The November 18, 2002 Lake Linganore Association board of directors meeting was called to order at 6:58 pm at the Lake Linganore Association office by board president Jim Reed.

Board members present: Jim Reed, Alan Dinkelacker, Todd Young, Jerry Dorsey, Grant Sheehan, and Andrew Twillman.

Board members absent: Aref Khatib.

Also present: LLA general manager Stephen Hembree, ECC administrator Joe Colombo; LLA office manager Joy Gurley.

LLA president Jim Reed noted that the county’s New Market Small Area Plan was an opportunity for interested parties to participate in a year long process initiated by the county planning department. He said the project was very important and very worth getting representation from the community on the plan committee. January 11 is the initial meeting date for the group, 9 am at Deer Crossing Elementary School.

Approval of the November 4, 2002 meeting minutes were approved with the following changes:

Add to Approval of Minutes- The record accurately reflected the attendance record of Mr. Dinkelacker for the October 21, 2002 board meeting.

Under Matters for Board Information- Eliminate the last sentence of the first paragraph under the heading.

There was discussion about whether the board should receive a copy of corrected minutes before they are signed. It was determined that it would not be necessary because it is the job of the LLA secretary to ensure that corrections to minutes are made before the papers are signed and entered into the official record book for public access.

Director Sheehan made a motion to have approved and signed minutes added to the LLA web site immediately and to have them remain on the site until the board determines and specifies a timeframe for keeping the minutes on the site. The motion was seconded by Mr. Twillman. The motion was approved 6-0.

A. Payment of LLA Annual Assessment by Credit Card- because the Finance Committee would not be meeting until after this board meeting, a report will be presented on the matter sometime in December.

B. Motion to eliminate previous board requirement for segregation by village of non-CDA road reserves and repair expenditure. Director Todd Young originally made the motion at the November 4 board meeting but the motion was tabled. Mr. Young said he did not want to change the $5,000 per mile, per road obligation to CDA roads, only non-CDA roads. He said the "per village" condition of the existing requirement was a disparate approach and that if the roads fund was segregated this way that the association would have to do the same on all other funding points. Mr. Young said by eliminating the per village requirement the association would have greater flexibility to address road repairs.

Director Dinkelacker, who was president of the association when the stipulation was approved, said the reason the motion was worded "per village" was to ensure that each village had money to address their individual road repairs in the future. He said at that time there was great uncertainty that future boards would not set money aside for this purpose and that it was to protect the future of the roads. LLA president Reed said that if the stipulation remained, there would be no money left over to do Eaglehead Drive (west) in the future.

Charlotte and Larry Dusold, Lake Linganore Conservation Society president and secretary, respectively, said that at the time the original motion was passed there was a perceived disparity as to how the LLA money was spent in villages on roads and that the motion was to equalize the fund expenditure.

Mr. Young said the policy was inconsistent with how the association does services for everything else and that as a single corporate entity the association is to look at the interests of the whole. GM Hembree said that one of the problems at the time the policy was created was that the LLA had no road maintenance program. Resident Karen Frazier told Mr. Young that his concern that the policy allows villages to loan one another money under its guidelines was a simple book entry and shouldn’t be a burden as he thought it would be.

Mr. Reed said there is a rationale and an argument to preserve the current arrangement. He asked staff to make a list of non-CDa roads by village and to do further research on the matter.

Director Twillman made a motion to table Mr. Young’s motion until additional research was completed. Director Sheehan seconded the motion. The board voted 5 to 1 in favor of tabling the motion; Mr. Dinkelacker opposed the motion.

GM Hembree said that staff could have the research completed by the next board meeting.

A. Multiple utility easement requests from Land Stewards for Woodridge— GM Hembree said the easements were perpetual utility easements. The board had reviewed the material and LLA director Dinkelacker made a motion to approve the easement requests, which was seconded by Mr. Young. The board voted 6 to 0 in favor of approving the easement requests.

B. Membership Guide— LLA office manager Joy Gurley told the board that staff was interested in developing a small booklet that would serve as a membership guide, with quick references to subjects that members call to inquire about, as well as providing an overview of information necessary for members to live "according to the rules." She said the booklet would not contain detailed information, such as the full text of the covenants, bylaws, etc. but would reference where that information could be obtained by members. The goal is to sell advertisements in the booklet in order to cover all or most of the costs associated with producing it. Residents Lisa Rogers, Brian and Rachael Kopec objected to spending money on the guide and felt the web site should be the focus of the association’s efforts. Director Sheehan said that the association should use what it has rather than trying to come up with another piece. Director Twillman said that the community could use a "good looking" piece such as this and that if it is done at no cost to the association that the board should support the effort. The consensus was to proceed with the research on the booklet and to see what kind of advertising participation could be obtained in order to eliminate costs. President Reed said he would help with the project. Mr. and Mrs. Kopec said they had produced a guide previously and would help with this one.

