SURF CLUB POOL & SPA ASSOCIATION, INC. BOARD OF DIRECTORS MEETING February 17, 2006 The meeting was called to order by Dot Barber at 11:10 a.m. The board members present were: Larry Newkirk, Dot Barber and Bill Strawn. The board member absent was Bradley Reed. Lea Stokes and Wendy Posella of Preferred Management Services, Inc. were also present. Dot Barber confirmed that a quorum has been established and the association has complied with the notice of requirements for the meeting. Lea Stokes presented the minutes of the board meeting held on January 20, 206. Under committee reports, Larry Newkirk asked that in the sentence that ends with the existing deficit from 2005 the wording be added and the existing budget to 2006. In the final paragraph the meeting was adjourned at 12:00p.m. not 12:00 a.m. Larry Newkirk made a motion to accept the minutes as corrected. Bill Strawn seconded the motion and it was carried unanimously. Manager s Report Lea Stokes presented the Manager s report (copy attached). Lea also added that she booked the expense for the water and the electric owed to SCIII for $1,700 so the actual deficit at the end of January is $2,858.00. Dot Barber also mentioned that Tom Weaver and Larry Newkirk had gone over the budget very thoroughly. Lea stated that Larry would report on this in his treasurer s report. Larry asked if the Bank of America account had been closed and switched to Coquina and Lea stated yes. She also stated that Sharon O Brien is discussing the amount of interest paid by Coquina and hoping to get that upped. She is also looking at other alternatives. Phyllis Erno stated that she thought by now it would have been switched but Lea stated that with the closing of all the books for 2005 and they have had the CPA in the office for 30 days for the audits, so no new bank accounts have been opened. Committee Reports Larry Newkirk presented the Treasurer s report. He stated that the association had spent $30,000 more than was budgeted in 2005. Most of that was propane and utility costs. The association has to come up with a way to pay for that deficit. Either they increase dues,
Page 2 income or cut the propane off The propane has been on and off now and is costing at least $1,000 a week to have it on. The board needs to make some tough decision as to what is going to happen. A homeowner spoke stating that according to the documents the board is under no obligation to heat the pool and questioned why are they heating it. Larry then took a straw poll to see what the consensus of the room was about heating and knowing that it would cost say an extra $10 per month. It was almost 50/50. The second was to see how the owners would feel about eliminating the heat to the pool and heating the master pool. The people voted that they would rather have their own pool heated. Larry stated that the board does not have the ability to raise the dues or make a special assessment without a vote by the owners and because voter apathy is so great nothing ever happens. He also stated that he will not take the capital contributions account down to zero because they were not operating with a proper budget. The only other account to pay with is the pool monitor for $6,000 along with the propane to make the budget work. Larry Newkirk made a motion that if the temperature goes below 50 degrees that they cut the propane off. There was no second, motion defeated. Bill Strawn made a motion to cut the heat off at 45 degrees at night and lower the temperature of the pool to 78 degrees, Larry Newkirk seconded, motion carried unanimously. Larry also mentioned that $12,000 needs to be set aside for propane for the spa and the grill which needs to be operational 12 months of the year, that leave $13,000 to heat the pool. Dot Barber mentioned that there was an item for $12,000 for utilities, the utilities were actually $22,000 which means that they have $12,000 left over from last year, however, because of the deficit that they did not anticipate in the utilities which was actually $20,000 there is a $10,000 deficit there. In the budget this year they are servicing a $20,000 deficit that is assuming the $25,000 for propane lasts the rest of the year. Dot Barber suggests that the board go to the owners to special assess the deficit for this year and additional monies needed or they have to cut off the heat. John Barber stated that the board needed to immediately stop the bleeding and the second is the budget is in error and needs to be re-worked and re-submitted and then make a new decision. The board cannot legally continue to operate with a deficit. Another homeowner spoke and stated that he would like to see a decision made. He would like to stop the bleeding and encourage them to come to a compromise. Tom Weaver suggested putting out a special assessment to get everything over and done with. Larry Newkirk stated that it would have to be approved by 51% of the owners. Lea Stokes stated that they have poured over the numbers with a lot of efforts and Wendy has been working incredibly hard to get the information to the board on proposals. We gave utility costs but really don t know the exact amount since the utilities are tied into SCIII so that is a projection. The board won t be able to have a real budget until they know what those numbers are. She absolutely agrees that they need to stop the bleeding the also believes that the board needs to talk about special assessing to alleviate the deficit, get the timers installed, get some money set aside as a buffer. The board needs additional information to get a new budget in place. Larry made an announcement as a board member and a volunteer that they have already lost the President through all of this and he bought this condo to come down and enjoy, he didn t come down
