Regular Meeting Minutes

December 2, 2002

The December 2, 2002 Lake Linganore Association board of directors meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. at the Lake Linganore Association office by board president Jim Reed.

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

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

No report was given.

Minutes for November 18, 2002 were approved as written.

Mrs. Young was asked about the problem with the water bills that the LLA had received. She said part of the problem was the county’s irregular mailing of water bills and glitches in their system. She told the board that the LLA will not pay the bills until they have been fully reviewed but she reminded the board that the water and sewer charges would be increasing.

Security— DFC Roger Venzin reported that the Saturday after Thanksgiving there was a problem with hunters hunting in the PUD, especially in the Westwinds area. He said he needed to contact Land Stewards regarding granting any use of private land for such purposes in the PUD. Mr. Hembree said that Land Stewards had reported to the association that they would not allow hunters on their property and that the LLA assisted in the effort by producing and laminating "No Hunting" signs that were posted on Land Stewards property. The deputy said that the game warden has been contacted about the problems with the hunters in the PUD. He said the LLA should put additional signs up on the north side of Gas House Pike. The deputy said that hunters also were a problem on Hemlock Point Road in Pinehurst. All hunters’ vehicles found in the PUD were towed from the premises. He said they carefully checked all the vehicles to ensure that none of them belonged to members.

Social Committee— Committee chairperson Rachael Kopec reminded the board of the Santa Party scheduled for December 14 and about the committee’s December 12 open meeting for planning purposes.

1. Payment of LLA annual assessment by credit card— LLA Finance Committee chairperson Sue Young told the board that the committee recommended that the association offer this service to the members as a way to pay their dues. The other options for paying dues remained the payment-in-full and the monthly debit payment plan. The credit card option would be a one-time payment, not a monthly payment. She said the credit card recommendation included that the LLA charge a three percent fee to the members for use of the service, which she said would cover the costs charged to the LLA by the credit card companies (VISA/Master Card). She said the computer software needed to operate the service would cost the LLA approximately $600, and that if 130 members used the service, the association would make back its initial investment in the software. She said the only drawback with the credit card option is that the LLA would lose the one percent interest charge on dues accounts that were monthly payments. The board approved the recommendation with all six directors voting in favor.
    
2. Junked Autos Covenants Research— Mr. Hembree reported on what the LLA Covenants and Rules & Regulations had to say about the matter. Clearly the governing documents do not allow such vehicles in the PUD. At this time the current policy is to tag the car with a warning notice and tow the vehicle if it is not removed with the stated timeframe. ECC administrator Joe Colombo reported that the vehicles are towed if they are in the parking lot areas or streets but not if they are in a driveway or on private property.
    
3. Roads List for Non-CDA Roads— Mr. Hembree reported that he did not have a list at the meeting but that he does have a copy of what has been submitted with the SHUR funding application. At this time he did not have a finished list of the non-CDA roads, and that once he does get a list it will have to be compared with the county list. Mr. Hembree said that he had a list called the "Road Bank" that was compiled by former LLA GM John Kendall and that the total amount of roads, excluding Summerfield and Westwinds, was 18.4 miles and that including those two villages the total road mileage is 26.

LLA president Jim Reed said that his reason for asking for this information was based on what he though would be a qualitative answer to the question. After thinking more about it he said that at this time technically all roads were non-CDA roads and that we do not need a list produced to discuss the motion previously made by LLA director Todd Young. Director Sheehan made a motion to put Mr. Young’s motion to a vote. Mr. Sheehan’s motion was seconded by Mr. Dinkelacker.

Motion: To remove the "per village" stipulation from a previous board resolution that sets aside $5,000 per road mile annually for non-CDA roads.

Vote: 6 in favor/ 0 against.

4. Bank Accounts Funds Access Signature List— the discussion noted that former board president John Snow’s name be removed from the signature list and that current LLA treasurer Todd Young’s name be added to the list in place thereof. Only one signature is needed on the checks, though each account is set with a "pool" of three signatur names to use. Mr. Hembree said that the auditors were okay with the way the association has the signature accounts set up. Director Sheehan asked that on the next meeting agenda that discussion take place about setting a limit on the amount of a check for one signature. Mr. Hembree said that now that the association has bonded all employees that it should not be a problem. Former board member John Snow said that in the past the board of directors had approved a resolution that allow the general manager to sign checks up to amounts of $5,000 and that beyond that amount it required two signatures. LLA president Jim Reed asked the staff to research the resolution and present it at the next board meeting.
    
