Bradford Farms Home Owners’ Association
Board of Directors’ Meeting
February 15, 2005
The meeting was held at the Madison Assembly of God Church and was opened at 6:00 pm.
Board Members Present: Jim Terry, Rosemary Terry, David Seitz, Alisa Gaultney, Dick Clem, Paul Hurst
Board Members Absent: None
Property Manager Absent: Lois Brown
Visitors Present: Billy and Elaine Grimes, Rik Homan, and Jerry Lyons
Treasurer’s Report: The deposit in January was $12,900.00 from the payment of the dues of ninety-one homeowners. Ninety-five homeowners have not paid their dues. The owners of the three vacant lots have not paid their dues. The treasurer is using duplicate numbered receipts. Alisa handed out receipts to the board members who have paid their dues this year. The treasurer brought the receipts for other homeowners who have paid their dues. These receipts were to be given to the property manager to mail. Because the property manager was absent, the receipts will be mailed at a later time.
Property Manager Report: There was no property manager report. Lois told the president she will send him the draft of the 60 days past due letter via email for the board members to approve. Homeowners who have not paid their dues are to receive this letter on or before March 3, 2005.
Architecture Committee Report: No report
Landscaping Committee Report: Alisa reported no work is being done at this time.
Maintenance Committee Report: Dick has not ordered the three garbage cans and he stated he will order them when he returns from vacation after April 6. No progress has been made toward repairing the walls at the entrance of the subdivision.
Social Committee Report: There is no social committee.
Welcome Committee Report: Rosemary reported that one new homeowner has moved into the neighborhood and Sharon Ditto, welcome committee chairman, has not delivered a gift at this time. Sharon is updating the welcome packets for new homeowners.
Old Business: Linda Coats, attorney for the Bradford Farms Homeowners Association, Jim Terry and Dick Clem represented the Bradford Farms Homeowners Association in the small claims court lawsuit today between Bradford Farms Homeowners Association and Buck Gosnay. The case was heard and the presiding judge will write an opinion and send it to the association via Linda Coats.
The bank card for board member signatures for 2005 was not presented to be signed.
The account has not been changed to accept only dual signature checks and dual signature checks have not been ordered.
A review list of last year’s board decisions was passed out and reviewed by the board members. This list is attached to the minutes.
Jerry Lyons of 124 Champions Green presented a problem he is having with a neighbor about their fences. A previous Bradford Farms Homeowners Board approved both fences. The neighbor’s fence was put up incorrectly. There is no space between the fences for Jerry to do maintenance on his fence. The present board has no authority to solve the problem and the board advised him to take the case to small claims court.
There were no volunteers for the remaining board vacancy.
Dick was asked when he will repair the walls at the entrance to the subdivision. He stated he will take paint samples to match the paint when he returns from his vacation.
Prior to 2004, the Bradford Farms Homeowners Association’s Board of Directors continually increased homeowners fees to allow a large sum of money to accumulate for the purpose of dredging the ponds in the subdivision. Jim Terry contacted the Mayor of Madison for an explanation of responsibility in this matter. Mr. Sandy Kirkindall, The Mayor of Madison, called Jim Terry and sent a follow-up email to explain the responsibility of dredging the ponds in Bradford Farms belongs to the City of Madison and not to the homeowners. This email is attached to the minutes.
New Business: No one on the board is willing to be a social committee chairperson. Some board members want to leave the budgeted social committee funds in the budget in case someone wants to organize and sponsor a social event. Others do not want to leave the money in the budget. A vote was not taken.
Dick has not ordered new flags for the entrance to the subdivision. He was waiting for Joe Bradford to give him the name of another company. Joe is no longer on the board and Jim will get a price quote from the company.
The board voted to buy a picnic table to be placed at one of the lakes. Discussion against this issue was that the purpose of the board is to maintain the common property. This is not being done satisfactorily. The walls at the entrance of the subdivision are in poor repair and are unsightly. The maintenance chairman has been made aware of the problem but nothing has been done to repair the wall. The gazebo is faded and needs to be painted. The focus should be on maintaining these items for the appearance of the subdivision as a whole. There was no budgeted amount of money this year for the purchase of picnic furniture for the subdivision and the purchase and installment of other items will result in more maintenance and more maintenance costs for the board. Members voting for the picnic table were Dick Clem, Alisa Gaultney, David Seitz, and Paul Hurst. Members voting against the picnic table were Jim Terry and Rosemary Terry.
Jim Terry requested the board make a small donation to the Madison Assembly of God Church twice a year for letting us use the church for our monthly board meetings. The board voted to give a donation of $100.00 in December and a donation of $100.00 to the church in June. The vote was unanimous.
Paul brought up the issue of traffic control, speeding, parking and the dropping off of children at the elementary school. He was advised to read the previous minutes of the board meetings where these issues were discussed at length. He will visit the police department to request a radar unit to be put in the subdivision and he will request assistance in preventing people from parking vehicles that are for sale on the side of Hughes Road.
