the satisfaction of the residents with the Board and its’ actions.
This committee will work to review the comments provided by Hal, and make recommendations to the Board and the community at large specific to changes to our documents. Both Hal and David will participate in the initial meetings, but feel that the majority of those on this committee should not be existing Board members. We are looking for volunteers who care about the community and the Association. Hal has given us comments on our existing documents and a sample of what our documents would look like if they were written from scratch today.
At that point Hal passed around the 2 Amendments previously prepared and a sign up sheet for the Constitution Committee.
(We are pleased to say that we had a great response to volunteers for the Committee.)
Harden Ervin added that he feels we are going in the right direction.
Carolyn Penta agreed there is much verbiage in the C&E that need updating.
There were numerous comments and questions from the Homeowners in attendance. David stated that with the limited time available for the meeting, we needed to move on to take nominations for the open Board positions. Nancy confirmed that we had a quorum of homeowners. Carole Witt and Maria Rosen are on the ballot. David asked for nominations from the floor for the third open position. Mrs. Zander nominated Bernice Marinucci of Harrison Place. Bernice accepted the nomination. There were no other nominations. The nominations were closed. Since there were three candidates for the 3 open seats, the president called for a vote by acclamation and by those present and those holding proxies. All nominees were voted in. The election of the three candidates for 2005/07 was complete. The election was closed.
Treasurer’s Report: Lloyd Kern reported that we presently have over $62,300 in the Reserve Account and $6,675 in the Operating Account. The interest earned through September was $810. Lloyd reported that we have been pleased that we moved our monies to Citizens Bank and we have a good relationship with them.
There were no Committee Reports.
David asked the floor if there were any questions or comments they would like to make.
One homeowner stressed the safety hazard of parents parking at the entrance to Tannerie Wood awaiting the school buses. It was felt that parking so close to Susquehanna Road was very dangerous. Another homeowner suggested checking with Upper Dublin to see if the buses could pick up the children at another location within Tannerie Wood. This suggestion was previously asked of UD and was knocked down but it may be worthwhile trying again.
Tom Garvey mentioned that we have had problems in the past with outsiders using our parking pads for various activities (drinking, etc.). He asked homeowners to be aware, and don’t hesitate to call the Police should they notice something out of the ordinary.
Another homeowner mentioned that there is a lot of trash on the dog path.
David took the floor and offered a special thank you to those homeowners who helped us in the past year…
Maria Rosen
Walter Hackler
Harden Ervin
Marshall Verbit
Carol Kraft
Pat Miller
And he added another thank you to Carolyn Penta and Nancy Bunch.
Lloyd Kern took the floor and expressed the fact that being on the Board has been a good experience for him and he enjoyed getting to know many of his neighbors. He said he was sorry that business obligations made it difficult for him to continue on the Board but would be interested in joining the Board again sometime in the future.
The Oath of Office was given to Carole Witt, Maria Rosen and Bernice Marinnucci.
A motion was made from Marshall Verbit to adjourn the meeting. It was seconded by Carole Witt. The annual meeting was adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
Respectfully submitted:
Nancy BunchCarole Witt
Recording SecretarySecretary
FINANCIALS – SEPTEMBER 2005
Operating Account
The following checks were written during the month of September:
Barrow & Assoc.$ 566.63
Mid Atlantic Management$1,588.51
Clauser Landscaping$ 2,17210
PECO$ 119.64
Nancy Bunch$ 380.06
State Farm Insurance$1,900.00
Carole Witt (block party exp.)$ 160.00
A transfer was made from the Operating account into the Reserve account for $3,900.00. There were no deposits.
As of September 30, the balance in the Operating Account was: $6,681.76.
Reserve Account
As mentioned above, $3,900.00 was deposited into the Reserve account from the Operating account. .
As of September 30, the balance in the Reserve Account was $61,901.58 which included an interest payment of $74.27.