Country Forest/Jackson Meadows Neighbors

Board Meeting Minutes

October 5, 2004

Country Forest Jackson Meadows Home Owners Association
Minutes – Annual Homeowners Meeting
October 5, 2004

The Annual Meeting for the Homeowners of the CF/JM HOA was held Tuesday, October 5, 2004 at Aikin Elementary. The board members of the CF/JM HOA include:

President – Brandye Brown
Vice President – Larry Petterborg
Director – Pete Lessere
Treasurer – Sue Vonbieberstien
Secretary – Dorina Hertner

Special Guests:
Bill Blaydes, District 10 Counselperson
Joshua Hathaway, Dallas Department of Code Enforcement

Approximately 40 CF/JM neighbors were in attendance.

The meeting was called to order at 7:15 pm.

I. Welcome and Introductions -Brandye Brown, President CF/JM HOA

II. Guest Presentations

a. Dallas City Council District 10 Update – -Bill Blaydes, District 10 Councilperson
i. Mr. Blaydes indicated the 2005 city budget is now complete and passed. Dr. Pepper saved 1 cent per on the property rate.
ii. The tax rate was raised slightly primarily to increase public safety. In the budget were increased police salaries by 2% across the bar. There is also a 1 – 4% city employee raise planned for next year.
iii. Mr. Blaydes addressed plans for cleaning up Dallas by addressing homeless issues and downtown commerce.
iv. Mr. Blaydes discussed the plan of bringing more corporations to Dallas to increase growth. The focus is on downtown and south of the Trinity River.
v. Mr. Blaydes mentioned a Town Hall meeting the 2nd Thursday in November at 7 pm at Lake Highlands high school where the “new town center” design for the urban redevelopment of the corridor at Kingsley and Skillman will be discussed and displayed. Development includes removing existing structures and bringing in a new Dart station, retail, parks and recreation, and urban housing. This will require re-zoning.
vi. The council is looking to open 2 municipal buildings North of LBJ – including a new code office and municipal court and a police headquarters.
vii. The council added 7 new inspectors this year to inspect and clean up the apartments in District 10 and is in the process of adding more. The changes made in the process have had a positive impact on apartment clean up by making the fees of owning and managing apartments more expensive for repeat code offenders. Other changes to come include a new rating system on inspections – a score below 75 is failing and the actual score (passing or failing) will be posted in the leasing office along with the apartments commitment to meet code.
viii. Mr. Blaydes discussed planned improvements at the Forest Abrams intersection, which include proposing a Wal-Mart.
ix. The Council is working on improving other intersections into Lake Highlands, including development at Royal and Skillman.
x. Questions:
i. When will the old station at LBJ and Skillman be leveled? Mr. Blaydes indicated that was owned by Dart and the clean up has been addressed with them. Recently the area has been fenced, the trucks moved and the area cleaned up.
ii. How many low income housing in the area? 4 out of the 8, none of which are owned by the City of Dallas.
iii. Additional discussion over the recent decline of the neighborhood. Mr. Blaydes noted that crime is down 14% this year in this area for 2004. Mr. Blaydes noted that the NE police station on NWHWY covers an enormous area - I-30 to Richardson and Mesquite to Dallas with 330 officers. With a limited police force the neighbors need to become the eyes and ears in the neighborhood with VIP groups.
iv. Is the proposal of new municipal buildings the way to approach the Section 8 housing issue? Mr. Blaydes indicated it was a start.
v. Are there a lot of Section 8 in the apartments planned to tear down? Mr. Blaydes indicated there were a few. Follow up – can we expect the section 8 housing to move north of LBJ? Mr. Blaydes quoted recent improvements in Vickory Crossing moved the section 8 housing to Irving or other suburbs – partially due to improved apartment zoning in the area that requires tighter restrictions on dwellers.
vi. Discussion over congregating & possible prostitutes hanging around at fast food places in the neighborhood during late nights. Mr. Blaydes indicated the best thing to do is to call 911. They have made 45 arrests on Forest Lane in the last month – mostly for prostitution.
vii. What can be done to get rid of the Wright Amendment? Mr. Blaydes indicated to keep pressing the Federal Govt. to change the transportation guidelines.

