The Board of
Directors (BOD) for Hawthorn Park held the regular Monthly Meeting
on Thursday, September 27, 2007. Here are the topics and
highlights of the
meeting.
Please note: These are not the official meeting
minutes. The official minutes are recorded by Stephanie Chapman
Property
Manager, and are archived at the offices of Sentry Management.
Ray Dalto,
Director - Assistant Secretary, also maintains a file of the official
minutes.
Attendees
Board of Directors:
Ray Dalto (present)
Lee
Fioretto (present)
Mike Hogan
(present)
Frank Maruca
(not present)
Frank Miles
(present)
Art Stadlin
(present)
Pat Whitesel
(present)
Sentry
Management
Stephanie Chapman (present)
Other
interested
residents of Hawthorn Park -- Tom
Falcone, Agnes Kullmann, Nan Fioretto, George Morse, Mike Theoret, Peg
Mazza, Ed Goff, Bill Ryskamp.
AGENDA
1.
Call To Order
2. Establish Quorum
3. Proof of Notice
4. BRIGHT HOUSE PRESENTATION -- Three representatives of Bright
House made a presentation covering their fiber optic capabilities,
their service tiers and offerings for TV, internet, and telephone, and
their pricing options for Hawthorn Park. The Association is
currently under contract for the Limited Basic plus the Standard TV
tiers, at a bulk price to the Association of $29.09 per month per home
(plus tax). This compares to a retail TV-only (no internet, no
phone combo deals) of $48.49. Bright House encouraged Hawthorn
Park to upgrade our current contract to add their digital tier of
TV. They also provided pricing on their basic tier of
service: $12.00 per month per home (plus tax) in bulk versus
$17.80 retail (without combo discounts). Bright House offers
several combo deals for Hawthorn Park residents who want to add ala
carte services to those services provided in bulk. For example, a
resident who wants the "triple play" (digital TV plus internet plus
telephone) will pay $57 to Bright House plus $29 in dues, which comes
to $86 (plus tax). The Bright House reps told us our contract
renewal for them will need to be for a 5-year period. They
explained that at these great prices they are not making any money on
us. But by keeping us as customers they can offer value-added
services (like internet, phone features, digital video recorders, and a
new TV feature called "Start Over") direct to homeowners at a
profit. They said our bulk price for the services we include in
dues now would stay at $29.09 for the first year. After that they
said to expect 5-percent increases each year.
5. Waiver/Reading Minutes
6. President Report (P. Whitesel) -- Pat reported that she and Ray met
with the Scotts supervisor who was very cordial and helpful.
Contrary to previous understanding, Scotts agreed to fix the damaged
lawn at the entrance by using plugs. Therefore we will stay with
Scotts for fertilizer and pest control.
7. Treasurer Report (F. Miles) -- Frank
reported that we have approximately $35,000 in the operating account,
and a small amount in the contingency fund, which will continue to be
moved to the operating fund to cover expenses. Given our new
understanding of the accrual method used by Sentry, Frank will need to
crank the numbers to determine our true financial health and our
financial risk for the remainder of this calendar year. Also, the
Board unanimously gave Stephanie the all clear to have the Lien placed
on member #0137.
8. Management Report (S. Chapman) -- The Board discussed a comprehensive
bid received to tackle tree trimming in sections A and B as described
in the Common Grounds Committee Plan (commonly known as Claudia's
Committee's Plan). Given that no tree trimming was done in 2007
due higher than expected expenses in other areas, the Board is
considering the need to catch up in 2008, which will be a significant
increase to the 2008 expense budget.
9. Committee Reports
a) Activities Fund (F.
Maruca) -- No report.
b)
Social (L. Fioretto) -- Next
planned activities are the Ladies Social on Sunday, Oct. 28th and the
Community Garage Sale on Saturday, Nov. 3rd. The Ladies Social
(also called the Ladies Tea) will be held at the home of Lori Lance
(Phase II). Ladies should please contact Lori, Peg Mazza, or Nan
Fioretto for more information.
c)
ARC (L. Fioretto) -- Three ARC
requests received, approved.
d)
Landscape/Common Grounds Maintenance (F. Maruca) -- No report.
9. Action Items Review
10. OLD BUSINESS:
+ Reserve Study -- The need for a Reserve Study was
discussed and acutely debated. The argument come down to the
interpretation of a new law that Gov. Crist approved on
6/19/2007. Our Property Manager, Stephanie, has said that the law
takes effect immediately, our fund we call "contingency" is really a
Reserve Fund under the law, and we must pay an expert vendor to provide
us with a Reserve Study (approx. $2,000 the first year) to know how
much to put into reserves. Others have read the new law and
believe there are other less expensive options. The Board agreed
that it needs a second expert opinion on this matter. Ray Dalto
volunteered to get that opinion from legal counsel used by the Board on
other HOA matters.
11. NEW BUSINESS:
+ Budget Workshop --
The Board will hold a Special Meeting to create the 2008 Budget for the
Association. It will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 2nd, from 6:30 p.m.
to 8:30 p.m. Mike Hogan graciously offered the conference room at
the First America Bank on Manatee Avenue for this meeting.
+ Annual Meeting --
The date for the Annual Meeting was confirmed for Thursday, Nov. 29th,
at 7:00 p.m. at the Palma Sola Botanical Park. Stephanie outlined the
timeline for notice and mailings. This year an early mailing will
include instructions for self-nomination for Association members
interested in being elected to the Board of Directors. In a later
mailing, a proxy will be mailed which will allow Association members to
vote for the candidates and return their proxy by mail. In so
doing, they will not need to attend the meeting and their vote will
still count -- even if additional self-nominations come later, such as
from the floor of the Annual Meeting itself.
+ Cable TV Contract Renewal -- A motion was made to
terminate the Association's bulk contract with Bright House. By a
vote of 3 to 3, the motion failed to pass. The Board will
continue discussion on this complex issue at the next couple of
meetings.
12. OTHER
BUSINESS:
+ Front Entrance
Landscaping -- Peg Mazza requested that the Board approve an
expenditure from the Activities Fund for the purpose of buying plants
to spruce up the front entrance. With regrets, the Board denied
Peg's request.
+ Sheriff's Office
Visit -- Art Stadlin reported on a request received from the Manatee
County Sheriff's Office to attend a future meeting to meet the deputies
who protect our neighborhood. The Board decided that we will
extend an invitation to attend the Annual Meeting on 11/29.
13. Next Meeting -- Special Budget
Workshop Meeting on Tuesday, October 2nd, 6:30 p.m. at First America
Bank (Manatee Ave. Branch). Next regular monthly meeting will be
Thursday, October 25, 2007, 7:00 p.m. at Palma Sola Botanical Park.
14. Adjournment
