These notes are provided by volunteers and are not official minutes or part of the Board’s functions.
HOA meeting on May 17, 2021 opened at 7:01 PM
David Leiss announced that we were now in Open Session. David established the quorum. All Board members were present.
A motion to approve the minutes of the last meeting was made and seconded and unanimously passed.
Management Report:
Summarization of item approved via unanimous consent since last meeting:
· Clubhouse remodeling at a cost of a little less than $24,000
· Additional Clubhouse items purchased from Lowes for $4,000
· Covid Waiver to be included in Annual Meeting Information
· Remove Basketball goals
· Stain deck at a cost of $950
· New water fountain for $2,800
· Additional chlorine for $480 since it is in short supply
· Pool bathroom repairs/paint/cleaning for $1,050
Ransom indicated that dues collected is at 95% which is the more than it was last year at 94%.
A motion was made by Randy and unanimously passed to have the attorney send a letter to a homeowner concerning an ongoing issue.
Mark advised Ransom that there were people in the waiting room waiting to get into the meeting. Ransom announced that he was letting 16 people in at that time.
Basketball Goals:
David wanted to address the issue regarding the basketball goals. He indicated that a prior board member had let outsiders use the basketball court so he did too and it went downhill from there. He started meeting with the constables regularly. The constables encourage everyone to stay out of it and for them to just call the constables. They cannot ask them where they live but they can ask to see their access card. They can ask them to leave if they do not have an access card. They cannot issue a citation for trespassing but they can handcuff them and take them to their parents if they are under the age of 17 or to jail if an adult ONLY if the board agrees to press charges. To date they have not done this.
The straw that broke the camel’s back was around 11:00 AM during a workday David went to the clubhouse and there were cars parked all over the place and there were lots of adults between the age of 25-35 (mixture of all races) on the basketball courts. When they left, they speed their squealing cars down Piping Rock and Ella Lee leaving their trash behind them. A temporary solution was to remove the rims to the goals. Thankfully everything has been quiet ever since then. The locks have been changed. They are climbing the fence to gain access and then blocking the gate so it doesn’t close. They have destroyed the gate from our common area to Woodland Park. The gate was rusted which made their job easier. David indicated that the gate is chained right now and will have to be replaced. Anthony said it needs to be permanently closed as it serves no purpose. All of the gates are going to be changed so they will automatically shut. Lights are not working correctly so an electrician is coming out tomorrow.
Sprinkler: working great. There are 28 stations.
Fencing: Mark indicated that we have 2 issues accessibility and visibility. We should consider a fence like the Village Place Townhomes and that we need to reduce the visibility on everything that faces Woodland Park.
Cameras: We are looking into cameras like the ones that April Village installed at approximately $2,500 apiece.
Cleaning Service: Ransom indicated that we received a quote from a cleaning service that would clean the clubhouse twice a month for $100 which is much cheaper that the ones we are currently using. Randy made a motion to accept this bid, Mark seconded it and it unanimously passed.
Annual Meeting on June 2nd: Candy wants to hold the meeting in the pool area. Mark agrees and it unanimously passed.
Open Forum:
Homeowner 1:
Wants the neighborhood to be more tolerant of the outsiders using our courts because all public courts have been closed due to COVID and more people just want to be outside. Feels that a taller fence and less visibility would solve our problem.
Homeowner 2:
· Basketball court problem does not just affect Piping Rock. It also greatly affects Ella Lee, Stoneford, Wickersham and Olympia. They are speeding and dumping their trash. There is also a potential for liability if the individual gets hurt on our property. Thanked the board for removing the basketball rims as the problems have greatly subsided.
· Wanted to know about doing a neighborhood survey or petition concerning the basketball court to get feedback form the entire neighborhood. David does not want to go with what the majority of the neighborhood wants because we have to consider the young families.
· Liability needs to be addressed
David said our first priority is to the residents. Mark said we haven’t aggressively limited the attraction nuisance to control access.
Homeowner 3:
Feels strongly that a petition needs to be done.
Very upset that David gave permission to outsiders. David denied giving access.
Homeowner 4:
Concerning the camera system that captures license plates. There is a privacy issue with this but homeowners that frequently drive in and out of neighborhood can have their license plates blanked out. The cameras are solar powered with a backup battery. Cameras at the pool or basketball courts would have to give close up detail to prove who the person was that jumped the fence for it to hold up in court.
Constables can write citations but the board has to give them permission to do so. Wants the board to approve doing this. Anthony made a motion and David said no, he wants to talk to the Constables because they told him they couldn’t write citations for this.
Homeowner 5:
Wants to know about fence for the playground area.
Cost for renting clubhouse is too high. Was told it was $150 plus a $250 deposit. BOD explained that they removed the $250 deposit and replace it with a signed agreement that holds the homeowner responsible for all damages. Mark indicated that we may be able to reduce the cost since we now have a new cleaning service that is less expensive. After more discussion Randy made a motion, Anthony seconded it and it unanimously passed that if there is 2 day access (make ready and event) that the charge will be $150 and if it is 1 day access that it will be $100. Clubhouse will be available starting on June 6th.
Homeowner 6:
Has been told by constables that there is nothing that they can do with trespassers except to ask them to leave because our BOD will not approve prosecuting. Therefor the trespassing will continue. Very grateful that the basketball rims were removed as everything has calmed down at our amenities.
Candy made a motion to adjourn the meeting, Mark seconded it and it passed.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:36 PM.