Lake Linganore
Association, Inc.
November 1,
2004
The meeting was called to order at 7 p.m. at the Eaglehead Barn, located off of Rt. 144.
Board members present were: Bill DiLoreta, Alan Dinkelacker, Lisa Rogers, Grant Sheehan, and Andrew Twillman.
Absent were: Brandon Frazier
Staff in attendance were: GM Edwards, CRM Gurley.
The minutes of the October 18 meeting were amended as follows:
• Under UNFINSHED BUSINESS/Conflict of Interest- third paragraph, third sentence should be changed to read as follows: “Director Rogers said that the proposal would require the details of the contract to also be made public at the close of bidding.”
•Security – no report.
•Environmental Control Committee- GM Edwards requested of the board to include the ECC report as a part of the monthly GM Report. The directors agreed but director Sheehan asked that if an issue with special public interest is on the report one month that the issue be pulled from the general report and presented separately.
•Finance Committee- GM Edwards presented to the board a copy of the preliminary budget draft, as developed by LLA staff and the LLA Finance Committee in preparation for the scheduled Nov. 8 meeting on the budget.
•Communications Committee- no report
•Trailblazers Committee –co-chairperson Cathie Reed thanked the Pinehurst villagers who assisted the trails committee on a recent project in that village. She said that the tentative date for the annual Scales ‘n Tales presentation was April 23. Mrs. Reed said the committee had submitted a budget request to the general manager for FY’06. She said that the Trailblazers had talked with Eaglehead developer Land Stewards about the Woodridge trails that are to be turned over to the LLA but she noted that the budget request submitted by the committee does not reflect anything related to those trails and that LLA staff and directors may see a new budget request submitted reflecting the cost of those new trails. Director DiLoreta explained that the Woodridge trails are covered financially under the Woodridge memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the LLA and Land Stewards and would not need to be included in the LLA budget at this time.
•Social Committee- CRM Gurley reported that despite a lot problems and initial bad weather, that the Autumn Celebration/Haunted Cabanas event went well enough to please the attendees. She noted that changes might be made for next year’s activity. A reminder was also noted about the drop in the price of the ticket for the holiday party.
•Election Committee- no report
•Archives Committee – committee member Cathie Reed gave the report for retiring committee chairperson Celie Pellegrino. Mrs. Reed asked the board for approval to have a meeting with Mary Mannix, a member of the county library system, to discuss having LLA archive documents and papers housed in the C. Burr Artz Library’s Maryland Room. She said if the documents were stored at this facility it would be a boon to the efforts of the association to properly store and document these papers. She also noted that outgoing chairperson Celie Pellegrino had done a tremendous job with the archiving work and that it would be a good time to get Ms. Mannix involved. The board approved Mrs. Reed talking to Mrs. Mannix about the possibility of storing LLA archived documents at the Maryland Room.
•Friends of the Lake Committee – committee chairperson Bill Strang reported that another successful plant sale had taken place and that the committee had raised enough money to care for the gardens and other things. He made a $1,000 challenge to the association or anyone in the community to stock the lake with tiger muskie. He said the muskie would be beneficial to the community’s lakes. He also said that details would be reported in LakeTalk. Mr. Strang asked for board approval to introduce the muskie into the Eaglehead lakes. Director Rogers said that Westwinds had requested information about the native gardens and wanted to know how the original gardens were funded. Mr. Strang explained that in 2000 the state had set aside a special grant fund for such projects to mark the new millennium. He also noted that he had contacted Westwinds last year about native gardens but had not heard back from the village. In addition, he said Pinehurst had asked about the possibility of native gardens in that village. Director Dinkelacker said that he thought some of the members of the board could help come up with some money to meet the muskie challenge.
•Aspen Village- committee chairperson Kathy Brown said the village held its annual Halloween party and that all enjoyed it.
•Lake Anita Louise TH- the board inquired as to why the townhouse section of Pinehurst had its own village committee. CRM Gurley said that she had asked the same question awhile back and was told that the townhouse section has its own legal structure and so was granted committee status although it had historically operated as a part of the larger village committee. She was directed to find out the status of the townhouse section and whether it should have its own committee or be a part of the overall village committee.
