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November Meeting Minutes |
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HEATHERWOOD OF PLANO HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
Board Meeting Minutes November 13, 2007 Carpenter Recreation Center
Board Members Present: Jeanet Ball (President) Nancy Mathisen (Vice President) Mary Forrest (Treasurer) Don Cisneros (Secretary) Jeri Ziglar
Board Members Absent: Jeff Jones
Management Present: Scharlene Fralin (Texas Association Property Management) (*Note that at the time of this meeting, the new property management company had only been representing Heatherwood for two weeks since October 29th and had only been in possession of the HOA files and documents from the previous manager for only one week prior to this meeting.)
Guests: One association member from Heatherwood II (Suffolk Drive)
Agenda (as distributed via email by the President to the Board on November 7, 2007)
Open Meeting / Guideline Forms to Guests
August, September, October Minutes
Treasurer’s Report
Old Business
Property Manager’s Report
Lawn Maintenance Concern
Bank Account Updates
Bootcamp Report
December meeting and 2008 meeting locations
Meeting Signs
Office Equipment Status
New Business
Homeowner Concerns
Adjourn
Open Meeting / Guideline Forms to Guests (Jeanet) Jeanet (President) called the meeting to order at 7:04PM
August, September, October minutes 7:05PM (Jeanet) August minutes Since the Board-approved corrections to the August minutes had never been provided in their finalized form by the previous Secretary, the current Secretary (Don) stated that he would send the corrected August minutes to the Board.
Mary made the motion to approve the corrected August minutes Second by Nancy Vote: Unanimous
September minutes The only changes to the September minutes were regarding having the final vote for a manager. While the Board did discuss having the final vote a management company at a regularly scheduled meeting, no motion or vote was taken to mandate that it would do so. All in attendance agreed and Nancy made the motion to approve this change to the September meeting minutes. Second by Mary Vote: Unanimous
October minutes Under election of officers, only some spelling needed to be changed and then sent to the Board. Mary made the motion to approve the October minutes with the minor corrections Second by Nancy Vote: Unanimous
The new Property Manager stated that she will need copies of all corrected minutes sent to her for her records. Jeri stated that she would send out the corrected October minutes and Don confirmed that he would be responsible for sending out the August and September minutes.
Treasurer Report 7:17PM (Scharlene / Mary) $6,000 has been transferred from the Capitol One account to the new Heatherwood Operating account with Colonial Bank. Checks have not been received yet to begin paying bills from the Colonial account.
In a review of the bank statements, documents, and Quickbooks files that were acquired from the previous manager one week earlier, the new Property Manager mentioned that there were a number of very obvious discrepancies between the amounts shown in the Quickbooks files and what is actually shown in the bank statements.
Some of the discrepancies are as follows:
Capitol One Bank Statement: Capitol One Checking account $1,960 Capitol One Savings $22,920 (Bank Statement)
Previous Property Manager’s Quickbooks file Capitol One Checking $14,866.07 Capitol One Money Market $-3,926.70
Also, the previous Property Manager’s file still showed an entry for Legacy Bank which was an old HOA account that was closed over two years ago. The new Property Manager stated that such a discrepancy could cause further confusion in bookkeeping and that the Legacy entry should have been, and will be removed from the Quickbooks file.
Another issue that was discussed was that since the previous management did not provide detailed updates on delinquent amounts, the HOA’s operating income may have been hindered in efforts to collect on outstanding accounts in a timely manner.
Additionally, the new property manager has discovered that the aged accounts list in the records obtained from the previous manager showed no details on the amounts recorded to explain whether they included fines, partial pays, dues, late fees, etc. As a result, determining what each outstanding amount includes would now require some additional, time-consuming investigation.
The new property manager emphasized that providing fully disclosed and detailed information regarding any and all accounts to the Board is a standard practice with professional management and that going forward the Board can expect to receive an itemized list of delinquent accounts as well as all actions being taken by the manager related to each aged account.
In the review of the documents accumulated from the previous management, the new manager stated that they found several letters regarding delinquent accounts that stated a certified letter had been sent when there was no evidence of such action.
Old Business 7:38PM (Jeanet) The HOA management phone number that had been in use under the previous manager has been cancelled as of November 9 and while the HOA Verizon bill will be paid, there may be a refund forthcoming since bills are paid forward.
The keys to the Post Office mailbox that had been in use under the previous manager have been returned to the USPS and the box rental is closed. Jeanet obtained a prorated refund of $22 for the incomplete box rental term and she stated that she has since deposited that amount into the Capitol One account.
