Contents
1. Holiday Fund
2. Financial – Borrowing & Road Project
3. Year End Financial Statements
4. Committee Terms
5. Long Range Plan
6. Open, Closed & Executive Sessions
7. Updated By-Laws
8. Water Line Construction
1. Holiday Fund
There was a follow-up discussion from last month’s meeting centering on whether the cancellation of the Holiday Fund was supposed to be permanent or just for 2013. The resolution that was approved in November had made the change permanent. More details on this issue can be found in the 12/17/13 Meeting Summary.
In the end, the Board voted 5-3 to return to the previous method of soliciting donations for the Holiday Fund. Those voting in favor of that action were Judi Anderson, Bill Colton, Paul Elstro, Doug Frey and Don Lummus. The three voting against were Becky Berrey, Kelley Hunter and Becka Huckabee. (Note: Voting records are not confidential information. Votes are recorded in the official minutes; which are available to all property owners on the POA web site.)
At the same time, a small group of directors was given the task of studying the issue further and to present recommendations on changes that might be made. In particular, it appeared that some directors were in favor of taking the POA staff out of the Holiday Fund and creating for them some type of performance based bonus pool funded out of the general budget. But that was just discussed, and nothing firm was decided. This subcommittee of directors will come back to the Board with any such recommendations.
2. Financial – Borrowing and Road Project
Expenses are now close enough to being finalized that the Board decided not to draw down any money under the loan facility. The project appears to be coming in under budget. And to the extent funds are needed to complete the job, those can now be drawn from the projected reserve contribution included in the annual assessments now being paid. In other words, the timing of the cash flows was such that we did not need to borrow before the 2014 assessments were received. The Board also announced in the Splinters that the special assessment previously approved in October 2013 will not be instituted.
3. Year End Financial Statements
In November, it was projected that we would finish the year slightly ahead of budget; with a positive variance of around $19,000. The final statement shows a positive variance of $130,000. In addressing this change, the financial report noted the following:
“The Infrastructure and Community Appearance areas both finished well below budget as they limited all non-mandatory spending due to the uncertainty surrounding the road project. Spending on the gate hardware was also limited pending the installation of the new gate hardware and software and the communications team managed to limit the impact of lost advertising income by replacing the paper newsletter with an electronic version.”
Regarding the infrastructure maintenance work, most of this lower spending resulted from the deferral of projects to future years. Regarding gate expenditures, we did install new gate hardware and software, but the cost will be incurred in calendar 2014. That capital expenditure will come out of the Replacement Fund (Reserve Account).
(Note: Definition of Replacement Fund. This fund has been called various things over the past five years. In last October’s meeting, the Board clarified how this fund will operate. I tried to summarize my understanding of that discussion in item 4 here: 10/15/13 Meeting Summary. At that time, I thought the Board wished to consistently use the term “Reserve Fund” going forward. I believe it now wishes to use the term “Replacement Fund”, not Reserve Fund. Irrespective of the term being used, I believe the explanation I provided is still accurate.)
4. Committee Terms
Last month, the Board disclosed that it was considering the possibility of appointing committee members to one year terms; to be renewed by the Board annually. That concept was not debated or adopted at this meeting. Rather, a subcommittee was created to propose guidelines for service on committees. I heard two reasons for this move. First, it was noted that there are no written guidelines for committee service; just a tacit understanding that the desired term is three years. Second, one director mentioned the need to be able to deal with somebody who has been on a committee for too long.
5. Long Range Plan
The final version of the Long Range Plan is being reviewed by the Board and the POA attorney. At the February meeting, the Board expects to give the plan its “provisional approval subject to community review and comment”. The plan will be posted on the web site after that meeting, and the community will then have the opportunity to provide comments. The Board has scheduled a final approval vote for the March meeting.
6. Open, Closed and Executive Sessions
The POA attorney was in attendance for all of the open meeting and the subsequent Executive Session. During the open meeting, she described the differences between open meetings, closed sessions and executive sessions. I covered this in some detail when this issue arose early in 2013, and that summary can be found here: Executive Sessions
For those who are interested, I have added a brief information paper describing all three types of meeting sessions here: Meeting Protocol Information
7. Updated By-Laws
Updated By-Laws have been posted to the web site and can be found here: By-Laws.
These updated By-Laws amend the 2006 version to include three amendments passed by the Board in 2013.
8. Water Line Construction – Governors Drive
You should have recently received an e-mail from the POA regarding this upcoming, expected project; which involves the installation of a new water line through the community. The e-mail gives very good, detailed information and is worth reading. Of particular note is the announcement that installation of the line will not require tearing up and rebuilding any portion of Governors Drive. It was originally thought that a portion of the new line going up the hill from McLean would have to be laid in the street. In fact, that portion will be laid underneath the cart path. Construction is expected to start sometime early this summer.