•Nightingale Village – committee chairperson Chris Peduzzi said that some new houses were being built in the village and that the village committee had recently met with GM Edwards on the issue of the boat ramp and the shifting of the road as it relates to lots 12 and 14. …
•Westwinds Village – committee chairperson Carol Thames reported that the village held its Halloween parade, which went well, and she thanked DFC Davies for his participation. She said that with regard to the association budget the village had noted two primary interests: installation of a native garden at the pond and lighting at the second entrance of the village.
•Woodridge Village – committee chairperson John Cunha reviewed the minutes of the latest village meeting (attached to minutes) with the board. GM Edwards asked Mr. Cunha to forward copies of the bids on the proposed trail work to him. Some discussion centered around installing the material used on the Coldstream lake trail on the Woodridge trails but GM Edwards said that the material would not work on steep slopes as are present in Woodridge and that another material would need to be considered in those areas. Asphalt was considered as a possible material on the sloped sections.
Conflict of Interest Policy— Directors Twillman and Rogers were to work together to come up with a policy statement that blended their two previous proposals. Director Rogers removed any references to LLA staff and committee members and added a reference to disclosure for future candidates for the board but felt that the remainder of her policy was necessary. Director Twillman said that he supported a simple policy that would send a signal to future board candidates by restricting any contract activity to $10,000 or less. Director Dinkelacker explained that his concern was that if the proposed policy was too complicated and was sent out to the membership for a covenant vote that it would be too complicated and would not get a response.
Director Sheehan asked whether the $10,000 amount in Mr. Twillman’s proposed policy was to be considered an annual sum or whether the amount was to be considered one contract at a time. Director Twillman said he considered it one contract at a time, which meant that the annual sum could be more than $10,000.
MOTION: Director Sheehan made a motion that both proposals be put before the board for discussion and that one version be selected and pursued until the policy is suitable for a final vote. Director Rogers seconded the motion. VOTE: four of the directors voted in favor of the motion (Rogers, Sheehan, Twillman and DiLoreta) and none of them voted against the motion.
Director Twillman restated his proposed policy: no LLA director can pursue a contract with the LLA that is more than $10,000. He stated that he wanted the policy to be simple.
Director Rogers restated her proposed policy that contains four components: regarding contracts in general; regarding direct purchases not under contract; regarding transactions involving the declarant; and a new section she added related to prior to election a board candidate must declare any current contracts with the association and whether he/she intends to bid on future contracts. Director Rogers said she wanted a policy that was in the best interest of the association and provided a guideline that gave no one board member an advantage over others, as well as improving public perception of the board.
During discussion on the Rogers proposed policy, director Sheehan expressed concern about announcing contracts in a public meeting because historically bidders expectations are that the information will be private until after the contract is awarded then the information is publicly announced. Resident and former board president John Snow said that municipalities generally have a scheduled bid opening date, at which time the amounts of the contract are announced. Following that the contract is selected, he noted. Director Sheehan said he also had a concern about instances when three bids could not be obtained and how the association should deal with those circumstances, especially if this policy is put into the covenants. Mr. Snow said the policy would open up the process and the bidders to scrutiny, which he thought was needed, but he also noted that if the bidder/potential board member has a service that is good for the association, then they should not mind the scrutiny if everything is handled in the open.
GM Edwards said his concerns was that by allowing people to weigh in on the bids that it would prohibit the interest of companies interested in bidding on contracts with the association. Director Sheehan said that he felt the simple approach would be best, except that he would include a restriction that the total amount be $10,000 annually. Kathy Brown applauded the board for the effort it was making on this matter but said that she thought the board was trying to reinvent the wheel and that the policy proposed by director Rogers would be a nightmare to implement. She suggested following the provisions in the HOA Act. Director Sheehan said it behooved the board to police itself to eliminate the appearance of conflict of interest.
MOTION: Director Sheehan made a motion to pursue the approach proposed by director Twillman and that the board come up with the appropriate language. Director DiLoreta seconded the motion. VOTE: three of the directors (DiLoreta, Twillman, Sheehan) voted for the motion, one director (Rogers) voted against the motion.