The attorney fees of $291.25 which were to assist in the review of the property management documents were deducted from the initial $1500 retainer which now leaves a balance of $1208.75. The new property manager stated that once the attorney balance has been depleted, going forward any HOA attorneys solicited via the new management would not require a retainer fee.
Property Manager Report 7:44PM (Scharlene) The new property manager mentioned that while the HOA Treasurer has reconciled bank statements in the past, the new manager will now reconcile all statements and will then send the report to the President and Board Treasurer. The monthly detailed report packet will include all the bank statements, all reconciliations, ending accounts receivable report, a Profit & Loss summary, and a Profit & Loss to actuals to illustrate exactly what is happening with HOA funds.
Scharlene then mentioned that since the old and new bank accounts are in a period of transition, at this time we will continue to leave the Capitol One account open to handle any auto-drafts until all of the billing payments have been directed to the new account. At that time, the Capitol One account will be closed.
The new manager recommended that our HOA web site should allow emails directed through the web page to automatically be routed to all of the Board members. Also, there should be another link on the HOA web site so that any email intended to go to the management company can be done through the HOA web page. Additionally, the web page should be updated as often as possible to maintain current for the benefit of all association members..
Bank Accounts Updates 7:54PM Jeanet stated that she and Mary updated the check signer’s names on the Capitol One accounts on October 19 for both checking and savings. This will serve for the interim until the accounts are closed.
Lawn Maintenance Concern 8:00PM (Jeanet) The President received a letter from B&B Lawn Service stating that they had been short-paid by the previous Property Manager on their regular October monthly check by $608.75. All Board members present acknowledged that the Board never voted to short-pay the lawn care company and that this was an act that was never voted upon or approved by the Board. Additionally, B&B stated that they had received only one letter about a problem/concern with their service instead of the numerous letters alleged by the previous manager.
The motion was made by Nancy for the Board to pay B&B Lawn Service the outstanding amount that was withheld without the Board’s approval along with the next month’s regular bill for services which will be paid out of the new account. Second by Don Vote: Unanimous
December meeting and 2008 meeting locations 8:14PM (Jeanet) Due to December being a month of heavy holiday activity, it was agreed that the next Association meeting would not be until January 2008 with the location to be determined later. Motion made by Jeri Second by Nancy Vote: Unanimous
The motion was then made by Nancy to post the notice on the HOA web page that there would be no meeting in December. Second by Mary Vote: Unanimous
The new Manager will notify current webmaster (Jeff) to update the web page with the next meeting date which was agreed to be Wednesday, January 16, 2008. The location will be determined later and Mary volunteered to coordinate the meeting rooms for future meetings.
Meeting signs 8:23PM (Jeanet) The Board discussed having new meeting signs made to reflect the web page and also the new management phone number. Another change to the signs would be to state “Meeting Wednesday Night” instead of the current “Meeting Tonight”. In the past some signs were posted a day early and as a result, some homeowners interpreted the “Meeting Tonight” sign to mean that there was to be a meeting on Tuesday. The clarification of “Meeting Wednesday Night” will allow the Board to post the signs as early as possible so association members could have more advance notice and not be confused as to which night the meeting is scheduled to be held. Jeri located a vendor who will create new meeting notice signs and made a motion to purchase three new signs at $25 each. Second by Nancy Vote: Unanimous
Office Equipment Status 8:41PM (Jeanet / Nancy) The Board discussed what to do what to do with office equipment and supplies recovered from the previous manager. In addition to the computer equipment that is currently still being used by the new Property Manager to extract files/records/data, there are also file cabinets and file boxes that remain to be discussed. There are also approximately 4,500 old, pre-printed HOA envelopes (9 boxes) that the previous manager ordered that will now need to be disposed of. How this will be done will be discussed during the January meeting.
New Business 8:55PM Jeri distributed some HOA articles emphasizing the benefits of getting Board training by an experienced Property Management company.
Bootcamp Report 8:58PM Jeanet then shared some information that she and Mary learned while attending the Plano Homeowners Council “Boot Camp”: The beautification project is limited to $1000 for zero-landscaping and so the Board will have to explore options for 2008. Another point that was shared was that the enforcement of association rules is for the benefit of all those in the association and especially for those who abide by the rules and respect the value of the association.
No other agenda business was discussed.
The date for the next regular Board Meeting was agreed upon to take place at 7PM on Wednesday, January 16, 2008 with the location to be confirmed later.
Adjourn The motion was made by Nancy to adjourn the meeting 9:12PM Second by Jeri Vote: Unanimous |