b. Dallas Code Enforcement -Joshua Hathaway, Dallas Department of Code Enforcement
i. Mr. Hathaway indicated he has two roles: Public education & compliance verification. He has been in his position for 5 months. He suggested that the neighbors call him if code enforcement issues are not moving fast enough.
ii. When calling 311 for code violations, Mr. Hathaway suggests asking for the tracking number, which is all that is required to track the enforcement (you do not have to leave your personal information). Mr. Hathaway indicated that enforcement response should occur within 10 days. If you are aware that the enforcement did not happen in that time period, call 311 and refer to the tracking number for an update. Then you should call or e-mail Mr. Hathaway directly at 214-671-5708 or Joshua.Hathaway@dallascityhall.com.
iii. Mr. Hathaway spoke of the issue with inspectors from last year. This year, 32 inspectors were terminated and 52 were disciplined. Mr. Hathaway indicated that he has much confidence in the new group of inspectors.
iv. The new fence ordinance reads more strictly on leaning, missing planks, and missing locks. There are now building permits that are required to tear down and build new fences.
v. Questions:
i. What if the violation is on a rented house? Mr. Hathaway indicated the notice and violation would be presented to the owner and the occupant. For example, if a tall grass violation is issued and not corrected, the city will cut the grass and put a lean on the property for the amount of the fine.
ii. Is there code for shrubs and trees? Mr. Hathaway indicates there are if they are a visual obstruction or crossing property lines.
iii. Is parking lot trash a violation? Mr. Hathaway indicates that it is.
iv. Do we call 311 if tree is obstructing a street sign? Yes, they can notify the appropriate city group. Mr. Hathaway said you can also contact him and he can arrange to contact the property owner to encourage them to correct the situation.
v. What is the turnaround on bulk trash violation? The turn around is 3 days. If nothing has been done in 4 days, Mr. Hathaway asked that you contact him directly at 214-671-5708 or Joshua.Hathaway@dallascityhall.com.He also discussed the cost plus agreement that will soon include a sign in the trash indicating it is scheduled to be picked up. The fine is $290 and if you are fined you can go in front of the judge to challenge.
vi. Is there a code for property owners to clean up graffiti? Yes. You are required to clean it up twice in a year. If there are three graffiti incidents in a year, the third is not required to be cleaned up for 365 days.
vii. Do the inspectors look for violations without complaint? Yes, the inspectors’ look for violations without complaint, but code violation is required to respond to 311 calls. When not doing that, code inspectors can do ally sweeps and other city duties. When not doing those things they can be proactive in seeking out violations – which is currently about 1/3 of the time spent.
viii. Can neighbors ride around with inspectors? Mr. Hathaway indicated he thought a neighbor could ride with an inspector with proper city approval.
ix. Is there consideration of getting HOA’s more involved in enforcement? Mr. Hathaway indicated this is something that is being discussed.
x. Mr. Hathaway’s contact information is: Email: Joshua.Hathaway@dallascityhall.com, phone: 214-670-5708 and offices in 6C south downtown.

c. District 10 Quality of Living Survey Report -Mark Williamson, Woodbridge HOA President – not present but refers us to the www.LHAIA.com for updates.

d. District 10 Land Use & Planning Advisory Committee – Tim O’Ferrall, Member of the LUPAC and CF/JM HOA Civic Interest Committee

i. Mr. O’Ferrall noted that we 67.7% of our population in our district are renters in our district and that only 8.7% of those renters are single-family homes.
ii. Striving to get zoning to 50/50 – renters vs. owners.
iii. The committee is looking at several areas for improvement.
iv. Initiating workshops in November city wide on improvements - 8 topics for transferable lessons for every area to create a plan.
v. Mr. O’Ferrall encouraged all neighbors to attend the citywide workshops once dates are announced.


III. Treasurer’s Report

a. Treasurer’s report distributed.
b. 4 major areas we gain income from are dues, crime watch, fence fund, and garage sale.
c. We are slightly ahead of budget.
d. The 2 main areas of disbursements are crime watch and landscaping.
e. We have 264 members paid to date.


IV. Election of 2005 Board Members
a. Nominations for board positions presented.
i. President Nomination: Karla Wallace Taylor
ii. Vice President Nomination: Jan Reynolds
iii. Director Nomination: Lora Davis
iv. Treasurer Nomination: Sue Vonbieberstein
v. Secretary Nomination: Dorina Hertner
b. No other nominations were noted.
i. There was a movement to elect all nominees as presented.
ii. The movement was seconded.
iii. The vote to approve the movement was unanimous.


V. Aikin Elementary School PTA – Lora Davis, Aikin Elementary School PTA President

a. Lora noted the importance of neighborhood participation in the school and PTA. She has noted an increase in HOA kids in the school this year and that apartment kids are coming back over the year, which indicates stability, which is good for our neighborhood.

b. Lora asked for assistance in meeting the Aikin Elementary PTA Goals to increase PTA membership, volunteers, and donations.
c. The neighborhood women’s group participates in a yearly event contribution. They are considering making the contribution more broad in scope this year.

VI. New Business / Announcements
i. Pet Registry – Mike Taylor
1. Mr. Taylor distributed a flyer on the neighborhood Pet Registry program.
2. The inside of the brochure is a registration form for your pet. For more information, to obtain a registration form, or to send pictures of your registered pet, e-mail to Mr. Taylor at Michael.taylor0328@sbglobal.net.
3. Discussion of a pet night at Aikin to match up the pets with owners.

VII. Adjournment
a. Brandye adjourned the meeting at 9:30 pm.