GREAT CYPRESS VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
October 12, 2015
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The meeting was called to order at 7:00 pm. All present stood to recite the Pledge of
Alligence to the United States Flag. President Donald Rutherford, Jr. asked Secretary
Catherine Beyer to call the roll of board members. All members were present.
Secretary Beyer then read the September 14, 2015 minutes. A few minor corrections
were made to them and the minutes were approved.
Treasurer Joan Hood read the financial report. As of September 30, 2015, the operating
checking account balance was $9,219.81. The reserve account balance was $150,024.82.
These two accounts totaled to $159,244.63. She also stated that she checked with the
Small Business Association and was told our SBA loan interest rate was 2.93%. A motion
was made and seconded to accept the financial report. The motion was approved.
The committee reports were as follows:
Architectural – Director Zeb Probst stated that new requests for permission to work on
some homes in the park were filed with and approved by the committee. The status of
the past violations will be addressed when the winter residents return. Joe Dilandro
raised his hand and was called on from the floor. He made a verbal request. Mr. Dilandro
wanted to know what would be done about the unkempt yard at the house across the
street from him. After much discussion between he and the members of the board,
President Rutherford said the committee would write up the owner of the property and
fine her if she does not comply with the request to keep her yard trimmed. President
Rutherford, Directors Zeb Probst and Paul Bredlau would go to the owners home to
inform her again of the complaints about her property and the possible fines which she
may incur if she does not take care of the problem soon.
Social Club – Tom Thompson said the Social Club has new officers. Tom Thompson is the
president, Mary Thompson is the Vice President, Betty Kosko is the secretary and Joan
Mellarkey is the Treasurer. Mary Thompson is still unable to take part in committee
duties so Tom will need help fulfilling his role as president. Mr. Thompson suggested that
Mary Hurst should get free tickets to the upcoming potluck events and give them to the
new residents to help welcome them to Great Cypress Village. Tom reminded us there
would be a soup supper before next board meeting on Nov 9th (soup supper 6 pm and
board meeting at 7 pm)
RV area - George Thode was present and said nothing is new in RV area. He reminded all
using the RV area to take care of their own space by trimming weeds and mowing.
Welcoming – Mary Hurst said Jane and Dean Bassett and Marian Scroggin are new
residents of the GCV park.
Documents – No one from the committee was present so no report
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GREAT CYPRESS VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
October 12, 2015
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Election – Nadine Alfred said the new 2016 nomination forms are ready and very easy to
fill out. Please consider filing nomination papers for the next election in March of 2016. It
was suggested that the election committee could go to the homes of the new residents to
see if they would want to serve on next year’s board. When filling out the new form they
could also prepare a brief statement describing whom they are and why they want to be
elected to the new board. The final date for accepting nomination papers will be Feb 2,
2016. A sample of the ballot could also be printed in the newsletter after Feb 2nd deadline
for nomination papers with all names of persons applying for each new board position.
(example: President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, and three Director positions) Nadine also
thanked all the committees for their hard work in making our community such a nice
place to live.
Board of Trustees - Dale Alford said the 2016-2017 budget would not raise assessments.
He said the Board of Trustees also approved applying a $4,000.00 per month payment to
the principal of the SBA loan. Vice President Brenda Cloukey said a question should be
put on the March ballot whether the SBA loan should be paid off in full or keep paying
monthly payment as we are now till it is paid off.
OLD BUSINESS – (Agenda items)
SBA Loan – Regarding the SBA loan, it was asked by June Stevens, “Who authorized the
extra large payments made in August and September?” President Rutherford said he and
the Board of Trustees asked Treasurer Hood if she felt it would be safe to send larger
payments ($10,000 one month and $3,000 another month) to take the principal balance of SBA
loan down. Treasurer Hood looked at past balances and said she felt it would be safe to
make these larger payments at that time as we had over twenty some thousand dollars in
the operating checking account. President Rutherford called on Isabelle from the floor,
who stated the budget that was voted on in the past did not allow for these larger
payments to be made. It was then mentioned that the Board of Trustees decided that
when the monthly bills were all paid we should still consider making larger payments
toward lowering the principal balance on this loan. Isabelle said, “we only took in five
thousand some dollars last month and you want to make a four thousand dollar payment?
