Our Village

In the mist of telling everyone that our 2012 operating capital will be in the tank by a whopping $232, 000, Treasurer Steffensen again brought up the cost for Time Warner. She’s right when saying that Time Warner’s annual $181,000 price tag is a lot of money, but so is the $150,000 being thrown away to support our money pit revenue centers each year . When the Board approved this ten year Time Warner contract in 2008, it touted a monthly per unit cost of $11 with no more than a 5% increase per year and now we're told it cost just under $15. If you think about it you can’t obtain cable or satellite for twice that. If we have a 5% increase each year until the end of the contract it will be cheaper than what an individual can get today. One has to ask if there really is a problem here? Would it not be wiser to leave Time Warner alone and focus on the $70,000 Aramark salary increase, or maybe to try to create a new charge towards those who waste our water. Maybe even do something more about these money burning Revenue Centers.
Your thoughts? 
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COFFEE
The Lindley Creek Show band performed two ditties to give a taste of their upcoming Saturday gig.
After reading two improving the Village Grill suggestions from the box, VP McBride said there will be an upcoming vote to advertise a $15 discount coupon towards a golf/meal combo.
Workshop
It got interesting when Director Sandberg sought a need for clarification in determining who is eligible to run for the Board. Only LIV owners or designated owners of a corporation are supposed to be eligible but the Declaration/Bylaws are a bit vague. This was not the first time our Board wanted an owner eligibility clarification. The August 2009 Coffee Meeting with President Pat Burke established they were going to create a better owner clarification and some reason the subject was never brought up again.
Dick Lothe, Steve Fowler, and V.P. McBride encouraged the Board to consider what they thought was a fair Sun Harbor swing bridge assessment increase and Pat Burke indignantly argued against it.
Director Deitrick said he will address the policy review he conducted at the next regular meeting and asked that the Board read his review. He talked about the enforcement of traffic rules, forming an extra D-E entity to sponsor LIV activities, and closed with saying in adding to Director Sandberg’s board member clarification issue, we as a Board should also consider making it a rule disqualifying those who resign.
Regular
Pat Burke anxiously voiced her disgruntlement over the way Dick Lothe, Steve Fowler, and VP McBride asked the Board to calculate Sun Harbor’s share of swing bridge assessments.
The Park assessment arrear total this month was $29085 and LIV has recently obtained three foreclosed properties.
The dredging project awaits an approved site to dump material somewhere on Freeland’s property. The Rodriguez Brothers Dredging Company who is currently doing a project for SPI has met three times with our GM and figures to be our Board’s best choice. No dollar figure yet but one would think not having to pay to ship their equipment and crew down here would save our park a ton of money. It seems this company has a month left to do for SPI before they could start our one week canal project.
Last year’s Revenue Center winner and losers (January thru November, 2011)
Village Grill -$51.877 LOSER
Golf Course -$68,509 LOSER
Rental Depart. -$27,591 LOSER
Laundry -$1,865 LOSER
Newsletter was the only WINNER spewing a +$3180 figure.
The Finance Committee will be busy prioritizing this year’s Major Improvement Fund that exceeds $200,000.
The 2012 OPERATING CAPITAL forecast.
REVENUES are expected to be down by $50,000.
COSTS will be higher due to increases in water, Swing Bridge, and Time Warner costs, but the biggest firm increase will be the $70,000 increase in Aramark salaries. Last year the water was $91,000 over budget and expected to be $86,000 over this year. It was made clear that watering the Golf Course was not the reason for these increases.
Bottom line there will be a $233,000 Operating Capital deficit for next year.
After hearing hullabaloo over children driving golf carts and amendments to a few policy revisions, all revisions were approved.
A $15 coupon for golf and meal approved.
In the near future LIV may accept the use of a credit card to pay assessments. When approved the idea is to use the LIV’s internet site at a (10 cents) per transaction cost and of course any small hidden fees.
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The Village attorney Ramona Kantack Alcantara started the meeting addressing a need to amend Declaration of Covenants in order to save possibly large sums in attorney fees for collecting assessment arrears. New 2012 Texas laws will now make it harder for Associations not governed by Section 82 of the Condominium Act to collect late assessments.Our Village is currently is using section 81 and 82 that leaves gray areas in which an attorney can argue, thus costing Village owners due to prolonging the litigation process.There will be a concerted effort by our Board to make this change. The Board might also include improve clarification about our Limited Common Elements.

There was no Manager’s Report.


Owner’s Speaking.
Lot? Owner brought up for a second time his problem with a neighbor’s dog.

