MEADOW CREEK HOA

Meadow Creek 2016 Annual Meeting Minutes 11.15.2016

 

Call to order: 7:10

Quorum was met, there were 44 lot represented in person and 27 in attendance by proxy.

 

Board members present: Martha Koscinski, Steve Wiechmann, Mary Schlosser, and Nate Card

 

Martha opened the meeting by giving her state of the HOA report.

 

 Introduction of Officers:  Bill Erickson, Vice President;  Mary Schlosser, Treasurer; Steve Wiechmann, Secretary; Nate Card, at – Large

 

THANK YOU for volunteering your TIME and TALENTS. This Board has been a pleasure to work with. We don’t always agree, but there is a deep respect and the ability to work together for the good of the community.

 

● Thank you to our Landscape Committee: Sheri Hampton, Cheri Popiel, Pam Gillet and Bill Erickson. It has a challenging year because of irrigation issues—which are controlled by the City of Bozeman. Six trees were planted in the boulevards—4 around the Meadow Creek sign and two near the playground in Ainsworth/Meadow Creek Park. Going above and beyond …Our landscape committee had to manually water the trees until the irrigation was turned on.

 

● Special thanks to Lori McKinley for watering a newly planted tree on S. 27th AND to Kirchoff Construction and their landscape company for planting that tree.

 

● Special thanks to Steve Wiechmann and the Playground Committee for their work in the installation of the playground. THANKS to the owners of Meadow Creek for contributing to the special assessment to make the installation possible.

 

● Special thanks to Kurt Brachwitz, John Ansley, Scott Wilson and Patrick Eibs for the work they did on the Irrigation Containment Project in an area on the ranch just south of Blackwood. By building up the area with sand bags and additional soil and channeling the water directly into the irrigation ditch, water no longer flows down Blackwood, into owners in crawl spaces and onto S. 30th . AMAZING Job!

 

● Thanks to our Design Review Board for the sometimes thankless job of going through blue prints and designs for homes, fences and landscaping.

 

● Special thanks to Pam Gillet, our one-woman Meadow Creek Welcome Committee.

 

Martha also gave a big thank you to Kathi Cowdrey, Lindsey Fraser and Shannon Weber of Luna Properties. They took over the property management duties in June and the Board is truly thankful for the great work they are doing for us.

 

● Traffic Light on Graf and S. 19th is ON! BE CAREFUL. We have seen quite a few vehicles go through the traffic signal when red and/or the yellow to red signal at high rates of speed—not slowing or stopping. Use caution when pulling onto S. 19th even when you have a green signal.

 

● Street Lights. We have 43 street lights in the development. This year we replaced another 5 lights with LED bulbs using retro fit kits. In addition, we repaired a broken electrical line on Parkway. In the past two years about half of all the street lights have been replaced. The cost is approx. $500 per light.

 

● We have a few repair and restoration projects in the works for 2017. The First is to repair and improve the trails in Meadow Creek making them consistent throughout the subdivision. A lot of damage has been caused by construction and other motorized vehicles. Our goal is to first work on those sections of the trail system in areas where home construction is complete.

 

Another project we have in the hopper is to complete the concrete sidewalk at the terminus of the walking trail on Golden Sun (near 26th).

 

● Blocks 5 and 9. Construction continues at an amazing pace. The developer, DA Land, as required by their agreement with the City of Bozeman and Meadow Creek, has continued to landscape areas near the storm water drainage areas and make other repairs.

 

● Law Suit. We have been in negotiations with HighFive in an attempt to settle the lawsuit. We will address this issue a little later.

 

Finally, we would like to remind everyone to slow down when driving through Meadow Creek, stop at the stop signs and please respect the one-way street designations.

 

Financials and budget: Mary went over the balance sheet. She pointed out that the HOA has 6 accounts: operating, playground, savings, performance deposits, storm water maintenance, and street light maintenance. She explained what the different account receivable lines mean. Regular account receivable is the main 188 lots. Contingent receivables consists of blocks 1, 2 and 3 and the feeling is the association is unlikely to receive any of this money because of the controversy surrounding the manner in which assessments are charged for multi-family lots and because of the error in the 2010 Covenants in which Block 2 was omitted.

