Grace Meadows HOA

Special Meeting Minutes 9/19/09

Sep 20, 2009

GRACE MEADOWS HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION
SPECIAL MEETING MINUTES
9/19/09

Attendees:
Martha Carroll
Jonathan Rader
Debbie Eisenberg
Marion Scida
Ray and Lea Ann Capel
Ann and Scott Rudeen
Brian and Krista Robb
Matt and Michelle Cline
Steve and Renee Lane
Len and Rhonda Willis
Larry Ruffin
Fraser and Brooks Marshall
Randy and Malinda Hardcastle

The meeting was called to order by Michelle Cline at 5:35pm. Because this was a special meeting, the purpose was to vote on amending the declaration of restrictive covenants and gain an indication of interest on selling lot 14. Specifically, the covenants (Article 3, Section 1) state ?“The Board of Directors of the Association shall consist of not less than three or more than four members, the exact number to be fixed in accordance with the provisions of the by-laws?” and the by-laws state (article 4, section 2) ?“the Grace Meadows Officers shall consist of one President, one Vice-President, one Secretary, one Treasurer, and one At Large Member of the Homeowners Association that is not serving as one of the aforementioned positions.?”
The proposed amendment to the covenants changes Article 3, Section 1 to state ?“"Board of Directors. The Board of Directors of the Association shall consist of not less than three (3) or more than five (5) members, the exact number to be fixed in accordance with the provisions of the by-laws." In order to amend the covenants, 51% of the homeowners eligible to vote must approve. There were 20 votes for, with 9 households not present. The motion passed to approve the amendment. The positions that remained open as of the meeting were for Treasurer and Secretary. According to the by-laws, ?“If the office of any officer becomes vacant, for any reason, the vacancy may be filled by the Board of Directors.?” After the amendment was passed, the Board appointed Lea Ann Capel as Secretary and Julianne Bedinotto as Treasurer.
Second on the agenda was to discuss selling lot 14 to the adjacent homeowners. The reason for getting an indication of interest first was to avoid going through the legal expense of determining if/how this could be done, if enough neighbors don?’t want to consider selling it. Len Willis discussed the monthly maintenance costs for the lot, which is roughly the same size as the land up front that we are paying to landscape (water, mowing). This expense is several thousand dollars per year. Even though we have a cushion on our account from the gas lease money, at some point in the future continued maintenance of lot 14 will require us to increase assessments. In addition, there is continued concern over liability issues for the HOA resulting from the water feature located partially on lot 14. The board met with the city in the spring, and determined that we are technically allowed to sell the land, and it would need to be re-platted. In order to get a legal opinion, several real-estate attorneys in the area were contacted. All required a $1,000 retainer and would charge roughly $200 per hour to review our covenants, etc., to determine the exact way this could be done. In order to spend HOA money on this, we needed to vote to gain permission.
Randy Hardcastle stated the while there was interest in the past, there was much less interest in purchasing a part of lot 14 now. He would need to know the details, including the price, before making a determination. Len Willis mentioned even if the property was sold for a fair, but small amount, it is still better for the HOA from an expense standpoint. Michelle Cline agreed to follow up with the Gills on their interest.
A vote was taken to expend HOA monies on hiring an attorney to begin reviewing the covenants. The vote was 18 for, 2 against, and 9 homeowners were not present. The motion passed. Brian Robb will contact the city first to clarify our ability to sell lot 14, and if the lot can be sub-divided. Then a local attorney will be contacted to begin reviewing next steps.
The meeting was closed at 6:45pm by President Michelle Cline.