Meeting Notes

On March 1st, an open meeting was held at Living Word Church (the third in four months) to try to achieve quorum (60% of homeowners’ being represented) for the purpose of attempting to vote in a full board and restore full, legal functionality to the HOA Board.

The meeting commenced shortly after 7:00 PM.

HOA Members present:

• President Rubi Fellows
• Vice President John Anderson
• Secretary Karl Logan

Also present was Cedar Management representative Scott Hines

Also present were two uniformed CMPD officers, and approximately 20 McCarron neighbors.

Agenda:

Because of previous malfeasance and rumor-mongering within the community concerning the funding and completion of the Front Entrance refurbishment, President Rubi Fellow presented a short synopsis of the process and history of that project. Questions were taken from both fellow board members and neighbors present. Most importantly, quorum was achieved and a vote for new board  members was taken.

CMPD Officer J.E. Humphreys also spoke briefly about the crime statistics in our area, and reported that McCarron is one of the safest neighborhoods around, with a low incidence of crime and officer-related calls.

New board members elected:

With the combination of proxy votes and present homeowners, a majority quorum was achieved and new board members Mike Blackburn, Jill Ingram, and Melissa Carver were elected to serve alongside current and continuing members Karl Logan and Rubi Fellows.

Aknowledgements:

The McCarron board would like to thank all of the homeowners and neighbors who entrusted us with your proxy votes, and who came to the meeting to participate in this most important of meetings.

The McCarron Annual Meeting was held at Living Word Church on October 10th, beginning at 7:00.
Members present:

• President Rubi Fellow
• Vice President John Anderson
• Secretary Karl Logan

Homeowners in attendance: approximately 18 residents

Recap of 2017

Rubi Fellows started the meeting by re-capping the previous year, including the completion of the front entrance and landscaping. She thanked the members of the committee who helped design and coordinate the refurbishment of the entrance and also those community members who helped to spread the mulch in the Spring.

Budget ratification

Rubi then presented the budget and answered questions. Barring any objections, the budget for 2017 was ratified. No increase in home owners dues was necessary.

Board members elections

The topic was then presented about the seating of new board members. Currently, the board has four seated members, but only two which actively participate, which is having the effect of making the board unable to confirm or act in matters requiring a legal vote. This is an untenable, and possibly illegal, situation which needs to be rectified in order to serve the interests of the homeowners.

Rubi spoke about the previous year and the trouble that has been brewing with regard to this impasse. She detailed the hard work that she and Secretary Karl Logan had undertaken in order to secure the necessary proxies necessary to hold a vote on election of new board members, several of whom were present and willing to assume their positions upon election. However, the minimum necessary number of votes necessary (“making quorum”)–either by proxy or members present–was 54, and the available votes were only 51, making quorum impossible. Karl Logan then spoke and directed his commments to the community about the seriousness of the situation, calling out Vice President John Anderson as the source of much chaos and discontent within the board, and detailed numerous instances of abuse and conduct unbecoming of a board officer. Mr Logan asked for Mr Anderson’s resignation from the board, which Mr Anderson refused. Mr Logan then made it clear to the community that without a board majority, board business could not effectively proceed, and that the other board member (Member at Large) has been incommunicado with the board for many months and not present at meetings or hearings, making board business impossible to conduct without Mr Anderson’s participation as well. Rubi Fellows confirmed and vouched for the accuracy of Mr Logan’s allegations, and stated that “every abusive email and threat” had been preserved and saved by the board as evidence to cooraborate the allegations.

An example was cited where the city had asked for a Right-of-Way near the front entrance to work on some pipes down there. This is a standard request made by the city to maintain its property. A “no brainer”. However, when the meeting for the approval of the project was scheduled, both the Member-at-Large and Vice President John Anderson did not show and did not participate in giving a majority vote to approve this standard request. This could potentially cause the city to sue the HOA for access, and cost homeowners and the HOA Association monies in legal fees for something that should never have to get to that unnecessary stage.

A suggestion was then made to hold an Executive Meeting after the Annual Meeting had closed, and in that meeting to elect a fifth member to take over the Treasurer’s position (now vacant) which was resigned by the previous Treasurer who had moved from the neighborhood. This was possible with the approval of present three board members. However, John Anderson refused to participate, leaving the board in its present state.

A new meeting is planned for early 2018 after more proxies are obtained in order to elect new board members and to restore the board to full functionality.

Meeting commenced at 8:00 PM

Members present: Rubi Fellows, Rubi Fellows, Chris Treadaway, and Karl Logan. Also present was Scott Hines, representative from Cedar Management Agency.

The meeting opened with a discussion about personal and board communications policy, and about the importance of civility and decorum regarding communication between board members. One member of the board was asked for their resignation; the request was refused, and the meeting proceeded to new business.

Front Entrance Progress:

Rubi Fellows spoke about the progress of the front entrance renovation. All stonework and script has been completed, and the landscaping renovation is now underway. Several bushes have been already removed, greatly improving the cluttered look of the inner “island”. A bid for $900 was rejected by the board, and an alternative plan was suggested; to allocate monies for getting bulk mulch delivered and the board members and neighbor volunteers would help to spread it, as a cost-saving measure. John Anderson suggested between $200-600. A vote was taken and approved by Rubi, Chris, and Karl; John Anderson abstained.