C. Budget Meeting— the board asked GM Hembree to send an e-mail outlining several dates that would be possible to hold preliminary discussions on the budget.

D. Bank Accounts Fund Access Signatures— suggestion for a staff report to BoD listing current accounts and authorized signatures. LLA president Reed said there are several association accounts that require multiple signatures and he wanted to know how the association deals with them. He asked that staff include in the next BoD packet a list of those accounts and related signatures.

Charlotte Dusold asked if the place where Mr. Russell wants to put his sign falls under the Woodridge ECC guidelines because if it does, that ECC allows signs. Director Sheehan asked if the decision was the purview of the BoD or whether it should be referred to the ECC.

After further discussion, Mr. Sheehan made a motion to allow the realty company to place the sign. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dorsey. The board voted 4 to 1 in favor of allowing the Fencepost Realty sign to be placed as requested. Director Dinkelacker excused himself from the discussion because he is part of Fencepost Realty and left the room. Mr. Dorsey opposed the motion. Mr. Sheehan suggested that in the future these matters be turned over to the ECC. GM Hembree said that sign issues are really something new for the association and that further discussion will be needed. President Reed said the LLA is taking a risk in granting permission "but...."

Director Twillman asked GM Hembree about the internet sign being displayed across the road from the one entrance to West Winds. Mr. Hembree said the sign has been removed twice but that its owner continues to replace it. He said that sign was on the county road right-of-way and maybe moved to land that is owned by Land Stewards and that the developer would have to be contacted about the matter.

A. Postponement of Coldstream Trail improvement experiment due to wet weather— GM Hembree explained that a letter did go out to the members who would be impacted by the work but that the continued wet weather had stopped the work and that now the timeframe for installing the materials to be tested was over. He said the association would have to wait until spring to complete the remainder of the 1,000-foot trail test area. President Reed said the completed section of the trail was the best part of his jog that morning. A drainage problem on the 200-foot completed section of the trail was noted, which Mr. Hembree said would be fixed and addressed again in the spring. Director Sheehan asked whether it was necessary for the LLA to do a 1,000-foot section of the trail for testing purposes, whether a shorter section of the trail would be able to give us the answers we needed. GM Hembree said the length of the proposed test section provided the various grades needed to determine how the trail materials would hold up. President Reed reminded Mr. Hembree to put the figures in on the project during the budget process so that there would be enough money to do the project properly.

Mr. Hembree said that the LLA Trailblazers Committee had asked that four to five spots along the trails be addressed and that they would be taken care of as soon as possible.

B. Status of meeting room addition permitting and bid process— GM Hembree said that not much had changed on the matter since the last board meeting. He said the site plans for the addition would be turned in to the county the next day. He said bidders were slow responding to the bid packet but that he had contacted them and expected the bid responses to be in by Thanksgiving.

C. Lake Linganore Small Area Plan to Feed Regional Planning Process- Mr. Reed reiterated that the first meeting date of this group would be January 11, 2003 at Deer Crossing Elementary School.

Director Dinkelacker asked about the status of the Ben’s Ford bridge. GM Hembree said that staff was still trying to get all the cost figures together and that at this time there was no money in the budget to do the needed concrete and to lay the footers. He said some of the engineering has been done and that staff was trying to add up the labor costs. He said the association needed to include the funds in next year’s budget.

•West Winds resident John Snow asked Mr. Twillman to address the West Winds tot lot issue. Director Twillman said the board has scheduled a December 14 special session with the West Winds Homeowners Association (WW HOA) to discuss funding a tot lot. The meeting is scheduled for 8 am Mr. Twillman said the WW HOA has been exploring sites for the tot lot and will be asking the association for funding in addition to a grant for which they intend to apply.

•Meadows resident Larry Dusold told the board that Thanksgiving was 10 days away and that he had come to acknowledge his thankfulness for the proposed new meeting room addition, for the efforts of the association staff, and for the board members who he described as "being in tune with everything." He added that he saw no better group to oversee the association’s affairs.

•Social Committee chairperson Rachael Kopec said that there were 37 tickets left to sell for the holiday party. She told the board that the Santa party was scheduled December 14.

•Resident Joe Frank asked about the position of LLA director Aref Khatib, who had not been at the past few meetings. He wanted to know if the board intended to replace Mr. Khatib.

Motion to adjourn was made by Alan Dinkelacker and seconded by Todd Young. The meeting adjourned at 8:50 pm