Meeting Minutes

LLA president Jim Reed called the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Those in attendance were Mr. Reed, Alan Dinkelacker, Todd Young, Jerry Dorsey, Grant Sheehan, and Andrew Twillman.

Also in attendance were: Stephen Hembree, LLA general manager; Joy Gurley, LLA office manager.

The minutes of the January 6, 2003 regular board meeting were approved as written.

Web Site— Joy Gurley and Lisa Rogers reported that progress on the web site redesign was going well. Compact disks with the new web site design had been distributed to all board members, LLA staff, and several residents (Kopec, Dusold, Feltenhouse) for feedback that will be collected and incorporated as possible into the text of the web site. Directors Dinkelacker, Sheehan and Reed commented that they were pleased with the design. Some additional comments were due in and some photos and other graphics were to be added and the goal was to get the new web site online as soon as possible.

Check Amount Authorization— Mr. Hembree said the Finance Committee had not yet formulated a recommendation on the matter and would be carried over to the board’s February 3 meeting.

Auction of Lots with Delinquent Dues & Liens— Mr. Hembree reported that he took the information given to him by Bill Russell of Fencepost Realty on the matter and sent it to Shelah Lynn to look at whether what was done in the past was in accordance with the current Mechanics Lien Act, which had been changed in recent years. He said that the association had been working on something similar but that the auction of lots was a twist on the idea and he wanted to examine it closely.

Farm Pond— Mr. Hembree said that the matter will need to be reviewed by Whitman Requardt and Associates and that the area Soil Conservation District must weigh in on the subject. In the meantime, the association must remove trees and install overflow weirs, for which a permit is needed. Mr. Hembree said that the budget has no engineering figures and that staff was trying to determine associated costs. In the meantime the pond has been drained approximately one foot and will continue to do so throughout the winter and if a significant problem occurs the pond will be drained. Mr. Hembree said that he was trying to merge the information given to him by Jay Decker to what the association already had going. Mr. Sheehan said that it was his understanding that Dam Safety Division (DSD) said that an engineer was needed to estimate the cost and he wondered if the association was in trouble. Mr. Hembree said no. He said the state stepped out when it realized it had no authority. DSD reported to Mr. Hembree that if the pond breeches it would not affect the Lake Anita Louise. He added that DSD already has the engineering study and wants to see the LLA budget for the future work that is needed on that facility. The Soil Conservation requirements will determine the costs for the budget, he noted. He added that the farm pond dam needs something along the top so that it does not erode when and if it ever tops. He said there was less than the estimated $90,000 in the budget for the WRA original repair estimate and that the LLA will do minor repairs to keep the pond from breaching until it can get the project into the budget.

Associate Pool Membership Fee Increase— Mr. Hembree said that he had sent the board an e-mail with a recommended increase for the coming year. The Finance Committee will review it and either recommend the increase or not. LLA treasurer Young said that the committee will take the numbers given to them by the GM and if it looks like the increase will not "run customers away," that it would probably approve it. Mr. Hembree said the recommended fee for the coming year was $450. Director Dinkelacker suggested that staff contact other pools to get prices in order to get a comparison. Mr. Young said that the LLA associate pool fee was less last year than what the YMCA was charging. Mr. Reed asked whether or not it needed board action to approve the fee increase. Mr. Young said it did not require board action.

Corbin Letter— Mr. Hembree reported that the response to Mrs. Corbin’s letter was mailed to her the previous week and that copies had been placed in BoD mailboxes. Mrs. Corbin continued to have questions about the amounts of money owed to the LLA by former declarant Frank Ellis. Mrs. Corbin said that the letter sent to her stated that the related legal documents she wanted to see were not available to be distributed to the public but that she was able to go onto the internet to get documents related to the Land Stewards bankruptcy. She said that those documents stated that approximatel $2 million was owed by Ellis to the LLA. Director Young explained that that amount was debatable and was something that was to be worked out in negotiations with the new declarant Land Stewards. Mrs. Corbin referred to the money as unpaid dues by Ellis and board members explained to her that the amount was not unpaid dues but financial obligations from past agreements with the LLA. Mr. Hembree explained that the obligations are based on existing estimates but that the cost "owed" is not yet agreed upon.

