Ashbrook Board Meeting Minutes
June 12, 2007
Evelyn (Metro Management), acting as the board due to Ray Overby’s car trouble, asked for a minute keeper before the meeting started. Angela Day, resident, volunteered. Evelyn then announced the resident’s votes and new board members.
|
Nominees |
Vote Count |
|
Joy Nowak |
354 |
|
Sue Herr |
346 |
|
Josh Nowak |
332 |
|
Kathy Figura |
215 |
|
Todd Pettyjohn |
201 |
|
Alan Kane |
200 |
|
Don MacQueen |
194 |
|
Ray Overby |
188 |
|
Kristi Leslie |
91 |
|
Write-in |
1 |
Josh Nowak, due to personal reasons, resigned and recommended Don MacQueen as his replacement. Kathy Figura, Susan Herr voted to elect Don to the board. Todd Pettyjohn opposed the nomination.
There was open discussion from the new board members and Ashbook members regarding the legalities of the process. Some Residents felt that the seat nomination should be in the hands of the residents and/or given to the next highest vote. In the discussions, Todd Pettyjohn nominated Jennifer Blazer, who had recently resigned from the old board, suggesting that this will help make the new boards transition smoother. After discussion regarding the by-laws and the “Robert Rules of Order”, it was determined that the decision for the next board member would be determined by the board majority. Again a vote was taken for Don MacQueen to become a board member. Kathy Figura and Susan Herr voted to elect Don to the board. Todd Pettyjohn opposed the nomination. Josh made the recommendation to the Board to which Sue made the motion to nominate Don to fill the seat. Joy did not vote as the President does not vote. The majority vote was to elect Don MacQueen to the available seat
The terms and roles as voted by the current board are as followed:
|
Board Members |
Roles |
Term |
|
Joy Nowak |
President |
3 |
|
Sue Herr |
Vice- President |
2 |
|
Kathy Figura |
Treasurer |
3 |
|
Todd Pettyjohn |
Secretary |
2 |
|
Don MacQueen |
Board Member |
1 |
Headline Board
Discussions:
1) Don MacQueen recommended having two names on the Ashbrook’s accounts, so no checks could be written without both signees’ approval. Evelyn, who is the only one authorized to sign checks, voiced concerns about the board members not being available to sign the checks when needed. Don reassured her that he would be willing to manage that responsibility, since he has the most available time during the day. Joy, Susan, and Kathy voted yes and Todd Pettyjohn gave no dispute, but didn’t give a yes. (Towards the end of the meeting, a resident recommended having two signatures needed for written checks, but three people available to sign the checks in case one member is not available. This seemed to be positively received by the board, but no final decision on that suggestion was made.)
2) Kathy Figura recommending creating a Finance Audit Committee. All board members agreed and voted yes. (Later in the meeting, in a discussion between Joy Nowak and Kathy Figura, it was indicated that the entire board would be the active members on that committee to understand the current financial situation.)
3) Don MacQueen put in a nomination to send written notice to Ray Overby (former President of Ashbrook) to remove his car from outside of the corral within 5 days due to the fact that it has been there since about October 2006. Evelyn expressed that many notices were sent to Ray and calls made requesting that the vehicle be removed with no response to her demands. She also indicates that Ray claims the car was damaged when it was towed from the corral. She has not looked at the car to see if this is true. The vehicle was towed from the corral when he failed to move it when notified (as was the community) that maintenance/repairs needed to be done to this common area. All Board Members agreed with the nomination and agreed that Ray would be given until June 18th Midnight to remove the car. If is not removed, then the car would be towed at Ray’s expense.
4) Joy
Nowak asked to resume Monthly Board meetings.
All board members agreed. Residents
concerned with the state of the club house asked where these meetings will be
held. Board members reassured that
Ashbrook Meetings can continue at
Open Forum
Resident Discussions:
1) Donna Williams-Ormand (not sure of spelling) offered to head the committee that will help establish fair guidelines and processes for the next election. Many residents also expressed that they were very uncomfortable with the recent ballots process because there was no clear indication which household the votes were coming from. Many members felt that the votes could have been duplicated without anyone knowing. Board agreed and expressed appreciation for Donna’s recommendation.
