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HAMMOCK BEACH
ESTATES HOME OWNER’S ASSOCIATION, INC. P. O. Box 350668 Palm Coast,
FL 32135 MINUTES: Special Membership meeting. Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2007, Beginning at 4:00PM at Community Pool The meeting was
called to order at 4:00PM. The
following board members were present:
President Paul Zacharias, Vice President, Debbie Clark, Secretary, Peggy
Steele, and Treasurer, Fred Black. The
following members, all invited by a notice posted at the pool bulletin board
and the HBEHOA website (with e mail notification to members), which notice was
posted by noon on Sunday, September 2, 2007 were present: Jean Mattson, Marie and Dave Miller, Alicia
and Larry Anderson, Frank Carelli, Harold Clarke, Nita and Bob Rohr, Bob and
Betty Hamby, Sara Clarke, Renate and Jean Sherwin. Paul said that this
special meeting was called for 2 items: 1.To review the litigation settlement agreement signed by Joyce’s and Weisses. After reviewing the agreement, the board will then vote on whether to authorize the president to accept and sign the agreement and on specific action items required by the agreement.
1. Litigation
Settlement Agreement Paul said that after hearing the settlement agreement, if anyone has a
question as to whether the Board should not sign the agreement, they will be
heard. The proposed agreement does not
contain a confidentiality clause so it can now be shared by the Board. Once it has been signed and posted, when
the Board meets on October 2, 2007, if anyone
wants to offer any comments as to any future implications , they may do
so at the start of the October meeting. Paul then read the agreement which was already signed by both Joyces and
Weisses. Paul said that all issues were
addressed that were of concern to the
insurance company and to the attorney representing HBEHOA .Both attorneys
recommend signature. Paul asked if any board member had a question about the
settlement. Fred asked how the
agreement will be posted? Paul said
that he will meet with the attorneys to sign the original document which is the
official document and once that is done, the document will be posted on the
website and at the pool bulletin board. Paul asked if any one
had any questions as to what was stated in the agreement. Bob Rohr asked where the money is coming
from to pay the legal fees for this action. Paul said that HBE is paying our attorney,
who is Robyn Braun and the attorney for the insurance company will be paid by
the insurance company. Paul said that
we do not know yet how this action might increase our insurance premiums. Bob then asked how we can agree to the
settlement if we do not know what it will cost in the future. Paul said that the agreement says that we
agree to pay our cost. Paul said that
we have a negotiated settlement of a claim.
We are walking away from this litigation, that our losses are what we
have to pay out in legal fees and potentially higher insurance costs. There will not be any further litigation
costs or court costs, as both parties have agreed on a settlement. Paul said that for the record the attorney
costs are $4464 to date (not paid by the insurance company), which amounts to
about $40 per member (I overstated—it’s $31 per member—pz) . Paul said that there may be additional costs
of about $200. Frank Carelli asked
if this settlement was binding and asked if someone else wants to go beyond the
40 foot limit, how would it be handled.
Paul said that it would be dealt with on its own merits. This settlement does not set a precedent one
way or the other. Paul said that those
members who are working on the C&Rs should look into clarification relating
to some of the provisions in going forward, to help prevent HBE going into
jeopardy in the future. Paul asked for motions for voting by the Board: 1. Peggy made the motion to accept the terms
and conditions of the settlement agreement as read and to authorize Paul
Zacharias, as President, to sign the agreement on behalf of the Board and
Association. Fred seconded the motion
and all members approved. 2. In accordance with the terms of the
agreement as stated in items 1, 4 and 5, the following motions were made,
seconded and unanimously approved:: a. The Board hereby agrees to
rescind its prior approval of the pool screen enclosure (that extended beyond
the width of the house) on property of the Weisses. b. The Board hereby agrees to
approve the patio screen enclosure that the Weisses have already built and
which is approximately 40 feet in width and does not extend beyond the southern
edge of their house. c. The Board hereby affirms that it
shall not rescind its prior approval of the Weisses patio, which as currently
located and constructed, is approximately fifty-five feet in length 3. Peggy added the following motion which was
seconded and unanimously approved: The
Board hereby expresses its appreciation to the
Joyce’s and Weisses for resolving this issue by a settlement agreement. Pool Area
Beautification Committee Proposals. At Paul’s request Alicia Anderson identified the members of the
committee: Jean Mattson, Renate Sherwin, Nita Rohr, Hana Vrany, Marie Miller
Sara Clarke, Betty Hamby and herself.
