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Highlights of the regular meeting held June 1, 2010
A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Limestone Hills Maintenance Corporation was held on June 1, 2010.
In
attendance:
Florence Graham, Claire Davidson, Colin Patrick, Jack Hilaman, Bruce Bennett, Michele Lansdale, Paul Kline, Alan Gardner, Linda DiCampli and Nancy Goyda. Tom Cahill of BC Consulting was also present.
The Election Committee reported the results of the voting. Board members elected were:
North Pointe: Claire Davidson and Fred Naspo
East: Nancy Goyda
West: Bruce Bennett
North: Jack Hilaman and Brian Moore
Vincent Lane: No votes
A total of 270 proxies were received.
The following Board members were nominated for offices:
President: Alan Gardner
Vice President: Paul Kline
Secretary: Nancy Goyda
Treasurer: Jack Hilaman
Motion: The slate was approved unanimously.
The Annual Meeting format was discussed. The agenda items include:
•Introduction of Board members and officers
•Presentation of election results
•Explanation of budget and need for the fee increase
•Explanation of the process to approve a change to the deed restrictions and how this applies to the use of solar panels
•Time for resident questions and concerns
The setup for the meeting was discussed.
Other Issues/discussions:
•The surface of the tennis courts is peeling. It was
resurfaced in the fall. The contractor proposed that he redo it absorbing some of the cost and requesting that the association pay the remainder.
The Board will discuss other options before accepting the contractor’s proposal.
Motion: A motion was made, seconded and unanimously approved.
•The deed restriction sign at the entrance to West was stolen.
Motion: A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously approved to replace the sign.
Meeting adjourned at 8 p.m.
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Highlights of the Annual Homeowners Meeting held June 8, 2010
Directors in attendance: Fred Naspo, Florence Graham, Claire Davidson, Bruce Bennett, Colin Patrick, Jack Hilaman, Paul
Kline, Alan Gardner, and Tom Cahill of BC Communities.
The names of the newly elected board members were announced and the current board members and committee chairs were introduced.
Budget:
The Treasurer presented the 2010-2011 budget..
He highlighted several areas, concentrating chiefly on the cost of the past winter’s snow removal. The corporation has been reimbursed $31,333 by the state. Another request for reimbursement has been submitted which he anticipates will provide an additional reimbursement. It was noted that the board budgets for average costs of snow removal, but has no control over how much snow will fall. Since the corporation documents do not allow the board to assess the residents for operating issues, the additional funds needed to pay for this year’s snow removal were taken from the capital reserves. The board proposed raising the yearly assessment to $250 to reimburse the capital reserve funds in order to continue to protect the community,
Discussion of the process for meeting future extraordinary snow removal costs followed.
•Several residents said that they felt the increase was excessive.
•A resident suggested that
the board be given the authority to assess residents at such times. He stated that raises in yearly fees usually stay forever.
•The treasurer responded that the board’s intent is to lower the fee if
the snow removal costs do not require using capital reserve funds in the future.
Motion: The resident moved that:
The board initiate a community wide change to the deed restrictions so that assessments for operating issues can be made as necessary by the board. The motion was seconded.
The following items were included in the discussion of the motion.
*The cost of mailing, printing, etc. associated with such an initiative was estimated to be around $4,000.
It was suggested that the board should review all the by-laws so that if changes were to be made they could be included in the process.
*The board should set up a reserve fund for snow removal. This
suggestion did not address the reimbursement of the current capital reserve fund.
*The capital reserve fund is critical to the community and must be built up again.
*Annual meeting type gatherings should be held to decide on assessments.
*The motion did not include a cap on the amount of assessments the board could levy.
A resident called for the question.
The request was seconded and was approved by voice vote.
Motion: The motion was defeated by voice vote.
Motion: A motion was made and seconded that the budget be approved as proposed, including the $250 yearly fee.
The motion was amended to read that the yearly fee be $200, an increase of $18 over last year’s fee.
