Board Meeting 10-9-12

The meeting was called to order at 7:03pm.

Present

Board Members & Committee Chairs:  Nola Adler, Rick Baldwin, Phil Beck, Linda Carter, Butch Cheatham, Chris Crouse, Scott Diamond, Andy Ferguson, Carolyn Ferguson, Mike Gupton, Annie Hensley, Kevin Hensley, Scott Jeffrey, Jim Monaco, John Stinson, Dewitt Vanarsdale

Approval of Minutes from the August 2012 Meeting (posted onwww.MerifieldAcres.org) was passed without dissent.

Treasurer’s Report 

Treasurer Annie Hensley reported the checking account has $133, 370.60; the BoA CD $38,840; and the investment account with BoA $99,218.39.  The investment account was up from August’s balance of $96,902.  Annie also asked for updated print-outs of committee members and Board of Director members for inclusion to the disclosure packages she provides.

Old Business

President’s Comments

Chris Crouse thanked everyone for their confidence in him and encouraged everyone to talk to him about anything.

Secretary’s Report

Nola Adler asked committee chairs to email her a soft copy of their reports so those reports could be included to the minutes.

Open Forum

No one had anything to bring forward.

Committee Reports

Appearance and Beautification

Butch Cheatham reported he’d taken care of vegetation covering the sign at Highpoint & Lakepoint, and mentioned that former chair Barb Tierney said she would will help painting the street signs as she has the paint from before.  He thanked Kevin Hensley for trash pickup at the entrance and mentioned other folks had helped as well and he appreciates all the assistance he can get with that.

Architectural Committee Report

Kevin Hensley provided the following report:  “One request for Architectural approval was submitted for review since the annual report.  One shed was approved. No Requests for Approval are currently being reviewed. No issues are currently being investigated.”

Aviation

FJ Hale was not present and did not provide a report.

Common Areas and Facilities

New chair Jim Monaco had nothing to report but said he was looking forward to working with Clint Dalton on anything that may arise.

Deer Control

Scott Diamond reported 4 does had been killed, and that the bow season was now open.  However, controls for the area where the out-of-season killings occur are still in place and need to be followed.

Roads and Maintenance

Mike Gupton provided the following report:  “Sambo Lewis called me to explain about the tree harvesting they are planning to do in the next few weeks. It will be on 40 acres of Lewis-owned property located between Lakepoint and Merifield Dr. They will use one access point onto Merifield Dr. utilizing mats, etc. to protect the road. Sambo said he would be responsible if any road damage should occur. It will take about 2 weeks to complete the harvest.

Ingram Construction regraded and deepened about 500′ of the ditch along Meriwether Drive. I called Lawrence Nunn (of Lanco) to verify that the charges were reasonable and I was assured they were. Ditch work is no longer in the maintenance contract and none has been done in quite some time. I feel there are some other areas that could possibly benefit from some ditch work. There is also a couple of culverts that may need to flushed of sediment due to all the rain we’ve had over the last couple months.”

It was suggested photos be taken of Merifield Dr. prior to the harvesting to provide a baseline for any damages we might claim.  The area of new paving is not going to be traversed by the logging trucks.

Security

David Hammer was not present but emailed there was nothing to report.

Welcoming

Carolyn Ferguson reported there were no new residents.

Communication

Directory

Carolyn Ferguson reported she and Nola Adler would get together to validate a database extract against her records, suitable for printing and providing to new residents and those who had no web access.

Email

Linda Carter had nothing to report.

Newsletter

Nola Adler reported that there had been suggestions in the annual ballots returned that the web site post items for sale from various residents – using the site as a bartering corner.  Nola asked folks to provide her info.

Website

Linda Carter had nothing to report.

New Business

Chris Crouse provided the members present with a copy of an undated and unsigned letter from some residents unhappy with the liens that had been placed against their properties.  There was some discussion about the contents but the consensus seemed to be that folks in mandatory areas, who don’t want a lien on their property, should pay their annual assessments and avoid the lien.  The Treasurer reported she’d sought the opinion of two attorneys about the pros and cons of a memorandum of lien vs. a warrant in debt and was told that liens were the easiest, cheapest alternative and quite legal, even though MALA was not under the jurisdiction of the VPOAA. 

Adjournment was at 8:05pm.