AVPOA Open Board Meeting – September 1, 2009

As soon as the Board Meeting opened, Dave Patton made a motion to end the meeting at 8:30PM. During motion discussion, Kathy Pullins objected to the early ending saying that she believed that they should stay until all old and new business was discussed.  A roll call vote was taken with only Patton, Hollback, and Woggon voting for the early dismissal.

Editor’s Note:  This call for an early meeting had obviously been well orchestrated with the Board President. What I am still not sure about is whether there was a great TV show on at 9PM that night or that they were afraid of the new business that was later brought up by Pullins.

The minutes for the June Annual Meeting were read and approved by the Board.

President’s Report:  The new Board members Bline and Hollback were introduced. Next Pirics said that Board meetings would be held on second Tuesday of the month at the administration building.  Lastly she said that because of the economy there would not be much done in 2010 in capital improvements and that the dredging of the north end of the lake would be our major expense next year.

Manager’s Report:First Harmer stated that presently there are thirty nine employees.  Next he reported that the goose hunt had started and that it would mainly get the residential geese. Other updates were that the weed treatment was successful and the weed harvester was used;  work had been done on drainage easements; the pool water remains a constant 83 ½ degrees; Bladensburg water rescue unit for the county used FV pool for recertifying;  FV drapery costs of $4000 will be picked up by one of our clubs; a letter from a nonmember had been received citing lake safety concerns; and he gave a summary of changes made in accordance to concerns of the Audit Committee that were given in the June Annual Meeting.

Editor’s Note:  The letter from the non member reporting safety issues on the lake caused questioning by the Board as to whether we should be recognizing and responding to non owners’ concerns and that it would seem more appropriate to have the sponsoring owner of this guest report the concern. No real decision was made other than Harmer would send the non owners’ letter to Lake Committee.  Harmer had tried to justify his position saying that the person writing the letter was listed second on the owners’ deed.

Jeff breezed quickly through the Audit Committee’s suggestions and his observations regarding this. The Committee wanted the following changes and in italics is what I think that Jeff said:

1.  A “whistle blower” policy should be adopted.  Management is now looking at samples of such.

2.  The manager should develop an approved venders’ list. Jeff said that he has approved a vendors list and that he feels that this system is okay.

3. Develop policy and procedures manuals for all AV locations and employees.  We do have one.

4. Since the bank reconciliation is not reviewed by any one other than management, the committee recommends that the Board Treasurer or a Board member receive the statements at his/her home and review them.  Currently reviewed by accountant Dunnavent and in future Treasurer Bentz will do it.

5. Support furthering education for employees.  Further education for Quick Books etc is not needed by present employees.

6. Purchase new computer software that would deal with assessment delinquencies and Marina inventory. The software for the upgrade of the computer system to interface with the office will be received by the end of the first week of December or the end of the year.

Editor’s Note:  This software has been coming since the first marina audit problems a couple of years ago…..we might as well been told that“it’s in the mail”.

Old Business

Dredging bid requests will be sent out to contractors.  Any member can give Harmer the name of a contractor and a bid sheet will be sent to him.  Dee Zarbaugh stated that the sealed bids should be opened in front of the whole Board. A motion was made and passed that all returned bids would be opened by the whole Board, reviewed by the whole Board, and the decision regarding the awarding of the contract would be made by the whole Board.  Jeff asked for a subcommittee to help and Hollback and Bline agree to do so.

Editor’s Note:  If you know of a contractor that would be interested, submit his name to the office.  This bidding situation is not being advertised so if we are going to have a competitive situation we need more bids.

Architectural Variance Committee Chair Dee Zarbaugh had two cases to present.  The first one was a boat house that is too big and needs to be removed or the owner needs to make the building compliant (shorten by two and a half feet or put a footer in).  This boat house was built five years ago at the same time as the house was built. The owner had not included a boathouse when he obtained the building permit.  There was a great deal of discussion but finally when it was put to a vote the only dissenting vote was by Pullins.

Editor’s Note: This all happened on Harmer’s and Cea’s watch.  My understanding is that they have been fining this owner all during the variance process.  A mistake/violation was made,but do we prosecute after five years?  Is there no statute of limitation at AV? Are we all at risk and does this give more power to management to persecute owners through selective enforcement? Was this boat house violation“discovered” because of a complaint, selective enforcement, or a need to increase the money raised through fines? Fines were broken out on the financial statements in January 2004.  The budget has now projected an income for 2009 of $1,500 and Harmer has already through July collected $1,588.  Is Harmer busy justifying spending $30,000-40,000 on a compliance officer or is it a situation of once a policeman always a policeman and AV is his jurisdiction?

The second variance discussed was a metal roof that was not in compliance and the owner had not gotten a permit for the roof.  The variance was denied.

Home Business Enforcement Question was addressed by Woggon, who said that we need to study the issue more and asking that recommendations be brought back to the October Board meeting.

Editor’s Note:  It seems that there is an exception to signs on vehicles in the Bylaws which permits employees to drive their employer’s marked truck/cars home. In other words it is okay to advertise someone else’s business, but not your own.  Maybe the way around the whole situation is to hire your neighbor for a nominal amount a month and have him park your business truck in his driveway and presto you are legal: they are an employee, you get the advertising, and your vehicle is readily available.  Or maybe a more logical solution would be to have all cars/trucks with signage park somewhere like the maintenance building or FV parking lot and then there would be no commercial trucks in anyone’s driveway.