David Jansen’s Request re: High Speed Internet— Mr. Young took the opportunity to express his hope that staff had responded to Mr. Jansen’s letter about seeking a solution to provide high speed internet service to the Eaglehead PUD. Mr. Hembree said that staff had recently met with Mr. Jansen and plans to follow up with further research into the possibilities.

Request from Aspen Associates Limited Partnership and Land Stewards LC re: Aspen Environmental Control Committee— President Reed reported that the two parties asked to have the LLA ECC review exteriors of existing homes, as well as for nine undeveloped lots in that village. Mr. Alspaugh’s position on the Aspen ECC would be filled by Land Stewards. The board did not vote on the matter but the consensus was agreement with the requested arrangement.

Open Board Position— LLA director Young explained that prior to the regular board meeting, the board met in executive session to vote on a replacement for the board position now open due to the resignation of Aref Khatib and that no decision was made. He said that the board took several votes, among them whether or not to proceed with a vote considering the limted amount of time before the annual board election. Mr. Young said that each vote was a stalemate with no clear consensus on any of them, including the votes on each candidate. Meadows resident Rachel Sorenson, who had submitted her name for consideration, told the board that she was not pleased with the outcome and that rumor had it that the board would not make a decision, in which case she felt the board could have called the candidates ahead of time to let them know. Mr. Sorenson said she had cut short a trip to return for the meeting. Mr. Young explained that the board only met earlier that evening to discuss the matter and went into some detail about the voting results. He apologized on behalf of the board for the inconvenience to her trip but said without a clear consensus the board could not take action. The board said that part of their concern was that if they selected one of the candidates that it would limit them to only three years to serve on the board instead of the regular opportunity for two, two year terms. Mr. Reed, Mr. Young and Mr. Sheehan encouraged both Mrs. Sorenson and Rachael Kopec, another candidate who was not in attendance, to put their names on the ballot in May. Mrs. Sorenson said that she was not angry but was very concerned about the message that the board’s decision sent to the community, which she said was basically a "no thank you."

Community Meeting Room Addition Update— Mr. Hembree said that the site plan had been signed and approved but that the fire marshal’s office still had not returned calls to finalize some matters. He said he planned to pursue a meeting with the fire marshal.

Status of Twin Barns and Ben’s Branch Bridge— Director Dinkelacker had asked for these items to be put onto the agenda but Mr. Hembree had decided not to because the matters were still under budget discussion and due to be discussed in that forum at an upcoming budget meeting. He said that analysis information on both projects would be presented then. Director Young told the board that the Finance Committee was developing a budget that had "all the necessities" and that these "pet projects remain out of the budget because there is no money." He told the board to think about where else they wanted to take money from the budget to pay for the projects.

On the subject of the budget, LLA president Reed said that it would be helpful if the LLA had successful interaction with Dough Browning, county manager, to try to determine the amount of State Highway User Revenue (SHUR) funds. Charlotte Dusold, president of the Lake Linganore Conservation Society (LLCS) who worked with the LLA on obtaining the SHUR funds, said that the state is cutting back on these funds and that the county will not know how much they will be getting for a little while yet.

LLA director Dinkelacker asked what was to be gained by using the twin barns. Mr. Hembree said that there were several to note, among them storage for road salt and a place for LLA maintenance crew to do work indoors for at least two winter season. He said that the LLA had funds in the budget for a maintenance area and that all preliminary costs to use the site did save money, which was why the decision to use the barns was made.

Mr. Dinkelacker made a motion to adjourn the meeting that was seconded by Mr. Young. The meeting adjourned at 9 p.m.