Category Archives: HOA Board Meeting Minutes

Thank you for reviewing the minutes of the board meeting. Minutes will be posted after their approval at the following months board meeting, therefore there is an approximately one month delay between meetings and approved minutes being posted.

Board Meeting Minutes: 27 September

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2274 8PM

Board Members in Attendance:
– Elliot Wild, President
– Genelle McDonald, Vice President
– Kerry Wingell, Director
– Matt Keally, Secretary
– Easton Warner, Treasurer

Also in Attendance:
– Ami Pape, Cluster Attorney
– Sarah Keally, 2233
– Karen Reese, 2207

Minutes
The board voted 4-0 to approve the minutes from the August meeting.

Document Retention
After being asked by the board, Ms. Pape stated that the board should retain documents for seven years: five years for the Virginia real estate statute of limitations plus an additional two years to cover discovery.

Proposed Bylaws
Ami Pape, the cluster lawyer was present to explain the proposed bylaws. The board voted 4-0 to accept the changes, to include electronic absentee voting. The board also confirmed that the proposed changes would be voted upon by the members at the annual meeting and that explanations of the proposed changes would be mailed out prior to the vote. According to Easton, roughly 25 members would be needed to hold the vote. Ms. Pape stated she would be at the annual meeting. Elliot will call RCC to reserve a room for the annual meeting and ask about allowing food.

Proposed Bylaws: Liability
Based on Wheelwright’s incorporation status, Ms. Pape added a liability clause to the proposed bylaws to protect the directors from being sued directly. The board discussed the Cluster insurance policy, which Ms. Pape agreed to review to ensure it adequately provided directors and officers insurance, common area liability, and protection for criminal acts conducted by any board members. The board voted 4-0 to provide insurance information to Ms. Pape for further review.

Proposed Bylaws: Late Fees
Ms. Pape explained the change to a section on late fees in the bylaws amendments. The late fee amount will be set by the board to avoid the default five percent set under state law. Interest must also be specified in the bylaws and is set to 12 percent in comparison with the Virginia code default of six percent. Ms. Pape also suggested to publish the cluster dues as an annual fee rather than monthly or quarterly as it will be easier to collect late assessments via court order.

Proposed Bylaws: Director Removal
Ms. Pape discussed the reasoning for the changes to removing directors. She stated it was not uncommon for board members to never attend a single meeting, hence the ability to remove directors after three consecutive meetings. In all cases other than the supermajority vote for removal, a hearing must precede a vote to remove the offending board member.

Proposed Bylaws: Remote Participation and Absentee Voting
Ms. Pape explained the proposed changes for electronic participation and absentee voting. The cluster must allow remote participation to align with state law. The board suggested that absentee voting should be conducted via any specified electronic rather than just email.

New Virginia laws affecting HOAs
Ms. Pape explained that recent changes to Virginia law required action from the cluster. She would report back to the board as to exactly what those changes meant. One change requires additional information to be provided to new homeowners, such as six previous months of board meeting minutes.

Registered Agent
The board voted 4-0 to approve Ms. Pape to be the registered agent for Wheelwright Cluster. In the case of a lawsuit, this would reduce the likelihood of a process server being unable to reach board members.

Auditing and Taxes
Ms. Pape stated that no law required the cluster to perform an audit, however, she recommended that the board conduct an audit every two years. She also recommended that the cluster file its taxes as an HOA rather than a corporation.

Fall Cleanup
The fall cleanup will be held on September 30th at 10AM. Jessica ordered the dumpster and it will arrive prior to the cleanup. Items to address include trash, bench statining, planter box replacement, weed removal, bat house construction, and removal of Bill’s treadmill. The board voted 4-0 to purchase up to three bat houses from MOM’s Organic Market. The board authorized Karen to purchase up to $350 in food and drinks for the cookout.

Snow Removal
The cluster currently has no snow removal contract. This will be discussed at the next meeting.

Merrifield Walk-through
Merrifield will be at the cluster on October 6th at 10:30 AM to discuss tree replacement. The board voted 4-0 to authorize all cluster members who show up to form a committee and vote on the species and location of replacement trees, assuming these decisions would not incur any costs to the cluster. This decision will be final.

Forsythia Replacement
Kerry has been in contact with Tree60 regarding the replacement of his Forsythia.

Financials
Dues will be posted the first week of October.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be held on Wednesday, October 25th at 8PM at 2233.

Board Meeting Minutes: 24 August

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2274 8PM

Board Members in Attendance:
– Elliot Wild
– Genelle McDonald
– Kerry Wingell
– Matt Keally
– Easton Warner

Pests
The board deferred action regarding both rat sightings and a bad mosquito season. With respect to mosquitoes, the season is almost over. One course of action would be to notify residents in the early spring to be sure they remove any source of standing water. Another idea, suggested by Genelle, would be to encourage bats to take up residence in the area by constructing bat houses. As for rats, Elliot commented that many residents do not put trash bags in trash cans the night before pickup. Despite this, he has seen very few bags torn open by animals.

