Hammock Community Center, Malacompra Road, The Hammock

Minutes of the Meeting

1. The Board of Directors of the Hammock Beach Estates Home Owners’ Association met on Thursday, January 15, 2004, at the Hammock Community Center, Malacompra Road, Palm Coast, Florida. The following Board Members were present: President Robert Thomason; Vice President, Sara Clarke; Treasurer, Peggy Steele; Secretary, Anita Rohr, and Operations Coordinator, Joe Bowen. The following homeowners, all invited by notice enclosed with the minutes and by the posting of a notice on the community bulletin board, were also present: John Bonner, Harold Clarke, Dorothy Drexler, Norman Humphreys, and Bob Rohr.

2. Robert Thomason called the meeting to order at 7:05 p.m. The floor was opened to discuss the agenda and/or other concerns or comments.

Sara Clarke suggested that homeowner’s comments/concerns be made only at the start of the meeting and the Board could meet without interruption. Homeowners were invited to make their comments to board members at the meeting’s conclusion or they could voice their concerns at the next board meeting.

Harold Clarke stated that board meetings should be held once a quarter instead of once a month. The board agreed but suggested that sometimes it would be necessary to have additional meetings to respond to matters requiring more timely action. The board agreed that the date of the next meeting would be determined at the conclusion of each Board meeting based upon unfinished agenda.

3. Minutes from the October 30, 2003, and the minutes of the board meeting of December 1, 2003, as well as the minutes of the annual meeting held December 1, 2003, had been previously distributed to all homeowners and board members. A call was made for any additions or corrections or changes to the minutes. There being none, the minutes were approved.

4. The amendments to By-Laws re: Seventy (70) lots were represented at the Annual Homeowner’s Association meeting. Association By-laws require that a 2/3 majority of all homeowners are required for passage of By-law amendments, a total of 98 votes. Since only 70 lots were represented either by proxy or in person the necessary votes required for passage was not obtained although 67 votes of the 70 present were cast in favor of the change. To obtain passage, Robert Thomason suggested sending said ballots to every homeowner/lot owner and urge them to reply. He suggested that the ballot cover letter include an introduction indicating that the change is not controversial in that it was overwhelmingly approved by those present at the Annual Meeting. A new amendment (see paragraph #5) would change the provision relating to the By-law changes.

5. Proposed Amendment to By-laws re: Robert Thomason stated that the amendment should read in effect that By-law amendments could be passed by 2/3 vote of those members voting either in person or by absentee ballot instead of 2/3 vote of all homeowner/lot owners. This would make it easier to pass future amendments. The homeowner’s association attorney encouraged the change.

Robert volunteered to draft the amendment wording and a short discussion followed on how much time to allow responses to be returned. It was decided that a return date would be included in the notification letter. Votes would be tallied on that date.

The proposal will read as follows: Submit the proposed By-law amendments re: election procedures again to the membership by written ballot and ask that they return their vote as soon as possible and that we will begin tallying the votes within 30 days and that we also include an additional amendment that would amend the By-laws to change the 2/3 membership requirement for amendments to 2/3 of the members voting either in person or by absentee ballott. The board voted unanimously for this proposal.

6. Proposed Pool Rules

7. Locks for Pool Restrooms

The above agenda items were intertwined in the discussions. Peggy Steele notified the board that the firm who was cleaning the pool restrooms had quit as of December 24. No one on the present board had been notified. However, during the conversation that Peggy had with the cleaning company representative, it was learned that Mr. Joyce and Mr. Rosenbaum were notified of the cleaning company action. Joe Bowen was tasked to locate and hire another cleaning company to clean the pool restrooms. The cleaning schedule would be weekly, April 15 - October 15 and once a month, October 16 - April 14

Joe Bowen contacted Cook’s Locksmith for estimates for two lock proposals: #1. Installation of 2 hasps and rekeyable padlocks keyed to match customer’s master padlock key and #2. Installation of 1 deadbolt, replacement of 1 deadbolt and purchase of 2 rekeyable padlocks. All will be keyed alike with 200 extra keys.

After discussion, Joe made a motion that bid proposal #2 with an additional 150 keys vice 200 keys with a reduction in price, be accepted by the board. This proposal was seconded by Robert and agreed to by 4 members with Sara Clarke voting against. Joe will be in charge of key distribution to homeowners.

The pool rules signage need to have the following additions:

No Lifeguard on duty

Pool open dawn to dusk

Alcoholic beverages not permitted in pool area

All guests under the age of 18 yrs. must be accompanied by an adult.

Additional signs are also needed. Two that state “No trespassing – HOA members only, violators will be prosecuted”; and, two stating “No trespassing – Before entering pool read rules”. The exact wording will be determined by the operations committee.

Peggy Steele made the motion to adopt the pool rules as amended, Joe Bowen seconded the motion and the board agreed unanimously to accept the motion.

The operations committee will see that the signs will be made up and posted.

8. Realignment of Sea Colony Fence. Robert Thomason received a memo from Sea Colony Board of Directors stating that the realignment of the fence had been finished, and the encroachment problem corrected. Memo is attached to the original of these minutes.

9. Committees for 2004 – the policy that this board will follow is that committees are appointed for 1 year. Committee members can volunteer to serve additional years on an annual basis at the pleasure of the Board.