On March 9, 2004, Alisa Gaultney expressed a desire to have the board install a playground in the subdivision. She volunteered to gather the necessary facts of requirements and costs to build and maintain a playground. At the meeting tonight she stated she will no longer do this and wants someone else to get the information. Dick Clem volunteered to take on the job. It was agreed by the board members that the following steps will be followed before a playground can be built:
1. The board will be briefed with OSHA requirements for a public playground.
2. The board will be briefed with the city requirements for a public playground.
3. The cost of a playground meeting the requirements of items 1 and 2 above will be presented to the board.
4. Our insurance company will be consulted about the increase liability for a playground and the associated costs and this will be presented to the board.
5. Legal advice on a public playground, such as attractive nuisance will be presented to the board.
6. The board will vote whether to proceed.
7. If the board votes to proceed, all residents of the subdivision will vote on the issue. If the majority vote is no, the issue will be considered dead.
At the request of Paul Hurst, the board voted to buy concrete and a 15 foot pole at a price of approximately $50.00 to install a bird house beside one of the ponds. Paul and a friend built the house. The argument against installing the bird house was that once again, the responsibility of the board is to maintain the common property and this job is not being done satisfactorily. The members against this issue feel the board members need to stay focused on the purpose of the board. Money was not budgeted for this type of project.
Board members voting for the bird house were: Dick Clem, Alisa Gaultney, David Seitz and Paul Hurst. Members voting against the bird house were Jim Terry and Rosemary Terry.
There was discussion concerning the $27,161.34 that has been accumulated by previous Bradford Farms Homeowners Boards. Some board members think the money is to be spent at the desire of the board. Jim Terry expressed the opinion that the money was erroneously collected for the maintenance of the ponds and the money belongs to the homeowners and should be returned to them in the manner of a refund or used in place of collecting fees for next year. This subject will be discussed at the next board meeting.
The meeting was adjourned at 7:18 pm.
The next meeting will be March 15, 2005 at the Madison Assembly of God Church.
Respectfully submitted,
Rosemary Terry,
Secretary
Bradford Farms Homeowners Board
2005 Major Decisions
1. Property behind Harper Hop Houses and the commercial development was and is offered to the residents if they will pay the fees to survey and transfer the property.
2. Minutes from past months will not be read at HOA monthly meetings. Minutes will be sent to officers, property managers, and councilmen(if appropriate) with a suspense to respond. Minutes are approved when all responses are received or the suspense data has been reached. (Minutes are current and not two to three months behind).
3. All correspondence will be dated and reviewed/approved by the board before it is mailed.
4. All correspondence will have HOA web site URL as a footer.
5. All checks will have two signatures: (1) of property manager or treasurer and (1) of President or Vice-President. Member can not sign a check to himself/herself nor can he sign a check to a company for items he/she will purchase.
6. All expenditures, except for monthly bills, will be approved before a check is written.
7. A collection agency will be used to collect past due fees.
8. Playground: Alisa will head the playground committed. The following steps will be completed before a playground is built:
A. Brief OSHA requirements for a public playground (gravel, equipment, parking, paint, fence, etc.)
B. Brief City requirements for a public playground.
C. Cost of playground meeting requirements 1 and 2 above.
D. Consult insurance agent about increase liability for playground and associated cost.
E. Legal advice on public playground, such as, attractive nuisance.
F. Vote of board to proceed.
G. If vote is yes all residents will vote on the issue. If vote is no issue is dead.
9. Review duties of officers as in May, 2004 minutes.
10. Social Committee is responsible for garage sale. No committee head, no committee, no garage sale?
11. Old garbage cans will be replace by new ones. Dick Clem in charge of project. Cans should be purchase soon, before price goes up. This includes the one from July meeting for the front lake.
12. Duplicate, numbered receipts will be used for fee payments.
13. Sign in sheets to be used at each meeting.
14. Letters to go out as published in January, 2005 Minutes.
From: Kirkindall, Sandy [mailto:sandy.kirkindall@ci.madison.al.us]
Sent: Fri 2/11/2005 3:36 PM
To: Terry, James H HNC
Subject: FW: Retention Ponds
Dear Mr. Terry,
I hope the information below answers your question.
Sandy Kirkindall
Mayor
-----Original Message-----
From: Atallo, Bob
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 2:50 PM
To: Lindsey, Kim
Cc: Kirkindall, Sandy
Subject: RE: Retention Ponds
Mayor,
The ponds in Bradford Farms are both in utility and drainage easements, which means that Public Works is responsible to keep them working correctly. If dredging is required to keep them working correctly, then Public Works has to do that, but that would be their call. They would not necessarily have to do it just because the homeowners wanted them to, provided there is no evidence of problems (flooding, etc.) with their functioning.
Hope this helps.
Robert A. Atallo, AICP, CFM, Director
Department of Planning, Engineering and Building
From: Lindsey, Kim
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 1:55 PM
To: Atallo, Bob
Subject: FW: Retention Ponds
-----Original
Message-----
From: Terry, James H HNC [mailto:james.terry@us.army.mil]
Sent: Friday, February 11, 2005 1:38 PM
To: Mayors Office
Subject: Retention Ponds
An interesting question was raised at our last Homeowners Association Meeting. The question concerned the drainage systems and retention ponds.
When the ponds need dredging, whose responsibility is it to have this done and who pays for the work?
Mr. Terry, I have just returned from the Doctor. I am running 103 temp. and was diagnosed with the flu. I will not be able to attend tonights' meeting. I will forward the March letter by the end of the week so it can be approved electronically prior to sending out next week.
Lois
Brown
256-653-4124 cell