5. Finance Committee Recommendation to Publish Names of Members with Liens Placed for Nonpayment of Dues— the board asked staff to prepare the list for the next publication of LakeTalk. The published list must carry a line that specifies "as of" in order to cover any overlap of payment dates and publication dates. LLA Finance chairperson Sue Young reported that the LLA has spent $26,000 on collection agency and attorney work to pursue unpaid dues. She said that the LLA had "recaptured" approximately $10,000 to date.

NEW BUSINESS

1. Establishment of annual deadline date for tax basis information for dues assessments— in an effort to help the staff gain more time to prepare the dues assessment mailing, LLA treasurer Todd Young offered the following motion:

"That to facilitate the billing and preparation of the LLA’s ensuing year’s annual assessment and budget, respectively, and to better synchronize the tax basis used by the LLA and County, the LLA mitigate the logistical bottleneck associated with obtaining the County’s ‘current’ tax roll in a timely manager by interpreting ‘current average assessed valuation’, as written in Article V, Section 4 (b) (1) of the Covenants of the LLA, as meaning the latest tax basis available from the County or its agents on September 1 each year."

The motion was seconded by Alan Dinkelacker. The board voted 6-0 in favor of setting September 1 as the deadline date for the tax information as the basis for the dues assessment calculations, which means that the 2003 assessments can be established.

2. Free holiday party tickets for Brian and Rachael Kopec— Director Twillman made a motion to grant free of cost tickets to the holiday party for Social Committee chairperson Rachael Kopec and husband Brian. The motion was seconded by Mr. Dorsey. The board voted 6-0 in favor of the motion.
    
3. Executive Session— Director Dinkelacker made a motion to set a 9 a.m. executive session on the schedule for the board to discuss "things we haven’t done." The motion was seconded by Todd Young. The board voted 6 to 0 in favor of the motion.
    
4. SHUR Funding Application— GM Hembree told the board that he had contacted the county about whether the application and roads list had been forwarded to the state in time for the deadline. He said county manager Doug Browning confirmed the list did get sent to the state in time and that a copy would be coming to the association.
    
5. Request for Information About Member Names Delinquent in Dues— GM Hembree said the office had received a request for a list of names of those who had not paid their dues in a specific village. He explained that the general policy is that private financial information is not distributed to anyone and asked the board to confirm if that is in fact the direction/policy they wish to keep on this matter. The board confirmed that policy status.

MATTERS FOR BOARD INFORMATION

1. Holiday Break Extension- After getting feed back from the board members, GM Hembree informed the board that he would be closing the LLA office during the week of Christmas from Tuesday through Friday and that the office would reopen on December 30.
    
2. Update on the Meeting Room Addition— GM Hembree said that he was hoping for two bids from contracting companies by December 14. He told the board that some companies he had approached about bidding on the project expressed the opinion that they did not think the association would end up doing anything on this project, as they have experienced in the past with the association, and therefore declined to bid on the project. At this time the fire marshal has the plans and has submitted questions and comments to the LLA, which Mr. Hembree said he has responded to and returned to the fire marshall’s office.
    
3. Status of Lake Linganore Siltation and Capacity Report— LLA president Jim Reed said he had heard the report would be submitted to the county last week but that the association has not received a copy. Mr. Reed directed the general manager to contact the county to see if it was available yet.

RESIDENT FORUM

Coldstream resident Sue Corbin said she has received "old Linganore files" from residents who have moved from the PUD and that in looking over the former and current Linganore newsletters and the history of the community center that was distributed at the October workshop on the community center, that she noticed the amount stated as contributed by Mr. Ellis to the project varied in the differing texts.

ADJOURNMENT

A motion to adjourn the meeting at 8:30 p.m. was made by Alan Dinkelacker and seconded by Todd Young. Motion was approved 6-0 in favor of adjournment.