Charleston
Village Homeowners Association
Board of Directors Meeting
Minutes
June 27, 2005
Officers Present: Anton
Callaway, Joe DiBari, Tim Ruff,
Officers Absent:
Others Present: Connie
Friedline, Margo Bills, Dawn Bradley, Caroline Cuany, Penny Fields, Charles
Zorn, Martha Jenkins, Sheri Fincher
I. Open Forum:
There being no requests for discussion in Open Forum, the
meeting moved to the next point of order.
II. Call to Order: The meeting at the Charleston
Village Clubhouse was called to order at 6:33 PM.
III. Establish
Quorum: The Board Members present, constituted a quorum.
IV. Minutes Approved:
Dawn motioned to approve the April meeting
minutes contingent on inclusion of previously missing voting information
(concerning one item concerning walkway definitions in the ARB guidelines),
Anton seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
V. Treasurer's Report:
VII. Committee Reports:
Architectural (ARB) Margo Bills reported that there had been 10 requests submitted to the ARB in the
last two months. She requested that the
ARB be provided with a list of reported construction, painting, etc. letters to
aid in follow-up enforcement of the architectural guidelines.
Pool: Dawn, Penny Fields and Caroline Cuany reported. It was stated that the bathroom floors are peeling and the contractor has acknowledged the problem and volunteered to return and correct the problem after pool season. Caroline reported that Ralph's ice cream had been selling ice cream at the pool on Saturdays with 20% of the proceeds donated to the Salem Care Committee. Discussions followed regarding the need to review the covenants with respect to possible prohibition of such sales and if allowed, whether additional charities should be recipients of the donated proceeds.
Grounds
No formal Chairperson reporting. Further discussion of Grounds matters was deferred to New Business.
Social
Connie Friedline reported that the Yard Sale event went well and that the next planned event is the Fall Carnival.
Clubhouse
Penny Fields reported. She pointed out that the stains on the clubhouse carpet were not new, but were old stains that had re-surfaced after cleaning. She asked the Board to consider whether to replace the carpets or just have them re-cleaned. She stated that the old vacuum was holding up, so immediate replacement of the vacuum was not being requested. Ants in the kitchen area, ordering new supplies and the addition of Denise Kaiser as a new clubhouse helper were also mentioned.
Communications
No report.
Nominating
Tim reported that the Nominating Committee was working to put in place a standard procedure for replacing Board members who vacate their office before the end of their term. He stated that discussions by this committee had concluded that holding a special election was the fairest way to fill a seat that was vacated early.
VIII. Management Company's Report:
Sheri Fincher reported. In addition to those topics covered in earlier reports in the meeting and those designated for discussion under Old Business or New Business the following items were noted: Letters sent to the Town of Apex by the HOA attorney in an attempt to clarify the respective responsibilities of the Town and the community with regards to maintenance of the Greenway have been ignored by the Town. The HOA attorney will send a letter to the mayor in an additional attempt to get a response. Margo suggested also contacting Bruce Radford, the Town Manager, who is also an attorney.
The yards in the neighborhood were looking good in general. Pine straw was applied to the extra-contract area near the entrance. Dawn will review the Boards email comments regarding “No solicitation” signs at the entrances to Charleston Village so that Sheri can be informed of the desired sign.
The clubhouse locking system was fixed after an interfering fax machine was identified and blocked by BellSouth. The management company is now the only number that can access the locking system to change clubhouse access privileges.
Ron (Fincher) fixed the fan in the pool house.
IX. Old Business:
Dawn Bradley mentioned the chronic and dangerous
speeding that occurs down the hill where Castleburg meets Castleburg. A discussion followed noting the short
line-of-sight for drivers approaching that intersection, the frequent running
of the STOP sign already present at the other arm of this intersection and
other traffic control problems in the neighborhood. Dawn (Stokes) suggested getting a list
together of neighborhood streets where it is felt that a STOP sign is needed to
take to the police chief (the Town official responsible for erection of STOP
signs). Tim volunteered to go with Dawn
(Bradley) and Mr Schmeltz (sp?) to the police chief to discuss the matter.
Tim motioned to approve Seegars Fence to install the
replacement fence above the drainage culvert on Castleburg. Joe seconded the motion and the motion passed
unanimously.
Anton mentioned that he had called all but one of the
Board Presidents on the list provided by Sheri, but had not yet received any
return calls regarding the effort to organize Apex area HOA's to get the Town
of Apex to address chronic drainage issues in developments that affect
sidewalks, roads and other Town of Apex property.
X. New Business:
Anton motioned to approve the revised ARB guidelines
contingent on moving the sentences under "Roofing", currently on the
last page of the guidelines to just behind the "Exterior Painting"
section (currently on pages 9 & 10).
Joe seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. A discussion of when and how to print and
distribute the revised guidelines followed and Margo Bills volunteered to get
pricing and other information from the local Postnet.
A request made by some homeowners to open the pool
sooner than the current 7:00 A.M. was discussed. The need for there to be sufficient time
between addition of pool chemicals and allowing swimmers to enter the pool and
other considerations were discussed. Tim
motioned that the pool opening remain at 7:00 A.M. Anton seconded the motion and the motion
passed unanimously.
The topic of swim lessons at the community pool was
discussed. Among the issues reviewed
were whether neighbors helping neighbors' children to learn swimming techniques
should be prohibited. Arguments for
prohibition included the potential liability to the HOA if a child was injured
during unlicensed swim lessons.
Arguments against prohibition included questions as to whether such
activity constituted a legal liability and the suggestion that interference
with such community interactions could damage the community atmosphere. In an attempt to find a harmonious way to
balance these concerns, Dawn motioned that a sentence such as, "No formal
or organized swim instruction is permitted without prior board approval"
be included in the pool rules. Tim
seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously. Currently, only R&P and the YMCA are
approved to give formal swim instruction at the Charleston Village pool.
Parking of Recreational Vehicles and other vehicles in
the pool parking lot was discussed.
Sheri will send a draft of a sign letting people know that parking
without permission of the board, via the property management company, will be
prohibited.
Other items discussed included a suggestion to
prohibit sales of food items at the pool referencing Article VII, Section 7 of
the covenants and a call for improved consistency in pool rule enforcement
requested by some homeowners.
After discussion of the state of the community picnic
tables, Anton motioned to approve work on the picnic tables. Dawn seconded the motion and the motion
passed unanimously.
Sheri requested that the property management company
be allowed to use favored vendors to perform work below $1000 to avoid having
to get multiple quotes on small jobs that would differ little in cost. She cited the unwillingness of vendors to
bother with putting together quotes for small jobs. After further discussion, Tim motioned to
allow the property management company to select vendors for expenditures below
$750 without gathering quotes. Dawn
seconded the motion and the motion passed unanimously.
Dawn brought forth a request by Donna (Mullis) to
reserve the clubhouse July 16th at 9:30 A.M., which is somewhat earlier than
the time specified in the clubhouse guidelines.
Both the chair of the clubhouse committee (Penny), and all board members
were in favor of allowing this reservation.
XI. Adjournment:
Tim
motioned to move to executive session at 9:03.
The next
regular meeting is scheduled for Monday, August 22 at 6:30 PM at the clubhouse.
Respectfully
submitted,
Anton Callaway
Secretary
Charleston
Village Homeowners' Association