Minutes of the Lake Barcroft Association - Board of Directors

 

The minutes of September 18, 2013 were approved as corrected.

OLD BUSINESS

CALENDAR REVIEW:  The calendar was reviewed.

NEWSLETTER PIECE AND VOTING ON PAVILION:  Warren said he received several comments on the draft from Board members and will incorporate them into a final draft.  The deadline will be December 10 for the ballots.  Ballots will be available at the December 5 special meeting. Votes must be cast by December 10. This is considered a “special meeting” under the bylaws which require a quorum of 10% of the membership or 104 votes.

NOMINATING COMMITTEE UPDATE:  Warren reported that the committee had generated a full slate for the upcoming Board elections.  As required by the bylaws, ten people will be running for the 6 available positions.  Betsy, Frank, Jim, Pat, and Shane are the incumbents who have agreed to run. Five additional candidates are Deepak Bhattasali, Alex Braun, Bill Lecos, Kim Mills and Ana Monsour. November 15 is the deadline for submitting bios for the December newsletter.

UNANIMOUS CONSENT FOR BEACH 3 GATE OPEN:  The Board agreed that the entry gate to the parking lot at Beach 3 would remain open until November 1 for safety reasons.

Sally and Eva discussed revisions to the bylaws to be proposed for adoption at the February community meeting. They have been developing revisions to allow electronic voting, ARC issues, and conforming to new legislation on HOA fees. The committee was encouraged to bring any additional by-law proposals to the November meeting. All proposed revisions will appear in the January newsletter.

NEW BUSINESS

ARC APPEAL:  The committee considered a recent submission to the ARC to extend a seawall into the lake to connect two points of adjoining lots. This would extend the seawall further into the lake beyond the current shoreline than has been approved in previous seawall proposals to the ARC. The two homeowners and their lawyer presented pictures and maps on the historical, current, and proposed situation of the shoreline. 

The Board then went into executive session to discuss this matter.

A motion was made by Anne and seconded by Diane to deny approval.  All voted in favor.

Sally and Rick will work on a draft letter to send to the parties involved.

BEACH GATES:  Sally discussed various community opinions on whether and which gates to the beaches should be opened.  Warren feels we should open other gates.  Frank noted that previous discussions had concluded that closed gates contributed to a reduction in trespassers. 

CAPITAL EXPENSES:  Jim discussed adopting a policy for identifying capital expenses.  Typically capital expenses are those that last longer than one year. Several spoke in favor of also requiring a minimum dollar threshold for capital expenses. Our accountant had suggested a threshold of $500 or $1,000 and noted that the trend is toward the higher amount.  A capital expense would need to be depreciated. Questions were raised about whether similar expenses would be aggregated to meet the threshold.

Jim recommended the we adopt a threshold for capital expenses of $1,000  per year, with details for a written policy to be developed with the accountant by the November meeting. Diane seconded. All voted in favor.

RSU SPECIAL COMMITTEE:  Sally reported on the creation of a committee to study and make recommendations to the LBA board on the County's proposed policy to permit Residential Studio Units. David Feld and Roger Hoskin had agreed to co-lead the committee and Katherine Bates, Joan O'Kane, Steven Yaffe, Warren and Lee had agreed to serve on the committee.

2014 BUDGET:  Jim presented two reports. One presented a comparison of budgeted versus actual expenses for five years, 2009 through 2013. The second was a tentative budget for 2014. He urged committee chairs to submit proposals for the 2014 budget before the November meeting when we would discuss the budget and dues for 2014.  The Board thanked him for all of his work.

COMMITTEE REPORTS

MAINTENANCE:  George is working with a crew of volunteers to repair the Woman’s Club bridge starting the next weekend.  Warren reminded that combinations to the portable johns at the beaches need to be changed.

ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY:  Betsy commented that the tree program had another successful year and many positive responses.  The September 28 Eco Adventure barge tours and events at Beach 5 were a great success.

WATER SAFETY:  Warren asked whether Kevin Hardy had submitted the end of season lifeguard report in September as specified in his contract. Pat said that she had just received the report that day and would report back next month after reviewing it.

SECURITY:  Frank reported that the last checks have been cut and that total expenses for the season are about $15,000.

TREASURER:  Nothing to report beyond the earlier discussion.

PUBLICATIONS:  Shane reported that Mark is in the process of finishing the changes on the upcoming directory.  He expects to pay an additional $300 to incorporate the final edits. The overhaul of the website is being tested offline. Members will need to update their passwords when the new design goes online. The contractor will not be changing the website to facilitate electronic submissions of proposals to the ARC as the original contract had specified.

ARC:  Rick reported that 13 plans had been submitted to the ARC and that 12 had been approved.  He observed that beaver fences were starting to pop up around the lake, some of which had not been submitted to the ARC for approval. Rick will be working with Betsy on how to address this issue. He noted that the ARC was now doing e-voting to speed up the process. The committee is still working on rules changes for ARC submissions.

MEMBERSHIP:  Anne had spoken with a Parcel A homeowner who has been delinquent on his 2013 payment. He has agreed to make his payment.

LEGAL:  Eva is working on revisions to the bylaws to conform to legislative changes.

Sally reported on the feedback from the civic affairs meeting.  She thanked the Board for their attendance.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:46 PM.