Shires of Inverness Master Association Board of Directors Meeting March 12, 2015 7:00 pm Shires Clubhouse I. Call to Order Jeff Bowden called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM Board Members Present Absent Bill Anderson Jeff Bowden Ginnie Grant Karen Harold Ron Kizior Richard May Jennifer Robins Secretary- Ronald Kizior - certifies a quorum of Master Board members present. II. Review of Minutes of Previous Meeting Motion: To approve the February 19, 2015 minutes as submitted by Ron Kizior Motion was seconded & Minutes approved unanimously. III. President s Report Jeff Bowden Just a reminder to all residents that spring is coming and the snow is melting and we might find excrement from our pets laying around, please pick these items up and remind your neighbors of the same. IV. Treasurer s Report Dick May At the end of February, 2015, cash balances in the Shires of Inverness Master Association accounts totaled $328,180, with $311,959 of that total being identified as replacement reserve funds. We have asked that the recent assessment be identified on the Balance Sheet in the Equity section as the total of the assessment, with the offsetting entry recorded as Assessment Receivable. As money is received, first through the local association and then transferred to the Master Association, that Assessment Receivable will be reduced and the corresponding amount will be reflected on its own line as Assessment Reserve Cash. We anticipate this change will be made for the March financials. Responding to a question from the last meeting, the Pool Phone account from 2014 was the total of monthly service charges and taxes which averaged $65.00 per month, an amount which appears on the budget for 2015. Management had taken the
initiative to negotiate a lower rate for 2015. For the past two months the average charge for service plus taxes has been approximately $46.00. We should expect a savings on this line item of about $200 for the year. One last item; snow removal for the first two months of the year was budgeted as $6000. It happens that we have only spent $2600, resulting in a year to date savings of $3400. Total budgeted for the year is $12,000. V. Management Report ( Bill Seymour) 1. New Owners: None. 2. I met with Murray and Moody Surveyors regarding the boundary survey. They are now suggesting fees for the survey will range between $7,500 and $10,000. At this price point I feel the cost is outweighing the benefit. I would recommend the Board reconsider this project and explore alternative solutions. 3. 21 Owners have not made any payment on the Special Assessment. Final Notices to those owners will be mailed next week. VI. Committee Reports Jeff reminded all committee reports in the future be sent to MB members, TH Presidents and Committee chairs. Architectural (Harold) no report Club House Committee (Kowalski) Three new rentals have been scheduled for: Feb. 28, March 8 and April 18. Landscape (Bowden) The Landscape Committee met for its first time in 2015 on February 24, 2015 at 7:00 PM in the Clubhouse. There was representation from all of the townhomes present at the meeting. The last 2014 Production Report from Best Lawns, the 2015 Budget, the new Best Lawns Landscape and Snow Plowing Contract, and completed and resolved landscaping issues were reviewed and discussed. Under Old Business the MyShires website was discussed regarding the display of committee names and it was determined that the names will be listed once the proper legal documents are completed. Also under old business the member agreed to have their names placed in the Welcome Book and the status of the survey of the Shires was updated. Under New Business there was a lively discussion about: 1.) Plowing driveways with parked cars in the driveway and the committee concluded that the present procedure by Best Lawns is the correct action; 2.) Planning perennial plants within the Shires by homeowners. It was strongly recommend that the local association be aware of what can happened when the current homeowners leaves the Shires and the new homeowner does not personally maintain the prior homeowners plants and then have the cost fall on the local association to maintain or replace these planting; 3.) Best Tree s tree trimming proposals for each Association were discussed with the Committee directing the Committee Chairperson to send the proposals to each Association for their own determination on how each Association wants to
proceed. The Master Boards tree trimming proposal will be discussed at the next Committee Meeting in order to make a recommendation to the Master Board; 4.) Placement of the bag for the sediment removed from the small pond. It was decided that the final decision would be made is consultation with the company that would set up the sediment bag. The two most feasible locations are at the southwest and northeast corners of the small pond. After a thorough discussion the Landscape Committee unanimously recommends to the Master Board that the proposal by Approved Trees for $7,700 to clean up the East end (along Roselle Road), the Northeast corner, the island and West/Northwest end of the large pond be approved. The next Landscape Committee Meeting will be April 1 at 7:00 PM in Clubhouse. Motion was seconded and passed unanimously by the MB. Maintenance (Bowden) The Maintenance Committee had its first meeting on Wednesday, February 25, at the Clubhouse. We had representation from Country Estates, and Townhomes II, III, IV, V, & VI. There was a good discussion regarding the Mission of the committee as provided in the Declaration of Easements, Covenants and Restrictions and its Supplements as well as 2015 Budget and the Reserve Study. As for the maintenance items presented on the agenda, the conclusion of those discussion were to: 1.) Have specifications spelled out for the clubhouse sidewalk; 2.) Obtain competitive bids for the items presented from the pool committee; 3.) Have further evaluation of 2015 & 