Tree Replacement
The board decided to invite Merrifield to the cluster to point out appropriate tree species and locations for planting. This will be on Sunday, September 17th at 2PM. As part of the replacement, Merrifield will remove the dead tree in the center island of the lower cluster, however, the cluster will be responsible for filling the resulting hole.

The board could not come to an agreement on tree placement and species, prompting the call for Merrifield to provide suggestions. Locations discussed included on either side of the front entrance, behind the bus path, behind 2219 where a tree was recently removed, and near the RA trail behind 2258 and 2256. Species discussed included Sweetbay Magnolia, Redbud, Ironwood, and Littleleaf Linden.

Proposed Bylaws Changes
Genelle will invite the cluster lawyer, Ami Pape, to the next meeting to discuss the proposed bylaws amendments. Easton mentioned that before a previous bylaws amendment vote, the board posted the proposed changes on residents’ doors and mailed a copy of the proposed changes to each residence. The amendments will also be posted on the website.

Fall Cleanup
The Fall Cleanup will be on Saturday, September 30th at 9:30 AM. Board members will meet at 9:00 AM. The agenda will include filling the the tree hole in the lower cluster center island, bench staining, trash pickup, planting bulbs near the entrance, and replacing a planter box in the upper cluster island.

Landscaping
Several board members noticed that the grass strip along Olde Crafts was unmowed in addition to an area behind 2214. This will be brought up with the landscaping contractor.

Parking Lot
The parking lot sealcoating went smoothly. All residents moved their vehicles in time.

Tree Removal
Elliot will talk to Tree60 to ask about replacing a Forsythia that was destroyed during the recent tree removal effort.

Minutes
The board unanimously approved the minutes from the previous meeting.

Expired Vehicle Registration
The board decided to continue the practice of notifying residents of expired vehicle registrations. There are several vehicles with expired registrations — the board decided to post notifications on these vehicles as a reminder to renew registrations. These notices will be posted with the understanding that such vehicles could eventually be towed as stipulated in the cluster guidelines. Ample time (at least several weeks) will be provided as well as multiple notices before a vehicle will be towed.

Cluster Audit
Easton has not been able to reach his POC at Ross, Langan, and McKendree about a cluster audit.

Next Meeting
The next meeting will be on Wednesday, September 27th, 8PM at 2274.

Board Meeting Minutes, 26 September 2016

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Reston Community Center, 7:30 PM

Board Members in Attendance:

– Elliott Wild
– Karen Reese
– Heather Maddox
– Matt Keally
– Dennis Schulte
– Manuel Torres

Also in Attendance:

– Sarah Keally
– Jessica Vasconcellos

Fall Cleanup

The fall cleanup date is Saturday, November 12th.  The board decided to address the following at the fall cleanup: mulch the bus path, stain the remaining bench, pick up trash, remove the dead tree by Manuel’s house, and remove the limb overhanging the tot lot.  The Social Committee has a budget of $300-400 for food and drinks for after the cleanup.

Landscaping

There are still complaints about the landscapers cutting the grass too closely in some areas with riding mowers.  Dennis will call to remind them to use hand mowers.

Social Committee

Sarah and Jessica reported highlights from the last Social Committee meeting.  There were suggestions from the committee to provide a message board for contractor recommendations, help with projects, as well as snow removal.  The board also asked the Social Committee to determine if a budget would be necessary to plan further social activities.

Communication from the Board

Due to the lack of visits on the cluster Facebook page and website, the board authorized the purchase of a sandwich board to be placed at the cluster entrance.  The sandwich board will be displayed in advance of cluster events, announcing the fall cleanup, board meetings, and the annual meeting.  Additionally, a Wheelwrighter will be distributed within the next 30 days to announce the fall cleanup as well as the annual meeting.

Parking Lot

Genelle has one quote for crack sealing and is obtaining two more.  She is also obtaining bids for concrete work.

Trees

Following the walkaround, the board decided to hold off on further discussions on moving any of the newly planted trees due to the time and effort involved.  Bids are still being solicited for the stump removal behind Carrie’s house.  The board decided to cut down two dead trees behind Mike and Kerry’s house; the contractor’s cost estimate was roughly $400.

Next Meeting

The next meeting will be Monday, October 24th at 7:30PM at RCC.  Heather will present a draft Code of Ethics which will be a proposed amendment to the bylaws in December.

