OAK VILLAGE NORTH PROPERTY OWNERS ASSOCIATION MEETING MINUTES November 18, 2014

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1 Directors Present: Eugene Wankowski, Chuck Hughes, Yvonne Chapman, Kelly Knight, Janice Fishlock, Bob Boyd, Luana Merlino, Weslea Miller, Stacy Warner, and Dave Shannon Guests Present: Larry Rakoski, Jim Overton, Bob Nash, E.A. Hoppe, Bill Krawietz, Bradley Warner, Manny Maldonado, Ralph Mann, John & Leah Helm, and Jay & Josie Lord. Meeting called to order by President Gene Wankowski at 7:02 p. m. He announced we have a quorum of ten directors to hold the meeting. Janice Fishlock recommended one item of change to the agenda. 6A Records Retention Policy, 6B Records & Production Policy, 6C - and Payment Plan Policy. Police Report: Lt Rakoski There were nine calls for service last week in OVN. Most of them were suspicious vehicles and one was a burglary while a resident was away from home. Leave your lights on, cars out, turn your alarms on, and anything else that makes it appear someone is home. Make it hard for these thieves so they ll go elsewhere. These thieves need Christmas presents for their families too. The Volunteers In Police service, (VIP) program is up and you can fill out your applications on the city of Bulverde website, CI.Bulverde.tx.us. We will do a small background check, provide a short four hour training, and then do a ride along for a couple of hours and turn you lose. We will be ready the first or second week of December. City of Bulverde Home Rule Facts: Mayor Krawietz & E.A. Hoppe Cities with a population of 5,000 or more are eligible for Home Rule. 93.6% of qualifying cities in Texas have adopted home rule charters as of We have had three past votes that have been very close. We are a fiscally responsible city. The maps I have passed out show the city limits in yellow and the green areas are our Extraterritorial Jurisdiction or ETJ, (See attached map and Bulverde Home Rule Charter FAQs). Before we were incorporated as a city, seeing the growth that was heading our way, we asked ourselves if we wanted to have smart growth and be incorporated or be absorbed by San 1

2 Antonio and have no say in our development. We chose to incorporate in General Law, which is what we re currently under, is just generic terms for the way a city operates. Home Rule allows you to write a charter, which is like a constitution, for your city specifically. With Home Rule there is a lot more case law like developmental standards regarding controlled growth than General Law. A city needs a tax base so it can function and a charter allows Home Rule to gain more of a tax base. We re spending $30K in planning efforts this year. We want growth to be positive and smart for us. Transportation is a big issue too. Comal County put some money in the pot to get the road to the Spring Branch post office on highway 281 put in now versus in 2017 when it was slated to get done. There is another subdivision going in just north of OVN on Stahl Lane called 4S that will bring in around 5,000 residents. The charter will be drafted by a group of Bulverde residents. Janice Fishlock asked if we were starting from scratch with the charter or looking at other cities charters. The city secretary is looking at past charters written and pulling out the things we don t need or doesn t apply to our city. We are taking into account ranchers who we could possibly write in to not annex their land if they promise not to develop it. Their ranch land is agexempt so it doesn t even make sense for us to annex these types of folks. If they choose to develop it, then it will be annexed. Once the charter is drafted it will be mailed to all Bulverde residents. The city council would have to approve the draft by the end of February to be considered for a vote in May by all registered residents of the city of Bulverde. Once the charter is adopted it cannot be changed for two years. Under Home Rule it allows the citizens of their city to govern themselves by establishing rights, responsibilities, and privileges for all Bulverde residents. There will be two more public meetings. The first is December 11 th at 6:30 pm at the Activity Center in Bulverde. The second is on January 8 th at 6 pm in the library. (Please see attached Home Rule Charter FAQs for further details.) Yvonne Chapman asked the Mayor if we had been under Home Rule prior to the Singing Hills commercial development and the Johnson Ranch homes, could they have been included in our annexation. The major responded that 2

3 yes, that could have definitely been part of the negotiations. Currently we will garner some of the sales tax from the businesses on the south end of the development of Singing Hills. Dave Shannon asked who is responsible for inspections of new developments and businesses regarding backflow inspections. The mayor responded that unless they re located within city limits, the city doesn t inspect. We contract with companies to do inspections within the city as it s cheaper to hire them for a job rather than keeping them on a full time basis. Yvonne Chapman and Gene Wankowski stated that it s either the Canyon Water Company or South West Water Company that would be performing the backflow inspections on resident s sprinkler systems. Bob Nash asked what subdivision the mayor mentioned earlier is going in just north of OVN off Stahl Lane. The mayor responded that it is called 4S and will bring 5,000 residents. The city of Bulverde has a comprehensive drainage manual that we spent $100K on to take into account new developments and the drainage problems that come with it. In our manual the developer has to meet the pre-development storm water runoff rates when they are post-development. The developers are fronting the bulk of the cost and building a 40 high dam. Jay Lord I am against Home Rule. You re moving too fast and a lot of spending is happening. $36K has been spent in park maintenance and landscaping, $40K paid for design/engineer for waste water treatment plant. Since June this last year the minutes from city council meetings are not as comprehensive as they used to be in the past which was 3-4 pages. Now it is ½ a page to 1 page now for a meeting that lasts 1-3 hours. Is the Walmart and Johnson Ranch in our tax area? The mayor responded they were within our ETJ. $36K for park maintenance is actually lower than we anticipated so that amount will be reduced. Someone asked how long River Crossing are excused from being annexed. The mayor responded that it is 20 years and he was not a part of that decision. Mayor Kraweitz This council is focused on the future and we know that it s going to grow. We re down to a 13.5 cent tax rate, we are a debt free city, and we spend wisely. Failure to plan is a plan to fail. Someone said that the Lewis Creek area was cleared when they moved here and now there s a lot of growth in it that slows the water down and backs it 3

