Minutes of WTHOA Annual Meeting, Oct. 25, 2012
The meeting was held at 7:00 pm in the library of the Martha Lake
Elementary School. Board members in attendance & length of service: Bob
Compton, Secretary/Treasurer: seven years. Richard Deccio: 15 years.
Lauri Mace: six months. Steve Mace, Vice-President: six years. Diana
Wakefield: four years, Myra Whittingham: three years. Board of Directors
President Wayne Horodowich: four years, did not attend.
Vice-President Steve Mace, chairing the meeting in Wayne’s absence;
determined that a quorum was present and called the meeting to order. The
six board members who were present were introduced.
Steve Mace read a letter from Board President Wayne Horodowich who was
unable to attend the meeting.
The meeting was attended by 39 residents representing 29 properties.
The minutes of the 2011 annual meeting had previously been circulated by
email, but printed copies of the minutes were also provided to the members
in attendance. Steve opened the floor to questions, suggestions or objections
and several omissions were noted. Secretary/Treasurer Bob Compton noted
the omissions and told the homeowners that he would send out the amended
version. The minutes were approved unanimously with the corrections
noted. Homeowner Ingrid Jensen suggested that the minutes reflect not only
the names and length of service of the Board members, but also their
positions if they are Board officers and also asked that the minutes reflect
when the meeting ended.
WTHOA Secretary/Treasurer Bob Compton gave a financial report
accompanied by a Power Point presentation that showed the Association’s
cash receipts and disbursements for 2012. Bob also reported that he expects
the Association to be approximately $4,500 under budget at year’s end. In
January, the surplus will be added to the Reserve Fund, which totaled
$49,376 as of September 30th.
Bob presented the 2013 budget to the members and reported that the Board
had approved lowering the 2013 annual assessment from $394 to $375, the
same level as 2007.
-2Homeowner Ingrid Jensen asked why we didn't pay any federal income tax
in 2011. Bob explained how he had prepared the return and Ms. Jensen,
who is an accountant, suggested that errors had been made in preparing the
return. Bob told her that he would send her a copy of the return so she could
review it and advise us if any corrections were needed.
Ms. Jensen also questioned the budget entry of $10,000 for special projects
in 2013. Board members mentioned several projects under consideration,
including repairing the asphalt walkways in the park and refurbishing or
removing the sport court and perhaps replacing it with a picnic area with
additional tables, benches and grills. She asked that those special projects be
broken out as separate line items on the budget, which Bob agreed to do.
The homeowners present then approved the 2013 budget and assessment.
Ms. Jensen then asked what action the Board has taken to comply with a
new state law requiring that home owners associations commission
independent cash reserve studies. Bob reported that his review of the law
led him to believe that associations such as ours, a single-family
homeowners association with no common walls or buildings, was not
covered by the new law. Ms. Jensen stated that she believed the Wood
Trails Homeowners Association was covered by the new law. It was
decided to seek an opinion from our attorney.
When the meeting was opened to new business, homeowner Mark Laurence
read a motion he had prepared requesting that the Board do monthly walkthroughs or hire an outside source to do so. His motion also asked that the
Board begin fining homeowners whose properties did not meet standards. It
was pointed out that the Association does not have any official appearance
standards. Mr. Laurence stated that at last year's meeting, the appearance
guidelines we had discussed at the meeting had been approved and that the
Board hadn't been enforcing them. The Board reminded him that we had
simply asked the homeowners to indicate by a show of hands if they thought
the Board should try to come up with property appearance guidelines like
those shown in a Power Point presentation at the 2011 annual meeting.
-3The homeowners present were advised that the Board had discussed the
issue in depth and had concluded that such guidelines would be so subjective
as to be unenforceable. Mr. Laurence was reminded that he was a Board
member at the time the issue was discussed and was aware that appearance
standards were never enacted.
After a lengthy discussion, the motion was seconded and put to a vote. The
vote was 26 opposed--three in favor. Meeting chair Steve Mace declared the
motion defeated. Mr. Laurence than stated that he had nine proxies from
homeowners supporting his motion. It was not clear if the proxies were
valid,* but even if they were, the motion would not have passed. Mr.
Laurence withdrew his motion, but stated that he believed he had made his
point and asked the Board to pursue establishing appearance criteria.
Homeowner Ed Watts made a motion that the Board be authorized to spend
up to $300 to seek a legal opinion about whether the Association had the
power to fine homeowners for not keeping their properties up, and, if so,
could the Board then fine home owners who were not in compliance with the
letters sent out after the walk through. The Board pointed out that we
already have a fine system in place for violation of guidelines on roofing,
siding, fencing, etc. and that our attorney had signed off on it. Nevertheless,
the motion was seconded, voted on and approved.
Homeowner Ingrid Jensen suggested that we send out to all homeowners,
the guidelines volunteers use when they do the walk-though. By doing that,
property owners would know what the volunteers are looking for so they can
correct problems before the walk-through.
Homeowner Annette Shively told the Board that a number of trees on some
home owners’ properties have grown over the street and scrape the tops of
large vehicles like RV’s and campers. The Board told Ms. Shively that it
had no jurisdiction over private property and asked her to tell them where
the trees were so the homeowners could be contacted and asked to trim
them.
-4A number of dead trees have been removed from the median strips. It was
suggested that the Board consult with local experts, including our own
landscape contractor, for recommendations for replacement shrubs and trees.
Bob reported that progress is being made on setting up an Association web
site and expects to have it done by the end of the year. The web site will
include a password-protected directory, available only to Wood Trails
residents, saving the cost of printing a new directory. A beta version may be
ready for review in late December. The offsite storage of WTHOA records
and electronic files has been completed.
Three current Board members whose terms were up, Lauri Mace, Steve
Mace and Myra Whittingham agreed to stand for reelection. Homeowner
Roy Queen was nominated from the floor and agreed to serve if elected.
Lauri Mace, who had been on the Board temporarily since the resignation of
Mark Laurence elected not to seek election to fill out the remainder of
Mark’s term since there was another candidate. Board members Steve Mace
and Myra Whittingham were elected to new three-year terms. Roy Queen
was elected to fill out the remaining two years of Mark Laurence’s term.
A motion was made and seconded that the meeting be adjourned and the
motion was approved unanimously. The meeting was adjourned at
9:20 pm.
Bob Compton, Secretary/Treasurer
Wood Trails Home Owners Association
October 26, 2012
*The preceding sentence was not intended to call into question the validity
of the proxies Mr. Laurance brought to the meeting, rather whether the use
of them would be valid under normal rules and procedures.