Paul thanked the committee for putting the proposals together. Paul asked Alicia how
they ended up focusing on the pool fence and the parking area. Alicia said that Sara called her and asked
the committee to look at the pool fence.
She thought it was a dangerous situation with kids putting their heads
through the holes in the gates to the pool.
The committee agreed that this was a priority item, the fence needs to
be replaced. She said that HOA would be
responsible if someone got hurt because of the disrepair. Paul agreed that
there is a risk with the holes in the fence..
As for the parking area, she said that people are driving over the
sprinklers and Harold has to keep on repairing them, therefore the parking area
needs to be designated. Paul asked
Alicia if they discussed any other items that they were considering for the
pool area. Alicia said that the fence
was the top priority after Sara asked the committee members to look at the
condition of the fence. Paul asked if
they were still going to meet to consider other beautification items can be
done to the pool area and Alicia said they were meeting again. Paul said we need to have some idea of
proposed beautification items for the budget which is going to be presented for
the upcoming year. a.) Pool Fence
Replacement The Committee
obtained quotes from 3 vendors for fencing. Atlantic Fence, Thompson’s Secure
Fence (DBA Fence Store), and AAA Fence Company. Alicia presented the estimates and told the board members which
type of fencing they decided upon--aluminum with gate in front (south side) and
chain link fencing on the other 3 sides.
Alicia presented an updated summary sheet for the 3 quotes (the Board
members previously had been given copies of the quotes.) The 3 bids were now Atlantic: $4950- Thompson $5405 and
AAA $6680. The Board members then
asked for clarification of the proposals: ·
Paul asked if
any member present had experience with any of the 3 companies that gave an
estimate. No one had direct experience
but Larry Anderson said that all businesses were rated OK with the Better
Business Bureau. ·
Debbie asked how
long the quote from Atlantic Fencing was valid and if taxes were included. Alicia said it was for 30 days and that
taxes were included ·
Paul asked if
the gates would have key locks and coded key pad locks. Paul said he feels that key locks should be
used as once the code gets out for key pad locks, the code has to keep
changing. Nita said that the key locks
should be used because they will also be used for the restrooms. Paul asked if the locks to be installed on
gates can utilize the keys which we already have. Paul said that we will need around 125 keys to start with in
order to function. We have keys now that can be used both on pool gates and
restrooms. If the existing keys cannot
be used, we will have to purchase another 125 keys and have the restroom locks
rekeyed. Paul said this is something
that needs to be explicit before proceeding. ·
Debbie asked
about hauling away the old fence and Alicia said that the hauling was included
based on her conversations with the vendors although not all written proposals
stated so. ·
It was asked if
temporary fencing would be needed if the work was not completed in a day. Alicia said that Atlantic said they would
replace 2 sides on one day , leaving the old fence up and the next day would
replace the other 2 sides so that temporary fencing would not be a problem. ·
Fred asked if the 3 sides with chain link
fencing would be the same as what is there now. Alicia said it was the same type of fence, only black with black
mesh around it. Fred asked about the
gate on the west side and Alicia indicated it would be similar in style to the
current gate but with a different type of lock. ·
Paul asked why
the committee decided not put the aluminum fencing on the two sides (south and
west) visible from the road. Sara said
that they decided to have only the front fenced with the aluminum fencing as it
would be more pleasing to the eye as the front of the pool area is the only
portion seen when driving by. Fred
asked about using the same aluminum gate on the west side as will be on the
front side . Paul said that it’s the
current chain link gates that are beaten up, and perhaps a better grade gate should be put on the
west side. Sara said the committee has
no problem with that if it was feasible and the money was there to use. Paul suggested the committee find out what
the cost would be to have both gates the same, and that said we should not
eliminate any considerations until we see the cost implications. Additional discussion
took place about items such as the quality of fencing materials (does
commercial grade mean the same in each bid?)
