Montgomery West HOA Meeting Minutes

October 12, 2008

Attendees:

Michele Heffner

John Patton

Chris Rhawn

Thelena Williams

Heather Patton

Action Items:

·Michele Heffner will talk with our accountant, Donna Costello, about billing and the annual review of the association's books.

·Heather will ask Ron if he wants to be Treasurer, if needed.

·Michele will contact Steve about being on the Board

·John will contact Barb Oldroyd about handling the billing for the HOA. Based on her rate, the Board will consider a possible dues increase.

·Thelena will check if current bill from the Thomas Schild Law Group matches the lien letter sent to 2F and is inclusive of $605.00 fees. If this is not a match -- Michele will contact Christopher Hitchens about it.

·Michele will also ask Christopher if an emailed copy of the pdf versions of the Covenants and the Bylaws satisfies the requirements of a copy of these documents for new homeowners in the neighborhood. Or do we need to provide a hard copy?

·Heather will complete the highlights of the minutes for the annual meeting and copy and staple them. She will copy the agenda also at that time, as well as a few copies of the AERC change forms to have on hand.

·Michele will call Park and Planning to see if our neighborhood common areas have a site plan. She will also ask them about the plans for the P & P property behind our neighborhood on the North side.

·Michele will review the contract with Ecology to see if charges will remain the same or increase for 2009.

·John will make sure the latest version of the AERC guidelines are on the website.

·Michele will convert the AERC form to a Word file and send it to John, so that minor edits can be made to make the form more user-friendly. John will return the corrected version to Michele to be returned to a pdf file. John will put the updated version on the website.

·Michele and John will add the AERC guidelines to the online copy of the AERC Change Form, so that everyone who prints a form will have the guidelines right there for easy review. This will replace the current pdf file we have on the website. The guidelines are currently there, too, but as a separate document only.

·John will confirm that the meeting is in the media center at SKES.

Meeting opened at 7:10 pm at the Patton's house

The minutes were approved as amended by email vote.

Reports of Committees:

Treasurer's report:

*Lot 21F not current

*Lot 1F not current.

*Lot 2E not current

*Thelena had the HOA computer repaired after the screen popped and cracked while she was doing the billing! She upgraded the software while she was there. Michele asked Thelena to make sure that the Quicken data file that has the financial data of the HOA is copied onto the HOA laptop for whoever will be maintaining the books.

*Donna Costello billed the HOA for the first time since 2003. The bill over $5,000.00 for 2003 to the present. Much discussion ensued. Michele will speak to Donna and arrangement will need to be made which are satisfactory to both parties.

*Legal fees are down this year, as the Friendly letter approach begins to effect changes. Fees are less than $3,000, this year, the lowest in three years.

*Note that a lien on a property costs about $1,000 to 1200. The HOA pays those fees and then recovers them when the house sells or is foreclosed, assuming there is money to be had after the mortgage is satisfied.

*Our target for the reserve fund is $50,000, and we are currently at $21,440. Our budget for 2009 shows a line item of $8,587 for increasing that fund. This follows a strong legal recommendation of the CCOC for all HOA's to maintain a reserve fund of at least this amount.

AERC Committee Report:

*If possible we will postpone additional work on the townhome parking spaces until Spring 2010. If the winter accelerates the damage to the remaining spaces we will accelerate the timing of the resurfacing to Spring 2009. We will try to seal the parking spaces that were resurfaced last spring when we resurface the remaining spaces. We will be sure to request white paint for the restriping.

*The annual fall inspection of the entire neighborhood was completed for the North side of Centerway. Friendly letters will be going out soon. Dave Reiter was outgoing a round of chemotherapy and could not inspect the south side of Centerway. John and Michele will see to it one weekend in October.

Closing documents were provided for 27F.

Nominating Committee Report:

The nominating committee has been visiting neighbors and are proud to present a possible slate of new board members: Dudley Skinker of Marsh Hawk, a longtime resident, Ron Stehlin of Waxwing, also a longtime resident, and Serita Turner, who has been a resident for about 3 to 5 years. There are a few AERC violations that Serita must repair to be in good standing for election, but she is anxious to get them completed. We will be most happy to work with each of these outstanding residents when the new year begins.

President's Report:

Michele and John attended the CCOC meeting, and what a meeting it was. A representative of every service provided by Montgomery County was there and explained their services and available resources to the associations present. We have contact information for all the services represented. It was a marathon meeting.

Annual Meeting Preparation:

The agenda was finalized and plans made to conduct a concise and profitable meeting.

Neighborhood News:

Some cars were invaded along Kinglet in October. Some belongings were recovered form the common areas by a vigilant neighbor (thank you!), and the police were able to locate and return them to their owner. The police added patrols through our neighborhood, and the crime has not been repeated.

According to the police most crimes in Montgomery County are down -- but thefts from cars are up significantly. This appears to be because of desirable items left in view inside a car, which can inspire a theft. Do not leave your car unlocked, and do not leave valuables in the car, especially where they are visible from outside the car.

Meeting adjourned at 9:30 pm.

The next meeting is the Annual Meeting on November 18 at Strawberry Knoll Elementary School.