2) Residents wanted to understand who was in control of the 5 laptops purchased by Ashbrook for the prior boards use, a fax machine, phone system, and the current keys to the Ashbrook Mailbox. Evelyn indicated that 2 laptops were turned in and that other old board members were given the option to purchase the laptops which some of them did. Evelyn indicated that she had receipts when questioned further. She stated, “That some things were put in the club house, but that she didn’t know what.” She stated, “She wants everything belonging to Ashbrook returned to Ashbrook” when pressed by board members and residents for more information. She indicated that Ray has the only key to the mailbox and that the phone system is going through Ray’s house. Jennifer Blazer went on to confirm that it was only a voice mailbox with no phone ringing. Evelyn indicated that she didn’t know any contacts for changing the phone system, but when a resident asked if she was paying the bill Evelyn confirmed that she was and then indicated that she thought that she had a contact but would have to check. Board asked to have more discussion with Evelyn at a later date to determine what items should be returned to the community.
3) Concerns were expressed regarding the lawn maintenance in the common areas. Don MacQueen explained that TruGreen was the lawn care company. That at one point Ashbrook 6 months overdue and owed 12,000 to them that is why they stopped service. Currently, TruGreen is on a month to month contract with us until the new board was in place. Last week Don had a phone conversation with TruGreen and was told that we owed them two months currently …. March and May (April they had cut off service and didn’t charge). Residents asked Evelyn directly why we were delinquent and she indicated that there was not enough money in the Ashbrook account at the time because of lack of paid dues. She denied owning them for March and indicated that she had just gotten a fax from TruGreen that day for the current bill for May. Don indicated that he would check into that to validate this. Evelyn also indicated that the flowers are managed by a different company. Board again agreed to get with Evelyn to review our contracts.
4) Questions asked on why we don’t have reserve fund as per law, how much are we paying for Evelyn’s services, how long is our contract with her companies, and who signed the contracts. Evelyn indicated that she has attempted to purchase CDs for the community, but was always having to cash them in because there was not enough in the account to pay the bills. She indicated that she didn’t know the % of money that she is receiving from the Ashbrook dues. Joy Nowak indicated that our contract with Evelyn was until 2011. Evelyn indicated that the contract was signed by her and Ray Overby. Joy and Sue indicated they are planning on reviewing the contracts and by-laws to see what can be done. Alan Kane indicated that there were a total of 724 houses in Ashbrook when asked by a resident.
5) Joy agreed to have the board recommend committees and post them on Ashbrook’s website for volunteers. They were open to any suggestions. There were many discussions regarding the AEC committee and Neighborhood Watch. See Website for more details. Don did recommend that one board member should be apart of every committee to keep them going even if the volunteers drop off. All board members agreed.
6) Concerned Resident expressed concerns over the trash and pet waste left by citizens. She expressed her want for a better Ashbrook and hoped residents would pick up after their pets and talk with their kids. Suggestions made by others to have extra trash cans on hand in the common areas. Another suggestion was given to have a designated dog area where residents would not be obligated to pick up the waste.
7) This discussion turned toward covenant violations. Many were concerned that others were not being held accountable AEC guidelines. Others were upset that they were not getting any acknowledgement for the improvements that they requested to make. Evelyn indicated that Ray suspended the contract for covenant violations, so it was not being done. Alan Kane recommended having an independent email address, so the board can filter through the requests, concerns, and for volunteers. This lead to ideas of having several email addresses created for each board member or each committee. Ashbrook Webmaster, Leigh Anne Schuler, indicated that she would be willing to update anything on her website that the board needed and that she could forward them any emails that she receives through that. She explained that any emails she has received were put on Ray Overby’s door or given to Kathy Newhart, one of which may have followed up. No final decision was made, but board felt that the best way to communicate with the community was through the site. Joy asked that anyone who wanted to be apart of the current email list to provide their information at the end of the meeting.
8) Board approved for Evelyn to release the resident’s name and addresses to the current facilatator of the Neighborhood Watch committee. In closing the meeting, the board requested volunteers to sign up, email addresses for any announcements, and expressed that the next meeting news will be posted on the Ashbrook website.
9) Until certain arrangements can be made to set up the board and the community for a positive interaction, Joy Nowak volunteered her email address jnowak5@comcast.net as a point of contact until there is a better communication process. Board Members offered to have their home numbers posted on the website to answer citizens needs…..just not at 2am (jokingly, but serious I’m sure.) J