Page 2 here to complain and get aggravated over an additional $5 or $10 a month and he is not going to continue to spend his time over chump change and everyone has a $500,000 to $700,000 oceanfront condominium and we are whining over $100 to get this over with and have a budget. He is not going to continue to do this, as much as he wants the place set up and operating properly, he is not going to ruin his weekend and spend all his time going through numbers and answering hate emails. He stated that they had already lost a wonderful woman in Pam Neal, who was volunteering and lives here, had the best interests in this project at heart and could not stand constantly being approached with the same thing. A homeowner stated that there is a fundamental understanding that the condominium was advertised with a heated pool and that she wants a heated pool. Dot Barber stated that the board entered the idea to put out a letter to the ownership a special assessment for the revised deficit from last year and at the same time to increase the dues to $50 a month so that they do not run into another deficit at the end of this year. Tilly Newkirk suggested that with the people in attendance at the meeting take a roster and start calling people and to become proactive to stop voter apathy. If the board keeps sending letters out and then not getting the required number back, it is a waste of money. Dot Barber stated that one of the biggest problems is communication and she would like to have a communication committee set up. She asked for volunteers. Phyllis Erno stated that she would definitely volunteer for that committee but she stated that there are real problems with unit owners sending emails behind the board s back trying to form a cout-de-tat. She cannot believe what is going on. This is so juvenile. People come to the meetings and try to filibuster and take an hour of everyone s valuable time just questioning every single thing that comes up and totally insults the board. Rick Crouse volunteered, Tim Dougherty, Tilly Newkirk and Phyllis Erno will form the committee. Larry Newkirk made a motion that they have a special assessment to cover everything, from the deficit to getting some cash in the account so they can operate get it all at one time and explain to the owners in full what needs to happen and why. Bill Strawn seconded and motion carried unanimously. It was also suggested and agreed upon that they use the emails they have instead of postage. The committee will put a letter together and get with Wendy to send. Lea Stokes reported that they actually needed 66% or 251 of the owners to approve. Phyllis Erno also stated that it was horrible to sit out at the pool because people complain and moan about the heat being off. She can t relax at the pool since she spends all the time down there trying to justify to people who don t even own property here why it is turned off. They are defending the boards decision and understand it as homeowners but the attitudes are lousy. Bill Strawn stated that he feels that as a board member they have done a poor job in communicating. That the board has done the best they could with the amount of input they had. By the same token, he doesn t feel that they have done a good job of communicating to ownership of how extensive the problems are. Half of it goes back to apathy since what has been communicated hasn t mattered but somehow someway the board needs to communicate to the owners. It needs to be explained why, they as a board, need to do what they have to do. Progress has been made and if anyone wants to take their place, feel free, and he is looking forward to the communications committee being a major help to the board. Phyllis also suggested the website be used.
Page 3 Tilly Newkirk wanted the board to state why they on after they had decided at the last meeting to turn off. They stated that they were inundated with emails, personally, by telephone, in person to the point of harassment by owners who wanted it all so, therefore, they decided to turn it back on to get people of their back. Now that that has been done, the people who don t want it heated are doing the same thing. Bill Strawn made the motion to ratify the decision not to heat the pool and due to the owners concern, it was turned back on with restricted times and temperatures, Larry Newkirk seconded, motion unanimous. New Business With the resignation of the President of the Board, Pam Neal, the board is requesting that all interested parties send in a resume along with their desire to become a board member to the office with Wendy. Dot Barber stated that we had proposals for timers for the pool, spa and fountain, also a Meter to separate the electric from SCIII. Two bids were received on this one for $1,800 and one for $3,067. Bill Strawn made a motion to accept the bid from Palmetto Electric, Larry Newkirk seconded, unanimous decision. The next was a bid from Mastercraft Plumbing for the separation of the water meter. This bid was high, however, it is the only company And it included a shower which is now not necessary. It was asked that Wendy call the back To have the bid separated. Bill Strawn made a motion to accept the bid once it was separated Due to a shower being included which is now not necessary. Larry Newkirk seconded, motion unanimous. Bill Stawn asked, however, that Wendy wait one week to call the company and he would try and obtain other plumbers. After one week, she will contract with Mastercraft to do the work. The windscreen proposal was also presented at this time from Flagler Fence for a total of $1,800. Larry Newkirk made a motion to accept the bid, Bill Strawn seconded, motion unanimous. Lea Stokes stated that Wendy has called a dozen or better of electric companies and plumbing contractors and these are the only people she was able to get to come out. The board agreed to hold their next board meeting on Friday, March 31 th at 11a.m. With no further business to bring before the board, Larry Newkirk made a motion to adjourn the meeting at 12:45p.m. The motion was seconded by Bill Strawn and was carried unanimously. Respectfully submitted to the board of directors of the Pool & Spa Association, Inc. Lea Stokes and Wendy Posella Community Association Managers