2016 items in the 2013 updated Reserve Study to which reserves have been allocated to be replaced or repaired. The Committee members also approve their names being listed in the Welcome Book and will consider having names listed on the MyShires website once the proper legal forms are available. The next Maintenance Committee meeting is scheduled for April 2 in the Clubhouse at 7:00 PM. Nominating (Eileen Neil) No Report Pool (Lassota) No Report Ponds (Sohn) Do to some confusion regarding what was approved at the February Board Meeting Jeff Bowden asked Mark to resubmit the contract to remove the sediment from both Ponds. The original contract was to remove sediment from both ponds, the little pond this year, 2015, for $15,150 and the large pond in 2016 for $86,550. The Special Assessment was based upon this contract to remove the sediment from both ponds. If we only approve the small pond portion we will risk having the cost to remove sediment in the large pond going up. The Pond Committee did recommend the approval of the entire contract in concurrence with the Master Boards Approval of the Budget and Special Assessment which included the cost of the removal of the sediment in the small pond in 2015 and large pond in 2016. Jeff Bowden recommends approval of the contract for sediment removal from both ponds as proposed by the Pond Committee
and as has been budgeted and assessed in the Special Assessment. Motion was seconded and pass unanimously. Social (Gaunt) February 27 Men s Poker Night cancelled because of low attendance. Next schedule Men s Poker Night is scheduled for March 26 at 7:00 In the Clubhouse. March 14 - Wine Tasting Party from 6:30 to 8:30 in the Club House. Cost is $10/person to be paid at the door. Complimentary food will be provided. Approximately 30 people have signed up to attend. Tennis Committee (Kizior) No report at this time. Website Committee (Kizior) At the meeting on March 2 it was determined that: (1) Dick will contact Bill to obtain a link form the W.L. Seymour site to the Shires Website. Dick will contact Les to create a possible MB button on our Shires website. (2) A discussion and agreement on the creation of a release form that can be used in the future for all committee and/or announcements appearing on the Shires website. After two friendly edits of the form, and some discussion as to its viability, a motion was made to accept the release form as edited. Motion passed unanimously. (3) Review of Vendor candidates, cover letter and agreement which can be used. It was suggested that the cover letter and agreement be sent out to the list of vendors that we currently have. Ron will do this over the next couple of weeks. (4) MB and TH list of officers was updated and passed out to all board members. (5) Discussion dealing with how do we get increased residential traffic to the website? What do the residences want to see on this site? In order to get answers to these questions the committee will canvas the residence and possibly set up a town hall meeting in order to get resident input. The committee would also like to get additional members on this committee. VII. Old Business (a) Management Agreement (May & Bowden) It was agree that is was necessary to establish a protocol of communications via email, as well as an audit trail of communications. A three year agreement with W.L. Seymour runs from January 1, 2015 thru December 31, 2017 (3 years) at a price of $18 per resident plus 7, for MB members (166 + 7). It was noted that in order to approve any type of change in this relationship at least 5 out of the 8 entities must approve it. (b) Safe Pool Access ad hoc committee report.(pat Bethal) Pat reported the results of the informal survey that was taken of the residents. Of the 92 that were surveyed 78 approved and 14 did not approve of the idea of creating a graded path to the pool. This represents an 84.7% approval rating. A large number of respondents remarked that the stairs are
dangerous and have been a concern for years, causing a liability to the community. This is a safety factor with an accident ready to occur, plus a large $$ suite to follow. A remedy is needed. The pool is a significant asset to the Shires, and is supported financially by every household. Providing a path would alleviate the risk of injury on the stairs and meet the needs of the whole community in its 2015 composition. Jeff made a motion to approve spending $3600 for an engineering study for this project. He noted that the Reserve account for 2015 has this budgeted already for $3500. Motion was seconded and passed unanimously. (c) Rules & Regulations (Harold) No Report (d) Consolidation of Committees per Covenants Articles 11.01 to 11.07 (Bowden) VIII. New Business (a) Motion was proposed to approve the Landscape Committee s recommendation to have the trees cleaned up on the island and to the west, northeast and east sides of the Large Pond for $7700. Motion was seconded and pass unanimously. IX. Owners Comments & Questions TH1 asked when will the work on the small pond start? Sometime in the middle of May. TH6 suggested that residents not only pick up after their pets, but also cigarette and cigar butts that they see given that the snow is now melted. TH1 commented on the suggested placement of the path on the east side of the club house, might be inconvenient to many. May be the west side might be easier? The engineering study approved at today s meeting will look into those options. TH6 Resident complain why she wasn t surveyed regard the path option? No body from TH6 was on the committee to survey TH6. TH4- Loretta indicated that a Schaumburg Recycling Event information could be put on our website, as well a remodeling event connected with Habitat for Humanity. Also if anyone is in need of mullions for their Anderson windows, please contact Loretta. X. Motion to adjourn was made, and unanimously approved at 7:50 p.m.. Next Meeting scheduled for April 9 at 7:00 pm Ronald J. Kizior Secretary