Tarpon Springs RiverWatch

RiverWatch Housing Association

Date: March 15, 2010 (Monday)

Time: 7pm

Place: Tarpon Springs Recreation Center 400 South Walton Ave. Tarpon Springs FL 34689

1.      Call To Order – 7:00pm 

2.      Establish Quorum – Board Bob M, Bill P, Ed Z, David P, Evelyn C, (Tony T – AmeriTech) all present and accounted for. 

3.      Discussion on New Owners / renter agreement vote – The discussion brought a lot of clarity to the issue at hand, and also a liability issue if by chance the new renter or owner were to back out of the contract … and that brought up a whole nuther subject ;-)  It was also brought up that we currently have 24 residents who are getting violations (that is 15% of our community) 

3.1.   How about a Welcome Wagon type introduction from, for new neighbors? 

3.2.   Having one means having volunteers who will collect community information, greeting new neighbors with maps, lore and such … and also hey ~ by the way … Riverwatch is a deed restricted neighborhood – you know that – right :-) ~ 

3.3.   Being one of the homes that ended up receiving a violation … the date on the spreadsheet is 3/11/10, the date the violation was mailed was 3/17/10 and we received it 3/18/10 … there is something really wrong with lag times from a violation being noted then being sent.  This spreadsheet information has been requested by the board when inspections are done and we only get them occasionally at meetings. 

3.4.   Community involvement is key if we are to be able to have the community we want. 

4.      Collect Votes – 41 sent in or given at the meeting … needed a minimum of 120 votes returned. 

5.      Vote Count Tally – 24 for / 19 against … needed a minimum of 90 yes votes 

6.      Announcement of Pass / Fail for new amendment – Even when adding our vote to #4 (Tony wouldn’t take our vote because we didn’t bring our proxy, so our vote didn’t count?) we were 78 votes away from needing participation from our community, and 65 more yes votes 

7.      Adjourn meeting – 7:16pm  

Meeting agenda posted by Evie on the website 

1.      Call to order – 7:16pm  

2.      Establish Quorum – Everyone still present and accounted for. 

3.      Read and approve minutes from last regular meeting (January), February (which was our annual meeting AND a regular meeting) or both?  March’s meeting addresses January’s Meeting – February’s notes will be made final next year. 

3.1.   David motioned to accept, Bill 2^nd … Evie’s meeting notes are now minutes … and ~really~ if someone would like to re-write my NOTES into minutes – PLEASE feel free.  Otherwise – what I just wrote will be a part of our MINUTES next month.   

4.      Financial report – David gave an awesome update as to our finances … I asked if I could put it on the website … Tony said sure – then others gave reasons why it shouldn’t be posted … hmmm … some very good reason (Thinking about a secure area on the website for community members) 

4.1.   Delinquencies – 16 total delinquent – 6 are at least two years in arrears – 2 units have not paid dues in THREE years  … and one of the homes is occupied. (Of the 16 delinquencies three are making partial payments – so owe less than our ANNUAL $557 dues since 2004) discussion about partial payments ensued – and Tony said partial payments will not be accepted any longer (office staff made a mistake by accepting the partial payments) 

4.2.   Budget – Year to day (remember only two months so far) we are right about 10% under budget :-)  However – remember 4.1 … the ones that don’t pay will be pulling from our savings at the end of the year. 

5.      Violation Status – total of 24 violation letters to be sent (noted 3/11/10 on spreadsheet – told at meeting 3/15/10 – sent 3/17/10) 

5.1.   Code enforcement –  

5.1.1.      One home doing work without permits,  

5.1.2.      Code enforcement order and hearing (?) set for 4/18/10 at 2pm. 

5.1.2.1.            Board wants the tree trunks down immediately 

5.1.2.1.1.                  Tony will get with code enforcement and owner – The community wants tree trunks gone now. 

5.1.3.      Mold / Mildew trash in driveway 

5.2.   Fining Committee – 5 went before committee, 3 complied 2 are being fined (one of which has not paid the annual maintenance fee in three years) 

6.      Old Business – see previous meeting (top of this posting) 

6.1.   Certifying of proxies for amendment – Establish proof of notice 

6.1.1.      How many needed for quorum – how many collected 

6.1.2.      Discussion of amendment 

6.1.3.      Collection of votes 

6.1.4.      Vote tally results of amendment change 

6.1.4.1.            What to do with the results we have (anyone for a welcoming committee? Welcome Wagon (did you know Welcome Wagon is a business?  Hmmm makes sense, new residents make awesome customers ;-) Local Maps, attractions, website, community, for some example’s)  

7.      New Business 

7.1.   Spring Community Yard Sale – IF you would like to have a yard sale – this is a ~GREAT~ day to do it … making money on stuff no longer needed ... and having a large number to draw yard buyers in. 

