July 24, 2005
Highland Park Homeowner’s
Association
Minutes of July14, 2005 Meeting
Meeting Attendees
Bill Dickey, Vice-President
Lisa Wurster, Secretary
Coleen Ellis, Board Member
Brian Benham,
prospective new Board Member
Meeting started at 6:00 pm
and adjourned at 7:15 pm. Held at Bill’s house.
It was decided at the last
board meeting that we needed to restore a larger number of boarder members,
preferably an odd number. Three
homeowners expressed interest in serving on the board – Jeff Vaught, Brian Benham and Mike Coombs.
All three current board members present voted unanimously to have these
homeowners serve on the board, effective immediately. Lisa will notify Jeff Vaught and will have
Dennis O’Toole notify
Mike
Coombs of their new positions.
Due to
Lisa will update the Board
contact list to reflect the changes to the Board and will e-mail the new list
to the Board Members.
Lisa sent a second letter to
John Kehoe, advising him that his RV parking violation was being upheld by the
board and notified him that he must have the RV properly stored by July 15 or
it would be towed. To date, the RV is
still parked in his driveway. Board
members agreed that this issue needs to be reviewed by an attorney and that the
next notification should come from an attorney with notification that the RV is
going to be towed. Brian thought we
might be able to get information from the sheriff’s office on where to have the
RV towed.
During the last several
meetings, the subject has been raised about the need to establish a
relationship with a new attorney versed in homeowner’s and homeowner
association issues. At the last meeting
Lynn Gray’s name was raised, but there was possible concern about her
cost. The members of the board present
at this meeting thought it might be a good idea to have
An easement violation on lot
153 (Jerry Sutton, homeowner) has previously been discussed. There was an attempt made by the homeowner to
rectify the violation by removing landscaping and other minor items, however, the
biggest obstacle is the concrete stairs, which will impede various equipment
when trying to access the front lake.
The board had recommended an alternative solution – creating an easement
on the opposite side of the property. To
date, the homeowner has not pursued this solution. Bill Dickey met with Alan Kirk of the Johnson
County Dept of Planning & Zoning to discuss the issue. He agreed that the solution seemed reasonable
and recommended that the homeowner seek a 20’ easement on the north side of the
property and have the easement deeded and recorded. Bill will discuss this with the homeowner.
The Grounds Committee had
formerly discussed a proposal for reinstatement of the original subdivision
street tree schematic. Lisa shared a
formal proposal submitted by the Committee, including the original tree
schematic obtained from Greg Allen’s office.
The print identifies the location of originally planted trees and those
that are now missing. The print further
identifies the difference between those trees where there is clear and visible
proof that a tree once existed and those where there is no remaining trace of
an original tree. There are 17 trees in
need of replacement; 5 have clear proof of an original tree. The Committee recommends a fall planting,
replacing all 17 trees. Letters would go
to all homeowners, explaining the tree replacement project and notifying
homeowners that a baseline would be established and that from the project
completion forward, all tree replacement would be the responsibility of the
homeowner. For those 5 where there is
proof of an original tree, a separate letter would be sent giving them the
opportunity to replace the tree on their own, or allowing them to be part of
the fall tree planting, with a bill generated for the expense of the tree
replacement. The Committee submitted a
baseline bid; trees would cost approximately $365, with an additional $50 per
tree if stump removal is necessary. This
bid includes delivery, installation, mulch ring and a one-year warranty. All four Board Members present voted yes on
this issue. The Board agreed with the
approach and approved spending of up to $5000.
If the cost exceeds $5000, the Grounds Committee will need to submit
additional supporting information.
The Board has received
numerous complaints about the lack of landscape maintenance, weeding and
flowers at the front of the subdivision as well as back entries. Fritz Wurster has twice discussed with Jim
Keller the Committee’s and the Board’s disappointment in the quality of his
work, specifically the lack of weeding and mulching and the poor appearance of
the flowers. The appearance remains
unchanged. Brian and Coleen issued their
concerns about Jim’s lack of response.
Ron Greisemer (Grounds Committee) would like
to pursue other vendors for this contract.
Brian plans to talk with Jim and with Fritz about the issue and the
Grounds Committee will take action, which could include seeking other contractors
for this service.
Dennis O’Toole received a
proposal from Brocton Manor related to the shared lake expense issue. Bill Dickey indicated that the proposal was
very close to the total we calculated.
He moved to accept the proposal rather than splitting hairs and the
board members present at this meeting unanimously agreed. Lisa will contact Dennis to advise him of the
decision.
As a remaining issue from
the last meeting, the board discussed the ongoing question of who is
responsible for lake maintenance expenses in
Coleen has taken over
coordination of the directory and is making progress. She is very close to sending the directory to
print.
A suggestion was made to
start holding monthly meetings again in light of the new members and
outstanding projects. It was agreed that
this is a good idea as long as we have a formal agenda and keep the meetings to
about an hour. Lisa will look at August
and October dates as well as those September and November dates already
scheduled and will e-mail the board for their schedules.