Director Dinkelacker asked directors Sheehan and Twillman to work out the wording for the proposed policy and present it at the next board meeting.
Westwinds Covenant Amendment Update— GM Edwards said that another meeting was scheduled with the Westwinds developer to do a line-by-line read through of the document. After some quick discussion the board instructed Mr. Edwards to cancel the meeting and to tell the developer to have his own lawyer go through the documents and come up with questions/comments that would then be specifically addressed at a future meeting. The consensus of the board was that it could not afford to have its attorney do a line-by-line read through with the developer lawyer.
Deed of Easement for Audubon Terrace North— The document was attached to the board packet and GM Edwards reported that staff recommended board approval of the document.
MOTION: Director Sheehan made a motion to approve the deed of easement. Director Rogers seconded the motion. VOTE: three directors (Sheehan, Twillman, Rogers) voted to approve the motion; none of the directors voted against the motion, one director (DiLoreta) recused self from the vote.
LLA Covenant Update— Director Dinkelacker said that he was working on an effort to make some changes to the LLA covenants. He gave the following examples as some of the changes that need to be made:
• Boats- at this time boats and boat trailers are not permitted to be placed in yards unless screened from view. He said people complain to him all the time that they live in a lake community and yet have to go to extra measures to prevent their boats from being seen.
• Signs- at this time the restriction on signs is unenforceable, and he noted that the covenant should say that commercial signs could only be placed with the permission of the LLA, which gives the board the right to restrict placement of such signs.
• Dogs on leashes- he said while the covenants restrict dogs from running at large, the LLA does not have staff to enforce this rule. Director Sheehan noted that the LLA would have to take a look at county laws and see how things fit with another as the language is worked out for this particular item.
• Antennas- because the covenant is in conflict with federal law, this particular item will most likely be deleted.
Director Dinkelacker said that the board would conduct workshops on the proposed changes in the near future. He also noted that the vote on the proposed covenant changes would be done so that each member can vote on the individual items. He said a prior attempt to get a covenant change vote required members to vote on the overall document, which caused some people who agreed with most but not all proposed covenant changes to not vote at all at that time. He said those items that receive the necessary vote count would pass while any that did not receive the required vote count would not.
Alspaugh Trail— Joanne Alspaugh told the board that she needed to have the section of trail on her property either deeded over to the association or she would have to block off the trail where it ends on her property. She asked the board to make a decision on the matter, which she had approached them about in the past. Director Dinkelacker said that the board would have a decision within 30 days and suggested that she talk with project development coordinator Stephen Hembree.
Request for Tree Removal on Woodridge Lot #161— Land Stewards project manager Joe Dimeglio said that the need for a storm drain in that vicinity was driving the request to remove the tree in question. Woodridge Village Committee co-chairperson John Cunha asked whether there was any way to sit down and look at a way to save the tree. Mr. Dimeglio said he was willing. Mr. Cunha asked whether the ECC had reviewed the request. GM Edwards said not yet. Director Sheehan said that staff should be at the meeting between Mr. Dimeglio and Mr. Cunha. GM Edwards said the goal would be to try to save the tree but that the stormwater management for that area is the bigger issue.
GM Reporting Date Change— GM Edwards asked the board to approve changing the monthly date for the general manager’s report. He asked that he be able to present the report at the first board meeting of the month. The board agreed.
Update on Aspen North CDA— it was announced that a meeting was scheduled for November 8 at the LLA office with the CDA committee and the financial person Keenan Rice.
Update on Linganore CDA— Lake Linganore Conservation Society (LLCS) secretary Larry Dusold reported that the county was currently looking at the bid for its part of the project and that the LLCS was refinancing the stormwater management facilities part of its contract. He said the LLCS needs good bids to determine what the amount of the loan will be. He also said that the county had inquired of the sole bidder on the contract whether it could hold the prices of its original bid but that no one had heard back as yet from the bidder on that question. He said depending upon that answer, the project may have to go back to the Frederick Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) for direction. He estimated that it would not be before January that the matter would come before the BoCC. Mr. Dusold also said that in Pinehurst there are some long drainage runs that the LLCS is trying to work out and that the organization is working with LLA assistant general manager Doug Seligson to get the needed easements before the design work on the drainage is done.
