The Quarterly Board Meeting for Hawthorn Park was held on Thursday, May 28, 2009 at the Northwest Baptist Church. Here are the topics and highlights of the meeting.
Please note: These are not the official meeting minutes. The official minutes are recorded by Doug Lewman, Property Manager, and are archived at the offices of Sentry Management.
Attendees
Board of Directors:
Ray Dalto (present)
Wendy Edler (present)
Mike Hogan (present)
Tyler Linkenhoker (present)
Frank Maruca (present)
Mike Sandstrum (present)
Sean Simpson (present)
Sentry Management
Doug Lewman (present)
Many interested residents of Hawthorn Park
TOPICS DISCUSSED:
MINUTES -- Mike Hogan, President, introduced the new Property Manager from Sentry Management, Doug Lewman. Doug read the minutes from the previous meeting in February.
PRESIDENT'S REPORT -- Mike explained that this meeting would include two guest speakers, and the agenda would be rearranged to accommodate them.
SWFWMD ISSUE -- Karen from Zoller Engineering brought diagrams and explained the problem with the front retention pond, and two possible methods of remediation. The least expensive option is to install a littoral shelf, which would create a 0.77-acre marsh area on the south side of the pond. This lower cost option would be approximately $156,000 (about $1,700 per home). The actual cost could be higher or lower depending on the bids of the contractors. Also the involvement of Zoller to oversee the construction is not included in that price. Once built and certified by SWFWMD, the pond with the littoral shelf would only need recertification every four (4) years. The construction would involve draining and dredging the pond so that the volume of water it will hold equals the volume it was designed for originally when first installed by Pat Neal. The construction will not be possible until the dry season. The next step is for Karen to have a pre-modification meeting with SWFWMD to get an indication if the lower cost solution would be acceptable to them.
BRIGHT HOUSE NETWORKS -- Doug from Bright House gave an overview of the services included in Hawthorn Park's bulk contract, as well as higher tier services that are available at additional cost billed direct to the homeowner. Currently Hawthorn Park's bulk contract with Bright House includes two tiers of service: Basic Channels and Standard Channels. He explained that the current rate of $29.06 per month per home could be maintained with an additional 2-year bulk agreement. This rate does not include digital boxes. For about $4 more per month per home the bulk contract could upgrade everyone to digital. Those who want high definition digital would have to subscribe to an additional service. Doug explained that some communities have bulk contracts for digital high definition TV plus high-speed internet plus telephone, and every mix of services in between. He encouraged the Board to send a cancellation notice to Bright House now, because the actual cancellation does not take effect until 12/31/2009, and it can be easily reinstated later this year.
TV IN DUES -- After Doug from Bright House departed, the Board and Association members had extended discussions. Some gave testimonials about their Bright House services. Others talked about Verizon's services, DirecTV, and Dish Network. But the main theme of the discussions centered on the pivotal question: Should our HOA be in the business of selecting TV services for the Association, now that there are many choices, packages, and options? Cheryl Harrington presented Mike Hogan with a petition signed by 62 Association members (67%) who indicated that they prefer Hawthorn Park HOA to eliminate bulk TV in the budget, thereby saving about $35,000 per year in the Association's budget. Several members of the Board questioned the legitimacy of Cheryl's petition, which was then debated. It was agreed that a Ballot question will be included with the annual Proxy materials. Mike Hogan hypothesized the possibility of two questions on the Ballot: Should the HOA continue a bulk TV contract with any vendor? If the HOA will continue with a bulk TV contract, should the provider be Bright House, Verizon, DirecTV, or Dish Network? The exact process to be used to decide this question was left open at this time.
VERIZON -- Doug Lewman, Property Manager, explained that a representative from Verizon was unable to make this meeting, but will be available at the next meeting.
BACKFLOW INSPECTIONS -- A decision was made to pay the plumber who did the work, at the same price we paid him last year, per the terms of the contract that was in HOA files. Further, the decision was made to switch to a different plumber next year.
TREASURER REPORT -- Skipped
MANAGEMENT REPORT -- Skipped
ARC -- Skipped
ACTIVITIES FUND -- Skipped
ACTION ITEMS -- Skipped
The meeting adjourned at 8:50 p.m. The next scheduled meeting is Thursday, August 27th.