Minutes: 06/24/2009

MEADOW WALK BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING
June 24, 2009, 6:30 PM at the Fruitville Branch of the Sarasota Public Library

Directors Present: Gary Walsh, Joe Stewart, Janet Dunay, Shana Bickel, Dolly Fenix
Called to order at 6:30 p.m.

Also Attending: Steve Dunay, Diane Trehaene, Margaret Morrison, James McDonnel, Aileen Small, Nancy and Vince Delaccio

1.0 The meeting was called to order at 6:35 p.m.

2.0 Secretary’s Report:

2.1 Minutes of the last meeting of March 30th were read.

2.2 There was no new correspondence received by the Board

2.3 A summary of the letters sent during the last quarter to residents of Lots 20 (Braune), 31 (Allen), 35 (Stovall), 47 (Evans) , and 59 (Tenants) was given. These had to do with various non-compliance issues such as the parking of commercial/work and recreational vehicles, trash receptacles and private garage sales.

3.0 Treasurer’s Report:

3.1 Status of payments for 2009: Our financial situation has become viable again. If folks continue to be timely with their payments we hope to build upa sufficient reserves by the end of the year. But this remains to be more fully determined after considering loss of revenue due to forecloures.

Four foreclosures on property have been in the process since last year. We have been notified of three new forclosure proceedings. We have complied with the legal representations with the foreclosure banks to ensure that we can collect the homeowner’s fees that have not been paid on these properties.

3.2 Bank balance: To date we have a balance of $12,755.00 in bank, which enables the timely payments of our service and ultility bills.

3.3 Mailing of statements for the second half of 2009 homeowners fees: The second half of $300.00, of our 2009 homeowner’s fees are due on July 1st. This is a collectible of $15,640.88 plus an amount of $84.39 for late penalty fees. Shana Bickel will be sending out the statements this week.

3.4 The Meadow Walk liability insurance coverage for loss and mitigation was renewed this June 2009. The 1802 was approved.

4.0 Modification Committee Report: There were no formal requests for major architectural changes that have been submitted to the Modifications Committe during this first quarter. There were notifications to the committee of three home exterior painting jobs that changed the color from the original shade to one still within the palette of allowable colors.

5.0 Old Business:

5.1 Lawn Service Contract: A new 12 month contract with the Family Lawn Service started last April at $1,295.00 a month. Their service will include palm tree maintenance in our common areas. Garywill speak to them as well about the weeds, destructive clilmbing vines on the walls, the leaf piles and the hanging moss on the bushes and tree branches.

5.2 Status on lakes and littoral shelf: Joe Stewart reported that the outfit of Aquatic Solutions has started the monitoring and maintenance of our lakes and littoral shelf. They have visited Meadow Walk a couple of times already to assess the environment. A monthly walk-around is scheduled. They have liaisoned with the county agencies and are attending to the report due in August. They will wait for summer to pass and the extreme heat to abate before planting more of the needed species along the lakes, ponds and littoral shelf. This will most probably be in the fall. Aquatic Solutions a more on top of things. We have not received a letter from the county and that’s a good sign.

Water run-off and rain have at last raised water levels in our lakes a bit. The alligator usually spotted behind Gary Walsh’s backyard seems to have moved somewhere else for now. Watchfulness is necessary especially for the safety of the children. Margaret asked about the plants in the ponds. These plants are favorabl e species and have to be kept.

6.0 New Business:

6.1 Quote for the annual power wash of the walls.

James McDonnell submitted a quote of $600. to do the power washing of the Meadow Walk walls. This will be an annual maintenance item. James will first spray a degreaser instead of a bleach before the power wash. Since he will have to enter the yard areas of the residents alongDeer Crossing Ct. who are adjacent to the wall. A notice will be given to each household informing them of the scheduled power wash sometime the week of June 29th. and the possible need to access water for the job on from their garden taps. Water will be accessed only from the homes that give approval.

Resolution: The Board approved a resolution to have James McDonnell degrease and power wash the MW walls at a quote of $600.

6.2 Contact Family Lawn Care regarding: Entrance island and maintaining plantings in common areas.

Gary will contact Family Lawn Care about servicing the Meadow Walk entrance island. The plantings need to be replaced with more indigenous species that are drought resistant and that can hold the soil on the burms. They will also be asked to look into fertilizing the existing bushes in the common area landscape. Sprinklers have to be checked that they are fully retracting specially along the front sidewalks to prevent damage and leaks that cause the soil to spill onto the walkway.

6.3 Send letters to owners and holding banks of the vacant homes about maintaining the yards and structures of these properties.

The Olsons, Fossers, Marschalls and Keltys have to be informed about the need to provide for the maintenance and upkeep of their home’s structures, yards, and pools if they have one. The others who had this same issue brought to their attention have contracted maintenance crews. Any home with a pool is required to maintain the pool waters as stagnation can cause an unhealthy breeding of mosquitoes, specially during the summer months.

6.4 Change the number of days a boat or trailer can be parked in the driveway.Fines for commercial vehicle parking after notification. The current allowable time of 72 hours for a boat or a trailer to be parked in one’s driveway does not seem to be working. Folks with these recreational vehicles are taking more time than allowed to prep and clean their vehicles before and after use. If these homeowners do not comply, it was suggested that a referendum be taken at the 2009 Annual Meeting to bringing the allowable period for these vehicles on one’s driveway back to 24 hours.

With regard to commercial vehicles. Some homeowners have complied after receiving notice about their commercial vehicles. There are those who continually, or intermittently but consistenly, are non-compliant. Neighborly talk wi th some individuals do not seem to result in solving the problem. The next stepis to strictly charge the fines related to this issue. The Board really wants to avoid taking this route if possible, but will do so if inevitable.

7.0 Report on Community-wide Garage/Yard Sale Janet Dunay reported that all in all the communty-wide Spring garage/yard sale at Meadow Walk last April was a success. It was suggested that this be kept as an annual community activity.

Discussion from the floor:

Compliance to rules and restrictions:

Some residents, who received letters have addressed their non-compliance, but there are those who have not resolved their issues. Reports and discussion from the floor confirmed this. An additional issue was that of resident’s guests parking in ways that unsafely obscure street traffic specially at the southeast corner of Meadow Breeze Lane and Deer Crossing Ct.

The Board is once again calling on those few individuals to comply of their own volition in consideration of their neighbors and the whole community. Follow-up on these issues should be a matter of personal awareness and initiative, and need not, should not be a matter of “policing” by the Board.

Homeowner’s Dues:

A resident brought asked whether the dues are going to be reduced for the next year. Gary responded that we currently have stable finances, thanks to the generally cooperative response of the homeowners to the timely payment of their 2009 dues. However, we need to complete the year’s projected expenses and any other non-budgeted items that may arise, as well as estimate a safe amount of reserves before we declare anything. This will probably be an item for discussion at our next annual meeting.

Mailboxes: On ocular survey, many mailboxes are in need of change or refurbishing. Some can just be repainted. If there is a source to buy in bulk, the neighborhood might agree to replacing all our mailboxes to metal ones, as some have done.

There being no other pressing issues or comments from members in attendance.

The meeting adjourned at 7:40 p.m.