The first thing on the Agenda was the approval of the October 6^th, October 13^th, November 16^th, and December 2^nd Board minutes.  All of these minutes were approved.

In the Manager’s Report we were informed that we now have 32 employees and that the AV office and Marina will be closed from December 24^th to January 4^th so that our employees can use up their vacation days, which would otherwise be lost at the end of the year.

There was very little reported by the committees and clubs.  Activities Committee reported that the Halloween event was very successful and that the New Year’s Eve event will be dessert only and that the cost will be $15.00.  Cooking Club will be fixing lobsters this month and prime roast in January.

Under Old Business we were informed that because of bylaw restrictions there will be no dredging this year.  The bylaws are as follows:

12.4.Major Expenditure Hearing Requirement.
12.4.1. The Board shall neither make a binding commitment nor approve any expenditure for facility construction, for modification or repair of an existing facility, or for the acquisition of equipment, the total cost of any of which is anticipated to exceed 1,000 times the annual assessment, until three property owner hearings have been conducted wherein the need for the expenditure is presented, the factors in arriving at the Board solution are discussed, and property owner input is considered and concerns are addressed.Such hearing may be held in conjunction with regularly scheduled
Board meetings and shall be at a frequency of no less than twenty-five days apart.
12.4.2. When an expenditure, as described above, must be made immediately due to an emergency situation, and a delay for the prescribed hearings would be impractical or cause endangerment to life or the significant destruction of property,
the Board shall, as soon as possible thereafter, conduct a hearing with property owners to explain the circumstances of the expenditure, to provide just cause for not meeting the normal hearing requirements, and to furnish a forum for property owner input.
12.4.3. Construction, modification, repair, or acquisition programs will not be divided into successive annual increments in an attempt to avoid the hearing requirements of this Bylaw, except two separate projects in the same complex will not be construed as a violation of this Bylaw.
12.4.4. A timely notice of hearings, as described above, will be published in the Cider Press and through other methods normally used by the Board to announce events.

The Board will schedule the required three meetings and required Cider Press advertisement in the future.

There were three items on the Agenda under New Business.  The first was the 2010 Budget.  The original budget presented to the Board from Budget and Finance Committee stayed within our projected income with a surplus of $400.  After miscellaneous comments by the Directors, Harmer announced that he had found some cost savings that would put us at $49,600 in the black.  The Board was delighted and the budget was passed with the new savings.

Editor’s Note:  Harmer has consistently shown a pattern of pulling the proverbial “rabbit out of the hat” when someone of importance wants something special or when the Board is looking for money.  Maybe it is time for the Board to vote themselves the right to investigate where all the excess is in our budget that he taps into.  Maybe it is time for the Board to become fiscally responsible and start studying line item expenditures and look at the checks written.   These two areas will tell the true story.

In an aside comment Harmer stated that years ago it was projected by individuals that in 2010 our budget would exceed our income.

Editor’s Note:  The individuals giving these dire prophesies were the same people that said that our Board of Directors had to understand “capital financing”.  Three CPA’s did not know what that meant.  It is also a stretch of the imagination to think that these individuals knew that bad contractors would cost us $90,000, an illegal removal of a board member would cost over $200,000 in legal fees, and unnecessary major additions such as the maintenance building and FV and Admin Bldg would account for hundreds of thousand more in expenses….so… please stop quoting these prophesies as justification for asking for new assessments.

Next in New Business was converting our health plan from a cafeteria plan to a new Health Saving Account. Harmer projected that this would drop our monthly cost from $12,000 to$8,000 a month.  A motion was made and passed accepting this new plan.

The last piece of New Business was to reduce the number of Directors from ten to nine members. Woggins explained that when the Court ordered that a Director be reinstated, the Board had voted to increase the number of Directors to ten rather than removing the one that had taken Pullins’position.

Editor’s Note:  It was disappointing that the Board has never had the grace to apologized to Pullins for illegally removing her from the Board and that they failed last night to recognize her years of service on the Board.  It was even more disappointing that the Board has never apologized to the owners for spending over $200,000 of Apple Valley funds for their unlawful action. However, it has been said that this manner of controlling the Board by threatening Directors with removal is evidently a longtime practice at AV.  The only thing that went wrong this time was that Pullins fought it.  What did the owners get for their $200,000?  Perhaps in the future the Board will hesitate before attempting to oust Directors, who want information about finances and other forbidden subjects.  Also another upside is that they have set the precedent with Pullins that we no longer acknowledge a Director’s service or give any gifts of appreciation….that is a time and budget savings and evidently it will take effect this year and every year afterwards!

Heard in CommitteeMeetings

Budget and Finance Committee discussed the real probability that property assessments will not be increased this April becauseo f the lower CPI’s.   There was some speculation that there might even be a decrease in the assessments.

Property Committee learned that Harmer took $700 out of the Activities fund for a projector screen for the Veteran’s Day program.  There is a plan to use this screen to show movies in the swimming pool area.  Some people questioned what gave Harmer the right to take Activities funds and also what gave him the right to make decisions about such a purchase without consulting the Board or Properties Committee.

Margaret Elliott, Editor & Publisher