New Business

Harmer presented the Red Cross agreement, which offers the AV Clubhouse, FV, and the Administration building in the event of an emergency.  All liability is on the Red Cross. A motion was made and passed to accept this agreement.

The Campgrounds wants to make sure that their electrical system is safe.  Gordon requested that the motion be tabled until a study is done.

Pullins brought up the question about vendors having the use of AV facilities after learning that AV legal counsel was given an honorary membership to AV.  She was told that this happened on the spur of the minute and was done without Board action. The Board corrected this mistake by passing a motion granting this honorary membership.  Pullins and Bline were the only two dissenting votes.  Harmer assured the Board that there were no honorary memberships to vendors.

Editor’s Note:  The referenced Bylaws in this matter are Bylaw 3.1. Classes of Membership. There shall be the following classes of membership: Voting Member, Member; Associate Member;Honorary Member; and Temporary Member and Bylaw 3.5. Honorary Member. If not otherwise a member, the following may be entitled to Honorary Membership in the Association pursuant to duly adopted resolution by the Board: persons whose services contribute directly to the Association, or who may be adversely affected or inconvenienced because of regulations and/or activities of the Association or its members. The privileges and duties of Honorary Members shall be established from time to time by resolution by the Board, and need not be thes ame as those of Members.  I wonder under the above Bylaws how legal counsel on a $2000 a month retainer qualifies for an honorary membership. 

Property Owners’Time

Margaret Elliott stated that the County records did nots how that the safety letter writer was on any deed for AV property.  Next she asked if 109 petition signers were wrong since Harmer said that the water was a constant 83 ½ degrees.  Finally she stated that when she went to the pool the lap lane was being used by the water rescue people and was closed to the owners. There was no prior notification given to the owners that the lap lane would be closed.

Editor’s Note:  I suggest that the 109 petitioners complain to the office and all Board members each time that the FV pool water is lower than 83 ½ degrees.  In regards to the water rescue squad’s usage of the pool, Jeff has a great sense of community, but he seems to indulge in this without considering the owners.  I am sure that the owners’ would approve of the water rescue squad’s usage, but would expect Harmer to give some advanced notice to the owners by way of the Cider Press or at the very least post a sign on the FV door.

Judy Fagert thanked the Board for discussing and reaching decisions during open Board meetings.

Editor’s Note:  This is a great new trend and certainly makes the meetings far more interesting.

Adjournment

Committee Highlights

Budget and Finance Committee:  August 2009   Bob Sichel is Chairman and members are, Dick Anderson, Bob Blue, Betty Cea, Moe Cea, Margaret Elliott, Judy Fagert, Bob Meldrum, Marilyn Reaser, Kathy Riley, Nellie Robinson, and Angie Ward.

Same ole same ole with the exception that some investments were made in August and $250,000 in CD’s matured in July.

Properties Committee (September 2009)   JudyFagert and Julie Arnold are Co Chairmen and members are Ed Arnold, Bob Blue,Margaret Elliott, Chris Gustafson, Sharon Harper, Sharon Holmes, Vince Marcellino, Lorraine Stanson, Don Ward, Carol Webb, and D.J. Young.

New officers were elected.  Vince Marcellino and Sharon Holmes wereelected co-chairmen and Carol Webb remains as secretary.  The committee did an on site inspection of possible solutions for easier access to the beach area.

Lake Committee(September 2009)   Bob Neumann is Chairman and members are Bob Blue, Curt Campbell, Maurice Cea, Margaret Elliott, Judy Fagert, Bill Gordon,Carl Holmes, Roy Landskroner, Bob McLaughlin, Sally Slonaker, and Carol Webb.

The main topic for discussion was the safety concerns caused by wake boats.  Wake boats are like ski boats, but have extra ballast tanks and something similar to a rollbar.  The extra ballast gives bigger wakes, which enables the ski boarders to do more tricks.  The downside of the larger wakes is that it can rock and swamp other boats causing injury in the other boats and people being swept overboard.  All boat operators born after 1982 have to have taken a state boat course and should be aware that they are responsible for the consequences of the wakes that they create.   The committee agreed that the first approach to the wake problem was education through the Cider Press.

In regards to the non owner’s letter about lake safety issues, the committee discussed the issues, but will not directly respond to the letter.

Heard on the Street

Dog

An owner was walking his dog (on a leash) on the blacktop at Sutton Beach last week around 7PM when he encountered the AV Compliance Office, Randy Miller.  Miller told him that he could not walk the dog at Sutton Beach.  When the owner asked Miller about walking the dog on the blacktop, Miller said 'not even the blacktop'.  Miller informed the owner that the dog could only be walked in the 'designated' Pet Area.  The only ruling here is Bylaw 17.6 Dogs must be contained within an approved enclosure or tethered at all times and not permitted to run loose at any hour,time.

Editor’s Note:  It is nice to know that our compliance officer is on the job at 7PM at night, but not nice to know that we are paying him a salary to give him the right to hassle an owner.  Maybe we were all much happier before Harmer started creating his own little police state at AV.

Pickle Ball

There is a new pickle ball court next to the tennis courts.  In case you do not know what pickle ball is go to here. Someone said that they think that pickle ball is a cross between ping pong and tennis. You probably will need to buy your own equipment and here is one of many websites http://www.pickleballstuff.com/ that will give you an idea of the equipment needed and the cost. 

Margaret Elliott, Editor and Publisher