Attending: Heinz Mantel, Bob Weiss, Carole Pascarella, Steve Worthen, David Riley, Jim Sweeney, Laura Baker, Erik Lundry, Kevin Cullen, Marius Gavrila, Deneen Worthen, Carl Pascarella, Lauren and Jon-Michael Lennert.
Treasurer’s Report: Treasurer Marius Gavrila gave a statement summing up the previous year. A detailed financial summary was presented to all in attendance. Overall our finances look very good. Some highlights:
· There are still a few of our residents who are delinquent in paying their homeowners association dues. That amount is close to $3,000. Legal action has been taken..
· Our Association maintains two separate accounts; one for expenses and a separate emergency fund.
· We expect to see a very similar scenario for 2014.
· We purchased Quickbooks 2014 to make the HOA accounting much easier.
Marius’ action items for the upcoming calendar year will include collecting dues, filing income taxes, pursuing accounts in arrears, cleaning up old data entries and updating accounts with current homeowner contact information. Heinz added our appreciation for Bob Weiss’ incredible effort to bring our accounts to comply with legal requirements. He also announced will are not raising dues. Heinz also projected that as an Association we have three expenses/projects in the forseeable future: the 2nd and 3rd treatments of Phoslock and the replacement sign boards at both of our entrances.
Maintenance/Landscaping: Committee Members Jim Sweeney and Erik Lundry updated the group on the status of their committee. The HOA replaced nine trees in the past year. As a committee they will continue to evaluate the neighborhood for gaps in the perimeter of the neighborhood. Diseased trees will need to be replaced. The committee would like to continue to replace up to nine trees each year until we have a healthy neighborhood perimeter. They intend to solicit bids for lawn care and sprinkler maintenance this year to insure the best price for these services. It was noted that our Association hired a local teen to pick up trash and debris in the neighborhood last year and that it was a successful use of funds. Questions were raised regarding the future of Granger Paths and how it would impact our purchases of trees. It was also noted that we need an assessment for the front walls; there were concerns about the mortar.
Social Events: Committee Member Carole Pascarella gave a recap of the 2013 social events and projected our event schedule calendar for 2014:
· Easter egg hunt will be Sat April 12th,
· Annual neighborhood garage sale will held be May 8-10, Thursday and Friday 8 am – 3 pm and Saturday 8 am – 12 pm
· 4th of July Parade and Social will start at 9 am. This year the committee would like to stress the Social aspect to attract homeowners without small children.
· Christmas decorating of the front wall will happen again.
All gathered discussed the current situation of the extra lot on Taddington Court that we use as a HOA for our neighborhood gatherings. Also, a fall neighbor gathering was proposed around the national “Get to Know Your Neighbors” anti-crime date of August 5th.
Communications: Committee Member David Riley reported that 81 homeowner emails have been captured. Heinz would like to have more of the homeowners contact the Board through the website. The group discusses creating a process that would streamline all contact information. Also, Laura Baker stated that a new directory will be available in the spring to our residents who have provided email addresses. There was talk of providing a copy of the directory to new residents
Architecture Committee: Kevin Cullen and Carole Pascarella had not had reason to meet in the past few months. We will be including a reminder in the newsletter about the need to submit new projects for approval.
Covenants: The group spent some time discussing how to encourage our residents to maintain their property. An action plan needs to be in place to frame this discussion differently. Jim Sweeney suggested we send a light bulb and a reminder to neighbors who are having difficulty noticing their post lamp is out.
Additional Comments: Carole had noticed that the annuals planted at the front entrances last year did not do very well. The group will revisit this problem in the spring.
Meeting lasted 1.5 hours