Board Meeting Minutes, 24 August 2016

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Reston Community Center, 7:30 PM

Board Members in Attendance:

– Elliott Wild
– Karen Reese
– Heather Maddox
– Dennis Schulte
– Matt Keally
– Manuel Torres

Opening Remarks

Due to some disagreements between board members Dennis opened the meeting with a statement that he wished the board can move forward to address new business.  To that end, Heather introduced a motion to develop a code of ethics to be added to the bylaws.  A draft version is to be developed by the October meeting.  Elliot, Matt, and Heather voted to support the motion.

Officers

Heather stepped down as president but will remain on the board.  Elliot will become the new president until at least the annual meeting, while Matt will become secretary.

Trees

Merrifield Gardening planted replacement trees in early August.  Carrie brought up that some of the trees were planted in locations unsuitable for large trees.  She also brought up that several stumps from the original trees were not removed and presented a hazard.  Genelle brought up that a tree limb was dangerously overhanging the tot lot.  The board invited all who were interested to walk around the cluster to survey the completed tree work and provide input as to how to address the stumps and remaining tree hazards.  Elliott set the date for the walkaround for Sunday, August 28th at 2PM.

Parking Lot Resealing

Elliott mentioned he had one bid for parking lot resealing, however, he wanted several more bids.  Two companies he contacted would not reseal a parking lot they did not originally pave themselves.  Genelle said she would identify more paving and sealing contractors and provide the names to Elliott.  Carrie and several others discussed re-adding a motorcycle parking space in the lower cluster that had previously been eliminated.  Genelle also said she would help coordinate an effort to fix cracking concrete sidewalks around the cluster, identifying homeowners who would like concrete work done in order to reduce costs to individual homeonwers via one large job.

Parking

Carrie stated her disagreement with a letter she received from Heather regarding parking of her husband’s truck.  Manuel also voiced his displeasure of the board’s monitoring of expired registration and inspection stickers.  The board members stated that they will cease all vehicle policing for the indefinite future.

Rats

Several residents reported rat sightings.  Karen will work to identify a pest control company.

Future Meetings

The next meeting is scheduled for Monday, September 26th at 7:30PM at RCC.  The board also scheduled a budget planning meeting for Monday, November 21st.

Board Meeting Minutes, 4 March 2016

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Attendance

  • Heather Maddox
  • Karen Reese
  • Dennis Schulte
  • Elliot Wild
  • Manuel Torres

Also in attendance: N/A

New Business

  • Snow Removal: Heather shared several bids which she collected.  Discussion will continue in future meetings since there is plenty of time to decide.
  • Tree Replacement.  Heather shared bids collected for tree replacement.  The board voted and agreed to hire Merrifield Gardens for $50 to meet with the board for a walk around.  This fee will be applied as a credit if Merrifield is selected.
  • Landscaping.  The board discussed five bids and approved Heather to pursue a contract with Frontier Landscaping.  Frontier’s bid was approximately $2000 less than the current landscaper.
  • Yard Sale: April 16th, one week before the cluster cleanup.
  • A website instruction will be presented at the next meeting.

Old Business

  • The cluster cleanup will be discussed at the next meeting.

The next meeting will be April 4th at 7:30 PM.

Board Meeting Minutes, 1 February 2016

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Board Members in attendance:

  • Heather Maddox, President
  • Karen Reese, Vice President
  • Elliot Wild, Secretary
  • Matt Keally, Director
  • Manuel Torres, Treasurer

Also in attendance:

  • N/A

Old Business

  1. Tree Removal/stump grinding: Karen will reach out to follow up on the unfinished tree work, namely the large sections in the front of the cluster which have not been removed.  Investigation of tree behind 2221 which had been discussed for removal.
  2. Tree Replacements: Heather gathered tree bids from two locations, with a third expected to submit soon.
  3. Cluster records, file sorting gathering date is set for March 4th at Heather’s, at 6pm.
  4. Inventory of contracts/accounts:
    • Snow removal is good until April
    • Towing- status unclear
    • Lawn/tree bids
  5. Snow bids: Heather will collect bids and put together a spreadsheet.
  6. Parking lot resealing: Elliot left messages and has yet to hear back and get bids.
  7. Sidewalk work: Elliot left messages and has yet to hear back and get bids.
  8. Communication: Discussion of a lesson to the board on website posts.  Karen is currently in charge of Facebook maintenance.  Lastly, the board discussed posting message boards on the mailboxes to announce cluster events.
  9. Increasing neighborhood involvement: provide announcements via social media and the website.  Also, the board discussed establishing several committees: welcome, social, yard sale (Ruth and Christine?), neighborhood watch (Elliot will speak to potential candidates), and parking (Elliot will speak to potential candidates).

New Business

  1. Snow removal feedback: Some upper cluster residents expressed disappointment with the plow service.  Discussion of purchasing a cluster snowblower.
  2. Cluster cleanup tentative date April 23rd.
  3. Next meeting will be on March 4th, following the file sorting meeting, which will begin at 6:00pm. The meeting will be at Heathers, at 2252.