7.1.1.       The next day the spring clean up pick up is happening rather or not anyone participates and what a great way to clear out all the overstuffed garages, rooms, attics and more.  Sell it one day – if you still have it the next – have the Spring Clean up Angels carry it away :-)  

7.2.   Spring Community Pot-Luck – If neighbors would like to participate in a pot-luck or just come on out and meet your neighbors – we are doing it at the Playground / Park 

7.2.1.      1pm start – if you can’t get there until 2 or 3 that will be good too (Ordering beautiful weather now ;-) 

7.2.2.      What to bring?   

7.2.2.1.            Something to sit on (chairs, blankets, benches, tables, grill if doing any grilling …)   

7.2.2.2.            Beverages of choice (age appropriate)  

7.2.2.3.            Food to share or picnic alone  

7.2.2.3.1.                  Salads (vegetable, fruit, anti … etc) 

7.2.2.3.2.                  Sandwiches 

7.2.2.3.3.                  Empanadas 

7.2.2.3.4.                  What other kind of pot-luck tailgate type stuff can you think of?  Drop me an e-mail and I’ll post it. 

7.2.2.4.            Games – Bocce Ball, Croquet, Badminton, tether balls, etc  

7.2.3.      Tony said the “community fund” couldn’t “fund” a function ~ so we decided WE can do it :-)   

7.2.4.      The purpose of this is meet our neighbors, have fun, build community … 

7.3.   Spring Clean-up April 11, 2010 (flyer we received says 2009?) – If you participate in the Community Yard Sale – hopefully all of the things you want to part with will have put money in your pocket – if it didn’t and you still want to part with it – see if it is on this list and set it out … ah … how wonderful a clear garage, spacious rooms, and open decks can be. 

7.4.   David – New Board member and new community member has been meeting and greeting his new neighbors :-)  YAY!!!  David!!!  In David’s meeting of neighbors he was asked several things … 

7.4.1.      Can we get a gate?  Big Sigh … oh we wish.  BUT to install a gate means things like:  We would have to buy our streets from the City of Tarpon Springs – A community member said the streets WERE ours, we gave them to Tarpon Springs in the beginning of Riverwatch … correct(?) we gave them to Tarpon Springs – Which means THEY maintain them and we do NOT pay property tax on them … we want a gate, we have to BUY our streets, maintain them AND pay property tax on them … a lot of this I pulled from my ar…. Uh … memory – so please let me know if I got it wrong. 

7.4.2.      Lots of dog owners want to let their dogs be able to run – can we build a dog park …. NOOOOOOOO ;-) … there are multiple dog parks within walking distance of Riverwatch – EVIE TO PUT IN LINKS … Done

Live Oak Dog Park

AL Anderson Park

Pinellas County Dog Parks

 

7.4.3.      Welcome David!!!  It is great to have you as a neighbor and on the board :-)  Thank you for volunteering to assist Riverwatch to be “The Best Neighborhood in Tarpon Springs, Pinellas County, great Tampa Bay area, central Florida … It all starts with one :-) 

8.      Maintenance report: 

8.1.   Gate at the dock needs a new wheel.  The wheel is a four inch wheel – should be available at Home Depot – Tony get with the maintenance guy and get it repaired. 

8.2.   Putting in a new light pole in the cul-de-sac at the end of RiverEdge – because there already IS a pole in that location it will cost $3200 for progress energy to put in the pole and the pole would actually have to be installed ON someone’s property.   

8.2.1.      It was brought up that possibly higher intensity bulbs could be used (the poles at the entrance of Riverwatch have higher intensity than the ones along the inner streets.   Tony to check into this. 

8.2.2.      The reason FOR the need for more light is it appears there is not enough light to keep “parkers” at bay. 

8.3.   Landscape Report –  

8.3.1.      We still have not decided on which trees to put where.  The entrance continues to look worse and worse.  To remove the trees and not have to submit a plan for the trees replacements, we can pay a fee of $1,650 to the Tarpon Springs tree bank fund.  The cost of replacing all of the trees from the set list we received from the city would go into the multi thousands of dollars (Evie best guess – I think we are looking at ten k or more) 

8.3.2.      Evie motioned to pay the $1650 tree bank fund / David 2^nd 

8.3.2.1.            Three YAY votes – Two NAY … fee to be paid, trees to be removed (and it has been done by the writing of these notes) 

8.3.3.      The oaks along the north side of the entrance / exit … AT the entrance / exit need to be addressed as well … they are not looking healthy. They need to be addressed. Nick will get together recommendation of what needs to be done to save them as long as possible, maybe get them healthy again even ... 

9.      Architectural Report  

9.1.   Work done without architectural approval (no permits found for the work either) Tony awaiting information. 

10.  Board of Director Comments – everything addressed through the meeting. 

11.  Open questions from the floor 

11.1.                    A member said he heard a rumor:  Once something has been approved, others can do the same thing whenever they want to ….  

11.1.1.  NOOOOOOOO …. ALL projects MUST be approved before work is started.  For Instance ~ if you want to paint your house the same color it currently is – submit an architectural request form.

12.  Adjourn meeting – 8:10 pm Bill Motioned Bob 2^nd … unanimous :-)