Update on Land Stewards CDA— Director DiLoreta requested that Woodridge residents who have questions about the CDA come directly to Land Stewards. He said Land Stewards was working with the county on the matter as it relates to sewer and water and the Eaglehead Drive Bridge. He said a formal presentation on the CDA would be done within 60 to 90 days.
Woodridge Village Committee co-chairperson John Cunha asked how the developer could ask for signatures if it does not know the cost of the CDA. Several new homebuyers in the village attended the meeting and said that the CDA was never appropriately explained to them. Several of them expressed concern about the fact that the cost is not known; that the cost includes a bridge that will be accessible to everyone in the community, and the public in general, and that current Woodridge residents are not required to pay for the bridge. The Woodridge new home buyers expressed concern that the matter was misrepresented by the builder on behalf of the developer and several of them asked what would happen if they did not sign the amendment document related to the CDA. Following considerable length of discussion about what the residents have experienced on the matter, board president Dinkelacker recommended that the residents get together with Land Stewards to discuss the matter and to get the details they feel are needed. He suggested that the developer put together a workshop to accomplish that goal. Director DiLoreta, a member of Land Stewards, assured the new homeowners that the CDA process is a long, public one and that it would go before the BoCC for approvals.
Alspaugh Property Designation Map— Director Dinkelacker said that he wanted to bring it to the board’s attention that Mrs. Alspaugh was interested in selling her property in Meadows. Mrs. Alspaugh said that she is hoping to find a buyer who will want to keep the property as it is, which is a residence although the property has a commercial and community facilities zoning designation. Realtor Elke Thornton Husch told the board that someone who is interested in buying the property as a residence is interested in having two horses on the property and she asked the board for something in writing that the two horses would be acceptable. After further discussion the board said it would not put the requested information in writing but said that it had no objection to two horses being on the property. Bill Strang, chairperson of the Friends of the Lake and a member of Trailblazers Committee, said that horses are not welcomed on the community trails. Director Sheehan noted that the covenants permit horses on the bridle trails, although he noted that there are no bridle trails in the community. Resident Charlotte Dusold asked that the minutes reflect the acreage of commercial and community facilities property within the Alspaugh property.
Within the Alspaugh property 3.5 acres are zoned community facilities (parcel 2) and 2.7 acres (parcel 3) are zoned commercial property.
Twin Barns Property— Director DiLoreta asked for a meeting with the GM and Joe Betz, partial owner of the twin barns property, to discuss whether the association is going to burn down the one barn.
Project manager Joe Dimeglio said that the Maryland Department of the Environment was to get the information the next day about the weir wall project. He said he expected to have a color rendering of the design shortly and that he was hoping that Land Stewards would get approval for the project within the next two weeks.
Mr. Dimeglio said that a contractor was to start within two weeks on removing the dilapidated barn on the Woodridge Parcel C. He is of the hope that the project will be finished by mid-December.
With regard to the Woodridge punch list, Mr. Dimeglio said the drainage work should get done before the end of the year.
On the matter of the tree planting project in Woodridge he said there was a question as to when the planting will begin.
As for street cleaning in Woodridge, Mr. Dimeglio said the developer would be paying closer attention to this matter and possibly may even wash down the roads every couple of weeks.
Resident Cathie Reed asked the board to present a special award to Celie and Julius Pellegrino to recognize all the years of volunteer work they contributed to the Eaglehead community. The Pellegrinos will be moving from the community at the end of November. The board agreed to do so and asked CRM Gurley to request the presence of the Pellegrinos at the next board meeting. Director Sheehan also suggested a story be published in LakeTalk recognizing the couple.
ADJOURNMENT
Director Diloreta made a motion to adjourn the meeting. Director Sheehan seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 9:45 p.m.
Respectfully submitted,
Clay Edwards Andrew Twillman
LLA Interim General Manager LLA Secretary