The amendment was not accepted so that it was not included in the motion.
Discussion of the motion included:
•Explanation of how bids for various services are offered and to whom
•Explanation of how the proxy process works.
Motion: The motion was voted on by paper ballot. The results were reported: Against: 18 In favor: 326 (This includes the 271 proxy votes.) The motion was passed.
The board officers for the next year were introduced. They are:
President: Alan Gardner
Vice-president: Paul Kline
Treasurer: Jack Hilaman
Secretary: Nancy Goyda
An open discussion on solar panels included the following:
•Solar panels are prohibited by the deed restrictions. A vote of 2/3 of the residents is needed to change the restrictions.
•The state has stated that new developments cannot prohibit solar
panels. This does not apply to existing developments.
•If they were to be allowed, there would have to be rigid placement guidelines.
•New technologies such as solar shingles and paint are being developed.
•It would be prudent to pursue the subject and be prepared before there is a critical decision to make.
•Solar power has been
shown to increase the value of a home. However, homes that overlook panels could be devalued because of them.
•A suggestion was made that the board set up a committee of interested people to research
and share information about solar energy that in turn would be shared with the community. A sign-up sheet for the committee was made available for those interested.
Meeting adjourned at 8:45 p.m.
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Highlights of the regular meeting held July 13, 2010
A regular meeting of the Limestone Hills Maintenance Corporation was held on July 13, 2010.
In attendance: Claire
Davidson, Jack Hilaman, Brian Moore, Colin Patrick, Paul Kline, Florence Graham, Alan Gardner, Nancy Goyda. Also present was Tom Cahill of BC Communities.
President’s Report
*The president asked that board members become directly involved in projects that the board will be undertaking.
*A list of board accomplishments will be developed throughout the year and sent to
residents before the next annual meeting.
*A special committee to review and revise the by-laws has been formed. It includes all members of the executive committee and any other board member
who is interested.
*A special committee on solar panels has been formed. Those residents who attended the annual meeting and indicated they interested have been contacted. A
meeting will be scheduled soon.
*The board is working on ways for LHMC to leverage economies of scale in obtaining various services for the community, e.g. trash pickup and recycling.
Alan will be meeting with the presidents of the condo and town home communities to discuss areas of joint interest.
Treasurer’s Report
The report was presented.
Motion: A motion was made and seconded to accept the report.
Property Manager’s Report
•Tom received a letter indicating Limestone Wine and Spirits has applied for a license to open a store in the Shops at Limestone Hills.
•Independent
Disposal Services has offered to increase its discount for homeowners in Limestone Hills.
•Pothole/curb issues will be taken to state legislators who represent the Limestone Hill area for
consideration.
Directors’ Reports
•North: A complaint was received that a homeowner is allowing his dog to run loose on open space and failing to pick up after it.
The homeowner should report this violation to the New Castle County police
Old Business
•The “No Soliciting sign” at the West entrance has been replaced.
•The North Pointe sign: The lattice work on the sign will be removed.
•Tennis Courts: A bid was received for repairing
the court which was resurfaced in the fall. The funds are not available and the company responsible for resurfacing the court has agreed to repair it for a cost.
Motion: A motion was made and seconded to ask the original contractor to fix the court and stating that we will pay only if we are satisfied with the work.
•North Entrance Sign: The cost of work on this sign will be included in the summary the board is creating for other projects to be submitted to our legislators requesting payment.
•Community Trash Cans: We are going to include the cost of replacing these with the requests for pothole/curb repairs that we are submitting to our legislatures in our request for state funds.
•Saratoga Playground: The sign will be removed. The fence has been repaired, the swing is being repaired and mulch has been added.
•Solicitors:
A letter will be sent to solicitors who drop leaflets in the community. The letter will state that if this occurs again, law enforcement will be contacted. A copy of the letter sent will be sent to BC Communities. Directors for each cluster agreed to send the letters for their community.
Meeting adjourned at 9:00 p.m.
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