Operations Committee consists of Joe Bowen, Operations Director and members include John Bonner and Harold Clarke and John Lahti. They will be asked to serve another year. Robert Thomason will write letters acknowledging their service and request that they serve another year.

Fining Committee consists of Frank Carelli, Donna De Meglio, and Dorothy Drexler. Robert Thomason will also write letters to this committee acknowledging their service and request that they serve again for another year.

Social Committee consisted of Susan Fairley and Karen Joyce and for the coming year Anita Rohr, Secretary, will chair the Social Committee and be Board liasion. Anita will ask other people to join the committee. Karen and Susan will be asked to continue. Robert will write letters of acknowledgement for them also.

Newsletter – Darcy Araya will be asked to chair the newsletter and also recruit a committee. Peggy Steele will be the liaison person for the Board.

Items from Previous Meetings:

Sara Clarke proposed that the following items be deleted from the current and future agendas.

#14. No Trespassing Signs – letter from attorney for J. Bowen. Joe stated that he had turned in a letter to the previous board and it was never dealt with, Joe decided not to discuss this and it was stricken from the agenda. The letter will be kept as part of permanent Association records.

#15. No Trespassing Signs and/or Private property Signs and Vehicular Access to Ocean Dune Circle. Mr. Rosenbaum raised these issues in a letter to the previous board and they chose not to respond. The item was stricken from the agenda.

#21. Sunshine requirements: E-mail between and among Board members. Frank Carelli suggested that the item be deleted from the agenda. He rechecked the provisions of the sunshine law and found his interpretation to be in error. He found that it appropriate for Board members one on one to have conversations about board business either in person or by E-mail. More than two people would be considered a meeting.

#23. Road cleaning by builder. Building materials/wire left on Cottonwood Trail has been removed. Robert Thomason noted that future complaints of this type should be brought to Sara Clarke’s attention and Sara will make the necessary contacts. Robert suggested that the appropriate person to be contacted is the owner of the lot being that the builder is their responsibility.

# 17. Affiliate membership. A revised proposal was submitted to the previous Board. No action had been taken. The subject of affiliate memberships was deleted from the agenda.

#16. Annual audit. The Board needs to name an audit committee to examine Association financial records and make suggestions as necessary for the protection of the Association, the Treasurer and Assistant Treasurer. It is recommended that the Audit be conducted annually. Norman Humphreys was asked to chair the committee and recruit additional people to assist. Records for the year 2003 are to be reviewed.

#10. Stormwater Retention Pond Issues – Joe Bowen as Operations Director needs to talk to the Developer and find out the status on the Stormwater Retention Pond work. The second step is to get the inspection completed by the St. Johns Water Management and then request advice on pond maintenance. The pond rules are: No Fishing, Swimming, Boating, and/or Hunting. Joe requested Harold Clarke contact Mr. Baggett for correct wording on the signs and ascertain whether or not Mr. Baggett will provide the necessary signage. Joe will speak to the Developer, and upon completion of the Developer’s work, contact Mr. Baggett to complete required inspections. Joe will also check with Mr. Baggett on the condition and status of the community’s canals.

Joe will get estimates for the maintenance of all the retention ponds and submit them to the Board. It was also noted that compensation should be provided to the lawn person when the Association becomes responsible for the grass areas surrounding the retention ponds.

#22. Willow Drive Signs – The original street signs on Willow Drive were misnamed and never corrected causing confusion and difficulty for delivery companies. Since the Developer is responsible for the roads and signs within our community, a letter will be drafted to him requesting the replacement of the sign with a copy of the letter addressed to the Flagler County Engineer.

#11. Selection and Activation of Architectural Review Working Group (ARC) - The HOA attorney said Architectural Review is the task of the HOA and not that of the developer. The Developer believes that the responsibility is his as long as he is in the community. This conflict has never been resolved. It was decided by last year’s Board that the Board would act as the Architectural Review Committee on those projects that were submitted to them. Mike Joyce prepared a proposal the previous Board and copies are available. Robert Thomason suggested that the current Board select a working group, provide them the document that Mike prepared and let them work out some kind of understanding that would then be presented to the Board on what the ARC would be responsible for. All lot owners would be notified that the ARC is in operation and our understanding that this is the HOA responsibility. Any building and/or modifications to be done on their property are to be presented to the ARC whether done by the developer or anybody else. Lot owners should be made aware that although the developer claims he maintains architectural responsibility, lot owners would still have to present plans to the ARC for final approval. At the present time, the Developer is encouraging homeowner’s who are doing additions to submit plans to the ARC but he not presenting plans to the ARC on anything he is going to build. Mike Joyce and George DeMeglio have expressed an interest in working on the ARC. The ARC will check to ensure building/plans conform to the Flagler County Code and the community C&Rs. To alleviate potential conflicts with the Developer, it was suggested that the Developer be invited to join the ARC working group to develop architectural review procedures and to work with the HOA to maintain the beauty of the community.

Peggy distributed copies of the financial report to the Board members.

The next meeting was set for March 18, 2004 [later changed to March 25] at the Malacompra Community Center. The meeting was then adjourned at 9 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Anita Rohr, Secretary