How will we have enough to take care of our bills?” President Rutherford said the four
thousand dollar payment would only be made when the accounts were stable enough to
do so. President Rutherford called on Mrs Rutherford from the floor who asked, “is the
SBA loan considered a bill each month?” Yes, was the answer. She wanted to know, “why
you would not want to pay off this loan like you would pay off your mortgage?” Further
discussion on the floor brought up the subject that the roads are in need of repair and
common area sidewalks need to be pressure washed. After the discussion dwindled
down, June Stevens wanted to know if we would still pay the four thousand dollars a
month, when we can, or are we going to possibly put the question of extra monthly SBA
loan payments on the March 2016 ballot to be considered in the up coming budget for the
resident owners to decide? President Rutherford asked if the residents wanted to put the
question on the ballot. All present said “yes”. Director Probst stated he was all for paying
off the SBA loan, but he had looked at loan payments statements in the past and said we
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GREAT CYPRESS VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
October 12, 2015
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had paid over forty thousand some dollars alone in interest since we have had this SBA
loan. He asked again, “who decided to pay the ten and three thousand dollar payments in
the recent past?” Again the answer was, “the Board of Trustees.” President Rutherford
said that Treasurer Hood felt it was all right to pay the amount or she would not have
done it. Director Probst asked if this was the proper way to get permission to pay this.
Director Probst said maybe the community or the board of directors at least should have
been consulted before it was done. He said the GCV board members are the people
elected to run this park, shouldn’t they have been asked about this? Isabelle was
recognized from the floor and said the Board of Trustees is there to only recommend a
budget, not to give permission to take money out of our checking account for extra
payments. If we wanted to pay larger payments on the SBA loan it should have been
included in last years budget and to make them in the future should be included in next
years budget. Many conflicting opinions were expressed from those present on this
decision to make larger loan payments outside of the budget of last year. The point is,
who has the authority to make these financial decisions, period! Nothing further was
discussed on this matter because the time was getting late and we had many more topics
to discuss.
9 to 5 Communication and email list – Dale Alfred wanted to have an email list of all the
residents. He wanted to be able to communicate with them when items needed to be
discussed. The “9 to 5” designation was brought up by Treasurer Hood so if you were
calling board members to discuss things it might be better to call them between the daily
hours of 9 am to 5 pm only.
Make up of committees - Dale Alfred said having an odd number of members per
committee should be addressed in documents committee meetings and be a suggested
change in the By Laws/Declaration documents. This was a tie on decisions could be
averted.
Non owners coming to meetings – Director Hamilton wanted to know why husbands or
wives or year round renters not listed on the ownership papers could not attend our
board meetings. All the residents began to speak at the same time saying “no way “or “it
is in the by laws that they cannot attend”. Director Hamilton still wanted to know why.
Was there something secret being discussed? These renting persons not on the deed may
someday want to buy a home here and they may base their decisions on our monthly
informative meetings. Mrs. Rutherford said it is not right and they don’t do it at other
places. To which Director Hamilton said yes, they are allowed in some other parks as she
has been to their meetings. President Rutherford asked if this question should also be put
on ballot. Director Hamilton said yes.
Light bulbs burned out in club house ceiling – President Rutherford had talked to Chet
about this matter and Chet had already replaced them. Director Bredlau said usually in
November we have had a volunteer club house cleaning by our residents. We may want
to consider doing that again this fall and spring to help keep costs of maintenance down.
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GREAT CYPRESS VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
October 12, 2015
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Last date to fill nominations for March 2016 elections would be February 2, 2016.
Seven bids for Pest Control Companies – President Rutherford got the following bids:
Florida Lawn Pest Control - $250 to do lawn every 8 weeks, the club house $50 per
month.
Pest Away - $65 per month outside, $75 by monthly to do club house.
Massey - $120 initial service fee then $125 monthly or $684 annually to do clubhouse.
Outside = $160 initial fee then$145 per month or 625 a month to do lawn.
Nelson – cheapest one, lawn $79 per month, club house $79 per month
Trouly Nolan - $220 initial, $90 per month to do club house,, $105 initial, $95 a month to
do outside.
Knights Pest Control – Initial $125 clubhouse, $89 initial lawn, $129 every 6 to 7 weeks.
Orcon – the rep came and will get in touch with us later.
Discussion was held with all in attendance and it was suggested to go with the Nelson
Pest Control company for both club house and lawn pest control. A motion was made and
seconded to use the monthly services of Nelson. The motion was approved.
Road Repair on DeKoster – President Rutherford got two estimates as follows:
Rosser Construction will for $5960 dig the pipe, fix it and resurface the road.