warranties for materials and labor, whether all posts were set in
concrete. Paul agreed to summarize all
of the board’s questions on the bids and forward them to the committee so that
they could discuss them with the vendors and obtain updated quotes. Paul also agreed with a suggestion that
someone from the Board try to be available for any additional meetings with the
vendors. Debbie said she
wanted to see everything in writing before she would be willing to vote on any
proposal. Paul agreed that it is the
board’s responsibility to make sure everything is clear before any vendor is
selected. The board will meet on October 3.and
will make the decision in conjunction with doing the budget. Renate asked if the money will come out of
the maintenance reserve? Paul said that
money will have to be moved to pay for the fence if replacement takes place
this year. Renate said they spent all
this time working on replacing the fence and now she is hearing that there is
not money to do this. Betty Hamby asked about having money left for
beautification funds if the fence is replaced this year. Paul explained the budget process and what
the C&Rs state that can be done without having a member vote before any
project is done. Fred said that there
is $4017 left in the betterment account.
Fred said that although $5500 of our reserves is in the Reserve for
Replacement Account, nothing was budgeted to be spent for fence replacement for
this year, it was scheduled to be
replaced in 2008. Paul said that we do
not want to take our reserves down to zero. Renate said that most quotes are given for 30 days and wants to know if
there is money to use for beautification.
Paul asked Fred to respond to Renate’s question. Fred said that all he has seen is the
proposal for replacing the fence. Jean
Mattson said that the three volunteers originally chose to work on the
landscaping, walkways and picnic tables. The other five people who decided to
join the committee wanted to replace the fence and parking area and that’s all
that was talked about. Jean is not
saying that that is wrong but it was not what she signed up for. Sara said that when she joined the
committee, she contacted Alicia and told her to look at the fence. When they
all looked at the fence, that’s when it became the priority. Fred said that we have all talked about the
fence for quite a while. We all want
to see that the fence is replaced. Nita
asked about submitting another plan for landscaping like Debbie prepared and if
it would have to be put to a vote again.
Paul said that if the amount exceeded $3000 in one year that it would
have to be voted on again. Under $3000
it would not require a separate vote but members could review and comment on
what is being proposed during the budget process. Fred said that we need confirmation about questions concerning
the fence before a decision can be made.
After we have a firm contract for fencing, then we can determine how
much is left for beautification, as the fence issue has become the
priority. Paul closed the discussion on
the pool fence, saying he will send the questions that were discussed and hopefully after receiving definite
quotes a decision can be made at the October meeting. Jean Sherwin stated
that if the fence issue is indeed an emergency safety issue, the Board should
meet sooner than the October meeting to act.
Paul said he would consider that suggestion. Finally, after a brief discussion, it was agreed that before the
installation of any fencing is done, our current lawn maintenance company will
cut the shrubs as required by the fencing company. (Note: Following the
meeting Fred Black took the initiative to weave twine across the holes in the
pool gate as a temporary fix to prevent any children from putting their heads
in the open gate holes and getting hurt.
PZ.) b. Parking area
barrier Paul asked Sara about the proposal of what plans are in place for the
parking area She said that because
people are parking all over the area, the proposed parking barrier will be
across the area in front of the pool because that is where there are sprinkler
heads that need to be protected. The
parking area to be marked out will be 36 feet, east and west from the walkway
to the pool. There will be 4 posts on
either side, about 13 feet apart, with 3 sections of roping between the posts. The posts will be 24 inched into the ground
and 3 feet up. Pressure treated lumber
will be used and painted black to match the future fence. The posts will have reflectors on it and the
roping will be yellow. There are
volunteers to put in the parking area barrier.
The estimated price is $246.46.
Fred made the motion to approve $246.46 for parking area fence. The
motion was seconded and approved. . With no other items on the agenda, the meeting was adjourned at 5:25PM. Respectfully
submitted Peggy Steele, Sec. HBEHOA |