This year's annual meeting is:
Monday, November 18, 2013
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
St. Joe. Firehouse Meeting Hall (St. Joe Center and Maplecrest on NW corner)
Slate of officers for this year:
Last year's annual meeting Minutes are below for your reference:
President - Pam Kleber
Treasurer - Jeff Musick
Secretary - Open (Lisa would like to step down. She will transfer all files and assist as needed and she is able. Secretary needs to have computer experience and possibly blogging experience, good organizational skills, detail oriented, able to make meetings)
Jim Bordner - Immediate Past President - serves as VP
At Large
Rick Anderson - Architectural Chairman
Bob Bastian - Architectural committee
OPEN - Architectural committee
OPEN - Architectural committee
OPEN - Architectural committee
Lisa Bordner
We will need several new members to join the Board. It is a rewarding experience and your volunteer efforts really do make a huge difference.
Still Water Place Community Association
Annual Meeting
Minutes
November 12, 2012
St. Joe Firehouse
6:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Prior to the beginning of the meeting, free Sandwiches, pop
and chips were available for the residents.
Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
(how your dues were spent)
October 1, 2011 to September 30, 2012:
$6,687 checking balance, $22,438 savings balance
$6,687 checking balance, $22,438 savings balance
Collected $27,111. s/b 32K
Expenses – lawn, landscaping, snow
removal
Accounting services $120/mo Epco –
switched accounting services to LTS for the same rate – expect to increase but also have monthly reports and better service.
Utilities – sign, fountain, street
lights, insurance, etc. totals presented.
Taxes are property taxes.
Repairs maintenance etc.
Largest expense for ash trees that
died.
President’s Report (past year’s activities)
DEAD TREES: We had many dead or dying trees due to the
emerald ash borer. We also lost a few
due to drought. Twenty-six dead trees
were removed and stumped and we replaced 20 of those trees with ornamental
pears, which are quick growing, hardy and attractive trees. This represented a significant portion of our
expenses.
POND MAINTENANCE: We continued our contract with Aquatic
Management, Inc., who treats the water, controls pernicious weeds, and repaired
the fountain and its lights.
POND-SIDE GAZEBO: It needs to be cleaned, repaired and
re-stained. A couple of potential
contractors failed to follow through. We
will attend to this in the spring.
DIRT DAY: As promised, we brought back Dirt Day this
year, and it appeared to be well received.
All the dirt was taken. We need
feed back: we had reports that while the
dirt LOOKED realy good, things failed to grow in it.
YARD OF THE MONTH: We continued our
program of awarding $25 gift cards to winners of the YOTM, encouraging residents
to enhance curb appeal: homeowners seem
to appreciate the notice and the prize.
PLAYGROUND: Swing chains and seats were replaced where
needed.
NEW ACCOUNTING FIRM: The board determined it was necessary to
switch to a new accounting firm. We
hired LTS CPA Group, a firm started by a partner in one of the city’s
best-known CPA firms, Greg Green. Greg
was our accountant when we used Mannia-Green, he knows our organization, and
his staff has already shown themselves to be far and away more responsive and
competent. They will cost a little more,
but we all agreed that paying a little more for great service was much better
than paying a little less for almost no service.
CONCRETE LEVELING PROJECT: A1 Concrete Leveling offered a “group rate”
by discount their rates to Still water residents if we coordinated the
work. 40 Still Water residents had their
sidewalks leveled at a lower price as a result.
Thanks to A1 for the discount, but even more to the residents who took
advantage of the program. Nothing makes
a neighborhood look rundown faster than bad sidewalks, and the pride and effort
to participate is much appreciated.
NEW HOLIDAY LIGHTING: New holiday
lighting last year looked great. We’ll be putting that same display again this
year. Storage is part of what we pay for.
Speaker: Attorney Nick Harsh – Changing Covenants
– Attorney Harsh was here because a few residents have repeatedly requested
changing covenants to allow sheds, limit colors people can paint their homes,
desiring to affect or reduce current restrictions.
The attorney provided handouts outlining the law and how it
relates to our bylaws. He discussed the reality
of trying to change our covenants which must remain faithful to the spirit of
the bylaws and abide by local, state, and national laws as well. We are required to have 75% agreement among
homeowners before we can change the covenants.
Signatures need to be notarized in case there is a challenge by other
residents. The effort would require many
volunteers who are notaries and a strong consensus concerning what change(s)
are to be made. The cost in time for
door to door canvassing and money in attorney and filing fees should be
balanced against the likelihood of success or failure of achieving desired
goals. It was his advice that we not
pursue changing our bylaws.
He also suggested other remedies that are more effective
concerning specific problems that don’t currently exist but may come up. One example of an objectionable display was
shared by a resident. The attorney indicated a private request from the affected
party would carry more weight than a blanket restriction in bylaws, which could
be seen as in violation of the first amendment.
Secretary mentioned that this is the second attorney to
recommend that we not attempt to change covenants. There was some concern by a minority. We discussed the possibility of sending a mailer
to neighborhood to judge their interest and their willingness to work on
changing covenants regarding allowing sheds (which will require a larger board
to assist on architectural committee), rental issue is not up for discussion,
as rentals are allowed in our bylaws, color of houses to avoid someone painting
their house wild colors like the one on Rothman, and possibly amend the
architectural guidelines to define the restriction of flag sizes.
Open discussion: Should we add more stop signs to slow traffic?
Yes - for the one at Copper Creek and Running Brook. Stop signs at other locations didn’t get as
much support. Secretary reported that
street department representative from The City of Fort Wayne said street budget
does not allow enough for all the roads that need repair to be repaired. This type of request is way down on their
list and may be several years before they could do this if a traffic study
warranted.
Open discussion: Should we lower the speed limit from 30 to
25?
No significant support. Maybe request more patrols and ticketing.
What should we be
working on over the next year?
Seem to be doing a good job.
More of the same.
Slate of officers
will be presented by the board for homeowner vote.
Jim Bordner, President
Bob Bastian, Vice President
Jeff Musick, Treasurer
Lisa Bordner, Secretary
Rick Anderson, Architectural Chairman
The vote passed unanimously.
Other comments:
·
Remember to keep vehicles off the streets when
snow or ice is a potential. This makes
it easy for our streets to be cleaned.
·
Remember to Scoop The Poop! Clean up your pet’s waste!
·
Be a Block Booster – Report for your block (home
sales, abandoned cars or houses). The
term is one year – email or call in reports.
It’s easy! Two people signed up
to be block boosters.
·
If you’re interested in joining the board please
attend the annual meeting, bring contact information to leave with the
secretary. We need you to volunteer as
at-large members and learn for one year before assuming officer positions. It’s your neighborhood! Only 1 – 4 hours a
month can make a real difference.
The meeting adjourned at 8:15 p.m.
The board addressed individual questions – we’ll do our best
to help as time allows.
Our Goal: Protect
property values for all – encourage a safe and happy community.
Approval of minutes with amendment to update the missing
treasurer information 5-22-13
Motion by Bob Bastian
2nd by Pam Kleber
Vote carried
Respectfully Submitted,
Lisa Bordner, Secretary
Still Water Place Community Association, Inc.
