A meeting of the Board of Directors of the Williamsburg Settlement Maintenance Association, Inc. was held on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. at the Williamsburg Settlement clubhouse, 1602 Hoyt, Katy, Texas 77449.
ATTENDANCE
Board Members present were Linda Moore, Don McClelland, Floyd Ball, Dave Ellis and Lance Gordon.
With a quorum being established, the meeting was called to order at 5:31 p.m
MINUTES
The Board reviewed the minutes of the November 16, 2010, December 7, 2010, December 30, 2010 and January 11, 2011 meetings. A motion to accept these minutes was made by Floyd Ball, seconded by Don McClelland and unanimously approved.
HOMEOWNER CONCERNS
There were eight (8) residents present.
A resident inquired about signs in the subdivision such as Pray for America and others. The Board explained that the Deed Restrictions read that only one For Sale sign is allowed unless others are specifically approved by the Board. The Board addressed this issue and at its November meeting approved a policy that expands on the deed restrictions by defining the classes of signs for which blanket approval will be given. This new policy was posted on the web site on November 21, 2010 and was published in the January edition of the newsletter. The new policy gives approval for such signs as Pray for America, School Spirit and Security Company signs. The resident was directed to the Williamsburg Settlement web site for a complete list of the signs that will be allowed. The Board also noted that State law governing the posting of political signs within defined time windows before and after elections takes precedence over deed restrictions.
FINANCIAL AND DELINQUENCY SUMMARY
Dave Ellis presented the financials as of December 31, 2010. The money in the bank totaled $487,539.22. This includes checking, savings accounts and CD’s and is the money to cover both operating expenses and the necessary reserve to fund maintenance and replacement of the Association’s capital assets.
As of December 31, 2010 the delinquency totaled $32,212.85. This is up from previous years. Dave Ellis did point out the Association is taking aggressive legal steps to collect the delinquent funds.
OLD BUSINESS
New security status and issues - The Board explained that in place of the previous contract with the Constable’s Office the Association has now hired off-duty Sheriff’s deputies to patrol the subdivision. It was felt that by hiring off-duty officers and not sharing the contract with another subdivision would result in more coverage for the neighborhood and over the long term would result in considerable cost savings by avoiding the price increase mandated by Commissioners’ Court that will increase over a ten year period by 3% over the increase in the actual cost of the program.
The Board is going to review the possible purchase of cameras. The chairperson for the committee was unable to attend the meeting therefore no report was available.
Lance Gordon stated that in the near future he will be answering the top ten questions that people have about the new patrol service and these will be published on our web site.
Homeowners present were advised that if they have a home security system they should call their provider and inform them the subdivision is no longer with the Constable’s office and in case of emergency the Sheriff should be called.
Signs will be posted at the entrances to advise that the subdivision will be patrolled by the Sheriff in both marked and unmarked vehicles.
At this time a motion that the security committee have a report and recommendations for 2012 available at the August 2011 Board meeting was made by Floyd Ball, seconded by Linda Moore and unanimously approved. This will allow time to properly place the estimated price for continued subdivision security in the 2012 budget.
Playground Upgrade Status - Floyd Ball reported that the company which will be installing the new equipment now has everything except the crawl tube. As soon as that arrives installation will begin. Sprinklers and underground utilities have been located and the playground closed pending the installation which should begin early in February.
Cameras and Playground Area Security - This item was tabled until the February meeting as the chairperson of that committee was not present..
Directory Update - Dave Ellis reported that he has completed a draft of the updated directory and has distributed it for review to the almost 500 residents who have registered their email addresses on our web site. The deadline for all changes is Friday, January 21, 2011 following which it will be sent to the printers.
It was noted that this year there will not be as much offsetting advertising revenue as was the case on its previous publication. This year the revenue will be $475.00 and the expense to copy the directory is a little over $1,000.00 depending on the final page count. Dave stated that he will take two proposals prior to having it printed.
Plan for Purge of Archive Storage - Floyd Ball requested that the Board to pick a date in February where the records can be reviewed and all old records purged in accordance with the revised Records Retention policy that was approved last summer.
NEW BUSINESS
Mosquito Spraying Contract - The Board reviewed the new mosquito spraying contract for 2011. The cost will be $67.00 per visit plus tax. The 2010 contract was $65.00 per trip plus tax. A motion to accept the new spraying contract was made by Dave Ellis, seconded by Linda Moore and unanimously approved. The contract runs from April 1, 2011 through October 30, 2011.
Pool Contract - The Board reviewed the 2011 pool contract from the current pool company, Lone Star Pools. A motion was made by Dave Ellis, seconded by Floyd Ball and unanimously approved to accept the 2011 pool contract for a cost $35,743.40.
Newsletter - Dave Ellis reported that Krenek Printing contacted him and explained that their newsletter advertising revenue is down. Currently, the architectural form and instructions take up two pages in the newsletter and they would appreciate it if that could be eliminated. The Board discussed this and it was decided that Dave Ellis should contact Krenek reiterating the importance of the form to the Association and requesting that we be allowed to continue to include it. He will report back to the Board on the outcome.
Bank Issue - Dave Ellis expressed the view that the Board needs to consider moving some of the money that exceeds the $250K FDIC insurance limit at the ICON bank to another institution. This would allow us to improve the interest income on these funds until they are required for operational use later in the year. Dave will pursue other banks and make his recommendations to the Board.
ADJOURNMENT TO EXECUTIVE SESSION
At this time the Board thanked the residents for attending and adjourned to executive session to discuss deed restriction violations.
Meeting with Contract Sherriff - Paul Wilburn, with whom the patrol contract using off-duty Sheriff’s deputies has been placed, attended this portion of the meeting and responded to some of the questions posed by the Board.
Deed Restriction Violations - Deed Restrictions were discussed at this time and the disposition of same. There were 110 violations noted in the January report.
MEETING ADJOURNMENT
With no further business to come before the Board, the meeting was adjourned at 7:08 p.m. The next meeting will be February 15, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. at the community clubhouse.
