Our Village

October 27, 2010 Regular Meeting

Pledge of Allegiance

Absent were VP Pelletier, Dir. Guerra, and Dir. Bergsma was fifteen minutes late

Owners Speaking
None

Presidents Remarks
None

Managers Report
GM Rick Horner said 73 work orders were issued, eight not finished, and 142 owners are in arrears totaling $93,998. There will be an open house this Friday between 9am – 11am at the Welcome Center.
Comments from the Board
Treas. Steffensen talked about the Port Isabel Camber gathering and learned that many Parks are getting early traffic this year.
Dir. Gagan expressed a dock problem to the GM. (no lot number)
Armando said they had worked on the sewer problem at the Lot 870 location. Rick Horner described the way they inspected and resealed the sewer lid and feel they fixed the problem. The large filter pump for the outdoor pool is currently under repair.

Approval of Minutes
After minor corrections they were approved.

Treasurer’s Report & Financials
Everything appeared normal in the T-report. The P&L showed that all the Revenue Centers except our Newsletter were losers. So far this year the Golf Course has spent $25,000 less on water. Fewer rentals are going through our Rental Dept. making the Rental Revenues $110,000 less.
Major Improvement folders were handed out to each Director. It was said our water costs are less but our attorney fees are far more. Dir. Montalvo is of the opinion the legal fees are up because the Board had been putting us in situations where litigation had to be involved and added that the Board had challenged owners on issues that shouldn’t have. He said he feels that now we are moving in the right direction. Treas. Steffensen agreed.

Committee Reports
D&E- Dir. White said we a Saturday 4pm Halloween Party. Profits will go towards new Rec. Hall tables
Golf-None
Pool –None
Hurricane-One more meeting left.

Unfinished Business
Pool Rules-Treas. Steffensen made a motion that was approved to add open wound and Texas stipulated warnings to the pool rules.
Dredging Questionnaire- after quoting most of how 490 members voted on the dredging questionnaire, Dir. Bergsma emphasized that a majority of owners voted to dredge. He noted that he was one of the 49 owners who had a problem getting their boats on and off their lifts and followed with a lengthy personal analysis of our dredging situation. He felt that it was unreasonable to make owners responsible to pay for the removal of the debris around their own boat lifts and wants that to be included in our estimated $985,000+ or a $1000 plus assessment cost.
Secretary Montalvo said anything of this enormity in cost should be included in the Annual Meeting packets for the owners to decide. Dir. Bergsma argued that this is a Board responsibility towards the care of our common facilities and should not include the vote of the people. He added that any owner who doesn’t want to spend the money towards this should go somewhere else.
Dir. White agreed that the canals are important but our roads are more of a priority at this time. Secretary Montalvo reiterated that this should be voted on by the Village membership.
Dir. Gagan said the way he sees it was that Dir. Bergsma had three potential motions to make, an engineering study, partial dredging, or full dredging and asked him what was his choice. Dir. Bergsma said an engineering study since we are unsure of what exactly needs to be done.
Treas. Steffensen said she had just given out the budget and major improvement packets and that it is an important time to list things like this that needs to be done. She said she thought a study needs to be done first and that it be set up budget wise.
Dir. Bergsma responded with saying that we have been looking at this for a year now and then talked at length about what a study provides. He went on to say that the cost of dredging is nothing compared to cost in ignoring the issue and if this continues our property values would fall. We have to do this because we have a legal and moral obligation to do it and leaving it up to the people is wrong. Dir. Bergsma added that those people have nothing to say about it. It is our responsibility to take care of this facility.
After the Board talked about making a motion for a Annual Meeting membership vote, Dir. Bergsma appearing upset said I bought my property based on the fact that I would have access to these canals and now I don’t because these canals are not being taken care of. Whether you like it or not, you are going to get legal action from this meeting. When you say we need to put it off to the membership you are really saying is we don’t have the guts to make a decision. He again said the membership has nothing to do with it. Motion was made to present this to the membership to vote for full dredging of canals at our Annual Meeting. All but Dir. Bergsma approved. Dir. Bergsma concluded with saying that we failed in our responsibility and should fully expect a lawsuit from our members.
Rental Agreement-Treas. Steffensen said as a result of owners excessively blocking and unblocking their property while in a rental contract, we have the right to limit that number and charge for exceeding it. Motion approved to charge $35 for each change after (1 for a 3 mo. contract) (2 for a 6 mo. contract) (3 for 9 mo. contract) (4 for a 1 yr. contract).