 

Mary then went through the profit and loss vs budget, while presenting the proposed 2017 budget. She first pointed out that the annual dues amount would remain the same for 2017. The attorney expenses were not too bad this year, the HOA does have insurance that is covering a good portion of it. The Board wanted to keep a good amount in that line of the budget in case the lawsuit is not settled. Empty lot maintenance is billed out to the lot owners. The mowing this year was much more consistent. The storm water and streetlight line items are shared with Talbach House. Talbach house is currently contributing to the storm water and streetlight funds. The Board decided to keep the DRB tool portion of the previous website so there will be continuing charges for that. Future projects for 2017 include getting that small piece of concrete sidewalk installed on Golden Sun and a trail refurbishment. The trail project will come out of the current reserve account and be done in phases as construction is completed. There will be an increase in irrigation maintenance expense as DA Land turns over the areas they were previously maintaining. The Board motioned, seconded and approved the proposed 2017 budget. The membership voted by private ballot, 69 votes were for the proposed budget, 1 voted against, and 1 abstained. The proposed 2017 budget passes.

 

Playground: Steve Wiechmann presented the playground report. The project took a couple of years and he thanked the work of the committee and the neighborhood. He feels the new playground really enhances the neighborhood. Construction began in April 2016 and was completed by June 2016. The project ended up $400 under budget. The Board is definitely open to future additions to the area. Shade would be a welcome addition. Trees would require irrigation and there currently is not any installed in the actual park, only along the boulevards. A permanent shade structure could be looked at. There is a dirt berm in the area that some wildflower seeds were planted on that should come up nicely in the spring.

 

Lawsuit Settlement: Martha gave a brief explanation of the lawsuit. Copies of the suit can be found through the owner portal at www.lunaproperties.biz. A tentative agreement has been reached between all the parties involved; the settlement may go into effect if the membership passes it at this meeting and other pieces of the puzzle come together. The agreement being voted on at this meeting basically states that blocks 1, 2, and 3 will be removed from Meadow Creek HOA. Those blocks will form a separate Association called the East Side Enterprise Association (ESEA) and pay the Meadow Creek HOA a percentage toward the street light maintenance budget (20%) and storm water maintenance budget (50%). They also agree to pay 20% and 50% of any extraordinary circumstances that may arise and not covered by the funds in the street light or storm water accounts. If the settlement agreement is approved at this meeting then a ballot to remove Blocks 1, 2 and 3 from our Declaration of Covenants will be sent out to the membership for a vote. 75% of the membership will need to vote in favor of the change to the amendment in order for it to pass. If 75% of the HOA membership agrees to the amendment, the proposal will also need to go before the City Commission. The change to the amendment would need to be passed within 60 days of the agreement being voted on tonight.

 

Question-Why was the lawsuit filed?  In 2014 the owner of Block 3 claimed, among other things, the HOA interfered with the sale of his lots on Block 3 and with how the assessments were originally being charged on multi-family vacant lots.

 

Question-If Blocks 1, 2 and 3 are removed from the subdivision, would the HOA still have a say in what would go on block 3? The HOA and owners of property within Meadow Creek can participate in City Commission meetings that speak to what may be built at that location. If the HOA does not pass the agreement, Block 3 would need to adhere to the HOA Covenants. It is important to note that Block 3 is zoned R-3; Block 2 (the Flats at Meadow Creek, Platinum Ridge and Talbach House) is zoned R-4. Question-What happens if the ESEA doesn’t pay their portion of the street light or storm water budget? If they do not pay their portion of the storm water and streetlight funds they can be liened or legal action can be taken—the same as if a HOA owner does not pay their assessment. At this time we have been advised by the owner of Block 3 that there is a plan to build 60 townhomes on that block; however, nothing has been submitted to the city.

 

Question-Who maintains Lerner/Enterprise Park? The City of Bozeman maintains both parks in Meadow Creek. The HOA has mowed Ainsworth/Meadow Creek Park a few times in the spring until the City’s Parks Department get up to full staffing.

 

Question-Isn’t it possible that if Blocks 1, 2 and 3 stay in the Meadow Creek HOA, the owners of property on Blocks 1, 2 and 3 could form voting blocs and outvote single family homeowners? Yes, that is possible.

 

Martha was thanked for all her hard work in negotiating this agreement! The Board motioned, seconded and approved the agreement. The membership approved the agreement, 61 for, 6 against, 1 blank.

 

Board Election: There are 2 open positions on the Board. Candidates are Martha Koscinski, Nate Card, and Jenny Jones. Bios were sent out to all the owners. There were no further nominations from the floor. Board election results: Martha Koscinski-60 votes, Nate Card-57 votes, Jenny Jones-14 votes. Martha and Nate will remain on the 2017 Board of Directors.

 

Open Floor:

 

Question: What came of the review and changing of the current covenants? There was a covenant review committee but work came to a halt due to the lawsuit that was filed. Once the lawsuit is settled it can be put in motion again. There are a lot of contradicting statements and areas that need more clarification.

 

Someone suggested encouraging water conservation and using a more ecofriendly light source.

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The meeting was adjouned at 8:20pm

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came to a halt due to the lawsuit that was filed. Once the lawsuit is settled