Board Meeting, August 9th, 2011

Meeting was called to order at 7PM by Nola Adler.

Present:

Kevin Hensley
Annie Hensley
Dewitt Van Arsdale
Carolyn Ferguson
Andy Ferguson
Chris E Crouse
John Gilmore
Nola Adler
Mike Gupton
John Stinson
Richard Wikle
John Gilmore
Phil Beck
Linda Carter
Scott Jeffries
FJ Hale
Ken Catlett
Ben Jackson

Approval of Minutes, June Board of Directors Meeting

There was a motion, seconded and approved, to change the wording from ‘bringing them in’ to ‘drafting revisions of the covenants of MF1 for them to act upon’.

Treasurer’s Report

Annie Hensley reported there is $108,000 is in the bank account; the investment account has $89,120; and the 4-month roll-over DC has $48,583.23.

President’s Comments

Nola highlighted the details of the letter sent to Ken Catlett, 8A lot owner on June 23rd in response to his email request for details on the financial health of Merifield. An audit had been done in May (first one since 2006), no discrepancies found. The past 3 years’ worth of Profit & Loss Budget and Actual statements were provided to Mr. Catlett.

There were reports of gunfire on Westpoint Drive. A young man was shooting at cans on his property. He was asked to stop by a neighbor and refused, so the sheriff was called in to ask him to stop. There is a provision that prohibits firearms from being discharged in Merifield Acres, and the president will send a letter to the property owner advising that, along with a copy of the prohibition. The question was raised as to what is the legality of shooting on Corps land. The point was raised that you can’t hunt on Corps land in Merifield, so presumably you can’t discharge a weapon.

Shentel is installing high-speed internet. You can call Jack Stubbins at Electronics Etc., or see him in the Arrington Shopping Center, to set it up.

Open Forum

An Association member, Mr. Catlett, attended and made several requests. He stated that he understood he has to make an official request to receive financial record details. He has heard a lot of numbers on what groups pay and don’t pay, specifically the volunteer vs. mandatory sections. He would like to know how money has been collected from each group and how the road funds were allocated. After discussion about the financial summaries available and published from the various subdivisions, and that it was inappropriate to give personal financial information to an individual, a motion was made, seconded and carried to deny this request. A second request made concerned the decision that was made not to assess existing combined lots individually. [See June BoD minutes]. His stand on the Blalock vs. MALA decision of 1989 that 8A should not be charged more than the LEAST amount charged anyone else, and if we have combined lots their assessment is essentially $0 (zero), so 8A should be refunded all the money paid since 1990. He wanted to know how much money people in 8A have paid. This issue has been discussed numerous times, it was explained, full disclosure has been made and the issue has been put to rest. A motion was made, seconded and carried to deny the request.

Beautification report

Marian Corpus said she sprayed Roundup and did pruning around the Front entrance.

Deer report

Noel Corpus was supposed to have met with the game warden, but he didn’t show up. No deer have been harvested, nothing else to report.

Architectural report

Kevin Hensley report that since the last report, there are no approval letters issued, no reviews pending, and nothing under review.

Aviation

FJ Hale reported that a couple of military flights, and a couple of touch-and-goes occurred. The grass looks fine, is cut as needed. The Lewis family paid $5K to the Corps for an environmental study. Mr. Brubaker of the Army Corps of Engineers said he would like something in writing that we’re really an airport, and said it would be better to have the easement issued to MALA than the Lewis family. It would cost $1,500 for a 25 year easement. If this comes to MALA, Mr. Hale would like to write a letter that this matter of fees be waived and point out the amount of money the Lewis family has contributed. Ms. Adler stated that she likes that idea if they do bill MALA. She also said she’d email Mr. Brubaker and get him what he needs.

Committee to Unite MALA

Mr. Wikle expressed the opinion that MF1 landowners should bring to the Board their desired revisions and submit them to an attorney for his opinion of its advisability. All this would be done to address the continual bickering.

Common areas

Mr. Dalton could not make the Board meeting and had nothing to report.