Blue Works would use a camera to inspect the pipe, remove the hazards then re-line the
pipe. They do not dig up road. It is a new procedure. $4325 includes using camera,
hydro jet cleaning vacuum, de-silting ($1650) and replace with 18” CIPP liner. This bid
does not however fix the depression in the asphalt so there would be an extra cost to fix
that. Patch includes DeKoster only. A heated discussion commenced after which
President Rutherford said he would call them to come out to use their camera to find out
more about the problem. A decision to table this work was defeated with a 4 to 3 vote by
the board. A motion was then made and seconded to go with the Blue Works Company
$4325 total bid. The motion was approved.
Sidewalk Repair - The two sidewalks where trees were removed are in need of repair.
ABG Concrete would grind down and replace damaged sidewalks for $650. A motion was
made and seconded to have this work done. The motion was approved.
Replacement Trees - A list of Pasco County approved replacement trees was given to
those residents who had their trees removed. They have a month to reply with their tree
of choice. Preferably a Palm tree as shade trees are not recommended by the county in
common areas.
Men’s Room Toilet – A compliant was filed that by Garry Stewart that the men’s room
toilet was not high enough. He fell while using it and hurt his knee. Chet says this toilet is
working fine and is the highest style available. It was decided by the board not to replace
the toilet at this time as there is a handrail available to use.
Parking on streets overnight – Joan Ray asked that no one park on the streets at night as
it is difficult to see the parked cars if they are not under a street light. The Great Cypress
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GREAT CYPRESS VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
October 12, 2015
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Village By Laws only “suggests” that no one park on streets at night. It was agreed by all
present not to park on streets at night whenever possible.
Revitalization Documents - President Rutherford finally got our approved revitalization
documents back from our attorney on the Saturday before the October 12th meeting.
Our attorney says, “as of October 1, 2015, all homes are now responsible for paying their
dues in the amount of $62.00 each month.” He also said the 2009 Revitalization package
has to be reprinted and given to all residents. The newly approved 2009 documents have
a “date and time stamp” on each page which shows their new approval status. It was
suggested to throw away all your old 2009 copies and keep only the new approved
documents when you receive them. This copying procedure takes a lot of our copy paper
and our board members time so, President Rutherford got estimates from two copy
companies as follows:
Staples - 150 copies of packet made for $482 but w/o holes punched
Office Depot - 150 copies of packet made for $365.94 with holes punched
A motion was made and seconded to have 150 copies of the new revitalization packets
made at Office Depot. The motion was approved. This packet will also contain an
explanation letter from our attorney as to what this new filing means to each resident.
When each resident receives this packet they will be asked to initial the master list of
Great Cypress Village resident addresses to prove they received their documents.
President Rutherford wanted to get the documents copied and in the hands of residents
as soon as possible. Director Probst asked if the new approved documents have been
reviewed upon receipt to make sure everything was all right this time. President
Rutherford said Director Probst could review them over night and return for copying.
Director Probst made a motion to review the new documents to make sure they are the
same as the old 2009 documents that we all agreed to use. He asked to take a few days to
review them before they go to Office Depot for printing. The motion was seconded and
approved.
Statements in By Laws and Declarations –As an example: (At the June 9, 2015 special
meeting) it was discovered that the Architectural Committee duties were conflicting
between the Declarations and By Laws. One states the Board of Directors makes final
decisions on granting requests submitted and the other states the Architectural
Committee makes final decisions on granting requests submitted with the board only
stepping in to settle a dispute between the resident and the Architectural Committee. It
was asked that the members of the Documents committee review all By Laws and
Declarations in the future to find such errors and submit corrections.
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GREAT CYPRESS VILLAGE BOARD MEETING
October 12, 2015
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NEW BUSINESS –
George Thode wanted to know if any architectural committee member had special
treatment. George observed that grass mowing waste was not being picked up after
mowing. Mr. Ed LaFountain should have taken away all grass clippings left on the street.
Parking his lawn mower in the neighbors yard without permission is also a concern. Mr.
LaFountain said on that day there was no electricity at the lot in question so he could not
blow away grass clippings. Also, Mr. Thode said that there had been a car parked over the
sidewalk for a long time. A heated discussion commenced between the men. It was
suggested by Director Probst that arguing during board meetings is not the place to
handle these disputes.
No other new business was discussed so a motion was made to adjourn the meeting.
The motion was approved.
The meeting was adjourned at 8:45pm.
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