4 up. The mayor responded that the city was doing a Lewis Creek study and we can address water drainage issues with new developments a lot easier than we can residents who won t allow us on their land to clear or work on the Lewis Creek. Kelly Knight If our residents don t vote to renew our deed restrictions and our POA dissolves, what can the city enforce? Can I put a mobile home on my property and rent it out? The mayor responded that I couldn t because OVN is established as residential, single family lots. Yvonne Chapman stated that if deed restrictions aren t renewed we could still have a POA. Yvonne Chapman Six or seven years ago the city voted to collect sales tax collected from commercial businesses outside city limits to pay for fire departments. Treasure Report: Janice Fishlock All accounts have been reconciled as of end of October There was a bit of a mess up with the bank taking one of our deposits and putting it into the wrong account. It has been fixed already. Savings balance is $3, checking balance is $24,855.51, total of main account $28,360.66, park savings balance is $5.06, park checking balance is $2,249.79, total park account $2, Total main and park account is $30, CD s balance is $15, Total cash and CD s is $46, I have received park receipts since the last meeting and have deposited the first three quarters of the park s deposits and today the balance in the park is $3, Taxes were paid last month which were $128. I returned the deposit for the new build on Smithson Valley Road. We spent some money on flyers being printed up regarding the deed restriction renewal. Janice Fishlock I made up of frequently asked questions regarding the deed restrictions renewal, the auto renewal, the special assessments, and the increase in yearly dues. I will have Weslea Miller post it onto the OVN POA website. Please go to the OVN POA website to see further details. Voting will start 10 January at the annual POA meeting. There will be other days/times to vote and get folks signatures in front of the notaries. The tentative 2015 budget will be given to board members and there will be a brief meeting when we meet for the holiday lighting judging contest so we can go over this as well. We will submit two budgets at the annual meeting unfortunately. One will be with the current dues and the other with the new proposed amount. We have to file by 1 June for the deed restriction renewal and we ll need 67% of the vote from each of the separate Units 1, 2, and 3. 4

5 Membership Report: Luana Merlino The breakdown of money collected is as follows: Account Statement is $550.00, donations for entrances since 1 January 2014 until now are $938.34, architectural fees $1,450.00, donations for park $1,620.83, late fees to day are $119.54, dues collected to date is $9,358.19, resale certificates is $4,550.00, subordination agreement fees collected is $1,950.00, transfer fees collected is $4, Manny Maldonado asked what was the total amount of park money would be in the account including park usage fees etc..park usage fees were $ collected for the year so far. The park balance as of 12 November was $2, Then you will have the donation amount for the park, plus this above number, plus the 1 st quarter amount of $ will be in the park account come January Park Report: Manny Maldonado Big thank you to the volunteer folks that helped with park upkeep this year. The bathrooms in the park have been winterized. Anytime it is going to drop below 38 degrees, they will be shut down and locked. I will open them for operation when it warms up. The park clean up dates are February 7 when we ll focus on the baseball diamond and March 7 th it will be our big park cleanup day. If you re interested in helping out, please send an to park@ovnpoa.org and let me know. In the event of inclement weather we will work on the baseball field on Feb 21 st and the big park day March 14 th. There s a broken wooden picnic table that needs repair if someone is interested. We don t have any guidelines regarding cancellation policy for the park use. There is a problem also with the deposits for park usage and returning them. Janice or Luana told him that the renter needed to write two separate checks for the park. He would hold on to the deposit, give Janice the usage fee, and then return the deposit to the renter when they vacated the park and left it in good order. I bought toilet paper for the park and sent the receipt to Janice. Janice told him that she would reimburse him. 5

6 Architecture Report: Gene Wankowski Beth Hemmen is our architectural control in OVN and wants to continue doing this but has tendered her resignation as director. Nothing to report. Agenda 6A, 6B, and 6C: Janice Fishlock and Gene Wankowski Janice Gene sent out an in September regarding the Records Retention Policy, the Records and Production Policy, and the Payment Plan Policy documents that we need to file with the county per our lawyer. Has anyone read those documents? Directors responded they had not reviewed them yet. Gene said he would send them out again and to please look them over so we can discuss them at the short December POA meeting on the 16 th. We will meet in the park around 6 pm or so to go over these few things. Public Comment: Jay Lord I have an article here that talks about the developer of Johnson Ranch pumping out sewage and dumping it inappropriately a few months ago. The Graham-Lux Ranch folks are suing the developer because it might be affecting their wells on their ranch. What is our risk in OVN of possible contamination to our wells? Yvonne Chapman said to check with the Comal County Engineer s office and Dave Shannon suggested the Flood & Development Office. Gene said he would check with the water company regarding this sewage dumping issue. Jay Lord This Saturday is hazardous waste turn in for Comal County in New Braunsfels at the recycling center. Gene Wankowski Three years ago they did a flood brief for OVN. I will find it and put it out to folks. Yvonne Chapman also commented that the city is doing a Lewis Creek study with this 4S development coming soon. Gene Wankowski Santa & Mrs. Claus will be at 307 Blueberry Ridge on December the 20 th. Yvonne Chapman asked if it was possible to have the water company check the backflow on resident s sprinkler systems when a property transfers ownership. Dave Shannon commented that it needs to be done annually and costs around $150 dollars. Janice Fishlock made a motion to approve October s minutes. Luana Merlino seconded the motion. All approved, none opposed. Meeting adjourned at 8:46 pm. 6