Roads

Mike Gupton reported that he currently has 2 bids and is in the process of getting a third. The price of oil is falling, but has not yet affected the price of asphalt. Our roads are in good shape. Walnut Place needs to be assessed as nothing had been done for many years, and is now in bad shape after recent construction. That small area needs asphalt. An area at the end of Maplewood also needs attention. There are shoulders that need a little tar and gravel treatment.

Cheverly has some areas that need attention. LanCo has given a bid for the small work, while W&L won’t even do small repairs. (They were the company that asphalted Merifield, Stacy, Lewis & Ridge 2 years ago.) The only whole road that could be done is Lewis Road. It’s not imperative to do it now, but if the equipment is brought in, it may be wise to go ahead now.

Lakepoint was tar and graveled four years ago, and still looks to be in great shape. Where they are dark spots that appears the stone is gone, both bidders told Mikethat was not an issue. Looks can be deceiving.

On Merifield, it was the consultant’s opinion to dig some of that bad area out, put more stone in and then patch it. That needs to be done before it breaks up badly. The rest of Merifield is in good shape.

The committee’s recommendation is to do what we absolutely must, plus Lewis Road, for now, because of high prices this year. The pavers said a springtime job may be discounted, and asphalt prices may be lower too.

The opinion was stated that the companies who will give the good prices are not going to contract to do the little stuff.

It was recommended that we defer possible work on Lakepoint and Merifield, except for small part on Merifield.

The committee was advised by consultants that as long as you keep it sealed you can defer asphalting. Asking for permission to spend around $40K.

Motion was made, seconded and carried, to approve $40K to do immediate repairs as suggested. When final figures are found, they will be run by MALA president.

Security

Tim Tetreault had nothing to report.

Welcoming Committee

Carolyn Ferguson reported no new people had moved in.

Newsletter

Nola Adler said this will be put on website.

Website

Linda Carter reported the directory list is being prepared that will be published on the website. Carolyn Ferguson will be assisting.

New Business

Annual Meeting

After discussion about the date on which to hold the meeting (bylaws suggest the 3rd Saturday in September) it was decided to hold the meeting on October 1st to avoid conflict with a Kinderton golf event, and to give the board more time to prepare the ballots and get them mailed. Annie Hensley said she would provide utensils and plates, rather than have each party bring their own, as she had extra in abundance.

Open Discussion

Kathy Diamond had made a suggestion that we change the lock on Oak Park to a real estate lockbox so that realtors can get in there. A counter-offer was made to give the realtors a key to the park. Several board members expressed their misgivings about having a combination everyone knew. Why bother locking the park at all then?

A question was raised if we can absolutely identify the community dock? Absent Clint Dalton, we deferred this question. Suggestion was made to affix signage to the community dock. (Apparently, there have been folks, being unable to ID the community dock, tying up to neighbors in the cove.)

Questions were asked about the controversy concerning the Yield sign. In the previous Board meeting that had been discussion about changing the sign to a yield sign since numerous residents were being ticketed. There was some discussion about the legalities. The consensus of the board was to change it if there was no legal problem. The state police told Nola that as a private road, we can put up whatever signage we wish. VDOT said they had nothing to do with it. Mr. Wikle got opinion from ACCESS and a Safety fellow, that because it is a private road, it’s up to us. If someone violates the Yield sign their liability is the same as for violating a Stop sign if an accident occurs.

The statement was made that personal attacks in emails are not acceptable and will not be responded to.

Hale – Our gun club president was asked about the situation with the Foote property. There are now new people in the inspections group. One of these new inspectors came out and deemed it a hazard, and if we go through the legal process with them, they can have it razed. The county would do this at no expense to us. MALA would not have to do anything.

Carolyn Ferguson needs email addresses. 374-3093

Motion was made, seconded and carried, at 8:20pm to adjourn.



Comments

Board Meeting 8-9-2011 — No Comments

Leave a Reply

HTML tags allowed in your comment: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>