Treasurer’s Report.
Treasurer Steffensen reported that as of August the Village had $20,248 less in revenues while expenses increased by $270,576. The Profit Loss posted for August showed the Grill being a $43,853 loser, the Golf Course a $55,525 loser, the Rental Office a $9574 loser, and the Laundry a $322 loser. Our Newsletter has made $3672 so far.
Treasurer Steffensen touched on the condo fee arrears with saying the Village has 117 owners over 16 days late totaling $67,633, 8 over 30 days totaling $3057, 1 over 60 days totaling $765, and 16 owners are over 90 late being handled by the attorney totaling $32,067.

Committees
D-E (Director White) announced the Village sponsored events have been published. Upcoming is a morning Trash and Treasure and Catholic Daughters of America Casino night this Saturday.
Golf Committee (Director Sandberg) announced their first meeting will be on November 3rd.
Pool Committee (Treasurer Steffensen) said the gazebo is being redone. Four of the straight back lounges are being sold at the Trash-Treasure sale and will be replaced with adjustable back lounges.
Policy Committee (Director Deitrick) said sometime in November his committee will make some suggestion to the Board on a format to address ten to twelve years’ worth of policies.
Bridge Board report (VP McBride) announced that it has been five years since a Board has checked and updated the Swing Bridge assessments. It was found that Sun Harbor should be charged twice as much as what is currently being collected.
There was a reference that Port Isabel has a legal issue with our Bridge that needs addressing.

Unfinished Business.
Berry Pools (Director Sandberg).There was to be a meeting with Berry Pools last Thursday towards cancellation of service and the results of that meeting will be brought up at the next Coffee.
Infrastructure (Treasurer Steffensen) said they still only have one pavement bid and then went through the bids in replacing the big windows in the Activity Center’s east lobby (poolside). Lowest bid to replace all was $37,413. Bid to remodel and enclose the upper windows was $3,900 and install the six lower windows ranged from $12,000 to $21,000.
Dredging issue has been slowed due over finalizing a dredging spoil disposal site. Director Gagan brought up that there are many owner boat docks in need of major repair and asked if the Board can do anything about it.

New Business.
Website (Treasurer Steffensen) spoke of the updates to the Village website. One feature is that you can now go online to fill out the form to check in your guest. A classified section will also be introduced.
Trailer Locks (Director Deitrick) a motion was passed to buy up to $300 worth of additional trailer locks to put on a violator’s trailer.
Committees (Director Sandberg) it was brought up that there are a growing number of owners wanting to be involved with committees but find that there are no positions available. VP McBride suggested that we enforce a previous Board's open committee policy passed several years back.This would provide owners wanting to help to expess their ideas to the committee.
Fine-citation Adjustments (Director White) after a lengthy discussion containing different ideas nothing was resolved.
Newsletter Survey (Treasurer Steffensen) said after three months this survey produced 104 responses on newsletter delivery. It showed that 78 wanted it mailed to them and 26 wanted it email to them. It was mentioned that owners can read the Newsletter on the first of the month from our Village website. It was also expressed having only 104 responses from 1024 owners show that most Villagers don’t care to read the newsletter, making it possibly a waste of money mailing it to all.
Activity Center (Deitrick) suggested that the Activity Center do more in promoting tourism saying there are agencies wanting to promote their tours to owners in our Park.

Executive Meeting.