Accounts Receivable and Treasurer report:

It was brought to the board’s attention that several outstanding accounts had been assessed late fees and fines, in part,  after violations had been rectified but the homeowners neglected to notify Cedar Management afterward. Four accounts were discussed and the decision made to forgive the fees associated with these accounts.

Based upon an examination and debate of how McCarron assesses fines and fees, Scott Hines of Cedar Management detailed how other HOA’s managed their late fees/fines structures, and how and when certain fees were applied or appropriate. A discussion ensued about the structure of McCarron late fees and certain specifics regarding their application. An  restructuring of the fees structure and homeowners’ delinquency “floor” was debated and a vote was proposed to change certain specific details in the penalty structures to make it more fair and  forgiving to neighbors; the vote to approve was unanimous.

Violations/AR approvals policy

A discussion was undertaken about the need to be more prompt in confirming and issuing violations and other timely issues like delinquent Accounts Receivable. It was resolved by unanimous vote that a period of seven (7) days would be given after the issuance of violations by Cedar; if there were no dissenting vote against any specific incidence and no majority consensus approval, the violations/accounts would be considered approved.

Late fees on electronic payments delay.

A motion was made to remove late fees for accounts which were charged late fees because of delays involved in electronic bill payment methods. The vote was taken and passed by unanimous vote.

Letter to Neighborhood

Rubi read a letter intended to be sent to homeowners to remind everyone that the time was lawn restoration and maintenance was here, and to inform new neighbors of most common violations and to urge their cooperation in completing these task in a timely manner. A vote to send it was passed with unanimous approval.

McCarron Spring Garage Sale

Karl Logan detailed the requirements for holding a neighborhood garage sale. It was resolved that due to the difficulty and time involved in getting one large neighborhood permit (requiring all participating homeowners to respond with addresses required by permitting process), it would be announced that anyone participating in the community garage sale proposed for April 22nd (Saturday) would be responsible for obtaining their own license. Information about licenses would be included in the aforementioned neighborhood letter as well as on a future Nextdoor post.

Community Movie Night for children

Rubi Fellows asked the board to allocate monies for a DVD projector for the purpose of holding a community movie night for children at her house to be determined in the future. An amount of $100 was voted upon and passed unanimously.

Meeting was adjourned at 9:45 PM.

These are the minutes for August 3rd, 2016—-minutes which were not posted due to HOA secretary’s injury which prevented typing.

August 3rd, 2016–meeting commenced at 7:00 PM. Members in attendance: President Rubi Fellows, VP John Anderson, Treasurer Chris Treadaway, Secretary Karl Logan, Member-at-Large John Gant.

New business: Front Entrance renovation.

Rubi confirmed that she cleared the front entrance renovation with our lawyer and other city agencies regarding the parameters of the project, scope, cost, and the right of the HOA to proceed without being bound to approval from the neighborhood as it falls under a duty to the community and one to which the right to proceed is explicitly granted in our HOA charter. She talked about how the final project cost is not yet finalized in detail, but all proposals were in the process of being received within the constraints of a budget agreed upon by the Front Entrance Committee. The board was asked to vote on confirming the allocation of funds to the project to completion; the vote was agreed upon unanimously.

Treasury

Chris went over the HOA budget and funds for 2016. No major issues beyond the cost of the front entrance was pertinent. A vote was taken to keep HOA dues at the current level. The vote was unanimously affirmative to keep dues the same.

Violations policy

A request was made to have Board members review and decide upon violations in a more prompt and timely manner. John Anderson confirmed that a certain property had undertaken a lawn renovation with landscapers so that property was removed from violations.

Fall Garage sale;

A proposal for a Fall garage sale was initiated. John Gant promised to get information and to email the Board the information at a later time.

Annual Meeting:

A date was chosen for the annual meeting. Karl is to call the church and confirm availability of venue before date is announced.

Future Board Members:

The future of each serving board member and the possibility of getting new members to serve on the next year’s board. All members agreed to serve through the next year in the interest of seeing the front entrance project to completion if no new members or candidates stepped forward. A nomination committee was discussed, and will be followed up upon as the annual meeting nears

Meeting adjourned approximately 8:15 PM.

A McCarron board meeting was held 10-17-2016. Present were HOA President Ruth Fellows, Secretary Karl Logan, and Treasurer Chris Treadaway. Absent were VP John Anderson and Member-at-Large John Gant. The meeting began at 7:15 PM after waiting 15 minutes for absent members to show after stated time of 7:00.

FRONT ENTRANCE CONTRACTS AND PROGRESS

A vote was taken to approve all contracts and funding for the continuation of the front entrance renovation. The vote was unanimous among members present.

IRRIGATION WINTERIZATION

The irrigation system for the front entrance needs to be prepared for winter. Since the system will be disturbed and rehabilitated during the front entrance work, a decision was rendered to wait on this action until after that phase of the work is completed, for the sake of cost.

Discussions and decisions were also had and taken regarding neighborhood violations.

The meeting was adjourned at 7:35 PM