New Business
Boat Lift- Dir. Gagan brought up that the dock placement rules doesn’t state the distant between the concrete pilings and want it the rules to read up to two feet. His second issue is to have flotation and reflector markers on boat lift arms. He wants the codes to read that lifts don’t exceed 21 ft. or one third of the canal width for narrow areas. This will be tabled for the new building rule committee.
Board of Directors Absentee Policy-Since Dir. Guerra was absent this was not discussed.
Second Reading of Policy Changes- VP Pelletier was also absent.

Adjourned
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OCTOBER 20, 2010 COFFEE WITH THE DIRECTORS

Pledge of Allegiance

Comments from the BOX
Lot 810 wanted curtains in the bathhouse showers.
Lot 249 wanted speed bumps because of speeders on Sand Dollar.

The Laguna Madre Water District General Manager Gavino Sotelo was introduced to explain the reasons why LIV should vote yes for the $39.3 Million Capital Improvement Bond. Bottom Line is that the bond will not raise taxes. Current tax rate is $0.0808.

Questions from the Directors
Dir. Bergsma said he would like to discuss the dredging questionnaire at the regular meeting.
Pres. Halbach said there will be a meeting this Saturday at 3pm with CONGRESSMAN SOLOMON ORTIZ to discuss our swing bridge situation. This will begin at the bridge and move to the Rec. Hall. Word is that he’s the money man.
Treasurer Steffensen said new fabric was ordered for some pool chairs.
Dir. White said Walgreens has a holiday flags where the proceeds go to different charitable organizations.
Rick Horner said the food the trapped Chilean miners ate came from Aramark.

Questions from the audience Lot 870 said for two years the stench has been terrible from his street sewer and wants it fixed. He said the previous manger sent some guy in a pink Cadillac over to fix it and that obviously that didn’t work. From that point forward he has been given nothing but excuses and had no choice but to call the Cameron County Health Department who by his account said if it isn’t fixed, they will shut down the Park’s sewer system. The new GM who has not given an excuse since knowing of this problem said by next week there will be someone out to scope this sewer in order to pinpoint where the problem is.
Lot 155 complemented Rick Horner on the way the Park looks.
Lot 870 the co owner reinforced that there is a terrible odor there and she too want action.
Lot 256 complimented the landscaping done near the Welcome center.
Rick Horner gave an update on the remodeling at the Welcome Center and said there will be a grand opening next Friday (29th) from 8-11am. There will be free food.
Lot 229 said this remodeling puts a lot of class back into this place.
Dir. White said the Halloween Party will be from 4-7pm this Sat. and features the Good Times Band. The early time was selected so owners had time to party elsewhere on the island.
SC 57 wondered when the solar heating of the pools will be addressed. The answer was it is scheduled next year to be addressed. She had a concerned that the party table signup sheets seems kind of a clique thing and that many owners don’t ever ask new owners to be at their table. Dir. White said that was brought up in a Pat Diebold’s Village Newsletter article.

Recess

A Special Meeting
This meeting was called to resolve a 3 inch height problem for lot 241. Dir. Montalvo brought up many valid points as to why this should be approved, such as there were mixed communications and vague building rules. After the Board deliberated about this for twenty five minutes it was determined to ok the variance and at the next meeting look to start a committee that will include builders input to make the building rules clearer.
Meeting Adjourned

Workshop
Dir. Gagan had concerns about a new boat lift sticking out too far in a canal and said it was dangerous. He went on to say that this lift should have buoy markers when submerged and reflectors on the lift arms when out of the water. He also thought a new sailboat docking in canal F may have such a wide breadth that it might make it difficult to navigate between it and other boats that are docked across from it.
Treas. Steffensen reflected on revised pool rules and had problems with the open wound rule. She also wanted the no skate boards and no hanging on the depth rope to be added. Dir. White said the main concern when this all started was to reword the rules so they all don’t start with a “NO” and eliminate such a negative impression. Treas. Steffensen brought up the procedural problems in the Rental Office.
Dir. Guerra wanted to get started on making sure that the winter people get their swim bands.
Dir. White wants everyone to use poop bags. (Pets)
Pres. Halbach wants the old Arroyo cable material disposed of. He said Port Isabel Chamber of Commerce wants two Park representatives to attend their Oct. 26th party and Treas. Steffensen was selected to attend all COC meetings.
End
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