Adjournment

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There was a shortened September 28th board meeting due to the absences of Treasurer Steffensen (illness) and VP McBride/Director Chapa (vacations). Agendas such as the Treasurer’s report, Pool Committee report, Infrastructure Work report, Web Listings report, and Newsletter Distribution report had to be shelved.
Lot 155 suggested putting windows only in the lower area when our Village replaces the large Activity Center windows located by the ping pong table and fill in the upper portion with a solid material. He felt it would look just as nice while conserving energy costs. The Board liked his idea.
GM Horner reported last month they had 97 work orders, six building permits, and condo fee arrears totaled $30,136. They were currently monitoring and adjusting the sprinkler system so maximum water pressure is being used when watering. In response to last week’s Coffee question Rick confirmed that maintenance internally inspects the fire hydrants during fire prevention week. He sadly announced that Armando had a spell at the employee’s picnic outing that resulted in a possible need to correct a left artery clog. As of October 12th Armando is not working and tests are still being done.
The August Minutes were approved.
President Montalvo said the Board will focus on the Village Grill/Pro Shop revenues and expenses moving forward. Our GM did say last year he came under fire when he temporarily closed the Pro Shop. He said it doesn’t make sense though to pay to be open when Pro Shop revenues are just $35 a day.
D and E is to have a Halloween cocktail party on October 31st and Trash and Treasures on November 4th..
Golf Committee Director Sandberg brought up an annual green fee credit request asked for by Dennis Zylman. Board members had no problem with his request but stated it’s not actually an issue that the Board needs to address. Director Sandberg said she understands that but Dennis thought this should be brought to the Board attention since he is also on the Golf Committee. Director Sandberg also told the Board that many who golf thought that any owner over ninety years of age should have an honorary golf membership. This was later voted on and passed under new business.
GM Horner said Berry Pool’s response to LIV’s termination request is that they have a contract with LIV until next April. President Montalvo said should be a lesson learned that there should be an LIV out clause on every contractual agreement. The GM again expressed that the Berry Pools contract he had on file had a 30 day termination notice. He had no knowledge that a different contract was approved by a previous Board that substituted this 30 day out clause with a 30 day notice at the end of the annual contract. We learned that Berry Pools indicated an LIV resident told them LIV wanted this termination for no other reason than to change the purification systems and that is why Berry Pools feels the current contract should be honored. It was said that whoever this owner is appears to be intentionally undermining this Board. President Montalvo said the action by this owner was not the problem,the real fault here is that this contract should have never been approved or signed in the first place.
Executive Session
After the Meeting came to order the owner from lot 145 expressed having a problem with the current watering of the common areas and wanted to organize teams of owners to edge Village streets.
Motion was approved to accept the current non-disclosed terms set forth in the M. O. Berry lawsuit. The Board took note to an owner saying that a non-disclosure of terms cannot legitmently be expressed in the minutes.
Motion was approved to start accepting dredging bids.
Adjournment
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It appears the Board will discuss the needed repair to our roads and parking lots next Wednesday. If approved, it is rumored owners will see a $300 assessment. Apparently through positive lawsuit negotiations, this Board will now be able to discuss the necessary dredging of our canals. If approved, it is rumored owners will see a second $300 assessment. We will hear more details at the Regular Board Meeting next Wednesday.
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The Coffee meeting was very short.
Lot 119 asked that an area in the Rec. Hall be provided for small meetings, i.e. the Bridge Board meetings.
Lot 142 complained about lot 152’s dog. Treasury Steffensen said Port Isabel’s School system is in need of volunteers to assist students.
It was revealed there will be a fashion show next year on Valentine’s Day. Proceeds will go to the Library.
VP McBride announced that longtime resident Jan Zylman died yesterday.
It was said that Director Gagan did well in a Coastal Current article with his reasons on why people from California relocate here.

WORKSHOP
Secretary Seffensen will provide a report on the Newsletter’s recent distribution survey and talk about Rental listings.
Dir. Gagan asked for update on the salt conversion of our pools and was told there has been no final response from Berry Pools yet on the breaking of the pool contract.
There might be a discussion about fire hydrant inspections.
There will be some clarification on what is happening with the parking lot/ road work along with the dredging.

Comments?
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The GM said our poolside grill will drop the Friday food service and will be open only on Saturday and Sunday through Labor Day. After Labor Day the Grill will be closed for the season.
The Minutes were approved (no month mentioned).
The Treasurer's Report will from now on describe the previous full month instead of from the first to the Board Meeting's date.
Profit and Loss showed our Village's net income year to date was off by $282,916 from the previous year with $36,212 revenue decrease and $246,704 expense increase. The Treasurer provided attendees an expense loss breakdown to which certain Board members questioned.One question brought to light a most interesting disclosure about Aramark’s liquor license contract with our Village.
Revenue Centers showed the Grill was a $32,603 loser, the Golf Course a $41,372 loser, and the Rental Office was down $14,477. In the black were the Laundry at $280 and the Newsletter at $2.333. Committee activities started with D-E having a successful fishing tournament, the Pool Committee is interested in new furniture, and a Policy Committee gave an update on their tedious task.
Roger Steffensen resigned from the Bridge Board due to health reasons and will not be replaced.
Berry Pools will be sent a termination letter from our Board with a grocery list of problems they've fail to resolve in the hopes that they will agree.
Motion was approved to purchase five hitch locks to use on illegally parked or untagged trailers.
Rental Office problems were in the spotlight with the focus being on better documentation, inspections, and upkeep of rental units.
When VP McBride suggested that the Welcome Center hand out fliers asking all to refrain from washing their RVs, Director Guerra couldn't get it out fast enough if this will apply to the winter people. He voiced that these RV washings should be allowed using some kind of a designated sprayer pistol. Director Guerra then added that he was not in favor of doing this to the summer people and then asked if we were under some kind of water management, duh!! After some discussion each Director agreed to the fliers.
The Board declined a varianc for lot 663 .
The Board discussed the Village website needs.
No one on the Board could answer Treasury Steffensen's question if the rules and regulations along with the amendments to our Bylaws were filed by the Village attorney.
Director Guerra appeared to browbeat the GM and security supervisor Jesse for not conducting security/GM meetings. He wanted information about the water machine at bath house two and wondered if the security golf carts are equiped yet with a second fire extinguisher.
The Gm was praised for his idea to have a new ice machine at the Welcome Center. He said he found a company that sells bags of ice at about half the price of our current provider. The Board went into an executive session over update on legal issues and personnel.
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